Labyrinth Lost (Brooklyn Brujas #1)(64)

“And La Estrella,” Nova adds, “for a new hope.”

“And to Alex,” Rishi says, “for this adventure.”

? ? ?

We keep on going.

I find the stone path again easily. Or perhaps it finds me. The farther we walk, the more Los Lagos starts to feel familiar. The sky is violet, and there is not a skyscraper in sight. The grass is tall and yellow, and wild beasties scurry underground. It is unlike anywhere I’ve ever been, but somehow it reminds me of home.

You are the blood of my blood, Mama Juanita told me. She believes my power is enough.

Every now and then, I turn around to make sure Rishi and Nova are keeping up. Rishi’s face is flushed, but if she’s tired, then she doesn’t complain. Nova is quieter than usual, his bipolar eyes searching the sky. I go to check my watch for the time and realize my watch is long gone. The moon and sun are inching closer as they pass each other in the sky. The eclipse is approaching, but so are we.

“I’m coming for you,” I whisper, and hope the wind will carry that to my family.

We stop once more to drink water and eat the rest of our rabbit. But I can’t sit still for too long. When the moon and sun set, I pull light from the stars and create three glowing, green orbs, so we don’t have to walk in the dark. My skin tingles, and I know we’re close. We rest again, so I can heal the blisters on Nova’s and Rishi’s feet. When I’m exhausted, my green orbs are extinguished like candle flames. I’m the only one who can’t sleep, and so I try to make shapes out of the stars. I wonder if the Devourer can feel us approaching. I think of the one way she can hurt me—my family. I envision all the different ways I want to hurt her.

“I’m coming for you,” I whisper before I fall asleep.

The very second the sun and moon rise again, I wake Rishi and Nova up and we keep going for another half cycle.

“It’s up ahead,” I say.

“I can feel it too,” Nova says.

“I know I’m not a witch or anything,” Rishi says, “but this place is making my skin crawl.”

“Is something finally scaring you?” Nova asks her.

“It was bound to happen,” she says.

I take her hand and squeeze, just to let her know that I’m here. I shut my eyes and let the mountain speak to me. Like the rest of this land, it has a voice. It calls to me, magic to magic.

La luna, the voice whispers in the Old Tongue.

“The moon,” I say. I step away from my friends and line myself up with the moon. I step on the next stone, and when it sinks, a wave of energy crashes over me. A moonbeam connects to my necklace, shooting a prism of multicolored light into the glamour. The veil falls away, revealing a mountain range that glitters like stars and stretches higher than the Empire State building.

“The entrance!” Rishi says.

The prism of light that beams from my necklace illuminates a rift in the mountain that would be easy to miss in the dark. It looks as if El Terroz took his golden ax and created the gash himself.

When we stand at the entrance, the prism flickers and goes out. I struggle to bring back the light, exhaustion pulling at my life force.

“I’ve got it,” Nova says. He releases a ball of light over his head and blows on it. It floats ahead of him.

“Ready?” I whisper to Rishi.

For the first time since we’ve journeyed together, she looks nervous. I hold her hand and walk with her, a promise that I won’t let go.

In turn, she stays close and whispers, “I would follow you into the darkest dark.”





31


They say El Corazón has two hearts:

the black thing in his chest and

the one he wears on his sleeve.

—Tales of the Deos, Felipe Thomás San Justinio

The path is full of whispers and loose stones tumbling from the highest peaks. Our footsteps echo all the way to the top.

“Was that you?” Nova asks.

“Me what?” I say.

“Touching me.”

I scoff. “You wish.”

“It’s probably just a poisonous spider that’s evolved to kill you,” Rishi tells him.

“Just stop helping,” he mutters.

I’m so thirsty, but without another source of water, the water we carry is precious. I wonder…

“Nova, if I can conjure fire, would I be able to conjure water as well?”

He makes a hmmm noise. “Depends. I’ve heard the recoil for elemental magic is pretty bad. Fire burns your skin. Lightning makes your heart stop.”

“I conjured lightning at home to fight the maloscuro. I passed out. Would water just make you get wet? Like maybe a rain cloud following over your head?” My chuckle echoes to the top of the mountain and gets lost there.

“No,” Nova says, like it’s the silliest thing he’s ever heard. “Maybe your lungs would fill up with water. La Ola isn’t exactly known for being even tempered. I’d rather take my chances with El Fuego honestly.”

“You talk about these gods like they’re people,” Rishi says. “They’re not actually flesh-and-blood people are they?”

“You can field that one, Alto Brujo,” I tell Nova.

He gives me a side eye over his shoulder. “No one I know has ever seen them. We create our gods to look like us, don’t we? Only better. The god of the butterflies would look like a butterfly, right? So our gods have human qualities, but also the great power that makes them individuals.”