bit… I was offering my power to Lady de la Muerte.”
Nova shakes his head. “How many cantos have you done in your whole
life?”
“This is my first,” I whisper.
“Thought so.”
“Can you not? Just tell me they’re alive. Where did they go? They
can’t just have vanished into thin air.”
“Technically, they did,” he says roughly. He flips through the
pages of the Book of Cantos until he lands on a map that spans two
pages. “But they also went somewhere. This is Los Lagos.”
“How do you know that’s where they are?”
“Look at the burn marks on the floor.”
“Feathers.” Feathers, feathers, everywhere. They flutter in
defeated little tufts. They’re burned into the floor and walls.
“Look where you were sitting in the circle.”
I try to look beyond my parakeet’s severed head and am thankful
that there aren’t any human body parts. I bend down and touch the
burned marks of a craggy tree, just like the one painted on the back
room door of Lady’s shop. It’s the symbol for Los Lagos, an in-between
world I know nothing about except for bedtime stories of lost souls
and fantastical lands.
“My grandma says that’s where souls go to wait their passing, but
there are also creatures that live there, banished from the Earth by
the Deos.”
“ Tell me they’re alive,” I whisper.
Nova hesitates to speak. He sighs. “I’m not going to lie. There’s
a chance that they’re alive.”
“Chance?” My legs feel like jelly. I have to sit again.
“Well, if only their souls had gone, we’d be surrounded by
corpses.”
“A chance is all I need.” I look to Nova, who traces the pages of
the map. “Are you sure?”
“Our people don’t have many other dimensions. There’s the Kingdom
of the Deos, which is our version of the Greek’s Olympus, but I always
figured that’s a fairy tale.”
“Oh that’s a fairy tale,” I say.
“The other alternative is that they’re just gone, princess.”
Los Lagos. Spirits and monsters and other realms. If there’s a
chance of saving my family, no matter how small, I have to take it.
“How do we get there?”
He cocks an eyebrow. “We?”
“You have to help me,” I say, putting my hands on my hips and
puffing out my chest. Very intimidating.
“Let’s say I help you.” He leans in closer to me, and now it’s my
turn to move back. “What do I get in return?”
“What do you get ?”
“Yeah, what do I get? In case you hadn’t noticed, everything in
life, this one, the next, and the unseen-they all have a price.”
I spit at the ground where he sits, and he chuckles. “You’re
disgusting.”
“I like you, Alex,” he tells me. He stands, and I follow. “You’re
difficult to like, you know that? But I do. You have a spark. Los
Lagos isn’t somewhere you just go unless it’s life or death, and a
brujo’s got to eat. Don’t take too long to think about it. The longer
they’re gone, the harder it’ll be to get them back. That’s just common
sense.”
My power crackles on my skin. I level my eyes to his. “I could
make you.”
Make him , whispers a little voice in my head.
“We both know you can’t control your magic enough to make me do
much.” But when he can’t hold my stare, I know that he’s afraid. Maybe
not of me, but of my power.
I hold my hands out at him. Nova steps back and readies his own. I
want to break. I want to burn up with the anger I feel toward myself.
I want to hurt him. Except…nothing happens.
Nova chuckles to prove his point.
“I hate you,” I say.
“Join the club,” he says.
What does a boy like Nova want? His arms are covered in tattoos.
His blue shirt is new, but his jeans and shoes are worn to shreds.
Other than his earrings, all the jewelry he wears is his blue prex.
“How much?” I ask.
“How much do you have?” His voice is flat. I’d expected him to be
more eager.
I think of the money in my savings account. I know very well that
my mom won’t be able to afford college for three girls, no matter how
much she prays to La Fortuna. I guess…no one will be going anywhere if
I don’t get them back.
“I have five thousand saved up.”
“You don’t know who Los Lagos belongs to. It’s not a walk in the
park. And if I’m going to be risking this pretty face…”
I curse at him. “What are you talking about? The land can’t belong
to anyone. It belongs to the Deos.”
Any trace of smile vanishes from his face. “Sure, the gods created
Los Lagos. But my gran tells this story of a creature who took over.
It lives right at the heart of the land, where the Tree of Souls is.
You saw it in the portal. The creature that you said tried to take
you.”
My heart is like a hummingbird in my chest. “What is it?”
“They call her the Devourer.”
“I’m guessing she’s not a unicorn princess.”
He puffs out a laugh and looks to the sky, like he’s asking for
patience. Then he sets his intense eyes on me and I don’t dare look
away. It feels like the most important staring contest of my life.
“You were willing to risk your power to have freedom,” he tells
me. “Instead, you banished your family to another dimension. You owe
them your life, but I don’t owe them mine.”
I can’t stand to look at him, so I turn around. “My mom could give
you more. She has some jewelry. Look around you. That’s everything.
That’s all we’ve got.”
He doesn’t try to haggle, just stands behind me. Why am I so
surprised? A guy like Nova is no good. Didn’t Mayi say he’d been
locked up? How could I even think he’d just help me? He doesn’t owe me
anything. He’s right. I owe my family my life. I owe them everything I
am.
“You’ve got yourself a deal,” he says after a long silence. “I’ll
get you into Los Lagos. I’ll take you to your family. But after that,
you’re on your own.”
“No. You don’t get a dime unless we make it back safely.” I turn
around to face him.
I hold out my hand. Nova takes it. The light he conjures hits me
in the gut, but I push back with my own. It’s the release I’ve been
looking for. I can feel his arm shake as I hold it, but he won’t let
go either.
“Deal.”
12
Drunk with their magics, brujas thought themselves as high as the
Deos.
So the Deos slowly took away their powers,
leaving the brujas barely above humans.
Except the encantrix. The encantrix is always Chosen.
- The Creation of Witches, Antonietta Mortiz de la Paz
While Nova runs off to gather an ingredient to create the portal,
I shower and pour peroxide on my cuts. I could try to heal them, but I
choose not to. I don’t deserve it. I change into a black shirt and
black jeans. I turn my backpack upside down and shake the contents
onto the floor.
In the pantry, I grab a couple of bread loaves, apples, a jar of
peanut butter, a dozen protein bars, and six water bottles. I start to
think about how empty the house feels. That it hasn’t been an hour and
I miss Lula’s teasing. I miss finding Rose in different corners of the
house, reading her books. I miss the smell of my mother’s midnight
teas. Their absence is a punch in the gut, and it’s hard to breathe.
There’s a noise coming from the front of the house. Nova’s back.
He runs in and shuts the door behind him. His shirt is speckled with
raindrops.
“What is that?” I motion to the shoe box rattling in his hands.