I think I screamed. The venom raced through my blood fast and furious, like hot acid. My chest seized as if an iron fist were gripping my heart tighter and tighter.
“Zane!” she cried. “This isn’t working. You have to burn it out!”
My words came out in a slur. “Ik…traitor…godbor…” I tried to roll over, but my arms and legs weren’t getting the message, and to be honest, I was having trouble breathing. Little black dots danced in my vision.
Brooks grasped my head, forcing me to look into her fierce amber eyes as she shook me. “Are you listening?! Start a fire to burn it out of your system. It’s the only way!”
Listen to the nawal.
I did a mental double take. That was the voice of Itzamna, the glittering god, in my head. Was he here?
Do it now, Zane!
I reached for the heat inside me, the flames that were as much a part of me as my beating heart. The poison sped up, shredding my insides.
Fire. Fire. Come on!
It’s terrifying to sense your life slipping away. I’d felt something similar when I’d fought Ah-Puch, the god of death, but that moment had been big and loud and filled with do-or-die adrenaline. This was different. This time I was battling a silent, invisible monster racing through my blood. It wasn’t quite as big-screen epic. Plus, who wants to die on a rooftop in Hell’s Kitchen?
I concentrated with what little part of my brain was still working. Just when I thought the poison was about to pull me under for good, I heard Itzamna’s voice again:
Listen, Storm Runner, unless you want this to be the end of the story, you really need to start a fire. Do I need to provide the match, too?
I reached for the power in my Storm Runner leg. I sensed a flicker and then…
“ZANE!” Brooks shouted.
“Get back!” I managed. The second Brooks inched away, heat blazed in my leg. Fire surged through my blood like lightning, hunting for the dirty, rotten, double-crossing demon’s poison.
Blue flames erupted from my body and leaped high into the sky. The relief was instant. I waited a couple of seconds before I called the fire back. Then, breathless, I rolled to my feet and looked around.
Brooks held out Fuego, and the moment I grabbed him, she threw her arms around me and hugged me so tight, I stumbled back. It felt good. Make that great. She let go and shoved me in the chest. “You could have died!”
“Did you see Itzamna?”
She gave me a watery stare. “What? No! Did you hear me? You could have died.”
“Are you going to cry?” I asked.
She was. She was totally going to cry, which could only mean one thing. She didn’t want me to die. She needed me around. She’d missed me!
Brooks wiped her eyes and hugged me a second time. Then she shoved me again. “I think all that fire fried your brain.” She studied me. “And you got taller.”
I was definitely going to melt under the heat of her hawk eyes.
I took a few blinks to cool off my brain, to let everything resonate. “That poison,” I said. “It was like some super-enhanced version.”
“Super enhanced?”
“Yeah, I mean, it was nothing like the venom I felt back in the volcano last year.” Before Brooks could start spouting off theories, I said, “Wait. Where’s Ik, and…why are you here?”
“Quinn went after the demon.” Her words spilled out in a rush. “I…I headed straight for you. I wasn’t about to let you die on a dirty sidewalk!” Her eyes roamed my face. Police car sirens sounded from the street below.
“The godborns! We can’t let them get arrested.”
“Or Quinn!” Brooks turned her back to me and ordered, “Grab my shoulders.”
I needed both hands, so with a single thought—poof!—my cane disappeared. The coolest feature of the new and improved Fuego (other than being stronger) is that instead of transforming into a puny letter opener (Ixtab’s idea), it now changed into a quarter-size tattoo on the back of my hand: a black jaguar head in profile, with a golden eye (Dad’s idea).
I took hold of Brooks’s shoulders as she shifted into her ginormous hawk self. Having a shape-shifting best friend is cool, but having one that can fly with you on her back? Way cooler.
We soared over the roof’s edge. Red and blue lights flashed on the scene below. The antiques store window was busted, its glass scattered all over the sidewalk, but there was no sign of Ik, Quinn, or the godborns. Brooks flew higher and out of view.
Whenever we were touching, Brooks and I could communicate via telepathy. Using it now, I said to her, Up there at the corner. Go right. My GPS told me the godborns were still in the area. If they got any farther away, I wouldn’t be able to track them down. My GPS sort of went down earlier. What do you think messed with it?
Sorry about that, Brooks said. Probably too many sobrenaturals around. All that magic can twist things sometimes. She tilted left, her wings spread wide as she increased her speed. I sense Quinn down there, too. Maybe she’s with them.
What if Iktan got to the godborns first? I asked. A ripple of panic crawled up my spine. She’s working for Zotz, but why? It doesn’t make sense!
You’re right. Nothing about that demon makes sense, Brooks said. We’ve been investigating her for a while, Zane.
And you didn’t feel like telling me?
It’s called “undercover” for a reason. We had to be sure. Did you say “godborns” plural? Ik only reported one.
There’s two, I said. I’m sure of it. What do you mean “reported”?
Iktan was calling in her progress to someone, but we don’t know who. We didn’t know she was going to attack you.
You set me up!
No! I swear. We had no idea any of this was going to happen, which is why we followed you so closely. Iktan hasn’t called in a report for over a week. Something is off, Zane. Very, very off.
It made me feel better to think I wasn’t Brooks and Quinn’s guinea pig. “Down there,” I said aloud, pointing to a dimly lit parking lot surrounded by a chain-link fence. “See that far corner? That’s where the godborns are.”
Brooks didn’t follow my direction. Big surprise. Instead, she headed to the opposite end of the lot. “Brooks! I said the other corner.”
Quinn is down there. I need to find her first, learn what happened before we just rush in.
Okay, so nothing had changed in the last three months. Brooks was still the ultimate planner.
A second later, we’d landed and found Brooks’s sister. She was in the form of a very familiar white cat, perched on the hood of a gold Honda, licking her paws like she had nothing better to do. Ha! So that’s why Ik had failed her feline-for-dinner mission—Quinn, another powerful shape-shifter, had probably changed into a flea at the last second.
Quinn and Brooks reassumed their human forms. Quinn wore white jeans with rips in the knees and a gray sleeveless sweater. Brooks was in her signature black leggings and plain tee with a white sweatshirt tied around her waist.
Pressing her finger to her lips, Quinn tugged me into a crouched position between a row of cars and telepathically informed me that Ik had disappeared when she went after her. I followed the kids here, she added. They’re hiding out in a car at the opposite end of the lot.