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The demon runner surfaced. His skin had gone from blue to gray, and it was coming off in chunks like soggy bread.
I scrambled to my feet, putting myself between the monster and Brooks. “You can’t have her!” I screamed.
He kept coming toward us, crawling out of the pool on his belly like a salamander. When he had fully emerged, he stopped and looked down at his body. That’s when he realized he was disintegrating. I guess he hadn’t known water would do that to him. He screamed and hissed as his flesh fell off in chunks. Then his bones liquefied, leaving only a pool of tar-like goop floating on the pond’s surface.
I rushed to Brooks. She wasn’t breathing.
“Hang on, Brooks!” In a panic, I began mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
Please please please.
Breathe.
Breathe!
Her eyes didn’t open. She simply lay there, her skin a terrible pale gray. Then, slowly, the air shimmered and Brooks turned into a hawk. Not her usual grande size. She was small and fragile-looking. I felt her feathery neck for a pulse. It was there, but just barely.
My own heart nearly stopped. No, this couldn’t be happening. She’d just been talking to me in my head. Being her pushy self, telling me to hurry.
“Brooks!” I shook her gently. “Wake up! We made it! I’m not doing this alone,” I said, like I could guilt her heart into beating stronger.
At the same moment, a strange silver light filled the little cavern. I looked around for the first time. Pale green stalactites hung from the low ceiling. The walls looked porous, like stone sponges.
Wiping water from my eyes, I followed the light to its source, a sand-colored stone column to my right. It was painted with the image of a tightly coiled serpent. In a single blink, the image came to life. The snake uncoiled and started slithering down the column.
It whispered to me. “Zane.”
“Go away!”
As the reptile descended, the column became translucent, like a block of ice, and inside I could see a small black statue. It was an evil-looking owl, about six inches tall, with slits for eyes. The wings were spread out as if it were going to take off any second. It looked so lifelike that I knew what this was: Ah-Puch’s prison. He was inside a replica of his own pet, Muwan.
My hand trembled as I clung to Brooks. “I’ll fix this,” I told her. “Just hang on.” My insides were on fire, and a terrible burning sensation was pricking my legs.
Then came a voice. It wasn’t the snake. It was Ah-Puch.
I can save her.
I stayed focused on Brooks, on her golden-brown feathers, on her heart that was still beating. What was I going to do? I couldn’t drag her back through that pool, and from where I sat, I didn’t see any exit in the rock wall.
Terror made me desperate enough to talk to Pukeface. “How do I get out of here?” My voice echoed across the cave.
I can save her, he said again.
“How?”
No response. Maybe because he’d already given me the answer.
I stood up, wobbly at first, then went over to the serpent column. With trembling fingers, I reached out to touch it. Did I mention that I hate snakes? The serpent slithered across my hand, and a vertical crack appeared in the post. The two halves opened like double doors.
My mind was on autopilot as I pulled the clay owl free. The statue vibrated in my hand and a strange energy surged through me like a speeding train.
Yes, Ah-Puch whispered.
With the figure clutched in my hand, I collapsed back onto the ledge near Brooks. She began to shimmer again, and I was scared she was fading, like Rosie had. “No! Not yet!” I shook the little statue. “You said you could save her!”
A ray of sunlight penetrated a crevice in the chamber’s ceiling. The eclipse was happening!
Sweat trickled down my neck as a painful heat boiled my insides. I needed air desperately.
