I See Fire | Wattys 2021/22 Shortlist | ✔

Chapter Fifty-Three

Chal pointed us in the right direction, and we stumbled away from the prison as fast as I could move the fire-ring. Stars were streaming in towards us over the field, visible even through the flames. I strained to focus over the ashen clutch of fear on every part of my body. The Centzon Huītznāuhtin were not charging. They followed us like coywolves, lurking just out of reach of the flames. I didn't dare send Fuego after them for fear of weakening or losing control of my wall. Why weren't they striking? Were they waiting until they gathered critical numbers? Or was Coyol or another ally on their way?

I felt Chal re-sheath my knife and relieve me of my sling instead. Just keep going, she said. You're doing great.

Do we have a place to go?

Tlaloc and I will have more of our power back as soon as we reach the sky's end. Don't worry. She fished a rock from my pouch and held it out to me with a questioning look.

I can't attach it to stones.

Pity. Oh well. Xipe, heads.

He ducked. Chal gave the sling a single whirl and knocked a hole in a Centzonhuītznāhua's head. Its light went out. I was almost out of stones. Xipe popped up and tossed his sister another one that he'd picked up from the ground. She dispatched another star.

The next moment, a warning from Tlaloc rippled through our collective consciousness. Bows!

The siblings cursed. I didn't think we were close to the sky-level's end yet.

Quet? said Chal.

On it. Adriana, can you control this if I fan it a little?

I'll try.

Everybody, get ready to run. The wind god threw out a hand, and my fire-wall roared. In seconds flat, it was twice my height, whipped up by the wind already spinning it like a dust devil. I battled to keep the flames at bay. Then a signal passed among the gods, and they started running. Quet's wind pulled my fire along faster than I could hope to alone. It guttered in the gale. I forced it up again. Jem's hand gripped my elbow, keeping me from tripping.

We were moving. We could get away.

Quet wrenched Tlaloc backwards as a bow twanged. The arrow missed Xolotl by inches. Tlaloc held him closer and turned his own body like a shield, but there were Centzon Huītznāuhtin on all sides and more bowmen were arriving. They must have been farther afield. Chal had another stone, but she couldn't shoot on the run. My body ached in protest as I beat the fire-wall back again. The wind made it unpredictable: it fell and lunged without warning, and the constant change sapped my energy like nothing else. I couldn't hold this all the way to the sky's end.

You can do this, said Jem in my head.

I had to hold it. This was all that stood between Coyol and the gods, and they were all that stood between Grillo Negro and absolute destruction. Holding this barricade was not an option. I gritted my teeth and hurled my will into the fire again. For a brief moment, it complied. Then my vision split, and I crashed into Jem as my view of the fire and the gods half-disappeared. Grillo Negro lay before me, every detail as crisp as if I were there myself.

In the middle of the village stood a turkey.

Put out the fire, said a calm, clear voice in my head.

I stopped running as my legs went weak. Jem caught me. My fire-wall slowly lost its spin as the gods stood around us, too frozen to make a sound. The fire sank to a low ring.

We were surrounded by Centzon Huītznāuhtin. Their circle parted as a white-haired figure stepped forwards. Coyol tossed aside a teleportation charm I recognized as Jem's. At her sides were two other deities. One was a woman with a face that could have been kind if not for the snake around her neck and the chill in her smile. The other was a short, hunched man with a headdress of turkey feathers. He gave us a crooked grin.

"That's better," said Coyol.

She was just as beautiful as I remembered. She looked no older than her siblings, and her composure outstripped even Tlaloc or Chal's. Her moon-white hair remained soft and unbraided, falling just past her shoulderblades. Even her skin shared its glow.

My vision was still split. The short man cocked his head, and the turkey in my village did the same. The man's grin stretched wider. Oh gods. This wasn't just a vision. Leverage had been among my guesses of why Coyol had kept Grillo Negro alive, but I had never imagined it could be leverage against me. Jem's hands gripped my arms tighter. Would I fall if he let go? I looked around for Emma, but she had frozen, too, her eyes fixed on Coyol.

"Bows down," said Coyol. The Centzon Huītznāuhtin lowered their weapons. Coyol turned to me, her black eyes piercing deeper than an arrow could. Her face was expressionless. "Your village, or these pathetic wretches?"

My heart jammed.

What?

Did she mean the gods?

Of course she meant the gods. She had done all this just to face down her siblings again.

"This is my war, and I want nothing to do with you," said Coyol. "If you stand out of my way, I will spare that blot on the landscape you call Grillo Negro. And your two friends, too." She tipped her chin disdainfully at Jem and Emma. "Even the goddess. Provided they abide by your decision."

This wasn't happening. It was a dream. A nightmare.

The other gods looked at me. There was a calmness in their faces that said more than words could. Coyol meant what she said, and they knew what my choice would be. They were giving me permission to make it.

My fear, once an insurmountable wall, slowly subsided. It was over. Coyol was about to win, but right now, only one thing mattered. I still had something I could save.

Something worth saving.

I lowered my hands, and the fire died completely.

"Step away," said Coyol.

I did. Jem and Emma followed. Cihua lifted her hand, and suddenly we were locked in a cage of lightning like Tezcat's, only swamp-green this time, not purple. I somehow knew we could not get out of it. Not this time. Coyol was making sure I could not go back on my choice.

The enormity of what I had just done hit me, and I sank to the ground.

Jem hugged me from behind. "You made the right decision," he whispered.

I knew I had, but my hands were shaking. The gods were not standing like they meant to fight. Tezcat slipped among them and stood between them and the sister I could see he feared more than almost anything else in the world.

"Please," he said. "Stop. It doesn't have to be like this."

"You don't know what I went through," said Coyol. She lifted a hand crackling with silver and shot him through the heart.