Bruja Born (Brooklyn Brujas #2)(34)

“Fifteen hours, actually,” she says resolutely. “Lula, you have to eat something. You’re weak and you aren’t healing right. Rose and I spent all morning trying to figure out what could be happening to you and Maks, but there’s nothing—not in the books at least. Please, just let us take care of you.”

I don’t want to argue. I take the towel and clothes she picked out for me. I shower and wash the dried blood off my skin. In the rising steam, I trace the circular, snakelike scar on my abdomen and the long scar that trails from my wrist to my inner elbow. The ones on my face are minuscule compared to these.

I rinse the suds from my hair and skin as my thoughts race. Maks could’ve hurt Rose. If Alex hadn’t been there—but she was. When Maks wakes up, who will he be? Lady de la Muerte’s voice clings to the shadows of my thoughts. You have betrayed the balance of the worlds. Maks and I are connected to her in ways I can’t understand yet. I don’t think I’m strong enough to help us all.

I turn off the water and get dressed as quickly as my stiff muscles will allow.

Alex locks the door to my room, and, leaving Maks as comfortable as we can, we head downstairs. The smell of roasted pork and fried yucca does a better job of waking me up than the shower. I haven’t been hungry in days, but suddenly, my belly rumbles.

Rose stands in front of the television in the living room with her finger pressed to her mouth and her eyes set in deep worry.

“What is it?” Alex asks, trotting down the steps two at a time.

“I was flipping through all the news for something weird, and I didn’t have to wait long.” She takes the remote and raises the volume. “Remember those bodies they found? They revealed their names and cause of death.”

An anxious knot starts to twist in my gut. The reporter in the studio stares at the camera with red-rimmed eyes. “—we’re following the story closely. Something like this has never happened in this city, not in broad daylight, and not that I’ve ever seen.”

Her coanchor takes over. No makeup in the world can fix the sickly green pallor of his skin or the terror in his wide, brown eyes.

“You’re right, Gaby. This case has the NYPD out in full force. Commissioner Brentwood is holding a press conference tonight. He wants to assure the city that those responsible for this heinous crime will be found and held accountable.”

“Do the police have anyone in custody?” a third reporter on the split screen asks.

“Not at this time,” Adam answers.

“Any news from the crime scene, Adam?” Gaby asks.

“There is unconfirmed speculation of cult activity,” Adam says.

Adam looks over his shoulder and wipes his brow with a folded handkerchief. It’s nearly five o’clock, but the summer sun is lazy to set, and the bright-yellow glow lights up his face. “All is quiet from the NYPD at the moment. They have yet to release a statement but a source from the medical examiner has confirmed cause of death. The two young men have been identified as Robbie Duran and Gregory Amadeu. Both bodies, which were found at different locations, had their hearts ripped out of their chests. According to the chief medical examiner, their…their hearts have not been recovered.

“The NYPD has issued this hotline for anyone to report tips or anything suspicious. Mayor Bloomberg has issued a curfew in the neighborhood of Coney Island tonight. Back to the studio.”

“They said earlier one of the boys, Robbie, went to your school,” Rose says. “I don’t know the other.”

“Oh no,” I say, because I’ve seen that name before. My heart is in my throat as I go to the table in the foyer, where I left my keys the day I brought Maks home. I open the drawer and fish between unopened bills and envelopes until I find the wallet.

Alex and Rose gather around me. I can’t bring myself to open it, so Alex takes it. Her eyes scan the name on the identification behind the thin plastic cover.

“Read it,” I say.

Alex breathes quickly, shuts it. “Robbie Duran.”

“Oh gods.” I cup my hand over my mouth. I shut my eyes and think back to the ride on the subway. The thread that led me to Maks. His lips stained cherry red from the ice pop in his hand.

Maks.

“We don’t know Maks did this,” Rose says, more like she’s trying to convince herself than us. “Maybe he found the body and took what he could. Maybe—”

“There’s nothing we can do right now,” Alex says, and I’m surprised at how calm she can be at a time like this. “But our books have turned up nothing on Maks’s condition or anything new on Lady de la Muerte’s staff. We need to speak to someone who can help us figure this out. What about Mayi and the girls?”

“So you can fight the whole time?”

Alex rolls her eyes. “I’ll behave for this.”

“Not to be a snob,” Rose says, “but if our books turned up empty, there’s no way they can help. It’d be like me asking you two to help with my calculus homework.”

Alex holds up a finger to Rose’s face and says, “Rude.”

“Maybe Rose is right,” I say. Then I remember a name scrolling on Lady de la Muerte’s forearm the day of the accident. I meant to tell Alex before, but now it’s been so long and I don’t know how she’ll react. I’m unable to look at her face. “There’s another option. Someone who knows about blood magic.”