He shook his head. ‘‘The Nightkeepers are the good guys. We’ve got the gods on our side.’’ He paused. ‘‘Look, the short version is that I’m one of the last three surviving members of an ancient group of magi sworn to protect the earth from the 2012 apocalypse. Several hundred of us—including my parents—died in the early eighties enacting a spell designed to permanently seal the gateway to the underworld, Xibalba. Now it’s looking like someone, probably this Zipacna—not a very creative name, by the way—managed to reactivate the gateway, probably through some large-scale blood sacrifices. ’’
Leah jammed her fingertips into her temples when her spinning head threatened to float off her shoulders. ‘‘Which leaves it up to you to save the world.’’
‘‘Right,’’ he said again, and looked at her. ‘‘You’re not buying it.’’
‘‘Unfortunately, I think you are.’’ She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to slow the spins, trying not to freak right the hell out and start screaming. ‘‘And here I was last night thinking you were a fantasy, and how that was better than your being a doomsday nut.’’
‘‘Last night?’’
She realized her mistake too late, and backpedaled. ‘‘I meant just now.’’
‘‘No, you didn’t. Which means you dreamed about me.’’
Everything inside her went still. ‘‘Why do you say that?’’
Heat kindled in his dark blue eyes. ‘‘Because I sure as hell dreamed of you. Which means this isn’t a ‘wrong place, wrong time’ thing, or an accident. We were meant to meet. We were meant to be together like we were just now.’’ He held out a hand. ‘‘Give me your right wrist.’’
Resisting the urge to stick her hands behind her back, she did as he asked. ‘‘No ink.’’
‘‘What happened here?’’ His thumb lightly brushed over a lighter, roughly circular patch on her forearm.
‘‘Old scar.’’ She withdrew her arm. ‘‘No biggie. Don’t even remember how I got it.’’ Feeling trapped, she looked around the room, focusing on the doorway, which was still tightly shut. ‘‘Please tell me you know how to get us out of here.’’
He raised one dark eyebrow, but said only, ‘‘Will you do something for me first?’’
Keeping her distance, she said, ‘‘Depends.’’
‘‘It’s nothing bad. Trust me.’’ He bent and scooped the black stone knife from the floor. Offered it to her. ‘‘Take this.’’
She held up both hands. ‘‘I’m so not cutting you.’’ And none of this was real. It was all a dream. It had to be.
He flipped the knife one-handed, so he was holding on to the blade, then closed his fingers over the sharp edge, cutting himself.
‘‘Don’t!’’ She lurched forward, only to stop dead when he flipped the knife again and offered it to her haft-first, seeming unconcerned by the blood oozing from between his fingers.
‘‘Your turn.’’
The walls of unreality closed in on her, and her laugh came out tinged with hysteria. ‘‘I’m not cutting myself. No freaking way. Zipacna already . . .’’ Her words died as she glanced down at her upper arm and saw slices in the fabric of her soggy shirt, but none in the skin beneath. ‘‘What the . . . ?’’ She pawed at the shirt, pulling it down over her shoulder to see the spot where she’d been badly cut no more than an hour ago.
Instead of gashes there were three parallel scars, thin with age.
The blood drained from her head and her gut clenched with fear and denial. Her voice went thin. ‘‘There’s no such thing as magic.’’
‘‘Then this won’t work.’’ He held out the knife. ‘‘Just deep enough to draw blood.’’
She stared at the knife, hearing Zipacna’s voice in her head.
Accept the power; take a master inside you
. But this guy wasn’t Zipacna. He claimed he was going to track the bastard down. The enemy of her enemy was her friend, right?
Ignoring the little voice inside her that said,
Not necessarily
, compelled by an urge she didn’t recognize, couldn’t name, she took the knife and dragged the tip across her palm. It didn’t hurt as much as she’d expected, but the chamber took a long, lazy spin around her as blood welled up, the droplets dark red against her skin. ‘‘What now?’’
‘‘Repeat after me.’’ He slowly recited a string of words, pausing after each one and waiting while she parsed them out syllable by syllable. As she did, the air seemed to thicken around her, and the room spins upped their revs.
When he fell silent, she looked at him. ‘‘That’s it?’’
He shook his head. ‘‘Now say,
‘Pasaj och.
’ ’’
She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and steeled herself.
‘‘Pasaj och!’’
Nothing happened.
She waited. Still nothing.
Letting out a long, shuddering breath, she opened her eyes. The room had stopped spinning, and the wary hope that’d briefly gathered on Strike’s face had fallen away to a bleakness so terrible she almost wished she’d felt something. But she shook her head. ‘‘Sorry . . . does that mean I’m right and there’s no such thing as magic?’’
‘‘No,’’ he said softly, and crossed to take the knife from her. ‘‘It means I failed.’’ He took her hand and pressed their bleeding palms together, bringing a spark of connection and a hint of sadness. ‘‘It means this isn’t your fight.’’
‘‘Bull,’’ she said quickly, though the word came out slightly slurred as a gray curtain descended over her. ‘‘Zipacna is mine. He killed Matty and Nick. He—’’
‘‘Hush,’’ Strike whispered. ‘‘Sleep.’’ He said a few more words in that strange language and gray mist surrounded her, cushioned her.
She felt herself falling, felt strong arms catch her.
Then nothing.
‘‘Here.’’ Rabbit shoved a can of Coke across the kitchen table in Jox’s direction.
The
winikin
took the can and stared at it, his wits dulled with fatigue and grief, with failure. Strike had been gone for hours. The solstice had passed, and although the barrier remained active, Red-Boar hadn’t been able to find him.
Here one second, then poof. Gone while his
winikin
counted pallets of cow shit and bitched about broken bags.
‘‘Drink,’’ Rabbit urged. ‘‘You know—sugar? Caffeine? The old man isn’t the only one who needs to recharge.’’
Magic consumed enormous amounts of energy, so while Red-Boar had searched, Jox had done what a
winikin
ought, forcing the mage to eat and drink, mostly foods that were heavy on fat, sugar, and protein. Even with that, the Nightkeeper’s strength had given out eventually. He’d staggered off to bed an hour earlier, muttering something about looking in their few remaining spellbooks when he got up.
He hadn’t bothered stating the obvious; that they might already be too late. Strike had teleported with no training, no guidance. For all they knew, he’d materialized inside a mountain.
‘‘I could help, you know,’’ Rabbit said out of nowhere.
Jox looked across the table to find the kid fiddling with his own soda can, practically vibrating with suppressed excitement.
Oh, hell.
This was so not what he needed right now. ‘‘Listen, Rabbit,’’ Jox said, wishing one of the others could’ve handled the convo. ‘‘You know there are . . . circumstances that’re going to make it difficult to induct you into the magic. It could be dangerous. Probably will be.’’
Rabbit scowled. ‘‘I’m a half-blood. Trust me, I got that. But it doesn’t mean I can’t do magic, just that it might be different magic. And it’s not like you’ve got a bunch of options. What have you got to lose?’’
‘‘It’s not as easy as that,’’ Jox said, but held up a hand to stem the coming protest. ‘‘But I’ll talk to your father. That’s all I can promise.’’
Slumping in his chair, the teen shrugged and pretended to be absorbed by reading the side of his Coke can. ‘‘Whatever.’’ His tone made it clear he didn’t expect squat from Red-Boar, and frankly Jox couldn’t blame him.
‘‘Look, Rabbit. I’ll—’’
The house phone rang, interrupting. Jox stared at the cordless handset as it rang again, and fear gathered in the pit of his stomach. It could be Strike, he thought. Or it could be someone calling to say they’d found Strike. Or—
Nope. It was one or the other. And until he answered, the scale was evenly balanced between the two, between hope and despair.
It rang again, and Rabbit said, ‘‘You want me to get it?’’
‘‘No.’’ Jox reached for the phone with shaking hands and hit the speakerphone button on the second try. ‘‘Hello?’’
‘‘I’m okay.’’ It was Strike’s voice, tired-sounding and on a crappy connection, but it was his voice. He was alive, and somewhere on the earth. He wasn’t stuck in the barrier, and he hadn’t become an insta-fossil.
Jox exhaled on a rush of relief so intense it would’ve floored him if he hadn’t already been sitting down. ‘‘Thank the gods.’’ He went dizzy, and pinched the bridge of his nose when his eyes prickled. ‘‘Gods damn it, you had us scared.’’
‘‘Sorry. I called as soon as I got somewhere with a signal.’’
Jox waved for Rabbit to go get his father, but he needn’t have bothered. Red-Boar came stumbling in, bleary eyed. ‘‘Where is he?’’
‘‘I’m in the apartment down by Chichén Itzá,’’ Strike answered. ‘‘It’s a long story.’’ He rapped out a quick report about a murderer who’d gone through the
makol
ritual, and the woman he’d planned to sacrifice.
The words sort of blurred together, though, as Jox dropped his head into his hands.
Thank you, gods. Thank you for keeping him safe when his fuckup
winikin
was asleep at the switch. I’ll never ask you for anything ever again. I promise.
The vow lasted approximately thirty seconds or so, until Strike said something about a vision.
Jox whipped his head up. ‘‘Please gods, you did
not
just say what I think you said.’’
‘‘I used a sleep spell on her,’’ Strike said, ignoring the
winikin
. ‘‘She’ll be okay until you guys get down here, right?’’
‘‘Who cares?’’ Red-Boar said bluntly. ‘‘She’s collateral damage. We need to find the
ajaw-makol
before it starts multiplying. One of those green-eyed bastards is bad enough. We sure as hell don’t want an army of them.’’
‘‘We’ll find the
ajaw-makol
and take care of him,’’ Strike said, voice going hard. ‘‘But Leah is
not
collateral damage.’’
‘‘You’ve had a hell of a day,’’ Jox said quickly, before the two exhausted magi could get into it. ‘‘Put some protein into your system, and shut it down for a few hours. We can figure out the rest when we get there.’’
‘‘Don’t handle me, Jox,’’ Strike snapped. ‘‘I’ve been having the dreams for weeks. She had them, too. We recognized each other, for crap’s sake. And the
ajaw-makol
called her a keeper of the gods.’’
Shit
. Jox and Red-Boar exchanged a look, while Rabbit grinned at the prospect of a fight.
‘‘Forget the dreams.’’ Jox tried not to hear the words echo decades into the past. ‘‘Forget the woman. She’s not your priority.’’
‘‘How can you be so sure?’’ Strike’s voice roughened. ‘‘I heard it, Jox. I heard the god begging her to let it inside. I tried to help, tried to make the connection, but—’’ He broke off with a ragged sigh. ‘‘I wasn’t fast enough, not strong enough. The solstice passed and the voice . . . left. But it was real. She’s supposed to be a Godkeeper.’’
Right. Like that made sense. Mated Nightkeeper-Godkeeper pairs were supposed to be at the apex of the power scale, second only to the Triad, the three legendary magi who could channel all the knowledge and powers of their ancestors. No way the gods had chosen a human to be a Godkeeper.
Then again, it wasn’t like they’d had their choice of Nightkeeper females.
Jox pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to stave off the monster headache he could feel brewing. ‘‘You need to eat something,’’ he said, feeling for the boy—the man—he’d raised, who was both his son and his boss. Like his father before him, Strike was always reaching for more, never exactly happy with what was in front of him. And far too ready to bend the rules to fit his theories. ‘‘Keep the sleep spell going on the woman and get some rest. We’ll be there by dawn.’’
‘‘I’m not going to let this drop.’’
‘‘Tell me something I don’t know. See you soon.’’ Jox punched off the phone.
‘‘Bloody stubborn jaguars.’’ Red-Boar shoved away from the kitchen table and headed for his room, snapping, ‘‘Find us a charter. I want to be on the ground in Mexico before he does something else stupid.’’
Rabbit jumped up from the table and put himself between his father and the door. ‘‘I’m coming with you.’’
‘‘No fucking way.’’
‘‘But I can help.’’
Red-Boar snorted. ‘‘How?’’
The teen flushed. ‘‘Jack me in and I’ll show you.’’
‘‘Not happening. Stay here.’’ Red-Boar pushed past his son. ‘‘And don’t fuck anything up while we’re gone.’’
Rabbit took a step after him, fists clenched.
Jox crossed to the teen. He didn’t touch him because he knew the boy didn’t like to be touched, but he said, ‘‘Stay here and chill. Once we know what’s up, I’ll talk to him.’’
‘‘I didn’t ask to be a half-blood.’’ Rabbit’s voice shook. ‘‘That was his call.’’
‘‘I know.’’ Jox clasped the boy’s shoulder. ‘‘For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.’’
Rabbit shrugged him off. ‘‘Not your fault he’s a prick.’’
Maybe, maybe not. A
winikin
was supposed to guide his Nightkeeper as well as protect him. Red-Boar might not’ve been Jox’s blood-bound charge, but he’d become his responsibility by default. Jox had done his best, but that hadn’t been good enough; Red-Boar’s scars ran too deep, leaving the
winikin
once again in the position of trying to save the son when the father put himself beyond salvation.
‘‘I’ll talk to him,’’ Jox repeated. ‘‘If it comes to it, Strike will probably agree to jack you in without his consent.’’
‘‘But I won’t get a bloodline mark if he doesn’t accept me as his own.’’ Rabbit’s voice went rough—with anger, maybe, or tears. Or both. ‘‘No bloodline mark means no talent mark. No magic. What’s the point?’’