Tinta y Fideo nod in unison.
“Looked like they were docking by La Espiral,” says Tiago. “We can’t risk them hearing the slightest sound in the woods, so our safest bet is to cut across the volcano to the other side of the island, then climb down from there.”
“But we’ll need to cut back across on the ground to get to the ship,” complains Zaybet. “Where we’re most exposed.”
“Not if I bring the ship around to you,” says Laura.
“No.” Zaybet shakes her head.
“They would hear all of us moving through the woods, but not one of us. Alone, I won’t be noticed. I’ll be stealthy. Besides, I control fire—trust me, if this island goes, I’ll be the last one left standing.”
“I’ll be her eyes and ears,” says Enzo, and he looks at Laura to see how she’ll react. Instead of telling him off for his chivalry, she nods, and his chest puffs out with the charge. “I’d only slow you down anyway, since you’re covering twice the ground,” he tells Zaybet. “Laura and I will have to move carefully, and that’s better. I can listen closely.”
Zaybet looks like she wants to argue. Instead, she says, “You’ll come pick us up on the other side of the island.”
“Here’s where you can meet us,” says Tiago. While he confers with them to explain, I approach Nuni.
“Do you want to come with us?”
She shakes her head. “My presence will lend this gathering more credibility as a quirky, rich, young Septimus fad. Plus, I’ve got the right potions to bribe the Cazadores if it comes to that.”
“Once they’re gone, we’ll send word through el Hongo so you can return,” says Fideo.
“We’re still a few Septimus short—”
“Let’s worry about that problem after we solve this one,” he says to Zaybet in exasperation. “Now hurry! And be quiet—we shouldn’t risk talking anymore.”
We nod and turn to go, but suddenly Tinta whispers, “Wait!”
My heart freezes, and I expect to see the Cazadores ambushing us. Instead, he strides up to Zaybet, grabs her face, and gives her the kind of kiss I’ve only seen in movies.
When they pull apart, she looks like she’s going to speak, but he presses his finger to her mouth, a reminder of his brother’s instruction.
Laura has to tug on Zaybet’s arm to get her moving.
The seven of us dart into the dead settlement, across the barren crater and onto the sea of dried magma stone with wavy designs. I hear our friends making noise at the campsite to draw the Cazadores to them, buying us an escape window.
The marching of footsteps grows more pronounced, like the Cazadores just picked up their location. They probably would’ve smelled them out anyway. At least this way it will seem like the “lunáticos” have nothing to hide.
Laura and Enzo signal that they’re going to enter the woods, and Zaybet pulls each of them in for a hug. An aura of white steam haloes the brujas as they embrace, and when they pull apart, their eyes shine bright with their power. Fire and ice. Then the five of us run across the flat stone, our steps muffled by the dirt.
We’re heading to the precipice where Tiago and I spotted the Cazadores, only this time we’re picking our way through the devastated manada. As we step over whorls of lava stone, it feels like we’re racing across the back of a fiery monster that could awaken any moment.
The ground grows more knotted, and the air starts to feel balmier. Red flickers in the fringe of my vision, like embers caught beneath the earth, but each time I focus on a spot, the stone is as dark as ash. Without Laura, we don’t have a fire conduit to control the element if it gets out of hand.
As the night grows darker, our eyes start to glow like colorful stars.
Cata slows down, and I link my elbow with hers to pull her along. At last I spy the twisted formation I saw with Tiago earlier. The precipice is just on the other side.
When we reach it, Tiago and I can look down to keep an eye out for La Espiral. Once Laura signals us it’s safe, we’ll come down.
“We’re almost to the lookout point,” I say in a soft voice to encourage them as we round the corner. “Right over—”
“What’d I tell you?”
The husky voice is like a paralyzing agent for my bones, and I stop speaking, moving, breathing, as I come upon an Encendedora flanked by a pair of lobizones.
“These four are always a step ahead,” says Yamila, oxygen burning from her stare. “Were,” she corrects herself, bloodred eyes aflame.
“Nicely done,” says her brother.
He stares at Saysa in a way that makes me want to stand between them, and Tiago edges closer to his sister, hands curled into fists.
“Looks like the student just beat the master, Tío,” says Nacho, reaching around Yamila to punch another lobizón on the arm.
My father blinks his coral-colored eyes and finally looks away from me.
He strides up to Cata, his supposed only relation here, and hugs her. “¿Cómo estás?” he asks, and jealousy pumps in my chest, even though I know he can’t hug me without giving himself away.
“Looks like you’ve picked up a fifth,” says Yamila, sizing up Zaybet. They’re the same height. “Who are you?”
“A journalist. By law, reporters are neutral bystanders who can’t be prosecuted for observing without interfering.”
“This is kind of an extreme situation, don’t you think?” Yamila cocks her head, her voice a purr. She’s enjoying this. It’s probably the best day of her fucking life.
“Law still applies.”
“Going to need to see those credentials.”
“I left everything back home when I went on the run.”
Zaybet may be a resourceful arguer, but Yamila won’t play with her food for long. We need a plan—a way out.
I look at my father, who’s still next to Cata. He’s watching me, his expression hollow. There are purple bags under his eyes, and his whites are webbed with red, like he hasn’t been sleeping. He looks like he’s running on fumes. Between protecting Ma and keeping his cover with the Cazadores—plus worrying for me—he doesn’t seem to be coping well.
“How’d you find us?” I ask Yamila to buy us time to think.
Her gaze goes to Saysa, whose eyes widen with recognition. “I’m actually surprised you came here, considering Saysa’s source.”
“This place was my idea,” says Zaybet.
“Remember that day?” Yamila asks Saysa, ignoring Zaybet. “We’d been drinking the flowers in Lunaris, and I was listing off all the abandoned places I wanted to explore when I became a Cazadora. You were too young, couldn’t handle your drink, and you passed out somewhere in the middle. Wasn’t sure you’d remember this island since most Septimus don’t like to look on scorched earth. They think what’s burned is dead. They forget fire renews.”
Nacho pulls out what looks like a piece of rope from his pocket. “So, Tío? You thought they’d be somewhere sketchy like Kukú, trying to pay for special passage to Lunaris, but Yamila was right.”
“Leave Tío alone,” she says. “Even when he disagreed, he never abandoned us.”
I don’t understand why they keep referring to Gael as their uncle. Cata would have told me if we were related to this pair.
My father puts an arm around Yamila, and either he’s the world’s best actor, or he really does care for her. “I would never abandon you.”
I can hardly breathe. “Y-you know each other?”
“He’s the reason I applied to the academy in El Laberinto,” says Yamila, relishing the effect her words are having. “He and my dad served as Cazadores together. Your teacher is my family.”
As I stare at her and Nacho, I remember the news story from el Hongo. A pair of kids clutched their mom’s skirt at their father’s funeral. He had been a young Cazador, with auburn hair and kind eyes.
Their father is the officer who died in the Fierro uprisings.
“Shocked to see your teacher betraying you?” Nacho taunts me. “Im
agine how you’d feel if your sister’s friend tried to kill you.”
The four of us edge closer to Saysa. Gael’s brow sets in a hard line, and I worry he’s about to blow his cover.
“I was hoping I’d find you alone,” says Yamila to me. “Tío Gael has been preaching mercy, but I gotta be honest, I don’t know that I have it in me.”
She’s close enough that I can feel the heat rolling off her skin—the mound of magma we’re standing on is a power source for Yamila. She isn’t afraid of losing this time because we aren’t any match for her here.
When she’s close enough to breathe on, her voice melts into something intimate. “I wonder what would happen if I torched you in front of them.”
We’re both thinking of when we last came up against each other in Lunaris.
“Would you burn?”
Her eyes light up like wildfires in the night, and before she can expose me, I leap back and transform. My body screams in pain as my skeleton reconfigures, and I hear the guys around me start to shift too.
“Sorry, ladies,” says Yamila, as I lift my fanged face to a wall of flames, blocking off Saysa, Cata, and Zaybet. “Looks like you’re still sidelined.”
The fire illuminates the dark air, and Nacho and Gael stare down Tiago and me. Nacho’s wolf form is almost as large as Javier and seven times more menacing.
“You’re under arrest,” says Yamila. “You can fight us if you want”—the blaze in her eyes brightens—“but I wouldn’t recommend it.”
We need to run!
Gael’s voice breaks into my head. His desperate tone is at odds with his glower, as he and Nacho take threatening steps forward. He’s holding a rope like Nacho’s, and his coral gaze is cold. The only sign of his turmoil is the sweat beading on his forehead.
We’ll get your mom and keep going.
Tiago jabs his elbow into Nacho’s chest right as the Cazador reaches out to bind his wrists, and they start swinging punches. To keep Yamila from registering Gael’s delay, I swipe at him, and he only dodges at the last instant.
I don’t want to live my life that way, I say as we spar.
Doesn’t matter—you can’t stay! Gael lunges for me, and I twist away.
“Don’t be such a Gaucho, Tío, and get her already!” shouts Yamila, as Tiago and Nacho crash to the floor, wrestling.
I’ll arrest you, then tonight we’ll break out, says Gael.
What about my friends?
They’ll be fine. They’re all promising Septimus who got carried away—the tribunal won’t punish them.
Nacho howls in pain as Tiago stabs his arm with his claws, and now it looks like we’re winning, since Gael hasn’t engaged.
The wall of fire goes out, and the brujas are back in view. Then Saysa screams and drops to her knees as flames ignite in her hands.
Zaybet’s eyes flash, and ice forms around Saysa’s skin, snuffing out the fire. Tiago howls for his sister, his voice rife with pain, and as he turns toward her, Nacho digs his claws into Tiago’s side.
When Tiago cries out, I feel a fury like I’ve never known before. Without thinking, I leap onto Nacho’s back and sink my fangs into his neck.
I’m repulsed by the hot, salty taste of his hairy skin, but it’s worth it to hear his yelp. Then Gael is pulling me off Nacho, and Tiago is on his feet again, and Yamila’s eyes are explosive.
I want her to direct her fury at me, but now she knows where she can inflict the most damage.
Her magic is instantaneous.
There’s no way Tiago or I could reach Saysa in time.
Cata’s pink eyes flash, and I just barely spy the silver outline of a force field—it forms so suddenly around Saysa that Yamila’s blast of heat bounces off the barrier and detonates on the ground like a bomb.
A splash of scorching lava bursts into the blackening air, and Zaybet freezes it before it lands on the ground.
There’s a strange foghorn sound coming from somewhere beneath us, and then the earth begins to tremble. I look at Saysa, but her eyes aren’t alight. The tremor isn’t magical.
It’s the volcano.
Terror constricts my chest as the quivering intensifies into a quaking. Gaps in the whorls of stone beneath us light up red, like the monster inside this island is awakening.
“Do something, unless you want to kill us all!” Cata demands of Yamila, but the latter’s eyes are already glowing, like she’s trying.
“I can’t control it!”
Yamila sounds frightened for the first time.
The four of us wolves transform back to human-sized, our other form consuming too much energy. Magma starts seeping up to the surface, and we’re all jumping to avoid contact.
Zaybet tries freezing the ground, but the lava keeps burning through her ice.
“We have to run!” shouts Saysa, and we charge at the trees. Nacho takes his sister’s hand, and Gael holds mine in a viselike grip.
Tiago is pulling Saysa and Cata forward, while Zaybet runs alongside us, protecting everyone by keeping watch for volleys of fire. Her metallic eyes flare each time lava approaches us, frosting it over.
The forest is in view, puffing black smoke, like trees are burning. Tiago is in the lead with Cata and Saysa when the ground begins to break apart.
Ice spreads through the fissures as Zaybet seals each crevice, trying to keep the island from cracking open. But she’s pulling on too much magic.
“Let me try!” Yamila’s eyes are as aglow as the lava, and blood begins to trickle down her nose. But instead of stabilizing, the fracture lines only deepen.
“You’re making it worse!” Zaybet’s voice is so weak that I pull away from Gael.
“Channel my energy!” I call out, running to her—
A massive explosion rocks this whole side of the island. A wave of lava geysers from the volcano’s opening, and I scream when I see where it’s going to land.
Tiago only has time to shove Cata and Saysa to the ground and throw his body on top of them as a shield before the killer wave crashes down—
Zaybet freezes the lava inches above Tiago’s body.
None of us moves for an eternal moment. In the midst of the chaos, we stare in disbelief at the red tidal wave.
It looks like it’s been crystalized by the moonlight.
“That’s twice now,” says Saysa with a nervous laugh, once she’s on her feet.
The Congeladora flashes her feral grin. “Remember that next—”
The ground Zaybet’s standing on cracks, and her eyes illuminate as it ices over. But the frost melts almost the instant she freezes it. The volcano is becoming too powerful for a single water witch to control.
A fracture line between Zaybet and us begins to expand, and Tiago and Gael sprint toward her. I leap forward too.
Zaybet runs ahead, but she’s losing steam. She nearly falls into the widening fissure, but a strong wind from Cata blows her back.
“Hold on!” calls Tiago. He’s about to leap across to Zaybet’s side when she lets out a bloodcurdling scream.
The ground beneath her feet has burned completely to lava—
And she’s swallowed by the magma monster below.
25
Time hangs suspended, and even breathing is excruciating. Then a silver light flashes from where Zaybet fell—
The ground cracks beneath us, like we’re all about to be consumed along with her. But instead of burning to ashes, we’re blasted by icy water and swept off the cliffside.
I scream, my entire body stinging as I plunge into the ocean. When my head breaks the surface, I cough and gasp for air as I look up at La Boca. There’s smoke, but the lava isn’t visible from here. It’s only a matter of moments before it flows into the sea. I hope the Coveners got out okay.
I’m bobbing in the water, and in the distance, Tiago is holding onto Saysa and Cata, both of them retching and panting.
I don’t see Gael or Yamila or Nacho.
Or Zaybet.
My breath catches—
A rumbling sound makes me spin around. A large craft emerges from the watery depths, and as it spirals, revealing an entrance, we swim into La Espiral.
Enzo meets us by the opening.
“Where’s Zaybet?” he asks the moment we’re inside.
Sadness chokes me, and I fight against giving in to my grief yet. None of us answers him as we step into the shell-ship’s core, where Laura is at the helm. She looks from one face to the next and demands, “Where’s Z?”
Like me, my friends can’t seem to find the words. We just stand in silence, our clothes dry and our hair dripping water onto the floor.
Laura and Enzo didn’t see the eruption. They have no idea all is lost—in every way.
“Just tell us,” says Enzo, running a shaky hand through his curls. “Was she captured?”
How do we tell them that Zaybet, our heart, is gone?
When he can’t get an answer from us, Enzo turns to Laura, who looks livid. “Why didn’t they arrest you?” she demands, glaring at me. “Let me guess, Z created a diversion so you all could run? Well, guess what? We’re not leaving this island without her, even if we have to trade you all to get her back—”
“She wasn’t arrested,” says Cata, her voice dull. “The volcano activated and she … she fell.”
The horror of Cata’s words hangs in the air, and Saysa’s sob breaks the stillness. Cata holds her close as she cries, and the two of them fold to the floor. I feel the tears rolling down my face too, but Laura and Enzo just stare at us in confusion.
“We need to get out of here before the Cazadores see us,” says Tiago, his mournful voice a dirge.
“But Zaybet,” says Laura.
“She’s gone,” says Enzo, something between a statement and a question.
They both seem to be in a trancelike state as they turn to the helm, and Laura places her hands against the charred prints while Enzo keeps a lookout. They don’t say another word.
I have no idea where we’re going. I’m not sure they do either. Laura just sails us through the ocean, her gaze never pulling away from the panoramic view.
Cazadora Page 23