Rafael let out a slow whistle. I must admit that I, too, was surprised at Fede’s story—although it fit with what we’d learned so far. This year, it seemed, the cultists were the ones who were interested in sacrificing the winning court ball team captain. They didn’t want his heart—they wanted his head, which they believed would trigger the end of the current era if it were severed from his body and placed in an itzompan on the day Four Motion. Judging by what we’d heard the blood spirit Nezahualpilli say, only the priest Domingo Vargas knew the location of the itzompan . My guess was that he had double-crossed the cultists, and planned to make the sacrifice solo. But if all went well for us tomorrow, he’d never be able to use that information.