“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 theSeabeetle. 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 theSeabeetle, 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: SSSea 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 andno trespassingsigns 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