The Storm Runner (The Storm Runner 1)

Did that massive beast just talk to me? Okay, I was definitely dreaming. His voice was dark and deep.

“How do you know my name?” Oh good—at least my brain was still human!

He fixed his piercing green eyes on me and lowered his head gracefully. “I’m Hurakan. Some call me Heart of the Sky….”

Heart of the Sky seemed like the name of a nice old man. Or a seventies rock band. Not this panther that looked like it would rip open your throat for gazing at him the wrong way. I took a step back. Whoa! My legs felt powerful, as if they were loaded with tightly coiled springs.

“Did you say Hurakan? You’re… you’re one of the creator gods!”

“You called…?” he said slowly.

“Me? Call you? Uh—I don’t think so.”

“You said the words I’m searching for my dad. That’s what brought you here.”

My mind came to a screeching halt. “Did you say dad?”

“Yes. The jade never mistakes a call.”

“Do you… do you know him?”

“Yes.”

I froze. Okay, I wasn’t expecting that. Though I guessed it made sense that Hurakan—one of the two original Maya gods—would know a lot of stuff.

He could reveal the answer I’d been craving for so long. But now I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear it. I mean, what if he said something like Your old man is a pus-sucking god of demons?

My heart felt like it was being squeezed. I took a deep breath. “So… who is he?”

Waves rushed to the shore far below. A single bar of moonlight danced on the water’s edge. Hurakan blinked his green eyes, lifted his chin, and held it there like he was waiting to be crowned or something.

I stood taller. “Well?”

“He’s me.”

In that moment, all the breath seemed to leave my body in a rush. It was like a meteor had slammed into my chest and made a crater the size of New Mexico. I’d waited my whole life to meet my dad, find out who he was. I always thought our first meeting would be like a lunch date or a ball game or, I don’t know, a movie?

I shook my head and stepped back. The broken stone was cool beneath my pads. “Prove it,” I said. Yeah, that’s right, Mr. Powerful Beast, I thought. I’m not some gullible human that believes everything supernatural creatures tell him. Not anymore! Even if I was on top of a pyramid in the middle of the jungle, standing on four legs.

Hurakan stood taller and paced the edge of the roof. “Humans,” he muttered, shaking his head. Then, with a deep breath, he said, “It was me on the building, trying to stop you from making that outrageous deal with Ah-Puch. You’re stubborn. Strong-willed.”

“That doesn’t prove anything,” I said.

A cool breeze parted the trees.

He inched closer, but I stood my ground.

“Your mom,” he said. “We used to skip stones at the lake.”

“So?”

“She came to the lake yesterday… to find me. She’s the reason I’m here now.”

Okay, so this time I really did stop breathing. So that’s where Mom had disappeared to. But if she knew how to reach him all this time, why had she kept him from me?

Act cool, Zane, I told myself. Act cool. Fine, so Hurakan was my dad. And he was the god of… what was it? I stretched my memory to the pages of my Maya book. Hurricanes? Earthquakes? Or was it bees? Oh please don’t let it be the god of stinking bees.

I thought I heard him laugh under his breath. But when I looked at him, he was in this stupid tightly wound stance that told me he probably never laughed. But that couldn’t be right, because no way would my mom fall in love with some god with zero sense of humor.