It was already close to midnight and the exhaustion was settling in. My whole body felt like it had been battered with stones. Hondo must’ve seen me fighting sleep. “Go on,” he said. “Take a snooze.”
“I can stay awake,” I said. “Talk to you…”
“Nah, I’m used to being up all night. Go on,” he insisted, “catch some z’s.”
I looked over my shoulder at Brooks in the back cab. She was slumped against the door, fast asleep. Even though I’m terrified of becoming a soldier of death, I thought, I would still make the same deal to save her. A few minutes later I closed my eyes and fell into a foggy dream world.
I was in some kind of night jungle. The trees were made of aluminum and had sharp clawlike branches. A distant howl drew my attention toward a narrow dark path. Strange whispers bounced off the trees. A single bar of moonlight crept through the silvery branches, and that’s when I saw her. Standing on the path right in front of me.
“Rosie!”
I took off running. My legs were long and lean and fast. It was incredible, even better than flying in a dream. I could run like this forever. As soon as I reached her, I fell to my knees to wrap my arms around the old goof… but she turned to mist and disappeared.
The trees shimmered with a strange image.
There were dozens of her reflected in the shiny trees. I felt like I was in a house of mirrors trying to find the real Rosie.
I went over to one to get a closer look. The metal was cold and the dog in the reflection was black. I glanced at the next tree. This Rosie had yellow eyes, and the next one had long fur. I realized they were all bad imitations of my dog.
A wicked burst of wind blasted through the trees and the metal branches scraped against each other, making a screeching sound that sent chills down the backs of my legs. The full moon shifted color from bone white to blood-red. Rain pummeled the earth, instantly flooding the jungle. I found myself riding a giant wave toward a million lightning bolts violently striking the earth, setting fire to a vast desert landscape. A terrible burning started in my hands, and yellow and red sparks jumped from my fingertips. Just as I was about to be thrown into the flames, I heard Ms. Cab’s voice: “You left me as a chicken!”
I woke with a start, yelling, “FIRE!”
Hondo jumped in his seat, and the truck swerved. “What the heck, Zane? You scared the bejesus out of me!”
Brooks groaned and sat up sleepily. “Way to ruin a perfectly good dream.”
“Sorry, guys.” I rubbed my eyes, trying to shake off the vision that had felt so real. I swear I could still feel the heat of that fire in my fingertips. And if Ms. Cab was going to yell at me about being a chicken, I was going to toss that eyeball onto the highway. “Where are we?” I looked out at the darkness whizzing by.
“The desert,” Hondo said with a chuckle.
Brooks glanced out the window. She opened the road atlas, studied it, then looked out again. “Um…Hondo?”
“Yeah?”
“I think you missed the fork to I-10.”
Hondo craned his neck to see her in the rearview mirror. “You said to head straight.”
“On I-10.”
Hondo threw his head back and groaned. “I’ll turn around.”
“We’ve gone too far to turn back,” Brooks said. “We’ll have to head north from San Diego.”
Hondo hit the gas. “I’m on it, Capitán.”
“Maybe it’s a sign we shouldn’t go,” Brooks said, twisting her mouth.
I turned to face her. “You really hate these guys that much, Brooks? What did they ever do to you?”
Brooks glared back out the window. “Just get me to Venice. I’ll do the rest.”
A restlessness crept over me as I once again wondered how much Brooks hadn’t told me. What was her deal with these guys? I’d stashed my Maya book in my backpack in case we needed it. I consulted it, but there was nothing new about the twins in the pages. Anything else I wanted to know about them was going to have to be learned firsthand.
It was three in the morning when we got to Yuma, a tiny desert town bordered by flat green farmland. We saw a sign for food, lodging, and gas.
Hondo exited the highway and dropped Brooks and me at a Jack in the Box while he went to fill up the truck at the gas station next door.
Inside, the cashier was sitting on the counter, playing on his phone. When the door pinged, he didn’t even look up.
“Uh, you open?” I asked.
“Hang on,” he said. “A few more zombies to get to the next level.”
Gunshots, screams, and gurgling sounds filled the empty place.
Brooks tapped her foot. “We want three Jumbo Jack meals with cheese, and you’ll get a good tip if you hurry it up.”
The guy looked up. “Tip?” He had acne on his cheeks and his mousy brown hair fell over one eye. “Coming right up,” he said with a friendly smile.
A few minutes later the three of us were sitting by the window devouring our burgers and fries. The zombie-fighting cashier was in the next booth, back to playing his game.
“This place gives me the creeps,” I admitted before taking a gargantuan bite of my cheeseburger. Man, it tasted so salty-good, I wished I’d ordered two.
Hondo took a gulp of his Coke. “Just a case of the night-creepers. World’s different after midnight. I used to feel it, but now I like working at night. It’s quiet, and no one expects anything from you.”
Brooks ate all her fries, but only partway, leaving a pile of unwanted ends on her tray.
“You don’t like your fries?” I asked, scooping up the leftovers.
“I never eat the ends I touch.”
“How come?”
“What’s it to you?” she asked, frowning as I scoured her tray for any remaining scraps.
“Sue me for being hungry.”
A rumbling noise in the parking lot caught my attention. A trio of Harley riders pulled up to the joint. They wore leather vests, knotted headscarves, and narrow black sunglasses shaped like alien eyes. I felt suddenly claustrophobic, like the walls were closing in and the ceiling was about to fall on our heads. The fluorescent lights buzzed overhead. The violent screams coming from the guy’s cell phone didn’t help.
The door flung open and the buff riders stepped into our space.
“You smell that?” Brooks whispered, never taking her eyes off her tray.
“Smell what?” Hondo asked. His back was to the door, so he hadn’t seen the dudes yet.
I wanted to pretend I couldn’t detect the vomit and motor oil that permeated the greasy air, but it was too powerful to ignore. These riders weren’t human and had the after-smell of the underworld. My stomach plummeted.
The cashier clicked off his video game and headed to the register to take the guys’ orders. But they weren’t interested in burgers and fries. The tallest of the bikers turned his head in our direction. His skin was waxy-looking and pulled tight over his skull. Okay, so maybe it was too late for a smooth exit.
“How’d they find us?” I asked.
Brooks bent across the table and spoke in a low voice. “Sure wish someone had thought to pick up my flashlights.”
“I was busy saving your life!”
Brooks rolled her eyes. “There’s another exit over there. Let’s get up slowly and carefully.”
“What’s with you two?” Hondo glanced over his shoulder. “You’re scared of a few flabby Harley dudes?”
My neck was sweating. “Er… what if I told you they were… more like demons?”
Hondo stuffed a few fries into his mouth and tossed his napkin onto the tray. “I’d say let’s blow this joint.”
The cashier leaned over the counter and asked the demon bikers, “You guys going to order or what? No bathroom if you don’t pay for something.”
The three ignored him, keeping their glares on us.
Brooks inched toward the edge of her seat. The bikers headed our way. Their belt and boot chains jingled as they stomped
across the linoleum.
“NOW!” I hollered, and the three of us raced toward the opposite door and out into the parking lot. But when we got to the truck, the trio was blocking our way. I did a double take, not believing my eyes—the bikers were us!
“Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” I asked, frozen in my tracks.
“Dude,” Hondo groaned. “Am I really that short?”
Brooks grabbed my hand. Her thoughts came at me full force.
It’s shadow magic. A war tactic to confuse your opponent. No one wants to pummel their own face.
What do we do?
I don’t know. I’ve only read about it, never actually seen it. But there’s always a weakness, if you know where to look.
Hondo growled, “We can take these guys.”
“They’re not guys,” I mumbled. “They’re demons.”
“WIIICKED!” Hondo let out a low whistle. “Demons that ride motorcycles?”
“It’s an illusion,” I told him. Then to the monsters, I said, “I had a deal with your boss. And I’ve still got two nights!”
The one that looked like me, down to the chin freckle and messy hair, popped his knuckles. “Not our boss. The master of the underworld sent us.”
The fake Hondo and Brooks grunted in agreement.
Okay, these weren’t your average demon runners. They could string together whole sentences. And what did they mean, master of the underworld?
“You mean Ixtab?” I ventured.
My head went into overdrive. If they were working for her, she must want to rip me a new one for releasing her mortal enemy. Maybe I could reason with them, impress them enough that they wouldn’t chop off our heads. I clenched my fists at my sides. “Tell your boss that Ah-Puch’s out to destroy the whole world, and I’m—we’re going to stop him.”
“We’re not here for you, boy,” my look-alike said.
Wait. What? Did they say they weren’t here for me? Didn’t they know who I was?
He snorted. “Ixtab doesn’t care what happens to this world, you little fool. A new world will always rise, and where there is a world, there is always death.”
Hondo whispered in my ear, “I’ll take the one that looks like me.”
I can scratch out their eyes, Brooks offered, squeezing my hand tighter.
My companions were right. There was no way past these dirtbags, only through them.
“Um, no offense, guys,” I said to the demons, “but I’ve got some travel plans. Maybe I can swing by later?”
“Give us the girl,” my clone said.
Girl? Brooks? I held up my hand in protest. “You guys have it all wrong. It’s me you want.”
Just when I thought the demons were going to lunge, thick handfuls of coarse black hair grew out of two of the demons’ mouths at an alarming rate. It cascaded down their bodies and onto the ground, where it crawled toward us. We all screamed.
I ducked, slipping between my look-alike monster’s legs, but not before the hair reached me, climbed my body, and wrapped itself around my neck, covering my mouth and pinning me to the asphalt.
Clutching the band of hair to allow me to breathe, I glanced over to see Brooks in the same position, kicking and squirming while the hair nearly obscured her face. But where was Hondo? Oh God—had the hair already smothered him? Had his twin taken him down?
No—I saw him head-ramming his clone. Or was his clone head-ramming him?
With every ounce of strength I had, I tried to tear the hair away from my throat and out of my mouth, but it was impossible. It was too powerful. I was going to get choked to death by demon hair!
All of a sudden Hondo was swinging a butcher knife around like a crazy man, hacking away at the black ropes. The hair hissed and writhed. Finally it let me go.
I scrambled to my feet. Hondo gave me a these-guys-are-nothin’ smile. But before I could shout Look out! his twin whacked the knife out of his hand and head-butted him in the back. He collapsed to his knees.
Brooks rolled across the asphalt, grabbed the knife, and stabbed her demon in the leg. It fell to the ground, howling.
My demon spun me into a headlock. It was too weird clutching my look-alike’s skinny arm. Then it came to me. I knew the demon’s weakness! With a left jab to his groin, I slipped out of his grasp, circled behind him, and swept his bad leg. As he collapsed, I jumped onto his back, locking him in a choke hold.
Brooks was busy running and ducking out of the Hondo monster’s reach. Where the heck was Hondo? I jerked my guy’s neck back like my uncle had taught me.
Schripp.
Uh-oh.
His thin-skinned neck ripped open easily. Brooks was right; it was pretty creepy to demolish someone who looked exactly like you. He crumpled to his knees and I hopped off his back as he gripped his open neck. Black tar-like gunk oozed out, along with chunks of hair. Man, the smell actually singed my nose hairs. Then he turned into a ribbon of black mist and was gone.
One down. Two to go.
I spotted Hondo, tool belt secured around his waist, charging madman-style—wild eyes, screeching howl. A screwdriver hurtled through the air and wedged into the Hondo demon’s skull.
“Bull’s-eye!” Hondo hollered, pumping his fist.
The Hondo-demon stumbled, jerked the hammer free, and righted himself. His face began to crack like dried mud, crumbling to the ground to reveal… you guessed it, a blue-skinned monster head. Green veins throbbed and bulged.
Slime oozed from the holes in his face and his monster chest heaved.
“We want the girl alive,” said the demon. “But we’ll take her corpse if we have to.”
The air twisted and shimmered. A silvery smoke rose from the ground and now, instead of two Brookses, there were six. Three of them had the other three in a choke hold.
Hondo crouched like a tiger ready to pounce.
My eyes searched each Brooks frantically, looking for any clue to tell me which was the real one. “You’ll have to take us down if you want her,” I said.
“Zane,” all the Brooks captives said in unison, “it’s a trick.” They were exact replicas—the voice, the freckles, the desperate eyes. How was I supposed to know which one to save?
It was like my dream where Rosie had appeared in all the trees. I remembered the flood, the fire…
My fingertips tingled. I felt an energy pulse beneath my skin and a power twisting from… the vat of frying oil inside the restaurant. Or was it coming from deep in the earth? Whatever it was, it was blazing hot. Something expanded inside of me, too big for my body to contain….I took a deep breath and—
Then it was gone.
“What do we do?” Hondo ground out.
Immediately, the answer hit me. “Change, Brooks!” Change into a hawk! It was one thing to look like Brooks. It was another thing to be Brooks.
The Hondo demon said, “No need for anyone else to die tonight.”
“You’re not taking her,” I growled.
“Seems we’re at an impasse,” he said.
“I’ll go with them,” one Brooks said. Then another said, “Please, Zane. Let me go.”
Why wasn’t she changing?! It would be so easy, if she would only shift into hawk form, because I was sure that was a Brooks thing no clone could pull off.
“Take me instead of her,” I said.
“Zane, NO!” one Brooks hollered only to be echoed by the others.
The Hondo demon laughed. “Why would Ixtab want you?” His eyes roamed my short leg.
“Because I’m the one who set Ah-Puch free.” I inched closer, heart racing, panic rising. But there wasn’t time to be afraid. “And he’s coming for his throne,” I said. “It’s too bad you guys are here fighting us instead of protecting your precious underworld. I bet Ah-Puch’s already beaten down the door and stormed the place.”
A low growl came from the demon. His face tensed, and he looked like he was about to lunge. “We don’t have a door,” he hissed.
Hondo clenched his fists at hi
s sides. “I’m going to enjoy knocking this guy’s head off.”
Out of nowhere, the cashier appeared and threw a pot of hot frying oil on the Hondo demon’s head.
“Run!” I screamed at the kid. “This isn’t a game!”
The cashier actually smiled before he took off.
The Hondo demon, on the other hand, wasn’t smiling. He clawed at his melting face as chunks of his body fell to the ground, vanishing like steam.
That left the three Brooks demons, gripping their twins by the throats.
“What’s it gonna be?” Hondo said fiercely.
With a thrust to a demon’s gut, one of the Brookses wriggled free, but her action was soon mirrored by her twins. The first Brooks locked eyes with me. “Holy K, Obispo,” she gasped. “You going to stand there all night?”
“It’s her!” I shouted to Hondo, and we charged.
The demons howled, then vanished into a thin trail of black smoke.
Brooks fell to her knees, grabbing her throat.
“Brooks!” I hurried over.
“We better get out of here before anything else goes down,” Hondo said, glancing around nervously.
I helped Brooks to her feet. “Why’d they give up so easily?” I asked Hondo. It didn’t make sense. They’d had the numerical advantage.
“Probably to bring back an army?”
“I’m fine,” Brooks said, shaking her head. But she was trembling. “I’m fine!” she repeated, then crawled into the bed of the truck.
I followed her even though she said she wanted to be alone. We both lay there, not talking, just looking up at the dark sky.
Hondo had us back on the highway a minute later. The world hummed by with the steady drone of the engine. I turned to face Brooks. She kept staring blankly at the stars. I didn’t know what to say. But I felt like I needed to say something, to bring her back from wherever she was.
I picked a few nasty demon hairs out of my mouth and cleared my throat. “I think… maybe,” I began, “I felt some kind of connection to… to something that felt like heat or the center of the earth… I can’t be sure.” I tried to find the right words. “Is that crazy?” My mind went through all the gods in my book—was there a god of the earth?
The Storm Runner Page 14