Hungry Ghosts (Eric Carter #3)(47)

I steal a glance toward the trees and see the Ahuizotl climbing ever higher. It swings one of its massive hands at a branch that has shot up to block its path, tearing it off the trunk in a shower of splinters.

It rips through the trees like a cat in a bag, clearing the trees and crouching on the edge of the amphitheater. It pulls back its lips in a Cheshire Cat grin of shovel blade teeth.

If the archway’s a trap, at least it’s not some Aztec horror trying to eat me. I give the Ahuizotl the finger and step backward through the arch.





The arch isn’t just a hole into a tunnel. I can feel the magic before it hits me and I feel myself stretching like a rubber band, my mind pulling in multiple directions. A moment later it all snaps back into place and I come through the arch into a cavern that looks like the inside of a geode.

Crystals thick as tree trunks shoot up from the ground, down from the ceiling. A soft white glow emanates from deep inside them, smaller crystals in the walls throwing back sparkling rainbow light.

A road paved with stone blocks has been carved through the crystal forest. It stretches out in two directions, twisting and disappearing behind massive crystal columns.

“The Crystal Road,” Tabitha says.

“I can see that. The Aztecs were pretty literal, weren’t they?”

“They weren’t big on superfluous language.”

“How long do we have before our friend out there breaks through the archway?”

“Should be a while. Hours, at least. Maybe a day,” Tabitha says. “But I’ll feel better if I’m not right next to the entrance.” She starts to head down the road and I fall in step beside her.

“I’m more worried about why it would try to get through at all,” she says. “I’ve run into it before but I give it a wide berth and it leaves me alone. It’s a hunter, but I’ve never heard of it going very far for prey. It usually stays in the rivers on the other side of the mists and takes souls on their way to Chicunamictlan.”

“So, you’re saying it doesn’t like me.”

“Does anybody?”

“Ha. Funny. Okay, it wants to eat me. Why? I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say Santa Muerte doesn’t control it, or you wouldn’t be freaking out about it. So Mictlantecuhtli?”

“No. And why would he? He wants you to get to Chicunamictlan to kill Santa Muerte as much as you do. No one controls it as far as I know. It’s associated to Tlaloc. But Tlaloc’s gone. Quetzalcoatl killed him in the war.”

Could Quetzalcoatl be behind this? That doesn’t scan, either. He wants me to burn Mictlan down. Is this his way of warning me to keep my agreement? Or has he decided I’m not the guy to make it happen so he’s sent the Ahuizotl to take me out?

“What about Quetzalcoatl, then? Could he have gotten control over it after Tlaloc died?”

“I suppose, but I don’t think it’s likely. What would he have against you? He’s not able to come into Mictlan anymore, so I’m not sure how he could even be directing it.”

“Yeah. I don’t get it, either.”

It hesitated at the top of the amphitheater. Why? It could have jumped down from the top of the amphitheater and gotten to me. It probably wouldn’t have gotten me, all I had to do was fall backward and I’d have gone through the portal. But did it know that?

Or does it not want to kill me?

If Quetzalcoatl sent it to keep tabs on me, that might make some sense. Quetzalcoatl was banished from Mictlan. So how did he give it orders? How did he tell it to come after me? There’s more here I’m not seeing, yet.

“How far until we hit Mictlantecuhtli’s tomb?”

“Not too far. But you won’t like it when we get there.”

“I don’t like anything about this trip, so why change now?”

“It’s sealed behind a circular door that has to be rolled out of the way.”

“Oh, is that all? So I put my back into it. I thought you were talking about the demons.”

“Putting aside that it’s about twenty tons, rolling it aside isn’t the tough part,” she says. “Hang on. What demons?”

“The ones I dumped in there. A bunch of them got loose in a storage place on Santa Monica, and I didn’t have anywhere else to put them.”

“So you dumped them into Mictlantecuhtli’s tomb?”

“Seemed like a good idea at the time. And it’s not like he was using all that space.”

“How many did you put in there?”

“Twenty? Thirty? I wasn’t exactly counting at the time. Don’t worry about it. I have a plan to deal with them. So what’s this about this door?”

“Okay. I guess we’re done talking about the demons,” she says. “The door’s locked. I can’t open it.”

“Goddammit.” Do I have anything that explodes? Maybe I can blast it open.

“I said I can’t open it.”

Ah. I get it now. Shit. “I can but I have to use Mictlantecuhtli’s power to do it, don’t I?”

“Sorry.”

I wave it off. “Whatever. I’ll burn that bridge when I get to it.” A wave of dizziness hits me and I stagger. I steady myself against one of the quartz crystals. Tabitha grabs me.