I stared at her, stunned. “Changing how?”
“They feel different—weaker, sickly. At first, I thought it was nothing, but…” She took hold of my shoulders, gripping hard. You guys have to go. Please. Take Brooks far, far away from here, before it gets any worse.
Her desperate tone made every muscle in my body tense. Who did she think was listening in on us?
You’re not making any sense.
Why do you think all those demons are down there training?
Because they like to kill things?
Gods, you’re annoying!
Me? I’m not the one talking in circles.
She took a deep breath and loosened her grip slightly. The Sparkstriker sent me on this mission, here to Xib’alb’a…undercover.
Shouldn’t that be a secret? I mean, she wasn’t very good at being undercover if she was telling me her spy status.
I trust you not to tell anyone. Not even Brooks. She grabbed both my hands in hers and squeezed them like a vise. Her jaw tightened. Soon we may not be able to shape-shift anymore.
How…? Crap! Is Ixtab behind all this? She’d taken away Brooks’s powers before.
No. No god is capable of draining all the sobrenaturales’ powers at the same time.
Do you think it has to do with the godborns being abducted?
From the look on Quinn’s face, I could tell she didn’t know anything about that, so I filled her in quickly.
It can’t be a coincidence, she said. Don’t tell Ixtab about the sobrenaturales. We don’t want the gods catching wind of our…situation.
Why not?
They love weakness and would use it to their advantage, believe me, she said. Just promise me you won’t let Brooks do anything stupid. She’ll listen to you.
Uh, that’s not exactly true.
At that moment, Ixtab reappeared. She looked into each of our faces and then solemnly said to Quinn, “It has begun.”
Nothing good can come from the words It has begun. Especially when you’re standing in hell with the queen of Xib’alb’a and a double agent who happens to be the sister of the girl you…uh, never mind.
“Call the Warriors together for a meeting,” Ixtab commanded.
Quinn gave a single nod to Ixtab and left. Ixtab turned to me, and the heat of her stare was enough to melt my face off. “Come with me.”
“What’s begun?” I hated the tremor in my voice. (Hey, heroes get scared, too, you know!)
Blue flames erupted in Ixtab’s eyes. “That is none of your concern.”
Before I could argue or run, she swept her arm in front of herself and the entire setting vanished faster than the strike of a match. We emerged in a dark stone tunnel that smelled like metal and rotting flesh. The ground moved beneath us, and I realized we were standing in a small, rickety rowboat. The vessel was gilded with intertwining solid gold snakes that I really hoped wouldn’t come to life.
A distant torch cast a faint light that glistened off the top of the blackish, oily…I gagged. Yep. We were floating on Blood River. “Why…why are we here?”
Ixtab picked up a long oar, its tip crafted with jade and gold. She placed the oar over the side and dragged it gently through the still blood. I might have gagged again. “I don’t get down here very often,” she said. “But it’s quiet and there are no prying eyes or ears. We cannot be too careful.”
Right. Because who in their right mind would ever hang out here? I needed to swallow the lump in my throat, but I was sure I’d throw up all over the place if I did. I sat down on the center bench.
“The magic you put out in the world,” Ixtab said as we glided through the blood, “it connected you to the godborns. You are now linked, and we can use that to our advantage.”