Ice Shock(44)
I listen in amazement. “What do you think it is? A hiding place? Another secret passageway?”
Ixchel just shrugs and takes a couple of bites of Benicio’s abandoned club sandwich. For a second, her eyes light up. “These are so good! The chef makes them with the most delicious bacon.”
“Yeah, the bacon’s amazing.” Talking about bacon at a time like this?! “But what about this secret passage?”
“If there is one, then it might lead into the Depths, under the city.”
“Have you told anyone this?”
She shakes her head, chewing. “Nope.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t trust anyone in Ek Naab.”
“Why?”
“Something is going on. I don’t know exactly what, because I’m a ‘child’—that’s how they see me, at least. And they don’t tell me anything important. But I have eyes and ears.”
“And … ?”
“People have become secretive about who they talk to. My parents started talking quietly behind closed doors. Saying things like ‘Don’t tell so-and-so that such-and-such was here.’”
“Any particular names?”
“Montoyo—anyone linked to Montoyo, people are really cautious around.”
“So, what—Montoyo’s a bad guy now?”
Ixchel shrugs. “Benicio is a great guy. But he does whatever Montoyo asks.”
“You really seem to have a problem with Montoyo … why?”
“He has a lot of power in Ek Naab. And when you turn sixteen, you’ll replace him on the Executive. He’s going to lose his position. That doesn’t worry you?”
I shrug, wondering. “Never even thought about it.”
“Maybe you should.”
“What are you saying?”
“I don’t know what’s going on, Josh. But the atmosphere has been weird for months. What if there’s another way into Ek Naab? What if there are spies in the city?”
“Spies, why would there be spies?”
“Josh, there are people in Ek Naab who want to sell our secrets to the outside world.”
“I thought Montoyo already did that—isn’t that how the city is so rich?”
“No—he sells technology that doesn’t have to stay secret. I’m talking about the secrets of the Baktun Problem. The secrets in the Ix Codex.”
It strikes me that this isn’t quite the same story that Benicio told me. He didn’t mention anything about selling secrets.
“Look,” Ixchel says slowly, as if I might be a little slow. “If there’s another way into the city, then … secrets might be leaving through that route.”
I shake my head. “No way. Madison threatened to beat me to a pulp unless I told him how to get into Ek Naab. He doesn’t know the way.”
Ixchel seems genuinely surprised at this. “Hmm. Then maybe it’s nothing.”
“It’s not nothing. Madison’s up to something. We should investigate. Then we can tell the Executive what we’ve found. The whole Executive—all at once.”
“You’re dreaming,” she says. “Benicio told me you’re in trouble with Montoyo. You think he’s going to give you permission to investigate?”
“Hmm. Probably not. So let’s not ask.”
Ixchel stares at me with what looks like admiration. “You’d do that?”
“Yeah.” I stand up. “You and me. Let’s go, right now.”
She shakes her head in disbelief. “I thought you were Montoyo’s errand boy too.”
“Hey, in two years I’m going to be on the Executive,” I say. It’s the first time I’ve heard respect in Ixchel’s voice, so I go further, get bolder. “I don’t take orders from Montoyo.”
“That’s tough talk, but what about me? You want me to walk off my shift—which will probably get me fired, by the way—and go all the way back to Becan with you … and use up all my money for the bus … ?”
“… And crawl into the temple and find the secret way in … ,” I say. “Yeah, all that. Come on. Please. This Madison guy, he killed my sister; for all I know he may have been involved in the murder of my father. He beat me up, was going to kill me. And his evil witch of a girlfriend has been spying on me, pretending to be my friend …”
I almost spit that last sentence out, and Ixchel seems a bit startled. She looks at me for a long moment.
“What about Benicio?”
“Well … first thing he’s going to do is call Montoyo and ask for permission. So that’s out.”
She nods. “Okay. But we can’t leave saying nothing.”