The sound was even louder on the ground. I picked up my pace, weaving between the foliage. A rustling sound drew my attention upward. A few miniature monkeys crisscrossed the trees. I felt their eyes following my every move as they swept across the branches like ghosts.
“Thanks a lot,” I grumbled. “Everything is getting ready to blow up and you’re still looking for something to steal….” My words trailed off as I realized I was chewing out a bunch of primates that had just lost half their home.
I rushed through the jungle, letting the fire inside me guide me to the World Tree. What was I was going to find there? More dead gods? A goddess I wouldn’t even recognize? A death trap? All I knew was that I had to buy my friends enough time to find as many of the gods as possible. But somehow even that plan felt like a defeat.
Tick.
Terror settled into my gut.
Tick. Tick.
Sombras pressed in on me from all sides.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
I came to the edge of the field and stopped, taking a few deep breaths. My eyes skimmed the silent meadow and landed on the World Tree.
The árbol was a contorted black monster with thick shiny webs choking its branches. Its god lights barely flickered.
I tried to keep a firm grip on my cane, but my palms were slick. Then came the familiar cold tug in my gut that made me nauseous. Two tall figures emerged from the tree line on my right, about twenty yards away.
Jordan and Bird.
And all
I could think was These guys again?
They weren’t in their hairy bat guises. They were in their six-foot-five, athletic human forms, muscles bulging under their identical black tracksuits. But they didn’t impress me. I preferred monsters who looked like monsters.
“Zane Obispo,” Bird said, dragging a thick rusted chain.
Clink. Clank.
My eyes followed the shackle until I saw…it was connected to a dragon’s throat.
Itzamna!
My heart slammed into my spine. “Let him go!”
The dragon was cat-size and pale gray, his withered skin nearly translucent. His eyes were hollow, his cheeks gaunt, and his mouth sagged as he lumbered behind the twins with his head hanging low.
“But he makes such a good pet,” Bird said with a sneer.
My anger pulsed hotter than lava, and I wanted to launch a million rivers of fire at these jerks. But I had to stay cool. I had to find out what Ixkik’ had planned.
Half a dozen blue-skinned demons emerged from the trees behind the twins, their reptilian eyes unblinking as they all drilled their gazes into me.
Instinctively, a ball of fire ignited in the palm of my hand.
Jordan snorted, but he stopped a good fifteen feet away from me. I could see dark circles under his eyes. Was he sick and tired of being manipulated by his mother? “Relax,” he said. “No need for pyrotechnics.”
“Unless you want more gods to die,” Bird said.
“Oh, I get it,” I said, still feeling waves of acid in my gut. “Ixkik’ sent you to do her dirty work. Too scared to come out herself?”
Itzamna lifted his gaze. He blinked slowly as he sent out his weak telepathic voice across the field. Zane, it’s over. Run. Save yourself.
“Shut up, old man,” Bird said to the dragon, jerking the chain. Jordan and Bird cut up like they had missed their favorite brand of entertainment: cruel and twisted.