The Shadow Crosser (The Storm Runner 3)

Ah-Puch was uncharacteristically quiet as Ixkik’ released a purring laugh that sent chills down my legs. “You may have freed the gods, but they are still asleep. And my demons are hunting them down at this very moment and awaiting my signal to destroy them. So it looks like I am the victor.”

All I could think about was my dad, helpless at the murderous claws of some random demon.

“You’re a coward!” Hondo yelled with so much ferocity I thought, She must have heard that.

My chest blazed hotter than Chak Ek’ and I had a terrible urge to barbecue the cruel goddess, but I couldn’t let emotion rule my mind. That was exactly what she wanted. What she was counting on.

Ah-Puch grinned, and before I could ask what he possibly had to smile about, he said, “She doesn’t know some of the gods are already awake.”

“How do you know?” My chest felt like it was collapsing under the weight of a hundred skies.

“She speaks with too much confidence,” Ah-Puch said.

Okay, so as bad as things were, we had at least one tiny element of surprise. But what good would it do us? Pacific and Ah-Puch were as young as the godborns but with no powers. The rest of the gods were asleep, the demons were hunting them down, and the World Tree was dying.

“So you choose silence,” Ixkik’ said. “It does not matter, because I know you can hear me. Now heed this: I want you, Zane Obispo, alone at the Tree.”

“And there it is,” Marco muttered. “There’s the next move.”

“But why does she want you so bad?” Adrik asked me.

“To finish what we started at the Pyramid of the Magician,” I said. She wanted to make good on her promise: Someday, when you least expect it, you’ll pay with your blood for this. My sons will show no mercy. Nor will I.

I turned to Pacific. “Is there a way I can talk to her…from here?”

Pacific opened her mouth, probably to tell me no, when a look of revelation swept across her face. “The vines,” she said. “The entire jungle is one organism. Each stone, tree, and animal is linked. Touch one of the vines and speak. Wherever she is, she will hear you.”

I squatted, placing my hand on a nearby vine. “If I come,” I said, “then I get something, too.”

There was a long and painful silence. Finally the voice said, “I don’t strike deals.”

“Then I won’t show,” I bluffed, my stomach twisting into a million tiny knots. And before she could respond, I added, “We both want something.”

Ah-Puch snorted and said, “Aren’t you glad you have experience with this sort of thing from negotiating with me for your life?” His eyes swiveled to the others. “I taught him everything he knows.”

“What are your terms, godborn?” Ixkik’ said.

“No way,” Hondo said, clenching his jaw. “If you go, Zane, she’ll kill you.”

Marco shook his head. “She’s definitely baiting him for something bigger than death.”

“What’s bigger than death?” Adrik asked, shuddering a little too dramatically.

“That kid is right,” Ah-Puch said, pointing to Marco.

“The name’s Marco,” the son of war said, trying to get Ah-Puch’s attention.

But the god of death ignored him. “Ixkik’ is playing games. She wants Zane for more than a quick—or even a slow—kill.”

“Slow?” Ren’s eyes went wide with terror.

I thought about my terms, knowing that if I asked for too much, I could blow the whole deal. She would never let the gods go, but maybe…

“My terms are that you don’t kill the gods,” I told the goddess. I was about to demand that she let my friends go, too, but I didn’t want to give away the fact that they were here.

“The rest of us could bolt,” Adrik said. “Go back to Montana.”

I took my hand off the vine and said, “Nowhere is safe. Besides, we can’t just leave