– 13 –

On December 21, 2012, the Mayan calendar runs down. The age of Hans — according to the calculations of the Mayan sorcerer-sages — is over.

Nobody tells Hans, so he doesn’t expire.

Nobody tells the jaguars, or their decaying orbit, either, so they don’t finish up their fall.

Ixchel circles the earth, and muses, chewing on the remnant of a seraph’s wing.

“I’m not,” she says, “I mean, I don’t think, I mean, I’m not going to catch on fire. Either.”

“Oh?” says Yohl.

“I’m going to roll up into a ball to minimize my surface area,” Ixchel says. “instead. And think cold thoughts. Then I will warm up, but I will not catch on fire.”

“That should work,” agrees Bahlum.

“Yeah. It should,” confirms the jaguar named Chan.

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