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“Then they’re all…?” Ren couldn’t finish.
“No,” I said, remembering the message from Ah-Puch. “They’re just stuck in darkness.” At least, I hoped so.
An alarm sounded. A burning tug started in my gut. “The twins are getting close,” I warned.
“How do we get her out of there?” Adrik asked. “Preferably without getting killed?”
The devourer swam away, so far she disappeared into the murky water, only to reappear in front of us a moment later.
“She’s trying to tell us something.” Ren pressed her face to the glass.
Whining, Rosie pawed the aquarium.
“There must be an exit…” I said, trying to hide the desperation in my voice.
“Like through there?” Ren pointed to a door on the opposite side of the room, leading to the starboard deck.
Brooks got closer to the glass and craned her neck to look up. “The tank is open at the top. We can access it from above, but we’ll have to rip through the net.”
“You’re going to go in there?!” Adrik’s voice was in freak-out mode. “What if she eats you, too?”
“There’s no other way to release her,” Brooks said. “And if I know the twins, those chains are laced with magic—a magic so thick nothing is going to open them except more magic.”
I wished we still had Alana and Adrik’s stone. I would just have to try to reason with the beast.
“Ren,” I said, “hold off the twins with more shadows. Adrik, stay close to her.”
Rosie let out a growl that shook me to my bones. “You too, girl,” I said, before vanishing Fuego and turning to Brooks. “Let’s go.”
We threw off our heavy Obi-Wan robes, cracked open the starboard-side door, and checked for guards. This deck was clear and shrouded in darkness—all the lights were on the concert. Brooks shifted into a hawk and flew me up to a feeding platform that stretched partway over the tank. A net hovered about a foot above the water. Brooks quickly clawed a hole wide enough for one of us to squeeze through.
The devourer tried to rise up to meet us, but the chains kept her down.
“I’ll go in and try to break the chains,” I said.
Brooks nodded and I dove in.
The devourer immediately lunged at me, her mouth open wide. I reared back, but not before she put a claw on my shoulder and…
Talked to me?
She blinked at me as she said telepathically, Hurakan said I could trust you.
My dad knows I’m here?! Then I asked the dreaded question: Did you eat the gods?
They are alive. We must hurry.
How do I know you won’t run away when I release you?
Look! She clung to me, and in that moment, an image formed in my mind’s eye. There were no details of place, only fuzzy edges and Blood Moon’s haunting voice.
Follow the time rope, the goddess told the devourer. I’ll wait for you here.
The devourer did as commanded, and it looked like she was trailing a demon. The scene disappeared and was replaced with one of Jordan and Bird. Ixkik’ said to them, It is done. Then a pair of bony hands cut the time thread with scissors.
The vision faded, and I flutter-kicked back to the surface. So that’s how Blood Moon had sent the gods to 1987—she’d used a disposable demon as bait! But could I trust what I’d seen?
As soon as my head was above water, I told Brooks, “She was tricked.” I glanced at the door to the gallery, hoping Ren’s shadow wall was holding.
