The Shadow Crosser (The Storm Runner 3)

“What?!” Ren cried, her smile gone. “No! That isn’t fair.”

My legs almost liquefied right onto old Orion/Turtle Star.

K’iin was silent for a couple of heartbeats and then said, “Nothing in this life is fair. Only death. Now get on with it. You are wasting my energy.”

Ren’s blue eyes met mine. They were filled with regret or sadness or maybe just an apology that I was the one who would have to sacrifice something. I was praying super hard it wouldn’t be a body’s worth of blood.

“Hang on,” I said. “Shouldn’t we know what it’s going to cost first?”

K’iin said, “I must know the question before I can determine the value of the answer.”

I couldn’t argue with that. I gave Ren the go-ahead with a curt nod.

She shook out her hands, took a couple of deep breaths, and closed her eyes. “O Great K’iin, where are the Maya gods?”

Again there was silence. I figured K’iin was looking across dimensions, or thinking, or both. The mirrors glimmered. “Well,” she finally said, “the answer to your question is of incredible value.”

My heart pounded with the force of a charging bull. “How much?”

“The blood of a godborn is very powerful,” K’iin said.

I felt so queasy I gripped my stomach. “How much blood?” I asked again.

“All of it.”

The ground dropped away, and I felt like I was plummeting into a dark chasm.

“I have something better than blood!” Ren shrieked. She held up the watch with a trembling hand.

The air went still. Our destiny strands stopped moving.

“Why would I want your watch?” K’iin asked.

“It is made of the same time strands you’re made of,” Ren said, looking offended.

“Ren,” I said, grabbing hold of her arm so I could talk to her telepathically. We need that to stop time when we rescue the gods!

I will only give her a single strand, she said. That will leave us enough.

We all held our breath.

Alana’s eyes flicked in my direction. “What if—”

“What-ifs are wasted energy,” K’iin said. “I have made my decision, and the answer is no.”

Louie looked like someone had just slugged his dog in the jaw. “No?” he echoed.

Both my legs threatened to give out.

“But I’m not going to take the blood, either,” K’iin said. “I am going to give you what you seek for the sole purpose of entertainment.”

What was she, Itzamna’s long-lost twin? No way could it be that easy.

“And also a promise,” she went on, “that you will repay me with a favor someday, Renata Santiago.”

Boom! There was the fine print.

Ren nodded before I could warn her not to trust the ancient calendar.