Ren Santiago

"Whoa! That’s way more awesome in person!"

- Ren reacting to Brooks destroying a Mud Person in Renata “Ren” Santiago is a thirteen-year-old Mayan godborn and a character in the Storm Runner series. She is the godborn child of Pacific and also a bruja.

Early Life
Ren was born to an unnamed human man and Pacific. Her father and grandfather had different opinions of her mother. The two would fight constantly over it along with their brujo, magic user, heritage that occasionally surfaced in members of their family.

At the age of five she started to manifest the ability to use shadow magic, her abeulo tried to teach her, but failed.

At one point her father died and she was placed in the care of her abeulo. Soon after she had a dream about him and saw a shadow creature in his shape when she woke up, however it quickly vanished.

She suffered from absence seizures throughout her life, describing them as blacking out, losing track of time, and has no idea what goe on around her. None of the medications doctors gave her had any effect.

Triggering her Heritage
She read Zane’s book and, a few months later about two weeks after her thirteenth birthday, she read the last page out loud and heard noises on the roof. Soon she heard her father’s music and her abeulo came and went to a pier where a boat was waiting for her. She got in and her abeulo gave her his blessing and she went off and was soon surrounded by a fog. Hours later she reached Isla Holbox.

The Fire Keeper
Ren first appears rowing towards Zane Obispo, who is sitting on the beach on Isla Holbox late at night after having retrieved a message from Jazz revealing the location of his father. When she reaches shore she trips and cuts her forehead but Rosie heels her. When she comes to she pushes Zane away in fright but after realizing who he and Rosie are, becomes exited and pets the hellhound and tells Zane she read the book the gods forced him to write. She tells Zane her story she proves she is a godborn by respondin to telepathy. She demonstrates her limited control over the shadow creatures that show up around her from time to time and falls asleep in the fire Rosie made. When she falls asleep something comes out of her boat. As Zane, Rosie and Brooks fight the monsters she sleeps but awakes and seemingly freezes time before banishes them. After getting excited about meeting Brooks, Ren explains that the shadow creatures occasionally take the form of whatever she is dreaming about but leave as soon as she wakes up. She also says that only those with magic in their blood can see them. Brooks agrees to let Ren stay with her for the time being, as long as Rosie stands guard.

In the morning she is found by Hondo Obispo and given a walking tour of the town by Zane’s mother She calls her abuelo, who is flying down, and is left in the care of Antonia Caballero. When she arrives she is ambushed by a Mud Person and placed with the real Ms. Cab. She rends out a telepathic message for help as they wait. When the others find them they free the two. She is amazed when Brooks destroys the mud person. As they leave she backs Zane‘s plan to bypass the barrier by going to Xib’alb’a, wanting to know if Ixtab was her mother. Zane tells her to stay for her abuelo, but she says he wou want her to go with them. Just them Hondo arrives and, after revealing he knows Ren is a godborn and after being filled in, asks to join them. Ren backs him saying he helped them out during the quest of Ah-Puch. Zane reluctantly agrees and they head out.

As they hike to The Beast, she zones out and is placed on Rosie‘s back. She comes to just as they enter the beast. She explains that the zone outs happen when she is stressed or nervous and she is concerned what to do if she meets Ixtab. As they go deeper she reveals she does not have night vision like Zane. After wandering the corridors of the beast, Rosie finds a hidden gateway and Zane opens it to reveal a snowy landscape. She stays behind as she feels it is the wrong way. As the others fall through a frozen lake into an icy tornado, she finds an elevator and meets them in the icy cavern covered in eyes and moments later Quinn arrives and reluctantly agrees to help them. As they head to Clementino, who chooses what is salvaged and what is destroyed in Xib’alb’a, she asks Quinn about aliens and the Maya, however she brushes off the questions. When they arrive they are sanitized and given new clothing to hide their human sent. The four are given old fast food employee uniforms and, when the others are given white sneakers, she keeps her red boots. They set out into the underworld.

When they reach a canyon filled with toxic gas, Quinn tells the others to be quiet and breathe only if necessary. She goes with Brooks while the Obisos go with Quinn. When they encourage winged Demon Runners the nawals take evasive maneuvers and hea to a mountain range. She is told the ei be meeting Ixtab and spurts out something about aliens when first meeting the goddess. They two then have a telepathic conversation and she learns Ixtab is not her mother and Ixtab learns of Zane’s call to other godborns. When Ixtab asks to speak with Zane alone, she leaves with the others.

An hour later Zane returns and asks Ren what she and Ixtab talked about, she hesitates and Itzel arrives with their new armor like clothing with her getting a yellow hooded sweatshirt and black track pants with white stripes on the sides. After Zane meets with Hurakan in The Empty, they explain Ixtab’s offer and they set out to find the goddess. The four wander through a battle field and find the Queen of Xib’alb’a on a cliff ledge. After the goddess leaves Quinn in charge of Zane’s Death Ceremony, he asks her what they talked about but she remains tight lipped. When Quinn tells them to jump into a waterfall, she goes with Hondo.

They end up at a wedding reception in San Miguel de Allende and Quinn informs them that despite spending ten hours in Xib’alb’a, only two passed in the lan of the living. Quinn takes them through a church to El Grito, the home of Fausto who will perform the death ceremony.

Appearance
Ren Santiago has short, dark brown hair that is cut into a choppy bob that seems as if it was cut by a razor. She has a thin face and striking cat like silver-blue eyes.

She first appears wearing pajamas, a hoodie and red boots. She changes into several outfits throughout The Fire Keeper, but still manages to keep her red boots, which she refers to as her lucky shoes.

Personality
Ren is an excitable, if very literal, person. She is thrilled to meet Zane, Rosie and especially Brooks and to go on a quest with them, despite the danger. She sort of hero worships Brooks, stating that she is "just like how you described." She takes things very literally. For example, corrected Hondo when he said to put in a 150% effort, stating that it is not possible to do more than a 100%, annoying him.

She is described as having absolutely no filter, saying exactly what is on her mind as soon as it comes to her. She also has a lack of social awareness, missing many social cues from Zane and the others throughout the story.

She has a special interest in aliens, willing to speak about it at any time with anyone who is willing to listen. According to her, she even runs a successful blog about it, Eyes in the Sky, and many people e-mail her about it, implying she is very knowledgeable on the subject.

Abilities

 * Chronokinesis As Pacific's daughter, as seen in The Fire Keeper, Ren has some effect on time and possibly some control over it.


 * Shadow Magic: Ren has a sort of, innate shadowy power that allows the things from her nightmares to manifest in real life.
 * Telepathy: As a godborn, Ren can telepathicly send her thoughts to other supernaturals as well as receive the thoughts of other supernaturals.

Etymology

 * Renata is the feminine given name of “Renatus”, a Latin given meaning “born again”.
 * Santiago is a Spanish and Portuguese surname meaning “Saint James”.

Trivia

 * Her birthday is either in late February or sometime in March.
 * Ren shares her surname with Paola Santiago, the protagonist of the Paola Santiago series by Tehlor Kay Mejia, another Rick Riordan Presents imprint series.
 * Ren is allergic to dust, having a sneezing fit if she is exposed to it.
 * Ren is the first known character in both the main literary universe and Rick Riordan Presents to have epilepsy.