It’s less than a month away from The Fire Keeper hitting bookshelves. September 3 marks the on-sale date of J. C. Cervantes’ follow up to the New York Times best-selling novel, The Storm Runner. We’re thrilled to see what’s next for Zane Obispo and are happy to share the opening pages of this new book from Rick Riordan Presents. Enjoy!

I might be dead by the time this book finds you.

If it ever finds you.

Seven months ago, I sent out a secret message to any godborns, hoping some might still be alive. I haven’t heard back from anyone, which could mean (a) you’re not out there, or (b) the magic hasn’t found you. Or—and I don’t even want to think about this alternative—(c) you exist and the magic has found you, but you’ve decided to ignore it. If that’s the case, you’ve got muchos problemas.

Optimistic me wonders if I didn’t write down enough for my message to have any power. Maybe it’s like buying a lottery ticket—the more you try, the better your chances. Except my uncle Hondo has bought probably hundreds of tickets and all he ever won was a buck twenty-five.

So consider this my last-ditch effort, just in case something happens to me on the quest I’m about to take. I didn’t want to leave you in the dark all alone.

I’m using magic ink that only godborns can see, the same kind I used for my last secret message, which was tacked on to the story I had to write for the Maya gods. They wanted me to bare my soul, for a couple of reasons. First, because they’re mitoteros who can’t keep their noses out of anything. Second, because they wanted to use my misadventure as a warning so no one else would ever defy them again. To make sure I didn’t lie (I totally would have), they forced me to use special paper that would be able to tell if I wasn’t writing the truth.

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