Hunters of Chaos (23 page)

I couldn't believe my eyes. Perched on top of the hideous altar was a glittering green jewel, the same color as the eyes of the black cat who had led us here. As I got closer I realized that it had to be one of the jewels from the Mayan vase! It must have disappeared the night of the battle in the museum, but there it was, gleaming and perfect. I didn't know how it got there but I somehow knew it was important.
This must be why the cat brought us here.

I approached the altar, testing the skulls with my paw. Would it hold my weight? I began to slowly climb the pile of bones. Soon the jewel was within reach. I only had to stretch my neck and—

The bat, back to its original form, suddenly appeared behind the jewel, flapping its massive wings and eyeing me with evil glee. I met its stare, determined to prove I wasn't afraid of it—or its master, Anubis. As if it found that amusing, the bat spread its mouth into what looked almost like a smile, and without warning it descended on me. I felt its sharp claws sink into my head, and the terrible pain clouded my vision. Rearing on my hind legs with a growl, I lost my footing and went tumbling down the deathly altar. I felt the hardened skulls pounding into my back like hammer blows, raising large round welts under my fur. At last I hit the floor, whimpering in pain.

As a human, I'd never been in a fight. Not a real one. And now I knew why. This fight had just begun, and already my whole body was a throbbing ball of pain. Sensing my moment of weakness, the monstrous bat swooped in for the kill. I didn't have the strength to run.
This is it,
I thought.

But suddenly Doli was there, jumping in front of me and letting out a snarl. She leaped at the bat, sailing through the air at an unbelievable height that would have made Coach Connolly proud. But before she could reach the flying demon, it rushed into the wall. Immediately, arrows shot out of holes with lightning speed. Weighty stones loosened themselves from the ceiling and walls, crashing down around us. Trembling with fear, I rolled onto my stomach and flattened my body against the floor. I listened to the arrows whiz past my ears, dangerously close. They clattered against the far wall or smashed into the skulls, shattering them on impact.
That could have been my skull!
I thought.
I might
die
!
The idea seemed impossible, ridiculous. How could I die? I was just a kid. I imagined again how devastated Uncle Mec and Aunt Teppy would be if I never came home. I couldn't let that happen. Plus, I had to help protect Jason.

Gathering my courage, I rose to my feet, crouching low as if I were hunting through short grass. Doli followed my lead, and as the stones fell around us, we maneuvered through the room, using the larger boulders as cover from the murderous arrows.

Jason stood at the doorway, waving us toward him. “Come on, Ana!” he cried. “You've got to get out of there!”

What did he think I was trying to do?

I stayed put until the arrows finally petered out and the stonework ceased to move. Then Doli and I made a run for the outer chamber, panting with relief as we rejoined our friends. But the monster bat wasn't done with us yet. Enraged that we'd escaped its trap, the red-eyed demon rose in the air, opening its mouth and coughing out a plume of smoke. The cloud whirled near the ceiling like a tornado, and a dozen bats were born from the mouth of the funnel, each a miniature version of the Chaos Spirit. I knew I couldn't fight the bats if I was worried about protecting Jason. I grabbed his shirt with my teeth and dragged him behind a heavy stone pillar, pushing him as far back against the wall as I could with my head.

“I can help!” he yelled. But I growled at him until he retreated. I didn't want to scare him, but this was my fight and I needed him to be safe. I turned away, licked my muzzle, and prepared for battle. The cloud of flying demons sounded like a hundred squeaking mice trapped in a maze. That is, until their wings, flapping in unison, drowned out the squeaks and clicks, replacing them with the sound of distant helicopters getting closer and closer. The swarming mass had a black-hole effect, sucking all the light from the room with their leathery wings, which were spoked like black umbrellas. They flashed their ratlike teeth, and when they came near enough to bite, their rancid odor filled my nostrils and made me gag. I remembered reading once that bat caves tend to smell like corn tortillas, but clearly whoever did that research hadn't met an evil-spirit bat. Their scent was all rotting mushrooms and swamp water. Shani turned out to be the best at capturing them, and then she crushed their furry bodies between her jaws. I'm not sure how she stomached it. The first bat I bit into tasted like raw liver covered in slime. I made a vow then and there to forever cross bats off my menu. The bats we couldn't reach fled to a small ridge in the ceiling, from which they hung like blackened fruit. They saw what we could do and they wanted no part of it.
Good,
I thought.
They should be afraid.

I looked around at the floor, now littered with crushed and mutilated bats. Finally the coast was clear. Once more I climbed the altar of skulls toward the glittering green jewel, but the re-formed bat swept into the room like a gust of air, swooping in between me and my prize. It was more terrible than ever, its crimson eyes bulging in their sockets. I realized then that those eyes were windows to the underworld. If I looked long enough, I would see true suffering and pain among the leaping flames.

But the bat wasn't here to look into my eyes as if we were some romantic TV-show couple. Defeat had made it angry, and now it wanted revenge. It reared back and breathed out a black flame as if it were a dragon.
Duck,
I told myself just in time. But still I felt the fire scorch the tips of my fur and inhaled the smell of barbecued jaguar mixed with rotten fungi. I yowled, imagining my back turning bright red like coals in a grill. The heat from the geyser of flame disintegrated an ancient support beam, bringing a whole section of the ceiling down in a pile of rubble. Fleeing the falling stones, we all joined Jason in the corner behind the pillar. For the time being, we were safe. But I quickly realized that we'd been herded into this corner like clueless sheep. The only way out of this spot was through the Chaos Spirit, which was approaching slowly, taking its time. I could tell by the spark in its evil eyes that it relished our fear. In fact, the more afraid we were, the larger the bat seemed to be, as if it were feeding on our terror. It was too much for us to take on in our exhausted state. The demon would destroy us now, and there was nothing we could do.

I'm sorry, Ixchel,
I thought.
We failed you.

But then a formidable roar sounded from behind the bat. The demon turned, and a huge tiger leaped for its throat.
Lin!

Where had she come from? And how did she know that we needed her? I tried to puzzle it out, but there was no time.

The bat easily used its wings to brush Lin aside, but the distraction gave us the time we needed to get out of the corner and run back to the larger room, where the statue of Anubis glared down at us. As we ran for cover, Jason broke away and headed straight for the towering statue. I screeched to a stop.
What is he doing?
I wondered. If he was trying to escape, he was going the wrong way. But as I watched, Jason clamped his hand over Anubis's staff and pulled it free. He balanced the weight of it in his hands like a lacrosse stick and crouched into a fighting stance. Now I understood.
Good thinking!
I thought.
Now he has a weapon.

Meanwhile, Lin was able to sneak past the bat and rejoin us. As soon as the four of us stood together, I felt a surge in our strength that overwhelmed me. Ixchel's words echoed in my mind:
Together you are more powerful than Anubis could ever be.
It was true. I realized that we should never have risked coming here without Lin. Our power lay in our unity.

Feeling bold, I crept forward enough to spy the giant bat in the other room. It had collapsed against the pyramid of skulls, its right wing torn and bleeding where Lin had swiped it with her claws. Thick drops of blood dripped from its back where she had managed to sink her teeth. It was clearly hurt, but I reminded myself that it was no ordinary bat. It had magical powers, and that included the ability to heal itself. With each tortured flap of its wings, it seemed to get stronger, the wounds closing up before my eyes as if they were being sewn shut with invisible thread. It was only a matter of time before it attacked again. And when that happened, even with our renewed strength, we would be no match for the bat. We needed to find its weakness. I angled my head, searching for any advantage. My eye landed on the green jewel, still safe on its altar in the other room.
That's it!
I thought. Ixchel had defeated the Chaos Spirits once by trapping them in the vase. Confined, their powers ebbed. If we could trap it, even for a short while, maybe we could weaken it enough to vanquish it. How could I communicate with the others so they could help me with my plan, though?

I thought back to the battle between Ixchel and Anubis. She had spoken to me without using her voice. So maybe I could do the same. I looked at Lin, Doli, and Shani and focused all my energy on reaching their minds with my own.
Wildcats, can you hear me?

Yes.

Yes.

Loud and clear, boss.

I breathed out in relief.
We need to trap the bat's wings under something heavy.

Doli swung her head to the right.
The stone bench?

It's
too
heavy. We can't lift it.

The statue!
Shani circled behind the huge statue.
Let's push it over and drop it on him.

Will it move?
I asked, worried that the writing below the base might contain some sort of magical words to protect the statue.

Lin moved behind the statue with Shani.
We can do it together.

I didn't want to put Jason in harm's way, but I needed him to draw the bat's attention away from us so it would fall into our trap. I didn't think the telepathy would work on him, though. So I pulled him away from the statue and positioned him in front of the pillar. I nudged the hand with the spear so that he raised it in his defensive stance. When he spotted the other cats behind the Anubis statue, he said, “Got it. Good idea.”

I left him there, joined my fellow Wildcats behind the statue, and waited.

It wasn't long before the bat came swooping into the room, hovering five feet above the floor like a ghost, even while barely flapping its wings. I wondered if it even needed to flap to fly or if that was all just part of the illusion. Its eyes, red as molten lava, swiveled in its head, searching for us. But the first thing it saw was Jason, wildly waving his spear and shouting, “Come get me, you filthy rodent!”

The bat screeched and charged at Jason, its talons dragging along the floor. Jason's eyes rounded like saucers and his mouth fell open, as if he hadn't really expected the bat to do as he said.

Come on, Jason,
I thought.
You can do this.

He couldn't possibly have heard me, but a look of determination came over his face, his blue-green eyes darkening like seawater as he lifted his spear.
Swoon
. He jabbed the bat with his spear, then dodged and turned, using all his lacrosse moves to attack the demon. Slowly he prodded the bat back and back, getting it into perfect position. And when he was just the right distance away, I shouted with my mind:
NOW!

Together we leaned into the statue with our powerful shoulders, pushing against the walls behind us with our legs. Slowly the statue teetered forward, then came crashing down onto the bat like a felled tree.

“She shoots and she scores!” Jason shouted, pumping his fist in the air.

The statue had fallen facedown across the bat so that its furry body and wings were flattened by Anubis's broad chest. The hand that had been holding the staff fit snugly against the bat's face, almost as if Anubis were punching it. Only when the arm cracked and snapped off did the demon have enough room to screech and moan. It struggled to free itself from Anubis's grip, wriggling and fighting for every inch. When it finally pulled itself loose, I saw that its wings were crushed where the statue had pinned them to the floor. It seemed diminished somehow, and it no longer pulsed with the supernatural strength that had scared me before.

While the others stood guard, I tugged Jason back by his shirt, pulling him toward the hallway of suffering. I nudged him toward the exit.

“What are you doing?” he demanded. “I'm not leaving. Not without you.”

It was sweet that he wanted to protect me. But this was Wildcats business and I didn't want him to see what we were about to do. The jungle dreams raced through my mind, a savage bloodlust building in me. I could feel my thoughts becoming less human the closer I got to destroying my prey. The jaguar was almost completely in control. So with my last bit of humanity, I had to make sure Jason was safely out of the way and that he wouldn't see something that might give him nightmares about me for the rest of his life.

I lifted my head and roared, showing him the full length of my fangs. Jason trembled and backed away. “All right, all right,” he said. “I get it. I'll wait outside. But roar if you need me.”

I waited patiently until I was sure he was gone, and then I rejoined the Wildcats, ready to finish this.

Just like in the dream I'd had about the hyena, the four of us pounced on the weakened bat at once. Lin and Doli each pulled at a wing with their teeth until it ripped right off. Then Shani charged the bat, pouncing on its chest and biting until its tainted blood spilled black onto the temple floor. I held down its head with my paws and found its throat, piercing it in one powerful bite and snapping its neck. The small piece of me that was still just Ana from Ohio was completely grossed out. I had never even liked hamburgers that were too pink in the middle. And here I was biting into a live animal, its blood oozing down my face. But the hunter in me was in heaven. And I saw the same catlike bloodlust in the eyes of the others. For a moment I worried that the longer we stayed in our cat forms, the less human we would become. But all I knew right then was that we had a job to complete. Together we tore and ripped and clawed at the bat's mangled body until it was beyond all repair. From the pile of broken and wasted parts rose a puff of smoke that rose into the air and evaporated into the walls.