The Fire Keeper (The Storm Runner 2)

Applause and chants of “Chaac! Chaac! Chaac!” were heard.

He held up his beefy hands to quiet the crowd. “Do not dare applaud again until I give you permission. Do you understand?” Thunder cracked across the sky like a whip, a warning from the rain god.

There was immediate silence.

“And why must we kill one of our own?” he said. “He broke the Sacred Oath. He fathered a threat to our way of life, a threat we had to kill. You all remember Zane Obispo.”

My heart stalled at the mention of my name. Man, I was so glad for the death magic hiding me from the gods.

“He, too, served as an example,” Chaac said. “Like father, like son.” He turned his gaze to the sky with a pleading expression.

Is he trying out for a telenovela? Ren said.

Do you see my dad or the twins?

She shook her head as Chaac went on.

“And, with the awesome responsibilities we all carry, we cannot have gods in our ranks who break the bonds of trust and brotherhood.”

Ixtab cleared her throat.

“And sisterhood,” Chaac corrected himself with a barely there eye roll.

“So let this be a warning to everyone here. When you defy the gods—even if you are a deity yourself—you will pay the price. If you do not honor us, pray to us, make sacrifices to us, we will punish you.”

Wow! This guy had a seriously huge ego, and he was starting to get on my nerves. My gaze bounced around the place as I semi-listened to him thunder on about how great he and the other gods were. That’s when I spotted a familiar eye (yes, just one) staring at me from a few feet away.

Jazz!

My giant friend. His eye grew three sizes too big and he started to come over, but I shook my head and pressed a finger to my lips. He stared at Ren, then looked around. I knew he was searching for Brooks, and my heart split a hundred different ways. I didn’t know where she was.

Ren pointed. Look.

On the screen, I watched as two figures appeared in a column of mist on the pyramid’s platform. They wore gold jaguar masks with red-feather headdresses.

It’s the twins, Ren said.

How do you know? I asked.

For the ceremony to mean anything, they have to do the deed themselves, to make sure it’s a sacrifice and not an execution.

Hurakan rose up from the platform like there was a secret mechanical trap door. He was chained upright on a wooden wall, and he wore only a loincloth. His entire body, including his face, was painted blue. I hate to say this, but my dad looked kinda like a Smurf. Even so, he held his head high and his eyes glistened with the defiance of a thousand suns.

What’s the plan? Ren said. There’s at least a couple hundred feet from here to the pyramid, and all those stairs? How will we ever reach Hurakan without the gods chopping off our heads?

You think you can manage some shadows? I said.

I’ll try. Ren put her arms around my waist. No, I take that back. I can. I can do this. It’s why I’m here. This is the destiny my abuelo told me about, I know it. Just let your power flow into me and think about shadows instead of fire. Got it?

Great. Now I was totally going to think about fire.

Ren borrowed a shadow from a dark corner of the Turkey on a Stick booth. A second later, the sombra wrapped itself around us like a thick blanket.

I’ll hold it as long as I can. Even telepathically, her voice held a tremor that made me nervous.

“Let us begin,” Chaac said, stepping back without so much as a glance at my dad. I bet this guy was the school bully when he was a kid. I already hated him.

Rosie walked slowly at first so no one would notice a big misshapen shadow gliding through the blood-hungry crowd. She maneuvered like a lion on the hunt, measured and alert, careful not to bump into people. If only she could teleport with us on her back, I thought, but I guessed there were limitations even to what hellhounds could do. I tried to steady my breathing, but the shadow was thick and heavy, and it felt like trying to inhale and exhale under a wool blanket.