My uncle’s smiling face filled the screen. Ren’s silvery-blue eye loomed in the corner. “You’ll get a chance to talk to him,” Hondo said to her with a grunt. “Move over.”
“You don’t need the whole screen,” the godborn argued.
“Hey, guys?” I said. “I’m kinda busy right now.”
My dog, Rosie, whined in the background as Ren grabbed the phone away from Hondo. “My phone tracker says you’re in New York?” She had thought it was a good idea to share locations with each other. Just in case.
Ik tapped her foot. “Tell them you can’t talk. Don’t they know we’re on an important mission?”
“Did you find number sixty-four?” Hondo shouted from the background.
“I’m working on it now.”
“Oh, good.” Ren smiled. “Then you’ll be home tonight?” She flashed what looked like a notecard. “We got another invitation, with the same instructions as before: Don’t pack anything. Don’t bring your phone. Blah, blah, blah.”
“I am not going to wear a SHIHOM uniform,” Hondo chimed in.
He was talking about the Shaman Institute of Higher-Order Magic at the World Tree. All the godborns were supposed to report there next week for summer training. My uncle, a full-blooded human, was going to teach combat and meditation and stuff.
I pressed my face closer to the screen. “Why did we get a second invitation, do you think?”
Ik made a bored face and mouthed, Who cares?
Ren shrugged. “They want everyone to report sooner.”
Iktan’s tentacles popped out. “Sooner?” she whispered.
“As in the day after tomorrow, first thing in the morning,” Hondo said. “And they better have all the equipment I ordered for the kick-butt drills I have planned.”
“Why did they change the date?” I asked as Ik nodded vigorously. How come she was so interested in our schedule all of a sudden? It wasn’t like she was heading to SHIHOM.
Ren said, “Guess we’ll find out when we get there.”
The gods had reasons for everything they did (mostly related to stuff that was best for them), so yeah, I had a bunch of red flags slapping me in the face about then.
Ik snatched the phone away, ended the call, and turned off my phone. Thin trails of black smoke floated from her eyes.
“Hey!” I shouted.
Tossing the phone back to me, she frowned. “You’re letting outside stuff get in the way of this mission. Now get your brain in the game so we can get out of here. You’re not the only one with a schedule to keep.”
I widened the distance between us and took a deep breath, focusing all my energy on the last godborn. The signal grew stronger and stronger. I followed it…then froze in mid-step. “This can’t be right.”
Ik glanced around. “I don’t see any mutts.”
I pointed to a darkened store across the road. “The godborn is inside the antiques store.”
“The one with the Closed sign in the window?”
Right. What was a kid doing in a closed antiques shop at ten thirty on a Wednesday night? Maybe it was a family business or something.
“Are you sure?” Ik asked, and I swear she started drooling.
“One hundred percent.” I threw her a side-glance. “Need a napkin?”
I crossed the avenue, cut between some parked cars, and stalked toward the store window. Ik was right behind me.
“Did I ever tell you why the Statue of Liberty is blue?” she whispered.
“That’s random, and she’s actually green.” I crouched at the edge of the window front, trying not to be seen as I peered into the shop. Two hooded figures lurked inside.
So which one was the godborn? My GPS should have been screaming at me by now, pointing its finger with total accuracy, but it was like…
Whoa!
Was that even possible? They were both godborns?
I wanted to ask Ik why her “superior tracking” had only picked up one, but she was still fixated on the Statue of Liberty.
“Its sculptor was a demon,” Ik offered. “He wanted to pay homage to all demons everywhere.”
My eyes were trained on the taller godborn with square shoulders. The one inspecting something in their palm while the other inched closer to get a better look. And then the something began to glow red. What the holy heck?
“Do you know why he wanted to pay homage?” Ik’s voice turned gravelly.
Why was she still talking about this? I ignored her, pressing my forehead against the window. “I think…they’re stealing something,” I muttered. “It’s glowing.”
“Because the statue is a reminder that demons are the real lords, superior to everyone.”
The taller godborn’s head jerked up. Our eyes met.
I was so focused on what was beyond the glass, I didn’t notice the reflection in the glass until it was too late.
Shining black eyes, a twisted smile, and murderous claws raised and ready.
Just as I snapped back, Ik’s talon slashed my cheek. I cried out. The pain was instant, the venom fast.
“Foolish, foolish boy,” Iktan tutted. “Never trust a demon.”
Fuego slipped from my grasp as my knees buckled. I collapsed and my head slammed into the concrete. The world slanted. Glass shattered. Agony ripped through me.
“Don’t blink, Zane,” Ik whispered in my ear. “The bat god is coming for you.”
And the last thing I saw before my eyelids closed was a shimmer in the air and the rush of familiar dark wings.
I heard a shuffle. Grunts, pounding footsteps. A store security alarm pierced the air.
And then I was lifted up, up, up. With a mighty struggle, I opened my eyes.
Brooks!
I would have pumped my fist if I could have felt my arms. But I was as floppy as a half-full garbage bag, and when she set me down on a rooftop, I crumpled in a heap of worthless pain. Stupid demons. Stupid venom.
Brooks kneeled next to me. Her expression was focused, intense. Scared.
Man, was I happy to see her. She’s the one you want by your side in life-or-death situations. She squeeeezed the wound, trying to drain the poison. Okay, I never said she was gentle.
I think I screamed. The venom raced through my blood fast and furious, like hot acid. My chest seized as if an iron fist were gripping my heart tighter and tighter.
“Zane!” she cried. “This isn’t working. You have to burn it out!”
My words came out in a slur. “Ik…traitor…godbor…” I tried to roll over, but my arms and legs weren’t getting the message, and to be honest, I was having trouble breathing. Little black dots danced in my vision.
Brooks grasped my head, forcing me to look into her fierce amber eyes as she shook me. “Are you listening?! Start a fire to burn it out of your system. It’s the only way!”
Listen to the nawal.
I did a mental double take. That was the voice of Itzamna, the glittering god, in my head. Was he here?
Do it now, Zane!
I reached for the heat inside me, the flames that were as much a part of me as my beating heart. The poison sped up, shredding my insides.
Fire. Fire. Come on!
It’s terrifying to sense your life slipping away. I’d felt something similar when I’d fought Ah-Puch, the god of death, but that moment had been big and loud and filled with do-or-die adrenaline. This was different. This time I was battling a silent, invisible monster racing through my blood. It wasn’t quite as big-screen epic. Plus, who wants to die on a rooftop in Hell’s Kitchen?
I concentrated with what little part of my brain was still working. Just when I thought the poison was about to pull me under for good, I heard Itzamna’s voice again:
Listen, Storm Runner, unless you want this to be the end of the story, you really need to start a fire. Do I need to provide the match, too?
I reached for the power in my Storm Runner leg. I sensed a flicker and then…
“ZANE!” Brooks shouted.
; “Get back!” I managed. The second Brooks inched away, heat blazed in my leg. Fire surged through my blood like lightning, hunting for the dirty, rotten, double-crossing demon’s poison.
Blue flames erupted from my body and leaped high into the sky. The relief was instant. I waited a couple of seconds before I called the fire back. Then, breathless, I rolled to my feet and looked around.
Brooks held out Fuego, and the moment I grabbed him, she threw her arms around me and hugged me so tight, I stumbled back. It felt good. Make that great. She let go and shoved me in the chest. “You could have died!”
“Did you see Itzamna?”
She gave me a watery stare. “What? No! Did you hear me? You could have died.”
“Are you going to cry?” I asked.
She was. She was totally going to cry, which could only mean one thing. She didn’t want me to die. She needed me around. She’d missed me!
Brooks wiped her eyes and hugged me a second time. Then she shoved me again. “I think all that fire fried your brain.” She studied me. “And you got taller.”
I was definitely going to melt under the heat of her hawk eyes.
I took a few blinks to cool off my brain, to let everything resonate. “That poison,” I said. “It was like some super-enhanced version.”
“Super enhanced?”
“Yeah, I mean, it was nothing like the venom I felt back in the volcano last year.” Before Brooks could start spouting off theories, I said, “Wait. Where’s Ik, and…why are you here?”
“Quinn went after the demon.” Her words spilled out in a rush. “I…I headed straight for you. I wasn’t about to let you die on a dirty sidewalk!” Her eyes roamed my face. Police car sirens sounded from the street below.
“The godborns! We can’t let them get arrested.”
“Or Quinn!” Brooks turned her back to me and ordered, “Grab my shoulders.”
I needed both hands, so with a single thought—poof!—my cane disappeared. The coolest feature of the new and improved Fuego (other than being stronger) is that instead of transforming into a puny letter opener (Ixtab’s idea), it now changed into a quarter-size tattoo on the back of my hand: a black jaguar head in profile, with a golden eye (Dad’s idea).
I took hold of Brooks’s shoulders as she shifted into her ginormous hawk self. Having a shape-shifting best friend is cool, but having one that can fly with you on her back? Way cooler.
We soared over the roof’s edge. Red and blue lights flashed on the scene below. The antiques store window was busted, its glass scattered all over the sidewalk, but there was no sign of Ik, Quinn, or the godborns. Brooks flew higher and out of view.
Whenever we were touching, Brooks and I could communicate via telepathy. Using it now, I said to her, Up there at the corner. Go right. My GPS told me the godborns were still in the area. If they got any farther away, I wouldn’t be able to track them down. My GPS sort of went down earlier. What do you think messed with it?
Sorry about that, Brooks said. Probably too many sobrenaturals around. All that magic can twist things sometimes. She tilted left, her wings spread wide as she increased her speed. I sense Quinn down there, too. Maybe she’s with them.
What if Iktan got to the godborns first? I asked. A ripple of panic crawled up my spine. She’s working for Zotz, but why? It doesn’t make sense!
You’re right. Nothing about that demon makes sense, Brooks said. We’ve been investigating her for a while, Zane.
And you didn’t feel like telling me?
It’s called “undercover” for a reason. We had to be sure. Did you say “godborns” plural? Ik only reported one.
There’s two, I said. I’m sure of it. What do you mean “reported”?
Iktan was calling in her progress to someone, but we don’t know who. We didn’t know she was going to attack you.
You set me up!
No! I swear. We had no idea any of this was going to happen, which is why we followed you so closely. Iktan hasn’t called in a report for over a week. Something is off, Zane. Very, very off.
It made me feel better to think I wasn’t Brooks and Quinn’s guinea pig. “Down there,” I said aloud, pointing to a dimly lit parking lot surrounded by a chain-link fence. “See that far corner? That’s where the godborns are.”
Brooks didn’t follow my direction. Big surprise. Instead, she headed to the opposite end of the lot. “Brooks! I said the other corner.”
Quinn is down there. I need to find her first, learn what happened before we just rush in.
Okay, so nothing had changed in the last three months. Brooks was still the ultimate planner.
A second later, we’d landed and found Brooks’s sister. She was in the form of a very familiar white cat, perched on the hood of a gold Honda, licking her paws like she had nothing better to do. Ha! So that’s why Ik had failed her feline-for-dinner mission—Quinn, another powerful shape-shifter, had probably changed into a flea at the last second.
Quinn and Brooks reassumed their human forms. Quinn wore white jeans with rips in the knees and a gray sleeveless sweater. Brooks was in her signature black leggings and plain tee with a white sweatshirt tied around her waist.
Pressing her finger to her lips, Quinn tugged me into a crouched position between a row of cars and telepathically informed me that Ik had disappeared when she went after her. I followed the kids here, she added. They’re hiding out in a car at the opposite end of the lot.
They’d found an unlocked car? We need to talk to them before they try to take off again, I told her.
I rigged the gate so they can’t get out. And don’t forget, they just saw a demon, Quinn said. Believe me, they’re too scared to go anywhere. But we do need to hurry. No doubt Iktan will be coming back with an army.
Reaching into her boot, Brooks tugged the gateway map free. She studied it with a frown.
I explained that Ik wouldn’t be able to find the godborns without me, because she couldn’t sniff them out within half a mile. For maybe the hundredth time, I was super glad for Ixtab’s magic, born from her brilliant, cautious, overly skeptical mind.
“Nothing to stop her from tracking Quinn and me, though,” Brooks whispered as she scanned the map. “Maybe you shouldn’t be here.”
“This is my mission,” I argued. No way was I going to abandon the last two godborns or Brooks and Quinn. “Let’s just be quick.”
“Any gateways nearby to get us to Isla Holbox?” Quinn asked Brooks.
“We’re taking the godborns to my house?”
Quinn quirked an eyebrow. “It’s still surrounded by Ixtab’s shadow magic. We’ll be safe there until we can figure out next steps.” Then she turned to Brooks. “Any luck?”
Brooks’s frown got deeper. “Just give me a couple more minutes. I’ll figure it out.”
Quinn filled me in on some of the undercover work they’d been doing over the last few months. When it was my turn to talk, the sisters just kept nodding like I wasn’t telling them anything they didn’t already know. Then it hit me. “Were you…were you guys watching me the whole time?” No wonder Brooks hadn’t called. She was too busy spying on me!
“Ik…” Brooks’s cheeks flushed. “We were watching Ik.”
Apparently, part of Quinn’s assignment in Xib’alb’a (the stuff she couldn’t tell me about when I’d last seen her down there) was related to a tip that Ixtab herself might be a conspirator with Camazotz. No way could that be true. There were so many other much more credible suspects. I mean, the bat god had once called the underworld home, so it made sense that he still had friends there. I was about to argue on behalf of Ixtab, when Quinn added that the intel had led nowhere. Relief spread through me.
Right. Ixtab was the queen of the underworld, probably the most duplicitous of all the gods, so why should I care?
Because she’d saved my life more than once. And Rosie’s. Not to mention she reunited the god council and stopped my dad’s public execution. All that counted for a lot in my book.
>
Quinn said, “The traitors ended up being some demons in Ixtab’s army.”
“But Ik wasn’t one of them,” Brooks chimed in, turning the map upside down.
“It’s like Iktan came out of nowhere.” Quinn twisted her mouth like she was considering a new idea. “That’s why we were following your moves. To see if we could find out what she was after.”
“I still don’t get what Ik or the bat god wants with these godborns. We’ve already gone down that road. Our blood isn’t powerful enough to resurrect a Mexica god.”
“I don’t know,” Quinn said. “But whatever it is, these godborns are different and somehow necessary to Zotz’s plans.”
Brooks showed the map to Quinn, pointing to a spot. “There’s a gateway in a laundromat ten blocks from here. We have twenty-six minutes before it closes, so let’s do this.” She folded up the map and stuck it back in her boot.
I thought about what Ik had said about gateways being all around, and I wondered how many invisible ones were looming right in front of us.
“Hang on,” I said to Brooks. “Are you…are you working for the White Sparkstriker tribe now, too?” Quinn had joined the super-secret group of spies to get out of marrying Jordan, one of the obnoxious hero twins. Maybe she’d recruited Brooks.
A clanking sound caught our attention. The kids were climbing the fence about twenty yards away.
“Showtime,” Quinn said, sweeping an arm in front of her body dramatically as if to say You’re up.
I began to make my way over, when Brooks jerked me back.
“What’s wrong?”
She tugged off her sweatshirt and started to reach for my face with it. Then she changed her mind and tossed it to me instead. “You’re bleeding.”
“Awww.” Quinn fluttered her eyelashes melodramatically.
I blushed so hard my cheeks felt like they might melt right off my face.
Scowling at her sister, Brooks groaned. “He can’t just walk up to them all bloody. Blood freaks some people out, okay?”
“Right,” Quinn said with one corner of her mouth turned up. “I’ll wait on the other side, just in case they succeed in climbing over the fence.” She shifted back into the white cat and darted into the shadows.
The Shadow Crosser Page 2
