Nova and Rishi ignore me. They’re like a pack of wild dogs barking at each other.
“I’ve known Alex for two years,” Rishi shouts at Nova. “She can trust me.”
“Clearly you didn’t know her very well if you didn’t know about her powers.”
They fall into some indecipherable shouting when an even louder sound stops us all. There’s a scream coming from deep within the caves, where they took the injured avianas.
“Hurry,” Lula says again, her voice fading. “You know what you have to do.”
“Lula?” Her name is an echo in the sparkling caves. I’m officially going crazy.
Behind me, Nova and Rishi are in each other’s faces. Rishi’s face is tilted up to him. She’s a rabid wolf. He’s a lion with an alpha complex. And they’re both idiots.
“Silentio.” I whisper the curse. Silence. My heart races from using that bit of magic. My lips are numb. I didn’t know I could do that.
They move their mouths, but nothing comes out. Rishi touches her throat and tries to scream, but only a whooshing gasp comes out. Nova punches the wall.
“Madra!” I shout. I call out her name until she flies up to our nest.
“What?” she asks impatiently.
“How are your girls?”
She flaps her bronze wings. Despite her stoic face, I can tell she’s worried. If it were my mom, she wouldn’t be able to sleep.
“What did you do to your companions?”
“I’m not sure,” I say honestly. “I just couldn’t think with their fighting. That’s not why I called you. I want to strike a bargain.”
“I don’t have time for bargains,” she says, turning to fly away.
“What if I can heal them?”
• • •
Madra takes me to the injured avianas. Three of the bird women are laid out on rock slabs. They shiver from head to talons, clutching flimsy blankets. One has blue lips. Her head is turned to the side, and her eyes are shut. Sweat and tears roll down her face.
“You have the healing gift?” Madra asks. She stands in the center of the room.
“I’m an encantrix,” I tell her.
She raises a single feathered eyebrow. Her dark eyes appraise me, like she’s seeing me in a new light.
“Finally, some truth to you.”
“I did tell you the truth. I’m here to rescue my family from the Devourer. I’m an encantrix. I will heal them, but you have to do something for me.”
Magical trade is all about technicalities, I recall Nova’s words.
“I assume you want your freedom?”
“I am not your prisoner, and neither is Rishi. We did nothing wrong. Nova was the thief, and you took back the gems. I’ll trade Jesla’s life for Nova’s.”
Madra doesn’t blink. “Why would you trade for such a man?”
“That is my business.”
“Very well. And the other two?”
“You will tell us the safest path to the labyrinth.” I’m starting to sweat under her steady gaze.
“That I cannot promise. These lands change as power changes. Lands that were safe could be under the Devourer’s control. There is much we cannot see from within the caves.”
“Then you’ll look at our map and update it. Even you must know the terrain from your hunts.”
“Hadrigal’s life for the map,” Madra says. “What will you ask for the third?”
“Nothing,” I say. “I will heal her because it’s the right thing to do.”
Madra bows her head to me and walks out. “If you should need me, just call.”
I’ve seen my mother and Lula heal a thousand times. I take Jesla’s hand in mine. Her wings are a deep blue, like the sky before night falls. She’s mostly in her bird form, though her eyes are still very human. A sickly green film clings to their lashes, and her breath is ragged wheezing when I press my hand to her chest. Her pulse is weak.
“What did you get yourself into?” I ask myself. I wish Lula were here. She’d know what to do in a second. She never hesitates when I’m hurt.
My mom likes to say that belief has to be unyielding. Part of what makes magic so powerful is that the bruja believes in her canto. She believes in what she’s trying to do.
“You’re really deep in it now,” Lula says.
I jolt back as my sister appears beside me. I reach for her, but she’s not like Aunt Rosaria’s haunting spirit or the damned of the Luxaria. She’s a flicker, like a screen projection.
“You’re really here.”
“Don’t touch my apparition,” she snaps, sassing me with a roll of her eyes. The rude gesture fills me with so much feeling that I want nothing more than to hug her.
“Are you…” I can’t bring myself to finish the sentence.
“Alive? Yes, no thanks to you.” She looks behind her like she’s afraid to get caught. It’s just the three avianas and us. “At least you figured out a way to come after us. You don’t hate your family that much after all.”
“I don’t hate you.” The shame I’ve felt since I performed the canto returns. How can I face them all again?
“You don’t love us.” Lula points her finger at my chest. The anger that marks my beautiful sister’s face breaks my heart over and over. “How could you after what you did?”
“I’m trying to get you back. I’m so sorry.”
Lula turns her attention to the right, looks at someone I cannot see. She sucks her teeth. “Fine, I’ll leave her alone.”
“Who are you talking to?”
“Ma, that’s who. Typical, you send your whole family, living and dead, to a next-level realm, and she still forgives you.”
“She does?”
“I won’t,” she says. “I’m never going to. Especially if you don’t hurry up and fix this mess.”
“If you haven’t noticed, I’m a little busy trying to figure out how to heal.”
“I’m the one who put the idea in that thick head of yours.” Her face brightens with a mischievous smile—typical Lula, so clever. “You’re a difficult one to reach. Rose’s been trying her best to help us connect with you, but it’s like you don’t want to be found. You’re impossible.”
“I get it. I’m scum.”
“Lower than scum.”
“Lula, please. I told Madra I could do this, but I don’t know how.”
Lula sighs, resigning herself to being my spiritual guide. Even she places her hand on my face. Her hand is warm and goes right through me.
“When you use your power, what’s the first thing that comes to mind?”
I think about the first time my powers manifested. I was afraid when Miluna attacked me. I was angry when I conjured the snake. Then there’s fear. Fear that made me fight back against the maloscuros, that made me fly across the River Luxaria.
“Fear,” I tell her. “Anger.”
“That’s usually the key to physical powers.” She walks around the room, holding her hands over Jesla’s shivering body. “Healing is different.”
I wipe the sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand. “I’m having a bit of a hard time finding my Zen, if that’s where you’re going.”
“Healing isn’t just about being calm.” She’s made a full lap around the room and returns to me, hovering her palm over my chest. It makes the pain from my scars subside. “What did you feel every time I’ve mended your bones or cuts?”
“Warmth.”
“That’s love, Alex. That’s the love I have for you. Replace the anger and fear and just think about the person you’re trying to heal. You’re an encantrix. You can channel all the gifts from the Deos. They’re right at your fingertips. You have to stop being afraid of yourself.”
“What if I can’t do that? What if I just keep being afraid?”
“I’m scared too.
You don’t know what it’s like here. We’re trapped, and there’s nowhere to go. It takes so much energy to project myself to you, but you need to know we’re counting on you. We know you’re going to do everything you can to come get us. You don’t know how strong you are.”
I press my hand on Jesla’s chest. Her pulse is a whisper. I can fill myself with love, right? People do it all the time. Mom and Lula do, so why is it so hard for me? When I close my eyes, I see the maloscuros. I see the bloody parakeet in my hands. I see everyone I love lying in a heap, just dead bodies.
“Sh,” Lula whispers in my ear. “Don’t do that. Remember the times Dad took us to Coney?”
I shake my head. “I don’t want to think about Dad.”
“Well you have to, okay? Because we loved him once, and he loved us too. Remember, Alex. He’d take us every Sunday night to the boardwalk. We’d fill up on corn dogs and popcorn until we were too full to walk and we’d just lay there on the beach watching the sun set.”
“I remember.” Sometimes it’s hard to find the good memories.
“It’s love, Alex. Love is you jumping through a portal despite your own safety. Love is Mom singing in the car and Rose making tea when we’re sick and even us fighting because we’re blood, and no matter what you do, I’ll never forget that you are my sister.”
I let the magic uncoil from the pit of my stomach and flow through me. It’s different than the other times. Brighter and stronger. It leaves me in a flood, connecting to Jesla. Her eyes snap open, and she gasps for air. Her back arcs, like there’s something inside her fighting against my magic. I move my hand over the claw marks from the saberskins. They’ve been cleaned, but they’re still bleeding. I focus on the brilliant light that links me to the aviana, my magic embracing her, calling her back from the darkness. When I feel her heartbeat kick up to a normal rate, I let go.
“Easy,” Lula says. “The recoil is going to kick in soon. Move on to the next. You can do it.”
My mind spins. I try to grab Lula’s hand, but I forget she’s only a projection of herself.
“Don’t go there,” she tells me. “Not yet.”
There are white spots in my vision as I stumble to Hadrigal. Her black wings hang over the sides of the stone slab. Her eyes roll to the back of her head. I can feel her fading quickly, so I press my hands over her heart and send a shock right into its center. I can hear Lula cheering me on, telling me it’s working. I can feel my healing energy flooding Hadrigal, returning the color to her cheeks, mending the cuts over her chest until she has the same pearly scars I do.
I fall on my knees, my head spinning like a carousel.
“Come on, Alex,” Lula says. “One more. You’re a natural, don’t you see? Way better than I ever could be.”
I choke on a laugh. “Am I dying or something? You’re being really nice.”
“I can’t hold on, Ale. Hurry.”
“Lula?” It’s hard to breath. She looks over her shoulder, her apparition getting weaker.
“Oh no… It’s coming back.”
“Is it the Devourer? I’m going to kill it.”
Lula erupts in an earsplitting scream.
“Lula!” I reach for her but I grab air.
She’s gone.
I crawl on my knees to the next table. I lower my ear to the aviana’s open beak. The breath is as faint as mine, but I have to find a way. I repeat Lula’s words. That’s the love I have for you.
Love is Lula. Love is my mom. Love is Rose. Love is in this power that I never asked for but courses through my veins like the blood of my ancestors.
When I hear the sharp intake of the aviana, I let go. All three of them are awake.
I fall on my face. I’m not ready for the recoil, but I brace myself. I shut my eyes and think of my family.
“I wish you could see me now.”
20
All roads lead to the labyrinth.
—from the journal of Rosaria Vargas
When I wake, I feel like I’ve slept for a hundred years. Rishi sleeps in the fetal position atop a pile of leaves, and Nova sits beside me. We’re back in the nest.
“It’s funny,” I tell Nova, “having to remind myself that this isn’t a dream.”
He nods but doesn’t look at me. He leans his head back against the cool wall, watching the avianas in their bird form, flying around the statue of El Cielo.
“You could have died,” he says.
“You told me an encantrix can do anything.”
He looks off to the side, avoiding my eyes. “Experienced ones. Not ones who barely know how to control their power.”
“I had to do something to save your skin. A simple thank-you would be nice.” I sit up and stretch the stiffness out of my body. I’m covered in tender bruises, but it was worth it to know that my family is safe. For now. “Madra’s going to help us with the map. Let’s get our things and keep going.”
I stand to walk past him, but he takes my hand in his. He stands, towering over me. He brushes my tangled hair back and cups my face. His eyes are greener in this firelight.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers.
I shake my head. “Why’d you do it, Nova?”
He starts to smile. I bet he can’t help it. I bet his smile gets him out of and into all sorts of trouble.
“You and me?” he says. “We come from different worlds. I have nothing to my name.”
“What about your grandma?”
He shrugs dismissively. “I’m just another mouth to feed.”
“That can’t be true.”
His hands slide down from my cheeks to my neck. I wonder if he can feel my heart racing.
“Not everyone’s got a family they’d die for,” he says. “If I thought it’d get you in trouble, I would’ve thought twice about stealing. Okay?”
“I can’t get all righteous on you,” I say, “though I’d just like to point out that you’re the one who told me not to touch anything.”
Eye roll. “We cool?”
Rishi clears her throat. She’s leaning on the wall opposite us. How long has she been standing there without me noticing?
“Let’s get this donkey show on the road,” she says.
“I think you mean dog and pony show,” Nova says.
Rishi looks him up and down. I guess they’ve stopped yelling at each other, but that doesn’t mean they’ve called a truce. “Since you’re here, I’m pretty sure I mean donkey.”
• • •
We say good-bye to the avianas, leaving them two-thirds of our food supplies. Madra walks us to a tunnel that leads out of the caves. It smells dank and is lit by torches.
“I do not think it is wise to journey to the labyrinth,” Madra tells me. “But I honor your loyalty to your family, Alejandra Mortiz. I will take a look at your map.”
I unfold the map for her to see. Her hawk eyes follow the ink rendering of Los Lagos.
“The opening to this cave is on the map,” I say, “but if you hadn’t come to our rescue, we’d never have found it.”
“Many witches and humans alike have come to these lands. Some seek to steal its treasures. Others seek to make deadly pacts with the Devourer—the desperate searching for their dead. We used to offer passage to those who landed on this side of Los Lagos, but we closed the caves off long ago.”
“What changed?”
“The Devourer’s strength grows every eclipse. My kin and I attempted to band with the other tribes this side of the labyrinth. Our loss was nearly total. The Forests of Lights were burned to the ground. Now they are wastelands. The desert land of Bone Valle was created from an old witch village during the first rebellion.”
“First?” I ask. “There’s been more than one?”
Madra nods somberly. “You ask why we do not join you. We have lost everything to the Devourer. All we
can do is try to stay alive. Even now, the dead earth of Bone Valle encroaches on our territory as the Devourer feeds off the Tree of Souls.”
“That’s horrible,” Rishi says.
“What if the Devourer could no longer feed off the tree?” I ask.
“That is a question that has cost thousands of lives.” Madra looks to Rishi with motherly love, then to me with her usual stoic face. “I do not have to remind you she is at the most risk.”
“I get it,” Rishi says. “I’m human, blah, blah.”
“Your disregard for the dangers of this land tells me you do not, as you say, get it. But your path is your own to take.”
“Hold up,” Nova says, making a T with his hands. “If we take the fork on the right, that means we end up at the Forest of Lights. You said that was burned to a crisp.”
“Yes. The Devourer won’t chase after you in a wasteland.”
Nova looks unsure.
“You asked for my advice, and I am giving it to you. Follow this tunnel to the other side of the caves. The path leads to the fork in the road. Keep to the right path through the Wastelands del Este and to the mountain pass. Be wary. Your presence here is known. Servants of the Devourer roam the land and report any strangers they see.”
“The maloscuros,” I say.
“Among other beasts,” Madra says. “The saberskins, the giants guarding the labyrinth, and sea monsters swim in Mar del Fin. Travel swiftly and look twice at anyone or anything. Los Lagos is a fluid land, and so are its inhabitants.”
I feel like I’m walking myself off a plank. A chorus of off-key caws mark our final good-bye.
“Remember.” Madra’s deep voice follows me and echoes against stone. “At the fork in the road, keep to the right path. The Devourer does not free the power she takes. Be careful you are not caught by her shadows.”
I find myself turning to Nova, who starts to lead us into the tunnel. And I think to myself, It’s a good thing I’ve got a boy made of light.
21
In the woods, I found the love de mis amores.
He was there at the end de mis dolores.
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