Chapter 15 Whitney #3
“I like that turn of phrase.” He snorts. “I’ll definitely use it.”
Oh, geez. “But—”
He drops a hand on my shoulder. “Hush now, little one. Watch and learn.” He steps forward, blocking the general’s view of me and my view of him. “Are you ready to unconditionally surrender yet?” Xolotl tilts his head. “If so, you can be my second in command. If you’re not ready yet, I’ll escalate.”
“Escalate?” General Phillips doesn’t sound ready.
“What does that mean?” Based on the crackling sounds, I think someone’s screaming into his earpiece.
He’s close to us now, but still, if we can hear the noise from his earpiece, they’ve gotten really loud.
“No, stand down,” he hisses. “Stand down for now. I’m negotiating. ”
“It seems you need more convincing,” Xolotl says. He looks around the area, and then he closes his eyes, and his nostrils flare. He brings his hands together then, hard, clapping.
A strange creaking sound that sounds like a thousand trees breaking at the same time occurs simultaneously with a great shaking of the ground.
“What are you doing?” General Phillips asks.
“Yeah,” I say. “What did you do?”
“There’s a fault line that runs just alongside us, maybe ten miles that way.
” He points west. “I’ve split it open. It’s going to continue to separate if I don’t stop it, eventually shearing a large part of the land mass you call California off, and allowing it to sink into the ocean.
” Xolotl looks perfectly pleasant, like he’s explaining to the general that the bugs in the bed are now dead.
“You—you what?” The general taps his ear and starts rapid-fire asking questions. Two jets veer west, and when he hears back from them, his eyes widen. He swears loudly and for a long time. “How did you do that?”
Xolotl laughs, and the ground underneath us shakes.
“You haven’t been listening.” Somehow, I have no idea how, Xolotl grows larger.
He’s looming over all of us now, and dark energy’s radiating outward from him like heat waves off the desert sand in July.
“I’m Xolotl, God of Death, Lord of Mictlan, also called Ta’xet.
None can stand against me. I’m here to restore balance to the humans living in this time, and you can help me, or you can die. ” He shrugs. “I don’t care which.”
General Phillips appears to have wet himself, but he shouts into his mouthpiece. “Hit him with everything we have, now.”
Xolotl sighs and snaps.
The general collapses, his eyes rolling back in his head.
Then all hell breaks loose. Jets dive and fire, missiles, warheads, and rapid gunfire all headed our way. Xolotl shoves me behind him again, as if that will keep me safe. He hisses, “Use what I showed you to keep stray bullets clear. I’ll do the rest.”
I barely stop a volley of bullets that were aimed right at me.
When I’m not drawing wind in front of myself to stay alive, I watch.
Xolotl sets all the soldiers in front of him on fire, for fun I suppose, since I know full well he could snap and end them immediately.
Then he draws every single warhead, missile, and grenade into himself, and they just disappear.
He’s still twelve feet tall, and he’s beaming like he’s on his first ride at Disneyland. What was I thinking before? No amount of burgers or theme park rides could change this being from what he is into something he’s not.
He is death.
As I watch him more carefully, I can see the souls fly through him—something I’d never seen before. They dart and flit and stream in small lines and massive surges, shooting through his body, and lighting him up. Xolotl swells with more and more energy as the army attacks and attacks and attacks.
Then in the distance I see a much larger jet coming, and I wonder what it’s carrying, but deep down, I already know.
It has to be a nuke, right?
“They’re about to hit us with a nuclear warhead,” I shout. “Xolotl, let’s portal out of here.”
“A nuclear warhead? It harnesses the power of cells?” He bites his lip and beams at me. “That’s great news.”
“Great news—you’re insane.”
“It’s a powerful instrument of death, I’m sure.”
I can’t—I can’t keep doing this. “I’m going to hide over there.” I point at a hangar that’s not too far from us. “I’m scared.”
He shrugs. “Fine. But not too far. Hear me?”
I nod. “Not too far.”
Another round of jets shows up, and I realize the general was telling the truth. They really are hitting him with everything they have. I form a bubble of wind over my head, and I sprint for the hangar.
The very last thing I ever expected is waiting for me inside: Izzy.
“You finally got clear.” She hugs me. “P. S. There’s no way we’re killing you, you idiot.”
Leonid’s right behind her. He shrugs.
“You weren’t supposed to tell her,” I snap.
“You don’t know your sister,” Leonid says, “if you thought I could hide that. She heard you on that call in real time.” He chuckles. “But let’s go. I’m not sure how many weapons the US military will be stupid enough to give him.”
“I can’t run.” I shake my head. “He’ll come for me—it’ll pull him right to you.”
“Exactly,” Leonid says. “We’re counting on it.”
“You don’t understand,” I say. “No one in this world can destroy him. He’s not evil—he’s just pure darkness to balance the light. Light can’t exist without darkness to define it.”
“Oh, wow, you’re in deep.” Izzy grabs my hand. “Come on. We know all that, and we’re not trying to kill him like the stupid US military. We’re just trying to put him back to sleep, and we have some ideas, but we need you for all of them.”
It’s hard to leave him—surprisingly painful—but I go.
I only look back one time, and my heart wrenches as I abandon my big, strong Cobalt Blue.