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Ixkik’ released a guttural cry, spinning swirls of mist from her fingertips. I drop-rolled, avoiding her magic only by inches. The broken stone floor sliced my arms. Blood seeped out as I jumped to my feet, creating an inferno of fire all around me to block Jordan’s advances. But it couldn’t keep out Ixkik’.

The demon goddess’s mist swept around me like a hurricane, dousing my flames. I launched Fuego at Jordan, who was coming at me with a ferocious look uglier than any demon. My spear ripped through his chest, but the guy kept coming.

Fuego circled back to me just as a swirl of fog wrapped its poisonous arms around me. Invisible hands choked the air from my lungs.

“Stop!” Jordan shouted to his mom. “We need him!”

The goddess’s mouth peeled back in a vicious snarl. The smell of sulfur and dead things spun through the air as I collapsed to my knees, gripping my throat, trying to break free.

Blood Moon’s hate-filled eyes were glued to me. “You are bound to me now.”

I gasped for air. Panic shredded my insides.

She squatted in front of me, so close I could count the veins pulsing in her forehead. She barely lifted one claw and the mist’s grip loosened a little…enough for me to steal a breath.

“I need you for a while longer, godborn,” she said, seething.

At the same moment, a thick shadow loomed behind Ixkik’ and Jordan. Ren stepped out of it, as stealthy as a ninja. She held one finger to her lips as she twirled the time rope over her head like some kind of lasso queen. And that’s when I knew what she was going to do—try to drop-kick Ixkik’ into some kind of time warp.

YES!

One end of the rope snapped across the air like a sizzle of electricity. Ixkik’ spun around. The mist choking me retracted and zipped across the space, stopping the rope in midair. Ren held the other end tight.

“How did you get this?” Ixkik’ gasped as she inspected the golden cord, careful not to touch it.

Speechless for once, Jordan drew closer to the rope, too, like it had some kind of hypnotic power. A golden light pulsed across the dim space.

“Let my rope go, Ixkik’,” Ren growled as she tugged on her end.

The goddess, keeping her reptilian eyes fixed to the time magic, murmured, “It can be mine.”

“I’ll never give it to you!” Ren said.

With Fuego’s help, I managed to stumble to my feet just as Brooks zoomed in as a hawk, ripped the rope away from the mist, and pitched it to her closest ally—me. The magic seared my hand worse than any acid, forcing an agonizing scream.

Dropping Fuego, I threw myself into the air and landed with a hard thud at the goddess’s feet, close enough to try and throw the cord around her and Jordan’s ankles. But they swept out of range so fast I missed, dropping the rope.

Ixkik’ came at me, all claws and teeth, while Jordan lunged at Ren. Spiderlike shadows closed in on the twin. Thick legs surrounded him, and then a shadow web blasted out of their bulbous bellies, trapping him in place. I spun out of the goddess demon’s grasp and swept myself up into a tunnel of flames.

“Your fire can’t save you!” she yelled.

I looked up just as Brooks came in low, but this time she had a passenger that looked a whole heck of a lot like me. Dad? He rolled off her back and snatched up the loose end of the time rope. Agony swept across his face, but he didn’t let go. He rushed Ixkik’ from behind, wrapping the rope around her waist, barely keeping hold of the slack. The goddess demon wailed.

“Now, Ren!” I shouted.

Why wasn’t she throwing Blood Moon into a time loop? Then I saw that Ren was struggling to hold on to her end as Ixkik’ pulled at the rope, trying to break free. As powerful as Ren was, she couldn’t give life to shadows and fight Ixkik’ at the same time. Half a second later, the spider shadows holding Jordan vanished.

He flew at his mom, grasping for the cord.

“Free me!” she screamed.

For a split second, I was terrified that Ixkik’ would just turn to mist and disappear, but then I realized this was why my dad had told me to make her show her face. Once she was trapped by the time rope, the demon goddess couldn’t change forms.

Bird reappeared then, without my mom. Had she gotten away?

With an ear-piercing cry, Brooks zoomed in, grabbed Bird by the back of his collar, and carried him up into the night sky.

“Zane!” Ren shouted.


Tags: J.C. Cervantes, Jennifer Cervantes The Storm Runner Fantasy