Ofelia stopped in her tracks and looked around. "What was that?"

"What was what?" Gabriela asked.

"I heard someone. A voice."

The other girl looked bewildered. "Around here?"

"I think it came from up in the trees. It was yelling."

By now Vicente had doubled back to see what was going on. "What did it sound like?" he asked.

"Small…frightened. Not like the jaguars." Ofelia looked back up toward the canopy. "It said something about humans."

The twins' eyebrows both shot up. "What do you think it was?" Vicente whispered, glancing around.

"Maybe a bird?" his sister offered.

"But Felia said it talked!"

"Birds talk, can't they? Sometimes…?"

Ofelia had gone silent: she was wandering through her own thoughts, instinctively running her mind over the words of her storybooks back home. Wasn't there one about children getting lost in a forest and led astray by fairies who whispered to them from the shadows?

She shook her head. "We should keep going," she said, pushing apart the bickering twins as she walked past them.

They exchanged a puzzled glance, then looked back at her. "What about the bird-thing?"

"I just imagined it, I think." At least she hoped she had.

"Bird-thing? That doesn't sound very polite." Feathers ruffled.

"Perhaps it means something better when the humans say it."

Ribbit. "I wouldn't count on it."

"Hush, all three of you! They'll hear us!"

"I thought that was the idea!"

"Pax is still looking for them. We get their attention, we get his."

"So what do we do, then?"

"We wait for them to get good and lost."

There was a great flapping. "B-But humans can't get lost!"

"These ones will."

"Bry?" Vicente called out, shielding his eyes from the afternoon sun.

She grumbled something under her breath as she turned back around and walked towards her brother. "What?"

"Are you sure that compass is working?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"Because we've been going in a big circle all day."

The girl's face crinkled in disgust at the idea. "No, we haven't!"

"Have too! We've passed that same tree six times now!"

"You can't prove that."

"I counted!" He drew his wooden sword and scratched a tally mark in the dark brown bark of the tree they were standing beneath, right next to five other crude lines.

Gabriela stared at the tree with bugged-out eyes, then at her compass. The rusted little arrow spun merrily around on its post as she tipped the instrument left and right. Muttering a few words that her mother often yelled in a strange tongue when angry, she sank to the ground. "The boys at school charged me twenty pesos for this old thing. Twenty…!"

Ofelia sat down away from the twins, leaning against a tree and looking up at the branches. A dark, cat-like shape seemed to slink across the treetop: the girl stiffened at the sight, and withdrew further into the bundle she had made of herself.

In the corner of her eye, she saw a spot of green and brown move against the black earth. Her head whipped about, only for her to relax as she saw a small frog crouching by her foot. It croaked a few times as it stared up at her, its large, dark eyes filled with sagacity.

Ofelia sighed and sat back against the tree once more. "It would be nice if you could help us…"

The frog took a few hops towards her, and then opened its mouth. "I wouldn't need to if you humans had a better sense for which way is which!"

Ofelia's scream jerked the twins out of their argument: they looked up just in time to see her leap to her feet and run towards them, away from a frog which was now hopping towards all three of them. "Come now," it said, "that's no way to greet someone of my standing."

The twins' jaws dropped. Gabriela fell to her knees and scrambled to find her wooden sword, picking up an old, thick branch by mistake. "Get back or I'll…"

"Let go of me!" The branch shrieked and opened two bulging yellow eyes as it began to wriggle in her hands. Gabriela screamed and threw it into the air, where it transformed into a mass of feathers and flew headfirst into a tree trunk.

By now Vicente had found his own sword and was charging at the creatures when a deep voice stopped everyone in their tracks. "Let us have no more of that, please."

The children slowly looked up. Perched on a branch above them were two creatures: a stout ocelot looking down with disdain, and a black and white coati with less wariness about it. The cat leapt to the ground and began to circle around the mortals. "There isn't any use trying to run. We've been tracking you for a while now. You had best come with us before we have any more trouble. Now which of you is the child that Pax has been taking to Tehuantepec?"

"I'm not going back."

The ocelot fixed its eyes on Ofelia. "Oh?"

"You heard me!" she said, a little louder as her small hands balled into fists. "I'm not going back to those jaguars!"

"To the jaguars?" the coati said; its voice was soft, almost motherly. "Oh no, child. We have no business with Pax and his kind."

Vicente scowled. "Prove it!"

The ocelot looked at him askance. "Look at Huitzil there if you want proof," he said, gesturing to the strange bird. It was now whimpering quietly as it tried to bury itself in the dirt.

Ofelia carefully approached the bird called Huitzil and put out her hand. "Are you frightened of them too?"

At the touch of her hand, it recoiled and plastered itself against the tree trunk. "D-Don't hurt m-me, por favor! I'm certain I taste terrible!"

"I'm not going to hurt you, señor. I don't think people eat…whatever it is you are."

Huitzil puffed out his brownish-gray feathers. "A potoo, I'll have you know. In a way."

"What do you mean?"

"He means we four take the shapes of the creatures here which we have sworn to protect," the frog answered. "I am Zuma. These…" He nodded to the coati and the ocelot. "…are Metnal and Teoxi. You may consider us friends."

"Gracias," Ofelia said, nodding hesitantly. "M-My name's Ofelia…"

Teoxi looked at her with renewed interest. "Ofelia Sanchez, by any chance?"

Her eyes widened. "How did you know?"

"The gods of Aztlan have been speaking the name Sanchez often as of late," Huitzil said. "Even we have heard it! That's how you know it's important. We hardly ever get the news out here."

"What about the name Mondragon?" Gabriela asked.

The potoo scuffled away from her, its eyes downcast. "I wouldn't know."

"The only important thing," Zuma said, giving them all the evil eye, "is that Pax knows of these things as well."

"Who is he, exactly?" said Ofelia. "And how do you know so much about him?"

"He was a warrior king in the old days," Metnal said, climbing down from the tree. "He held great power over mortals and spirits alike." She and her companions shuddered at the memory. "Now all that remains of his empire is his citadel in the east."

"I think he mentioned it a few times. He called it Tehuantepec, didn't he?"

Teoxi nodded. "He needs the blood and souls of children to get his old powers back, and if he manages that, we're all done for. Now, Zuma and Huitzil say they've seen four humans wandering around this part of the jungle…"

Ofelia perked up. "That must be our mamas and papas!"

"We can guide you to them if you wish," the ocelot continued. "And perhaps back towards your home."

"Hold on," Vicente said. "How would you do that?"

"Your families live in a village called San Angel, do they not?"

"Yes, but – "

"Oh, I remember hearing that!" Huitzil exclaimed. "It's the center of the universe, you know. Sacred ground for us spirits. All the lines of magic in the world meet at that one spot!"

"Yes, yes," Zuma said, rolling his eyes. "And Tehuantepec sits on one of these lines as well; your parents will be traveling along it. We find that line, we find them."

"And you know where it is?" Vicente asked.

"Of course! I can lead the way."

The twins were about to say something else, but Ofelia stepped forward before they could. "We would be grateful if you did, señora."

The coati nodded and smiled, then began to march off into the jungle with Huitzil and the children trailing behind.

Vicente grabbed the arm of Ofelia's coat. "Do you really trust them?" he whispered into her ear.

"I trust her," she whispered back. "Her and the bird."

Teoxi and Zuma lingered behind the others, huddling together. "Pax will be looking for her, you know," the frog said.

"He won't be able to turn her after the red moon passes," the ocelot answered. "We keep them away from him until then. After that he can do with them what he pleases."