wants only one thing: the sacred idol that we were supposed to protect. The pact between us and the guardian. The pact was broken when we allowed the idol to leave these shores, and the storm is the result.

  This cannot go on. I fear we must abandon the island; it is a cursed place now. But we cannot leave while the sea rages around us. Our ships would sink in the storm. There is only one course of action left to us, though I tremble to even put it into words. May the gods forgive us, but…

  We must seal away the Storm Boar.

  Our elders know the ancient ritual. And the magic of the font will grant us the power needed to do such a thing. Once this is done, we will leave the island and never return. Even if the Storm Boar is sealed away, the island will not forgive us for this blasphemy. The horizon beckons, and we will seek our new lives beyond it. And if the Boar ever escapes, gods help the ones who set him free.

  Silence fell as Phoebe looked up from the journal, a somber air descending on the room.

  “So, the people sealed away the guardian,” Lucy ventured in a quiet voice. “And now that he’s free, he wants his idol back.” She observed the storm raging over the island and wrinkled her nose. “Is he really just going to throw a giant temper tantrum until the statue is returned?”

  “Well, on the bright side,” Oliver said, “at least the boar isn’t chasing the idol down itself. So, we have a little time.

  Don’t worry, kid,” he went on, giving Shinji an encouraging grin. “We’ll go back to headquarters, let Priya know what happened, and she’ll be able to call on some Storm Boar expert who will know what to do. I’m sure the Society has one of those.”

  “I hope so,” Shinji muttered. Guilt and shame ate at his insides. He had released a vengeful guardian on a peaceful island. He had nearly gotten everyone killed. All because he had ignored Lucy’s and Roux’s warnings and had tried to do everything himself.

  “Once we’re farther away from the island, I’ll contact Priya,” Mano announced. “And don’t worry, Ocean, I’ll explain everything that happened. Better that she hears it from me and not you.”

  “Uh, yeah.” Oliver grimaced. “Probably for the best. She still hasn’t forgotten that whole debacle in Cambodia.”

  “Hey, guys?” Roux said. Standing at a window, he stared back toward the island, his gaze pointed toward the sky. “Not to freak anyone out, but I think the hurricane is moving.”

  “What?” They all turned. The ominous mass of darkness hovered over the volcano. Shinji watched the clouds swirl and the lightning flash, but the storm was so massive, he couldn’t tell if it was staying in one place or not.

  Suddenly there was a blinding flash of lightning that lit up the whole sky. In that flash, Shinji could see the split-second outline of a huge boar in the clouds, eyes blazing electric blue as he raised his head and roared with thunder.

  And the storm began to move.

  “It’s coming,” Mano breathed, taking a step back. “The hurricane is coming. Step aside, Ocean,” he said, moving in front of Oliver and putting a hand on the wheel. “You’ve done your part, but I need to get my ship out of here. If that storm catches up, this boat is sunk.”

  “Is the Storm Boar after us?” Lucy asked, staring out the window with wide eyes as Oliver relinquished the wheel to the captain. “Why is it chasing us? We don’t have the idol.”

  “Hmm, I don’t think the Storm Boar is coming for us necessarily,” Phoebe said, also gazing out the window at the approaching hurricane. “But I do think he is looking for the idol. The question is, where is the idol now? We know the soldiers took it from the island. Where did they go? How far away did they get? Is it on another island? Oh dear.” She blinked, as if just realizing something. “That could be a problem if whatever island it’s on is inhabited.”

  “To put it lightly,” Mano said. “There are dozens of islands scattered through the South Pacific, many of them inhabited. If they get hit by a hurricane, the damage will be catastrophic.”

  “Yeah,” Oliver agreed with a sigh. “Looks like we’re going to have to find that idol ourselves, before the big angry sky pig wrecks every island he comes to. Shinji? You’re our resident guardian. Any ideas?”

  “I don’t know,” Shinji said in frustration. “It’s not like the Coatl has given me any clues.” There was a sick feeling

  in the pit of his stomach. He remembered the Coatl’s statue, and the quest to return it to the font in the guardian’s temple. This felt the same, except the Storm Boar wasn’t waiting around for someone to return the idol to him. He was going to get it himself, and destroy anything that got in his way. “The idol could be anywhere,” he said, “and there’s no way to track it down.”

  “Hmm…” Phoebe tapped her finger against her chin, looking thoughtful. “Maybe there is,” she mused. “Everyone, follow me.”

  They trailed Phoebe back inside the ship, down into the library, where she had first tried to help Shinji tap into his powers. Where Shinji had gotten his first glimpse of the Storm Boar. As they entered the room, Shinji felt the ship starting to rock a little more beneath them. As if the waters outside were becoming choppy from the approaching storm.

  “All right, Shinji, have a seat,” Phoebe said, pointing to the same spot on the floor as last time. There was no cushion, but Shinji sat cross-legged with Lucy and Roux to either side. Phoebe settled herself in front of him, and Oliver hovered in the corner, watching.

  “What are you trying to have the kid do exactly?” the ex-pirate asked.

  “The guardians are connected to one another through the magic of the fonts,” Phoebe replied. “If Shinji can tap into the power of the Coatl, we might be able to learn…something. Something about the Storm Boar, and maybe how to stop it.”

  Oliver’s jaw tightened, his fingers nervously rubbing his parrot cane. “Messing around with magic isn’t a good idea,” he said. “Messing around with magic on a ship is, to paraphrase Mano, especially bad luck. You can’t control it, and if anything goes wrong, it goes very wrong. The Mystics know that better than anyone.”

  “I know.” Phoebe sighed. Glancing up, she gave Oliver a serious look. “I know, Oliver. Trust me, I know. I am aware of my family’s…foibles. But there is an angry guardian bearing down on us in the form of a hurricane and threatening everything in his path. I’d say things have already gone very wrong. What we need to do is make things right again. And to do that, we need to know what the Storm Boar is after, and where it is now.”

  “And you think you’re going to find that out with magic?”

  “I’m not. But Shinji might be able to. Anyway, it’s worth a shot!” She rubbed her hands together and gave Shinji a smile. “All right, Shinji, this will be just like last time. Close your eyes, relax, and try to establish a connection with the

  Coatl. Breathe deep, in and out. In and out. There is no hurry, no stress, no pressure—”

  “Except an angry mythological boar chasing us from the middle of a giant hurricane,” Roux offered.

  “Thanks. Not helpful.” Shinji clenched his fists on his knees, feeling his heart start to pound. He had to do this. Everyone was watching him, but it was different this time. Before, he was just trying to figure out his magic and what he could do with it. Now a lot of people were counting on him. An angry guardian was on the rampage, and it was his fault for releasing it. For feeling like he had something to prove. He had to make things right, but he couldn’t do that on his own.

  I need your help, he thought to the magic inside him. Please, the Storm Boar is going to hurt a lot of people if we don’t do something. What does he want? How do we stop him?

  For a moment, nothing happened. The room was silent, the floor rocking slightly beneath him as he breathed in, and out, and in…

  There was a ripple of color and light, and everyone flinched back as something appeared in the air before them. Shinji blinked, wincing as an image formed overhead, like a video game hologram, transparent and flickering. Lucy gasped, and Roux let out a yelp of surprise, scrambling backward like a scuttling crab.

  “What the heck? What’s happening right now? Did Shinji just turn into a projector?”

  “Hush,” Phoebe said, sounding excited and breathless herself. “The Coatl is showing us something.”

  Roux fell silent. Above them, the image blurred for a moment, then grew clear. Shinji saw a large ship, sailing through the waves toward the distant horizon. Overhead, the sky was black with clouds, and the ocean was beginning to writhe and froth in the sudden wind.

  There was a crackle of energy, and a bolt of lightning streaked from the sky, slamming into the highest point of the ship. Shinji flinched as sparks flew, and all the ship lights flickered once before winking out.

  A shadow fell over him. He looked up, into the clouds, and his blood froze as the head of a massive boar emerged from the darkness, eyes blazing blue against the night. It raised its head and roared, and a huge wave rose out of the ocean, towering over the ship. It roared again, and the wave came crashing down. For a few seconds, there was nothing but foaming water and raging sea. When everything settled, the boat was nowhere to be seen.

  Beside Shinji, Lucy drew in a sharp breath, startling him. He had nearly forgotten she was there. “So, the Storm Boar sank the ship,” she whispered. “And the idol was on it.”

  “Looks like it,” Roux muttered. “Which means we’re not getting it back anytime soon. That idol is probably still sitting at the bottom of the ocean.”

  The view suddenly dropped straight down, and Shinji winced as they plunged into the ocean. They continued

  sinking deeper into the depths, passing fish, sharks, even a whale, until they reached the seafloor. There, lying in the sand, was the ship they had seen struggling through the waves. A strange ripple crossed Shinji’s vision, and the vessel seemed to age several decades, becoming covered in sand and rust. As if it had been sitting on the ocean floor for many years.

  Staring at it, Shinji felt an odd sense of déjà vu, as if he had seen it before.…

  Lucy let out a gasp. “Wait, that’s the ship we found earlier!” she said. “When we were in the Seabeetle. It’s the same one, I’m sure of it.”

  “If it’s that same ship that we came here to find,” Oliver began, “then…”

  A spotlight suddenly cut through the water, shining over the hull of the shipwreck. Wincing, Shinji turned as a long, sleek shadow emerged from the gloom; a submarine much larger than the Seabeetle, cruising toward the shipwreck like a giant metal shark. The sub glided past them, and Shinji could see the words printed on its pristine hull: SS Sea Plunderer.

  “Hightower,” Lucy said in a cold voice. “Of course. So, Hightower has the Storm Boar’s artifact.”

  And if Hightower had the idol, they weren’t going to give it back. Even if it could help stop an angry, raging Storm Boar.

  So, what were Shinji and his teammates going to do now?

  The vision panned upward, rising through the ocean, until Shinji found himself flying through the clouds at top speed. Ocean, forest, and then cities flashed by beneath him, too blurred to see clearly. When it finally slowed, he could see a crowded skyline, with tall buildings and towers silhouetted against a mottled gray sky.

  “That’s…Los Angeles,” Oliver muttered. “Why are we in LA?”

  No one answered. For several minutes, they flew along the coast, past buildings and bustling interstates, until they reached an isolated harbor. As they approached, Shinji could see a tall barbed-wire fence surrounding the perimeter, with a security checkpoint at the gate and no trespassing signs posted everywhere. Ignoring the gate guards, they glided through the fence, swooped over the harbor, and finally came to a large warehouse at the end of the dock.

  Here, too, the doors were sealed tight, with lights and very visible security cameras panning back and forth above the entrance. But neither the cameras nor the doors could stop them as they glided insubstantially through the walls and found themselves in an enormous warehouse. Numerous aisles stretched before them, with boxes, crates, and all manner of weird items crowding the shelves. But Shinji didn’t have time for a closer look as the vision swept forward, weaving through the narrow aisles like a mouse running a maze.

  As they zipped through the tight corridors, Shinji caught

  a glimpse of something down another aisle. Something bright and metallic. For a second, he thought it was some kind of four-legged robot, but he only caught a split-second glimpse of it before it was gone.

  Suddenly the vision slowed, coming to a stop at the end of an aisle. As Shinji looked up, the vision seemed to focus in on a single box, nothing big or fancy, just a simple lockbox in the center of the shelf. As he stared at it, he could sense something important within. Something that hummed with magic. It had to be the Storm Boar’s artifact.

  Return the statue to the heart of the storm.

  With a flash of light, the images before them disappeared. Shinji, Lucy, Phoebe, and Roux were left staring at one another, surrounded by shelves full of books, blinking and wondering what had just happened.

  “Okay,” said Oliver from the corner, making everyone glance at him in surprise. “I would like to emphasize my statement that magic is weird and dangerous and I don’t like it, cool as that was.” He scratched his head with his cane and leaned back against a shelf. “So, we know where the idol is. Some Hightower warehouse very close to Los Angeles. And knowing Hightower, they’re not going to just give us the statue if we ask for it.”

  Lucy snorted. “Not unless you pay them a few billion dollars,” she replied. “And even then, they might not sell just because you’re with SEA.”

  “So, what do we do now?” Shinji asked.

  “The only thing we can do.” Oliver pushed himself off the wall and flourished his cane with a grin. “We break in and take it.”

  Shinji’s brows rose. “But…isn’t that stealing?”

  “Technically, yes.” The ex-pirate didn’t look very troubled about that fact. “But there’s no time to negotiate, is there? That hurricane is coming fast. We need to get the statue as soon as we can.”

  “Think about what will happen if we don’t return the idol,” Phoebe added. “Lots of people are in danger. We must return the idol, before the Storm Boar’s wrath destroys anything else.”

  Shinji nodded. Return the idol to the heart of the storm. Easier said than done. Getting into Hightower wouldn’t be simple, but if it meant fixing what he’d caused and stopping the Storm Boar, he would try his best. “So, we have to sneak into a Hightower warehouse, find the artifact, break it out again, and then sail back into the hurricane to give the statue to the Storm Boar,” he said, just to make certain he understood what the stakes were. “Sounds like fun.”

  “Sounds impossible,” Roux said cheerfully. “When do we start?”

  “Right now.” Phoebe stood up, a determined look crossing her face. “I’ll tell Mano what we’ve learned. We’ll need to set a course for Los Angeles right away. Operation Stop the Hurricane begins now. Lucy, I’ll need you to tell me everything you know about Hightower’s operations. Roux, I

  hear you’re good at getting into places you’re not supposed to be. Polish up those skills. Shinji…” She turned on him with a fierce stare. “We’re probably going to need to call on the Coatl’s powers once or twice at the very least. I need you to be ready to unleash your magic at the drop of a hat, because our lives may depend on it. Can you do that?”

  “Sure,” Shinji replied. “No pressure or anything.”

  Shinji stood in his tiny room, facing the desk against the wall by his bed. An upside-down paper cup stood in the very center, away from everything else. Taking a breath, Shinji slowly raised his hand, feeling the magic stir inside him. Carefully, he sent out a very light breeze, trying to lift the cup into the air without blowing it across the desk or onto the floor. This was one of Phoebe’s new exercises for him: staying in control and using just enough magic to raise the cup. If he lost control of the wind and hurled the cup into the walls or floor, he would have to start over.

  The paper cup wobbled as the breeze nudged it, but didn’t

  rise. He tried again, to the same effect. The wind wasn’t strong enough to lift it into the air, and Shinji frowned.

  “Come on,” he muttered, and gestured sharply. There was a gust of wind, and the cup suddenly blew across the desktop, tipped over on its side, and rolled onto the floor. Shinji winced.

  “Magic problems?”

  He jumped. Roux was leaning casually against the doorframe, amusement in his eyes as he watched. Shinji hadn’t even heard him open the door.

  “Working on it,” Shinji said. Bending down, he picked up the cup and replaced it in the center of the desk. “What have you been doing?”

  Roux shrugged. Despite his ever-present smirk, he looked tired. Dark circles crouched under his eyes, and his longish hair was even messier than normal. “Studying the layout of the warehouse with Mano,” he replied. “One of the scientist people was able to pull up a satellite view of the area.” He shook his head. “It’s gonna be tough. Not a lot of good entry or exit points. Probably cameras everywhere. If it was just up to me, I wouldn’t try it. Too risky.”

  “Lucy is supposed to be working on something to help with that,” Shinji said. Another pang of guilt struck him as he remembered his argument with Lucy on the island, when he’d told her to go back to Hightower. She hadn’t said anything about it, but he still felt bad and wished he could take it back.

  “Really?” Roux yawned, then shook himself with a grin. “Well, if she ever invents a remote control to turn security cameras on and off, I’d definitely want to borrow it. Oh yeah,” he added as Shinji rolled his eyes. “That Ocean guy wants to talk to you.”