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“You have until the third moon,” Ah-Puch said. “When I call, you will answer. I will finish this world and start again. We will have a new order.”
The third moon… Did he mean three nights? That might give me enough time to figure things out, rally some help. My insides twisted. I was just some thirteen-year-old kid with a bum leg. Not exactly the world-saving type.
As if he could read my mind, Ah-Puch said, “Aren’t you tired of being a weakling? A boy who can’t run? Can’t fight? Can’t do much of anything? You are no warrior, Zane Obispo. But I can make you one.”
Shame dug its claws into my gut. “I was strong enough to set you free!”
His eyes glinted with some kind of knowledge I knew he wasn’t about to share.
Muwan turned and glanced over her tan shoulder. Whatever Ah-Puch knew, she knew it, too.
“In Xib’alb’a,” he said, eyeing my leg, “you’ll be whole and strong. You’ll be able to do what only gods and kings can do. You’ll have power beyond your wildest dreams.”
The words raced through me. Strong. Gods. Kings. That all sounded pretty good. And it would save Brooks and Rosie, too….
Just as I was about to shake on it, another voice whispered in my ear. But it for sure wasn’t Brooks. It belonged to a man. Don’t do it, he said.
I glanced over at another skyscraper. It was even taller than where we stood, and its windows shimmered, reflecting the full moon. In an instant the building melted, to be replaced by a pyramid with steps on the sides leading to a platform on the top. The image was blurry, barely visible. On the platform stood a tall dark-haired man in a black trench coat, but he was so far away I couldn’t see any details on his face.
I walked to the edge of the roof to get a better look.
Ah-Puch followed, his eyes trailing my gaze. I could tell he couldn’t see what I could, because he turned to me, unfazed, and asked, “Do I have your pledge?”
The man on the pyramid shook his head. Then the image vanished.
Who was that? I wondered briefly, but I had more pressing things on my mind.
I swallowed the lump in my throat and looked Ah-Puch in the eyes. It was loco to make a deal with the god of death and darkness. But what choice did I have? “You promise you’ll save them, Brooks and Rosie?”
Spears of lightning stabbed the sky.
He nodded.
“Okay.”
Ah-Puch adjusted his shirt cuffs. “It’s not that simple, my friend. You must say the words to bind yourself to me.”
A sudden wind raced across the roof, so fast and violent it caused the pool water to splash over the sides.
“I, Zane Obispo…” Ah-Puch shouted.
“I, Zane Obispo…”
The sky split open and rain poured down on us.
“Finish it!” Ah-Puch commanded.
Wiping the rain out of my eyes, I hollered over the storm, “I pledge myself to Ah-Puch and Xib’alb’a as a soldier of death.”
Ah-Puch tilted his head back and opened his arms wide. “It is done, old friend, and now he’s mine!” Then he smiled, lifted me by my collar, and dangled me over the side of the building.
“Hey!” I squirmed and kicked. “We had a deal!”
“Of course,” he said. Then he let go.
15
I tumbled through the air in slow motion, so slow I could see myself in the skyscraper’s glass exterior. Then my reflection vanished and instead I saw an image of my mom repeated in every window.
