Labyrinth Lost (Brooklyn Brujas #1)(57)

The sky is a powdery blue with swirls of purple clouds. The breeze carries the scent of lavender and wildflowers. It’s amazing that the same land that is home to the River Luxaria and the Wastelands can also be home to this. I wonder, if we return home after being gone for so long, will it look different to me?

But one look at the worry on Agosto’s face takes my smile away. We get closer to the edge of the forest where we reach a dead end.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“The land,” he says. “It’s different.”

“Are you sure we didn’t go the wrong way?”

Rishi bites her bottom lip. “You said it’s been a while since you left the meadow. Maybe we did go the wrong way.”

I grab the map from Nova’s back pocket. It’s been folded and unfolded so many times, the edges are starting to fray. I find where we are on the map. The edge of the Wastelands, west of Laguna Roja. North of us should be Las Pe?as, and beyond that, the heart of the land—the labyrinth. But it isn’t.

“It seems Kristi?e hid more than the path,” Agosto says. “She hid the entire mountain.”





28


The Deos don’t act for us.

The Deos act through us.

—Patricio Mortiz, Book of Cantos

“How do you move a mountain?” Nova asks.

“You know how they say if the mountain won’t go to you,” Rishi says, “then you go to the mountain? Maybe the mountain really did go this time.”

I smile, and Nova gives her a long look.

The wind whips around us, like it’s pushing us back to where we came from. My stomach is in a thousand tangled knots. I wet my dry lips, savoring the crisp air. The earth is dry in patches and bright green in others. Stone paths cut across the land, creating a patchwork quilt. As much as I want to laugh at Rishi’s joke, I have to wonder: Where is this mountain?

“When I was little,” I say, “my dad used to say, if he ever lost me, he’d just follow the starlight we leave behind.”

Rishi turns to me with sad eyes. “You never talk about your dad.”

“I don’t know where that came from. He was talking about us running around the supermarket or the mall. Still. I just remembered.”

Rishi takes my hand in hers but lets go when Nova wedges himself between us. “Well, Captain, it’s not dark enough for starlight.”

I purse my lips. “Says the boy made of light.”

“I’m not made of light,” he counters. “I conjure it.”

I roll my eyes and step closer to the edge of the cliff. The way down is steep and rocky but not unmanageable. It’s quiet here except for the rush of wind and Agosto’s heartbeat in my ears. I can still feel his essence from healing him, a side effect of touching someone with my power. Like when I tried to hurt Nova back home. It makes me think of what the Devourer said to me, that she could hear me because of the fear in my heart. Why can’t I feel a trace of her power?

“It’s strange,” I say.

“Which part?” Rishi asks.

I point to the horizon. “It’s not hot here, but the air on the horizon ripples like there’s a heat wave.”

“Wouldn’t that be the Bone Valle?” She squints and holds her hand like a sun visor over her eyes. “If I didn’t want someone to come into my lair and I was this powerful bruja, I’d make sure no one would see it.”

Look twice. Nothing in Los Lagos is what it seems. The land is fluid, yes, but even if the Devourer destroyed the mountains of Las Pe?as the way she’s destroyed so many other things, we’d still be able to see the labyrinth.

I raise my hands and feel for the glamour on the land. I remember Mayi from Lula’s circle uses her powers to change her eye color and straighten her nose all the time. But sometimes, when I look at her from the corner of my eye, or between blinks, the glamour reveals itself. That’s small magic. Magic used for vanity doesn’t end well, my mom would say.

Even from miles away, I can feel the ripple of magic across the land. I relax my eyes, and for a fraction of second, the ghost of a mountain ridge appears. Then a force pushes against me, like a punch to the gut. I gasp for air and stumble back.

“What is it?” Agosto asks, rushing to my side.

“What do your bruja eyes see?” Rishi asks dramatically. Then she gives Nova the finger when he snickers at her. So much for their truce.

“It’s there. It’s hidden behind a glamour.” I take Agosto’s outstretched hand and pull myself up.

“What should we do?” Nova says. “We could walk straight for it. When we get closer, you can pull the glamour.”

I shake my head, unsure. If I can feel its strength from here, I don’t know if it’ll get any better. “What if I can’t?”

“I beg your pardon,” Agosto says, “but pulling the glamour won’t be enough. This is what the Devourer wants. Walk straight to the mountain and be unable to pass. Walk around it and end up in the Bone Valle. Disrupt her magic, and she’ll come right at you, and I fear she’ll take greater precautions now that she knows she underestimated you. You should make for the Hidden Path.”

“Um,” Rishi says, raising her hand as if we’re in the middle of class. “Okay, but how do we make it the Un-Hidden Path?”