Brooks nodded. “We have to bring the godborns back around,” she said. “There were some who were not on Team Takeover. I saw it on their horrified faces.”
“We can’t bring anyone around,” I said, “until we bring the gods back from 1987.”
We met behind the barn at dawn to kick off our quest. Here’s how things were going to go down: Hondo would be the shadow crosser. Marco would be the 1987 thread’s connection to the present. He didn’t seem too excited about the job. “You mean I have to carry around a gold rope the whole time?”
“You are the strongest,” I reminded him, which only made him grunt.
Brooks, Ren, Rosie, and I would find and rescue the gods while Alana stayed in Montana to hold down the fort/ranch (and hoped no one mutinied).
Itzamna told us he could communicate with us in the Old World, but not in 1987—that would be too far back.
Mom popped into the barn with Louie in tow. “And where do you think you’re going?”
Rosie wagged her tail and ran over to greet her.
“I told her everything, including the godborn treachery,” Louie said.
I groaned and steeled myself for an argument. I wanted to strangle Louie. We really didn’t have time for this….
Mom patted Rosie absentmindedly, then marched over to me. “1987? Really?”
“Don’t try and stop me—”
“Would you listen if I did?”
“No.”
Rosie let out a small whine like she was sticking up for me.
Mom rubbed Rosie’s chest and added, “Then I’ll help out here.”
Whoa, that was unexpected. I let out a sigh of relief.
“I’m good at keeping kids in line,” she said. “Well, except you, Zane.”
“I’m not,” Louie said. “But I can freeze anyone who tries to bounce.”
Alana smiled at my mom. “We could definitely use the help.”
Adrik stretched his long arms over his head and yawned. “I wish I could go with you guys. 1987 was so cool. Such a sick year for music.”
“Please,” Mom said, batting her hand in the air. “1987 was enough the first time.”
“Think of the souvenirs I could bring back,” Adrik argued.
“This is serious,” Brooks said. “And we can’t have any weak links.”
“I’m no weak link,” Adrik said dramatically. “I’ve got Spidey senses!”
“He can steal memories,” Alana said snidely, “so he thinks he’s some kind of superhero now.”
Adrik snorted. “I can talk for myself, Alana.” He faced me. “I can steal memories.”
“Like clear someone’s mind?” I asked, part-impressed, part-horrified.
“Nah,” he said. “Just one at a time. But it’s complicated. You see”—he held up his hands like he was gripping a basketball—“first I have to use the dream world to find the memory.”
“Unless he’s in the memory,” Hondo added.
Rosie nodded like she was following the convo while Mom’s expression was one of total awe.
“How do you know you can do this?” Ren asked.
Adrik’s eyes shifted from face to face like he was deciding whether he wanted to tell us the truth or not. “Um…when I got pounded with lightning, I was transported to this really cool beach, and I heard a voice in the wind, calling me a memory thief.” He shook his head. “At first, I wasn’t too psyched about that…I mean, who wants to be called a thief, right?”
“So he didn’t want to tell us,” Alana added.
“Not true, Alana!” he argued. “Well, it kinda is, but the Sparkstriker had said I was a dream walker, so I figured someone got it wrong. I asked that globe lady—the one in the temple—and she gave me all kinds of info.” Adrik rubbed the back of his neck. “I practically had to beg her for it, but at least now I know.”
“Globe lady?” Mom asked.
“I’ll explain later,” I said.
“Did you steal someone’s memory already?” Brooks asked Adrik.
“Mine!” Alana scowled.
“Gimme a break,” Adrik said. “It was a dumb memory of a time I hid one of her roller skates. I didn’t think that memory was a big deal, and I had to practice on someone….”
Alana stuck out her tongue at him.
“Can you give the memories back?” I asked.
“Not that I know of,” he said.
Marco rubbed his scar. “So how do you do it?”
With half a shrug, Adrik said, “How do you change your face?”
“I just think it.”
“Same.”
“Adrik could be useful on your quest,” Itzamna said in my sunglasses.
“How?” Ren asked.
“Memory thieves can be quite cunning, and if you run into someone you know—someone from the present day—he could erase any knowledge you don’t want them to keep.”
Adrik elbowed his sister’s arm. “Did you hear that? Cunning.”
I hadn’t even thought about running into someone we knew. Were Jordan and Bird in Venice Beach in 1987? My stomach turned.
Alana pointed and said, “There’s a gateway in that field—we can use it to get to the Old World. Then I’ll come back here, and”—she hesitated for a moment—“Adrik can stay with you, since he’s so cunning.”
“Awesome!” Adrik said with a big grin. Then he got serious. “You sure, sis?”
“I’m sure. It’ll be like a vacation for me,” she joked, but I could tell she was trying to hide her concern for his safety.
Mom asked, “Are you all positive you’re ready for this?”
Rosie yelped and bolted in the direction Alana had pointed, across a grassy meadow where yellow and purple flowers bloomed.
I turned to say good-bye to Mom. She blinked back tears, made the sign of the cross on my forehead with a trembling hand, and said, “You’re my favorite son.”
“I’m your only son.”
“So you’d better come home,” she said before hugging me and giving everyone else blessings.
Louie stood back and added, “If you see any cool souvenirs, bring me some.”
“We aren’t going to be shopping,” Brooks huffed.
“But vintage Madonna…” Alana whispered as she joined hands with me and Ren, who connected with Marco.
Adrik placed his hand on his sister’s shoulder. Brooks, Hondo, and Rosie stood behind us, so close I could feel their hot breath on my neck.
“Okay, those who have been to the Old World,” Alana said, “visualize it. The rest of you, think of how Zane described it in the book.”
A second later, we plunged through biting darkness that circled around us like frenzied hands, reaching for, clawing at, and generally trying to rip us open.
Thankfully, it only lasted a few seconds. We landed with a thunk, oof, and “My back!”
I sat up and looked around. We were definitely in the Old World, right in the center of a semicircle of five pyramids. Rosie ran around sniffing the ground like she was happy to be back in the place where I’d first seen her in hellhound form.