If anxiety had claws, it was shredding my insides. I sighed, giving in. “Okay…how about we walk and talk?”

Ren picked at a cuticle as we headed down a winding road toward the bus station. She hesitated, like she was trying to get the words just right. “Remember when I told you my abuelo said I had magic in my blood? That it was part of my heritage and destiny?”

“Yeah.”

“On my dad’s side…we come from a bloodline of brujos that I guess…the Maya gods thought had croaked. Or at least that’s what Ixtab told me.”

Rosie trotted ahead. I picked up the pace.

“Okay, so you’re a godborn with witches in your family….” Then her words hit me. The Maya gods thought had croaked. Why did I have the feeling that something really bad was coming next?

“Ixtab told me that if the gods found out my family line was still around, they’d murder us.”

“Let me guess.” I thought my head might explode. “Because the gods don’t want anyone else to have any power.” Which is why they hate us godborns so much. If I didn’t know any better, and if Quinn hadn’t told me the gods didn’t have the power, I’d think they were the ones behind weakening all the sobrenaturals.

Ren dragged her boots as she walked. “I mean, I knew about my family’s magic, or at least as much as my abuelo had told me. I bet that’s why my dad never wanted to talk about it. He was trying to protect me.” She grunted in frustration. I knew how she felt. It was terrible to be hunted for something you didn’t even do, just because of the family you were born into.

“But what’s the big deal?” I said, trying to make sense of it. “I mean, the gods don’t have any problem with other sobrenaturals, like nawals and seers and stuff. Do they just have a thing against brujos?”

Ren looked up at me with her wintry blue eyes. “My dad’s side of the family is Mexican.”

I wasn’t following. “My mom’s Mexican, too. Why does that matter?”

“It’s different for me….” She stared at the ground. “Our blood is…” Her voice trailed off, and in that tiny fraction of a life-stopping moment, she stopped and gasped. Her gaze was glued on something up ahead. “What. Is. That?” she whispered.

I looked up.

Rosie let out a deep, murderous growl.

About thirty yards away, a hunched figure emerged from a dark alleyway. Its shape flickered in and out of view, here one second, gone the next. It limped toward us, its bald head hanging so far to the left I thought it was in danger of rolling away. The figure’s pale, grayish skin looked sickly in the fading moonlight. Terror gripped me so tightly I couldn’t manage a single breath.

I jerked Ren into a dead-end crevice between two buildings, and we bunched together in the tight space. I peered around the corner. He kept coming. That’s right—he.

Every atom in my body ignited.

Ren clutched my arm. Zane?

It’s…him.

Who?

I couldn’t even get the name out telepathically.

Who, Zane?

It’s Ah-Puch.

WHAT?! Ren screamed in my head. The god of death? The guy you killed? Or obvs not, but how…? Are you sure? Look again.

I was sure. Even though the viejo looked nothing like Ah-Puch, I knew. I could feel it in the tremor in my bones and the burning in my blood, and even though the scar had vanished months ago, my wrist ached like those skeleton eyes he’d planted in me were still there.

It was magic-button time. Itzel had said all we had to do was twist a button on our enchanted clothes to camouflage ourselves. I didn’t waste any time. Bam! I looked down and no more legs and body—only a lime-green building with gum wads.

Twist a button! I ordered Ren.

While she followed my lead, I pressed my other hand against Rosie’s neck. Girl, you need to disappear. We can’t let him see or smell you. My hellhound blinked at me with her murderous red eyes. I knew it was in her nature to fight, but now wasn’t the time. What good would it do me to light Ah-Puch on fire (which obviously hadn’t worked the first time) only to have him reappear in some other, more dangerous form tomorrow or the next day? I just needed to hope he hadn’t seen us. Stay close by, though, I said as Rosie vanished in a stream of smoke.

Zane! My buttons aren’t working! Ren’s telepathic voice was all terror and panic. She was right. I could still see her. Ah-Puch stood in front of our hiding spot only ten feet away. He hadn’t seemed to notice her. Yet.

Tags: J.C. Cervantes, Jennifer Cervantes The Storm Runner Fantasy
Source: readsnovelonline.net