“I like that,” Jazz said, nodding. “Inventor.” A minute later, he brought the boat to a stop and faced us. “I need some insurance.”
“Huh?” we all said at the same moment.
“You say you’re magicians,” he said. “Prove it. Show me some magic.”
Ren shifted in her seat before drawing a long black shape out of the water. “Shadow magician,” she said.
Jazz seemed impressed. Then he turned to me and Adrik. I flashed some fire. Adrik? He just said, “Sorry, dude. My magic is in the dream realm.”
Jazz folded his arms across his chest. “All magicians can do at least one trick.”
“We really have to hurry,” Brooks said.
Adrik sighed and said to Jazz, “I can tell you your future. You will open your own shop. You’re going to invent a flashlight that can kill demons, and you’re going to help save the world.”
Jazz beamed. “Like a lightsaber?”
“I just said you’d help save the world,” Adrik said, “and that’s what you focus on?”
Jazz went back to the wheel, still smiling. “A demon-killing flashlight is so much better!”
Rosie paced restlessly. The cool sea air seemed to be getting colder. I half wished that the 1987 version of Pacific or Mat would show up and offer us a hand, but I knew that was impossible.
“We’ll sneak up on the yacht’s stern,” Jazz said. “Check things out from a distance so you guys can decide how you’re going to get on.”
About ten minutes later, we had traveled so far across the ocean I could barely see the shore’s twinkling lights. A few hundred feet away, a massive yacht—as in mini cruise ship status—came into view. Someone waved orange batons from its deck as we heard a helicopter approach. Soon the copter hovered directly over the twins’ vessel.
“That must be Prince!” Jazz yelled over the sound of the whirring blades. “He’ll create a good diversion for you.”
Adrik craned his neck as if he could catch sight of the rock star and then started flapping his arms in the air and jumping up and down.
“Adrik!” Brooks scolded.
He scowled and sat back down. “Seriously? Prince is up there!” he said, pointing. “Like…you do know who that is, right?”
Rosie panted excitedly as Jazz slipped the boat into hold-on-for-dear-life gear. We raced over the water so fast my cheeks jiggled. I thought we would catch air, but Jazz had mad boating skills. Within two minutes, he had pulled Betty up to the yacht, just as the copter was touching down on the front helipad. Yeah, the yacht was that big.
Jazz was right. Everyone had rushed to the bow to meet Prince, so there was no security at the stern. No anyone.
“I’ll wait here,” he said. “You don’t have much time to sneak around. Just try and blend in like Luke and Solo did when they dressed as Stormtroopers aboard the Death Star.”
We pulled up our hoods and climbed up the ladder to the first deck. Rosie? She just turned to mist and reappeared up there.
“Guys,” Brooks said from beneath her hood, “avoid anyone who looks like Han or Skywalker.”
Everyone nodded.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Adrik said.
Just then, the crowd erupted in cheers and screams. Prince must have disembarked. Adrik started in that direction until Ren pulled him back. “Hey,” she said. “We’re not here for that.”
I could see Adrik struggling with the choice of seeing his rock idol or finishing the god rescue mission.
“At least you’ll get to hear him,” Ren offered.
I turned to Rosie, who was now cloaked in one of Ren’s shadows. “Okay, girl. Find those gods.”
Rosie took off down the narrow deck and ducked into a cabin. No, cabin isn’t right. It was more like a mini ballroom with two huge chandeliers, shiny marble floors, and a dozen tables topped with shimmery gold tablecloths. We breezed through, passing a few more rooms that were just as impressive until we came to a set of double doors. Inside was some kind of art gallery. The room was dimly lit and had framed artwork evenly spaced on the walls. Music reverberated from the bow, literally rocking the boat as the crowd screamed. Adrik looked miserable as he glanced toward the sound.
Rosie sniffed the room. Little waves of smoke curled from her nose and eyes. Small breathy grunts told us she was getting close. Then she stopped at the far wall, where a floor-to-ceiling canvas painted entirely in turquoise was hung.
“The gods are in a painting?” Brooks whispered.
Ren’s eyes searched the place, freezing on something over my shoulder. “Uh-oh,” she murmured as four round shadows rose from her hands and flew toward the security cameras in each of the room’s corners.
“Crap!” I said.
“They had cameras back then?” Adrik said.
“Let’s just hurry,” Brooks said, rolling her eyes.
I stepped closer to the painting, willing Fuego into light mode. I used my spear to scan the canvas’s surface. “Are you sure, Rosie?” I said, searching for any clue as to how the gods could be locked in a painting.
Brooks was at my side, tracing her fingers lightly over the canvas. Rosie stood at attention like one of those pointer hunting dogs—she didn’t even look like she was breathing. Her eyes glowed white as blue smoke flowed out of them.
“Rosie?” I asked, thinking she seemed kind of possessed.
Footsteps sounded on the deck outside.
“Those must be the Stormtroopers,” Adrik moaned.
“We have to hurry,” Ren said, twisting the dial on her watch. “I’ll stop time for a few—” Her face fell. “It’s not working!”
“Why?” Brooks said.
Ren shook her head, her eyes dancing across the floor like she was searching for the answer. She looked up. “I think it’s because we used all the time threads.” Before that could even sink in, she danced her fingers in the air and a wall of shadows rose up, blocking the doorway.
My heart was in triple-beat mode as I waited helplessly, wondering what Rosie was up to and hoping Ren’s shadow was strong enough to keep out whoever was on the other side of those doors.
The blue smoke from the hellhound’s eyes washed over the canvas like a storm cloud, covering it from edge to edge. The paint began to melt, dripping down the wall and onto the floor with a sizzling sound. The smell of burning hair filled the room.
Voices shouted on the other side of Ren’s shadow wall.
“They’re here!” Adrik cried.
The smoke cleared.
The painting was gone. We all inched back, mouths open, as we stared through a window where the artwork used to be.
“What is that?” Ren whispered.
Beyond the window was a creature no bigger than an orangutan, floating in a huge aquarium. Glaring blue lights illuminated the sleeping beast, which looked like a squatting toad with a gaping mouth, green crocodile skin, and massive claws that hung off tiny T. rex arms.
“It has to be the devourer,” I said barely above a whisper.
The aquarium seemed to go on forever, disappearing into darkness.
“Open up and we won’t kill you!” someone shouted from the other side of the shadow wall. Then: “Let’s get Xb’alamkej.”