“Let me talk to Madra,” Rishi says. “I think she’ll listen to me.”
“Who the hell is this?” Nova thumbs at Rishi.
“Relax, protein shake,” Rishi says. She crosses her arms over her chest and looks at Nova like he’s a fly that drowned in her soup.
“Stop,” I hiss. I stand between them like a shield—though I’m not sure who I’m more afraid for, Rishi or Nova. “Nova, this is Rishi. She’s my—she’s my best friend. She jumped into the portal after us and wound up with the avianas. Rishi this is Nova. He’s a witch, like me. He’s my guide.”
“I am a brujo,” Nova corrects me. “And this isn’t going to fly. It’s one thing that I have to look out for you. I’m not about to babysit some sinmaga.”
“What did you call me?” Rishi closes the space between them.
My head throbs at the temples. I turn my back to them while they bicker. How does my mother put up with Lula and me when we get like this?
“How sweet,” Lula says, clear as a bell. “They’re fighting over you.”
“Did you hear that?” I whip around to find her face, but she isn’t there. I know I heard her. It was like she was standing right beside me.
Nova and Rishi ignore me. They’re like a pack of wild dogs barking at each other.
“I’ve known Alex for two years,” Rishi shouts at Nova. “She can trust me.”
“Clearly you didn’t know her very well if you didn’t know about her powers.”
They fall into some indecipherable shouting when an even louder sound stops us all. There’s a scream coming from deep within the caves, where they took the injured avianas.
“Hurry,” Lula says again, her voice fading. “You know what you have to do.”
“Lula?” Her name is an echo in the sparkling caves. I’m officially going crazy.
Behind me, Nova and Rishi are in each other’s faces. Rishi’s face is tilted up to him. She’s a rabid wolf. He’s a lion with an alpha complex. And they’re both idiots.
“Silentio.” I whisper the curse. Silence. My heart races from using that bit of magic. My lips are numb. I didn’t know I could do that.
They move their mouths, but nothing comes out. Rishi touches her throat and tries to scream, but only a whooshing gasp comes out. Nova punches the wall.
“Madra!” I shout. I call out her name until she flies up to our nest.
“What?” she asks impatiently.
“How are your girls?”
She flaps her bronze wings. Despite her stoic face, I can tell she’s worried. If it were my mom, she wouldn’t be able to sleep.
“What did you do to your companions?”
“I’m not sure,” I say honestly. “I just couldn’t think with their fighting. That’s not why I called you. I want to strike a bargain.”
“I don’t have time for bargains,” she says, turning to fly away.
“What if I can heal them?”
• • •
Madra takes me to the injured avianas. Three of the bird women are laid out on rock slabs. They shiver from head to talons, clutching flimsy blankets. One has blue lips. Her head is turned to the side, and her eyes are shut. Sweat and tears roll down her face.
“You have the healing gift?” Madra asks. She stands in the center of the room.
“I’m an encantrix,” I tell her.
She raises a single feathered eyebrow. Her dark eyes appraise me, like she’s seeing me in a new light.
“Finally, some truth to you.”
“I did tell you the truth. I’m here to rescue my family from the Devourer. I’m an encantrix. I will heal them, but you have to do something for me.”
Magical trade is all about technicalities, I recall Nova’s words.
“I assume you want your freedom?”
“I am not your prisoner, and neither is Rishi. We did nothing wrong. Nova was the thief, and you took back the gems. I’ll trade Jesla’s life for Nova’s.”
Madra doesn’t blink. “Why would you trade for such a man?”
“That is my business.”
“Very well. And the other two?”
“You will tell us the safest path to the labyrinth.” I’m starting to sweat under her steady gaze.
“That I cannot promise. These lands change as power changes. Lands that were safe could be under the Devourer’s control. There is much we cannot see from within the caves.”
“Then you’ll look at our map and update it. Even you must know the terrain from your hunts.”
“Hadrigal’s life for the map,” Madra says. “What will you ask for the third?”
“Nothing,” I say. “I will heal her because it’s the right thing to do.”
Madra bows her head to me and walks out. “If you should need me, just call.”
I’ve seen my mother and Lula heal a thousand times. I take Jesla’s hand in mine. Her wings are a deep blue, like the sky before night falls. She’s mostly in her bird form, though her eyes are still very human. A sickly green film clings to their lashes, and her breath is ragged wheezing when I press my hand to her chest. Her pulse is weak.
“What did you get yourself into?” I ask myself. I wish Lula were here. She’d know what to do in a second. She never hesitates when I’m hurt.
My mom likes to say that belief has to be unyielding. Part of what makes magic so powerful is that the bruja believes in her canto. She believes in what she’s trying to do.
“You’re really deep in it now,” Lula says.
I jolt back as my sister appears beside me. I reach for her, but she’s not like Aunt Rosaria’s haunting spirit or the damned of the Luxaria. She’s a flicker, like a screen projection.
“You’re really here.”
“Don’t touch my apparition,” she snaps, sassing me with a roll of her eyes. The rude gesture fills me with so much feeling that I want nothing more than to hug her.
“Are you…” I can’t bring myself to finish the sentence.
“Alive? Yes, no thanks to you.” She looks behind her like she’s afraid to get caught. It’s just the three avianas and us. “At least you figured out a way to come after us. You don’t hate your family that much after all.”
“I don’t hate you.” The shame I’ve felt since I performed the canto returns. How can I face them all again?