“And what, keep them hostage?” Maks asks. The pink is gone from his cheeks, and his eyes are starting to fade to a milky blue. He’s going to need to eat again and I can’t help but edge away from him.
“Keep them where they can’t hurt anyone else,” Alex says, and her body tenses like she can read my thoughts. “There were twenty-five bodies missing from the hospital morgue that day, and you’re the only one whose location we know.”
Maks breathes hard and fast, opening and closing his fingers into white-knuckled fists. “I don’t understand why this is happening.”
Nova leans forward, rubbing his hands together as if he’s getting ready to fight.
“I think I can,” I say, and all eyes are on me. “Every story in The Accursed Book starts with a bruja or brujo trying to save someone from the dead. I know the way our magic works, and the combination of our three powers, the binding canto I used to tether your life to mine, and Lady de la Muerte appearing—it all just clashed.”
“But why are there others like me?” Maks asks, and it pains me that he looks so lost.
“Because they were all supposed to die too,” Rose says. “Everyone that was supposed to cross over got pulled into our canto.”
“I can end this,” I say.
“How?” Nova asks. “I thought you said there was nothing in the book.”
“There wasn’t,” Alex cuts me off, the anger in her eyes silencing me. “What she means is she has to be the one to free Lady de la Muerte. That’s how we end this. But right now, we have to do what we can, and that’s get the casimuertos off the streets.”
“Can this Lady Muerte bring me back?” Maks asks.
“I don’t know,” Alex lies again.
There’s a static quiet—Rose cleaning her glasses, Nova cracking his black-inked fingers, Maks scratching his chest raw, and Alex’s pleading stare transfixed on me.
“Let’s start with Rose’s idea,” Nova says. “It’s the best plan right now. Follow the places where the latest attack reports are.” Then something dawns in his eyes. “Better yet, how did you find Maks in the first place?”
“A thread,” I answer, placing my hand over my chest. “I can’t control it. It hasn’t happened since.”
Nova scratches the back of his neck and looks at Alex. “Without your power, we’ll need weapons.”
“Not my first magical rodeo,” Alex says and leaves without another word. She takes a right in the hall, toward the kitchen. I can hear the squeaky basement door open and slam, followed by her heavy footsteps going down.
“What did Alex trade with my gran?” Nova asks me, looking over his shoulder like he expects my sister to materialize at the sound of her name.
“That’s for Alex to tell you, if she wants,” I say, leveling my eyes on his. “You really think I’m going to betray my sister for you? Boy, bye.”
Before he can respond, Alex runs back in, a black sports duffel slung over her shoulder and Dad’s old machete in her hand. She lets the bag drop on the ground, metal clinking and clanking against the floor.
“Where did all this come from?” I ask.
“After my mess last year, I’ve been trading cantos for weapons.” Alex unzips the bag. “Take your pick, y’all. We’re going zombie hunting.”
22
El Papa was no fool.
He noticed the way La Mama pulled away.
The way she leaned into El Cielo, unburdened by shadow.
And so his jealousy gave birth to La Amargura.
It was the beginning of the end.
—Tales of the Deos, Felipe Thomás San Justinio
The five of us take the train to Thorne Hill High. Maks watches me as we catch the N train and sit down. Aboveground, the sunset casts an orange glow over the city. It even makes Maks look less gray, less undead.
“Is this what you do all the time?” he asks me.
“No,” I say, placing my hand on his thigh to stop it from bouncing nervously.
He twitches slightly every few moments.
“I just remembered something,” he says. “I dropped you off at that yoga place in Williamsburg. Were they really yoga classes?”
I turn on the yellow subway seat to face him. “You have to understand. We aren’t allowed to tell people about our secret.”
“Why?” He isn’t defensive. He’s calm. Too calm. The calmness of when I discovered him and brought him home. “With your powers, you could help people. Like, the way they healed you? What about the people who can’t find a cure elsewhere? Alex is like a superhero. She could catch bad guys. She—”
“It’s not that simple.” I drag my thumb gently over his cheek.
“I don’t understand,” he says. “How come you made the exception to heal me?”
“You weren’t the exception,” Alex says.
I turn my head so fast I almost give myself whiplash. “No one is talking to you.”
“He has to know,” she says. “He’s part of this.”
“Wait,” Maks said. I asked you for the truth, Lula. I deserve to know. What does your sister mean that I’m not the exception?”
Rose pushes up her glasses and bites the already-raw cuticles on her thumb. Nova looks away, and Alex, well, I’m going to kill her.
“We weren’t supposed to heal you. No one believed you’d come out of the coma. But I did it anyway because I couldn’t lose you.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have brought me back,” Maks whispers. For a painfully long couple of minutes, he turns his face to the window, watching the tunnel zoom by. When he finally looks at me, his brows are knit close together, and his eyes search my face. So much pain marks his features, and I hate that I’m the one who put it there. “But I’m glad you did.”
He kisses me hard, and I don’t care that we’re in a train with my sisters and Nova. I kiss him back harder because, when this is all over, I want to remember the feel of his lips.
Destroy the heart and make the sacrifice.
“This is our stop, lovebirds,” Nova says.
? ? ?
When we get off the train, Alex and Rose walk up front, and Nova brings up the rear.
“Will you stop looking around?” I tell Nova. “You look suspicious.”
“You kidding?” Nova adjusts the bag of weapons and flashes me a smile. Even in the dark, his Caribbean Sea eyes are bright. “This is the safest I’ve ever felt. We got a get-out-of-jail-free card.” He winks and points at Maks.
I laugh, but Maks doesn’t. He’s stares at the red hand at the crossing light.
“Anything in my grandmother’s zombie book about when he spaces out?” Nova whispers at my ear.
The light changes over to white, and we move.
Maks’s milky blue eyes swivel toward Nova, and for all of his bravado, I see a nervous flicker in Nova’s face. Maks’s mouth widens into a smile.
“You okay, bro?” Nova asks him.
“I’m just trying to remember,” Maks says. “Whenever I try, I see splotches. Even before the accident.”
“It’ll take time,” Nova says. “Your mind is probably trying to protect you from the trauma you suffered. That mixed with mad magic, boom! Memory loss.”
“Thanks for the lesson in Nova-science,” I mutter.
Maks and Nova do that thing guys do, when they lift their chins and nod in solidarity. When we reach the high school, we stop. The tall, Gothic spires create long, pointed shadows on the ground. But that isn’t the arresting part.
The entire steps are covered in flowers, candles, and wreathes with pictures of the dead. Ramirez. Kassandra. Maks. Twenty-two faces, smiling and alive. A shrine as big as I’ve ever seen. The ache in my chest strengthens, and Maks squeezes my hand hard. It can’t be easy seeing himself there.
“How long has it been?” Maks asks. “Time is one of the many things I can’t keep track of.”
“Seven years,” Rose says, walking ahead of us. “Welcome to the zombie apocalypse.”