Bruja Born (Brooklyn Brujas #2)(43)

“Safe.”

“Stagnant.”

I shut my eyes, my lashes, coated in frost, rest on the tops of my cheeks. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Stupid, wretched witch. I have told you. Find my spear. Kill the casimuertos. The longer they live, the others will—”

“Others?”

When Lady de la Muerte smiles, it is like looking into your greatest fear and losing to it. She knows it; she feeds on it. “You tethered more than Maksim Horbachevsky. What do you think happened to the other bodies?”

“I didn’t—” A knot forms in my throat, blocking anything I could say. I’ve felt them. The never-ending pain, the silver threads. It wasn’t just Maks. I knew but I didn’t want to know.

“Selfish, stupid, reckless human. Get out of my sight.”

I swallow the bile on my tongue. “I don’t know how I got here.”

“Here? The outside of the world. Cold and brittle. There is no life or death here. It is one of the many in-betweens of the universe. Get to work, Lula Mortiz. Destroy the heart and make the sacrifice. Or the unbalance will remain, and the world you love will fall to the chaos you have unleashed.”

I feel myself sinking into the blackness at my feet. She leans into my face, and I can smell the rotting earth on her breath, winter on her skin.

“I don’t have the power to fix this,” I shout.

La Muerte places a hand on my chest and pushes the air out of my lungs. “Then find it.”





19


Her pain is exquisite.

Her love is sublime.

La Tortura consumes.

La Tortura divides.

—Rezo for La Tortura, Child of El Corazón and Lady of Love Unrequited “She’s awake,” someone says.

My hearing is interrupted by a hard ringing sound.

“Thank God,” Maks says. He’s sitting on my bed, holding my hand.

When I sit up, the pain I felt before is gone. “What happened?”

Nova reclines on a chair near the door. He’s scowling, arms crossed over his chest. His blue-green eyes could burn holes through my skin.

Then I see the bruise on his cheek.

I look up at Maks, who has a bruise on the opposite cheek.

“Alex is getting supplies,” Nova says roughly.

“Supplies for what?” I pull my hand from Maks’s. I pull the covers off and notice Rose sitting cross-legged on the floor, hands resting on either knee.

“No talking yet,” she says. “I need to get her out of my head.”

“Her who?” I ask.

“Lady de la Muerte.”

“What happened?”

Nova holds the sides of the chair. “Your sister has the Gift of the Veil.”

“I know that,” I say through gritted teeth.

“Then you know she can see between worlds. The Realm of the Dead specifically. Now that you’ve essentially torn up the balance of life and death, it’s easier for the other side to try to inhabit your sister.”

“No one is inhabiting me,” Rose growls.

“Like possession?” Maks asks. “Is that what was happening to you, Rosie?”

I turn sharply to Nova. “Stop.”

“You need to tell him. Like ASAP because if not, the shock on his sinmago ass could mess things up more.”

“What did you call me?” Maks shouts.

“Wait,” I say, standing up. For the first time, I notice the handful of crystals stacked on my nightstand, all cracked in half and completely black. It took four of them to heal me? “What does Rose getting possessed have to do with anything? Why can’t my all-powerful encantrix sister heal me?”

“What’s an encantrix?” Maks asks, frustrated. “What is going on?”

“It has to do with what you’ve done, Lula.” Nova stands, pushing himself up in a flash. “I swear. You Mortiz girls will burn this world to the ground if you’re left unchecked.”

“Hey!” Rose screeches. She forgoes her meditation position and points a finger at Nova’s chest. It doesn’t matter that she’s fourteen and half his size. She has to adjust her glasses with her free hand, but her intention is clear. “I haven’t done anything. Don’t just lump me in with these two.”

“Rosie—”

“No. Leave me alone. I can’t think with you near me.” Rose shakes her head and starts to storm out of the room. “Good luck with your zombie boyfriend.”

She slams the door behind her.

“I take it back,” Nova says, smirking at me. “She’s my favorite of you three.”

“If the world ended right now,” I say, “it would be a whole lot easier.”

Nova goes back to his chair, suddenly amused as hell. “Thanks to you, we’re halfway there.”

“Wait,” Maks says. “What did she mean by zombie boyfriend?”

Nova picks up a book from the stack that’s beside his chair. The Creation of Deos. Alex used to bother me and say the only studying I did was about magic. Well, clearly, I didn’t study enough because I made the same mistakes she did.

Nova opens the worn book, written by one of my ancestors. It chronicles all the gods and myths associated with them. It makes the Greek gods look tame.