Hunters of Chaos (15 page)

As the shards settled into mounds on the floor, they began to writhe. I crawled forward a few inches on my hands and knees and watched in horror as four plumes of smoke arose from the ashes. The first to form was an eagle. The next cloud of smoke coiled itself into a snake. Then came a monkey, and finally a bat, spreading its leathery wings. I wasn't sure which to fear most, but I knew that in Mayan culture the bat represented the guardian of the underworld. Watching the bat form from the dust of the vase was like seeing death personified.

These must be the Chaos Spirits Anubis had mentioned—the ones he was determined to set free. The four of us looked on in awe as they blasted through the ceiling of the basement, leaving a scorched hole in their wake. Moments later I heard breaking glass followed by a howl of wind. That must have been the evil creatures smashing their way out of the museum windows and into the night sky.

Anubis once more lifted his clawed hands toward the ruined ceiling and let out a triumphant cackle that sickened me. Ixchel sank to her knees.

“Is it over?” asked Lin, her eyes squeezed shut.

Just then debris from the broken ceiling began to fall. With a sickening crack, a heavy piece of concrete and marble dislodged itself and tumbled down, crashing into the bench we were hiding behind. Splinters and bits of wood flew everywhere, stinging our skin. But we had bigger problems: Our cover was literally blown. Anubis turned his malevolent red eyes to us, seeing us for the first time.

“No,” I whispered. “It isn't over.”

T
HE TRIUMPHANT SMILE FADED FROM
Anubis's face.

Ixchel grinned. “Yes, Anubis,” she intoned in her ethereal voice. “As I said, preparations have been made. I have assembled the Wildcats, and they will put an end to the Brotherhood of Chaos.”

Doli, Shani, Lin, and I looked at one another. Wildcats? What was she talking about? And why did the sight of us seem to scare the god of death?

Ixchel chanted something in an ancient Mayan dialect and raised her arms. Soon the dust surrounding the remains of the once-beautiful vase swirled into life, and the shapes of the four cats that had been pressed into each side rose into the air. Gliding like apparitions, the tiger moved into position in front of Lin, the puma aimed itself at Doli, the lion faced Shani, and the jaguar squared off in front of me. They had a filmy ghostlike quality, as if they had been sketched in pencil on a bolt of silk. But as we watched, their soft gray outlines took shape and they became living, breathing animals, with brilliantly colored fur and rippling, muscular bodies. The lion let out a roar that rattled my rib cage, and my stomach dropped into my shoes. I'd seen all of these animals before in the zoo, but there had always been a deep pit and thick glass walls separating us. Now there was nothing. I couldn't remember the last time I'd been so scared.

“They're going to eat us,” Lin said, her voice quivering.

“Run!” Shani cried.

But I couldn't move. None of us could. The jaguar had me locked in its gaze and I felt paralyzed. It huffed once, twice, then came charging toward me at full speed. Part of me wanted to pull back, to run, but a deeper part felt pulled toward the jaguar.
This is meant to happen.
I don't know where the thought came from, and I couldn't tell you how I knew it was true. But I did.

Crazy as it sounds, I spread my arms open wide and welcomed the cat as if it were a long-lost pet. The jaguar slammed into me like a freight train, knocking me off my feet.

“Oof!” I fell, my back slamming into the floor. But the pain never came. Instead an intense tingling sensation vibrated up the length of my spine, as if it were a plucked violin string.

For one horrifying moment all I could see was a blinding white light, and I thought maybe I'd died and had entered a tunnel to the afterlife. But within seconds my vision returned, the world around me slowly coming back into view. I was once again in the dark basement—only it wasn't dark anymore. Now everything was as clear as day, as if I were wearing night-vision goggles. I looked around me to see where the jaguar had gone, but my own personal spirit animal was nowhere to be found. Had it run away? Slowly I moved to stand on my two feet, but when I glanced down, I realized I didn't
have
feet anymore. Instead I had four paws and a long thick tail covered in blond fur and black spots. I ran my tongue across my teeth and felt two impossibly long fangs on top and a matching set on bottom.

Oh my God!
I thought.
I
am
the jaguar
.

I craned my neck to find my friends—but they were gone. In their place stood a lion, a puma, and a tiger. I met the puma's gaze and could almost see Doli staring out at me. She batted her tail against the ground as if to say
What the heck just happened to us?
Shani tried to speak, but all that came out was another bone-rattling lion roar. And Lin kept shaking her whole body as if she could shrug the tiger's skin loose like an unwanted fur coat and be human again. But there was no going back now. We were Wildcats.

Before I could even figure out what that meant, Anubis, who I'd almost forgotten was still standing across from us, cried out and his face twisted with fear. He turned on his clawed feet and ran.

Ixchel stood up and faced us, the serpent on her head hissing and flicking its tongue. When Ixchel spoke, her mouth did not move. Her voice sounded in my ears, filling every corner of my mind.
Wildcats,
she said.
Together you are more powerful than Anubis could ever be. Go after him! You are the only hope.

I was still so confused, but somehow I knew she was right. The dreams I'd had of the jungle flashed across my mind, and I knew what I had to do. When I shouted to the others to follow me, it came out as a low roar, rumbling in my chest.
Great,
I thought.
How am I supposed to make them understand?
But when I took off running, they did too. Together we sprinted, side by side.

I ran through the halls of the empty museum, feeling a little clumsy at first. It was weird to run with four legs. And every time I turned a corner, my claws slid comically against the smooth basement tile. But once I stopped thinking about it, the claws retracted and my legs fell into a natural gallop. The rubbery pads of my paws gripped the floor as my powerful leg muscles pushed me up the stairs and onto the main level. As I twitched my whiskers, feeling them shiver in the breeze, I somehow knew that they were more than decoration; they told me how far away I was from my prey. He had a big lead on us, but we were rapidly closing the distance. Preparing for the hunt, I inhaled the rank odor of Anubis, realizing with astonishment that I wasn't
learning
how to do this—I was
remembering
. The dreams I'd had were so vivid, they'd felt more like memories. Maybe they were.

I thought about the night I'd touched the orb and how my senses had changed afterward. I'd been able to smell things that would have been impossible to detect with my human nose; I'd heard sounds that only an animal could hear. And that first night . . . I'd attacked Nicole like a predator in the wild! Like a cat. I knew now that touching that orb had awakened an ancient power in me—in all of us—that we hadn't even known existed. And now that power was a million times more intense. It felt like I'd always been meant to be a jaguar, and even as my human mind struggled to understand what was happening to me, my cat self wanted nothing but to hunt Anubis.

I lifted my head and breathed in the foul scent of evil. It seemed to hang in the air all around me like raw meat.
Destroy it. Destroy it.
The thought pulsed in my mind, the need in me growing by the second. I looked at the other cats and saw the same consuming hunger in their eyes. I'd felt this way before. . . . Suddenly I remembered the hyena in the dream, and how I had longed to sink my teeth into its throat. The morning after I'd had that dream, I'd felt sick to my stomach, but now, in my jaguar state, the bloodlust returned. With me leading the way, we galloped out of the museum and around the corner of the building, following Anubis's stench.

At last I caught sight of him leaping through one of the windows that the Chaos Spirits had shattered on their way out. One of the jagged shards of glass from the broken window cut into my paw as I passed, but I kept going. Lin, Shani, and Doli matched my pace. Anubis turned back and saw that we were closing in. He stopped to lift a large potted plant off the lawn and heave it at us. Lin, Shani, and I dived out of the way, while Doli easily jumped over the clay pot, landing lightly on her paws and emitting an almost playful growl, as if to say,
Is that all you've got?
The jackal took off again, bounding over benches and around buildings, doing his best to lose us. But his horrible smell, now tinged with fear, plus the wet slapping sound of his taloned feet against the grass, gave away his presence, even when we briefly lost sight of him. He couldn't hide from us!

Finally we trapped him against the gate of a fence that enclosed the school grounds near the museum.
Gotcha!
But just as Shani bared her teeth and took a step toward Anubis, he bent his knees and leaped, vaulting over the barrier with amazing ease.

Doli roared and swiped at the gate, rattling it with her paws, but it was no use. The gate was locked. Why? It was usually left open. But that wouldn't stop me. I sensed that Anubis was not the only creature who had the power to vault over the gate. I backed up a few feet, feeling the tension in my paws, and then sprang forward. I ran and jumped, stretching my front paws ahead of me, sailing through the air. On the other side of the gate, I landed gracefully on all four paws. I wanted to jump for joy. I was really a jaguar! I still couldn't believe it. Was that why Aunt Teppy had given me the necklace? Had she known all along that this would happen? But I couldn't think about that now. Anubis was getting away.

One by one, the others ran and jumped over the gate too. I looked into each of their eyes, seeing both the cat and the girl inside. We were the Wildcats Ixchel had warned Anubis about. And, together, we couldn't fail.

I 'd landed on the dirt road near the front entrance of the school. I swung my head to the left and to the right. I couldn't see the jackal. But Lin chuffed and swung her head toward the mountains in the distance. Finally I saw what she did: the small puffs of dust kicking up from the ground as Anubis came out of his hiding place behind the fountain and ran for the red cliffs. If he made it, we'd never find him—he'd have too many places to hide. I growled and took off so quickly, I felt the wind whistle through my whiskers and ripple over my fur. In a flash he was almost in our grasp. Two more seconds and I'd be close enough to pounce on his back.

But just when we were about to overtake him, he whirled and aimed the flail in our direction. He fired a magical blast, which streamed through the air like the tail of a comet. Shimmering red and gold fire hit all of us at once. It felt like being struck by lightning.

I screamed and collapsed to the ground, feeling my body shift violently. I landed facedown, breathing into the grass. Craning my neck, I saw my human arms and my own black hair blocking my sight, and shuddered. What had he done to me? I moved my hair out of the way and saw Lin and Shani collapsed a few feet away. Doli lay on my other side, taking shallow breaths. We were all human again.

“Just as I thought,” said Anubis, his stench intensifying as he dared to come closer. “You are new cats. You lack the strength to control your powers. You are no threat to the Brotherhood of Chaos.” He aimed his flail. “And now I will obliterate the Wildcats forever.”

I winced, preparing for the blow. But as the magic blasted from his weapon once more, a figure ran out from behind the low scrub brush that flanked the road.
Ixchel!
The full force of Anubis's attack struck the goddess's chest and she wailed, collapsing to the ground in a heap. I watched as the supernatural light that had radiated from her skin faded and disappeared. The Mayan goddess of war slowly faded, and in seconds she was Ms. Benitez again. But she wasn't moving.

I glared at Anubis. If Ms. Benitez had died protecting us, I would have my revenge.

In the distance I began to hear voices—the crowd of people we'd evacuated earlier were leaving the dorm and heading back to the museum, probably to check out the damage and see if they could recover their belongings. Soon they'd be close enough to see us outside the gates.

“This isn't over, Wildcats,” Anubis said with a growl. “The Chaos Spirits are free, and the Brotherhood of Chaos will rise again!” With that, he loped away, disappearing into the darkness.

“This didn't happen. This didn't happen. This isn't real.” Shani slowly got to her feet and paced back and forth, looking down at Ms. Benitez and shaking her head. Lin still sat in the dirt, staring at her own hands as if she didn't recognize them.

“Is she okay?” Doli asked, sounding as if she might cry. She gestured to where Ms. Benitez was slumped on the ground. “Tell me she's okay.”

“I don't know.” I struggled to my feet and went to her, calling out, “Ms. Benitez!” No response. I pressed my hand to her neck, feeling for a pulse. It was weak, but it was there. “She's alive,” I breathed to my friends.

At last her eyes fluttered open and slid over to my face. “Ana,” she croaked. “You know what you are now. These powers have been part of your families for centuries. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you before. You would not have believed me. But now that the mantles have been passed to the four of you, you
must
continue the fight.”

“But how?” I cried. “How are we supposed to win against a
god
?”

I mean, could she hear how crazy that sounded? Three weeks ago my biggest concern was that some of the private-school girls might be mean, or that I wouldn't be able to keep up in my classes. Now I find out I'm part jaguar, my teacher is an ancient Mayan goddess, and my shape-shifting friends and I have to take on the demon king of the underworld and his minions—who want to kill us. Where had all
that
been in the Temple Academy welcome packet?