Labyrinth Lost (Brooklyn Brujas #1)(27)

“The map marks the safe drinking water,” he tells me.

“That’s good to know. How long have I been out?”

“Time is a human fabrication,” he says, like he’s reciting from a textbook, “and doesn’t exist in Los Lagos.”

I roll my eyes. “How many fabricated minutes on the ticking thing around my wrist was I out for, then?”

“Fifteen,” he mumbles. “Thought you could use some rest before we get going. And check your ticking thing. It’s not ticking no more.”

I tap my waterproof watch, and sure enough, the numbers are frozen.

Nova walks over to sit on the tree trunk. He shifts all his weight to his right side when he moves.

“You’re limping.”

“I came down on my left side. I’m fine. It’ll fade.”

“What’s that humming sound?”

“It’s the magic of this place. Don’t you feel it?”

I feel something, like a pulse so rapid all you hear is a vibrating sound.

“Los Lagos is a place of power. You have power, whether you want it or not. The land calls out to us. It’s saying hello.”

I stare at the brilliant-blue bug that looks like something out of a prehistoric exhibit. It scurries across the dirt, right past my feet. Then it opens up its hard shell, revealing wings. It flies around my head.

“Hello,” I say, while Nova laughs at me.

“I wouldn’t touch anything,” he says.

“Is it poisonous?” I jerk away from the buzzing little bug. Then it loses interest in me and flies away into the trees.

“I don’t know,” he says, “but it’s just common sense to not touch things unless you know what they are.”

“You could always volunteer as a test subject,” I muse.

“So could you.”

The heat starts to rise. I can feel the air turning to steam. I sit beside him on the tree trunk, facing the map. It’s the most precious thing we have right now. I touch the thick parchment, whisper a rezo for my family.

Nova nudges me with his shoulder, sending a spark of pain from the landing.

“We’re here.” He taps his finger on a dark sketch of land labeled Selva of Ashes. “It’s a land unto its own, separating it from the rest of Los Lagos by a river. We have to get across the river, through the Caves of Night, take this middle path from the fork in the road that leads through Meadow del Sol, over this small mountain range called Las Pe?as, and boom. We’re at the labyrinth. Cake.”

I want to hyperventilate and slap him at the same time. There’s a black blotch above the Tree of Souls, at the center of the labyrinth, like someone set a pen there and let the ink run. “A small mountain range? Are you crazy? We don’t have the supplies for that!”

“With your powers and my brilliant survival skills, it is cake, Ladyb—”

“Why can’t we take the path on the left and cut across? There’s an arrow pointing to it.”

He holds the map up to my face and points. There’s a sliver of a trail between a place called Bone Valle and the Poison Garden.

“What part of Poison Garden makes you think we should go there? And Bone Valle.” Vah-yey. He puts an emphasis on that last word. “That’s straight up what it sounds like. A valley of bones. Not to mention it borders Campo de Almas. Now, I may not spend a lot of time around them, but I’ve been told wandering souls can get pretty nasty.”

I get what he’s saying, but whoever drew this map made a direct line through the worst-sounding places of Los Lagos.

“It’s the most direct route,” I say, wavering on my instinct. I wipe the sweat from my brow. I drink more water. The insects that were surrounding us start to fly up to the canopies.

“Look,” he says. “You’re going to have to trust me.”

“Yeah? Because you trust me so much.”

“I don’t,” he says. “You tried to suck the life out of me. If anyone should have trust issues, it’s me.”

“I’m not the one who spent three years at a juvenile detention center.”

“I’m not the one who sent her family to hell.”

I stand and walk away. The tree canopy shudders and a thick, warm rain falls. I raise my face to the heavens. I know that Nova is right. I have to put all of my trust in him, not just because I’ve paid him, but also because he’s all I’ve got. It doesn’t mean I have to like it. I don’t know why I’m so hard on him. If Lula were here, she would say this is why Rishi is my only friend. When I was with Rishi, I never felt like there was something wrong with me. Maybe it’s because Rishi hasn’t seen this side of me, the girl with the power. The girl with the selfish heart.

I wonder how my sisters are right now. I wonder if they’re in pain. I wonder if this creature, this Devourer, is hurting them. I wonder if they’ll ever forgive me. I wonder so hard that my own tears mix in with the warm rain, and it feels really good not to have to brush them away.

When the rain stops, soft, gray light filters through the canopies. Strange, fat, black-and-green birds weave between branches, higher and higher until I lose sight of them. Bright-yellow snakes slither around thick, red tree barks and race up, up, up.

Behind me, Nova’s shoved all our things in the backpack. He shoulders the weight and comes up behind me. The smell of a just-put-out fire clings to him.