The Storm Runner

by J. C. Cervantes

  “Yeah, you said that before. But why would this Itzam dude want to help me?”

  “His sole purpose is to keep balance and peace. He doesn’t want to see the gods go to war.”

  “Do you really think my story will convince the gods I’m dead? I’m not the world’s best writer….”

  Ixtab tossed the stack of papers onto the coffee table. “Don’t worry,” she said. “It’s only one piece of evidence. There are more.”

  “Yeah?” I asked, not sure I wanted to know what they were.

  “When you disappeared with You-Know-Who,” Ixtab said, “your body was left in the Old World. No pulse, no movement. A little sack of bones. Pathetic, really.”

  “That’s because Pukeface paralyzed me!”

  “Yes, well, he did you a favor without even knowing it,” she said, twisting a diamond ring on her finger. “And of course my hellhound sealed the deal.”

  Hellhound. “You mean my dog?” Anger gripped me when I thought about everything Rosie had been through. “You turned her into a monster!”

  Ixtab dismissed the accusation with a wave of her hand. “Oh, please. She’s had quite an adventuresome life here with me. And I couldn’t have her going around the underworld looking like Bambi, now could I? She needed to be fierce if she was going to be a hellhound. So she got training and a little makeover.”

  “She’s not a hellhound!”

  At that moment a trail of smoke appeared, and Rosie walked out of it. Yep, that’s right. My dog just materialized! She was twice her normal size and I have to admit, pretty intimidating. She sniffed in my direction. My throat tightened and I might’ve stopped breathing. She was black instead of brown, and she looked like she could murder a dragon in her sleep with those fangs, but she was Rosie. My Rosie.

  “Hi, girl,” I choked as I kneeled. I had to force my tears to stay back.

  She swayed sheepishly and when Ixtab nodded permission, Rosie came over, sniffed me, then began nuzzling me like old times. I thought my heart would burst open. I tugged her closer, burying my face in her neck. “I’m sorry, girl. So sorry.”

  She let out a little whine.

  “Not to interrupt your reunion and all,” Ixtab said, “but we have a lot to cover and there isn’t much time.”

  “Where are my friends? Brooks and Jazz and… my uncle?”

  “Home, safe and sound.”

  I felt a sense of relief. Then I wondered which home Ixtab was referring to? Did Brooks even have a home? Was she back in Venice Beach with Jazz? Was she with Quinn?

  Rosie lay down and turned over so I could scratch her belly, which made Ixtab roll her eyes. Then she said, “Rosie saved you.”

  “Saved me?”

  “The hounds only go to the deceased—they never acknowledge the living—so when Rosie sniffed your motionless cold body, the gods believed you were no longer their problem. It was very kismet, if you ask me.”

  “Kis…what?”

  “Never mind. The point is, the gods think you’ve passed on, which is how you ended up here, but of course you can’t stay here, because you’re very much alive.”

  “How’d Rosie end up with you anyway?” I asked as I scratched my dog’s head.

  “Any animal that belongs to a god—or in this case, a godborn—is sacred,” she said.

  Rosie wagged her nub and grunted. Smoke came out of her nose. Huh—so we had fire-making in common.

  “And it’s rare for animals to come here,” Ixtab said, “so when Intake saw her, they called me immediately. I knew that she was something special and you’d need her for what is coming next.”

  “Next?”

  “You asked about your dad.”

  A sour feeling rose in my stomach. He’d sacrificed everything to claim me, to give me a fighting chance against Ah-Puch. I held my breath, hoping he wasn’t…

  “He’s in prison,” Ixtab said. “A teeny-tiny prison, I must say, but at least he’s alive. The council isn’t stupid enough to kill him. They might need his powers someday.”

  A booming voice came over a loudspeaker in the ceiling: “New soul on level three. Thinks he’s Shakespeare. Only speaks in iambic pentameter, and I’m getting ready to smash in his face.”

  Ixtab shook her head and talked into a microphone on her lapel. “Take him to level five for a brain soak. Then give him two days at the spa.” She turned back to me. “Now, where were we?”

  “My dad? In jail?” Mental double take. Did she say spa?

  “Oh, yes. I suppose I should start at the beginning. But listen carefully, because I don’t have time to repeat myself.” Ixtab went on to tell me how she’d been working undercover with my dad for weeks. Keeping up evil appearances, because the paranoid gods were watching everyone. And when Brooks came to help negotiate Quinn’s release, Ixtab saw the magical opportunity.

  “Opportunity?” My head spun. “Brooks said you sent her to find and bring back Ah-Puch.”

  “I knew she wouldn’t be able to achieve such a feat, but you needed help from someone who understood the Maya legends and gods, and someone you could rely on. She was a true gift.”

  “Wait a minute….You took away her shape-shifting magic,” I said, remembering. “And you tried to kill us at Jack in the Box!”

  “That was good, wasn’t it?” Her eyes flashed electric blue. “I sent my best actors for that one, because I knew the gods had spies everywhere. And I had to take away her power. She was drawing too much attention to you. The gods would’ve started asking why a supernatural was hanging out with some human kid.”

  My mind raced. “You sent that little… that monster, the alux. He wasn’t faking. He wanted to tear my head off!”

  “True, but he went rogue. It happens sometimes. Especially the little ones—always trying to make up for their stout nature. If Brooks hadn’t killed him, I would’ve, trust me.” She straightened a few magazines then turned back to me. “You want to know the worst part?”

  “Worse than being attacked by blue demons and crazy rogue monsters?”

  “Having to look like a hideous hag!” She clenched her fists and shook her head.

  “Why would you have to look like—?”

  “Because it’s expected of someone sitting on the throne of death. But if I were a man…”

  “Okay, I get the whole creepy death god costume, but that doesn’t explain why you held Quinn prisoner.”

  “She was never a prisoner. She was in training as a spy for a very old, very secret…” She hesitated. “She was working undercover the whole time.”

  Great! So the gods have a spy network? “Does Brooks know her sister was a spy?”

  She straightened a black-beaded pillow. “She knows now, which could create a problem for Quinn’s cover.”

  Rosie turned in circles before finding a cozy place to settle on the floor. I didn’t want to say anything, but man, did she need a bath. Or two. She smelled like singed hair.

  “Hang on, didn’t Quinn… er, stab you with a lightning bolt?”

  “She had to…”

  “To make it look good.” I nodded, catching on. “I get it.”

  My mind raced through everything Ixtab had done, everything she’d been responsible for. All her answers added up. Then I remembered Ms. Cab. “You turned the seers into chickens!”

  “You’re a little slow for a godborn, you know that?” she said, annoyed. “Think about it. We couldn’t have a bunch of seers running around knowing what we were up to, now could we? For this all to work, it had to be flawless. We had to get you to the Old World, so your dad could claim you in front of the council if you were to have half a chance at defeating Ah-Puch.”

  “Puke could’ve killed me!”

  “That was a risk we had to take.”

  “Yeah, because it wasn’t your head!”

  Rosie crooned in agreement.

  “Why?” I asked. “Why would you risk so much to help my dad, to help me?”

  “We…”

  “Who’s we?” />
  She turned away, paused, then looked back. “Your father’s not the only one who broke the Sacred Oath.”

  Oh. Ohh. OHHHH.

  “There are other godborns. Were other godborns.”

  Yeah, wasn’t expecting that little tidbit of information. “Wha… what happened to them?”

  I thought I saw her wipe off a tear, but she turned too quickly. “We don’t know….We sent them away—to hide them—but they all died. It was like their blood couldn’t hold the power.”

  They all died? My breath whooshed out of me. The whole thing was too depressing. “Then… does that mean I’m going to—?”

  She shrugged then spun back around with a deep frown. “You seem to have defied the odds. Who knows why you survived? Maybe because you’re Hurakan’s…” She shivered. “I shouldn’t be telling you all this. It’s ancient history. Right now the important thing is that you disappear. Do you think you can play dead?”

  Rosie got to her feet and roared like a lion. Fire spat from her mouth and her eyes. I fell back. “Whoa!”

  “Oops,” Ixtab said. “She’s trained to go into hellhound mode on the command dead.

  “Steak!” Ixtab commanded, holding up her hand. Rosie settled back into her non-demon mode.

  “Steak is the command for stop?” I asked.

  “Unless you want her to rip your enemy to shreds before she barbecues them.”

  “You said something about my playing d—” I looked at Rosie. “You-know-what?” I said, getting back on topic.

  “You can’t go home.”

  “Why not?”

  “First, because it’s no longer there. Had to sort of destroy everything in a huge flood, a good excuse for why you all had to leave so suddenly.”

  The room spun. “Where am I supposed to go, then?”

  “You’ll see. But I’ve cloaked you with powerful shadow magic so the gods can’t detect you. It’s quite perfect, if I do say so myself.”

  “But what if… what if the gods come knocking on the underworld’s door and I’m not here?”

  “Remember the demons I sent that looked exactly like you?”

  I couldn’t help it. I smiled. She was a serious mastermind! “And what about my mom and Hondo and…”

  “They’re waiting for you.”

  Relief spread through me. “Where?”

  “You’ll see.”

  “But it’s not like some deserted, awful place with no internet or tacos, right?”

  “Tacos you can get. Internet? Maybe not. And under no circumstances can you use your powers outside the shielded place I’m sending you to. If you do, the gods will pick it up on their radar, and they’ll hunt you down and murder you in your sleep. Do you understand?”

  I really didn’t want to think about getting murdered in my sleep. “Wait a sec. What am I supposed to do with my powers? Don’t I need some kind of training?”

  She shook her head. “Too dangerous. Go to the movies. Eat tacos. Read books. Do what humans do. Live a normal life.”

  “Normal? I’m not normal!”

  Wow! Before, all I’d ever wished was to be like everyone else, and now? I actually liked the way those words made me feel.

  I didn’t even mind the fact that I still had one shorter leg. Yeah, Sparkstriker’s lightning-bolt surgery hadn’t permanently fixed it. I kind of thought my limp would have disappeared now that I was a claimed godborn who could control fire, but I guess magic doesn’t work that way. Still, it didn’t bother me. It didn’t seem like a weakness anymore, just part of who I was. And besides, it connected me to my dad, ole One Leg.

  That reminded me. “What about Hurakan?” I asked Ixtab. “Can he come, too? I can’t let him rot in prison.”

  “Don’t worry about him. He’ll be fine. He’s suffered much worse, believe me,” Ixtab said. “Now, do you want to see your human family or not?” She looked at her watch. “Hurry, we have a cab to catch.”

  “There’s cab service from Xib’alb’a?”

  “Of course. At least until I can get Uber to negotiate with me.”

  POST POSTSCRIPT

  The cabdriver was a skeleton decked out like Elvis in a white jumpsuit, sideburns, and all, and he belted out “Jailhouse Rock” the entire ten-minute drive. We couldn’t take any roads—especially the heavily watched cosmic ones. So we only had one option: we cruised the ocean. Under the waves, that is. Thanks to Pacific speeding up time for us, it was like being on a roller-coaster submarine, which meant everything whizzed by in a blur. Although I’m pretty sure I saw a two-headed shark.

  This was Pacific’s “parting gift” to me. She had to find a new hiding place. The gods would read my story soon enough, and everyone I’d been trying to protect would be revealed. Even Mat wasn’t safe. Stupid truth paper!

  “We’re here,” Elvis said, bursting through breakers. Imagine going through a crazy car wash at Mach ten. That’s what this was like. He pulled to a stop on a white sandy beach lined with swaying palms.

  “Where… where are we?”

  “Isla Holbox, Mexico,” Ixtab said. “Very secluded, and surrounded by water, which is the most important part.”

  “Why does the water matter?”

  “Messes up signals, wavelengths, the gods’ ability to see clearly. Plus, it’s protected by—”

  “Your shadow magic.”

  “Precisely.”

  I ducked to peer through the windshield. “Whoa!”

  I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. A luxury vacation house—the kind you only read about in adventure books or see in those fancy travel magazines. The place was tucked under tall, willowy palms, had two stories, a palapa roof, and thick timbers holding up a massive back porch where hammocks swung in the afternoon sun. A quick glance down the shore in both directions told me we were pretty secluded, with the next house at least two football fields away. Rosie barked, whined, and pawed at the car door.

  When I went to open it, Ixtab grabbed my arm, reached into her pocket, and removed a silver letter opener. “I almost forgot. This is for you.”

  “Er… what’s this for?” I thought it was a weird parting gift.

  “You know, for someone who’s part god and has seen ancient magic, you really are lacking in the imagination department,” she said. “It’s your cane-slash-spear. I had to hide it somewhere.” She tapped the end and the cane popped out.

  I took it from her. It was just as cool as before. “Does the spear still work?”

  Ixtab rolled her eyes and stepped out of the car. “Ándale,” she said. “I don’t have all day.”

  Leading with my warrior cane, I stepped out of the cab.

  “One more thing.” She pointed to the right, past the house and across the jungle.

  I blinked. Once. Twice. “Is that what I think it is?”

  “Yup.”

  Rosie hunkered low and covered her eyes with her paws, groaning. Some things hadn’t changed. I patted her on the head reassuringly and asked Ixtab, “But how the heck did you move a whole volcano?”

  “It was your father’s idea.” She played with the gold bangles dangling from her wrists. “It wasn’t a bad one, either, I have to admit. We couldn’t simply leave it in New Mexico—it had too much magic left over in it. So Mat replaced it with a replica, and I, of course, did all the heavy lifting to bring the real one here.”

  “And the people on this island didn’t wonder when a volcano sprang up out of nowhere?”

  Ixtab shrugged. “It happens sometimes.”

  I couldn’t take my eyes off my volcano. I almost threw my arms around Ixtab’s neck but stopped when I realized she might strangle me.

  “You obviously approve,” she said.

  “Approve?” Grinning, I ran my hands over my hair. “It’s… it’s amazing!”

  “I created a portal inside that leads to Xib’alb’a. You may use it in case of emergency,” Ixtab added. “Extreme emergency.”

  “Emergency? Why would I have an emergency? You said this pla
ce is safe.”

  “I said your family and friends are safe. Nowhere is ever entirely safe for someone like you.”

  I clutched my cane. “Then I guess it’s a good thing I have this. And Rosie.” The dynamic duo was together again!

  Rosie barked in agreement.

  Ixtab looked down at her. “I hate to give her up. She would have made a wonderful hellhound.” Then she ducked back into the cab. “I’ll be seeing you again, Zane Obispo. It’s inevitable.” As she closed the door, I swore I heard her tell the esqueleto, “Now take me to that dreadful Aztec king.”

  As soon as the cab had disappeared, I saw Mom running barefoot from the house toward me. Her dark hair blew across her face. I hurried over and hugged her. Either she’d shrunk or I’d grown, but either way it felt great to be home. Yeah, I know it wasn’t New Mexico, but home is where my family is.

  Hondo was right behind her. He shook his head and socked me in the arm “Diablo! You did it. You actually did it. Well, I helped, but still!”

  “Diablo?”

  “Your new nickname! You earned it by killing the god of death! Totally perfect, right?”

  “Yeah. No!”

  Mom was crying, hugging, crying, mumbling, naming every santo in the universe. She wiped her face and said with a smile, “I bet you’re hungry. We’re grilling steaks. ¿Tienes hambre? Maybe something to drink?”

  Rosie half groaned, half whined. Mom blinked and looked down at her for the first time. “Hey, girl.” She knelt down and scrubbed her neck with both hands. “You’re even more hermosa than the last time I saw you!” Rosie danced in place, fish-tail wagging her body. That’s what I love about my mom. She always knows the exact right thing to say.

  We started for the house and I looked around. Hondo knew who I was searching for.

  “She hasn’t been here.”

  Oh. I waited for more, but Hondo didn’t say anything else about it.

  My heart sank. I mean, wouldn’t yours? Not that I liked Brooks (as in like her) or anything. It for sure wasn’t like that between us. Brooks barely tolerated me most of the time. I just wanted to talk to her about everything that had happened. You know—say good-bye on the right note. I mean, she was annoying, and brave, and controlling. And she was complicated, and smart, and amazing. I definitely didn’t… Never mind.