“You could say that.”
“From where?”
“A place I can’t go back to. But don’t worry, no one’s looking for me.”
“What about your mom or dad?”
“My dad’s off with his new family and… and my mom’s dead.”
“Oh—um, I… I’m sorry.” I snatched a pebble from the ground and rolled it between each knuckle. “Maybe you could stay with us, then….”
“That’s impossible.”
“Why? You can’t just fly around on your own out there.”
She focused on the rolling pebble. “It’s not that I wouldn’t want to or anything, I… I just can’t.”
I felt stupid for suggesting it.
“Hey! I bet you’re part magician,” Brooks said, changing the subject and considering my whole body in a way that made my face flush a million shades of red.
“Magician? Like pull a rabbit out of a hat?”
“No, like a powerful wielder of magic.”
“Yeah, well, that wasn’t one of the options Ms. Cab listed.”
“They’re smart, even devious, but also very loyal and…”
“And what?”
“Dangerous. I mean, if you cross them. There’s a place down in Uxmal, Mexico, called the Pyramid of the Magician and—”
“Wait!” I cut in, remembering something about that in my book. “Isn’t it also called the Pyramid of the Soothsayer?” I wondered if this was referencing the Great Soothsayer? It had to be, if she had a whole pyramid named after her.
“Yeah, it’s called that, too,” Brooks said. “Maybe someday you can go there and see for yourself. We could even—”
“You’ve been there?”
In the same instant, another one of Rosie’s whimpers echoed across the chamber.
“Did you hear that?” I hurried down the tunnel and to the rock wall, the same one the demon runner had been clawing through the other day.
“Hear what?”
I began pulling the rocks free. They were loose and came out easily. My adrenaline was pumping. “Rosie!”
Suddenly, the wall began to crumble like dust. A narrow passage revealed itself and a barely there light flickered from beyond.
Rosie’s cry carried through the opening. Part of my mind knew it was a trap, but the other part didn’t care. I mean, what if it really was Rosie and I missed my only chance to save her? I wedged myself into the narrow opening.
“Wait!” Brooks cried. I thought she might try to stop me, but instead she reached into the collar of her shirt and pulled out three leather strings, each with a mini flashlight attached. “I brought backup this time.”
“Did you remember the batteries?”
Brooks huffed. “Let’s go.”
We made our way through the cramped corridor for about twenty yards until we came out into an enormous cavity.
The flashlight’s yellow beam circled the place. In the center of the floor was a green pool. Stalactites clung to the ceiling overhead, dripping water into the pond with a hollow echo that made my blood run cold.
Rosie was nowhere to be seen.
I swallowed hard.
We took a few steps past the pool. It gave off an overwhelmingly foul smell, like it was filled with rotting fish. Pale rock columns, about two or three feet tall, grew out of the sloping ground and surrounded a taller stalagmite with a flat surface. On top was a large stone bowl.
I hesitated, then drew closer and peered inside. Two cracked animal skulls were sitting on a pile of skinny white sticks. No, not sticks—they looked more like bird bones. Well, didn’t that just spell Welcome!
“This is a sacrifice chamber,” Brooks whispered. Her voice was tense in the cold air. “The demon runners did this—they prepared the place for Ah-Puch’s release.”
My eyes bounced over the rough ash-colored walls and across the uneven floor. I shivered. “I guess that means we’re in the right spot. Or the wrong one, depending on your perspective,” I said, looking over my shoulder for any demon runners who might have followed us. I just wanted to find the thing Ah-Puch was hiding in so Brooks could take him away and make sure he never got out. Then we could prove that soothsayer wrong.
I kept expecting Ms. Cab to show up any minute too, to poof out of thin air. She was supposed to be back before the eclipse.
Brooks stood and turned to me. “When you heard Rosie, it must’ve been the magic calling you. Clever.”
“I guess….”
She looked pale. “Come on. We need to move fast. We only have a couple hours. Do you hear anything now?”
“Aren’t you the one with the super-bionic senses?”
“I tried, remember?” she said. “I can’t hear this frequency. The magic will only call to you.”
I tuned my ears, but all I heard was the drip, drip, drip of the water and a strange breathing sound like the walls themselves were inhaling and exhaling.
A dark ripple shifted across the water.
“It’s in there,” I said, pointing to the pool.
“That puddle? Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“Like eighty percent, or a hundred?” Brooks asked, frowning. “I mean, there’s a big difference.”
I was positive. I could feel the air pulse and buzz with a strange energy when I stepped closer to the water. Despite the stink, I felt drawn to it, and every second we stood there, I found myself wanting more desperately to jump in. “I’m a thousand percent sure. And it’s not a puddle. It’s deep.” I’m not sure how I knew, but I did. Just like I knew it would be cold.
Brooks sucked in her lower lip. “Well, that’s unfortunate.”
“Why?”
“I can’t swim.”
Okay, so unless the animal skeletons came to life and decided to fish Ah-Puch out of the water, I was the lucky retriever. Great!
Brooks raised the flashlight beam to the ceiling. “Holy K! We’re doomed.”
Those are not the words anyone wants to hear when they’re standing in a dark chamber of sacrifice with the lord of the dead trapped in a smelly pond a few feet away. I swore under my breath, then craned my neck.
The stalactites trembled, then split open with a bone-cracking sound that sent chills down my spine. Bits of rock fell and we ducked out of the way. When I looked back up, I stumbled and gasped.
At the base of the stalactites, dozens of glowing blue pods clung to the ceiling. A black ooze dripped from them into the water. Optimist me thought maybe we’d made some kind of cool archaeological discovery. Then I saw that the translucent husks were pulsing and stretching. Definitely not a cool archaeological discovery. Sleeping demon runners. Just like Ms. Cab had said, they’d been busy duplicating in Ah-Puch’s hiding place. It was time to bolt.
But as soon as I grabbed Brooks’s hand to lead her back the way we’d come, a demon runner leaped down from the ceiling, blocking our path. He swiveled his head slowly, like he was searching for us.
We froze in our tracks. Brooks squeezed my hand so hard I thought she might break my bones.
Then, one by one, the lights went out in the pods above, and if you’ve ever heard someone slurp the last of a shake through a straw, you’ll understand the sound that filled the cave. The sacs were opening.
The demon runner squinted. This was one time I wished I didn’t have night vision. I didn’t need to see the way his evil beady eyes roamed the chamber. “Zane Obispo,” he hissed, stretching his arms toward us as we slowly backed away.
“Demon runners, or pool?” I whispered. Every muscle in my body tensed, ready for flight.
“Neither?” Brooks breathed.
Above us, a newly hatched demon runner hung upside down like a bat, stretched its neck, and turned its head 180 degrees until its fiery red eyes found us.
“They don’t want me here,” Brooks whispered.
It opened its mouth to scream, to wake the others. The demon runner in front of us inched closer, groping through the dark. “Stranger,” it
said in a rusty voice.
“No matter what, Brooks, don’t let go of me!”
Her eyes widened and she pulled away from my grasp.
The demon runner let out an ear-piercing cry that seemed to shake the walls.
I grabbed Brooks’s hand and we jumped feetfirst into the dark pool.
13
As I’d predicted, the water was arctic cold, like a million shards of ice stabbing my skin. I held Brooks’s hand tightly as I pulled her down and down. Was there a bottom? I wondered.
I was feeling pretty grateful that my mom had made me take swimming lessons at the city pool when I was little. I liked swimming. In the water I didn’t have a limp. And I was glad my eyes could see through cloudy water, too. A hundred points for team supernatural. Beneath us were several other passages that branched off in all directions. I had to choose the right one or we’d end up as skeletons at the bottom of this pool. I peered through the dark until I saw a shimmering light down the corridor to the right. Swimming furiously, I led Brooks into a narrow tunnel. I floated on my back, feeling with one hand for an airhole in the razor-sharp rock ceiling. Just when my lungs were about to collapse, we came upon an opening about four feet in diameter.
I stuck my head out and sucked in air. Beneath me, Brooks was still thrashing around in the water. I hauled her up, turning her over slowly until she could take a huge gulp of oxygen.
“We’re… going… to… die… in… here!” she cried between gasps.
“I saw a light,” I choked out. “Up ahead. We need to try and reach it.”
“I… I can’t do it, Zane.”
“Yes, you can!”
“It’s coming. The demon runner,” she said, panting. “It’s right behind us, and it wants me. It knows why I’m here.”
There wasn’t time for more talking. “Take the biggest breath you can, and on three we’re going to dive under. One, two…”
Suddenly, Brooks was yanked under the water and out of my grasp. The demon runner!
I dove down, groping in the murk until I found Brooks’s hands and ripped her free. With adrenaline coursing through my veins, I cut through the water with amazing speed I didn’t know I had. I hauled Brooks into another narrow passage, toward the trail of light.
Ten more yards. Could we hold our breath that long?
Almost there. Hang on, Brooks.
Hurry! Brooks’s voice rang out. But not in my ears… I heard it in my mind! And it wasn’t my imagination. She screamed, He’s coming back!
I thought the demon runners wanted me to free Ah-Puch! I said in my head, hoping she heard me.
They do, she said. It’s me they want to stop.
Just hold on! Ten more seconds.
My lungs were ready to burst.
Finally the tunnel ended, opening into a large pool where we could emerge. With one hard tug, I broke the surface, gulping in air. I pulled Brooks up behind me and rolled her onto her back so her face was out of the water. Her eyes were closed and her mouth was open.
“Brooks!” I hefted myself up onto the rocky ledge and hauled her behind me. It was difficult to keep my footing on the slippery surface, and I fell on my butt.
The demon runner surfaced. His skin had gone from blue to gray, and it was coming off in chunks like soggy bread.
I scrambled to my feet, putting myself between the monster and Brooks. “You can’t have her!” I screamed.
He kept coming toward us, crawling out of the pool on his belly like a salamander. When he had fully emerged, he stopped and looked down at his body. That’s when he realized he was disintegrating. I guess he hadn’t known water would do that to him. He screamed and hissed as his flesh fell off in chunks. Then his bones liquefied, leaving only a pool of tar-like goop floating on the pond’s surface.
I rushed to Brooks. She wasn’t breathing.
“Hang on, Brooks!” In a panic, I began mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
Please please please.
Breathe.
Breathe!
Her eyes didn’t open. She simply lay there, her skin a terrible pale gray. Then, slowly, the air shimmered and Brooks turned into a hawk. Not her usual grande size. She was small and fragile-looking. I felt her feathery neck for a pulse. It was there, but just barely.
My own heart nearly stopped. No, this couldn’t be happening. She’d just been talking to me in my head. Being her pushy self, telling me to hurry.
“Brooks!” I shook her gently. “Wake up! We made it! I’m not doing this alone,” I said, like I could guilt her heart into beating stronger.
At the same moment, a strange silver light filled the little cavern. I looked around for the first time. Pale green stalactites hung from the low ceiling. The walls looked porous, like stone sponges.
Wiping water from my eyes, I followed the light to its source, a sand-colored stone column to my right. It was painted with the image of a tightly coiled serpent. In a single blink, the image came to life. The snake uncoiled and started slithering down the column.
It whispered to me. “Zane.”
“Go away!”
As the reptile descended, the column became translucent, like a block of ice, and inside I could see a small black statue. It was an evil-looking owl, about six inches tall, with slits for eyes. The wings were spread out as if it were going to take off any second. It looked so lifelike that I knew what this was: Ah-Puch’s prison. He was inside a replica of his own pet, Muwan.
My hand trembled as I clung to Brooks. “I’ll fix this,” I told her. “Just hang on.” My insides were on fire, and a terrible burning sensation was pricking my legs.
Then came a voice. It wasn’t the snake. It was Ah-Puch.
I can save her.
I stayed focused on Brooks, on her golden-brown feathers, on her heart that was still beating. What was I going to do? I couldn’t drag her back through that pool, and from where I sat, I didn’t see any exit in the rock wall.
Terror made me desperate enough to talk to Pukeface. “How do I get out of here?” My voice echoed across the cave.
I can save her, he said again.
“How?”
No response. Maybe because he’d already given me the answer.
I stood up, wobbly at first, then went over to the serpent column. With trembling fingers, I reached out to touch it. Did I mention that I hate snakes? The serpent slithered across my hand, and a vertical crack appeared in the post. The two halves opened like double doors.
My mind was on autopilot as I pulled the clay owl free. The statue vibrated in my hand and a strange energy surged through me like a speeding train.
Yes, Ah-Puch whispered.
With the figure clutched in my hand, I collapsed back onto the ledge near Brooks. She began to shimmer again, and I was scared she was fading, like Rosie had. “No! Not yet!” I shook the little statue. “You said you could save her!”
A ray of sunlight penetrated a crevice in the chamber’s ceiling. The eclipse was happening!
Sweat trickled down my neck as a painful heat boiled my insides. I needed air desperately.
One of the cave walls was angled and pitted enough that I thought I could climb up to the opening I hadn’t seen. I shoved the statue into my jean pocket and started up.
“Don’t go anywhere, Brooks!” I called down.
When I got to the top and peeked out, what I saw wasn’t the volcano crater or the desert. It looked like the surface of Mars, miles and miles of red rock, dust, and no life. I turned toward the sky, shielding my eyes so I couldn’t look directly at the eclipse. The sky was a deep bruised blue, turning darker and darker with each passing second.
I tugged the owl figurine from my pocket.
The time has come, Ah-Puch whispered.
“Save her!”
You have to free me first.
What do I do, Brooks? I hoped she could hear me, like when we were under the water. I can’t let you die.
“Your demons did this to her!” I screamed at that stupid sm
iling owl.
She wanted to keep me in my prison.
“So do I!”
Ah-Puch laughed cruelly. Seems circumstances have changed.
He was right. I didn’t even know where I was, and Brooks was barely holding on. I dropped my head, feeling pathetic and defeated. “If I let you out, you promise to save her?”
Or you could just wait and see.
“And you can rot! CAN YOU SAVE HER?”
I’m the lord of the dead. I can save her.
I remembered what Ms. Cab had told me about Puke waking up thirsty for my blood. But that didn’t matter. Not if he could save Brooks. I know it was foolish, trying to save one life by releasing a god that could destroy the whole world. But I’d worry about that later. Right now the only thing I cared about was making sure Brooks didn’t become the newest resident of Xib’alb’a.
The moon crept across the sun, slowly strangling its light.
Set me free.
“And I want Rosie back, too. She’s my dog stuck in your underworld.”
Yes.
As the moon’s shadow blotted out the sun, I took a deep breath and did what I swore I’d never do. I slammed the clay figure on the sharp rock edge in front of me. The owl busted open, its wings flying off in opposite directions. Dust rose from the broken shell, briefly obscuring the object inside. I coughed and fanned the air, then saw that it was a long folded strip of paper, dark and soft, like wet tree bark. I picked it up to examine it more closely, and it shimmered faintly in my palm. Then it unfolded itself three times. There was no writing or picture on it—what was up with that? I traced my fingers along its blank curled edges.
Suddenly, it lifted into the air, burst into blue flame, and a tower of black smoke billowed out, followed by a sickening screech that pierced my eardrums and drove me to my knees.
14
A creature—Ah-Puch, I guessed—appeared on the rim of the volcano with his back to me, crouched like a wild animal. He didn’t look like an all-powerful god of the dead. He was skeletal, and his skin was so paper-thin I could see his crooked spine. It writhed and twisted like a snake as he heaved and moaned. And the guy didn’t just smell bad—he filled the air with a bitter, poisonous odor that I was sure would kill me with one whiff.
The Storm Runner Page 10