Cemetery Boys(67)

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When his alarm went off in the morning, Yadriel was already awake. He waited, watching as Julian sat up. “How’d you sleep?” he asked.

“I’m starting to think ghosts don’t sleep,” Julian replied with a wry smile. He looked tired, of course, but there was something more to it. A glazed look cast over his eyes. An intense vigilance. Julian eyed Yadriel as he crawled out of bed and dragged himself to the closet. “I guess brujos don’t, either.”

Yadriel grumbled unintelligibly. When he came back from taking a shower, he found Julian sitting at the foot of his bed. He wrung his hands together, digging his thumb into his palm. Worry caught in every line of his face.

“Am I going to have to talk you into letting me go to school with you again?” Julian asked with an anxious laugh.

“No,” Yadriel said, toying with the St. Jude pendant around his neck. “This time I want you to come.”

He was more worried about Julian disappearing and reliving his death again. By the look on his face, Yadriel was pretty certain Julian was worried about the same thing. If he couldn’t stop it from happening, then he would at least make sure Julian wasn’t alone when it did. Yadriel didn’t want to come home and find the Julian he knew had vanished, leaving nothing but a horrifying apparition in his place.

Julian’s eyebrows shot up. “Really?”

Yadriel nodded, then shrugged, as if it didn’t matter to him. “You can take it or leave it,” he said as he combed pomade through his hair.

“Take!” Julian jumped to his feet. The worry was gone, and that electric grin was back. “Definitely take!”

Julian waited impatiently by the door as Yadriel grabbed his stuff. He opened his backpack to take out his portaje and stash it while they were at school, but as he grabbed hold of the hilt, he hesitated.

Again, the image of Julian convulsing and flickering haunted him. If it was a sign that Julian was slipping away, what if he lost his grip on himself while they were at school?

Yadriel looked at Julian, an uneasy feeling churning his stomach.

“Are you ready or what?” Julian huffed. He caught sight of the dagger in Yadriel’s hand and raised an eyebrow. “I thought you were worried about getting caught with that thing at school?”

If Julian went maligno, Yadriel would be forced to cut his tether and release his spirit before he hurt someone.

“Better safe than sorry, right?” Yadriel said.

Julian stared at him for a second, then shrugged. “Just don’t get caught, I don’t wanna spend the night with you in jail,” he told him.

Yadriel tucked his portaje and its sheath into the waist of his jeans and pulled on his backpack.

He listened carefully at the door and paused every couple of steps going down the stairs, but the house was silent and empty. That was odd, considering Lita was usually busy in the kitchen by now. He opened the front door, and Julian made a run for it.

“FREEDOM!” he whooped, bounding down the front steps.

Yadriel laughed and shook his head. Julian was in great spirits. Yadriel hesitated in the doorway and pulled his dagger out again. Did he really need it? Was it bad luck to assume the worst? Was he just welcoming something to go wrong by taking it to school? Maybe he should leave it—

Before he could make a decision, the door to the garage opened and Lita walked into the kitchen.

“I’ll make some food,” Lita said as she went to the stove.

Tío Catriz and his dad walked into view, each of them carrying a large box. Yadriel froze, panic cementing his feet to the floor. The voice in his head screamed at him to make a run for it, but it was like his body was short-circuiting, refusing to budge.

“Where should we put this?” his dad asked, his back to Yadriel.

Tío Catriz turned and immediately locked eyes with Yadriel over Enrique’s shoulder.

Tío Catriz’s face went from surprise to confusion. Before Yadriel could react, his gaze went to the portaje gripped in Yadriel’s hand.

Yadriel’s heart dropped to the floor.

Catriz had seen the dagger in his hand. He would recognize it as a portaje immediately.

For a split second, his tío’s expression went blank as he stared at the blade, but then—

Then he smiled.

“Put them in the living room,” Lita instructed, waving a hand as she put a pan on the stove.

Enrique started to turn toward the living room, where Yadriel remained rooted in the doorway, clutching his portaje.

Yadriel was doomed. His dad was going to see him with his portaje, caught red-handed.

A loud crash made everyone jump.

The box Tío Catriz was holding had toppled out of his arms, spilling prayer candles and copal incense all over the kitchen floor.

“Aye!” Lita gasped, clutching her chest.

“Careful of the glass!” Yadriel’s dad warned as broken shards crunched under their shoes.

“I’ll grab the broom!” Lita rushed to the garage.

“Ah, lo siento, hermano,” Tío Catriz said as he and Yadriel’s dad bent down to pick up the larger pieces.

“Don’t worry, we have plenty more,” Enrique reassured him.

Snapping out of it, Yadriel quickly slipped his portaje back into its sheath.

Tío Catriz caught his eye over his dad’s shoulder and gave him a small wink.