I heard a grunt-sigh, then she turned and asked, “Do I look like the Sparkstriker?”
“I wouldn’t know,” I said honestly. “I don’t know what the Sparkstriker looks like.”
“And you don’t look like a hero or a god, Obispo.”
With a shrug, I said, “How do you know? Do you know a lot of heroes or gods?”
“If you’re going to be a warrior, you better learn to listen. You got it?”
Then she went silent. Was I supposed to be listening for something? After a minute or so I got bored of her little game and said, “So?”
“So what?”
“Are you the Sparkstriker?” I asked impatiently.
“I’m nobody.”
“Fine, No-body,” I said, emphasizing the last syllables. “Do you know where I can find the—?”
“You’re the hero, Obispo,” she cut in. Her hand went to her mask. “You tell me where the Sparkstriker is.”
This girl was seriously annoying. Slowly, she began to peel the mask back, but before I could see her face, she transformed. Shifted the way Brooks did. But this girl didn’t turn into a hawk. She became a giant eagle with a broad white chest speckled with chocolate spots, golden-flecked brown eyes, razor-sharp talons, and a wingspan of twenty feet. She let out a loud cry, then took off into the night.
“Wait!” I called after her. Why bring me all the way out here just to fly away? I rushed over to the mask she’d dropped, picked it up, and hollered into the dark, “You forgot your mask, Nobody!”
It was a flimsy thing made of thinly woven silk, so plain most people would toss it in the trash. Two bits of screen-like material covered each eye. I looked guiltily around the small glade, feeling like I was doing something wrong, and tried the mask on, praying it wouldn’t melt my face.
Nothing happened. No face-melting. No magic, no superpowers. Nothing cool.
I tugged it off and stuffed it in my back pocket. That’s when I noticed flecks of shimmering cobwebs floating to the ground. I looked up to see a massive tree. My eyes traced the trunk down to thick gnarled roots that snaked through the dark. They led to a giant hole in the ground, where I thought I saw a glint of light.
I went to the edge and dropped to my knees to get a better look. About fifty feet down there was a pool of water surrounded by tall stone walls. Beneath the surface were flashing lights—sudden bolts of energy that made the water ripple and sizzle and steam.
“What the heck?” I muttered in amazement.
Next to the pool was a cave opening where sparks were flying out in bursts. After each flash I heard the sound of metal clashing against metal. My curiosity was definitely piqued, and the thick rope on the ground near my feet looked like an invitation. It was tied around the tree’s trunk. There was a narrow edge around the pool that I could follow to the cave if I could get down there. That was a big if.
I gave the anchored rope a quick tug, testing its strength. My left wrist still burned and ached. Could I descend with the strength of only one arm? What if I fell? It was a long way down, and who knew what was in that glowing water.
My palms were sweating.
“Put on the mask, stupid!”
I looked up to find Nobody the eagle circling the pit.
“I was going to!” I lied as I jerked it free and placed it over my face. What was so great about this mask anyway? It’s not like it did anything. Except make my face feel sticky and hot.
I said a couple of Hail Marys, then, gripping the rope with my good hand and looping it around my wrist for a stronger hold, I belly-scooted down over the ledge until my feet were planted against the stone wall below.
Okay, so far, so good. One inch at a time I made my way down the wall, grasping the rope so tight it burned my palm. My arm muscles screamed. The eagle continued circling above. I could feel little puffs of air every time she flapped her wings. So obnoxious!
“Maybe I’ll catch you if you fall,” she said. “If I’m fast enough. On second thought, you better not fall.”
I tried to ignore her annoying voice as I slowly rappelled down, and a couple minutes later, I made it to the pool’s edge. Gingerly I picked my way toward the mouth of the cave. Light crackled and sizzled under the water. Maybe there were a bunch of electric eels down there.
I headed straight for the cave.
35
First things first: there was a woman in the cave. Second, she was short—as in shorter than my mom. She wore a red robe like Nobody’s and stood on a rickety wooden stool with her back to me. In her hand was a hefty—no, make that huge—stone hammer that she was pounding into something I couldn’t see from where I stood. Sparks flew.
I ducked as one sailed over my head and into the pool.
“Better get out of the way,” she said with a grunt. Slam. Another whiz of light.
“You’re the Sparkstriker!” She had to be. I couldn’t believe I’d found her! Okay, so maybe Nobody wasn’t too bad after all. Then I remembered I was wearing that stupid mask.
When I went to take it off, the woman said, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Could be calamitous.”
What? Did she, like, have eyes in the back of her head? “You mean bad?”
“I mean this light will fry your eyes out of your sockets.”
Definitely left the mask on.
Her red hair was all ratted out like a nest, and there were teeny tiny silver trinkets—bells—woven into the knotted strands. She turned to me. Her face was uneven in places where it shouldn’t have been. Her nose was bent a little too far to the right and her right eye sagged an inch below her left. Her forehead had a lump in the center that looked like a giant mosquito bite. “I thought you’d never get here,” she said.
“You’re… you’re the—”
“Yes, yes,” she said impatiently. “Now hurry over here so I can make sure this fits.”
“Fits?”
She rolled one of her eyes. The other one stayed in place like it was glued there. When I drew closer, I peered down at the stone table she was working from. It looked like it could double for a body slab. Right in the middle was a cane, and I’m not talking any cane. I’m talking ninja-style, hammered silver with a jade grip. I’m talking the kind of cane that looked…cool. Like if you saw me walking down the street with it, you might stop and ask me where you could get one, too.
“Well, don’t just stand there. Pick it up!” She shook her head, but strangely, the tiny bells didn’t ring.
As I reached for the cane, it started to hum. Then, when I closed my fingers around it, the thing went silent. I don’t remember exactly, but I think I was holding my breath, because it felt like a really big moment. Like whatever happened next would matter a lot. Carefully, I picked up the cane. It was light as air and felt warm to the touch. I could swear it pulsed in my hand. I set its tip on the ground, turned, and took a step with it. The cane was…incredible!
Wait a sec. That can’t be right, I thought. My limp was… it was gone! My eyes bugged out and my heart rolled over. Then a slow smile spread across my face.
“A few more steps,” she said, eyeing me as I took another turn.
I seriously could have cruised around like this all day. “How…? It’s… it’s amazing!”
“Of course it is,” she said. “It’s more than it appears. It’s also a spear and will do as you command.”
I inspected it more closely while she went on about its magic.
“How do I turn it into a spear? Is there a hidden button or something?”
“Do you tell your legs to walk, your arms to move?”
Was that a real question?
She snorted and added, “It’s connected to you now. I’ve pounded it with lightning, bound it with old magic, and infused it with the blood of the gods. Or more specifically, your father’s blood. It’s indestructible, Zane Obispo.”
“My… father’s blood?”
“First time he’s ever given a drop,” she said. “Mighty powerful stuff, too, co
nsidering he’s the creator god.”
(Sorry, Mat. I’m totally sure she meant you, too.)
“Now for the grand finale!” she said. “Go choose a bolt.”
I looked around the little cave for the first time. The rocky walls jutted out sharply, making the tight space feel even tighter. There were no other tools around, no screws or bolts. “I, um… I don’t see any bolts.”
“Lightning bolts.” Her voice rose so loud it shook the stone walls. “The pool?”
I looked over my shoulder then back to her with a you’ve-got-to-be-kidding expression. “You want me to touch one of those things?”
“You must choose one in order for this to work,” she said, holding the hammer over her shoulder like she was ready to use it—on me. “Now hurry up.”
For what to work? The cane? She must’ve registered my reluctance to stick my hand in the water and touch a lightning bolt.
“Do you think I’d go to all this effort, pound lightning like I haven’t done in centuries, just so I could watch you fry your puny brain?”
Point taken.
I went over to the pool and squatted down. The bolts zipped through the water like racer fish. As I reached in, she yelled, “WAIT!”
“Wha—what?” I stumbled back.
The Sparkstriker stepped down from her stool. “Do you have any allergies?”
“Allergies?”
“To lightning? Electricity? White-hot energy?”
“Uh—pretty sure I don’t.” Not that I’d ever touched lightning or white-hot energy.
“That’s good.” Then, with a nod of her chin, she motioned for me to continue.
I dipped my right hand into the pool. I felt a burst of heat on my skin, but it didn’t scald me. The bolts zipped past, weaving through my grasp. Then they went still. Except for one. It slipped into my hand and I lifted it out of the water.
It was like holding a warm, tinfoil-wrapped burrito fresh from the oven, except this pulsed like a living thing. I went back to the cave and handed it over to the Sparkstriker. She examined it then muttered, “It’ll do.” As if each bolt was unique. Maybe they were….Stepping onto her stool, she said, “Well, climb up here.”
I didn’t like where this was going. “What for?”
“So I can pound this into your leg.”
I swallowed, did a double take, and almost laughed. “Are you kidding? You want to pound my… my leg with lightning?”
“That’s what I said, isn’t it?”
“I—I don’t think that’s such a good idea. I mean, my leg, it already doesn’t work too good and—”
“This is why gods and humans don’t mix! Never can tell what you’re going to get.” She set down her hammer. “Zane, your father is the Heart of the Sky.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“He’s very powerful.”
“Uh-huh.” Already knew that, too.
She looked down at my bum leg, then back to me. “He’s also the Serpent Leg.”
“Yeah and he passed it on to me,” I said, swinging my bad leg.
She smacked her skinny lips together. “A typical human would assume that a serpent leg is useless. But in a god, the power of the serpent is unparalleled.”
“You’re trying to tell me my bum leg is powerful?”
“Your leg,” she said slowly, “is the most powerful part of you, not the weakest. It’s the doorway to your magic, the only clue to your ancestry.”
Someone needed to give her a reality check. “Are you going to tell me to run with the storm, too?”
“Why, for the love of all that’s holy, would I tell you to run with the storm?”
“Because I’m the Storm Runner.”
Her eyes flashed some sort of recognition. “That name was given to you by a goddess.”
“Okay…” I said, neither confirming nor denying it.
“The gods’ language is… hard to translate for the human mind,” she said. “There are many meanings. Runner can also mean—how do I say it?—channel, a conduit, power.”
“I’m like a channel of the storm?” Slowly, the gears in my mind started to rotate. So the demon runners were channels of demon power?
She rapped her knuckles on my forehead. “Are you understanding what I’m telling you, Storm Runner?”
She was starting to irritate me. “Maybe you could just give me the bottom line?”
“You…” She paused. “You are the storm. And the storm is you.”
Okay, so I wasn’t prepared for that. As I opened my mouth to shout What the holy heck are you talking about? she held up her hand. “The storm sleeps inside of you. Once I pound the lightning into your leg, it will awaken and race through your blood and bones like a hurricane of magic. It will locate your dominant power.”
“Power?”
“Yes, your father—god of storms, fire, and wind… Are you even paying attention? Don’t give me that sour face. We need to know if any of his strength was passed on to you.”
“Fire and wind?”
“Hello?” she said with an annoyed look. “Your father? Heavy-hitter? Creator and destroyer?”
“Fine, the guy’s tough, but what do you mean by dominant?”
“Hurakan has many powers. Not all of them have been passed to you. Something that epic would kill any human. We need to find out where you’re strongest.”
Now I was following. “So my powers have nothing to do with running?”
She wiped her brow with frustration. “The storm runs through you, in you. You and the storm must become one, which is why I must pound this lightning into you. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” She shook her head and again the bells in her hair shifted but didn’t ring. “You could also possess nothing of true value. Storms need a place to spend their power, and you may be a terrible vessel with no ability to control any of it.”
Nothing of true value? Terrible vessel? Well, that would officially stink!
“Now, do you want to know the truth of your ancestry?”
I nodded slowly.
“Then let me do my job. Up you go.”
I climbed onto the stone slab and lay back as she gripped both the bolt and the hammer.
“Wait!”
“What?”
“Is it going to hurt?”
She set the glowing thing over my leg and raised her hammer. “More than you know.”
36
Note to self: Never ask someone if it’s going to hurt unless you’re 100 percent prepared for the truth. And no way José was I prepared for the Sparkstriker’s answer.
My leg felt like a million branding irons were being pressed into it. The pain was so awful I couldn’t even scream. The world exploded in a brilliant stream of white, like I was being shot through a meteor shower. I had to close my eyes. Heat spread through me. Then everything went quiet and still.
I was in the Empty. But how? I no longer had the jade….
I was in an open temple on top of a pyramid. I blinked and looked down at my body. I had spotted paws again, and muscular jaguar legs. With a deep breath, I shook myself and started searching.
“Hurakan!” My voice echoed across the plaza below, ricocheting between the stone buildings. There was no answer. I bolted to the other side of the temple, calling for him. The sun was setting over the sea and the Empty felt exactly like that—deserted, abandoned.
“Hurakan!” I yelled again. “Could use a little help about now!”
I paced across the temple, scanning the jungle below. Maybe he was mad I hadn’t listened to his advice about the twins. Did he need me to tell him he’d been right about them not helping me? That I’d made a huge mistake?
His voice found me first. “I knew you’d show up.” Then he materialized in the same black panther form. Yeah, I sort of wanted to nuzzle the guy, but only because I was relieved to see that he was actually there.
“You didn’t tell me I was going to get lightning pounded into my leg!”
“No sense worrying you,” he
said. “Sometimes it’s better not to know what’s coming.”
Mm-hmm… So not comforting! I sat back on my haunches. The sun was setting and everything—the trees, the sky, the sea—looked tranquil, like they were all taking a deep breath. “I lost the jade.”
He nodded slowly but didn’t say anything. His eyes blazed a brilliant green.
I stood and walked closer. “So how am I here?”
“The ceremony the Sparkstriker is performing would have brought you to me.”
Ceremony? That was an interesting word choice. Me? I’d have used torture.
“What power is she going to find?” I asked.
“She isn’t going to find anything. The lightning bolt you chose, that chose you—that’s the source that will uncover the truth.” He stalked closer. “But you already know the answer, don’t you?”
“Er… pretty sure I wouldn’t be here if I knew the answer. Maybe I’m simply here to avoid the I’d-rather-die pain.”
“I want to show you something.”
We headed down to the shore and stood beneath a group of tall, leafy trees. The sand was white, soft, and warm. The sun was a ball of fire, lowering itself into the water slowly.
Hurakan said, “Close your eyes.”
“What? Why?”
He gave me a look.
I closed my eyes.
“What do you see?” he asked.
“Darkness.”
“Try again. Imagine yourself on the table, imagine the lightning coursing through your blood. Imagine the lightning as a part of you.”
I did what he asked. And as I did, my fingertips tingled like before. A terrible heat started to rise in me, so hot I imagined it was the surface of the sun. It raced through my blood. Like before, it felt too big to contain. I opened my eyes and whispered, “Fire.”
If a jungle cat could smile, it would look like the expression Hurakan gave me. “Ah,” he said. “The Son of Fire. Surprising.”
The Storm Runner Page 28