The Shadow Crosser (The Storm Runner 3)

Alana paced. “Ren’s right. If the gods are in 1987, they’ll still meet our moms or dads. So we get to live.”

“For now,” Louie snarled sarcastically.

For now was good enough for me.

This was the part when I would typically say to my friends We’ll find a way. But to be honest, I was all out of optimism, and that’s saying a lot, because I practically stockpiled the stuff. How could we ever save the gods now? There was no We’ll find a way, no Ixtab to go to, no Hurakan to lean on, no Fire Keeper to give me answers. All we had were each other and a weakening moon god.

I didn’t even have the heart to put the sunglasses back on and give Itzamna the terrible news.

Alana inched back. Her eyes flashed midnight blue as she turned her head to the right and said, “Oh my gods! Are you okay?”

“Not really,” Louie said, gesticulating. “I think we got taken. I think that K’iin thing is a con artist.”

Alana batted his hand down and said, “Not you, Louie! It’s Adrik. He fell off his horse.”

Horse?

“You can talk to Adrik from this far away?” I asked. I knew they had a super-killer twin connection that didn’t even require physical contact, but this? It was over-the-top epic!

“Did everyone get to Montana safely?” Ren’s words rushed out in a flood of worry.

Alana nodded. “He says everyone is fine, but he hit his head hard and got knocked out. Then he went into a dream world where he almost connected with a god, but he isn’t sure which one.”

“Tell him to try again!” I cried.

Alana frowned condescendingly at me. “Zane, he is not going to get a concussion on purpose just to talk to gods who wouldn’t be of any help anyway.” Her eyes drifted away as she nodded. Then she looked up again and said to us, “Adrik says he hit his head so hard that maybe his for-real gift got knocked into place. He’s laughing, but I don’t think it’s funny. No, it’s not, Adrik! None of this is funny.”

“What does ‘for-real gift’ mean?” Louie asked.

“He says he’ll show us when we get there,” Alana said, rolling her eyes.

“I’m just glad everyone is okay,” Ren said.

A sudden fire raced up my spine, pulsing in waves of heat like it was trying to tell me something. I was relieved to feel it again but pretty sure I didn’t want to know what it was warning me about. My mind riffled through all the possibilities. Or impossibilities. I knew there was no place on Earth where Zotz and Blood Moon wouldn’t be able to find us. But I didn’t say anything. I didn’t want everyone to freak out.

And then the fire bloomed in my chest so hot I gasped. A disastrous realization came to me. Holbox! If the entry stone was powerful enough to grant our enemies access to the World Tree, it could also break through Ixtab’s magic border around the island. Crap! Why hadn’t I thought of that before?

The threat Ixkik’ had previously launched now hit me right between the eyes: Oh, how those you love will pay, Zane Obispo. I promise you they will pay.

“I have to go home!” I shouted. “My mom—she’s not safe. Ixkik’ said she would come for her.”

Ren covered a gasp, then said to me, “I’ll go with you!”

Alana swept her hair off her face and with her eyes averted said, “Right. Okay.”

“Are you still talking to Adrik?” Louie asked.

She held up her hand to silence any more questions. Leaning against the icy wall, she nodded. What was Adrik telling her? Finally, she looked up at me with an almost smile. “Your mom is on her way to the ranch. Hondo sent for her.”

I thought my chest was going to collapse into my stomach. Relief cooled the fire in my veins as I thought about how much I loved my strategic-genius uncle in that moment.

“On her way how?” I asked. “How do we know she wasn’t followed?”

Louie said, “Yeah, like a decoy, and she’ll lead the baddies right to us.”

Alana hesitated. Her eyes shifted back to their natural gray. “We, um…we know people, and she’s not alone.”

Know people? Who was she, some kind of mafia kid?