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Then Ixtab stepped closer to me, and as she did, a ten-foot wall of fire rose up behind her. Two beasts walked out of the flames. Huge black hounds, twice the size of lions, with long bared fangs and growls that shook the ground. One had eyes that burned white. And the other? Its eyes flickered, changing from burning red to soft and brown and so familiar.
I gasped, blinking to be sure.
The brown-eyed beast had only three legs.
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I stumbled back. “Rosie?”
No, no, no! I was dreaming. It was a trick! Then I remembered what Ms. Cab had said: She’ll be changed.
I fell to my knees. Rosie’s eyes switched back to red. She sniffed the air near me. Did she recognize me?
“Rosie?” I mumbled. Her pointed ears pricked.
Ah-Puch scoffed at Ixtab. “You think your hellhounds can stop me?” He looked around at the few demons still standing. “Or your pitiful horde?”
“Zane!” Hondo shouted.
We all spun to see him run into the clearing, waving a flashlight, pointing its flesh-burning beam. Jazz was right behind him, and they were both wearing red masks like Quinn’s.
Ixtab raised her hand and said some strange word I didn’t recognize. The demons charged toward Hondo and Jazz. Black hair grew out of the demons’ mouths at freakish speed. Hondo and Jazz were outnumbered! Why would Hondo be so stupid? Then I realized he wouldn’t. No way would my uncle march into battle without reinforcements.
While I was distracted, Ah-Puch blew a hot breath, creating a barred cage of black smoke all around me.
“NO!” I screamed.
“Relax for a while. This should be fun to watch,” he said. ?
?Should we take bets? I’m going with the demons.”
I rushed toward the smoke bars, thinking I’d pass right through them, but they were as strong as iron and I slammed into them before stumbling back, dazed. I lifted my spear, hoping it could cut through the spell, but when I launched it at Ah-Puch, it bounced right off the smoke.
Panic clawed at my insides. I couldn’t let anyone else fight this battle for me.
A great wind blew across the field, hot and dry, spreading Ixtab’s flames. Quinn crawled over to me.
I wanted to harness the fire, to draw it in and use it against Ah-Puch. But what good would it do me? First, I didn’t know how to control it. Second, if Ixtab’s fire couldn’t kill him, mine surely wouldn’t. And I might end up torching the whole place—and Brooks and Hondo with it.
I couldn’t take my eyes off Hondo, who had climbed into a tree and was pointing his deadly red light on the demons below. They writhed and screamed as the beam burned them.
Ah-Puch merely leaned against my cage, watching and smiling. “I really need to get one of those toys!”
A second later, dozens of red-robed warriors raced from behind the trees. The Sparkstriker’s trained orphans!
So many things happened at the exact same moment. Shrieks split the hot air. The hellhounds growled and gnashed their teeth. Everyone ran at each other like a stampede of elephants. The ground shook. It was all chaos and hair and fangs and screaming.
Brooks, now masked, took off running into the melee. Jazz fought off three demons while another clung to his back, strangling him with a thick band of hair until his eye bugged out. Brooks aimed her flashlight and burned the demon off Jazz’s back. It writhed into a column of black smoke.
The red warriors hurled themselves right into the demons’ paths, displaying no fear as they reached into their robes. By the time I realized what they were reaching for, their lightning bolts were already flying through the air, exploding like fireworks. Now I knew why they were all wearing masks. I covered my eyes and waited for the searing pain to come, but it never did. I opened my eyelids, fluttering them wildly. I could still see!
The silver demons screamed, clawing at their faces as their eyes burst into flames.
Ixtab raised her hands toward the field and was chanting something when Quinn scrambled to her feet and rammed a lightning rod into her spine. Ixtab exploded into a tower of white fire.
“Now!” Quinn yelled at me. “The magic will only hold her for seconds.”
At the same moment, Brooks morphed into a hawk. I guessed she could do it because Ixtab was out of commission, at least temporarily. Quinn stepped back, her eyes wide as she watched her sister fly at the god of death. Then Quinn dove between Ah-Puch and Brooks.
