The Shadow Crosser (The Storm Runner 3)

“I’m trying!” Adrik splashed Ren, but no matter how much he soaked her, she stayed unconscious.

“ZANE!” Alana lifted her feet to avoid some black ooze in the sea, bubbling up like hot tar.

“Shadows don’t bubble!” Hondo frowned. “Do they?”

“How should I know?” I stared at the dark churning not-water that was getting thicker by the second.

The turtles came to a halt, and before any of us could say another word, they swiftly joined themselves together, the sides of their shells connecting like Legos with a loud click.

“What are they doing?!”

“Maybe they’re turning into turbo turtles,” Alana said.

“Or ninja turtles,” Hondo added, nodding frantically.

Or how about a speedboat to race us away from the creepy dark stuff circling us like toxic waste? I thought.

The tortugas’ backs began to glow turquoise. One by one, glyphs emerged from their scutes and slid onto the surface of the sea, creating a trail of neon words I couldn’t read. The images sped away as fast as shooting stars.

Were they reporting back to Ah-Puch? I wondered. Couldn’t he have sent us a mode of transportation more effective than slowpoke unarmed turtles that knew how to spell?

I threw my gaze at Ren, who still looked lifeless as she slumped against Adrik. “Don’t let her fall!” I warned. He gave me a no-duh look.

The dark waters gurgled.

“Go faster!” Alana cried as the fog tightened around us.

But even though our turtle’s legs were kicking furiously, it wasn’t moving an inch.

Hondo and I exchanged a look. “Ren isn’t doing this,” I said, terror settling into my bones.

“We are not going down like this!” My uncle swung his backpack onto his lap and rifled through it. Did he have a weapon for fighting evil sludge that I didn’t know about?

I summoned Fuego and scrambled to my feet, balancing carefully, as if the turtle’s shell were a surfboard. Not knowing what I was aiming for, I hurled my spear into the thickening ocean.

Alana began to cough violently, like she was hacking up a lung. I whipped around, crouching. Her nose was bleeding black.

“Alana!” Adrik screamed, reaching through the fog for his sister. His face was red with anger and fear. “Move it!” he shouted to his turtle, but it just kept paddling uselessly and churning out neon glyphs.

“I’m okay,” Alana cried, wiping her nose, but she didn’t mean it. It was just something to say, a hope that we would all survive this. She clutched my shoulders, her fingers digging into my skin. Are we going to die? she asked telepathically. Then, Never mind. Don’t answer that.

Everything was chaos and shouting.

“What is it?”

“Kill it!”

“Blast it with fire!”

Oh yeah. Good idea. I launched three massive fireballs into the sea. They detonated on impact and did nothing to stop the bubbling ooze.

That’s when I realized Fuego hadn’t come back yet.

My eyes darted everywhere, desperately searching, waiting for my spear to zip out of the muck.

“The black stuff is spreading!” Adrik hollered, trying to keep Ren upright. “Alana, I…You’re the best sister. I don’t even mind you most of the time.”

“Don’t!” she screamed. “Don’t you dare do that, Adrik!”