Page 53 of Shinji Takahashi: Into the Heart of the Storm

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 wedon’treturn 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 sailbackinto 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.”

“Oliver does? Why?”

Roux shrugged. “I didn’t ask. I just said I would tell you. Better hurry, though. He sounded impatient.”

“What about you?”

“I’mnot the one in trouble. For once, anyway.” The other boy plopped down on the floor and put his feet up on Shinji’s suitcase. “Tell Ocean I said hi.”

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