"Did you know then that their priest had blessed the sword?" Xibalba asked.

Manolo answered him with a halfhearted nod. "I suspected."

"And that was what you used on him."

"Of course. I couldn't have done it with a normal weapon, you said that yourself." He shifted in his seat. "You can go now if you'd like."

Xibalba raised his eyebrows. "Pardon?"

"You said you were sent to find out why I'd done it and how I'd done it. I've told you."

His expression was solemn and unmoving. If he was looking for a certain answer, Xibalba couldn't fathom what it was supposed to be. Instead he wetted his lips, tried not to make eye contact and gave the first response that had popped into his head. "I'd like to hear the rest of what happened. If you don't mind telling it."

To his surprise, Manolo nodded. "I thought you would say that."

"Is that a yes?"

Manolo looked down at the broken pair of glasses that were still sitting in his lap. "We're almost done, anyway."

Ofelia was the first to notice the distinctive color of the rising moon. Gabriela saw her freeze and start to tremble, then followed her gaze upwards. "Um…what's that?" she asked, already knowing she would rather not hear the answer.

Zuma shrank back at the sight, while Huitzil nearly choked on his own shriek before Metnal and Teoxi hushed him. "It means Ofelia would be out of time if she were still with Pax," the coati said.

The redheaded girl started to relax. "But she isn't - "

"He has until the moon is at its highest point to find her again," Zuma said. "And he knows it. If he's close, he'll be on us as soon as he's got our scent."

"Then what do we do?" Ofelia asked.

"Hide until we know the danger's past," Metnal answered. "At least he'll have no power to turn you then."

Gabriela frowned. "So what'll be his plan after that?"

The four spirits didn't answer.

Ofelia stepped closer to Gabriela and reached for Vicente's hand; when she tried to grasp the latter, however, she found only the empty air. "Vin? Where'd you go? Vin!" She drifted away from the rest of the group, quickening her pace as she spotted a familiar form climbing towards the top of a nearby pyramid.

"What's she doing?" Teoxi hissed under his breath. "It's not safe!"

The other four travelers started after her, but she was already running, focused on her friend and on the dark, fluid shapes creeping up behind him.

Vicente didn't hear the jaguars coming; his own heavy footfalls obscured their light steps.

The levels of the pyramid were easier to climb than they looked; high and steep, yes, but not impassable with a jump and a good grip. He hoped Bry was watching. She had been the one who had nudged him and said, with that telltale glint in her eyes, that she would bet he couldn't reach the top.

Scaling the final step, he walked out onto the flat, square plateau that was the structure's roof. One of the narrow wooden bridges started here, curving as it ran up into the branches of a tall, thick tree. They were on the outskirts of the city now, and the jungle was closing back in around them. Looking down, he saw one of the long, muddy ponds that was fed through a gash in the pyramid's brickwork and flowed off through a fissure in the ground.

He pulled out his telescope and peered through the eyepiece. Further ahead, the trees began crowding closer together once more and overpowering the buildings. Only one managed to rise above it, the tall temple which the spirits had told them they must stay away from. As Vicente watched, the moon began to rise from behind it; he shuddered as he took in the site of its dark red glow.

The boy wondered if his companions had seen it already, and that thought made him wonder where his companions even were. Putting away the telescope, he was preparing to climb back down when a flash of movement not far off caught his eye. Something was in the trees, watching him.

Vicente reached for the telescope again, then realized that he didn't need it to know what he was looking at. The shining yellow eyes told enough.

"They're coming!" he managed to scream before a large paw lunged out of the growing darkness to strike him off his feet and pin him down as soon as he landed. Then a snarling face was looming over his, putrid saliva dripping down from its jaws.

"You're a rather slow one, I see," said Pax.

He shoved the small human towards the waiting claws of his fellow warriors. "We don't have much time left. Take this one to the temple."

The other jaguars hesitated and kept looking at him. "Are we using this one instead, my lord?" one of them asked. "What about the girl?"

With a smirk, Pax glanced towards the lower steps of the pyramid. A small figure was dragging herself up one ledge after another as fast as she could, while her friends ran behind screaming for her to stop.

"Oh, we'll have her again soon enough," he said. "She'll be begging us to take her back."

The jaguars were already halfway across the bridge with Vicente when Ofelia reached the top of the pyramid. Her arms and legs seemed to move of their own accord - or perhaps they didn't - as she darted out onto the shaking boards after them. "Let him go!"

Most of the pack flinched, snarled and nearly broke into a sprint at the sound of her voice, but Pax held up a paw and they fell still. Rearing back up into his two-legged form, he started to approach Ofelia. "And so we meet again, little cub."

Ofelia balled her hands into fists and glared back at him, but she couldn't stop herself from trembling. "I said let my friend go."

The jaguar smiled. "And what would you give us in exchange for him?"

"She won't give you a thing!" Metnal shouted as the rest of the group reached the top of the pyramid and hurried to the edge of the bridge. "It's going to be alright, dear, just come back to - "

"I'm not leaving without Vin!" she shouted back.

"And I am not leaving without a child for my altar," Pax said. "Which shall it be?"

Ofelia looked past the monster, towards the spot where the rest of them were struggling to keep Vicente contained. He had managed to free his upper half long enough to shake his head and mouth a single word; Don't!

She tried not to look at him after that. "I know what you want," she said to Pax, her voice clear and raised. "If you let him go…" She had to grip the side of the bridge to keep herself steady. "…then I'll go with you. Right now."

A smirk spread across Pax's lips. "Is that a promise, little one?"

She nodded. "It's a promise."

"No!" Vicente shouted. With one last wrench, he tumbled out of the jaguars' grasp and rushed towards his friend.

Pax swung one paw to knock the boy backwards, and with the other he dragged Ofelia towards him by the arm. "Dispose of the others!" he called to his men.

The color drained from Ofelia's face. "What?"

"Gods have no business holding up bargains with mortals."

When Vicente's world finally stopped spinning, the first thing he saw was his sister dragging him by the leg, trying to get him back across the bridge. "Get up, tonto!"

"What for…?"

She started to point at something behind him, then screamed as the bridge swung, groaned and sagged in the middle.

The frayed ropes broke with ease under the force of a few claw swipes. With a loud, sickening crack, the bridge split in two and both halves went swinging down towards the earth. The jaguars climbed up one side, their precious haul in tow. The twins tumbled down the other, old boards breaking beneath their frantic, grasping fingers, everything disappearing into the murky darkness below.