The Shadow Crosser

by J. C. Cervantes

  “The gods!” Ren shouted.

  Could it be? I watched in awe as the comet-like shapes zipped into the charred jungle. A couple of them hit our deck, bounced off the wood, and fell down the hole. Two landed on the deck itself.

  “We’re saved!” Adrik threw his arms into the air dramatically.

  The bells in the Sparkstriker’s hair began to ring like crazy. “No!” she cried.

  “You mean yes!” Adrik said with an unsure grin.

  Everything was happening so fast, I didn’t know if I should be focused on the blobs of light or the Sparkstriker’s no. She slammed her ax into a vine, causing it to instantly twist around other vines and form a small platform. She stepped onto it and vanished into thin air.

  Rosie let out a mournful wail, and when I whipped around to face her, her eyes burned with red flames. Then she too disappeared in a curtain of mist. “Rosie!”

  “Uh, Zane,” Brooks said, bent over the two shapes that had landed on the deck. “You’re going to want to check this out.”

  “I think this hole is some kind of portal,” Marco said, peering into it.

  While Ren cooed encouragingly at the devourer, I joined Brooks. Adrik and Marco followed. There were two sprawled figures—one male, one female. Their eyes were closed, but thank the saints, they were breathing.

  We all stared at them in shock. Not because they had survived being devoured or had dropped out of the sky as balls of light. Nope.

  “They don’t look like gods,” Marco said, tilting his head to the side like he was studying pinned cockroaches. “More like your average twelve-year-old.”

  “Did we get duped?” Adrik asked.

  I turned to the devourer, who was still on her knees. Ren was rubbing her back.

  “These aren’t the gods,” I growled.

  With claws firmly planted on the deck, the devourer took long deep breaths. “Th-they are,” she sputtered.

  My head pounded. “Why are they—”

  “Not adults?” Adrik finished.

  “Dude,” Marco said, “I don’t care how old they are. They need to wake up now!”

  Ren touched the devourer’s shoulder and said, “That’s right, just breathe. It must’ve been hard to carry so many gods. That was a lot of power to hold inside!”

  The goddess forced herself to rise to her full height, which was only about five feet. “I don’t know why they are children,” she said weakly. “A side effect of time travel, perhaps?”

  “Well, fix them!” I shouted. We needed their full strength if we wanted to save Itzamna and oust Ixkik’ and Zotz.

  “If the gods are back,” Brooks asked, staring into the distance, “why isn’t the Tree lit up?”

  We all looked over and froze. Except the devourer, who grimaced and clutched her stomach.

  “Maybe because they’re knocked out?” Marco held his chin, pressing a thumb into his scar.

  Ren came over and gently shook the unconscious gods, but nothing happened.

  “I bet that’s why the Sparkstriker left so fast,” Brooks said.

  Marco nodded like he’d had the same idea but sooner. “She was afraid Zotz and Ixkik’ saw that little light show.”

  “And now they know the gods are alive,” Adrik said.

  “Which means the element of surprise went kaboom.” Marco made an explosion gesture with his hands.

  Ren looked panicked. “Guys!” she cried. “If the gods are all asleep out there in the jungle, they’re sitting ducks.”

  Hurakan!

  “We have to find them,” I said, gripping Fuego. “All of them.”

  Brooks walked over to the devourer, looming several inches over her. “Are you the devourer and giver of life,” she said to the goddess. But there was no inflection, no question mark. She wasn’t asking—she was telling. Or reminding. But where was she going with this?

  The goddess nodded slowly.

  “And you said you were tricked,” Brooks said.

  Another nod.

  “Then prove you’re on our side, be the giver of life, and undo the damage you’ve done.”

  The devourer’s eyes were black and sunken. “The water…” she said. “I am an earth goddess. I don’t like the water—it weakens me. I…I need my powers….”

  “To do what?” Marco said. “Devour all of us?” His eyes drilled into mine. “What if this is a trick?”

  The devourer sucked in a sharp breath and collapsed to her knees. Adrik reached out and broke her fall. “Dude, is she going to die on us?”

  Terror filled every inch of me, and for some reason, Ixtab popped into my head. I hoped Rosie had taken off to find her. It wouldn’t matter what the goddess looked like, either—my hellhound would know her in any form. Yeah, Rosie needed to track down the goddess and wake her up, because if anyone is awesome in the-world-is-ending mode, it’s Ixtab.

  “We can’t just stand around here,” Brooks cried. “I’ll fly down there and find some of the more useful gods—”

  “What if they’re like these guys?” Adrik cut in, gesturing to the sleepers. “And what if they won’t wake up?”

  “What if you get caught?” Marco paced the deck, teetering too close to the edge of the hole.

  Ren nodded. “I can use shadows to keep us hidden, Brooks.”

  “Hang on,” I said. “I’m going, too.”

  “Me four,” Marco added.

  Brooks said to Marco, “I’ll be faster if I’m only carrying Ren.” Then to me, “You need to stay with Hondo.”

  A terrible battle raged inside me. Deep down, I knew I shouldn’t leave Hondo alone when he was in such bad shape. But I also knew I needed to help find the gods.

  “Zane,” Brooks said, grabbing my arm, “Ren and I can do this.”

  “Just get Hondo back into fighting shape,” Ren said, clearing her throat like that might hide the catch in her voice.

  They were right. I couldn’t leave my uncle. Not now.

  “Just don’t take any chances,” I said. “Ixkik’ and Zotz will know who freed the gods—they’ll be waiting.”

  “We got this,” Ren said, creating a shadow around her and Brooks. The sombra was so thick I couldn’t see either of them, only a dark form that departed with a rush of air.

  We hurried past the devourer to Hondo, who was still on the couch. His breaths were raspy and short. I felt like I had walked into the worst day of my life complete with dead ends, wasted chances, and lives hanging in the balance.

  “Let me help,” the devourer said, shuffling over. “I believe I can restore him.”

  “You just told us you’re too weak,” I argued.

  “We can all do it together. The blood of the gods runs through your veins,” she said to Adrik, Marco, and me. “That blood is power.”

  “You’re not getting any of my blood,” Adrik said, shaking his head and stepping away. “Nope.”

  “Not blood,” she corrected. “Power.”

  Marco backed up, too. “Nuh-uh. No way. Not falling for it.”

  I glanced at my uncle. He was still—too still. “Hondo’s going to die,” I growled at Marco. “So unless you have a better idea…”

  Adrik looked around nervously, wringing his hands like he wasn’t sure what to do. “As long as it doesn’t involve actual bleeding, I’ll help,” he finally said. “But maybe you should point Fuego at her throat just in case.”

  “I like the way you think,” Marco said to Adrik. “Okay, I’ll pitch in, too,” he told me. “And if I do end up dying, at least I’ll die a kick-butt hero, right?”

  Unless Jordan and Bird tell your story, I thought, remembering their lies about Ah-Puch and Sipacna.

  “No one’s going to die,” I said, wishing I could keep that promise.

  We took Hondo out to the deck, mostly because I wasn’t super confident that our godborn power experiment wouldn’t accidentally start a fire and burn down my dad’s tree house.

  I turned Fuego into a tattoo. Then Marco, Adrik, and I piled our hands o
n top of one another’s like we were about to start a football cheer. “Call everything you’ve got to the surface,” I told them. “All of it.”

  The devourer took a deep breath and stretched her small scaly arms out in front of her. A leafy vine crawled up her leg and torso and began wrapping around her wrist.

  “What’s the vine for?” Marco asked suspiciously.

  The devourer said, “Earth magic. Combined with godborn power, it will heal me, and then I can heal him.” She gestured toward Hondo, stretched out on the deck.

  A little hesitantly, still not sure we could trust her and repulsed by her yellow-green crocodile hide, we placed our hands on the goddess. I focused on the fire that lived and breathed inside me, and I knew my friends were concentrating, too, because our fingers started to tremble. A couple of seconds later, our skin glowed a pinkish red, like someone was pressing a flashlight against our palms.

  Heat pulsed in my veins.

  An electrical energy buzzed through me and zipped out of my fingertips right into the goddess’s body. A wicked wind rushed the deck, swirling all around us. The vine on the devourer’s wrist glowed with a pale green light as it wound up her arm and around her throat. She let out a blood-curdling scream, threw her head back, and released a dark shadow from her mouth.

  “What is that?” Adrik stumbled backward.

  The form rose up, its wings spread wide. I gasped.

  It was the bat god.

  All I could think was NO! We did NOT just use our powers to release our enemy!

  But hang on—it gets weirder. Or maybe more awful, depending on whether you’re a glass-half-empty person or a glass-half-full person.

  Like the other gods, Zotz was not in his usual form. He was a teenager. As his eyes settled on me, confusion swept across his young face and he tugged his shivering black wings close to his thin body. I kind of felt sorry for the guy, this weak and puny version of our once-formidable foe.

  “Ixkik’,” he snarled. “Trap—” With that, he collapsed next to the other zonked-out gods.

  Willing Fuego into my grasp, I inched closer for a better look. Yep. He was out for the count. At least for now.

  The full weight of Ah-Puch’s words hit me in that moment: Camazotz is a natural-born killer. He is cunning and smart, but he’s not this smart. He’s working with someone.

  Zotz had been duped by Ixkik’!

  Marco nodded as Adrik’s mouth fell open. “Is…is that…?”

  “Adrik, meet the mighty bat god.” Marco’s voice was filled with hate. “How about we roll him off the deck? Or skewer him with your spear.”

  I gave Marco a don’t-even-think-about-it glare. We would need to interrogate Zotz about Ixkik’ as soon as he woke up. I turned to the devourer to ask what the holy Xib’alb’a had just happened, but the words got stuck in my throat. The goddess was bent over Hondo, and she was no longer in the form of Jabba’s twin. She was an older lady with white-streaked dark hair that hung down her small back. Placing her gnarled hands on my uncle’s shoulders, she chanted some words I didn’t recognize. A white aura surrounded Hondo, flecks of sparkling dust floating in the light.

  I held my breath.

  Please work. Please. Please.

  We heard a moan and hurried over. At first, the aura was so bright I couldn’t see if he was still the dried-up wrinkled dude. Gradually the glow faded and I saw…

  Hondo was Hondo!

  Relief flooded every cell in my body.

  My uncle shifted, struggled to open his eyes.

  “I have fulfilled my debt,” the toad/monster/goddess said. The leafy vine she was wearing expanded and twisted around her until she looked like a shrub. In an instant, the leaves blew up, leaving nothing behind except dust.

  “Whoa!” Adrik said.

  Hondo’s eyes flew open the second the last bit of dust settled.

  “Are you okay?” I asked. My voice came out way more panicked than I wanted it to.

  He grabbed his side, wincing as I helped him to his feet. “I saw awful things, Zane. Dark and terrible.”

  I pulled him into a hug, and he muttered incoherently. Had the shadows stolen his mind?

  He jerked free, keeping a tight grip on my shoulder. “The shadows hold the secrets, Zane. I saw everything. I saw Blood Moon’s plot. She tricked them all—even the devourer and Zotz!”

  “I know,” I said, searching his eyes.

  He stepped back, took some deep breaths, and ran a hand over his face.

  Marco nodded appreciatively. “We made it back from 1987 because of you,” he said.

  “Yeah, man,” Adrik said. “Thanks. That was some seriously brave (bleep) right there.”

  Hondo looked around. “Where the hell are we?”

  We quickly explained as Marco kept an eye on the sleeping forms of Zotz and the other two mystery gods. Hondo collapsed back onto the deck, folded himself over his knees, and took another deep breath. “I could really use some Flamin’ Hot Cheetos,” he whispered. “With salsa.” His eyes flicked to the bat god. “Why would Ixkik’ turn on him?”

  Marco’s eyes narrowed. “To make way for her rotten sons.” He said it with so much assurance, I knew he was right.

  “She wants to make Jordan king,” Hondo said.

  “King of what?” Adrik asked.

  “The sobrenaturals,” I said, but something didn’t add up. Ixkik’ wouldn’t go to all this trouble just to crown one of her brats. “She has to be up to something else—something bigger.”

  Hondo’s eyes darkened. “Whatever it is, we have to stop her.”

  “Are you sure you’re strong enough to do this?” I asked Hondo as we prepared to go down to the half-burned jungle.

  “We have to strike now,” he said. “We might not get a second chance.”

  “Uh, guys?” Adrik said, gesturing to Zotz and the other two unconscious gods. “Someone needs to keep an eye on the baddie, right?”

  “I am not hanging out here alone with that dude!” Marco argued.

  “You’d rather go up against the creepy goddess?” Adrik asked.

  Just then, the branches beneath the deck trembled. A low growl climbed up the trunk. I’d know that growl anywhere. I peered into the hole.

  “Rosie?”

  A paw emerged from the mist followed by the rest of my hellhound. Forget using a ladder—she had clawed her way up the tree like a powerful jaguar with Ren and a fifteen-ish Pacific on her back. I knew it was the time goddess, because who else wears leopard-spotted capes and carries a golden time rope, which, by the way, was trailing behind my dog.

  “Ren!” Adrik hollered.

  “Rosie can wake the gods!” Ren cried out as soon as she saw us. “Isn’t that awesome?”

  “Freaking awesome!” Hondo said, kissing the tips of his fingers and throwing them toward the sky.

  My heart hammered in my chest to the rhythm of a single word: hope-hope, hope-hope. If Rosie could wake the gods, it would be like a couple hundred to one. They could pummel Ixkik’!

  When the trio had fully emerged from the hole, Ren’s gaze landed on my uncle and she grinned so wide I thought it might split her face. “Hondo!” She leaped into his arms. “I knew you’d be okay.” He hugged her, spinning her off her feet. Even Pacific smiled.

  I rubbed Rosie’s neck. Her soft brown eyes held mine like she already knew what I was going to ask of her. She needed to rouse more gods.

  Find as many as you can, I told her telepathically. Find Hurakan…and Ixtab.

  With a barely perceptible nod, she vanished in a stream of mist.

  “Does this mean we’re saved?” Adrik said.

  Pacific tugged on her hood and sighed. “We have no powers…yet.”

  We? I wondered who else was awake.

  “What do you mean, ‘no powers’?” I squeezed the dragon head of my cane.

  Marco groaned as he pressed his knuckles into his eyes. Yeah, I knew the feeling—the highs and lows of Maya madness. The forever dangling carrot, promis
ing a treasure but delivering a sucker punch to the gut.

  “Well, that sucks,” Adrik said.

  “It doesn’t matter,” I insisted. “We have to go down there. We have to—” I suddenly realized that Ren hadn’t returned with Brooks. “Where’s Brooks?” I asked, hoping the hawk would appear any second.

  “She’s scoping out some stuff,” Ren said. “When we found Pacific, Brooks and I decided I needed to get her back here safely.”

  “You left Brooks alone?!” I didn’t mean for my voice to rise to over-the-top freak-out, but this was Blood Moon we were dealing with, the same one who had Quinn. That fact might have impaired Brooks’s judgment. Brooks was the world’s best planner until her heart got involved.

  “I have to find her.” I rushed to the deck’s hole, careful not to touch the time rope that was still hanging over the edge.

  Pacific took my arm gently, stopping me. “The nawal promised to be careful. Let the hawk hunt, Zane.”

  Hunt? Hunt what? Ixkik’? Demons? Jordan and Bird? It felt like acid was burning a hole in my stomach. I looked down through the deck’s opening…and saw the time rope quiver.

  Ren gasped. “I almost forgot!” She brushed past me, dropped to her knees, and leaned over the opening, pulling on the rope. “You still down there, A.P.? You need help?”

  “I’m a god,” he grunted.

  “Ah-Puch is here?!” I nearly blew flames out of my nostrils.

  “Okay, maybe a little tug,” the god said.

  “You made the dude climb?” Marco shook his head like it was the world’s greatest tragedy.

  “Is there any other way to get up a tree?” the god of death grumbled from below.

  Pacific yanked the rope, and a second later, Ah-Puch’s hands emerged through the hole. They were followed by a familiar head of dark hair…but a not-so-familiar face. He clung to the edge.

  I grabbed his skinny hand and hauled him up as the time rope unwound from his waist, snapping into Pacific’s grasp. “I think the branches would have held you,” I said.