The 52nd (The 52nd Saga Book 1) (16 page)

We were all staring at the same spot on the bridge when Dylan unexpectedly stepped into the small clearing. Enough dim moonlight reached him to show that he was breathing hard, a blueness ablaze on his
calf.

“Where’s Xavier?” Valentina asked as he approached
us.

“I ran him out. He disappeared before I could get him,” Dylan replied. He stopped and pulled Gabriella into a tight hug. She kissed him fast and
hard.

I gasped as the roaming shadows suddenly attacked. I almost didn’t see Valentina move, but I caught a glimpse as she lowered her hands. A round of lightning struck every shadow, eliciting high-pitched shrieks.

I grabbed my ears as they popped, turning to Jett. His chest was rising and falling slowly. I looked again and saw that we were outnumbered. Lucas’s solid muscles tensed as more thunder sounded overhead. Dark clouds swirled over us in dark shades of gray. I squinted through an unexpected
wind.

“Mom, you got this one?” Lucas asked, narrowing his glare to one
demon.

“I got it,” she yelled back as the storm growled.

The hard wind whistled past us. It whipped and stung my skin like a wet
towel.

“Okay,” Lucas roared. “I got twelve o’clock. Dylan you got two, Gabriella five, Dad you get nine. Malik, Niya—you two take out the leftovers. Got
it?”

I blinked, bewildered that he was talking to jaguars, and fumbled at the hair flying into my
eyes.

“On three . . . make this quick, or the boy will see everything.” Lucas hunched slightly. “One, two, . . . three!”

An explosion of air knocked me back. In less than a fraction of a second they were gone. Andrés and Gabriella ran toward the left side of the bridge, each chasing after a demon. Lucas didn’t run, but jumped far, colliding with the demon across the bridge and wrestling him to the ground. The demon’s black cloud shifted into a human shape as it wiggled and squirmed to get out of Lucas’s grasp. But Lucas was stronger. He kept him pinned as he rammed his arm into the black chest and withdrew it in the same millisecond. He held something in the palm of his hand, a blackish blob, then tossed it to the ground. The demon shrieked and evaporated into black, glittery
ashes.

Lucas burst through the ash cloud and headed for another form, going straight for the chest. He punched his hand in and out swiftly, yanking out another clump of matter. Another shriek, and the second demon vanished into dust. Lucas moved on with a dizzying speed, slaughtering the demons that moved along the
bridge.

Beyond him, there was a snap near the bend of the river. Dylan was holding a demon against the trunk of a large tree, which threatened to fall, its roots rising from the ground under the pressure. Before it could topple, Dylan punched through the demon’s chest just as Lucas had. There was another high, ringing hiss and more
ashes.

Niya’s deathly roar caught my attention on the other side of the river. I watched, sickened, as she bit off a part of a shadow—a head or a limb, I couldn’t tell. Its shriek and its black dust disappeared into the wind like
magic.

Suddenly, a demon darted across the bridge toward me. Without thinking I threw my hands up to cover my face, but before I could scream, Lucas pinned him from behind. They fell to the ground, and the black night glittered with more
ashes.

Lucas rose, wiping off the dirt on his pants, and looked up. His gaze froze on me, worry creasing his forehead. But then one cheek plumped upward into a tender smile, and his eyes softened, probably amused by my wild stare. He chuckled and winked. Then, too quickly for me to follow, he took off after another
demon.

After the last speck of dust blew away, the storm lifted and the wind died. My body shivered as the Castillos returned to the bridge. The jaguars were at their heels, still watchful, glancing toward the dark areas of the
forest.

Lucas knelt at my side and began searching for injuries. “Are you
hurt?”

“No, just my head.” It pounded, but I felt weaker now that he was next to
me.

His hand rustled in my blood-crusted hair, checking once more. When he was satisfied, he slid his palm down my cheek—just as Jett
moved.

“Owww,” he moaned, stirring in slow movements.

“Lucas,
ven aca
,” Andrés
called.

Lucas obeyed his father and joined him a few feet away, where the rest of the family had congregated. Their tattoos weren’t glowing anymore. Andrés spoke urgently in Spanish as Niya folded her legs and settled on her belly next to me. She started licking my arm. I didn’t like it, but I was too afraid to move. Then Lucas knelt again next to
us.

“Thank you, Niya.” He petted her head and looked to Jett. “Gabriella and Dylan will take care of
Jett.”

I found myself smoothing Jett’s hair off his face as Gabriella and Dylan appeared behind
Lucas.

“Is he going to be okay? Shouldn’t we get him to a hospital?” I asked, straining as they pulled Jett away from
me.

“No.” Lucas looked beyond me as I watched Gabriella and Dylan surround Jett. “Dylan will fix him, and then they will take him back to the
party.”

“But those things, they’ll come again for
him.”

Lucas shook his head. “They won’t go after him
again.”

“How can you be so
sure?”

His face clouded. “Because they want
you.”

My head spun, and a new form of nausea hit my stomach.

“He won’t have any memory of what happened,” Lucas
said.

“But he’s
hurt!”

Lucas pointed to Jett, who was balanced under Gabriella’s arms. Dylan stepped in front of him, talking. Jett’s head rolled back, his eyes half-shut as he moaned, and Dylan backed away. What happened next I wouldn’t have believed if I hadn’t witnessed it with my own eyes. Jett’s injuries healed in seconds until there wasn’t a scrape
left.

Dylan snapped his fingers once, and Jett’s clothes changed from torn and bloody to clean and whole. Niya and Malik leaped over the bridge, and Lucas gently twisted my shoulders until I was looking at
him.

“I need your word that you won’t say anything, or Dylan will have to do the same thing to you,” Lucas whispered. He paused, then lifted a pleased half smile. “Though I suppose that won’t work on
you.”

“I won’t say anything. I promise,” I reassured him as Dylan came to kneel by me. “I promise, I won’t say anything!”

Dylan chuckled and snapped. A pocket of air hit me and left as fast and precisely as it came. The rips in my dress vanished. The dirt on my skin was gone, I had shoes on my feet again, and my headache had disappeared.

“I thought you said it wouldn’t work on me,” I said, perplexed.

“I did. I wasn’t talking about the appearance part.” He glanced at my head. “I was talking about the mind part. He can’t make you forget for some
reason.”

Behind him, Jett was talking to Gabriella, asking confused questions. Lucas cringed.

“What’s wrong with my head?” I wondered worriedly.

There was a tender touch near my elbow. Valentina was there. Her dark porcelain fingers felt like feathers as they lingered. I felt undeserving of her graceful
touch.

“Nothing is wrong with your head,” she said. Then she broke contact and joined hands with Andrés. She looked at Lucas. “Don’t be too late, son.”

They turned together and headed down the dark trail to our
cars.

I turned to Lucas in a panic. “Who was that man on the bridge? Who’s Xavier? How come he didn’t look like the other demons?” It was a quiet outburst, but it made Lucas stiffen and look
away.

“He said something to me,” I continued.

Lucas turned back to me, curious. “What did he
say?”

“That I was going to make him very
happy.”

Lucas stayed quiet as his eyes wavered from my left eye to the right. “That man is Dylan’s twin brother. I’m afraid that’s all I can tell you right now.” His eyes flicked over to Jett. “It’s not safe to talk here. You must go home with Jett
now.”

Brother?
A knob cranked, and I remembered where I’d seen him. That horrible old book said Dylan and his twin were gods. They called them the Hero Twins. My eyes burned as I stared at Lucas, wondering what he was. And then every fiber in my body went numb. I paused, unblinking, half frightened by him, half fascinated. My gaze held his eternal eyes differently when he grinned. He was called the Aztec prince, a royal
god.

“Who are you?” I wondered.

Our heads turned as voices approached from outside the bridge. There was a group of kids walking toward us. Lucas straightened up hurriedly. “Please, Zara, go home with
Jett.”

I was appalled. He was still avoiding me. “Just leave me alone, Lucas, at least until you decide you can
answer.”

Lucas held his hand out. “Let me help you
up.”

At first I stared at his palm with disbelief, but some force flooded me, saturating my nerves with a desire to be with him. I looked elsewhere before I gave anything
away.

“I can help her.” Jett was at Lucas’s shoulder, reaching for me. After he helped me up, he looked at Lucas jealously. “What are you doing here, Juan?”

Lucas’s jaw tightened, and any innocence he had washed out of his face. “I didn’t know you had to be a prick to go to a school
dance.”

“Come on, Zara. Let’s go home,” Jett
said.

As we started toward the cars, Lucas locked his hand on mine and tugged me back. My heart galumphed when he wouldn’t let go. Then without a word, he lowered his chin, pressed his lips to the back of my hand, and gazed up at me again. “Be
safe.”

I pulled back slowly as the particles of my body
melted.

“I will,” I mumbled.

Jett pulled me, but I stiffened as the gravity of Lucas’s stare bored in on me the farther we walked
away.

“He is so weird,” Jett started.

I didn’t answer. My lips pressed into a smile.
He’s back,
I thought—until something sucked out my happiness. The entire way home, I wondered why a god would be after
me.

Lucas

CHAPTER TWELVE

Tez

“That was too close,” I said to Gabriella and Dylan as Zara and Jett walked away into the darkening
trees.

“You were right, brother. I am so sorry I doubted you,” Gabriella
said.

“So what do we do now?” Dylan
asked.

When the pair had disappeared into the blackness, I turned back. “We follow her, never let her out of our sight. You two go home. I will make sure she gets home
safely.”

“Be careful,” Gabriella
warned.

I sped through the pathless woods and reached my car long before they arrived. I sat inside, spinning my citla between my fingers, waiting for them. Once they hopped into his truck I followed, keeping enough distance to avoid any suspicion. When they exited the freeway, I took another route and parked across her street, six houses down, turned my lights off, and waited once more in the dark for them to
arrive.

When they pulled up, Zara didn’t leave his truck right away. I hated waiting for humans. They were slow and their manners were cold, like the fluid that ran through my veins. But my temper boiled with every minute she spent with him. What was taking her so long to leave his truck? They weren’t kissing. I knew because I could hear them. But I still had to put the citla down because it wasn’t working as a distraction, and I clenched the steering wheel to stop myself from going over to yank her out of his car. When she finally was safe inside her house,
and away from Jett
, I felt my lungs open back
up.

What is wrong with
me?

I was rolling out of her neighborhood before Jett could even back out of the driveway.

At my house, the lights glowed all the way to the perimeter of evergreens. I could hear Niya and Malik roaming the forest as I pulled into the garage, but I ignored them, preoccupied with this new drive I felt. It pulled and tugged as if attached to me with strings. It was then, as my heart revved, that I knew I was determined to do everything in my power to keep that girl
safe.

I don’t know why my family still bothers to whisper. I could hear everything they said, even from the garage, and I recognized a smooth voice in their midst that made me tense. I went inside the house, afraid that its presence was not good
news.

The study was dim when I entered. Everyone stood still as I looked around for Tez. He was standing next to Father across the room, their backs against the blackened
window.

“Lucas,” he
said.

“What are you doing here, Tez?”

Mother turned toward me and looked up from the couch. “Tez has taken a great risk coming
here.”

“Do the Celestials know what happened?” I rushed, looking back to Tez as my heart
raced.

Tez shook his head. “No.”

I sighed with
relief.

He walked over to me and set his beverage on a small gold table. “Lucas, do not be alarmed. I carry good news with me as
well.”

“Let’s have it, then.”

He straightened his suit jacket and cleared his throat. “The Underworld’s fury grows, and with the executioners coming back tonight empty-handed, their suspicion grows as well. I have seen new visions of the future.” He paused. “If they do not return with the girl by Solstice, they will go to the Celestials.”

“Then we must close the
portal.”

Tez held his hand up and shook his head. “Lucas, I am not done. There is more that makes this matter more complicated. You have seen Xavier recently, have you
not?”

I nodded. “Tonight, with the executioners.”

“Yes. X’Tabay’s working with
him.”

“But . . .”

“I followed her after the Council and saw them together. They didn’t know who the fifty-second was, but after learning that Xavier was with the executioners tonight, I am positive he knows now who she is. And I believe he’s planning to use her to break his
curse.”

“How?” The word stormed out of my
mouth.

Instead of being cross with my short temper, Tez’s face softened apologetically. There was a concern in his eyes that I wished wasn’t there. “That, my young boy, I do not
know.”

I screamed and pulled at my hair. “Does Mictlan know who she
is?”

“Of course not. Mictlan would not let Xavier tamper with his belongings,” Father
said.

“That’s where the good news comes,” Tez said. “Your parents tell me that the girl suffers from blackouts in which she sees glimpses of Xibalba, and that Dylan can’t reshape her mind like other
humans.”

“And her body heals more quickly than normal. How is that possible?”

“Because as the girl of the prophecy, she has been given a divine calling, which apparently gives her strength to heal quickly. This proves that my next theory may
work.”

“Theory?” I asked, perplexed.

He nodded, circling the room as he spoke. I wished he wouldn’t. His calmness was causing turmoil in my guts. “If the girl heals quickly, she should be strong enough to learn to control who is in her mind. The girl suffers these blackouts because Xavier’s awareness is unintentionally penetrating her mind. It must be our top priority to stop that invasion.”

“Tez, if Mictlan is unaware, then how is Zara even seeing Xibalba at all?” Mother
asked.

Tez stopped moving. “The prophecy said both worlds would love
her.”

I nearly gagged. I tried so hard years ago to forget that part of the prophecy. I recalled the next part, hoping it would neutralize the acid flooding my stomach . . . 
but through a deep connection with one of either world, a balance could be restored
. I stared back at Tez.
My world,
I thought. This was the beginning of the end, and I was going to prove that I was more a part of it than he
knew.

Tez looked from me to Father. “It is clear to me, as it surely should be clear to you . . . the girl has a connection with
Xavier.”

I went numb picturing Zara with Xavier, knowing this part of the prophecy—Zara’s choice of love—was out of my control.

“But Xavier isn’t even a Xibalban god,” Gabriella stated, confounded.

“No, but his mother is, and he resides there. It makes sense,” Tez replied. “Should we keep the girl, there must be a plan for when they come back to take
her.”

My immortal family was unresponsive as statues, still, but attentive nonetheless. I would have been corpse pale, if my body could lose color. When I recovered, my muscles flexed as he casually talked about what I felt was
my
property. The girl belonged to
me
.

I swallowed hard and broke the stagnant silence. “No, of course. But if Xavier wanted her for his plan, why didn’t he come after her earlier?”

“Lucas, my dear Lucas. Even after all these years, you still do not understand the Cosmos. There is much power to see in the stars above. Never turn your back on your enemy, for he is a trickster, and a smart one. Xavier waited all this time because he had to wait for the end of the Long
Count.”

A wave of frustration drowned me. Xavier couldn’t have come unless the Milky Way had moved simultaneously with Winter Solstice, and only at the end of a Long Count, a term of five thousand one hundred and twenty-five
years.

“How could I have read the stars so wrongly?” I roared, tugging harder at my hair. I
knew
this.

“
Hijo
, do not be hard on yourself. Remember, you had your entire family to convince. It could have easily been missed,” Mother said, reaching over the couch to touch my forearm lightly.

I turned my back to her. I was the one who had been waiting for this moment, not her.
I
was the one responsible. It already felt like Zara was slipping through my fingers. It
hurt.

“I haven’t much time,” Tez interrupted. “We must move on. Lucas, are you ready to face the consequences of keeping this
girl?”

My chin, which had dropped as I looked at the floor, now rose, and I spun to look at the one god who had been ahead of me all along. Tez watched me with an enduring patience as I regained my senses, sniffed, and nodded silently.

“Very well,” he said, turning to my parents. “Andrés and Valentina, you shall begin intervention with the girl’s parents as discussed. When it is time to close the portal, you will invite them to your home in Mexico so that the girl is not left alone, even for a short breath. Dylan and Gabriella, you two will go to school this week to keep an eye on her while Lucas prepares the basement for training.”

“Training?” I interrupted.

“Yes. As your family and I discussed before you arrived, the girl needs to teach her mind how to keep the gods out. Without this control she is weak. This training can protect her from blacking out during Xavier’s unintentional projections. Dylan will be her instructor.” Tez was talking, but looked completely uninterested. He moved along, swiping his fingers on furniture, checking for dust, looking outside at the black, glistening stream, brushing his tailored suit for lint; all this until he finally glanced back at
me.

I stared incredulously, but it gave me time to see Dylan’s excitement at the idea. I gritted my teeth and glared at him. “And how do you suppose he does
this?”

“The truth?” Tez wondered.

I nodded again, ligaments tightening down my
neck.

“In the most extreme circumstances.” He pulled a sheet of paper from the inside pocket of his blazer. “I have the plans
here.”

Tez handed me the folded paper and then smoothed a hand back through his sleek hair. The paper had drawings of cages, poles, rings suspended in the air, and weapons.

“Are you serious?” I laughed.

His fine features looked inquisitive. “Do you have another
plan?”

My jaw poked out as my teeth clenched, and I submitted a subtle shake
no.

“Right, we haven’t much time. Lucas, you have until Friday to get your basement to look like that. Then comes your next task, the most important of all from here on out.” He stopped and focused harder on me than he had all evening.

“What?” I wondered in
dread.

“You are to beguile
her.”

“Trick her?” I replied, outraged.

“No. Beguile her. They are two completely different
words.”

“You would have me beguile Zara as our ancestors once did their lovers? It’s absurd . . . it’s
vile!”

“You swore that you were ready to do what it
took.”

“That is taking her freedom away! You know the effect I have on human girls if I so much as bat an eye at them,” I argued. “I don’t want her throwing herself at
me.”

“Why not?” Dylan asked. Gabriella nudged
him.

“Are you an idiot?” I said, turning to him. “A connection isn’t made under false pretenses. It’s deeper. It requires more work, and I can’t control
us
if she is acting like a . . .”

“Like an eighteen-year-old girl?” Gabriella
said.

“Yes!”

Tez stepped closer to me. “We need you to win her over. Don’t act like you haven’t romanced your share of
women.”

My chest filled with steam, and I took a step closer. I would not beguile Zara like
that
—that was part of my old mortal days, when women flocked to me. I was immature then and gave in to physical desire at a moment’s notice. Zara was different, and should she throw herself at me, I wouldn’t lie with her as I had with other women. I would wait until we were filled with a sweetness to satisfy our hearts and tongues, and it would be lasting and eternal. It wouldn’t be crude, and she wouldn’t be beguiled.

“Come again?” I asked, wondering if I’d heard him
right.

“Lucas, the girl must be on our side, or else we will all perish should the Celestials find out any of this. I am as much a traitor as you are. I need to know if you can do this.” He asked evenly, though it sounded like an urgent
plea.

I breathed in deeply to cool my rage. “I feel it may not be necessary. I fear I am beginning to feel a bond with the girl already, which is why we don’t have to be sucking tongue to get anywhere.” I took a long breath, and the memory of the sensation I felt when I touched her gave me the confidence I needed. I put my hands in my pockets. “She will be won over. I promise.”

Father and Mother stared at me with wide
eyes.

Tez smirked. “Good. Next, most unfortunately, is the bad news. We cannot close the portal unless Xavier is in the Underworld. As long as his body roams freely in this world, we cannot close the portal that leads to the other. His body
must
be in Xibalba, where his soul resides. This will ensure he cannot go after Zara in the
future.”

Father cupped his hands over Mother’s shoulders. “How do we keep track of his whereabouts?”

“We don’t,” Dylan answered, looking nowhere but out the midnight window. “He returned with the executioners tonight, and I am sure he will join them again at Solstice. We wait until after Solstice, when he has returned to Mexico with the executioners, to close the
portal.”

“Are you sure?” Father
asked.

Dylan twisted toward us, grief evident on his face. “I know my brother better than anyone here. Trust me, he won’t see that one
coming.”

“Tez, thank you,” Father
said.

“Don’t thank me. I am in this for my own reasons, as you are. Should your efforts be successful, I will call on you once more. Good
luck.”

He nodded and evaporated into the
air.

“Well, that went well,” Dylan
joked.

Gabriella rolled her eyes and stormed
off.

Mother stood and faced Father. “We shall join the club where her mother plays tennis and her father plays golf. Perhaps we can also run into them at the restaurant they like to eat at on their
dates.”

“Very well,
amor
. That will be fine,” he
said.

Mother left the room to focus on her new task. Dylan rose from the chair and turned to me. I couldn’t take my eyes off him,
the trainer
. It was
absurd.

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to kill her,” he remarked easily. It was too light for my
liking.

I gritted my teeth. “I will do this
only
because Tez thinks it will help her. Don’t think for a second that I am going to leave her alone with you. Every second she is with you, I will be there, watching. If I think you are harming her, I will stop
you.”