The Storm Runner (The Storm Runner 1)

As if she could read my mind, Pacific leaned forward and whispered, “If the gods were to find out who you are, they would kill you, too. Your father is trying to protect you.”

Or protect himself! I didn’t know what was worse: being marked by the gods or having my dad abandon me on purpose. “So what am I supposed to do? Hide out for the rest of my life?”

“Yes.”

She was definitely delusional. “Thanks, but no thanks! I don’t care about the gods. I’m not hiding!”

Pacific sighed. “Stubborn, like your father.”

I realized Pacific had a lot of information that could help me, and I wasn’t about to let my dad (did I even have to call him that anymore?) get in the way of my quest. “You said you control time?” I asked. Because that would be awesome and totally help me crush Ah-Puch.

“I am the keeper of time, but no longer the controller of it. Just as I keep but cannot control fate. And now my powers have been reduced….Using them too much will draw attention to me and the gods would know I live.”

“What do you mean reduced?” I kicked my legs under the water to try to stay warm. “You said you were one of the most powerful.”

Gripping the rope tighter, Pacific said, “When the gods stole the life from the stories that made me real, they took much of my power.”

Geez. These gods seemed like the biggest jerks on the planet. (Yeah, you read that right. Jerks with a capital J.) Pacific’s eyes burned with a fierceness that made me hope I was never on her bad side.

“Wait a second,” I said as an idea formed. “You said the gods don’t know about me being a hybrid, I mean godborn, whatever. But you do… and my dad does… and two of the worst ones ever know about me, too: Ixtab and Ah-Puch.” I knew that, when it comes to a secret, the more people who know about it, the more likely the secret isn’t a secret anymore. “What if they tell the others?”

Pacific let out a light laugh that almost sounded like a purr. “Your father and I have protected this information for ages. We are not about to reveal it. As for Ixtab and Ah-Puch, yes, they do pose a problem, but let’s hope they are too busy waging their own wars.”

Was she kidding? That was a pretty big hope!

“Zane, your father,” Pacific said, “he asked me to give you something.”

“Why would I want anything from him? He won’t even tell me who he is.”

Pacific drew closer, and as she did, a huge spotted cat at least four times the normal size stepped out of her body like some kind of feline ghost. I nearly flipped off my board as the fierce cat—a leopard?—stalked across the water like it was a solid surface and stopped right in front of me, blinking its golden eyes.

“Zane,” Pacific said sternly, “you must focus before they find us. Now listen, I know about your quest to defeat the great Ah-Puch. So does your father, and he isn’t happy about it.”

“Yeah, well, he gave up his right to an opinion when he decided to leave me in the dark!” Wait a sec… how’d she know?

She must’ve seen the question forming, because she said, “I’m time—I can see past, present, and future. The continuum runs through me still. They couldn’t take that away.”

“Does that mean you can see my future?” A tight lump formed in my throat. Did she know whether I was going to defeat Ah-Puch or end up a miserable soldier of death shoveling souls for the rest of my existence?

“Once, I might have been able to, but now…” Her voice trailed off, then she sat straighter and said, “There are choices that affect circumstances. One choice can lead to victory… the other to defeat. Today I fulfill my debt to your father.”

I suddenly felt like I was standing at the bottom of the volcano waiting for an avalanche of rocks to bury me.

“Time is unraveling, Zane.” Pacific’s eyes searched the skies then found mine again. “You will need great courage to defeat Ah-Puch. More courage than you can imagine.”

“I… I took down demon runners. I…” Didn’t that count for something?

“Not that kind of courage. Something more.”

I scanned the shore, trying to find Hondo’s truck. When I was little and he was first teaching me about wrestling, he used to say that the real heroes didn’t always win the match, but they always had courage. Even when defeat was staring them in the face.

Something growled beneath the ocean. Foamy bubbles floated to the surface. I gripped my board. “What was that?”

“I can’t hold the time rope much longer,” Pacific said with a note of panic that made me wish I was on solid ground. “It’s time, Zane.”

The ocean began to churn again.

Pacific narrowed her eyes. Then the leopard drew so close to her I thought it would vanish back into her body. Gently, Pacific reached into its mouth while petting its head softly, like I used to do with Rosie. She carefully removed a sharp incisor as if only thread connected it to the jungle cat’s mouth.