Hungry Ghosts (Eric Carter #3)(66)

The city is immense. Towering pyramid structures, massive buildings of alternating limestone, onyx and jade bricks rival New York’s skyscrapers. Everything is bright, primary colors, complex designs of eagles, snakes and above all else, skulls. Trees and flowering plants line the streets making it feel bizarrely more alive than any place I’ve ever been.

The people of Chicunamictlan reflect their city. Unlike the couple on the outskirts, the residents here wear bright clothing, sport intricate facial tattoos, cover themselves with gold and jade jewelry.

And with all that, things must be pretty boring here. People are lining up on balconies and the side of the street to openly stare at me as we parade through. I’m probably the newest thing they’ve seen in five hundred years. When all those Mad Max cars finally show up at their gates they’re gonna shit bricks.

As we get closer to the Bone Palace the crowds thin, the novelty of Mictecacihuatl’s jade consort wearing off. Exhaustion pulls at me. I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in weeks and beyond the white sapote I had on the Crystal Road I haven’t eaten anything. I’m starting to stagger a little.

I dig an Adderall out of the bottle in my messenger bag and dry swallow it. A couple of the warriors give me side-eye but they don’t do anything about it. The pills can’t replace sleep. When I finally crash it might just kill me, but something tells me I don’t need to last very long, anyway.

“Hey, you guys aren’t the ones who chew on coca leaves, are you?” Blank stares. “No, that was the Incas, wasn’t it? Damn. I could really use some of that right about now.”

I’m not sure they understand me. Whatever quirk had me understanding Nahuatl doesn’t seem to go the other direction. Or they’re just not talkers.

I spend my time walking to the palace sizing them up, looking for something I can exploit. Jade’s harder than obsidian, so if I keep my left side open I should be fine. The blades should just skid along the surface. But there are twelve of them. No matter what, part of me will be exposed.

The Adderall is starting to kick in, pushing my exhaustion into the background. My pace is picking up and I’m getting that tense, antsy feeling in my skin. I start to think I can really take these guys and have to remind myself that it’s the drug talking. Still, the energy is good. I’m going to need it.

The Bone Palace looms ahead of us, the tallest structure I’ve ever seen. A giant, bone-white Aztec pyramid with tracings of dark red mortar between the bricks, a single, wide staircase heading to the top toward a squat, stone structure. It’s hard to make out so high above me, but I think I can see part of an altar sitting at the edge.

“How does this whole sacrifice thing work?” I say. “I mean, do you guys get gutted and your hearts grow back, or something? Because otherwise, after a while, wouldn’t you run out of people?”

“Yes,” Alex says, appearing alongside me. “They ‘die,’ which here is more like sleeping. Eventually they wake up and everything’s normal again. It’s a great honor to be chosen. Only the most devoted are taken.”

Interesting. So they can die, if only temporarily. Maybe I can get out of this after all. But I’m going to need some kind of distraction.

“Like an Employee of the Month,” I say. “Maybe they should hold out for a prime parking space, instead.”

“You just have to make everything crass, don’t you?”

“It’s my superpower,” I say. The guards are looking at me wondering who I’m talking to. I’m walking through the streets of Mictlan with green, stone skin. I’m not really worried about a handful of Dead thinking I’m nuts.

“Why are you here?”

“Oh, gloating mostly,” he says. “That and to help.”

“You’re a voice in my head,” I say. “I don’t see how you can do anything.”

“I know this city. Its streets, its alleys. And I can guide you to where you need to be.”

“That’s awfully kind of you,” I say, wondering where he thinks I need to be. Wherever it is it’s not here, so that’s a point in its favor. “But you have seen these upstanding, steely-eyed gentlemen with no sense of humor, haven’t you? I don’t think I can take them.” I glance around searching for comprehension on their faces. If they understand what I’m saying they’re doing a great job of ignoring me.

“You don’t need to kill them,” Alex says. “Just run away from them.”

“That’d be a neat trick,” I say. “Got any suggestions how?”

“You’re all going to turn left in a moment. There’s a building you’ll come to with an open doorway. You can run through it, go upstairs and escape across the rooftops. When I give the word, make a run for it.”

“Easy for you to say. They can’t stab you.”

“You big baby. You’ll be fine.” Mictlantecuhtli’s power wells up inside me, pushing at the edges as if it wants to tear its way out of me.

“Are you doing that?”

“That’s all you, Hoss,” he says. “But if I could, I would. I want you to get out of this as much as you want to get out of this.”

Great. The last thing I need is to let what little control I have over this thing slip. “If I turn into a rock before we get out of here you’re going to be stuck with me for eternity.”