Cece Rios and the Desert of Souls by Kaela Rivera (online e book reading .txt) 📕

Now that they’d stopped moving, I could get a glimpse of the new person. White and black hair. No, red hair. No, brown hair—maybe gray? From what I could tell, it was nearly every color, and his body was lean, tall, and strong.

Especially the forearm he had at Cantil Snake’s neck, pinning him to the stone.

Cantil Snake’s nostrils flared. “They always said you were a human-lover.” He glared at the boy whose face remained just out of reach of the light.

This looked like a pretty ugly fight, and the argument was something I didn’t understand. Maybe I should just . . . go?

I tiptoed back a couple of steps until I noticed the rock in Cantil Snake’s hand. The boy had him pinned pretty securely, but if Cantil Snake popped his shoulder out again, he could easily smash the boy’s head in with the large piece of granite.

“Watch out!” I cried.

Cantil Snake’s arm burst out from the stranger’s hold, and he swung the stone toward the boy’s temple. I launched forward and body-slammed the boy to the ground. Cantil Snake’s stone grazed the top of my head as we fell, missing the boy. My torch and knife tumbled out of my grip as we hit the floor.

I barely had time to grab my tools and turn around before Cantil Snake was on me. His wide, fanged mouth opened in my face and hissed. I squeezed my eyes shut, angled my knife, and smashed my torch into the side of Cantil Snake’s face.

He went sprawling to the ground between me and the stranger, covering his face. Holy sunset. Did I just actually take out a criatura?

Cantil Snake reared up again. “I’m going to kill you for that!”

Okay, no. Not yet.

He lunged toward me. I squealed as he got near enough for me to see the snake carved into his soul stone. I aimed for it with my knife. With a flick of my blade, the strap snapped. His soul necklace unraveled.

“No!” he roared.

I kicked his stone far down the tunnel, away from where I’d come. He whirled around on his knees and scampered after it. The stone echoed until it, Cantil Snake, and his scream faded into the darkness.

I dropped the knife and torch. Slowly, the adrenaline faded. Wow. I had just survived a criatura attack. I started to smile. Wait—I’d just survived a criatura attack and hadn’t gotten his soul. I slapped my hands to my face. No! I needed a criatura! He’d been that close, and I’d kicked his soul away instinctually. What was wrong with me?

Footsteps came from behind me. I turned and found the boy who’d attacked Cantil Snake standing in the light of the torch. He shook out his multicolored hair, disguising his face. His breath steamed in the cold darkness.

Finally, his eyes flashed to mine. They were like gold coins, bright as fire with none of the warmth. Oh. He wasn’t just a boy.

He was a criatura.

“I knew it was you,” he said, like he knew me.

I froze beneath the intense stare. He’d tried to take down Cantil Snake just moments before. Did that mean he was going to let me go? Or that I was next?

8

The Soul Debt

Now that the young criatura stood in the light, I could see he was around my age. He had the jaw and shoulders of a thirteen-year-old at least, though he was taller than most of the boys I knew. He wore a worn red shirt that looked like it’d been stolen from someone bigger and a pair of tight tan charro pants, with holes interrupting the twisting patterns that lined the sides.

It was almost easy to think he was just a human boy—until his burning gold eyes and sharp white canines caught the light. I froze and held my breath. Maybe if I didn’t move, he wouldn’t attack.

He looked me up and down. “I didn’t expect you to save yourself.”

“Um,” I tried not to wheeze. “Please don’t hurt me.”

His white eyebrow lifted, the black one resting low. “Hurt you? Wait—you don’t recognize me?”

I stared. He stared. There was an awkward silence.

I squinted. “I don’t talk to criaturas often, so I feel like I’d remember meeting you . . . But it’s, uh, nice to meet you now. I’m Cece. Thanks for—um, what were you doing back there exactly?”

He folded his arms. “Saving you. Or I would have if you hadn’t shoved me.”

“So, you weren’t trying to kill me? Que bueno.” I tried to smile. He looked alarmed, so it must not have come across right.

“Are you okay?” He took a step forward.

I stumbled back. “Hey! Keep your distance.”

He dropped his hand and his concerned expression at the same time. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Wow, that changes my mind completely!” I frowned. “I’m no idiota. My parents taught me not to talk to criaturas.” He didn’t need to know how bad I was at listening.

The left side of his mouth curled up. “But you are talking to me.”

Agh! Moon above! He was right. “So, you admit you’re a criatura!”

“Naturally.” He grinned mischievously, and a pair of sharp canines poked out from between his lips. “This is the perfect vacation spot for criaturas who’ve escaped Devil’s Alley; there haven’t been humans here since the silver dried up.” He picked up the torch where I’d dropped it, and the humor in his face dissolved as he held it out to me. “Except for you, I guess. The one human I owe a debt to.”

I blinked. He owed me a what?

He saw my face and sighed. “Coyote. I’m the Criatura of the Coyote. The coyote you fed on the night Devil’s Alley opened?”

The name brought images into my mind, from the cover of our familia’s legend book to the scraggly coyote I’d found in the alley during Noche de Muerte. I held my breath. My favorite legend had appeared right before my eyes? It was almost too much to believe. “Wait—the legendary Coyote, the Great Namer? You were the coyote I fed