The Shadow Crosser (The Storm Runner 3)

Brooks muttered something under her breath as she went over and parted the window curtains. “Guys?” she choked out.

My gaze trailed beyond the drapes and the glass entryway, past the huge balcony. Gray ash clung to hundreds of blackened trees. Pillars of smoke rose into the sky.

“Ohmigod!” Ren breathed.

In that moment, I swear it felt like the Earth’s atmosphere had been sucked into space.

“They’re burning the jungle to the ground,” Marco growled.

The Sparkstriker cursed a few times under her breath. “We need the gods now!”

Ren glanced over her shoulder at the devourer. “We have to help her release them.”

Rosie, who was standing protectively next to Hondo, groaned. She turned and gently pawed the toadish-looking monster, but the devourer didn’t respond.

“The World Tree!” I blurted. It wasn’t a question, but everyone seeme

d to get my meaning: Is it still standing?

The Sparkstriker rushed onto the circular balcony outside. We followed, careful to avoid the wide hole where leafy vines and branches reached up through a thick layer of mist.

The Sparkstriker tapped her ax along a vine that was growing across the deck. At once, the World Tree came into view at the far end of the jungle. Its bark was scorched, and its leaves had withered or fallen off. The lights on its trunk flickered so faintly my heart stopped.

Brooks sucked in a gulp of air. Ren cried out, “It’s dying!”

Fire raced through me, pulsing hot in the center of my chest, spreading down my arms and out my fingertips. A strange thrumming began in my ears like a distant drumbeat. And then there was a terrible primal cry like nothing I had ever heard.

The bells in the Sparkstriker’s hair rang. She gasped, then removed Itzamna’s broken shades from her pocket.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

She set the glasses on the deck and tapped them with her ax. An image immediately formed before us like a hologram.

It was the Red Temple. A huge bonfire blazed in front of it. Dozens of demons were carrying books and scrolls out of the library and throwing them onto the burning heap. Bits of ash floated into the air, but strangely, there was no smoke.

Then I saw Itzamna. He was in dragon form, but this time no bigger than a cat. He flew above the fire, flapping what looked like injured wings as he dashed into the flames and tugged out a libro with his mouth. But it was too late. The book was smoldering.

He was circling very low. Get out of there! I thought. And just as he came in for another pass, a lurking demon plucked him out of the air.

“No!” I shouted as the image vanished.

The Sparkstriker snarled, revealing some very yellow teeth. “We must act quickly.”

“They’re trying to erase history,” Ren said shakily. “Like they did with my mom—like…” Her voice trailed off, or maybe we just got distracted by the brilliant light that suddenly illuminated the balcony.

I spun to see the devourer standing in the tree house doorway. She was on her knees with her head thrown back. A thick shaft of white light flooded from her mouth. It stretched into the sky and broke into dozens of glowing pieces, falling back to the earth like shooting stars.

“The gods!” Ren shouted.

Could it be? I watched in awe as the comet-like shapes zipped into the charred jungle. A couple of them hit our deck, bounced off the wood, and fell down the hole. Two landed on the deck itself.

“We’re saved!” Adrik threw his arms into the air dramatically.

The bells in the Sparkstriker’s hair began to ring like crazy. “No!” she cried.

“You mean yes!” Adrik said with an unsure grin.

Everything was happening so fast, I didn’t know if I should be focused on the blobs of light or the Sparkstriker’s no. She slammed her ax into a vine, causing it to instantly twist around other vines and form a small platform. She stepped onto it and vanished into thin air.