The Shadow Crosser (The Storm Runner 3)

Deception.

I set Fuego against the wall and thrust my hands into the blue blaze, as if I could will more memories to appear. I’d been led here, to this exact spot, for a reason. The crackling flames spat and hissed. I leaned in closer, plunging my face inside them as the same words echoed through me:

Time. Evil. Deception.

Time. Evil. Deception.

As the words repeated, a picture appeared in the fire. It was the same image Alana had drawn in the sand, except more detailed: three circles with glyphs and evenly spaced teeth and notches, like gears. The smallest circle, labeled with the Maya number system, was housed inside a medium-size one, and third was much bigger. I could tell that if one circle was turned, the other two would move as well. It looked like this:

It’s the three ancient Maya calendars, I thought.

Then poof! The calendars dissolved, and the flame went out. I staggered, trying to still my pounding pulse as I grabbed Fuego and leaned against it. That’s when I noticed the centipede was still clinging to the wall. Its body pulsed once, twice.

Ah-Puch?

The insect started to lengthen. Then it plumped up like someone was filling it with air. As it grew longer and fatter, it whipped its neck and creepy antennae in my direction.

Right. Some peaceful labyrinth this was.

When the centipede had reached a length of about three feet, its mouth (which, by the way, had an evil-looking hook on each side) opened wide—wide enough to swallow a baseball.

“Gaaah!” So I screamed. Sue me. You would have, too, especially if you knew that centipedes usually wrap their bodies around their prey and release a bunch of venom into them, i.e., give them a slow and painful death, before eating them.

¡No gracias!

“Intruder,” the nasty centipede whispered.

I backed up slowly—you know, no sudden movements to freak out the bug. “I was just leaving,” I grunt-laughed.

“K’iin,” the centipede said, “can only be seen by the dead. You are not dead.”

Keen?

The beast jumped onto my shoulders and wrapped itself around my neck, squeezing. My air was immediately cut off, and I felt razor-sharp legs piercing my skin.

I clutched its slimy body, trying to rip it off as I summoned the fire within me, but the thing held on and squeezed like a vise. I could feel its poison burning in my blood.

My vision started to fade. I fell to my knees, clawing and gasping.

Then, with one last effort, I willed Fuego into spear mode and thrust it into the centipede, ripping hard to the right.

Shkwert!

Warm bluish blood oozed down my shirt. I dropped to my knees, choking on the humid air as the bug’s gutted body slipped off me and writhed on the ground. Noxious yellow gas spiraled from the corpse and filled the chamber, burning me so bad I could feel the hair on my head singeing right off.

Just as I was about to expel a flame to bring down the entire chamber, the darkness and gas disappeared.

I was back in the jungle, doubled over, sucking wind. My ears were ringing with the same three words: Time. Evil. Deception.

“Stop!” I shouted, covering my ears. My hands flew to my hair. “I have hair!”

Rosie and Kip hurried over.

“Are you making fun of me?” The spirit narrowed his eyes. “Being bald has its perks, you know.”

I shook my head and sucked in more fresh air.

“What did you see?” Kip asked. “You were gone for quite a while. Why are you choking? Do you have allergies, too?”