Neca tries to catch me. Tries and fails. I’m sure I won’t be lucky enough for him to lose his way completely and miss the fight. None the less, he loses me.
Having traveled the route between the dump and the garden hundreds of times, I level out at a steady jog and let the tears flow. I have no right to demand he not fight. I have no claim on his life. After tomorrow morning, I’ll never see him again.
But of all the horrible luck and based on the little I know of the matter, I think I love him. At the very least, I owe him. How can I let him kill himself after all he’s done for Olin and me?
I climb out of the sink hole in the dump and increase my jog to a run. With nothing more than an idea, I steer toward the main entrance to the underground. I’ll tell people. I’ll force Huemac’s hand.
At the entrance to the underground, I realize I need more than an idea. I need a plan. Before I can come up with one, I’m interrupted.
“You sure know how to piss people off.”
I smell the tzapotl bark on Yetic’s breath before I see him.“Yetic, what do you want?”
“To do you a favor, although for the life of me, I can’t figure why.”
“You’re calling off the fight?” For a second, I buy my own delusion.
“What? No. Why would I do something axnohtic like that?”
“Nothing, never mind.” I can’t trust Yetic with the truth. He’d probably side with Huemac and try to lock me away until after the fight.
“I wanted to tell you to get out of sight until registration.”
“Oh, thanks. That really helps.”
“Shut up for a second.”
I clamp my lips and stare at him with mock expectation.
He rolls his eyes. “Whatever you said to Huemac earlier lit him up like a match to a pine tree. He and his goons are looking for you. If you stand out here in the open much longer, they’ll find you.”
“And that should concern me?”
“Wake up, Calli. Huemac ain’t your precious Centavo. He eliminates threats, and for some reason you’ve become a threat.”
I open my mouth to retaliate, but then Yetic’s meaning settles in. “Oh.” I look over both shoulders. “You think he would kill me to keep me quiet?”
Yetic takes me under an arm, ushering me toward a nearby alley. “Knowing Huemac and knowing your propensity to blab, I don’t even need to know what dirt you’ve got on him.”
A thought hits me. “How do I know you’re not working with him to keep me quiet?”
“Are you listening? The people that work for Huemac kill first and offer polite warnings second.”
“Oh, right.” A breeze funnels through the alley, drying the sweat on the back of my neck.
“Look, I know I’m not at the top of your friends list at the moment. I swear I had nothing to do with Huatiani showing up at the warehouse. I smelled the trap a second before you, that’s all.” He blinks and rubs his eyes. “You might not believe me, but I care for you and your brother. I’m glad no one got hurt.”
“No one got hurt?” I struggle to keep my voice down. “No one got—”
“I mean, other than…look, I don’t know what happened. I wasn’t there.”
I jab my finger into his chest, so upset I can only sputter my contempt.
“That’s my fault,” Yetic throws up his hands. “I admit it. I should have stayed to help.” He glances both directions. “One minute the general is after you, and the next no one knows where he is. It doesn’t take a genius. I don’t know how you did it, but you won.”
His admitting he abandoned us tamps my rage beneath the surface. “Wait, are you threatening to blab about what happened?”
“No, no! For the love of—” he runs his hand across his face. “I’m trying to keep you from getting killed by Huemac, you know, to make up for abandoning you before.”
“Ahh, how sweet.” I bat my eyes then roll them. “Thanks, but I’ve got business to attend to.”
“Wait,” he catches my arm. “What business? Maybe I can help.”
I shift my humorless gaze from his face to his hand on my arm.
He lets go.
“Don’t you have a fight to get ready for?”
“Hey,” he shrugs, “I woke up ready.”
His smug attitude makes me want to gag. I close my eyes and think. It’s possible Yetic’s pride won’t let him fight if he knows the results would be skewed. He wants to be remembered as the undisputed champion, not as Huemac’s bloodthirsty shill.
Then again, who’s to say Huemac would even go down for this. Sure, he’s withholding medical information and tampering with the odds, probably because he’s already violated the rules by betting his own funds. But he could fake the report. With Neca dead and me in the academy who would argue? On top of it all, I might be underestimating Yetic’s dislike for Neca.
I stare him down. “There’s no way you’ll call off this fight?”
“Never.”
“What if I were to tell you Neca had been the one who fought Huatiani, and that the encounter weakened him?”
“Not my problem.”
I drill him with an angry glare.
“Hey, Neca agreed to the fight. He signed the book, and the doc cleared him.” Yetic stabs his palm with a finger. “I saw the signatures.”
I can barely swallow my rage. I’ve got one last, desperate idea. I breathe deeply three times, until I can speak using a normal tone. “You swear you came here today with nothing but concern for me?”
Yetic nods. “I swear. Why?”
Part of me can’t believe I’m saying it, even as the words leave my mouth. “What if I were to take Neca’s place in the cage?”