The Circle of Lies Read online

  I shook my head. “We’re working on it. We’re actually on our way to see Ms. Benitez now, if you want to come with us.”

  “I would,” he said, “but I should really go check on my mom.”

  We both glanced toward the stage and saw Principal Ferris just standing there with a faraway look in her eye.

  “She seems kind of down,” I noted. “Is everything all right?”

  Jason sighed and shook his head. “Believe it or not, I think she’s just missing that creep Dr. Logan. She carries that note around with her all the time. I’ve caught her taking it out to read every once in a while, like she’s hoping this time it’ll say something different. I wish I could tell her he was actually a force of ancient evil so she would get over him, but she still thinks he was a stand-up guy. How messed up is that?”

  “Pretty messed up,” I agreed, “but it’s not her fault. He had weird power over some people. But now that he’s gone, maybe she’ll get over him.”

  “I hope so,” Jason said. “I really want her to be as happy as I am.” He squeezed my hand and gave me a shy smile before walking away. How could I feel so good about Jason, I wondered, and so bad about everything else at the same time?

  Outside, Shani, Lin, and Doli were waiting for me.

  “Sooo . . . how’s Jason?” Doli asked with a knowing smile.

  I felt my face warm. No use trying to deny it. “He’s fine.”

  “Then why do you look so confused?” Lin asked.

  “Because boys are confusing,” Shani answered for me. “And relationships are already hard enough without your crush knowing that you’re an evil-fighting wildcat who occasionally turns into a jaguar.”

  We all burst into laughter. It was funny because it was true.

  In the morning light cascading through her office window, Ms. Benitez looked a little faded, like a beloved T-shirt that had been washed one too many times. She had been out of the hospital for a few days now and had nearly recovered from Anubis’s attack. But she was clearly still weak. In her current state no one would ever suspect that she was really Ixchel, a Mayan goddess of war who’d been battling Anubis for centuries. The plain-looking history teacher with the dark brown eyes and hair, and eyeglasses hanging from a chain around her neck, was just a disguise she wore while she secretly helped to keep legendary evils at bay. In her real form, Ixchel was not someone you wanted to tangle with.

  Thankfully, she was on our side.

  “Girls!” she said when we walked in. She lifted her thin arms. “Wonderful to see you.”

  I noticed that she remained in her chair behind the desk instead of standing to greet us.

  “Good to see you, too,” Doli replied, leaning against the wall. “How are you feeling? Will you be back in class soon?”

  “I hope so, but I’d like to be at my full strength. Principal Ferris is generously allowing me to ease my way back in. I’ve told her that my weakness is a result of pain medications my doctor prescribed. She’s been very understanding.” She paused, taking time to look at each of us carefully. “But I’m much more concerned about all of you. Are you all right?”

  “No,” I said immediately. I took a seat across from her desk. “No, I’m not.” Maybe because I’d tried so hard to shove my feelings down all morning, or maybe because Ms. Benitez was looking at me in the same caring way that Aunt Teppy usually did, I started to cry.

  Doli filled Ms. Benitez in about the awful phone call with my aunt, while Lin found a handful of tissues for me.

  “All we know for sure,” Shani added, “is that they flew to Cancún two days ago.”

  “Please don’t ask us how we know that,” said Doli, shooting Shani a look.

  Ms. Benitez’s color grew even paler. She rose from her seat behind the desk, walked over to her window, and grasped the sill for support. “Ana, I can’t deny—I’m troubled by this. Since your aunt and uncle donated the original vase that imprisoned the Chaos Spirits, I have to wonder if they know about the Brotherhood of Chaos.”

  I shook my head, dabbing the tears away from my cheek. Once I’d gotten to Temple, I’d found out that my aunt and uncle had donated a very valuable Mayan vase decorated with stylized cat figures. It was through the destruction of the vase that we’d gotten our powers. “I don’t know,” I said honestly. “I didn’t even know they owned that vase until you told us. Of course, they also didn’t tell me until I enrolled that my parents had met here, so it’s possible they have other secrets.”

  Ms. Benitez nodded and made a humming sound deep in her throat. “I must tell you that Cancún is a place the Brotherhood would be drawn to.”

  “You mean . . . my aunt and uncle might have been brought there for a reason?” I asked. “Something involving Anubis?”

  “It’s possible. If they were forced to go there, Anubis may be using them as bait to lure you to a place where the magical scales could be tipped in his favor.”

  “Really? Cancún? I thought that town was just full of sweaty beaches and college kids,” Lin said.

  “Yes.” Ms. Benitez nodded patiently. “Beaches, college kids, and ancient ruins of temples that house enormous sources of magical power.”

  Oh, Lin mouthed silently.

  Ms. Benitez turned to me. She seemed to be struggling to choose the right words. “Whether your aunt and uncle went to Cancún by choice or by force,” she said, “they could be in real danger.”

  I felt a swift rush of fear whip through me, making my palms sweat and my breath come short. If even Ms. Benitez thought my aunt and uncle were in trouble, then it wasn’t all in my head. If anything happened to them . . . No, I couldn’t think about that. I had to focus on helping them, but how? “What do I do?” I cried desperately.

  She stood in front of my chair, and I watched as her eyes took on that mystical plum color that belonged to Ixchel. “You do nothing,” she said. “I will go to Cancún. I have contacts there who can help me find them.”

  I breathed out a sigh of relief, feeling some of the tension in my shoulders ease. “When can you go? I know this is a lot to ask, but I’m so worried, and with everything that’s going on, I just—”

  Ixchel placed her hand over mine, and I felt a soft pulse of soothing energy flow into me, like a cup of warm tea. “I will go tonight,” she said. “I’m sure Shani can assist me in booking a ticket.”

  Shani pulled her phone out of her pocket and started tapping away. “Consider it done.”

  chapter 2

  Ana

  AT NIGHT I PACE BEHIND the glass wall of a zoo enclosure, watching the people come and go on the other side of the barrier. Uncle Mec and Aunt Teppy show up. Uncle Mec holds four colorful helium balloons that float high above his head, and Aunt Teppy is happily eating pink cotton candy and pointing at all the big cats. I try calling out to them, but they don’t recognize me, and right behind them stands a man in a cream-colored linen suit, flashing a grin full of jagged teeth—Anubis. It was just as I roared and threw myself against the glass, trying in vain to break through, that a shrill ringing ripped me from my dream.

  It took a second for my breathing to slow. It wasn’t real, I told myself, reaching for my phone, which was still ringing. It was just a dream. But I knew I wouldn’t be able to shake it off that easily.

  Across the room Lin shifted in her sleep and mumbled something but didn’t wake up. The alarm clock on my desk read 1:15 a.m.

  Who would be calling me at this time of night?

  I reached into my backpack and pulled out my cell phone to see a number I didn’t recognize. Could it be Ms. Benitez calling from Cancún to tell me she had found my aunt and uncle? I fumbled to unlock the phone and hit the answer key.

  “Hello? Ms. Benitez? Did you find them?”

  “This is your aunt, Ana.”

  “Aunt Teppy?” I cried, suddenly fully awake. “Where are you? Are you all right?”

  “I’d be better if you would just leave me alone already,” she said.

  I felt my heart sq
ueeze. She sounded furious, though there was a weird quiver in her voice that I didn’t recognize. “Aunt Teppy, what are you talking about?”

  “If you want to know, come meet me in the gazebo right now, young lady. We can settle this once and for all.” She let out a weird giggle. Was this some kind of joke to her?

  “Did you say the gazebo? Does that mean you’re here, at the school?”

  “Obviously, genius. Stop asking questions and come outside. I don’t have all night.”

  When the line went dead, I realized I was shaking. I didn’t know what was going on, but I had to find out. I leaped from my bed, opened the closet, and threw on some clothes. By the time I was tying the laces on my sneakers, Lin’s eyes had fluttered open. “Where are you going?” she asked. “Don’t tell me the cat wants you to go on another midnight adventure.”

  I shook my head, my eyes flicking toward the soft black bundle on Lin’s duvet. The stray cat had more or less adopted us after leading us to our battle in the temple. “No, the cat’s asleep at the foot of your bed. My aunt just called.”

  Lin sat up, reached for her desk lamp, and flipped it on. She squinted against the light. “What? So Ms. Benitez found her? Did she say anything about the Brotherhood? Is she all right? Is your uncle with her?”

  “I don’t know,” I told her. “But she’s here. She just told me to meet her in the gazebo.”

  “Here?” Lin repeated. “Like, here here? How can that be?”

  “I don’t know!” I repeated, frustrated that I didn’t have any answers. “All I know is she wants to meet me right now, so I’m going.”

  “Not by yourself, you aren’t,” Lin said wearily. She threw back her covers and went to the closet to get dressed.

  I wanted to tell her she didn’t have to come, that I would be fine on my own. But the truth was, I wanted her with me. The way Aunt Teppy had sounded on the phone told me something wasn’t right. In fact, I was worried that something was very, very wrong.

  On our way out, Lin rapped on the door to Shani and Doli’s room.

  “What are you doing?” I asked. “We don’t have to ruin their night too.” I felt bad enough that I had dragged Lin into my drama.

  “Yes, we do,” Lin said. “We’re a team, remember? We’re stronger together.”

  A wave of gratitude washed over me. It felt good to know I wasn’t alone. “Thanks, Lin,” I whispered. “Remind me to hug you later.”

  A few seconds later a bleary-eyed Shani opened the door. When she saw Lin, she huffed and said, “This had better be good, Yang.”

  Ten minutes later all four of us sneaked out of the dorm and headed for the gazebo, shivering in the cold.

  “Why would she want you to meet her here?” Doli asked once we were outside.

  “Beats me. Maybe going inside the dorms where my mom used to live would’ve been too hard for her. Maybe she’s been short with me lately because my going to Temple brings up painful memories.”

  Shani jumped onto a bench we were passing and leaped down again, almost as gracefully as she would have in her lion form. “I don’t know, Ana. Look”—she pointed at the small wooden frame next to the tennis courts that overlooked the woods—“the gazebo’s empty.”

  As I followed her gaze, my stomach lurched. As frightened as I’d been about seeing Aunt Teppy under Anubis’s control, it was even worse not to see her at all. I bent forward with my hands on my knees. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

  “Don’t worry, Ana,” Doli said, rushing to my side and stroking my back. “We’ll keep a look—” She broke off so abruptly that I peered up at her. She was gazing at a point off in the distance. “There—there are lights on in the gym,” she said.

  “What?” I looked beyond the tennis courts and saw the bright yellow light filling the gym windows. I stood up straight. “Maybe she got cold and went in there to warm up?”

  “Only one way to find out,” said Shani.

  “This is officially spooky,” Lin whined. “Who votes we go home right now?” She raised her hand high in the air.

  But Doli was already leading the way to the gym at a slow jog, with Shani following close behind. I grabbed Lin’s other hand and said, “Stronger together, right?” She groaned but matched my pace. Soon we were just outside the gym.

  “It might not be her in there,” Doli said. “It could be a teacher, for all we know. So let’s sneak in through the side door. At least that way whoever’s in there won’t see us right away.”

  “Sounds like a plan, boss lady,” said Shani.

  “Would you stop calling me that?” Doli whispered.

  “Nope. But don’t worry, I mean it in a good way.”

  We tiptoed around to the side entrance of the gym, which thankfully was unlocked. We gave one another a last glance before we crept inside, single file. I’m not sure what I was hoping to see, but except for the sports equipment stacked neatly at the back of the room and the rack of bleachers against the wall, the gym was as empty as the gazebo.

  “What gives?” said Shani. “If your aunt is playing hide-and-seek, she picked a really weird time to do it.”

  “I don’t know what to say,” I murmured, walking farther into the open space. “This isn’t like her. But then, I don’t even understand how she got into Temple in the first place. Isn’t the gate locked at night?”

  Before anyone had a chance to answer, the lights shut off and we were in total darkness. Someone—Lin, I thought—let out a high-pitched yelp. Seconds later the lights went back on, and I saw Shani standing by the fuse box just outside the gym. “Stupid old building,” she grumbled. “You’d think with all the tuition we pay, they could afford to replace the electrical system so we’d have lights that actually worked.”

  As if the building itself had heard her and were insulted, the lights blinked out again, and this time no amount of messing with the fuse box would turn them back on. With only the moon outside casting its faint glow, the darkness felt suffocating, like someone had thrown a black wool blanket over my head and was squeezing tight. I knew it was panic setting in. Anything could have been coming for us in the dark.

  “Okay, I might change my vote now. I’m with Lin. Let’s get out of here,” said Shani’s voice.

  But it was too late. As my eyes adjusted to the dark, I glimpsed something swooping out of the blackness, aiming right for us. At first it seemed like a flying strip of gauze, as transparent as a ghost. As it got closer, the figure took on form and shape, becoming all too real. “Something’s there!” I shouted, frantically searching the room to find it again.

  Just when I thought I’d spotted it, it circled around and slipped into the shadows.

  “Where? Where?” Doli yelled. She bumped up next to me so that we were back-to-back. Only then did I realize that my back was soaked in a cold sweat.

  “I can’t see anything,” Lin said, reaching out for us. Shani followed her, and the four of us stood shoulder-to-shoulder, each facing a different direction.

  “Me neither,” Shani said. “Are you sure you saw something, Ana?”

  “Positive,” I said. “At least I think so. . . .” I started to doubt myself, until a second later a large bird zoomed out of the rafters and sailed toward us, its eyes burning with a malevolent fire and its wings sending an eerie whistle through the air. “Watch out!” I screamed, trying to drag the other girls to the floor by their shirts. I ducked, but the bird’s razor-sharp talons tore into my shoulder.

  I cried out in pain as it soared up to the vaulted ceiling, spreading its enormous wings. It circled in place and shot straight down with an unearthly shriek. I screamed again, but this time it came out as a roar. Without even realizing it, I had started to transform into my jaguar self. I felt that familiar shimmer of magic tingling through my body as my legs lengthened and stretched, turning into muscular haunches covered in blond fur. The thumping in my chest doubled its rhythm as my human heart became that of a Wildcat. My tongue grew long and heavy in my mouth while my teeth le
ngthened into sharp points, meant for killing. The transformation was painless, but with it came a lust for blood so strong, it was almost frightening.

  With my cat eyes I focused on the shadowy figure speeding toward me. Its hard yellow beak opened wide, and its yellow eyes, bulging like glittering marbles, burned into me mercilessly. This was no ordinary bird, I realized—it was a bald eagle, one of the most dangerous predators in the wild. My mind flashed back to the night the vase was destroyed in the basement of the museum, releasing the four Chaos Spirits. Suddenly the truth of what was happening slapped me in the face. That night in the museum basement weeks ago when we first saw the Chaos Spirits, there had been a bat, a monkey, a snake, and . . . an eagle! This eagle isn’t real, I realized with a jolt. It’s a Chaos Spirit, and we’re under attack!

  Where is my aunt? I hadn’t seen any sign of her. Had this all been just a setup to get us alone, where no one could hear us cry for help?

  You guys, it’s a Chaos Spirit! I called, but they were still in their human guises and couldn’t hear me. We could communicate telepathically only as cats. Just before the bird reached me, I dived out of the way, barreling into Lin and Doli, who screeched in pain. I knew the enormous weight of my jaguar body was crushing them. I struggled to my paws, leaped into the air, and slashed at the bird, which had somehow multiplied. Had it turned into two birds? Three? It was hard to tell as they swooped in again and again, their talons ripping into my skin. I could taste blood, and I had the sinking feeling that it was mine.

  “I’m getting these lights on now!” Shani yelled. “Maybe it’ll scare them off.” She raced for the fuse box in the hall again. Even from way across the room, with my cat senses I could hear every one of Shani’s frantic breaths and smell the sour scent of fear seeping from her pores.

  “I’ll move the bleachers. We can hide underneath!” Doli called, getting to her feet and running for the stacks. But the bleachers were heavy and the wheels were locked in place. No matter how hard she pushed, they wouldn’t budge. Finally she gave up, reached for the row of basketballs, and started hurling them at the birds. Most of the balls sailed right past, but even when they connected, the birds barely slowed down.