Hunters of Chaos (25 page)

Nicole looked away, clearly resentful that, for once, I was the one in charge. Reluctantly, she nodded her head.

I leaned in. “And tell your boss we're coming for him.”

I gestured for the other girls to back off, and as soon as they did, Nicole scurried away, her shoulders curving and ripping through her expensive blouse, wiry hair sprouting along her arms. I had never seen anything as hilarious as Hyena Nicole loping through the woods in True Religion jeans and ballet flats.

As we walked back toward the dorms, enjoying the cool night air, Jason asked all kinds of questions about what it was like to be a big cat. He said he'd had trouble accepting it at first, but now that he'd gotten used to the idea, he wanted to know everything.

“Is that why you were so good at lacrosse?” he asked. “I mean, some of the moves I taught you took me years to learn, but you picked them up like that.” He snapped his fingers.

“I'm not sure,” I answered honestly. “There's so much we don't know yet about our powers. If Ms. Benitez ever wakes up, maybe she can help us figure it all out. I have more questions about that temple, too.”

“Oh, that's right! I never got a chance to tell you,” Jason said.

“Tell her what?” Doli asked.

“You know the other night when I saw you change into a human?” he said.

“He
saw
you?” Lin stared at me.

“It was an accident,” I explained. “We'll talk about it later. Promise. Go on, Jason.”

“Well, the reason I was looking for you was to tell you that I figured out the temple couldn't be Anasazi. Remember how I told you that all the Anasazi settlements were on the same meridian?”

I nodded. We'd had that conversation right after I'd seen the green-eyed cat for the first time.
Where is the cat, anyway?
We hadn't seen it again once we'd entered the temple.

“After I figured out what the meridian was, I mapped it out, and the temple is nowhere near the line. There's no way it is an Anasazi structure.” He shrugged. “But I guess you figured that out already.”

“Kind of,” I agreed. “I think that's why Dr. Logan was so quick to take that Roman coin from you. He didn't want anyone to know that the temple wasn't Anasazi, because it was a great cover.”

“Poor Mom,” he said again. “She's got all these archaeologists all over the country talking about the Anasazi temple. What's going to happen when they start poking around and realize it's something else altogether?”

“Are you kidding?” said Shani. “They'll have found a real-life temple of evil from every civilization they've ever studied. They'll be stoked.”

“Plus, at least they'll see that the Brotherhood of Chaos was real, and Ms. Benitez will be vindicated. Maybe they'll finally publish her paper!” said Doli.

“I don't know, you guys,” I added. I turned to Jason. “Anubis was able to get your mom to agree to move the whole school to protect his secret. Who knows what other crazy plans he has in mind.”

Jason took a deep breath. “As long as none of those plans involves my mom . . . ,” he said.

“Tell her Dr. Logan was a jerk anyway,” I offered. “She's better off.”

Jason smiled. “Will do. Speaking of my mom, I'd better get home now. With any luck, she hasn't woken up yet to find out I'm not there. See you around, Wildcats.” He smiled at each of us, lingering an extra second or two on me, then headed down the path toward his house.

Out of the side of my eye, I saw Lin gazing after him as he went. But when she noticed me watching him too, she huffed in frustration and turned away. I sighed. I could take on an evil demon god, but I had no clue how to fix Lin's broken heart. There had to be a way to have Jason in my life without hurting my friend.

We reached the circle of benches outside of Radcliff Hall a few minutes later. I noticed Lin looking at our dorm with worried eyes.

“What's wrong?” I asked.

Lin bit her lip. “I don't know if I can go in there. Everyone hates me.”

“That's not true,” I said. “We don't. Besides, Doli told me she went to check on you after what happened and you weren't in your room or in the common room, so you must have hidden out in someone's room, right?”

“No.” Lin hesitated. “I stole Antonio's keys and hid in the jet.”

No wonder Doli hadn't been able to find her! “He's really touchy about people going near the jet without permission,” I said, remembering how he'd reacted to Nicole.

“I'm aware of that,” Lin said miserably. “I just didn't know where else to go. Now that everyone knows I'm a thief, how can I even show my face?”

“You can start by telling us why you did it,” Doli said evenly.

Shani sat down on the back of one of the benches, resting her arms on her legs. “Yeah, why would someone as loaded as you are turn into a klepto?”

Lin bowed her head and whispered, “I'm not rich.”

We all looked at one another, completely confused. “Of course you are. Your dad's an ambassador; your mom's a famous actress . . . ,” I said, repeating Lin's favorite speech.

“That was before,” Lin cut in. “My dad's accountant turned out to be a con man who cheated him out of millions. And my mom got cut from her last movie so they could hire a younger actress. That Marchesa bag was their parting gift to her so she wouldn't talk about it in the press.”

“But if all that is true, how can you afford to go to this school?” I wondered aloud.

Lin sighed. “Principal Ferris is an old family friend. She met my mom in college when she was studying abroad. Anyway, she agreed to waive the tuition fees, provided I make a donation to the school someday, after I graduate.”

Doli folded her arms and turned to Lin. “You mean to tell me all this time you've been on my case about being here on scholarship, you've been here on one too? You tortured me about that!”

Lin shifted her eyes away guiltily. “I know, and I'm sorry. But you don't know what it's like for me! I have always been rich. Everyone knows that. And you may not think so, but there's a lot of pressure that comes with having money. When I found out that we were . . .
poor
”—she contorted her face as though the word left a disgusting taste in her mouth—“I was so embarrassed. I figured the bigger deal I made about you not having money, the fewer questions people would ask me.”

“And the stealing?” I prompted.

She sat heavily on the bench next to Shani's legs. “I've been collecting things that I could sell online so I'd have money to buy clothes and jewelry—keep up appearances. That was the plan, anyway. Stupid, right? You all must think I'm an idiot.”

“No,” Doli said.

“No.” I shook my head.

“Totally,” Shani said, nodding emphatically. When Doli and I glared at her, she lifted her hands and shrugged. “What? You thought no one would notice when all the stuff missing around school shows up for sale from the same eBay seller? Even she admits it was a dumb plan. But look.” She climbed down from her perch atop the bench and sat down next to Lin, throwing her arm over her shoulders. “Who cares what those snooty girls think anyway? Half of them are only like that because they were trying to impress
you
. But now that you've got us, you can just be yourself—which happens to be pretty cool.”

Lin gave her a grateful smile. “Thanks, Shani.”

“But what about Nicole?” said Doli. “What if she reports Lin and tries to get her expelled?”

“I don't think she will,” I replied. “Not after the scare we put into her tonight. But, Lin, it wouldn't hurt if you apologized to the girls you stole from.”

“I will. And I promise I'll return everything I took, starting with Antonio's keys.” She looked at each of us with genuine affection on her face. “Who needs designer clothes anyway when you've got the Wildcats as friends?”

“Hear, hear!” Shani said. “Now, if you don't mind”—she stood up and pulled her blue hair under her nose and sniffed at it—“I need to go wash the bat smell out of my hair.”

We laughed and followed her toward the dorm. As we got closer, I noticed that the lights were on at full power. If I had to guess, I'd say the lights came back on at the same time that the Chaos Spirit's light went out.

Later that night I got a text from Jason.

Mom just got a call from the hospital. Ms. Benitez is awake
.

T
WO DAYS LATER
S
HANI
, D
OLI
,
Lin, and I were sitting in the uncomfortable chairs of the hospital's waiting room. I was jittery with impatience. Today was the first time since Ms. Benitez had woken up that she'd been allowed visitors, and I couldn't wait to see her. Even though I'd been told she was all right, so many things I'd been told lately had turned out to be lies, I wouldn't believe it until I could see for myself.

At last a young nurse in light blue scrubs entered. “You can all go see her now,” she said.

I tore out of my chair, eagerly following the nurse down the hallway to room 218. When we got there, she gestured for us to go inside. But now that I was there, I hesitated. I was scared that I'd find Ms. Benitez still unconscious with wires and tubes crisscrossing her body. Slowly I took a step in, followed by the others.

A rush of relief coursed through me when I saw Ms. Benitez sitting up in bed, bright eyed and smiling. She greeted each of us by name.

“I'm so glad to see you girls!” she exclaimed, spreading her arms wide.

Without hesitation this time, I ran into them, squeezing her tight. Maybe it was weird of me to hug a teacher—not to mention a goddess—as if she were family. But she kind of felt like family to me now. “I was so afraid you'd never wake up,” I confessed, my face still mushed into her shoulder.

“Thank goodness you did, too,” said Shani. “Because have we got a million questions for you!”

Lin entered bearing a bouquet of flowers and a “Get Well Soon” balloon. She gave Ms. Benitez a smile and immediately went about finding something to use as a vase and arranging the flowers perfectly on the windowsill.

“We're so glad you're okay,” said Doli. “You look pretty good for a woman who's been in a coma for more than a week.”

Ms. Benitez grinned, sitting up taller in her hospital bed, where she lay under a crisp white sheet. “Thank you, Doli,” she said, glancing into the hallway and dropping her voice. “Of course, my recovery is thanks to the four of you defeating the first Chaos Spirit.”

My mouth dropped open. “How did you know?” I said.

“Only that could have woken me from my coma,” she explained. “When you destroyed Anubis's minion, his powers diminished and he released his hold on me.”

So I was right. Anubis's powers had weakened, thanks to us. That made everything we'd gone through worth it. I quickly told her about how we had defeated the demented bat and escaped the temple. “We brought a gift for you too,” I said. I pulled the green jewel out of my pocket and placed it in her hand.

She wrapped her fingers around it, took a breath, and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, I saw that their color had changed to a dark purple, like fresh plums. Looking into them was like swimming in a deep well. They were Ixchel's eyes. “You've done better than I ever imagined,” she said. “You've found the first jewel.”

“
First?
” Doli said, lifting her eyebrows. “So there really are more? Anubis didn't get rid of them?”

Ixchel turned to her. “The sacred gems are enchanted and indestructible. They cannot be destroyed, and if they were thrown to the bottom of the ocean, they would rise to the surface and float until they were found. However, they can be hidden in the darkest corners of the world, places mortals rarely go.”

“You mean like the creepy temple we were in last night?” Lin suggested. “
Blegh
. No thank you.”

Shani nodded in agreement. “I have to say, I second that ‘blegh.' I was hoping that taking out the bat would send Anubis a message. You know, scare him straight so that he would just give up his evil plans and go home?”

Even as she said the words, I could tell that she knew it was wishful thinking.

Ixchel regarded her with serene eyes. “Your victory over the bat spirit was impressive. But what you killed in the temple was the Chaos Spirit's physical form. While by destroying that, you have weakened it immeasurably, given time, it could recover. This was only the first battle of many to come.”

“Rats,” said Shani, slumping against the windowsill.

“But what about the vase?” I asked. “I know Anubis pulverized that. Even if we find the jewels, don't we need a new vessel?”

Ixchel nodded sagely. “Yes. In order to defeat the Chaos Spirits—and Anubis along with them—once and for all, we must find the jewels and trap them in a powerful vessel. I created the first vase, I will make another. Until then, the war rages on. Only you can help me put an end to Anubis's evil.”