The Fire Keeper (The Storm Runner 2)

“Because I created them.”

“Whoa!” I stepped back, pushing a mop of wet hair off my forehead.

“You what?!” Brooks cried.

“It’s not what you think,” Ren argued. “I tried to tell you before I fell asleep. The shadows come out of my dreams. The monsters…they aren’t exactly real….”

“Hang on!” I tugged off my soaked shoes. “What do you mean they weren’t real? They nearly caused a tidal wave! They tried to drown us. Dreams don’t do that.”

Ren wrapped her arms around her waist. “I mean, they’re real, but…” She shook her head. “Remember the shadows earlier? How I couldn’t control them?”

I nodded.

Brooks scowled at me.

Ren said, “Well, they show up in my dreams, too, and sometimes they sort of come into this world, but once I wake up and tell them to leave, they vanish. The first time it happened, I was maybe five. Abuelo told me not to be afraid, to use my power to control the shadows. But no matter how hard I try, I can’t make them do anything except leave….” Her voice trailed off and was swallowed by the pounding surf.

I knew the feeling of having a power I couldn’t use.

“So, the shadows,” Brooks said evenly. “Are they always monsters?”

“Not always,” Ren said. “After my dad died, I woke up from a dream about him…and I caught a glimpse of a shadow—I knew it was him. But the second I saw him here, in this world, he vanished.”

I thought about Hurakan, how I would give anything to meet him in the Empty again or even to dream about him. It wouldn’t be long before I rescued him and…Okay, I wasn’t sure what would happen after that. I guess I hadn’t thought about after.

Brooks frowned. “Have your dreams—nightmares, whatever—ever hurt someone?”

“No,” Ren said. “And Abuelo told me that only those with magic in their blood can see them.”

That explained why Mom and Hondo and the rest of the island’s residents hadn’t woken up. “I don’t think they come from your dreams, Ren,” I said. “I think they’re shadows that are already here.”

Brooks paced, rubbing her chin. “And maybe they kind of take shape as you dream.”

“That’s what those monsters did,” I said. “It was like they were protecting you.”

Brooks glanced at me. Uh-oh. She had that this-isn’t-good look, and the last time I saw that, we were almost choked to death by a bunch of demon runners at a Jack in the Box.

My head was pounding, and my eyes were blurry. “We should get some rest,” I said. Then I added quickly, “I mean, as long as you don’t have any more nightmares with monsters or anything else that could kill us.”

“I’ll try,” Ren said. “It doesn’t happen that much, I swear. But if it does, just throw water on my face or something.”

I was hoping Brooks (having been a sobrenatural a lot longer than me) would have some answers. Any answer. Okay, maybe an answer that sounded exactly like There’s absolutely nothing to worry about. That would’ve totally been my preference.

We headed toward the house.

“You’re just like Zane described you in the book,” Ren said to Brooks. “So—”

“So brave,” I blurted. Geez, why didn’t she just ask for Brooks’s autograph already?

“Brave,” Brooks echoed, staring me down with her fierce eyes. Luckily, she hadn’t read the book. I hoped she’d never ever get her hands on it. I really needed to burn that thing! I looked around for it and saw that it was half-buried under the sand near the dying campfire. I’d go back and toss it in the embers later, when the girls weren’t around.

Ren and Rosie strode ahead and out of earshot.

“Brooks, you really have no clue about those shadows?”

“I’m not a Maya encyclopedia of the supernatural, Zane.”

“Someone should really write that book.”