I See Fire | Wattys 2021/22 Shortlist | ✔

Chapter Fifty-One

"Where are the gods?" I said.

Jem pointed past me. I let my flame grow until I could make out the hallway past the bars. Other cells lined its walls. Each contained a motionless figure, slumped in a corner or curled on the floor. They looked like they might have been awake once.

This was bad. I needed them awake. I couldn't do this alone.

"This place is cursed," said Jem. "They all passed out in less than an hour."

"Emma, how are you okay, then?"

"I don't know." She sounded small. "I had that matzin too, but it didn't curse me."

"Probably the powers you got from Cihua," said Jem. "If you can kill Tezcat's spells..."

"I can't do anything here, though. I'm just awake."

I let them talk. The bars of Jem's cell-front warmed quickly beneath my hands, but my strongest fire could not even make them glow red. I couldn't bend them.

"Try the lock," said Jem.

I was still waiting for either of them to ask me what I was doing here, but I guess they might have deemed that a question for another time. I searched the door for a lock and found a layered blanket of wards. Coyol and Cihua really took pride in their wards. These fell just as quickly to Fuego, though, and I finally found the metal padlock beneath them. Its internal mechanics were easily heated to the point of distortion. I wrenched the lock open and set it on the floor to cool.

The prison was eerily silent. My heart tripped as I raised my light to the cell across from Jem's. Oh thank Ōmeteōtl, Xolotl was here. But was he alive? He looked lifeless, huddled on the bare floor with the ragged aspect of someone who'd been badly beaten. My eyes burned from the strain of trying to tell if he was still breathing. It must have been at least ten seconds before his chest finally lifted, so slight it could have been the ruffle of a breeze over clothing. Alive, but barely.

The wards on Xol's cell buzzed when I stepped too close, and I suspected these might not burn so easily. I moved to the next cell instead. I fumbled for the matzin gourd at my side. Quet's breathing hesitated as I flicked a few drops at him through the bars. I dipped my fingers in the gourd again. It took several flicks—precious waste—before the god finally stirred.

I crouched by the bars. "Quet? Can you hear me?"

His hand moved to cover his face at the light I still held. I shut my fist.

"... Adriana?" His voice was hoarse, and nearly cracked. "Did they catch you, too?"

I lit the flame again, smaller this time, to show him where I was.

He pushed himself to his elbows, an obvious struggle. "How did you get in?"

I pointed to the floor. "Tunneled."

"You have to leave. Take Jem and Itztia and go back to Tlalocan; you'll be safest there. Do you still have a charm?" He was searching for Centzon Huītznāuhtin now, but he was too weak to get up. He fell back again. "Is Xol still alive?"

His voice really did crack this time. It hurt so hard. It scared me... to see the once-powerful god reduced to this.

"He is."

"Thank Ōmeteōtl."

Quet rested his forehead on his fists, shoulders hunched with the effort of not collapsing.

"Go," he said after a long moment.

"I'm not leaving."

He managed to lift his head again and give me a glare. "You will not sacrifice yourself on our behalf. Get Jem and Itztia and get out. You don't deserve to get caught up in our war."

In response, I dropped the matzin gourd against the bars and set to work on the wards over the door. Quet gave the gourd an incredulous look. "Is that—"

"Yes. And it's not cursed; I've tried it. If you want some, take it now before I go wake the others. I didn't haul my butt all the way through Mictlan and that deadweight all the way here to take on Coyol or escape alone. So don't tell me to."

"You're impossible." He managed a smile. "Fine. Did you at least rob Mictlantecuhtli for it?"

"Among other things."

"Serves him right." He hauled himself to the bars and groaned. "I can't tip it. Do you have a cup?"

I pulled off my bag and found my neglected dishes at the bottom of it. The gourd was unwieldy, but I managed not to spill as I poured out a more manageable portion. Quet took it gratefully.

"Get Chal next," he said. "And save Tezcat for last if you can."

I finally had someone who knew what they were doing. Quet sat cross-legged in his cell, sipping matzin and giving me instructions like he wasn't still locked in his sister's prison. Hearing that Xolotl was okay had brought the life back into him. I woke Chal, then found Tlaloc. I only needed two flicks to rouse the rain god. Chal passed the empty cup over. Tlaloc's expression did not betray how he felt about my presence here, or maybe I just couldn't see it in the meagre light from my hand. He accepted the refilled cup wordlessly.

Emma scared the life out of me as I reached her cell and found myself trapped in a hug through the bars. I found Xipe next. Like Chal, he was harder to wake, and looked just as exhausted when he finally stirred. I went back to work on Tlaloc's cell-wards while the matzin made its rounds. The magical spell-layers were stronger on the stronger gods' cells, but under Fuego's relentless enthusiasm, these fell apart like the rest.

"Not yet," said Chal with a wince when I brought the gourd to Tezcat's cell. "Break all the wards first."

I did, including the finicky ones around Xolotl. Chal walked me through the steps to keep these from alerting the Centzon Huītznāuhtin, exploding, or both. Concentration robbed me of the outside world, and I nearly had a heart attack when I turned to find Tlaloc behind me. He set several dead padlocks aside and closed a fist around the one I was struggling with. Something snapped inside it as he pulled. He removed it and pointed me back to his siblings' cells.

Quet had joined us in the hallway. "You can wake Tezcat now," he said with a strained smile. He needed one hand on the wall to remain upright, but at least he was standing. My hopes of help in the fight against Coyol wobbled dangerously.

I added that thought to my mental box.