Chapter 21 #2
My mind raced in time with the flapping of my wings.
Could he even help me? And yet, this was where my Monster wanted me to go if anything went wrong.
I had been too caught up in saving him myself to remember until now.
But I had never had a hero complex. I had always been a team player.
Who cares how we got there, everyone contributing their different gifts, as long as the finished product was the best it could be.
Which was probably why I hadn’t climbed higher at my firm, now that I thought about it.
Those who succeeded in life were good at putting themselves first. Never me. I just wanted to belong. To matter.
I circled Hiroshi’s hut twice before catching sight of him outside.
He was alone. This knowledge was enough to bring me to the ground, where I landed for a second before transforming into my human self.
I thought of clothing at the last moment, but clearly it wasn’t enough, since I was mostly naked, with one of Camazotz’s white shirts resting loosely on my shoulders, the buttons undone.
Impatient, I buttoned the shirt as quickly as possible, grateful it came down to my thighs.
Next time I would work on getting clothed as part of the process of changing, since clearly it could be done.
My brain snagged on this fact. I could create a shirt on my human body.
I rubbed the soft cotton between my fingers.
That was incredible. Was it all organic material? Is that why it was possible?
The sound of a man’s throat clearing pulled me out of my distraction, and I smiled at the little potter, hoping he hadn’t seen any of that. I should have been more careful.
Instead of worry, there was joy in his eyes, but when he looked behind me, clearly not expecting me to come alone, it lessened.
“Hiroshi, hello. He’s not here. He’s in trouble.”
His eyes clouded over completely.
“What is the matter?” he asked, slowly pacing the words to get them right.
Oh boy. How did I explain this to him in a way that made sense?
“They put him under the land. In the caves.” I pointed in the direction of his own cenote and then mimicked diving and going under.
His eyes went wide, showing his alarm, but he nodded, encouraging me to continue.
“Then they blew it up. BAM!” My hands formed a ball that expanded. I tried to show the cave walls falling down. Then I flapped my hands. “I flew over here for your help. But I don’t know how to save him.”
His eyebrows drew down. The first thing I promised myself I would do once we were back on the mountain was to learn as many other languages as possible. If I had made it this far only to lose him because we couldn’t communicate…
Hiroshi stepped away, his hands balling into fists and then releasing.
He turned and walked to his work area and then past it to where his clay animals sat on their tables.
He looked at each one for a few seconds and then moved on, deep in thought.
I tagged along, just in case he had any ideas that would help, although now that I was here, my hope withered.
What could we do to save Camazotz from his grave? Me, a failed architect, he a potter?
He stood for a moment in front of a group of small animals.
Like my sparrow and the bat, they could each fit in the palm of my hand but were almost lifelike in the amount of detail and color.
Shaking his head, he moved on, slowing in front of an otter.
He stood there for several minutes before moving a few steps farther.
He came to a stop in front of a five-foot crocodile, so realistic in every detail that, had I not known he had made it, I would have thought it was real—and perhaps even felt a little frightened.
Each scale on its back had been carefully carved.
The glaze was lighter in the grooves. Giant teeth, larger than my thumbs, poked out between its lips, and I could swear the eyes followed me as I took a step closer.
“Come,” he said, waving me closer still.
When I stood next to him, he grabbed my hand.
I froze from the unexpected touch and then forced my muscles to relax.
He gripped my three fingers and pulled my hand to the smooth shell of the creature, rubbing my skin lightly against the scales on its side.
Pulling me with him, he brushed my hand down the side of the beast, pulled my hand up, and then set it down gently on the pointy ridge of its tail.
The ridges were rough, and he moved me more slowly now, giving me a chance to take in the contours of this animal.
“Go. Learn.” Then he released me, nodding to continue.
Still unsure what I was supposed to do, I continued examining his creation, memorizing its unusual form and admiring the beauty of both the work of the creator and the animal that inspired it, because he had made a replica of an amazing beast.
“One moment. Be right back,” he said, leaving me to my task, so I continued my job, forcing my brain to get on board with what he was asking of me.
When he returned, I stopped, stepping back from the sculpture.
With a nod, he turned, watching to make sure I hadn’t left, and headed toward the cenote.
I followed him despite the growing dread of what he had planned.
At the top of the steps, he stopped and held something out to me.
I put my hand out, palm open, and in it, he placed a small rock.
It was tiny and gray, a smooth oval. Nothing remarkable about it, except it would’ve made a good skipping stone across the water had it been larger.
He pointed to my mouth. When I didn’t move, he pantomimed putting the rock into his own mouth.
Then he held his arms out in front of him, his right arm palm down over his left arm palm up.
In case it wasn’t clear he was making a crocodile mouth, he moved his hands first apart, then together a few times while making a chomping sound.
I pointed to my throat. “Should I swallow it?”
“No, no, no. Just in mouth.” He tucked his finger into his cheek, outside of his teeth, and then he looked at me expectantly.
So, I put the damn thing in my mouth, tucking it between my cheek and teeth.
I waited a few moments, and then a strange sensation washed over me.
The piece of stone started whispering to me.
But instead of using words, it began tugging me in a specific direction.
Not in a physical sense, as it wasn’t actually pulling my head anywhere.
It just whispered where to go. The draw to my Monster, the invisible tether, a constant presence, had not left me, but this stone suggested taking a slightly different, more indirect path.
I looked at Hiroshi in wonder. He pointed to the cenote and then down. Would this thing help me navigate the underground rivers and lead me back to my Monster?
I pointed down in the direction of the cave out of sight below us, afraid to confirm what he was suggesting. “You want me to get him? To swim to him?”
He made the crocodile mouth again with his arms. “Holding breath long time.” Then he pointed over to the rows of ceramic animals.
This was a crazy idea. But I had come to him with a problem, and he had provided a solution. “You’re coming with me?” I asked, garbled with the rock in my mouth.
“Oh, no. I not go.”
Well, wasn’t that just great.