The Circle of Lies Page 11

  The chains on the gates and the high walls might have stopped three teenage girls, but once we’d transformed into three large cats—and one small black one—the barriers barely ranked as obstacles. We left our belongings under a tree and easily scaled the wall after prowling along its edge until we found a soft place to land inside the grounds. I lifted my nose, sniffing the air and hoping to catch Ms. Benitez’s scent, but the heavy rain made it hard to smell anything.

  I stood at the foot of the stairs, looking up at the small structure above the steps, dark and mysterious against the starlit sky. I remembered Uncle Mec telling me that the Mayans had built ninety-one steps on each of the four sides. Those plus the top platform equaled 365, the number of days in a year. To the Mayans there was both magic and order in numbers. I ran up the steps in front of me, hoping to find a clue in the small room at the top, but there was nothing inside. And when I came back out and looked at the view from there, I remembered that Chichén Itzá was more than just the structure I stood on now, El Castillo. It was a city of ruins, one whose people had abandoned it one day for some unknown reason. A city where ritual sacrifices had taken place to satisfy the gods of rain, who seemed to be alive and well. As the distant clouds above continued to pour over the ruins, I could feel the whole area pulsing with power. But how were we supposed to find Ms. Benitez?

  As I was about to descend the stairs, I spotted a figure carved into the outside wall. My heart jumped into my throat as I realized it was a stylized cat, just like the one I’d seen on the vases outside the temple at school. This carving was old. It had been worn away by time and rain, but it was still obvious that it had been here even before these structures had become ruins.

  A year ago I might have written the symbol off as just another sign that the Mayans, along with many other ancient peoples, revered cats. But I knew now that this symbol indicated the presence of the Brotherhood of Chaos. I hissed at it and backed away, then hurried down the stairs, feeling a growing sense of dark magic simmering all around us. On my way back to the others, I noticed a waxy flyer on the ground. I pawed at it, but it sank deeper into the mud under my weight. I needed human hands. I transformed back into my human form and picked up the flyer. The others changed too, and Doli asked, “What is it?”

  “It’s a tourist guide,” I answered, “and there’s a map on the back.”

  “Great,” Lin said. “Does it have a little red arrow on it anywhere that says, ‘Ms. Benitez is here’?”

  I grunted. “I wish. We’re just going to have to look around. If she’s here, maybe we’ll feel her presence.”

  I dropped the map, and we transformed back into our cat selves. But after searching all the nearby ruins and coming up empty, we were all getting discouraged. Even the black cat seemed tired, listlessly pawing at the ground. Inside one of the large stone enclosures, we collapsed onto our haunches and took a break.

  My paws are killing me, Lin complained, and I’m starving. She chuffed at us and shook her huge head, spraying water from her striped coat.

  Hey! Watch that, Doli said.

  Like it matters, I broke in. We’re all soaked to the bone anyway.

  We were getting tired and cranky, and if I’m being honest, we were more than a little scared. What was I thinking, bringing us out here? I wondered. Maybe I’d made a huge mistake.

  Of course, I’d forgotten that in our cat forms, the others could hear my thoughts. Lin pounced right away. Good question, she responded. What if Ms. Benitez isn’t even here? For all you know she’s sipping margaritas back at some other hotel, where she’s warm . . . and dry! Lin shivered again, sending more sprays of water into the air.

  No, I insisted. She wouldn’t do that. Not when she knows my aunt and uncle could be in danger.

  Don’t be so naive, Lin argued. I know you think it’s just me, but everyone is a little selfish, deep down.

  Even ancient Mayan gods? Doli asked.

  Especially gods! Haven’t you ever read Greek mythology? Ares killed Adonis just because he wanted Aphrodite for himself. Calypso trapped guys on her island for years because she was bored and lonely. And don’t even get me started on—

  Guys! The cat—she’s leaving, I interrupted. We all turned to watch as the sleek black cat sped up the stairs of the chamber and paused at the doorway. She scratched at the ground and sniffed the dirt, then turned her luminous green eyes on us.

  I think she’s telling us she knows where to go, I said. This is the same thing that happened when she led us to the entrance of the temple on campus. Remember, Doli?

  I remember.

  I swished my heavy tail. Let’s follow her.

  We all took off running after the cat. If I hadn’t been in jaguar form, it would have been almost impossible to keep an eye on her, since she blended into the shadows so well. But she was leading us on a path straight back to El Castillo. Moments later we found ourselves at the foot of the giant pyramid, right where we had started.

  This can’t be right, I said. I checked this already, and it was empty.

  We didn’t know about the temple’s secret entrance back on campus either, though, Doli reminded me. Maybe the cat knows something we don’t.

  She’d better, Lin added. If this isn’t it, I’m heading back to that hotel and calling my father.

  Sure enough, instead of climbing, as I had done, the cat padded around to the left side of the pyramid, the one facing the expanse of trees. There, not far from the serpent head statue at the base of the stairs, was a door—one that hadn’t appeared on any map I’d ever seen—camouflaged into the rock. The cat pawed it, yowling and looking back at us. Instinctually I roared along with her. Soon Lin and Doli joined in, our roars matched only by the pounding of the rain. Slowly the door crept open just enough for us to see a dim light beckoning us inside. I leaned against the door. It budged a little, but it was heavy. Lin, Doli, I need your help, I called.

  They came right away, and we each pressed our muscular bodies against the door until finally it ground open and emitted more of that unnatural light. From deep inside we heard voices shouting and felt a surge of power buzzing all around us. I looked at my friends. She’s here! We ran in without another thought.

  At the bottom of the stairs we stopped to look at the walls around us. The décor was horrifyingly familiar. The odd light I had noticed from outside came from torches fitted into sconces mounted on the walls—fires that no human hand had lit. The flames licking at the carvings in the wall made the carvings look even more disturbing. Bat-winged demons with sharpened claws descended on a pride of lions. Armies of skeletons armed with spears marched toward cornered tigers. What looked like panthers cowered in fear before gigantic serpents. And horrible-looking monkey creatures leered at a group of suffering jaguars.

  It looks just like the hall of suffering from the last temple, I said. We must be in another temple of the Brotherhood of Chaos!

  Doli shook her great puma head. This one is worse.

  Why do you say that? Lin asked, her eyes darting around the room.

  Because in the last one everyone was fair game for torture. But most of these picture demons tormenting and killing big cats—like us.

  Look away, I ordered immediately. It’s just meant to scare us off. Ms. Benitez needs us.

  Just then we heard a woman scream. As one, we took off in the direction of her voice, the black cat racing along behind us.

  We came to another set of stairs that spiraled down into what should have been darkness, but instead the staircase was lit with the glow of magic. It was way too narrow for us to go down as cats, so we transformed back into our human selves and descended the stairs. When we reached the bottom, we found her: Ixchel, her arms raised against a tall man wearing a bird-beak mask and carrying a wooden shield. The air hummed with magic, and Ixchel’s deep purple eyes flashed with power, but I could tell she was tired. How long has she been fighting? Days?

  “You have come too soon,” Ixchel shouted at the man in that voice t
hat sounded like many and one at the same time. “The End Times are not yet upon us.” She sent a bolt of white light soaring at her enemy, but he blocked it with his shield and it bounced off harmlessly.

  “You are wrong,” he said. “The balance of good and evil has shifted, and the earth cries out for me. Do not get in my way!” He swung his ax at her, and she backed out of its path.

  I stared at the man, my mind exploding with shock. I had seen him before. Not the real-life being, but statues and drawings of him. Aunt Teppy had taken me once to the Cleveland Museum of Art to see an exhibit about mythical creatures of the ancient world. I’d stood before a colorful drawing of him for the longest time, trying to decide if he was good or bad. The Aztecs had thought he was the god of wind, but the Mayans had called him by another name—one that meant “the feathered serpent.”

  “It’s Quetzalcoatl!” I shouted. “He’s another Mayan god.”

  “He’s not on our side, I take it,” said Lin.

  I sighed. “Not exactly. He represents both good and evil, but he’s only supposed to return to earth when the world is coming to an end. If he’s here, it’s because Anubis convinced him that the battle between good and evil was almost over and that Anubis was going to win. Quetzalcoatl has come to help end things.”

  “But he looks like a regular man,” Doli said, confused.

  “That isn’t his true form.”

  Lin cringed. “I hate to ask, but what is his true form?”

  “You don’t want to know.”

  As we watched, Quetzalcoatl backed Ixchel into a corner. He shot a bolt of magic at Ixchel, and she went flying into the wall, hit it with a sickening thud, and slid to the floor.

  “We have to help her!” I yelled. I put Quetzalcoatl in my sights and thought of him not as a man or a god or even a feathered serpent—but as dinner. A juicy capybara, maybe, that I spotted through dense forest trees. I licked my muzzle, already salivating at the thought of taking down my prey. Without another sound I charged Quetzalcoatl. Lin and Doli were right behind me. Together we leaped onto the warrior’s back, tackling him to the floor. I snapped at the back of his neck, catching the salty taste of his skin, which felt surprisingly more like the leathery hide of a snake. But the acrid smell of fear seeped from him in pungent waves like a man.

  He let out a cry and rolled away from us, but Doli lunged for him, letting out a long “RAWWWR!” She snagged his thigh and calf with her long sharp claws, opening up two punishing wounds, and his skin flapped down like a banana peel. Somehow he got to his feet and limped away into a nearby chamber, squealing in terror and leaving a trail of blood behind him. It wasn’t enough to stop him for good, I knew—he was a god, after all—but Doli had bought us precious time.

  I transformed again, ran to Ixchel, and knelt by her side. Before my eyes Ixchel’s snake headpiece and plum-colored eyes disappeared and were replaced by Ms. Benitez’s dark brown eyes. Her matching hair was plastered to her sweat-drenched face. Her normally creamy tan complexion was pale and splotchy, the blood beneath her skin so near the surface. She was breathing hard, and her eyes rolled in their sockets as though she were a spooked horse. Slowly she brought them under control, clearly struggling to focus. Finally she saw my face. “Ana! I thought I might never see you again in this life. How did you find me?”

  “We weren’t sure we’d ever see you again either,” Doli said. “When we found out that you had never checked in at the hotel, we thought something awful had happened. I guess we were right.”

  “I shouldn’t have come to Chichén Itzá on my own,” she agreed.

  “Why did you?” Lin asked.

  “When I landed in Cancún, I felt something pulling me to Chichén Itzá. When I got here, I realized that the power I’d felt was dark magic. Anubis had brought Quetzalcoatl back to life before his time in order for Quetzalcoatl to join the Brotherhood of Chaos.”

  I sucked in my breath. It all made sense. Anubis was bringing more gods to life in order to build the strength of the Brotherhood of Chaos. If he was successful in getting enough of them together, the Wildcats wouldn’t stand a chance against them, and the modern world would be thrown into chaos. In my mind I pictured raging forest fires, tsunamis, senseless wars. . . . In other words, hell on earth. “But why would he choose Quetzalcoatl?” I replied, my voice straining. “My aunt and uncle told me that Quetzalcoatl wasn’t all evil. He represented knowledge and wisdom.”

  “That’s true, Ana,” Ms. Benitez said, getting to her feet and dusting herself off. “But power can be corrupted. Quetzalcoatl has been waiting centuries for his moment to take center stage at the end of days, which is his destined role. Anubis has offered to end his wait.”

  “So Lin was right,” I said. “Gods can be selfish.”

  Ms. Benitez nodded. “Yes, they can. And Anubis knows it. He will use his knowledge of their deepest desires to rebuild the Brotherhood and restore its former power.”

  “Not if we have anything to say about it,” I said.

  Ms. Benitez reached out and cupped my cheek. “Brave girls.”

  Just then I heard a hissing sound like air being let out of a hundred tires. I spun around to see a huge green serpent slithering into the room from the hidden chamber where Quetzalcoatl had retreated after Doli’s attack. The snake had red and green feathers sprouting from his head like a Mohawk, and his eyes were solid white. If he had been hurt by our attack moments before, it didn’t show. He radiated power.

  Instinctually I transformed into my jaguar guise and snarled at this new enemy.

  H-his t-true form? Lin stammered, backing away.

  True form, I confirmed.

  Ms. Benitez shimmered in front of us, turning back into the Mayan goddess of war. As Ixchel, she seemed to gain a foot of height, and a coiled green snake writhed menacingly on top of her head, only adding to the effect. Her sweaty, blotched skin disappeared beneath Ixchel’s smooth brown complexion. She wore a bold blue-and-red skirt of heavy cloth, a band of blue fabric over her chest, and a necklace of light blue stones around her neck. Her purple eyes, glowing with a magic so pure that it almost hurt to look at them, surveyed all with a calm confidence I wished I had. Doli, who had remained a human just long enough to check her own wounds, now turned into a puma and stood by Ixchel’s side. Soon Lin and I joined the line, facing down this new foe as the Hunters of Chaos. “Wildcats,” Ixchel whispered. “Listen with your eyes.”

  At first I didn’t know what she meant, but then the scene in front of me vanished, and instead I saw a vision of us dividing and conquering, attacking Quetzalcoatl in a way he wouldn’t be expecting. On my word, Ixchel’s voice whispered into my mind. The vision dissipated, and I looked at my fellow Wildcats. The knowing looks in their eyes told me they’d had the same vision. Ixchel’s powers never ceased to amaze me.

  We waited until he got close enough for us to smell his foul breath, then Ixchel yelled, “NOW!” Just like in the vision, we darted to his side instead of charging him head-on, while Ixchel let out a blast of power that sent the serpent slithering backward. He swung his enormous head to the left and right, hissing in frustration. He can’t see us, I realized. Ixchel’s blast had temporarily blinded him. By the time he could see again, we were on all sides of him, and we attacked as one. He turned his head and spotted Lin about to pounce, so he whipped his tail, sending her flying into the stone wall by the stairs. She emitted a strangled cry that seemed like it had been torn from her throat. She rolled onto her side, and I saw a wet patch of blood where her temple had connected with the wall.

  Doli bounded over the serpent’s whipping tail, landed on the upper part of his body, and sunk her teeth into his neck. He hissed in pain and rolled over, pinning Doli beneath him.

  We must draw him away from her, or she’ll be crushed, Ixchel said.

  I looked around the room, searching for a weapon I could use against the giant snake. Finally I spotted a thin stone pillar that seemed to be the only thing holding up one of the chambers in
the back. I know what to do, I told her. Shine your light on me to draw his attention.

  Ixchel looked at me with her unearthly eyes and raised her hand, speaking a few words in an ancient Mayan language. Soon I was awash in a pure white glow. The snake’s eyes were drawn to me. He moved away from Doli, who limped over to Lin and nudged her. Meanwhile, I held the snake’s gaze and stood right in front of the pillar.

  I roared in his face, baring my teeth and daring him to come for me. From zoology class, I knew that all snakes strike the same way. They rear back and snap forward with such speed and force that most of their prey don’t even realize they’ve been struck. But I was waiting for him. As he reared back, I sank onto my haunches, feeling my muscles tighten, ready to spring. And just before his head snapped forward, I leaped to the side, so that instead of devouring me, he crashed into the pillar. The pillar disintegrated on impact, sending the rock wall that had been held back by the thin support beam crashing down onto the snake’s head. Within seconds his entire body was buried.

  All the adrenaline I had built up left me in a blur, and I started to shake. I looked down and realized that I was human once more. I raised myself onto my forearms and looked into the eyes of the tiger and the puma across the room. As I watched, the puma’s short sandy coat became a flowing mane of ink-black hair, its haunches became long brown legs, and its round yellow eyes gave way to the brown almond-shaped eyes of my friend Doli. Lin transformed too, letting go of the tiger and resuming her usual delicate beauty.

  “That was brilliant!” Doli cried, running over to me.

  “Brilliant and insane,” Lin added. “Are you crazy? He could have killed you.”

  I let out a nervous laugh. “He was pretty much trying to do that anyway, right? I had to do something to make him stop. Anyway, it worked. It’s over. So what do we do now, boss lady?” I said with a wink.

  Doli shook her head with a rueful smile. “First thing is we get you to stop calling me that. It’s bad enough I can’t break Shani of the habit.”