“So far, yes. It’s been consistently accurate.”
“So why has he stopped writing it? After he wrote the dream about his father, nothing …”
Marius gives a small sigh. “I very much doubt that he’s stopped. He’s simply moved it, as he did before.”
“How will we find it again? Without our agent to spy on him?”
“My dear professor, we don’t need to.”
“Because he’s no longer useful to us?” There’s a touch of doubt in the woman’s voice.
“Precisely so.”
They’re silent for the next few minutes. This does not sound good. I’m dying to say something, and even in the shadows I can see that Ixchel keeps turning to glance at me. But we have to progress even more quietly now that they’ve stopped talking.
And then the woman starts up again. “I’m not sure we should kill him, not yet, anyway. It would be a waste of a useful resource.”
“How so?”
“I could use him as a test subject. For the gene therapy. It’s almost ready for trial, but we need a human subject—one with the Bakab gene. And the experiments are illegal.”
“Dangerous?”
“Potentially fatal—no way to predict side effects.”
“And the benefits … ?”
“If I can get the gene therapy to work, Marius, the Sect will be in a position to completely take over from Ek Naab. We won’t need them or their Bakabs to handle the Erinsi technology. And that’s just the beginning. The other abilities of the Bakabs—we may be able to enhance them.”
“Enhance them?”
“Right now it’s a weak ability at best. But in our hands, it could be turned into a weapon.”
Marius pauses just for a second, gives a tiny sigh. “If the boy can be useful to you, my dear, you must use him while you can.”
“So we agree?” the professor says. “Whoever captures the boy, he’ll be taken alive?”
“Absolutely.”
At this point, Ixchel stops in her tracks. I can’t get her to move. Martineau’s and the professor’s voices disappear into the gloomy depths as I silently try to persuade her.
When we can’t hear their voices anymore, Ixchel pulls away from me and whispers, “No! We have to go back—didn’t you hear what they said? Do you want to become a genetic experiment?”
Help the Sect to take over from Ek Naab … ? There’s no way I can be part of that.
24
Ixchel turns around and starts walking back the way we came. She switches on the flashlight. I catch up and grab her wrist.
“How do you think you’re going to get out? You think there’s going to be a door handle?”
“Weren’t you listening?”
“‘Course I was. But don’t you see? We can’t stop now. We have to find out what they’re doing.”
“Josh, we’re walking into a trap.”
“It’s only a trap if they know we’re here.”
And then I get the most terrible idea. Slowly, I relax my grip on her arm.
“Is it a trap? Have you tricked me into coming here? And now that you know what they’ve planned, you’ve changed your mind?”
Ixchel stares at me in horror. “No! What? You’re crazy! What’s wrong with you?”
I raise my voice. “Have you, Ixchel? Have you lied to me, too?”
Ixchel clamps her hand over my mouth and hisses, “Shut up; are you insane? Of course not! It was your idea to come here, idiot— your idea, not mine. I followed you.”
I push her hand away and glare at her.
She shakes her head. “You’re crazy. I’m leaving. I’m sorry I ever met you.”
With that, she turns, continues walking back to the entrance.
That’s when I realize how paranoid I’ve become. I chase after her again.
“Okay, maybe I’m wrong …”
“Maybe?!”
“Okay, I’m definitely wrong. But it wouldn’t be the first time someone tricked me.”
“You’re the one who let himself be tricked.”
“No, Ixchel. Listen.”
She stops.
“That girl they talked about, the one they said was an ‘excellent agent’ … that’s Ollie. I thought she liked me. You know, liked me.”
“Oh.” Ixchel taps her foot for a second. “I’m sorry. That’s too bad.”
“But she was a spy all along,” I mutter, almost to myself. “A spy for the Sect of Huracan.”
Ixchel stiffens. “The Sect? Tell me you’re kidding.”
I shake my head. “You’ve heard of them, then?”
“The Sect of Huracan? Everyone in Ek Naab has heard of them. But they’re supposed to have been gone hundreds of years ago—disappeared.”