Footsteps ran off in the opposite direction, looking for Xb’alamkej, aka Jordan.
My mind couldn’t think fast enough. But I knew one thing: the hero twins had enough magic to break through Ren’s shadow, and if the guards got the brothers, the twins would want to kill us not only for crashing their party and interrupting “Purple Rain,” but also for stealing a precious commodity.
“Why is the devourer in water?” Ren whispered. “Isn’t she an earth goddess?”
“Maybe water’s like her kryptonite,” Adrik said.
The creature’s eyes flicked open. They were a sickly white with gray flecks in the center. The devourer raced toward the glass, slamming herself into it with so much force I thought it might crack open.
We all jumped back.
But instead of looking hungry or angry, she looked petrified. That’s when I noticed that her legs were locked in chains that stretched into the dark deep.
“Why chain her up?” Brooks asked. “Isn’t she working with Zotz and Ixkik’?”
“You think all the gods are in her stomach?” Adrik said, looking greenish.
“You know, I think you may be exactly right,” I said, putting the pieces together. “That’s how they sent all the gods back in time at once.”
“Then they’re all…?” Ren couldn’t finish.
“No,” I said, remembering the message from Ah-Puch. “They’re just stuck in darkness.” At least, I hoped so.
An alarm sounded. A burning tug started in my gut. “The twins are getting close,” I warned.
“How do we get her out of there?” Adrik asked. “Preferably without getting killed?”
The devourer swam away, so far she disappeared into the murky water, only to reappear in front of us a moment later.
“She’s trying to tell us something.” Ren pressed her face to the glass.
Whining, Rosie pawed the aquarium.
“There must be an exit…” I said, trying to hide the desperation in my voice.
“Like through there?” Ren pointed to a door on the opposite side of the room, leading to the starboard deck.
Brooks got closer to the glass and craned her neck to look up. “The tank is open at the top. We can access it from above, but we’ll have to rip through the net.”
“You’re going to go in there?!” Adrik’s voice was in freak-out mode. “What if she eats you, too?”
“There’s no other way to release her,” Brooks said. “And if I know the twins, those chains are laced with magic—a magic so thick nothing is going to open them except more magic.”
I wished we still had Alana and Adrik’s stone. I would just have to try to reason with the beast.
“Ren,” I said, “hold off the twins with more shadows. Adrik, stay close to her.”
Rosie let out a growl that shook me to my bones. “You too, girl,” I said, before vanishing Fuego and turning to Brooks. “Let’s go.”
We threw off our heavy Obi-Wan robes, cracked open the starboard-side door, and checked for guards. This deck was clear and shrouded in darkness—all the lights were on the concert. Brooks shifted into a hawk and flew me up to a feeding platform that stretched partway over the tank. A net hovered about a foot above the water. Brooks quickly clawed a hole wide enough for one of us to squeeze through.
The devourer tried to rise up to meet us, but the chains kept her down.
“I’ll go in and try to break the chains,” I said.
Brooks nodded and I dove in.
The devourer immediately lunged at me, her mouth open wide. I reared back, but not before she put a claw on my shoulder and…
Talked to me?
She blinked at me as she said telepathically, Hurakan said I could trust you.
My dad knows I’m here?! Then I asked the dreaded question: Did you eat the gods?
They are alive. We must hurry.
How do I know you won’t run away when I release you?
Look! She clung to me, and in that moment, an image formed in my mind’s eye. There were no details of place, only fuzzy edges and Blood Moon’s haunting voice.
Follow the time rope, the goddess told the devourer. I’ll wait for you here.
The devourer did as commanded, and it looked like she was trailing a demon. The scene disappeared and was replaced with one of Jordan and Bird. Ixkik’ said to them, It is done. Then a pair of bony hands cut the time thread with scissors.
The vision faded, and I flutter-kicked back to the surface. So that’s how Blood Moon had sent the gods to 1987—she’d used a disposable demon as bait! But could I trust what I’d seen?
As soon as my head was above water, I told Brooks, “She was tricked.” I glanced at the door to the gallery, hoping Ren’s shadow wall was holding.
There was no time to consider options. I willed Fuego into my grasp and launched the spear into the water. It hit the chains down below, and they broke open with a burst of light. The devourer remained motionless for a moment, and just when I thought she might scuttle farther into the dark depths, she rose to meet me and Brooks.
We tried to lift her out of the tank and onto the platform, but she was too heavy.
Use the ocean exit, the creature said telepathically, gripping my arm with her claw. At the bottom of the tank.
“How far down is it?” I asked.
A few hundred feet. But I am weak. She grimaced. I need help.
Releasing the devourer, I repeated her words for Brooks, then said, “That’s too deep for me to dive.”
“Someone has to make sure she gets to Jazz’s boat,” Brooks insisted.
The devourer sank beneath the water. Her skin glowed a sickly yellowish green.
Brooks tucked her hair behind her ears and took a deep breath, leaning closer to the water.
“Brooks, what are you doing?!”
Not taking her eyes off the murky depths, she said, “I’ll get her there. I can do this.”
“No way!” I argued. “It’s too dangerous.”
She took my hand, looking me in the eyes. “I’m a water nawal, Zane. Remember? We’re not going to blow this whole mission because of some dumb ocean.”
“That dumb ocean could kill you!”
A loud bang drew my attention away from Brooks. I heard Rosie bark.
Just then, Brooks grabbed the collar of my T-shirt. She spun me to face her. I wobbled, nearly falling into the water. She jerked me close.
And then she kissed me.
That’s right.
She. Kissed. Me.
As if it were easy and natural, as if she wasn’t about to take a death dive. She pulled back and stared at me. For a minute, we were frozen, unable to break eye contact. I stopped breathing. Her cheeks flushed. I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She took another deep breath.
“See you at the boat.” Brooks slipped into the water, diving into the dark so fast I lost sight of her within three seconds.
“Brooks!”
I spun in time to see the gallery’s starboard door bust open. Jordan (Skywalker) and Bird (Solo) burst through. Aside from their dumb costumes, they looked just as they had the first time I met them: arrogant and cruel.
I leaped off the platform onto the deck, using Fuego to break my landing. I drop-rolled as the twins came at me. Electrical sparks shot out of their hands. I threw up a wall of smoke as Rosie shot streams of fire from behind them. “Rosie, no!” I shouted. As much as I wanted to make these guys pay, killing them in 1987 would ruin the future.