“Where’s Brooks?” I asked.
“She flew off to take Marco some food and make sure he was okay,” Ren said. “I hope the time rope isn’t messing with him.”
Oh. Right.
“I’ll go find her,” I said, frustrated that she would leave us when every second mattered.
Jazz came in and leaped over the back of the sofa, landing with a thump. “We better hurry. Once Prince arrives, no one else will be getting on that boat. I heard he brings his own security.”
“Brooks and I will meet up with you guys,” I said. “Where do you keep your boat, Jazz?”
“Betty’s parked at the Marina del Rey docks,” Jazz said. “About two miles south. Just be quick. I gotta be at the arcade.”
A few minutes later, I arrived at the bench where we had left Marco. But no Marco. Seriously? I was going to incinerate the guy! All he had to do was sit there and keep hold of our ride home. The crowds had thinned to a few stragglers cruising down the boardwalk and beach. I scanned the area and didn’t spot him or Brooks.
Where could they have gone? As I hooked a right down an alley, I collided with someone.
“Zane?” Brooks said. “What are you doing here?”
“Me?” I said, trying to hold my annoyance in check. I mean, who cared that she wanted to feed the son of war and thought he was the strongest? I couldn’t think about that right now. Time was running out.
“Where the heck’s Marco?”
“I found him on the beach,” she said, like it was totally okay that he had left his post. “He’s up to his ears in sand.”
“What do you mean?” Was he building a sandcastle or something?
“He said the rope was messing with his head, trying to make deals with him, so he buried himself so he wouldn’t have to listen anymore.”
“Do you think we can count on him to stay put?” I said, handing her the Obi-Wan costume.
“He won’t let us down,” she said.
Those five dumb words made my stomach twist into a million knots.
“Come on, Obispo,” said Brooks as she changed into a hawk. “Let’s go find some gods.”
We touched down on the dock in Marina del Rey, instantly spotting our crew, which wasn’t hard to do, since they were all dressed like Obi-Wan Kenobi. Even Jazz was playing the part, and he had what looked like a real lightsaber—or maybe it was just another one of his zapping tools.
Betty was a small navy-blue motorboat with bench seating behind the wheel. Jazz seemed to know his way around the controls, because a minute after we boarded, he zipped into the open water. The sea looked like black glass, shiny in the half moonlight. No one said anything. We all just kept our eyes on the water as if pretending that we weren’t about to do what we were about to do. Rosie propped her front paw on the gunwale and let the wind hit her face like she used to back in New Mexico, when she rode in Hondo’s truck. For half a second, I could see her as the dog she used to be.
Jazz said, “Check it out,” as he flicked a switch and the motor went silent. But we were still cruising.
Adrik got to his feet. “How did you do that?”
Looking over his shoulder, Jazz wiggled his eyebrows. “I told you she was souped-up. Like the Millennium Falcon. Maybe someday I’ll figure out how to make her jump to light speed.”
“Wow,” Ren said. “You’re really smart. I mean, I know you’re an inventor—” She stopped herself, throwing me an oops look. I couldn’t even be mad. I mean, it was hard to forget everything we knew about Jazz’s future and who he would grow up to become.
“I like that,” Jazz said, nodding. “Inventor.” A minute later, he brought the boat to a stop and faced us. “I need some insurance.”
“Huh?” we all said at the same moment.
“You say you’re magicians,” he said. “Prove it. Show me some magic.”
Ren shifted in her seat before drawing a long black shape out of the water. “Shadow magician,” she said.
Jazz seemed impressed. Then he turned to me and Adrik. I flashed some fire. Adrik? He just said, “Sorry, dude. My magic is in the dream realm.”
Jazz folded his arms across his chest. “All magicians can do at least one trick.”
“We really have to hurry,” Brooks said.
Adrik sighed and said to Jazz, “I can tell you your future. You will open your own shop. You’re going to invent a flashlight that can kill demons, and you’re going to help save the world.”
Jazz beamed. “Like a lightsaber?”
“I just said you’d help save the world,” Adrik said, “and that’s what you focus on?”
Jazz went back to the wheel, still smiling. “A demon-killing flashlight is so much better!”
Rosie paced restlessly. The cool sea air seemed to be getting colder. I half wished that the 1987 version of Pacific or Mat would show up and offer us a hand, but I knew that was impossible.
“We’ll sneak up on the yacht’s stern,” Jazz said. “Check things out from a distance so you guys can decide how you’re going to get on.”
About ten minutes later, we had traveled so far across the ocean I could barely see the shore’s twinkling lights. A few hundred feet away, a massive yacht—as in mini cruise ship status—came into view. Someone waved orange batons from its deck as we heard a helicopter approach. Soon the copter hovered directly over the twins’ vessel.
“That must be Prince!” Jazz yelled over the sound of the whirring blades. “He’ll create a good diversion for you.”
Adrik craned his neck as if he could catch sight of the rock star and then started flapping his arms in the air and jumping up and down.
“Adrik!” Brooks scolded.
He scowled and sat back down. “Seriously? Prince is up there!” he said, pointing. “Like…you do know who that is, right?”
Rosie panted excitedly as Jazz slipped the boat into hold-on-for-dear-life gear. We raced over the water so fast my cheeks jiggled. I thought we would catch air, but Jazz had mad boating skills. Within two minutes, he had pulled Betty up to the yacht, just as the copter was touching down on the front helipad. Yeah, the yacht was that big.
Jazz was right. Everyone had rushed to the bow to meet Prince, so there was no security at the stern. No anyone.
“I’ll wait here,” he said. “You don’t have much time to sneak around. Just try and blend in like Luke and Solo did when they dressed as Stormtroopers aboard the Death Star.”
We pulled up our hoods and climbed up the ladder to the first deck. Rosie? She just turned to mist and reappeared up there.
“Guys,” Brooks said from beneath her hood, “avoid anyone who looks like Han or Skywalker.”
Everyone nodded.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Adrik said.
Just then, the crowd erupted in cheers and screams. Prince must have disembarked. Adrik started in that direction until Ren pulled him back. “Hey,” she said. “We’re not here for that.”
I could see Adrik struggling with the choice of seeing his rock idol or finishing the god rescue mission.
“At least you’ll get to hear him,” Ren offered.
I turned to Rosie, who was now cloaked in one of Ren’s shadows. “Okay, girl. Find those gods.”
Rosie took off down the narrow deck and ducked into a cabin. No, cabin isn’t right. It was more like a mini ballroom with two huge chandeliers, shiny marble floors, and a dozen tables topped with shimmery gold tablecloths. We breezed through, passing a few more rooms that were just as impressive until we came to a set of double doors. Inside was some kind of art gallery. The room was dimly lit and had framed artwork evenly spaced on the walls. Music reverberated from the bow, literally rocking the boat as the crowd screamed. Adrik looked miserable as he glanced toward the sound.
Rosie sniffed the room. Little waves of smoke curled from her nose and eyes. Small breathy grunts told us she was getting close. Then she stopped at the far wall, where a floor-to-ceiling canvas painted entirely in turquoise was
hung.
“The gods are in a painting?” Brooks whispered.
Ren’s eyes searched the place, freezing on something over my shoulder. “Uh-oh,” she murmured as four round shadows rose from her hands and flew toward the security cameras in each of the room’s corners.
“Crap!” I said.
“They had cameras back then?” Adrik said.
“Let’s just hurry,” Brooks said, rolling her eyes.
I stepped closer to the painting, willing Fuego into light mode. I used my spear to scan the canvas’s surface. “Are you sure, Rosie?” I said, searching for any clue as to how the gods could be locked in a painting.
Brooks was at my side, tracing her fingers lightly over the canvas. Rosie stood at attention like one of those pointer hunting dogs—she didn’t even look like she was breathing. Her eyes glowed white as blue smoke flowed out of them.
“Rosie?” I asked, thinking she seemed kind of possessed.
Footsteps sounded on the deck outside.
“Those must be the Stormtroopers,” Adrik moaned.
“We have to hurry,” Ren said, twisting the dial on her watch. “I’ll stop time for a few—” Her face fell. “It’s not working!”
“Why?” Brooks said.
Ren shook her head, her eyes dancing across the floor like she was searching for the answer. She looked up. “I think it’s because we used all the time threads.” Before that could even sink in, she danced her fingers in the air and a wall of shadows rose up, blocking the doorway.
My heart was in triple-beat mode as I waited helplessly, wondering what Rosie was up to and hoping Ren’s shadow was strong enough to keep out whoever was on the other side of those doors.
The blue smoke from the hellhound’s eyes washed over the canvas like a storm cloud, covering it from edge to edge. The paint began to melt, dripping down the wall and onto the floor with a sizzling sound. The smell of burning hair filled the room.
Voices shouted on the other side of Ren’s shadow wall.
“They’re here!” Adrik cried.
The smoke cleared.
The painting was gone. We all inched back, mouths open, as we stared through a window where the artwork used to be.
“What is that?” Ren whispered.
Beyond the window was a creature no bigger than an orangutan, floating in a huge aquarium. Glaring blue lights illuminated the sleeping beast, which looked like a squatting toad with a gaping mouth, green crocodile skin, and massive claws that hung off tiny T. rex arms.
“It has to be the devourer,” I said barely above a whisper.
The aquarium seemed to go on forever, disappearing into darkness.
“Open up and we won’t kill you!” someone shouted from the other side of the shadow wall. Then: “Let’s get Xb’alamkej.”
Footsteps ran off in the opposite direction, looking for Xb’alamkej, aka Jordan.
My mind couldn’t think fast enough. But I knew one thing: the hero twins had enough magic to break through Ren’s shadow, and if the guards got the brothers, the twins would want to kill us not only for crashing their party and interrupting “Purple Rain,” but also for stealing a precious commodity.
“Why is the devourer in water?” Ren whispered. “Isn’t she an earth goddess?”
“Maybe water’s like her kryptonite,” Adrik said.
The creature’s eyes flicked open. They were a sickly white with gray flecks in the center. The devourer raced toward the glass, slamming herself into it with so much force I thought it might crack open.
We all jumped back.
But instead of looking hungry or angry, she looked petrified. That’s when I noticed that her legs were locked in chains that stretched into the dark deep.
“Why chain her up?” Brooks asked. “Isn’t she working with Zotz and Ixkik’?”
“You think all the gods are in her stomach?” Adrik said, looking greenish.
“You know, I think you may be exactly right,” I said, putting the pieces together. “That’s how they sent all the gods back in time at once.”
“Then they’re all…?” Ren couldn’t finish.
“No,” I said, remembering the message from Ah-Puch. “They’re just stuck in darkness.” At least, I hoped so.
An alarm sounded. A burning tug started in my gut. “The twins are getting close,” I warned.
“How do we get her out of there?” Adrik asked. “Preferably without getting killed?”
The devourer swam away, so far she disappeared into the murky water, only to reappear in front of us a moment later.
“She’s trying to tell us something.” Ren pressed her face to the glass.
Whining, Rosie pawed the aquarium.
“There must be an exit…” I said, trying to hide the desperation in my voice.
“Like through there?” Ren pointed to a door on the opposite side of the room, leading to the starboard deck.
Brooks got closer to the glass and craned her neck to look up. “The tank is open at the top. We can access it from above, but we’ll have to rip through the net.”
“You’re going to go in there?!” Adrik’s voice was in freak-out mode. “What if she eats you, too?”
“There’s no other way to release her,” Brooks said. “And if I know the twins, those chains are laced with magic—a magic so thick nothing is going to open them except more magic.”
I wished we still had Alana and Adrik’s stone. I would just have to try to reason with the beast.
“Ren,” I said, “hold off the twins with more shadows. Adrik, stay close to her.”
Rosie let out a growl that shook me to my bones. “You too, girl,” I said, before vanishing Fuego and turning to Brooks. “Let’s go.”
We threw off our heavy Obi-Wan robes, cracked open the starboard-side door, and checked for guards. This deck was clear and shrouded in darkness—all the lights were on the concert. Brooks shifted into a hawk and flew me up to a feeding platform that stretched partway over the tank. A net hovered about a foot above the water. Brooks quickly clawed a hole wide enough for one of us to squeeze through.
The devourer tried to rise up to meet us, but the chains kept her down.
“I’ll go in and try to break the chains,” I said.
Brooks nodded and I dove in.
The devourer immediately lunged at me, her mouth open wide. I reared back, but not before she put a claw on my shoulder and…
Talked to me?
She blinked at me as she said telepathically, Hurakan said I could trust you.
My dad knows I’m here?! Then I asked the dreaded question: Did you eat the gods?
They are alive. We must hurry.
How do I know you won’t run away when I release you?
Look! She clung to me, and in that moment, an image formed in my mind’s eye. There were no details of place, only fuzzy edges and Blood Moon’s haunting voice.
Follow the time rope, the goddess told the devourer. I’ll wait for you here.
The devourer did as commanded, and it looked like she was trailing a demon. The scene disappeared and was replaced with one of Jordan and Bird. Ixkik’ said to them, It is done. Then a pair of bony hands cut the time thread with scissors.
The vision faded, and I flutter-kicked back to the surface. So that’s how Blood Moon had sent the gods to 1987—she’d used a disposable demon as bait! But could I trust what I’d seen?
As soon as my head was above water, I told Brooks, “She was tricked.” I glanced at the door to the gallery, hoping Ren’s shadow wall was holding.
There was no time to consider options. I willed Fuego into my grasp and launched the spear into the water. It hit the chains down below, and they broke open with a burst of light. The devourer remained motionless for a moment, and just when I thought she might scuttle farther into the dark depths, she rose to meet me and Brooks.
We tried to lift her out of the tank and onto the platform, but she was too heavy.
Use the ocean exit, the creatur
e said telepathically, gripping my arm with her claw. At the bottom of the tank.
“How far down is it?” I asked.
A few hundred feet. But I am weak. She grimaced. I need help.
Releasing the devourer, I repeated her words for Brooks, then said, “That’s too deep for me to dive.”
“Someone has to make sure she gets to Jazz’s boat,” Brooks insisted.
The devourer sank beneath the water. Her skin glowed a sickly yellowish green.
Brooks tucked her hair behind her ears and took a deep breath, leaning closer to the water.
“Brooks, what are you doing?!”
Not taking her eyes off the murky depths, she said, “I’ll get her there. I can do this.”
“No way!” I argued. “It’s too dangerous.”
She took my hand, looking me in the eyes. “I’m a water nawal, Zane. Remember? We’re not going to blow this whole mission because of some dumb ocean.”
“That dumb ocean could kill you!”
A loud bang drew my attention away from Brooks. I heard Rosie bark.
Just then, Brooks grabbed the collar of my T-shirt. She spun me to face her. I wobbled, nearly falling into the water. She jerked me close.
And then she kissed me.
That’s right.
She. Kissed. Me.
As if it were easy and natural, as if she wasn’t about to take a death dive. She pulled back and stared at me. For a minute, we were frozen, unable to break eye contact. I stopped breathing. Her cheeks flushed. I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She took another deep breath.
“See you at the boat.” Brooks slipped into the water, diving into the dark so fast I lost sight of her within three seconds.
“Brooks!”
I spun in time to see the gallery’s starboard door bust open. Jordan (Skywalker) and Bird (Solo) burst through. Aside from their dumb costumes, they looked just as they had the first time I met them: arrogant and cruel.
I leaped off the platform onto the deck, using Fuego to break my landing. I drop-rolled as the twins came at me. Electrical sparks shot out of their hands. I threw up a wall of smoke as Rosie shot streams of fire from behind them. “Rosie, no!” I shouted. As much as I wanted to make these guys pay, killing them in 1987 would ruin the future.
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