Labyrinth Lost (Brooklyn Brujas #1)(69)

We pull each other up. We face the labyrinth. There’s a swirl of black-and-gray clouds directly above it. I take a deep breath and stretch my aching muscles. No power, no recoil.

Rishi takes my dagger, and I sling the mace over my shoulder.

I’m not the encantrix everyone thought I would be. Right now, I’m just a girl, and there is also magic in that.





Part III


   The One





34


I search for you in lost fields.

Hear me, my dear. Your loved ones wait here.

—Canto of Spirits, Book of Cantos

We run into the Campo de Almas.

There is no life, only dirt where nothing grows and rain doesn’t fall. The sky is a fiery burst of red, like the top of the sky is on fire while the rest of it sleeps.

The campo is a field of wandering souls. These souls are different than the ones in the river. They’re thin as fog and move slowly, like they’ve forgotten where they’re going. I wonder what’s worse than roaming aimlessly without knowing you’re dead.

A cold hand grabs at me, and I instinctively pull on my magic. Nothing comes. The hand on my shoulder is cold and soft. As soon as it touches my skin, it passes through me. They’re less than ghosts—they’re shells of memory. The soul repeats a word I don’t understand. I realize it’s a girl’s name. He says it over and over in a gruff voice, like it’s the only word he remembers, the only word that matters beyond years and life and death.

“What’s wrong with them?” Rishi asks.

Directly above us is the labyrinth. It hits me. “This is where she throws them away after she drains their energy.”

Rishi takes my hand, and we run through the wandering souls. Their essences make my skin pucker, my heart ache. I can’t let his happen to my family. Rishi squeezes my hand tighter. We’re chain links of desperation attached to one another.

We reach the twisting black arches that mark the entrance of the labyrinth.

“Stay close,” I tell her.

We step inside. The deep-blue darkness surrounds us, and I prick myself on the twisting vines that wrap around the labyrinth wall. The path is narrow and littered with stones. Above me, the sky is a sea of storm clouds. My eyes adjust to the dark. The hedges tremble as they shift. A deep rumble shakes the ground. My heart is in my throat as I tell myself to run. Pick a path. Neither is going to be safe. Leaves and branches change shape.

“The entrance is closing!” Rishi tries to run for it, but the archway disappears and she hits a wall.

There’s no way out.

“You should’ve gone home,” Nova says, appearing in front of us.

“You’re moving on up,” Rishi tells him. “The Devourer got you a new wardrobe and everything. Tell me, who are you wearing?”

“Shut up,” he snaps. His broad torso is covered in a black material that looks as slick as oil but as hard as metal. It’s trim and simple and makes his eyes that much brighter. He says my name.

I pull my arm back and punch him. His head snaps back and blood gushes from his nose. My knuckles throb and my arm hurts like hell, but I want to do it again.

“Don’t,” he tells me.

“Why are you here?” I ask him. “You got what you wanted. You’ve got a power boost and it only took how many sacrifices?”

Nova wipes the blood from his nose. “You act like you’re so much better than me. At the end of the day, you made the same choice I did. You chose yourself. You have no idea what my life has been like.”

“I’m not like you at all, Nova.” I squeeze the mace handle, daring him to make me use it. “I came here to fix my mistakes. You played me. From the very beginning you played me. Did you jump in front of Maks’s car on purpose? Or did it start at Lady’s shop?”

Nova rubs his hands across his head. It’s strange to see them without the marks, but his brown skin is beautiful just the same.

“You don’t want to know,” he tells me.

“I need to know.”

“As you wish,” he says, unable to meet my eyes. “I could hear this energy everywhere I went in the city. It was like a sigh that wanted to be a scream. I thought I could find it. I needed more power to get out of my contract.”

“Contract?” Rishi asks. Her eyes are so dark, I fear she’s going to lunge at Nova with that dagger.

“Sinmagos like to joke that they make deals with the devil. In my case, I really did. The Devourer promised she’d save me. All I had to do was find brujos and brujas. It was the only thing I got from my mother: the ability to charm my way into people’s hearts.”

“I hate you,” I tell him.

“I didn’t want to die, Alex,” Nova says. “The marks started spreading, and I could feel it wrapping around my heart. Haven’t you?”

I hold out my palms, sucking in a breath. Thin, inky marks zigzag around my wrists, up the meaty base of my palm, and finally pool at the center, like two blazing, black stars.

“It happened after you conjured the elements. You were just too”—he looks at Rishi—“preoccupied to see.”

I rub my palms on my pants as if that’s going to get rid of the marks. “Why are you here?”

Nova takes a step toward me, but Rishi gets in the way. Nova smirks, and for a second, I see the boy who traveled alongside us, the boy who shared his magic with me and helped me fly a boat across a river of souls.