Bruja Born (Brooklyn Brujas #2)(62)

She shakes her head and says nothing.

We turn around at the moaning sound of the casimuertos getting back up. A hard breeze blows my hair back. When I blink, Frederik is here with a silver tube in his hand. He injects the casimuertos in the chest with a needle.

“What is that?” I ask.

“A serum.” Frederik’s voice is the calm before a storm. “But it won’t last long. We need to go.”

? ? ?

When we get back to the Alliance building, Alex sees me and it’s like the tension in her whole body unwinds. She runs across the room and pulls Rose and me into a hug. I’ve never been happier to just be together.

“What happened?” she asks.

“Before I get to that, we have to talk,” I say.

Alex stands back and looks between Rose and me. “What?”

“Rose conjured light.”

Rose walks around us and sits on the sofa. She takes off her glasses and examines a long crack in one of the lenses before placing them on the table. Her round cheeks are pink from running back and forth, and there’s a layer of soot on her palms. She rubs a hand on the knee of her jeans, darkening the denim until her skin comes away clean.

“How?” Alex asks.

“I said I don’t know,” Rose shouts.

Nova walks in, sits on the edge of the sofa, and puts his hand on Rose’s shoulder. In a way, it feels like he belongs here. “It’ll be okay, kid. We’ll figure it out.”

“We need Mom and Dad,” Alex says. “I tried to call them but got voice mail.”

“Rose,” I say, “has this ever happened before?”

She stares at her hands. “I’m not sure. During the healing canto in the hospital I felt something strange. It was like, when I touched Alex, my power was as strong as hers.”

“Have you ever heard of something like that?” I ask Nova.

“No, but right before Rose conjured, I was trying to access my powers as well. The casimuerto was on top of you, and I was getting ready to blast it, but then Rose did it first.”

“I grabbed on to you,” Rose says, balling her hands into fists. “Just for a moment to steady myself because we ran so fast. I put my hand on your arm. It was this surge, like my whole body was—”

“Lit up like Christmas,” Nova finishes. “That’s what I feel like when I use my power.”

“Try it out,” Alex tells Nova. “Light it up.”

“I’m not a circus act.”

Alex shrugs. Nova looks like he’s about to protest some more, but then looks at Rose and his features soften. He holds out his hand and conjures three balls of light that flitter around the room.

“No, I’m a seer.” Rose shakes her head. “That’s what I’ve always been. This is just a one-time thing because I wanted to save Lula. Just leave it, okay?”

“But, Rosie—” Alex presses on.

“I said leave it!”

Nova extinguishes his conjured light.

“It’s fine,” I say, pulling Rose closer. “We don’t have to figure this out now.”

Alex holds her hands up in defeat, but I know she isn’t going to drop this completely. “You’re right. You saved Lula, and that’s what matters.”

But Alex gives me a look that says this isn’t over.

“Wait,” I say, looking around the room. “Where’s Maks?”

“He freaked out and went full casimuerto,” Nova says.

“I think it’s the hunger,” Alex says. “Frederik put him in their containment unit.”

“What?” I shout, but she places her hands on my arms and shakes me.

“He’s fine now. They got him something to eat.”

And I swallow the choking doubt in my throat when I say, “I need to see him.”

? ? ?

“Lula,” Maks calls out for me behind a glass wall. He sits precariously on the edge of narrow metal bench. Seeing him this way, seeing him at all sends a current through my body. How could I have run from him the moment I was too afraid?

He presses his hands on the glass, leaving red prints. His eyelids flutter closed, hiding the pale blue of his eyes. He slumps down to the floor and whatever they used to keep him sedated knocks him to sleep.

“What have I done?” I ask myself, but I realize I’ve said it out loud. McKay is the only one in the holding area with me.

“You wanted to save him.” McKay lifts one shoulder and drops it. “You might possess magic, but you’re still human.”

Everything from the last couple of days makes my chest tighten, and I can tell the elixir is wearing off because the pain in my abdomen returns. “I’m going to end this,” I say.

“Let me guess, we throw you in the volcano in which you were forged?” His lips don’t smile, but his coffee-brown eyes are bright, like there’s a well of hope inside of him. “It’s a fight against magic, witchling. The biggest sacrifice is always the answer.”

At that I have to laugh because I’ve always been so confident in my knowledge of magic. Turns out I don’t know anything.

“In The Accursed Book,” I tell him, “it says the only way to stop the hordes of casimuertos is to destroy the heart of the source with a divine weapon. They’re tethered to me. La Muerte says there’s another way, but I’m no closer to finding her spear than I am to finding a cure for this.”