The Storm Runner

by J. C. Cervantes

  “K’ukumatz? Isn’t he the feathered serpent? God of the sea?”

  “Also known as Kukuulkaan.”

  Great! So my dad, and K’ukumatz (aka, god of coolness), and Pacific were keeping the biggest secret of all time from the other gods. My side cramped. “Why didn’t my dad come to tell me all this himself? Why’d he send you?”

  Pacific frowned. “And bring the gods to you? That wouldn’t be very strategic, would it?”

  My head was about to explode. “So who is he?”

  “Only he can reveal himself to you.”

  Naturally. My heart banged against my chest like a wild beast trying to break free. “Then why hasn’t he?!”

  Pacific pulled her hood over her head, tucking her hair beneath. “The gods would kill him if he were to claim you. They would know he was the one who had broken the Sacred Oath. Don’t you see?”

  I felt sick. My heart, my stomach, my head—they pulsed with an anger that shook me to my core. So my dad didn’t want to claim me because he was worried about saving his own butt?

  As if she could read my mind, Pacific leaned forward and whispered, “If the gods were to find out who you are, they would kill you, too. Your father is trying to protect you.”

  Or protect himself! I didn’t know what was worse: being marked by the gods or having my dad abandon me on purpose. “So what am I supposed to do? Hide out for the rest of my life?”

  “Yes.”

  She was definitely delusional. “Thanks, but no thanks! I don’t care about the gods. I’m not hiding!”

  Pacific sighed. “Stubborn, like your father.”

  I realized Pacific had a lot of information that could help me, and I wasn’t about to let my dad (did I even have to call him that anymore?) get in the way of my quest. “You said you control time?” I asked. Because that would be awesome and totally help me crush Ah-Puch.

  “I am the keeper of time, but no longer the controller of it. Just as I keep but cannot control fate. And now my powers have been reduced….Using them too much will draw attention to me and the gods would know I live.”

  “What do you mean reduced?” I kicked my legs under the water to try to stay warm. “You said you were one of the most powerful.”

  Gripping the rope tighter, Pacific said, “When the gods stole the life from the stories that made me real, they took much of my power.”

  Geez. These gods seemed like the biggest jerks on the planet. (Yeah, you read that right. Jerks with a capital J.) Pacific’s eyes burned with a fierceness that made me hope I was never on her bad side.

  “Wait a second,” I said as an idea formed. “You said the gods don’t know about me being a hybrid, I mean godborn, whatever. But you do… and my dad does… and two of the worst ones ever know about me, too: Ixtab and Ah-Puch.” I knew that, when it comes to a secret, the more people who know about it, the more likely the secret isn’t a secret anymore. “What if they tell the others?”

  Pacific let out a light laugh that almost sounded like a purr. “Your father and I have protected this information for ages. We are not about to reveal it. As for Ixtab and Ah-Puch, yes, they do pose a problem, but let’s hope they are too busy waging their own wars.”

  Was she kidding? That was a pretty big hope!

  “Zane, your father,” Pacific said, “he asked me to give you something.”

  “Why would I want anything from him? He won’t even tell me who he is.”

  Pacific drew closer, and as she did, a huge spotted cat at least four times the normal size stepped out of her body like some kind of feline ghost. I nearly flipped off my board as the fierce cat—a leopard?—stalked across the water like it was a solid surface and stopped right in front of me, blinking its golden eyes.

  “Zane,” Pacific said sternly, “you must focus before they find us. Now listen, I know about your quest to defeat the great Ah-Puch. So does your father, and he isn’t happy about it.”

  “Yeah, well, he gave up his right to an opinion when he decided to leave me in the dark!” Wait a sec… how’d she know?

  She must’ve seen the question forming, because she said, “I’m time—I can see past, present, and future. The continuum runs through me still. They couldn’t take that away.”

  “Does that mean you can see my future?” A tight lump formed in my throat. Did she know whether I was going to defeat Ah-Puch or end up a miserable soldier of death shoveling souls for the rest of my existence?

  “Once, I might have been able to, but now…” Her voice trailed off, then she sat straighter and said, “There are choices that affect circumstances. One choice can lead to victory… the other to defeat. Today I fulfill my debt to your father.”

  I suddenly felt like I was standing at the bottom of the volcano waiting for an avalanche of rocks to bury me.

  “Time is unraveling, Zane.” Pacific’s eyes searched the skies then found mine again. “You will need great courage to defeat Ah-Puch. More courage than you can imagine.”

  “I… I took down demon runners. I…” Didn’t that count for something?

  “Not that kind of courage. Something more.”

  I scanned the shore, trying to find Hondo’s truck. When I was little and he was first teaching me about wrestling, he used to say that the real heroes didn’t always win the match, but they always had courage. Even when defeat was staring them in the face.

  Something growled beneath the ocean. Foamy bubbles floated to the surface. I gripped my board. “What was that?”

  “I can’t hold the time rope much longer,” Pacific said with a note of panic that made me wish I was on solid ground. “It’s time, Zane.”

  The ocean began to churn again.

  Pacific narrowed her eyes. Then the leopard drew so close to her I thought it would vanish back into her body. Gently, Pacific reached into its mouth while petting its head softly, like I used to do with Rosie. She carefully removed a sharp incisor as if only thread connected it to the jungle cat’s mouth.

  “This is jaguar jade… the oldest magic in the universe. It will help you,” she said, handing it to me. The tooth was about four inches long, bigger than what I expected, and it had a razor-sharp tip. As I turned it over in my hand, the tooth turned a deep green and pulsed with a strange warmth. I didn’t get it. What good was a jade tooth when I was up against the god of death? Was I supposed to stab him in the eye with it?

  “This is what he wanted you to give me?” My throat closed up as I turned the tooth, examining it. It didn’t look very magical.

  Pacific’s gaze fell to my wrist, to Ah-Puch’s mark. She let out a small gasp. “I see.”

  I looked down at the stupid symbol, rubbing it in the water like I could wash it off.

  “Things are graver than…” Pacific began. She took a deep breath, straightened her hood, and said, “You must promise not to tell a soul about me.” Her powerful gaze made me think she could see right into my mind. Then her eyes went wide. The rope she was holding jerked her beneath the water. The jaguar vanished and the sea tumbled violently.

  Waves crashed. It was like someone had started the earth spinning again but gave it one too many whirls. As I began to paddle toward the shore, an enormous wave formed behind me, swelling bigger and bigger until it looked ten stories tall.

  Pacific’s voice echoed across the ocean. When I tell you to kick, you must do so with all your strength. I watched with fear as that wave grew. At the crest, it bulged, and I knew it was going to break any second and take me with it.

  Now, Storm Runner. Now!

  I paddled and kicked like a madman, trying to keep up with the monster wave. As it broke, I rocketed forward, then plunged underneath. I was pitched and thrown from side to side, top to bottom, spinning so violently I didn’t know which way was up.

  Something pressed into my back and, with great force, thrust me through the water at unimaginable speed. My lungs felt like they might collapse any second. Just as I was about to break the surface, I turned and saw the jaguar’s
face looming in the dark sea.

  The next thing I knew, I was on the beach, choking and spitting up salt water. My body shook uncontrollably as I rolled over into a pile of slimy seaweed.

  I sat up, chest heaving, and looked all around me, but the jade tooth was gone. I must’ve dropped it! I scrambled to my knees and started digging, like it might be buried in the sand. But it was nowhere to be found. Panic clutched my throat and I couldn’t breathe.

  At the same moment, a gentle wave came in and touched my feet. I turned to see something pale green wash onto the sand. I snatched it up, and my heart pounded with relief as I stared down at the thing.

  “What are you?” I whispered.

  Wait a second. Had she called me Storm Runner?

  I traced the jade’s smooth edges and something stirred in me. The tooth might’ve looked like a cold hunk of nothing, but it was something.

  Something that mattered.

  20

  I hauled myself into the passenger seat of the truck.

  Hondo gave me a once-over and shook his head. “You’ve got a piece of seaweed in your hair.” I picked it out and glanced at Brooks. She was in the backseat studying the gateway map and pretty much avoiding eye contact with me. What was up with her? I couldn’t wait to get her alone so we could talk, if she’d talk to me.

  “I need to change my clothes.” I reached behind the seat for my backpack. “Uh—can you… turn around?” I asked Brooks.

  She rolled her eyes, then lifted the map so it covered her face completely. I peeled off my sea-drenched jeans and T-shirt, yanked on fresh clothes, and transferred the jade tooth to my dry pants’ pocket. I tossed the wet stuff through the cab’s back window so it could air out in the bed. I still felt chilled to the bone, so I pulled on my gray sweatshirt.

  I figured I had the worst luck in the universe. It was one thing to have a bum leg; it was another to be the unfortunate chump who had freed the god of death. And to have to hide to avoid being on the gods’ most wanted list? Yeah, that was pretty awful, too. But there was something even more terrible than any of that: being the living proof that someone had broken the Sacred Oath. It was too many shades of depressing and made me feel more different and alone than I ever had.

  “So, Capitán…” Hondo slipped on a pair of Ray-Bans as the morning sun began to peek out of the clouds. “Where do we go once we’re in Venice?”

  Brooks didn’t lower the map. “It’s on the beach.”

  “They live on the beach?” I asked.

  “Sort of,” she said. “You’ll see when we get there.” Her voice was tired, and she looked pale and drained. I wanted to talk to her to find out if I could help. Maybe, if we put our heads together, we could figure out why she couldn’t shape-shift anymore. I also wanted to fill her in about Pacific and the jaguar jade… except Pacific had made me promise not to tell anyone about her.

  I leaned back, folding my arms tightly over my chest.

  Why wouldn’t Brooks open up to me? What was her deal with Ixtab, anyway? Why the heck would the new landlord of Xib’alb’a send demons after Brooks? She must’ve been in some pretty big trouble, but what kind?

  Then another possibility struck me, making me feel sick. Was Brooks a double agent of some sort, playing both sides? Could I trust her not to blab the truth about me being a godborn? Too many people knew about it already. Stupid secrets! They’re life-ruiners.

  Hondo turned up some punk rock music so loud my teeth rattled in my head.

  Out of the corner of my eye I could see Brooks gazing out the window with a faraway look that worried me. Whatever Brooks was wanted for, it couldn’t be half as bad as being wanted for breaking the god of death, darkness, and destruction out of prison.

  We cruised up the coast on Highway 101 while Hondo jammed to his tunes. He sang along to some song about final chances and all or nothing. If there were a god of punk rock, he’d definitely listen to this station.

  Venice Beach felt like a tightly packed box. Cars were bumper-to-bumper on Venice Boulevard, and drivers honked like somehow that would make the traffic move faster. The place was buzzing. Apartments, houses, and stores were crammed together with only narrow alleys to separate them. Telephone poles and palm trees lined the street. We passed a dilapidated building with a mural on it of a blond girl in roller skates with a thought cloud that read: history is myth.

  It will be soon, if the twins don’t help me, I thought.

  Crowds strolled casually down the road—people in flip-flops, cutoff shorts, and bikini tops. Some of the guys were shirtless, even. Maybe that was a thing in California, but where I was from? No chance!

  As we passed narrow streets, I caught glimpses of bridges arching over water canals. I’d seen pictures of the real Venice. This place was simply a newer, smaller version. The canals disappeared into a tangle of shadowed alleys and it felt like even this place had secrets.

  “Take a right on Pacific,” Brooks said. My muscles tensed just hearing the name come out of her mouth. She went back to studying the gateway map. What was she looking for?

  “Any gateways nearby?” I asked.

  She folded up the map and put it in her backpack. “None.”

  Hondo let out a low whistle. “Before this is all done, I better get to travel through one of those gateways.”

  Before this was all over I just wanted to make sure the world wasn’t destroyed. I didn’t have a plan for after the twins. I was hoping that whatever they told us would help us figure out our next steps. I didn’t care what Brooks said about them being selfish, obnoxious jerks, or kings of their own magic mafia—I wasn’t leaving here without their secret to defeating Ah-Puch. With only a couple of days left, we were running out of time.

  Then a terrible thought grabbed hold of me. “What if Ah-Puch’s already found them?”

  “He hasn’t,” Brooks said.

  “How do you know?”

  “You’ll never find parking close enough,” Brooks said to Hondo. “So park over there.” She pointed to a public lot. Then she said to me, “Because they’re really good hiders. They have the best magic guarding them. No one gets in or out unless they want them to.”

  That reminded me of the jaguar jade—the oldest magic in the universe, Pacific had said. What did that mean, and how was it supposed to help me if I didn’t even know how to use it?

  Maybe it was a conjuring stone. I tested it by clutching it in my fist while wishing for a stuffed sopaipilla for breakfast. I shut my eyes and held out my other hand expectantly, but nothing happened. No warm doughy yumminess for me.

  A minute later we crossed the congested boulevard, then weaved down an alley lined with trash cans before emerging onto the boardwalk.

  I had to stop and really take it all in. The breeze smelled like salt and old books. And there were maniac skateboarders (shirtless) zooming by, people on bikes and skates pulling their dogs along on leashes, and a row of vendors selling things: wooden flutes, T-shirts, throwback movie posters (Hondo wanted a Scarface poster but didn’t want to pony up the twenty bucks for it). A rainbow-wigged juggler entertained onlookers while an acrobatic break-dancer competed for his own crowd. A few paces ahead there was a tarot-card reader with dreadlocks, strumming a sad blues song on his guitar.

  He sang in a deep low voice: “The prophesied days are a-comin’….Oh, they are a- comin’. Find the shadows and hide, for the days are a comin’….”

  I tried not to look at him, because I knew the second I did, he’d wave me over and try to get me to buy a glimpse of my future. No thanks!

  Brooks planted her palm on her forehead. “Ugh—I forgot our backpacks in the truck. Wait here.” She grabbed the keys from Hondo and took off.

  Hondo saw it as a sign that he needed to go back to try and renegotiate for that Scarface poster. So there I was, only a few feet away from the blues-singing, dreadlock-sporting tarot-card reader. I told myself to stay put and look busy. I stuffed my hands in my pockets, whistled a few notes of “Frosty the Sno
wman” (I had Christmas on my mind, because maybe I was never going to have another one, okay?), and craned my neck to the sky, but it was as if the guy’s song had long arms to grab me. My feet wandered over and stopped right in front of his chalkboard that read: five minutes for five dollars.

  He wore silver-rimmed shades, and when I stopped, he smiled, showing off twinkling gold front teeth. “I have your future in my pocket,” he said. His accent was thick and strange.

  “Uh—that’s okay.” I didn’t have any money, and even if I did, I was pretty sick of prophecies and doomed futures.

  The man’s bronze skin shone in the sunlight. “You are a boy of many troubles. I know where you’re headed.”

  As I started to walk away, he said, “The prophecy is coming.”

  Yeah? I thought. “It already came.”

  He smiled again and pulled up his sunglasses so I could see his dark eyes. His eyebrows looked like they’d been burned off, leaving behind small scars. “That was only the beginning,” he said. “The Prophecy of Fire. But fire spreads. Until it burns everything in its path.”

  It had to be a coincidence. How could he possibly know?

  A faraway drum sounded. The waves crashed. Or was that my stomach acid?

  Brooks came up, handed me my backpack, and grabbed me by the arm. “What’re you doing?” She threw a quick glance in the guy’s direction, then said to me, “Come on.”

  The man pulled his sunglasses over his eyes and began strumming his guitar, singing, “There are liars in our midst and the storm is a-comin’.”

  “What was that about?” Brooks asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  Brooks stopped and turned to me, clutching her backpack. The amber flecks in her eyes burned bright even in the shade. I decided they were definitely the eyes of a hawk, and that gave me a strange kind of hope that her shape-shifting ability wasn’t gone forever. She tilted her head and studied me. “What did he tell you?”