Brooks spoke up. “Anyone ever tell you how bad you smell?”
Quinn tugged on Brooks’s arm to shut her up. Yeah, fat chance of that!
Ah-Puch’s next words to her were pointed, the kind that went in for the kill. “No more talk, worthless half-breed.” Then black smoke curled out of his fingertips. Before I could even react, it zoomed toward Quinn and Brooks, knocking them to the ground, one on top of the other. Then the smoke took the shape of giant hands and muzzled their mouths.
Brooks’s own hands shot up to the smoke, but she couldn’t remove it. Taking advantage of his momentary distraction, I inched back, thinking quickly. I needed that spear, but how was I going to get it…? And then I remembered. It will do as you command. It was a long shot, but I opened my hand, which was still pulsing with a strange energy. Come, I thought.
The energy wound up my arm, but the spear didn’t make its way back to me. I tried again, this time with more concentration, which was pretty hard considering Puke was standing right in front of me in his murderous demon form.
Then I felt it. One hot pulse, and when I looked down, the spear was in my hand. I couldn’t believe it!
Ah-Puch let out a wicked laugh. “You think your little lightning spear is going to stop me?”
I glanced down and for a second I thought I heard a voice coming from inside the spear, muffled like it was being smothered under a pillow. I knew launching the thing at Ah-Puch while he was expecting it was lame battle strategy. Hondo always said to catch your opponent by surprise, because if they know the attack is coming they’ll prepare a counterstrike. Or in my case, a deathstrike!
The air shifted, turning cold, and a demon runner emerged from the jungle. Then another and another, all dragging their hairy knuckles along the ground. Those guys again?
“Now you must suffer for Muwan,” Ah-Puch said to me. “And for removing my eyes.” He motioned to my wrist. “I must say, I didn’t anticipate that move. But no matter, you’ll pay for both. And you will be the greatest prize the underworld has ever seen. Godborn of Hurakan, the great creator.”
Brooks roared angrily, trying to get to her feet. But Quinn had her pinned, which only made Brooks lash out more wildly. I swallowed hard. My heart thrashed around in my chest. I was outnumbered, outsmarted, and outpowered.
Ah-Puch kept on. “And when all is said and done, your father will suffer, too.”
The demon runners hissed and groaned impatiently.
“Hurakan doesn’t have anything to do with this!” I bent my knees and gripped my spear, ready to fight whichever demon came at me. Preferably one at a time. Power throbbed in my legs and I wondered how long it would last.
“Oh, but he has everything to do with this. He is at the center of my plan. But enough of that. Let’s get your punishment started, shall we?”
“I’d rather not.”
The demons bared their nasty fangs.
“Maybe we should begin with your friends,” he said.
At the same time, thick ropes of white hair slithered out of the forest, followed by a dozen new demons. These were different from the demon runners I’d seen. Instead of blue skin, theirs was a glistening silver that shimmered in the moonlight, and it was thick, like a shark’s. They had long white hair that hung in thick braids down their backs, swinging back and forth like tails.
They shrieked, leaping onto the backs of Ah-Puch’s little army with amazing force. Teeth gnashed. Claws ripped. Hair choked.
The black-smoke hands released Brooks and Quinn and rose into the air. They formed ribbons and wound themselves into a long serpent that headed toward the silver demons.
I launched my spear at one of Ah-Puch’s guys, testing its accuracy. It incinerated the monster on impact, then zipped back into my hand.
Ah-Puch narrowed his gaze. “Very good. Your little toy can melt demons. But it can never kill me!”
Quinn sat up with a wince. Brooks’s eyes were bright as she got to her feet, reached into her waistband, and pulled out her demon-burning flashlight.
Ah-Puch pivoted as a woman with long blue locks materialized from a curtain of fog. Her skin was the color of a white-hot sun, and her eyes burned—with real fire! She shifted her white cape and extended one arm. A single flame danced on her palm and grew into a globe.
Puke’s mouth curled into a sick smile.
Then the woman hurled the fireball at him.
“NO!” I screamed, launching myself forward to shove him out of the way.
The fireball hit me in the back, exploding on contact, and it knocked me off my feet, but it didn’t kill me. I didn’t even feel its heat!
The woman narrowed her fire-eyes at me, smiling murderously. “Godborn,” she hissed. Then she launched another fireball, but this time I didn’t get up fast enough.
I turned to see the damage. Puke opened his mouth and inhaled the thing before blowing it back out as a stream of smoke.
“Hello, Ixtab,” he said. “How’s my throne? Did you keep it warm for me?”
Her eyes darted between me and Ah-Puch. “I destroyed it,” she said with a wicked grin that showed a mouthful of gray teeth. “How does your new hell taste?” Her long white cape dragged across the ground as she came closer, giving me a better look at it. The garment was made of small bones, and its hem was lined with teeth.
“The demons’ hair is a nice touch,” Ah-Puch said as he indifferently watched the last of his demons get smothered.
Why was he so calm? So confident?
Ixtab’s victorious demons dragged themselves over and circled us like hungry wolves. Quinn and Brooks stood back-to-back as they waited for the first strike.
“Er… Ixtab?” My voice squeaked. I was about to tell her not to kill him when she cut in.
“Shut up, godborn.” Ixtab raised her hand to silence me. Her hungry glare shifted to Quinn. “Traitors always pay the highest price. Soon you will be dead.” Then, to Ah-Puch, “You’ll like what I’ve done with Xib’alb’a. I have a special little corner waiting for you, my pet.”
Ah-Puch snarled. It sent chills down the back of my legs. If I were betting on a winner, I might’ve gone with him.
Ixtab’s eyes blazed.
It was now or never. I had to take advantage of Puke’s being distracted. I gripped my spear, preparing to throw…
Then Ixtab stepped closer to me, and as she did, a ten-foot wall of fire rose up behind her. Two beasts walked out of the flames. Huge black hounds, twice the size of lions, with long bared fangs and growls that shook the ground. One had eyes that burned white. And the other? Its eyes flickered, changing from burning red to soft and brown and so familiar.
I gasped, blinking to be sure.
The brown-eyed beast had only three legs.
39
I stumbled back. “Rosie?”
No, no, no! I was dreaming. It was a trick! Then I remembered what Ms. Cab had said: She’ll be changed.
I fell to my knees. Rosie’s eyes switched back to red. She sniffed the air near me. Did she recognize me?
“Rosie?” I mumbled. Her pointed ears pricked.
Ah-Puch scoffed at Ixtab. “You think your hellhounds can stop me?” He looked around at the few demons still standing. “Or your pitiful horde?”
“Zane!” Hondo shouted.
We all spun to see him run into the clearing, waving a flashlight, pointing its flesh-burning beam. Jazz was right behind him, and they were both wearing red masks like Quinn’s.
Ixtab raised her hand and said some strange word I didn’t recognize. The demons charged toward Hondo and Jazz. Black hair grew out of the demons’ mouths at freakish speed. Hondo and Jazz were outnumbered! Why would Hondo be so stupid? Then I realized he wouldn’t. No way would my uncle march into battle without reinforcements.
While I was distracted, Ah-Puch blew a hot breath, creating a barred cage of black smoke all around me.
“NO!” I screamed.
“Relax for a while. This should be fun to watch,” he said. �
�Should we take bets? I’m going with the demons.”
I rushed toward the smoke bars, thinking I’d pass right through them, but they were as strong as iron and I slammed into them before stumbling back, dazed. I lifted my spear, hoping it could cut through the spell, but when I launched it at Ah-Puch, it bounced right off the smoke.
Panic clawed at my insides. I couldn’t let anyone else fight this battle for me.
A great wind blew across the field, hot and dry, spreading Ixtab’s flames. Quinn crawled over to me.
I wanted to harness the fire, to draw it in and use it against Ah-Puch. But what good would it do me? First, I didn’t know how to control it. Second, if Ixtab’s fire couldn’t kill him, mine surely wouldn’t. And I might end up torching the whole place—and Brooks and Hondo with it.
I couldn’t take my eyes off Hondo, who had climbed into a tree and was pointing his deadly red light on the demons below. They writhed and screamed as the beam burned them.
Ah-Puch merely leaned against my cage, watching and smiling. “I really need to get one of those toys!”
A second later, dozens of red-robed warriors raced from behind the trees. The Sparkstriker’s trained orphans!
So many things happened at the exact same moment. Shrieks split the hot air. The hellhounds growled and gnashed their teeth. Everyone ran at each other like a stampede of elephants. The ground shook. It was all chaos and hair and fangs and screaming.
Brooks, now masked, took off running into the melee. Jazz fought off three demons while another clung to his back, strangling him with a thick band of hair until his eye bugged out. Brooks aimed her flashlight and burned the demon off Jazz’s back. It writhed into a column of black smoke.
The red warriors hurled themselves right into the demons’ paths, displaying no fear as they reached into their robes. By the time I realized what they were reaching for, their lightning bolts were already flying through the air, exploding like fireworks. Now I knew why they were all wearing masks. I covered my eyes and waited for the searing pain to come, but it never did. I opened my eyelids, fluttering them wildly. I could still see!
The silver demons screamed, clawing at their faces as their eyes burst into flames.
Ixtab raised her hands toward the field and was chanting something when Quinn scrambled to her feet and rammed a lightning rod into her spine. Ixtab exploded into a tower of white fire.
“Now!” Quinn yelled at me. “The magic will only hold her for seconds.”
At the same moment, Brooks morphed into a hawk. I guessed she could do it because Ixtab was out of commission, at least temporarily. Quinn stepped back, her eyes wide as she watched her sister fly at the god of death. Then Quinn dove between Ah-Puch and Brooks.
With a flick of his wrist, he sent them both hurtling over the wall of flames.
“BROOKS!” I shook the smoke bars.
Ah-Puch turned to me and smiled, taking a deep breath. “I just love the smell of war. And death. Do you smell its sweetness?”
Hate burned inside of me. “Let me out, you—you disgusting cockroach!”
Don’t judge. It was the only insult I could think of in the moment.
“And you’ll what? Kill me with your little lightning spear?” He nodded once and the smoke prison disappeared.
I didn’t hesitate. I launched the spear at Ah-Puch. It rocketed toward him, a blazing light. But right before it hit, he vanished. I spun to find him behind me, smiling. He twisted me around and gripped the back of my neck, drawing blood with his nails. So much for my dynamo spear. Which, by the way, was now lying on the ground like a dead snake.
The world spun. Colors morphed into each other. Everything churned in a blur of amber light. And at the center of it all, tall towers of thick mist rose from the burning ground. One after the other.
“Let’s stick around a bit, godborn. This is going to be fun,” Ah-Puch said, gripping me tighter.
Fun? This was so not fun!
Five figures walked through the fire. I recognized Mat immediately, and I have to admit I was glad to see him. He was more spiffed up than I’d seen him last, wearing a dark blue pinstriped suit with a white button-down shirt and no tie. Next to him was a burly dude with a long beard and black circles inked around his eyes. He wore a leather jacket, tattered jeans, motorcycle boots, and a sour expression like someone had woken him up from a long nap. The other three figures stood erect. My still-in-shock mind realized slowly that if Mat was here, then that meant… Holy smokes!
These were Maya gods!
40
My relief turned into misery when I remembered that the gods also wanted Ah-Puch’s head. Since I was… well, paralyzed, I wasn’t exactly in a position to do the deed myself, and we all know what that meant. I was headed to soldier-of-death boot camp!
(To be honest, I don’t even know why I have to write this next part since you gods already know what happened. Whatever.)
Ah-Puch gripped me harder and began to chuckle. “Ma’alob áak’ab’. Buenas noches, old friends. The council is all back together. How chummy. So good to see you. And Ixkakaw, you’re looking well these days. Don’t look a day over two thousand.”
Straight dark bangs framed the eyes belonging to the goddess of chocolate, who actually didn’t look a day over, like, thirty. She was small and willowy, and she walked more gracefully than the others. This fact was made even more obvious by her brown cat-woman-like bodysuit. Her bronze skin glistened as she narrowed her eyes, then smiled. “And you’re smelling as foul as ever, Ah-Puch.”
The burly dude looked me over, then said to Ah-Puch, “We end this tonight.”
“Oh, you mean to send me back to my prison, Nakon?” Ah-Puch said, faking a shudder.
So the burly motorcycle dude was the god of war? Kind of a cliché, if you ask me.
Mat shook his head. “The plan is to kill you, actually.”
At about this time, the Sparkstriker’s army retreated into the jungle and Ixtab was released from the bolt’s power. She shook her head, looked around, and adjusted her cape. “Someone is going to pay for that,” she said through gritted teeth.
My eyes roved the trees, where I spotted Jazz and Hondo holed up not twenty yards away. Were Brooks and Quinn okay?
Rosie and the other hound stood behind Ixtab, but Rosie kept looking in my direction. Had she remembered me yet?
Ah-Puch grunted. “Did you all think I’d come here to your little playground unprepared? That I’d just walk into your clumsy trap?”
Is that what this was? A trap with me as the bait?
I searched the remaining two gods’ faces, wondering if one of them was Hurakan. I didn’t even know what his “human” form looked like. The guy half my size with spiky bleached hair, khakis, and a starched blue button-down shirt was definitely not Mom’s type. That left the one on the far end. The one who wouldn’t take his eyes off me. He had dark disheveled hair, looked like he hadn’t shaved in three days, and was so stiff he could’ve been made of stone. He wore a dark T-shirt, dark pants, and a leather band on each wrist.
“Let the boy fight him,” he said coldly.
Yeah, so that pretty much stole my breath. Nice to see you, too, Dad!
Khaki dude ran a hand through his hair, then said, “Why would we let a mere boy fight our greatest enemy? Let’s end this, Hurakan.”
“Isn’t that why you said we had to come here? Back to this… place?” Ixkakaw said, throwing her hands on her hips.
Mat and Dad exchanged a glance. What were they up to?
“He’s not a mere boy,” Mat said.
With a twisted smile, Ixtab stepped forward. “He’s—”
Hurakan silenced her with a glare. He came closer, still staring at me. “He is the prophesied one. He released Ah-Puch.”
A hush fell over the jungle. Ixkakaw, burly dude, and khaki guy (who I guessed was Alom, god of the sky) gasped.
“Those were lies,” Ixkakaw said. “Told by—” She stopped herself.
Nakon popp
ed his knuckles. “Yeah, well, that would make him a god, and that’s not possible, unless…” His face turned red, and I thought smoke might come out of his ears. “Which idiot god broke the Sacred Oath?” he roared.
The silence was so loud my ears started to ring. A brief movement in the trees caught my attention and I saw Jazz muscling Hondo, covering his mouth and pinning him in place. No, Hondo, I thought. This isn’t a fight you can win. Jazz was right to lock him down.
“Oooh,” Ah-Puch said. “This is getting good. Do tell us, Hurakan. Who broke the Sacred Oath?”
Hurakan lifted his chin and clenched his jaw. “Zane Obispo is my son, the son of wind, storms, and fire. He has the blood of a creator and a destroyer, and I claim him as my own.”
My heart skipped so hard I forgot about Puke’s nails digging into me. I forgot about the quest, about becoming a solider of death. I was the son of wind, storms, and fire! Holy smokes, that sounded so…tough!
Hurakan’s voice found me. By claiming you, here in the Old World before the council, I give you full powers.
Full powers? Wait. Is that what Mat meant?
I said you would control fire eventually. Today is that day.
But… why wait? Why now?
You needed to be on sacred ground and I had to claim you in front of the council. It’s the only way for you to defeat Ah-Puch. Do you accept these powers?
Was that a trick question?
Zane!
Okay, okay. Yes.
What happened next is hard to explain, even to imagine—for humans, at least. (Maybe for you gods, too.) Heat exploded inside of me and raced like lava through my muscles, down my nerves, and into my bones. The horrible pain made me want to scream, to fall to the floor and curl into a ball. But I was still paralyzed by Ah-Puch’s grip, so no one could see my torment.
Ixtab shifted her cape back and forth impatiently. Then she shrieked, “Nothing happened!”
Ah-Puch laughed and said to Hurakan, “I didn’t think you had it in you, old friend. Didn’t think you’d give up your own freedom for… a worthless human. And it was all for nothing. Look, the boy didn’t change. He has no dominant power! Maybe your blood isn’t so potent.”
The Storm Runner Page 30