The Storm Runner (The Storm Runner 1)

“What about your mom or dad?”

“My dad’s off with his new family and… and my mom’s dead.”

“Oh—um, I… I’m sorry.” I snatched a pebble from the ground and rolled it between each knuckle. “Maybe you could stay with us, then….”

“That’s impossible.”

“Why? You can’t just fly around on your own out there.”

She focused on the rolling pebble. “It’s not that I wouldn’t want to or anything, I… I just can’t.”

I felt stupid for suggesting it.

“Hey! I bet you’re part magician,” Brooks said, changing the subject and considering my whole body in a way that made my face flush a million shades of red.

“Magician? Like pull a rabbit out of a hat?”

“No, like a powerful wielder of magic.”

“Yeah, well, that wasn’t one of the options Ms. Cab listed.”

“They’re smart, even devious, but also very loyal and…”

“And what?”

“Dangerous. I mean, if you cross them. There’s a place down in Uxmal, Mexico, called the Pyramid of the Magician and—”

“Wait!” I cut in, remembering something about that in my book. “Isn’t it also called the Pyramid of the Soothsayer?” I wondered if this was referencing the Great Soothsayer? It had to be, if she had a whole pyramid named after her.

“Yeah, it’s called that, too,” Brooks said. “Maybe someday you can go there and see for yourself. We could even—”

“You’ve been there?”

In the same instant, another one of Rosie’s whimpers echoed across the chamber.

“Did you hear that?” I hurried down the tunnel and to the rock wall, the same one the demon runner had been clawing through the other day.

“Hear what?”

I began pulling the rocks free. They were loose and came out easily. My adrenaline was pumping. “Rosie!”

Suddenly, the wall began to crumble like dust. A narrow passage revealed itself and a barely there light flickered from beyond.

Rosie’s cry carried through the opening. Part of my mind knew it was a trap, but the other part didn’t care. I mean, what if it really was Rosie and I missed my only chance to save her? I wedged myself into the narrow opening.

“Wait!” Brooks cried. I thought she might try to stop me, but instead she reached into the collar of her shirt and pulled out three leather strings, each with a mini flashlight attached. “I brought backup this time.”

“Did you remember the batteries?”

Brooks huffed. “Let’s go.”

We made our way through the cramped corridor for about twenty yards until we came out into an enormous cavity.

The flashlight’s yellow beam circled the place. In the center of the floor was a green pool. Stalactites clung to the ceiling overhead, dripping water into the pond with a hollow echo that made my blood run cold.

Rosie was nowhere to be seen.

I swallowed hard.