It was a gorgeous summer day in New York – everyone was out and about. The parks were busy, and the streets were filled with tourists and their fancy cameras.
Sanjay had gotten the great idea to meet up with his friends in front of the museum – he and Sasha were the first to arrive, backpacks slung over their shoulders with the daily necessities. Sasha said her mom packed her favorite – all Sanjay did was roll his eyes and laugh.
It wasn't long before their other three friends had arrived – "Mom insisted I do the dishes before I left," Jane grumbled. "She also tried to make me leave my skates at home…" A sly smile, and she pulled them out of her bag with a flourish.
"I got a bunch of chocolate from my dad!," Julio stated, brushing some purple strands of hair away from his face to peer down into his pack. "I mean, of course my mom was against it, but how could I resist!?"
A laugh from the group of kids – Sanjay groaned. "Are we gonna get going or what? The museum is gonna close in a few hours. There's a lot to do." Nods passed through the group, and the kids headed up to the door, pushing it open and stepping inside the large space.
"Five tickets please!," Sasha grinned at the ticketmaster, bouncing on her toes to just be able to see him. The man behind the counter grinned. "Kids are free on Tuesdays," he laughed. "Go right ahead ~ "
With a skip, Jane and Sasha went on ahead, Julio, Sanjay, and Dennis following close behind. "Thanks man!," Sanjay called back.
As the kids wandered through the large building, they noticed how many tours were out and about. "What's wrong Sasha?," Jane asked, glancing down at the smaller girl with confusion in her eyes.
Sasha was looking all around the museum, as though she were expecting someone. "Sanjay! She's not here!" More confused glances from the other three kids. "Who's not here?," Julio asked.
A smile from Sanjay. "You know who…" The whole group of kids gasped – they couldn't be serious. That must've been a onetime deal.
"Here's why I called you all here," Sanjay started, gathering his friends into a circle. "Sasha had a great idea last week – she thought we would try and find La Muerte again. We would be able to listen to another story if we found her."
Dennis continued to chew on his gum – he didn't know whether he should intervene or not. Luckily, Jane did it for him.
"There are tons of tour guides here during the summer – you can't expect to find her! Plus – that was a year ago. We can't even prove that was real."
Sasha gasped, and the whole group turned to her, expecting her to go on and on about how La Muerte was most definitely real – again. But their eyes followed her finger as she pointed past Sanjay's head – and there they saw her.
"It's her," Sasha squeaked, jumping on the balls of her feet. "We have to go say hi!" They watched as the tour guide stopped to talk to a guard – smiling down at him before disappearing behind a corner. "That must've been Xibalba," Julio whispered. "Only La Muerte would smile at him…"
"Let's go! Let's go!" With wide eyes, the group watched as Sasha dashed off, and Dennis groaned. "Let's go get her," he murmured, adjusting the straps on his backpack and beginning to trot after her. The others followed in hot pursuit.
"La Muerte! It's me! Sasha! Wait up - " The little girl sped around the column, hoping to catch a glance of red hair somewhere around the corner. But she wasn't there. "Aw man…," she murmured, turning away and heading back to the others.
Sanjay and the group came panting up to her not soon after she turned back. "You weren't able to catch her?," Jane asked, and Sasha shook her head. The group went silent. "We were so close," Julio whispered, Dennis popping a bubble.
"Oh no – that's too bad you couldn't catch her. I think she was going home – we had a lot of people here today." The group whirled around to see a familiar face. Sasha lit up again. "We don't need her – we have him!" The security guard crossed his arms, mustache twitching in irritation. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he growled, voice low.
"We know it's you Xibalba," Julio snickered. The man's eyes grew wide for a split second, and then he muttered something foreign under his breath. "Fine, fine – you caught me." Sanjay couldn't help but laugh in delight.
"So, why were you going after her anyway?," the disguised man asked. The kids shared a look amongst themselves, and Sasha grinned up at him.
"We wanted to hear another story!," she cried. The others nodded. "Yeah – it's been so long. We wanted to see if we could hear some more," Jane added.
The security guard instantly began to shake his head. "Well, she's not here. You're going to have to leave and come back some other day." He turned away – he'd let the kids have their fun.
"Not unless you take us!" The man grimaced, body seizing up as he froze in his tracks. "I'm no tour guide," he muttered, turning to face them once more. "It isn't my job." His eyes met the pleading gaze of Sanjay and Jane – Sasha was bouncing on her feet at the excitement of a new adventure. "Please Xibalba?"
The guard grumbled some more things under his breath, and then motioned for them to follow. "Fine – but you go by my rules, not La Muerte's. There's no talking unless I tell you to speak or let you ask questions. You won't get over emotional and leave me to clean up after your stupid messes." He glared at them. "Got it?" The group nodded.
It took a few minutes, but the group had made their way down a few halls and up to a wall. The man just kept on walking, the wall bending around him to make a new passageway. In amazement, the group followed, looking around in awe as they found themselves in the same festive hallway as before.
"Woah…," they gasped, taking in the sights one more time. "So it wasn't all fake…" A dark chuckle sounded behind them, and they turned to find themselves facing Xibalba.
His wings were ruffled slightly in amusement, eyebrows arched as he watched the kids. "Of course it wasn't fake! You saw La Muerte transform in front of you guys, didn't you?" The group was too in shock of the god's appearance to respond.
"Now let's get this over with," he muttered, snapping his fingers – the lights came on, and he slithered over to the book. "It may not seem like it, but I do have a life beyond this ridiculous job."
Resting besides the podium that held the special artifact, he glanced down at his spindled fingers. "Well – go ahead. Pick one."
Julio was the first to leap at the book, using all his strength to pull the book open. "La Muerte made it look so easy…," he groaned. The first few pages flipped on by as it fell open. The other kids gathered around the podium, flipping the pages and looking for a story.
"What's 'Flos Moriens'?" Xibalba, who had been looking around at the colorful room in partial disgust, twisted his head to face them, horror in his eyes. "That's um… that's not a very important story," he exclaimed hurriedly. "How about you turn to a different one?"
But Sanjay and Sasha seemed quite intrigued by what was already before them. "We want you to read this one," Sasha demanded, pointed at the page. The other kids nodded along with her.
Meanwhile, the god had been hunched over, looking quite uncomfortable by the situation he was in. "Can't you just tell us what it's about?," Jane asked. "Yeah! But without spoiling anything!," Julio added.
A few more grumbles under his breath, and Xibalba sighed. "Fine – fine." He came closer to the podium, leaning over to look at the page momentarily before looking away with a pained expression. "It's a story that involves the gods – me, La Muerte, and my family most of all."
The kids looked up at him in awe – he had a family? That sentence just seemed to make them more intrigued. "It does take place when Manolo and his friends were alive – about two years after the wager." He paused, crossing his arms. "It has a lot of… fighting in it. And there's some pretty dark stuff I'm sure you couldn't handle."
The room was filled with silence – the god turned to smile down triumphantly at them, hoping he scared them off, but his smile immediately disappeared as he saw delighted grins on their faces. "You should tell us that one," Sanjay said, sitting down on the floor. The rest of the group followed in pursuit.
Another pained glance at the book, and another sigh. "Alright – but it's not something I like to reflect back on." He turned to the book, skimming over the words slightly before opening his mouth to speak.
"Wait!" The god glared at Sasha as she interrupted, and she looked sheepishly up at him. "Sorry… But can you tell us what the name is? I don't know what 'Flos Moriens' means."
Xibalba sniffed, and uncrossed his arms. "It means Dying Flower. Now please – can you be quiet? It's already hard enough to read something that has me doing something stupid in it…"
And off he began. "This story did not begin in San Angel, not even the time when Manolo and his friends were alive. This story began thousands of years ago, when I first met the love of my life."