Bruja Born (Brooklyn Brujas #2)(29)

“Try actually seeing the Dea of Death possessing a human body. It was awful. It was like she filled his whole being with her essence. His neck just snapped from it. After she spoke to me, I ran and the thread led me to Maks. I didn’t know I’d find him there, but, Lula—our canto. It must’ve worked, right? I felt his pulse. He doesn’t remember the accident, but it’s him.”

Now I’m the one pacing. Every step aches, like there are splinters inside my bones, so I lower myself to the floor and sit. Alex sits down with me, her eyes never leaving Maks, even though he’s stopped moving.

“We did it,” I tell her. “Somehow, we saved him.”

“Then where did he go? Where did the others go?”

A sickness creeps along my skin. I’ve been so consumed with Maks that I didn’t stop to consider the others. “I don’t know.”

Alex takes a steadying breath. I’d pay anything to be able to read her mind. “What did Lady de la Muerte say when she spoke to you?”

When I think of Lady de la Muerte, a dull ache spreads across my chest. Not because of what I saw her do and not because I’m afraid she’s going to do that to me, but because I felt her pain of being stuck in between realms. It was how I felt in Los Lagos, in the Tree of Souls.

“She told me to find her spear. That I betrayed her.”

When Alex was little, she bottled up her emotions so tight it caused her to hide her power deep down. Now, her magic glides on her skin. She pushes a pulse of it up my arm, and in that moment, I feel what she’s feeling—afraid. Anxious. Helpless.

“We betrayed her,” Alex says. “You didn’t do this alone. But how do we find her spear?”

“I don’t know! She slithered out of the body before she could tell me. He died right in front of me.”

“We have to tell Ma,” she says. “Of all the Deos, Lady de la Muerte is the one we know the least about.”

I snatch my hand back. “Telling Ma is not an option.”

Alex grabs hold of my shoulders. “Don’t you see? We trapped a goddess in between worlds. We’ve broken the balance of life and death. Maks didn’t just wake up and walk out of that hospital after our canto. He died. I saw him flatline. Whatever is happening is beyond the reach of two brujas. We need help. La Muerte needs to be freed. What if failing means we lose you?”

“Alex, please. Ma will bring the High Circle into this. What if they want to hurt him?”

“You might not want to hear this,” she says quietly, “but he doesn’t belong here.”

“Well, he is here. We have to help him.”

“We have to free La Muerte.” She looks at me so sternly I cower. “I’ll do whatever it takes. I’ll find something—”

“It has to be me,” I whisper.

“I’m the reason this happened.”

My laugh is bitter, but I can’t stop it. “You wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t guilted you.”

“I would have,” she says, and though her voice is hard, there’s a crack at the end. “Because you’re my sister. You might be a pain in the ass, but you and Rose are all I’ve got. I’d do anything for you.”

She gives me her cheek and I wonder why everyone in my family does this—tries to act as if nothing hurts us. All that power coursing through my little sister’s veins and she still doesn’t want me to see her crying.

“We’ve all made selfish choices. But you can’t play with death like this, Lula. Keeping Maks here won’t make things go back to how they used to be. Nothing will because we aren’t the same girls we were once, and that’s my fault. But we can get through this together, just like you and Rose and Ma did for me. Just like we’re trying to do for Dad.”

My eyes burn and I choke on a sob as she holds me until it passes.

“What do we do? Alex, I don’t know what to do.”

We watch Maks turn fitfully in sleep for a few moments. Alex stares like she’s expecting him to wake up and attack us. I tell her about his outbursts and how sometimes he’s there and sometimes he’s not.

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to keep him here?” she asks.

“Where else can I take him?” I try to stand, but my leg muscles cramp. Alex helps me up.

“Okay,” Alex says, pacing once more. Candlelight plays with her shadow, making her look taller and longer than she already is. “First, you should make more of the calming draught. Dilute it so that it doesn’t give him the sleeping side effect. We can study him.”

“He’s not a lab rat,” I counter.

“I’m not saying he is. But we have to figure out what triggers his violent outbursts. How are you going to explain the hole in the wall to Mom and Dad, by the way?”

I press my hand over my rapid-beating heart. “I—I don’t know.”

“Forget it. You make the potion. I’ll look through mom’s books to see what I can find about La Muerte’s spear. The last bit will require help.”

“What kind of help?”

“Well, we have to figure out what he is.”

“He’s Maks. I’m telling you. You’ll see when he wakes up.”

“He may have a heartbeat, but normal people don’t vanish from one place and appear in another. Whatever he is, we need to know. And the only person we can trust who knows about spirits is—”