Hunters of Chaos by Crystal Velasquez

Author:Crystal Velasquez
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin

chapter 14

THE TRIUMPHANT SMILE FADED FROM Anubis’s face.

Ixchel grinned. “Yes, Anubis,” she intoned in her ethereal voice. “As I said, preparations have been made. I have assembled the Wildcats, and they will put an end to the Brotherhood of Chaos.”

Doli, Shani, Lin, and I looked at one another. Wildcats? What was she talking about? And why did the sight of us seem to scare the god of death?

Ixchel chanted something in an ancient Mayan dialect and raised her arms. Soon the dust surrounding the remains of the once-beautiful vase swirled into life, and the shapes of the four cats that had been pressed into each side rose into the air. Gliding like apparitions, the tiger moved into position in front of Lin, the puma aimed itself at Doli, the lion faced Shani, and the jaguar squared off in front of me. They had a filmy ghostlike quality, as if they had been sketched in pencil on a bolt of silk. But as we watched, their soft gray outlines took shape and they became living, breathing animals, with brilliantly colored fur and rippling, muscular bodies. The lion let out a roar that rattled my rib cage, and my stomach dropped into my shoes. I’d seen all of these animals before in the zoo, but there had always been a deep pit and thick glass walls separating us. Now there was nothing. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been so scared.

“They’re going to eat us,” Lin said, her voice quivering.

“Run!” Shani cried.

But I couldn’t move. None of us could. The jaguar had me locked in its gaze and I felt paralyzed. It huffed once, twice, then came charging toward me at full speed. Part of me wanted to pull back, to run, but a deeper part felt pulled toward the jaguar. This is meant to happen. I don’t know where the thought came from, and I couldn’t tell you how I knew it was true. But I did.

Crazy as it sounds, I spread my arms open wide and welcomed the cat as if it were a long-lost pet. The jaguar slammed into me like a freight train, knocking me off my feet.

“Oof!” I fell, my back slamming into the floor. But the pain never came. Instead an intense tingling sensation vibrated up the length of my spine, as if it were a plucked violin string.

For one horrifying moment all I could see was a blinding white light, and I thought maybe I’d died and had entered a tunnel to the afterlife. But within seconds my vision returned, the world around me slowly coming back into view. I was once again in the dark basement—only it wasn’t dark anymore. Now everything was as clear as day, as if I were wearing night-vision goggles. I looked around me to see where the jaguar had gone, but my own personal spirit animal was nowhere to be found. Had it run away? Slowly I moved to stand on my two feet, but when I glanced down, I realized I didn’t have feet anymore.

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