Slowly, Rose’s hair darkens and coils like Christmas ribbon. Her skin darkens to a milky brown, she’s taller by an inch or so, and her waist narrows. But it’s her face that startles me. Rose is wearing my face.
I let go of a shuddering breath and touch my sister’s face. My face. She’s even wearing my scars.
“Oh, my Rosie.”
She lets go of McKay’s hand and shifts back into herself. I hold her as tight as I can, and I wish I didn’t have to let her go.
“Holy f—” Nova starts to say.
“How did you do that?” Mayi asks Rose, eyes lit with wonder.
“The other times, I wasn’t aware of what I was doing. This time, I knew what I wanted. I wanted to use his power.”
McKay grins widely. “It felt like I was being hijacked. Like something about you was hacking into my being.”
“Does it hurt?” I ask.
McKay shrugs. “Tickles actually.”
“Try me!” Adrian says, and Rose touches his arm. This time, she lets go and uses both hands to create a cyclone. They test out the theory by having her touch a mermaid and a werewolf, but it only seems to work with magic.
“You’re a magical hacker, Rose,” Nova tells her, slapping her on her back.
She stares at her hands. “I think I like the sound of that.”
“All this time,” Ma says, tears in her eyes. When she blinks, they fall long and hard, and there’s something about seeing my mother cry that makes me want to come undone. She brushes her hands along Rose’s blushing cheeks. “I thought you had the gift of the Veil.”
“Valeria was the first person to ever hold her,” Alex says. “And your power is always stronger after your lessons. I can’t believe this. You know what this means? You could be stronger than me.”
“I think we can be glad for this,” I say, then repeat what Lady de la Muerte told me. “The Deos are where they’ve always been.”
“You can tap into my power,” Alex says, cracking her knuckles. “That will help you conjure water and I won’t have to worry about that recoil. That leaves me with earth.”
“I’m glad you’ve got your circle,” Rhett says. “But where do you suppose you’re going to do this?”
“The roof?” Nova asks.
Frederik wags a finger. “We just rebuilt half this building.”
I scour my thoughts for every word La Muerte spoke to me. She’s in a dark in-between, but her spear is elsewhere. I slap my hands together, recalling my last meeting with her. “Lady de la Muerte told me she was created at the edge of the world. But in our stories, there was one land and then just the sea.”
“The beach,” Alex says triumphantly.
“What about the casimuertos that are out there right now?” Emma asks, sitting closer to Mayi.
“That’s where we come in,” McKay says.
“While you guys head down to the boardwalk,” Rhett says, “we’ll send more teams to hunt the casimuertos.”
“If I were an undead army of teenage soccer players, where would I go next?” McKay says, drawing his fingers together like an evil villain. He turns back to the screen on the main wall and pulls up the map of the city again.
“School,” Rose says. “That’s where we found the first nest in the alley. Most of the bodies found with missing hearts are around there. Plus, the school closed early this year after the accident. It’s empty now.”
“I think they’ve grown out of high school,” McKay mutters.
Everyone faces the wall. The red dots of light are less spread out than before.
“Are they moving?” I ask.
“They’re migrating,” Frederik says. “Prospect Park?”
I follow the slow movement of red dots. The lines that connect them seemed random before. But now I see something that I didn’t before. There’s a red dot, fainter than the rest, but right where this building is. I shouldn’t be surprised. It was Rose who told me my soul was detached. How can I be touched by La Muerte and be claimed for anything else but death? That red dot is me.
“They’re coming here,” I say.
“Call Camillia and tell her to bring the weapons truck to the THA back entrance,” Rhett says to another hunter. “We leave on my go. We have to clear the beach from all ends to give Lula’s circle time to retrieve the spear. I want groups of three at every street entrance.”
Lula’s circle. The thought of it makes me smile for a moment. Just one.
The living room is a flurry of activity. The witches of the Thorne Hill Alliance introduce themselves to Lady and my mother. Frederik becomes a blur as Mayi approaches him. In the maelstrom of it all, Rhett watches me from the other end of the room. Rose and Adrian talk about their newfound powers and Alex and Dad stand together in their usual silence.
I know I’m not going to get another moment like this, so I take it all in—their faces, their fight, and their hope.
That all vanishes when Gustavo walks up to me.
“This won’t work!” He grabs my arm and squeezes. “You. You and your sisters. All you do is bring trouble to our people. You’ve allied with our enemies. You’ve brought shame to your ancestors. Chaos kissed the lot of you. I will not be a part of it and neither will my son.”
The prex I’m wearing—the one my mother made to protect me against bad intentions and curses—breaks apart and falls to the ground.
“Get your hand off my child, Gustavo,” Mom says. She’s standing so close to him that it takes me a moment to see the blade she’s pressing against his ribs. There’s a deadly stillness to her face, a resolution that frightens me. My mother is a healer. Her hands have saved countless lives and brought so many souls into this world. That same woman is willing to hurt someone for me. And I know I can’t let that happen.
“Ma, I got it,” I whisper, aware that dozens of eyes are on me.
“I made the wrong choices,” I tell Gustavo. “But your son has the opportunity to help me make things right.”
Gustavo takes his wife and son by their hands. “Adrian, we’re going.”
Adrian shakes his head, feet firmly planted on the floor. “I can’t. I have to do this. You’re the one who taught me that our power is greater than ourselves. Please, Pa.”
Gustavo takes a long look at his son, then turns to me with fury in his eyes as he holds a finger to my face. “You still have to pay a price, Lula Mortiz. You can’t get out of paying it. And by the Deos, I hope that day comes quickly.”
I stare right back into the hate in Gustavo’s eyes.
All I can say to him is, “I know, Gustavo. But that’s between me and Death herself.”
32
For eons, the Deos slumbered.
La Ola in her sea, El Terroz in his mountains,
El Viento in the skies, and El Fuego at the heart of the world.
—Tales of the Deos, Felipe Thomás San Justinio
The Coney Island boardwalk is deserted. The shops are closed up for the night. Neon graffiti on the metal grates is the only color against the gray darkness that takes hold tonight. Thick, black clouds carry the beginnings of a storm toward the shore.
I take a moment to let the drizzle kiss my face, feel the wind in my hair. The Deos are where they’ve always been and, more than that, are all around me. In this moment, I am ready.
Out on the water, tall waves swallow up the jetties and lifeguard towers, licking the edges of the boardwalk.
Dad, Adrian, Rose, and Alex gather around me and we go over the conjuring one last time.
“Alex, we need light,” I say, and she conjures a glowing orb over each of our heads. “Dad, can you bring the storm closer?”
He holds his hand with the other to stop it from trembling but nods wordlessly.
“Are you sure you can handle this?” I ask.
He takes my face in his hands. It’s been so long since I’ve really looked at him. I see myself in his weather-gray eyes and the fine curve of his nose, in the way my brow furrows when I’m quick to anger or worry, and in the curl of his hair.
“I know I can never get you girls back. Too much time has passed. But I’m going to be here now, and I’m going to give you everything that is in my power to give.”
My thanks is lost as the sky thunders, a sonic boom I can feel right at my core. The pain around my heart is getting stronger. I can feel the dark mass growing, a life-sucking leech.