Shenanigans at SHIHOM

• Շђгєє •

When Brooks said 'message to Hell', I wasn't entirely sure what to expect.

Turns out it meant contacting her sister Quinn through a magic scrying pool hidden away in the corner of the library's courtyard. She tossed a small Mayan coin into the dark agua and murmured a few words in a language I didn't recognize, but I caught three words: Cacoch- the Mayan god of communication, Quinn, and Xib'alb'a. The dark water rippled, lightening to show Quinn dressed for battle, sitting in one of Ixtab's parlors.

"Quinn!" Brooks hissed loudly, like she was afraid of eavesdroppers.

Her sister's head snapped up. "Brooks! Zane!" She said. "What are you doing?"

"Two new godborns showed up this afternoon," Brooks said.

Quinn scowled. "Ixtab should've had every single one down."

"Apparently not," I said.

Brooks filled her in on what had happened and described the two girls.

"What do you want me to do, then?" Quinn asked. "Tell Ixtab?"

"I have a feeling she'll find out soon enough anyway," I said.

"You don't know anything about them?" Brooks pressed. "Ixtab hasn't mentioned anything?"

Quinn raised an eyebrow. "Sister, you overestimate my relationship with the Queen of the Underworld. I'm not her confidant."

Brooks's shoulders sagged a bit. I took her hand.

"Maybe you could go ask Ixtab about them?" I said. "Ixchel's probably told her already. If she says anything, could you, like, call us?"

"Cell service down here is screwy," Quinn noted. "But I'll try."

"Thanks, sis," Brooks said.

Quinn waved her hand, and the image dissipated, leaving us staring at the imageless water.

After the school day ended, Brooks and I walked back to our treehouses, which were conveniently right next to each other and connected by a rope bridge.

Brooks pecked me on the cheek. "I'll see you at dinner?"

I nodded, and she climbed up.

I went up to my own treehouse, swatting away a mono who was trying to mess with my hair. I looked out the window and saw Ixchel walking away from the treehouse on the other side of mine. I glanced up to the house itself, which had a wraparound porch with several chairs, and the branches were covered in Christmas-tree lights. None of the lights were on though, which I found a little strange. All the lights at SHIHOM were magical, so they would never die or burn out unless someone purposefully turned them off, and even I didn't know how to do that. Itzamna probably had a master remote hidden away somewhere. Every other tree I saw was covered in the same kind of lights, all very much alive, which added to the weirdness of that one.

A chill ran down my spine, the same one I got whenever someone was watching me. At the window of the light-less treehouse, the girl from the beach— the one in all black— stared back at me as soon as my eyes reached her ventana.

I couldn't really read her expression, but she tilted her head, which I took to mean What are you looking at?

If possible, her black eyes were even more unsettling than before. I pulled my green drapes shut.

The monkey laughed, which I tried not to take personally.

I ran a hand through my hair, which had started to grow out. Sometimes it fell in mis ojos, which Brooks and Hondo loved teasing me about.

Hopefully, soon I'd find out more about Claire and the other girl. I knew Ixchel wanted them claimed by tonight, but you know how gods are. If they didn't claim their niños (not that any of the other godborns were unclaimed), there wasn't much we could do about it.

I sighed, looking down at the libro on my bedstand. Well, I'd find out in a few hours.