“I’d rather die fighting,” Hondo said in a low voice to me.
“Me too,” one of the godborns said. Another voice rose up, then another and another.
“Fight.”
“Fight.”
“Fight.”
“Come now.” Camazotz shook his head. “You cannot win. If you resist, we will hurt you. Bones can be broken without bringing about death. Without precious blood being spilled. You will suffer in your cages, broken and beaten, until the time comes to feed your hearts to the gods. Is that what you want?”
My gut clenched. So this was the end. It had all come down to this terrible moment. I glanced at Hondo. He blinked and tipped his head down. If he could speak to me telepathically, I knew he would be saying, Give Batman a smackdown he’ll never forget, kid.
I tugged on Rosie’s neck and with a deep breath shouted, “DEAD!”
Rosie launched herself at the bat god. Teeth flashed. Claws sliced. Fire exploded. Camazotz bolted into the sky out of Rosie’s reach. His bats zipped from the trees and came at us in a whirlwind of death, splitting off and circling us from different directions.
Hondo whirled, did a backflip, and kicked a few of the bloodsucking beasts in midair before landing. He punched with one hand and jabbed his crowbar with another. The guy was a ninja, but his blows dizzied them at best. I had never been more grateful for Itzel’s armored clothing than at that moment.
The godborns ran and ducked for cover behind an old truck. Wrenches, a pair of motorcycle handlebars, side mirrors, and all sorts of junk came hurtling out of the truck bed. A valiant effort, but, um, we were dealing with a bat god from hell?
Even in all the commotion, I looked around for Ah-Puch. Where was he? Too weak and cowardly to fight?
Ren’s fingers danced in the air like she was playing an invisible piano. Shadows rose up and wrapped themselves around her as she hurried over to join the godborns behind the truck. At the same time, Rosie propelled herself into the air, caught a handful of the bats in her mouth, snapped them in half, and dropped them to the ground, where they squirmed. Faster than thought, I shot a river of fire from my hands, incinerating a trail of the monsters to keep them away from the godborns.
Kee-eeeee-ar!
My heart stopped. I looked up and saw Brooks attacking a few bats in the air. Even in her small hawk form, she was fierce.
Hondo swung his crowbar mightily, but he was losing. The bats attacked him claws-first, tearing at his cheeks and neck. “No!” I shouted as I drop-rolled, coming up on my knees with my arms extended. Thick ropes of smoke trailed from my eyes and hands, speeding toward my uncle, wrapping around him like a net that the bats couldn’t penetrate.
Camazotz returned, zooming straight for me. He clutched something in his claws.
My stomach dropped.
“Brooks!” I screamed, holding back the fire that wanted to burn through Zotz’s heart.
Hondo stumbled back, raising his crowbar. The smoke net was beginning to vanish.
“Give her back NOW!” I growled.
Camazotz landed in front of me and shifted Brooks to his humanish hands. The minion bats ceased their attack, hovering in the air over their god. “I will kill your friends one by one,” he said, “until you give up this wasted effort and accept your fate.”
“You can’t kill us,” I cried. “You need us!”
“I don’t need your uncle. And I certainly don’t need this half nawal.” Brooks the hawk struggled against him. “One wrong move and her heart is my dinner.”
I stared into his eyes, looking for some sign of weakness. Anything to give us a glimmer of
hope. But they were completely vacant.
Then, in a whirl of shadow and dust, Ah-Puch surfaced and blindsided the bat god with a massive shard of glass, driving it deep into the bat’s ribs and slicing upward with a nauseating ripppppp.
“Run!” Ah-Puch shouted just as a gateway opened a few feet away.
Clutching his gushing side, Camazotz fell to the ground, shrieking. The bats cried and raced toward him, melting into his flesh as Brooks tumbled out of his grasp. Hondo snatched her up, tucking her between his arms before he took off running toward the gateway with the godborns and Ren.
Rosie was there in a flash, and I jumped onto her back, ready to race toward the gateway.