ready to blow him a kiss.
“I heard he did three years in juvie,” Emma says.
“I heard his parents were into some really bad juju,” Mayi says.
Her dark skin is like polished stone. Her long, dark hair comes down
to her tiny waist. “That’s why he lives with his grandma.”
“You guys are holding out on me,” Lula tells them.
Mayi turns to Lula. She hesitates, then says, “Want me to glamour
your scars?”
Lula looks startled for a moment. She unhooks herself from Emma’s
arm, reaches for her veil, and adjusts it.
“No,” Lula says. “But you might want to go to the bathroom. Your
real nose is starting to show.”
Nova looks over to where we’re all staring at him. The girls all
turn around quickly, except me. He smiles and licks his lips. A
no-good kind of lick that says, I’m going to get you .
“Oh hey, Alex,” Emma says, as if only just noticing me. “Happy
early birthday.”
“Are you ready to accept our Circle invitation?” Mayi asks.
“I think I’d rather clip Crazy Uncle Julio’s toenails,” I say as
the front door opens again. “More people. I’d better go say hi.”
Lula runs after me and pulls me into the corner near the stairs.
She stares at the center of my forehead. “Are you going to be like
this the whole time?”
“ What? ” I drop my voice to a whisper.
“Can you at least try to have fun?”
“We’ve never gotten along. Magic isn’t going to change that.”
Lula shakes her head. “You’re just mad you can’t go to that stupid
party with Rishi.”
“And you’re mad at me because of the maloscuro.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to. You won’t even look me in the eye. You wanted
us all to have our powers. Now look. We do. Maybe you want to spend
the rest of your life hiding from monsters and watching the people you
love die, but I don’t.”
She meets my eyes to prove a point, but only for a second. Her
stormy-gray eyes flick to the side. “You’re hopeless.”
She leaves me for her Circle, and I stand alone against the wall.
Old Samuel starts off with a song that has everyone dancing. The only
good thing about this party is that I can hear my mother laughing.
That alone is worth it.
I send Rishi a text.
Me: Change of plans. Family thing is ending early. Meet you at
ten? Can I still be your date?
Rishi: Maybe.
Me: Rishi…I’m sorry.
Rishi: Just kidding. I can’t stay mad at you for long. See you.
I find myself smiling for the first time today. Something like
hope fills my chest.
When I turn around to find the bathroom, Nova’s standing there
holding two cups of fizzy, red punch.
“You’re here.” Dear Alex, please stop being so awkward.
“Brooklyn’s best delivery boy, at your service.” He smirks. His
skin is so smooth. I wonder how often he moisturizes.
I take the drink he offers and smell it. Lady’s special blend of
fizzy sangria. Her secret is rose petals. She says nothing coats the
senses quite like roses do. I should have worn roses in my hair.
Over in the living room, the girls from Lula’s circle are dancing
to the drums and Spanish guitar of Old Samuel and his band. Their
hands twist in the air, like they’re calling a forth a spirit. But
this is only dancing. Except for Mayi, the show-off.
She spins in place, her skirt swishing around her dainty feet.
Soft candlelight adds a glow to her brown skin. I want to hate it, but
instead, I love the way it flows, the way her glamour magic makes us
see things that aren’t there, like the rain of flower petals that fall
to the floor. My guests ooh and aah at her. They reach for the petals
and their hands go through them. Just a trick of the light.
“You know, an encantrix has the ability to channel any kind of
power,” Nova says so close to my ear that it tickles. He smells like
rain hugging the new green of spring. “You can do that too.”
“I can’t.” Despite the roses in the drink, something inside of me
is restless. The raven feather wedged in my bra pokes me. I remember
the hideous face of the maloscuro. I shut my eyes, pushing down the
surge of magic that burns the palms of my hands.
I run to the kitchen and close the door behind me. There’s a draft
coming from the boarded-up windows. I pace around the kitchen table.
My dress feels too tight. The skin over my rib cage itches. When the
door opens and Nova walks in, I jump. A spark of magic slips from my
hold and the light bulb above us pops.
“Are you still planning on doing the thing we talked about?” he
asks, looking over his shoulder.
“Are you going to talk me out of it?” While my eyes adjust to the
dark, I fumble toward the cabinets for a spare light bulb.
“That’s not my place. I already told you that you might not like
the recoil.”
“Then why are you here?”
I walk past him, trying to ignore the way my senses flare when I’m
around him. I stand on the chair under the broken light. I try to
unscrew the glass cover, but the knob is too tight.
“Free food, good music, cute girls. Gatherings are few and far
between nowadays. Everyone acts like Deathdays are only big parties.
But they’re more than that. They’re about getting the blessing and
connecting with the Old Ones.”
“You’re wrong. Deathdays are about sacrifice and blood and binding
yourself to a power that destroys.”
He reaches for my hand. I pull away. “It’s supposed to get
better.”
“How old are you?” I ask. The blown-out light bulb is stuck in
there.
“Seventeen. Why?”
“Because I don’t need someone my own age telling me that life gets
better.”
He’s quiet for a little while. Out in the living room, the music
gets louder, all drums and horns and wailing voices.
“I think I’ve lived enough for about two lifetimes.” He sounds so
worn when he says that. But he recovers his charm quickly. “I hope in
the next one I come back as a billionaire playboy.”
“The way the Deos work, you might come back as the billionaire
playboy’s toothbrush.” I grunt, trying to twist the bulb, but it won’t
budge.
“Don’t be stubborn,” he tells me. “Let me help.”
“I’ve got it.”
He drags a second chair beside me and hops on it.
“What are you doing?”
My eyes have adjusted enough that the light from the living room
lets me see the outline of his face. His cheekbones are perfect. His
eyes are on the green side of the spectrum now. I can see myself in
them.
And then the light comes on.
Nova pinches the air with his black-inked fingers. A soft, white
light flows from his fingertips and fills the room. I can feel its
warmth along my skin, brushing against my own magic.
“Oh,” I say.
“Oh,” he says playfully.
I want to ask him how he did that. How do you control something
that is living inside of you, like a parasite, a virus? Like this
growing thing that has attached itself to me without asking my
permission.
“Come back to the party, Alex.”
“Why can’t everyone just leave me in peace?”
It’s a hypothetical question, but in truth, I want an answer. A
real, true answer.
“You’re a brat, you know that?”
“Excuse me?”
His blue-green eyes are brilliant in the shadows. He doesn’t even
blink. “I always hated kids like you growing up.”
“Kids like me?”
“You have everything. A mom that busts her ass for you. All the
gifts of the Deos at your disposal. Look at all the people here for