Labyrinth Lost (Brooklyn Brujas #1)(55)

“How does your foot taste?” Rishi asks him, heading straight to the center of the meadow where I’m surrounded by the adas.

When I turn around, there are more of them, all chained to the trees that create the meadow ring.

Nova walks silently behind Rishi. “What happened?”

“While you were sleeping off your drunk?” I stand, and suddenly all the adas stand too. I take a step closer toward Nova, and they follow.

“That’s normal,” Rishi says.

“Not fair, Alex,” Nova says. “I didn’t know what their food would do to us. We’re in Los Lagos, not their fairy realm.”

I don’t know why I’m picking a fight with him, especially now.

“It doesn’t matter,” I say. I turn to Agosto. “What do you know about the Devourer? You called her by her human name.”

“There is much to tell, encantrix. Perhaps we should wait until you are…better?”

I don’t know what he’s talking about until the recoil slams into me. My knees buckle, and I swear my head is splitting open. Rishi lunges for me, and I lean all of my weight on her.

“No.” I shake my head. “Now.”

“Very well.” Agosto raises his hands and the ground trembles. Grass and flowers grow thick and twist into a tall chair. Agosto motions for me to sit.

“Do you know why the creature feeds?”

“Because it’s hungry?” Nova says darkly.

Agosto looks him up and down. His lip curls, but he composes himself. “Because the need for power is endless. You feel it too. Your power is free in the meadow.”

“Does the meadow do something to us? Does it make our power grow?” I wrap my hands around the roots of my chair. My magic connects with the essence in these living things, and it calms my nerves.

Agosto shakes his head. “No, but the meadow allows you to put away other worries long enough to let your magic come forward. Look at how you bested Xara.”

“Who’s Xara?” Rishi asks.

“The Devourer’s real name,” I say.

“Long ago, that was her human name,” Agosto says. “She was just a bruja then, banished here by the Deos for a crime we’ll never know. She simply appeared. Some, bewitched by her beauty, pledged allegiance to her. I admit, I was one of them. Others staked their claim on their own lands and shunned her. The Bone Valle used to be the Valle Azul, a sect of brujas and brujos that dedicated their lives to the ancient ways lived there and in the mountains. They saw the Devourer as an intruder. The more land she possessed, the more the tribes defied her. The witches were the ones who planned to kill her. One of their seers saw the threat. But they did not act in time. Overnight, the sky was red and the earth was scorched. The Valle Azul became a desert, their bodies left in heaps.

“She claimed the heart of the land as her fortress and raised the labyrinth around the Tree of Souls. You see, the tree feeds the land. Without the life of the tree, the land cannot be replenished.”

“What happened to you guys?”

“I disobeyed her.” There’s a quiet shudder that passes through the adas. “We were one of the first to welcome her, but the more land she burned and sucked the life out of, the more I feared. We allied with the avianas and remaining tribes. We lost. The birds stay in their caves. The starlarks hide beneath the earth. As for us, she wouldn’t let us get away. There are entire generations who will never know what it’s like to roam Los Lagos freely. They’ll never know what it’s like to sleep under the shade of the Forest of Lights or run through the Valle Azul. Yes, Xara spared us. But our lives are a punishment every day and every night.”

“Why didn’t you let her take me?” I ask. “Your job was to hold me here until she arrived, wasn’t it?”

Agosto looks down. He tilts back and forth, like he’s adjusting to the absence of one horn.

“Because you remind me of someone,” he says.

“Who?” I press.

“An Alta Bruja of old. Her name was Kristi?e. She wanted to return Los Lagos to the way it was before Xara started feeding off the Tree of Souls.”

“Hold on,” Rishi says. “Why don’t your Deos stop her? If they created this land, can’t they just undo what she’s done?”

There’s a snicker. “Do your gods grant easy wishes?” Rodriga asks.

“The last time I checked, they were busy.” Rishi’s cheeks are pink with embarrassment. “But something this evil has to catch someone’s attention.”

“It’s gotten her attention,” Rodriga says, pointing to me. “The Devourer sends her demons to search for great power because she can’t do it for herself. She found you. You wear the symbol of El Papa on your chain. The Deos chose you for this.”

“This was just a gift from my father. Not the Deos.” I shake my head. “I’ve never been the bravest or best bruja in my community. I’m just a girl.”

“Don’t say that,” Rishi says. “Look at everything you’ve done.”

“Encantrix,” Agosto says, trying to get my attention to focus. “To free your family, you must release them from the tree. The tree is the key to Xara’s defeat. You have the power and the freedom to challenge her the way none of us have before, and perhaps once you save your family, you will free Los Lagos as well.”