Chapter 20 #2
For the second night, I hardly slept, thinking of all the ways it could go wrong, and I could be discovered as the imposter I was.
Who did I think I could fool—me posing as an ancient goddess?
The only thing I had going for me was having turned her to stone seconds before she choked the life out of me.
And that was only because of Camazotz being stone the first time we met.
I didn’t speak any other languages. Hell, other than Micheline and Rune, I didn’t even know the names or faces of the others.
I would probably mistake a servant for the ancient god of volcanoes.
I shook my head. I couldn’t afford to think of failure. That would mean death for him and me.
I climbed out of bed, too restless to sleep, even though I’d need to be sharp during the day.
A commotion outside the house drew me to the window.
Several cars and trucks pulled into the circular driveway.
One, a flatbed with the tailgate down, had to be how my lying bat god would be transported.
Despite the early hour, people buzzed around the vehicles.
It was later than I thought, and dawn should be here soon.
Putting my shoulders back, I turned to prepare.
I was dressed and overseeing the loading of Camazotz’s body onto the same flatbed truck by the time Chaac emerged, dressed in his loosely fitting suit.
He came and stood beside me, silently watching the proceedings.
Unsure of what they had discussed, how far or how long this would take, I had packed up Ixtab’s trunks the night before and left them in the sitting room.
The luggage had been missing in the morning.
The biggest hole in my disguise was my lack of any language besides English.
With fifty years on the mountain, I would have plenty of time to learn. Success today was the only option.
My instincts said to wait until all the others grabbed whichever seat they preferred, but adrenaline had me moving for the front passenger seat when Chaac moved to the driver’s side.
Micheline and Rune sat behind us, and he started the car, a large, older model Mercedes-Benz that probably belonged to Ixtab.
The cars around us filled with passengers, but none of them looked familiar.
Chaac started the car and pulled out. The rest of the caravan followed.
There was not much conversation, and I ignored the little there was.
They could still decide to outvote me and take my Monster’s head.
Up until he was tucked away in whatever cave they planned to hold him, and we were miles away, neither of us was safe.
I would need to keep it together for my thin plan to have any chance of success.
“Darling, you don’t seem like yourself.” A large palm landed on my thigh, and I jumped in my seat, giving him the best disdainful look I could produce.
“Have you ever wanted something, and then, having received it, it isn’t as sweet as you thought?”
He glanced away from the road, eyes looking straight into mine for the first time.
Up until now, I had only seen Chaac peripherally.
First, up in the mountains, so intimidated by my own Monster, I had written him off.
His human form, less than perfect with its wrinkles, gray hairs, and stout body, while still strong, hadn’t appealed to me.
Especially standing next to the bat god in his horned, winged, and muscled glory.
And since we’d been in Mexico, my focus had been first on getting us out alive and then, unwillingly, on Ixtab, distracted by her status as wife, even if she had left him decades before I had been born.
Looking at him now showed me I had been stupid.
Ancient eyes bored into my being, seeing past all my facades, my fake disdain, and my weak attempt to pretend to be better or above the people around me.
He saw right into my mushy center, the part where I had never been enough for anyone.
Discarded by my parents, barely tolerated by my uncle, ridiculed at school, and dismissed by my job. Destined for loneliness.
“Hmm,” he said, turning his eyes back to the road.
Be calm, be calm, be calm. I chanted the words over and over as I stared straight out, keeping my breaths even as my heart tried to beat out of my ribcage.
“I thought you learned that lesson a thousand years ago,” he said, voice low and serious.
“Me too,” I said, voice barely shaking.
“I say we kill him for good this time,” said Rune. “This is the perfect opportunity.”
This time, I kept my body from reacting.
“What fun would that be?” said Chaac, squeezing my thigh before removing his hand. “We will never have another opponent so fierce.”
Well, he had that wrong. If they killed him, I’d make sure they regretted it one day. Then again, that day might come soon if he found his lover turned to stone back at her house.
I would turn them all to stone, I decided. Hunt them all down, one by one. I would learn how to decipher the ancient texts back at the fortress on the mountain, and if Camazotz had truly remade me in his likeness, then I’d have nothing but time.
Planning revenge had taken my thinking to a different place, one of hunter, not prey, but I didn’t have time to get too involved in my grim fantasies before Chaac pulled off to the side of the road, taking a narrow, dirt path I would never have spotted.
The car slowed as the road worsened, tarmac becoming clay and gravel.
We swerved around the largest potholes. It took about an hour to get to our destination, but the road was so bad, it felt more like three.