The Storm Runner

The group passes through a security checkpoint, convincing a living skeleton to let them attend the party without an official invitation. When burly guards pat them down, one discovers Zane’s jade tooth, and Zane lies about where he got it. The party is a lavish affair that includes both human and supernatural guests. Zane and his uncle want to explore, but Brooks doesn’t want to linger.

The twins find the group quickly. One asks Brooks where about the whereabouts of her sister, his future bride. Brooks shrugs this off, and the group mingles with the crowd, spreading rumors that the twins didn’t actually defeat Ah-Puch in hopes that the twins will become angry enough to reveal how they did it. The twins accuse Zane of being a pathetic has-been, and Zane challenges them to a game of the group’s choosing. If Zane’s group wins, the twins will reveal how they defeated Ah-Puch. If the twins win, they get to keep Zane’s jade tooth. The twins want to pick the game, so to decide, they flip a stone with a jaguar on one side and death on the other, telling Zane to call it. Something comes over Zane, and as the stone falls, he whispers “Death” (271).

The stone lands on the jaguar side, and Zane picks it up, finding that it is weighted to fall that way every time. He protests, and one of the brothers grabs him, discovering the pepper-spiked chocolate. The twin drinks it, but nothing happens, and then the brothers disappear as an announcement booms over the party, telling people to come “watch the twins kill a couple of pathetic humans in a game for the ages” (273-74). Zane’s uncle starts to swell up, and Brooks realizes that he has eaten something poisonous. Although his life is not in danger, he will suffer unpleasant side effects, including rage and hallucinations.

The game is a version of basketball with trampolines and human-eating snakes. The first team to get five baskets wins, and the twins let Zane score one courtesy basket. Meanwhile, Zane’s uncle gets worse, and Brooks calls sudden death—which means that the next person to score will win the game. However, before play can resume, Ah-Puch arrives.

In truth, the twins never defeated Ah-Puch. They only lied to bolster their reputations and keep the other gods from threatening them. Now, Ah-Puch captures them and shatters the magic spells holding their hotel world together, making everything shake. As Ah-Puch disappears, he tells Zane they’ll meet again soon.

The giant who gave them the clothes also put cameras into the fabric. He arrives with a souped-up speedboat just in time to extricate Zane’s group from the party. The giant got a letter telling him to bring Zane to the Old World, and the boat should get them to the closest portal by the following night. Zane despairs because that will be too late for him to stop Ah-Puch before he is doomed to become one of the god’s soldiers. At this, the giant goes to work on the boat’s engine, saying, “Then it’s a good thing you’re in this dilemma with an engineering genius giant, isn’t it?” (303).

While they travel, Brooks reveals that she is searching for a way to free her sister, who is trapped in Xibalba. Her sister made a deal with Ixtab to get out of marrying one of the twins. Desperate to help her sister, Brooks also made a deal with Ixtab, promising to free Ah-Puch; she admits to lying to Zane to enlist his help. Zane does not blame her for trying to help her family, and as Brooks drifts off to sleep, he vows to “find a way to finish this without everyone dying” (310).

While Brooks sleeps, a second creator god visits Zane. Because this god controls the elements, he will be able to speed Zane’s journey to the Old World. This gives Zane hope until he remembers, “I’d still have to have a face-off with the god of death, destruction, and darkness” (316). The god offers cryptic advice, saying that Zane can only defeat Ah-Puch when he becomes his true self. The god then disappears, leaving Zane to puzzle out the meaning of this advice.

The boat arrives at the gateway in record time—a narrow tunnel with rusty walls. As they travel through, the water below starts to rise, sending the giant into a panic when he realizes, “Someone’s trying to shut this gateway” (326). As the giant inflates a raft, the mark that Ah-Puch left on Zane’s wrist grows eyes, and the god’s voice booms out, demanding Zane’s surrender. Zane tries to toss the jade tooth to Brooks so that she can use its power to get away, but the tooth falls away into the water.

Zane plunges his arm into the water, and strange fish eat away at his flesh, including the mark with Ah-Puch’s eyes. Brooks pulls him out and bandages his arm, and the boat emerges from the gateway into a gray jungle beneath a night sky with two moons. They have reached the Old World. The group disembarks in search of Sparkstriker, and as they pass through the dead-looking world, Zane can only think to himself, “I don’t want to die here” (337).

The giant leads them to the heart of the Old World—the birthplace of magic—where they settle down to rest while they can. Zane tries to sleep, but his worries about Ah-Puch keep him awake. When he finally drifts off, he is awakened by a scratching sound. He opens his eyes to find a masked figure staring at him.