Ren pinned me with her wintry eyes. “I’m safer with you.”
“She has a good point,” Brooks said, suddenly changing gears.
What the heck?
A long grunt of agreement emerged from Rosie. Traitor.
“We’re talking the underworld here,” I said. “It’s a dark and dangerous place, and the demons—they run wild there.” Okay, I made that last part up, but it could be true. I just thought maybe I could scare Ren off. “Plus, you’re not”—I stopped myself before Rosie went into dragon mode and burned down the jungle—“D-E-A-D, and you can’t go to Xib’alb’a unless…”
“You’re not D-E-A-D, either,” Ren said. “So that means the emergency entrance must be for the living.”
“Ixtab never said the entrance was for four.” It’s not that I wanted to go alone. Believe me, I didn’t. But what if Ren got hurt? That kind of guilt could drown a person.
“Let’s take a vote.” Brooks shifted her arms into massive wings that she stretched overhead. Was she trying to intimidate me? It was so not working. “I say she comes with us to Xib’alb’a. She is a godborn after all, and she deserves to find out the truth about her mom.”
A rustling in the trees drew our attention. Hondo emerged, out of breath. Leaves poked out of his thick hair.
“H-Hondo,” I stammered. “What are you doing here?”
“Followed Rosie’s smoke trails, and, uh, you guys are kind of loud.” Hondo turned his eyes on Ren as he caught his breath. “So, you’re a godborn, eh?”
“How…how did you know?” I asked.
“You’d have to be an idiot not to put it together,” Hondo said. “I mean, I wake up and there’s this mysterious girl whose name just happens to be scribbled in the tell-all book, and then there was the burned-up boat, and you were acting all weird, Zane. Besides, your mom sort of told me. And then there was this.” He tugged Brooks’s backpack from behind him.
“Hey!” Brooks snatched the pack away.
“Looks like someone’s going monster hunting.” Hondo smiled. “Can I carry the ax?”
“No one’s going monster hunting,” I said. At least, I hoped we’d get through this without seeing any monsters. Yeah, I know, I’m still overly optimistic.
Brooks glanced inside the pack like she was making sure everything was in its place. “Where’s the demon flashlight, Hondo?”
He fished it out of his pocket. “I need it more than you do. You’re a hawk with killer talons!”
“True.” Brooks nodded. “Keep it.”
“Can I have one of those?” Ren asked, stretching her neck to get a view inside the pack.
“Wait a second—you have the book, Hondo?” Brooks said.
“I looked for that thing all morning,” Ren said.
“It’s not a very good read,” Hondo offered, doing his worst to hide his smile. “I wouldn’t bother if I were you, Brooks. I mean, you were there for everything. It’s kinda boring, actually. Zane’s not much of a writer.” He hooked his arm around my shoulders. “Right, Zane?”
I loved my uncle for trying to protect me, but seriously? Did he have to insult me at the same time?
“I thought the book was…” Ren hesitated. “Adventurous, kinda scary. Gross in some parts. Really sweet in others.”
“Sweet?” Brooks let out a small laugh. “Zane, I don’t remember any sweet parts. Mostly demons, blood, hair, and guts.”
That was totally true, but had she already forgotten that night on the boat when she fell asleep on my shoulder? Or how about…
Ren glanced at me. I tried to give her a look: Don’t say another word. But she just kept on blabbering. “The part when you guys got the enchantment and you had on that really pretty dress and when Zane saw—”
“You described my dress?” Brooks asked me.
“Dress?” I said. “I don’t remember, and we have bigger things to worry about than my writing.” I could strangle Ren. The girl had zero filter and was kind of clueless. Didn’t she get my eye signals?