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“Wouldn’t do any good,” she said. “The gods are pretty much equal in strength and power. It would only start a war that would bring about the same result: everyone dead.”
Hondo didn’t even flinch. “Okay, then we find a magical gateway to the underworld and pummel this guy ourselves?”
I wished it were that easy. But I knew Ah-Puch wouldn’t be in Xib’alb’a. He’d had hundreds of years to plan his revenge, and I figured he wasn’t about to just waltz into hell and ask for the keys back. Besides, battling Ah-Puch ourselves would only end in disaster. He’d head-drop us in less than a second.
I had something different in mind. A backup plan, because I couldn’t balance the whole world’s survival on a single chile pepper. Despite my promise to Mr. O to keep it a secret, I’d already shown the pepper to Brooks and Hondo. I had no choice—too much was at stake. And they’d agreed: We definitely needed a plan B.
“You ever heard of the hero twins?” I asked Brooks. Her face went blank. I waved my hand in front of her eyes. “Earth to Brooks.”
“What?”
“Have you heard the story of the hero twins?”
She rolled her eyes. “Jun’ajpu’ and Xb’alamkej?”
“Yeah. Whatever you just said.”
“What about them?”
“They defeated the gods of the underworld.”
“And they never let anyone forget it, either,” she argued. “Big braggers, if you ask me.”
&n
bsp; “You actually know them?”
Brooks looked back at the map and twisted her mouth like she was trying to keep it closed.
“You do know them, don’t you?”
“Might’ve met the dirtbags once or twice.”
A vein in my forehead throbbed. “And you didn’t think you should tell me?”
“Why would I ever want to tell you about those losers? What do they have to do with anything?”
Hondo rubbed the back of his neck and his eyes bugged out like he knew a storm might be brewing.
I threw my hands up. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe the fact that they’re the only mortals to have defeated Ah-Puch. They have to have his playbook, right?” I knew Brooks was too smart to have overlooked this connection.
Her nostrils flared. “Those guys are nothing but trouble. And they’re not exactly mortals,” she added. “Their mom was the daughter of some lord in the underworld, and their dad was the god Jun Jun’ajpu’. Except he wasn’t actually alive… I mean, when the mom met him, he was just a head, a skull.”
Hondo grimaced. “She fell for a skull? Was she desperate or something?”
“I don’t even want to know,” I said.
Brooks shrugged. “Not worth knowing.”
“The twins might be our only shot,” I said.
Hondo popped open a bag of Cheetos and stuffed a few in his mouth. “I get where you’re going with this. Maybe they’ll share their war strategy with you.”
“Exactly.”
“Okay, first of all,” Brooks said with a huff, “they’re arrogant, selfish, obnoxious, weaselly…” She crossed her arms. “They’ve never told anyone the real truth of how they defeated Puke. Mostly they’ve let the story build them into some stupid legend status so they can keep the magical powers the gods gave them for being such”—she made air quotes—“‘heroes.’ I mean, who cares that they took down stupid Seven Macaw? As if that’s hard or something.”
“Seven who?” Hondo said.
