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“She wasn’t super clear,” he said. “I mean, she was a giant butterfly, and her voice was kind of far away, but I’m pretty sure she said that the stone has a name.” Adrik looked up. “She called it an entry stone. It opens places…places protected by the greatest power and magic anywhere.”
Ren’s hand flew up to her mouth. “Of course! Ixkik’ and Zotz want to break through the magic that surrounds SHIHOM!”
“To murder us while we sleep!” Brooks cried. “This place is protected, Zane! Like the island. If they got access…” Her voice trailed off as she pondered the horrors.
It seemed like an excellent guess, and even had high probability. But there was one problem: the fire deep inside me simmered, telling me that murdering us in our sleep wasn’t part of the plan. There was something bigger—something we weren’t seeing. But what?
“No,” Hondo said, shaking his head. “Ixkik’ definitely wants to murder us with our eyes wide open. She practically said so.”
“Why didn’t Dad warn us?” Alana looked stricken.
“Maybe he wasn’t up to speed on everything,” Adrik said.
I scratched Rosie’s neck as I tried to wrap my head around everything, but she seemed agitated and kept ducking my hand.
Brooks said, “Maybe Ixtab gave the stone some other powers we don’t even know about.”
Alana rolled her eyes and snorted.
“What’s wrong?” Ren asked.
“Sure,” Alana said like she was talking to herself, “give a stone some powers, but forget about your daughter.”
“No one forgot,” Adrik said. “It’s just dormant, is all.”
“Dormant?” Brooks raised her eyebrows. “What does that mean?”
Alana scanned our faces. “It means…” Her mouth trembled, and I thought she might start crying, but she held it together. “If I have any power at all, it’s hiding or sleeping or whatever.”
Adrik said, “It’s going to show up, Alana.”
Alana twisted her mouth nervously. “The Sparkstriker said it might never show up, and now my vision has…”
“Has what?” I stepped closer, gripping Fuego tightly.
Alana tipped back her head. “It’s gotten worse since the ceremony.”
“Like more sensitive to light?” Ren asked.
“Like blurrier,” she said.
“She even thought she had a brain tumor,” Adrik said, snickering.
Alana shot him a glare that could kill.
“It’s true,” he muttered.
Just then the biblioteca walls began to tremble, and the domed ceiling split open with a thunderous crack.
We all whipped our heads up to look. Rosie lunged in front of us, baring fangs of fire.
A god with shiny black hair stood on the edge of the hole, wearing his signature aviator shades and sparkling blue robe.
“Itzamna!” I said. “What are you doing here?”
“Really, Zane. You need to pay more attention to the story unfolding right in front of you!”
Itzamna floated down from the ceiling, his robe billowing behind him. The guy really knew how to make an entrance.
