Labyrinth Lost (Brooklyn Brujas #1)(37)

I remember the story Nova told Oros. Lie, I can hear Nova saying. Then why are my words failing me?

“We wish to get across the Caves of Night.”

“Why?” She leans closer to my face. This close, I can see myself in the dark pools of her eyes.

“To—to get to the Poison Garden,” I say. “We do not wish to harm you.”

“Harm us?” The aviana’s wings expand. “We are avianas, Daughters of El Cielo and Guardians of His Treasures. You cannot harm us. Nor are you the first mortal to come into these lands to attempt to reap its wealth and die on its paths.”

When I look at the other avianas, I don’t see guardians. I see hunger and weakness. If it weren’t for their leader, we wouldn’t have survived the saberskin attack.

“Please,” I say. “My name is Al—Alejandra Mortiz.”

“I know who you are,” she says. “And I know your tale is a lie. I can smell it on you the way I smell your fear and hear the rattle of the dead that trails at your feet. Now, tell me, Alejandra Mortiz. Why are you here?”

Footsteps echo through the cave, but the aviana still waits for my answer. The guards behind us flaps their wings as a girl pushes past them and onto the dais.

I feel cold from head to feet. It can’t be her.

“Madra,” she says, putting a hand on the aviana’s shoulder.

Madra, the leader of the avianas, turns around and opens her arms to let her wings open to their full span.

“I told you to stay in your nest,” Madra hisses.

It can’t be her. It’s a spell. A mirage. She twists hers hands, freshly painted in henna, and smiles nervously. I want to run to her, but find I can’t move. She gets past Madra’s wings and throws her arms around me. The air escapes my lungs, and as my thoughts spin, I find it hard to breathe.

Rishi.

And she’s got wings.





18


On the wings of hope I fly!

—Rezo de El Cielo, Deo of all the Skies

“It’s really you!” I hold Rishi so tight, she grunts and asks for air. I have so many questions I don’t even know how to start. I step back and hold her face gently. Her nose isn’t swollen anymore, and the bruise around her eye is covered by makeup. “I can’t believe it.”

“Rishi,” Madra says, more like a scolding mother. “You were to wait until I questioned the intruders.”

Rishi lets go of me and turns to the aviana. Rishi’s in a long, lace black dress, tattered all along the bottom, and her purple boots. Then there’s the small matter of her wings. I reach out and touch them. They’re long and black and soft. And totally fake. I can see where the elastic loops are for the arms, but her long, black hair covers that.

“I told you, Madra. She’s not an intruder. She’s the one I was telling you about. The girl I was looking for.” Rishi talks to the bird as if they’re longtime friends.

Then again, Rishi does have a way of taking strangers and making them feel like they’ve known each other for years. She did the same thing to me on the first day of freshman year when she found me crying in the girls’ bathroom. I’d gotten myself lost and then found the nearest hiding place. She walked me to class and then showed up afterward to help me find the next one. Now she’s here, and even though I know it isn’t safe for her, a part of me thanks the Deos she is.

“What about the man?” Madra asks.

Rishi shrugs. “I don’t know. Maybe if we back off a little, Alex can fill us in on the rest.”

“Us?” I ask. “Rishi, how did you get here?”

She hooks her arm around my shoulder. “Same way you did.”

The ruffle of feathers interrupts her, followed by the heavy thud of an aviana falling forward. She tries to push herself up but her body shivers.

Madra runs to the guard and examines her face. “Jesla? What is it?”

All over the cave, the bird women flap their wings and hoot and caw for their fallen sister.

Rishi holds on to my hand, and I squeeze. A sense of familiarity and comfort washes over me.

“Madra,” two more avianas whimper before falling to the ground.

Madra lifts her face to the dark endlessness of the caves. Her mouth shifts into the golden beak of a hawk. Her cry is loud and full of pain.

Now’s my chance to take Rishi and get out of here. But then, what about Nova? How will we find him? How will we get out?

Madra sweeps the first aviana that fell, the one she called Jesla, into her arms. She gives instructions to take the others into the caves below.

Then she turns to Rishi and me. “You two! Stay here.”

With a great flap of wings, the avianas disappear farther into the caves.

? ? ?

“Tell me everything,” Rishi says.

She leads me to a stream flowing inside the caves. The water glows blue, reflecting the phosphorescent green moss clinging to the side of giant boulders. She fills up a waterskin.

I’m so thirsty. I lower myself at the water’s edge and drink as if there isn’t enough of it on this earth to quench my thirst. It’s the purest water I’ve ever tasted, and when I’ve had my fill, I sit back on the cool stone. Rishi sits across from me. Her nose ring sparkles like the gems in the cave wall behind her. I want to touch her face to make sure she’s really here. But I hesitate. My magic flutters in my stomach again. I reach for the loose strand of hair falling over her face and tuck it back. Rishi is here.