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

“No, no, no. That feeling is his emotional feedback. Ignore it. Once you crush his soul and make it submit to your will, you won’t even notice it.”

Well, that explained how she could puppet La Chupacabra so easily.

“You press your will into their stone. The criatura’s feelings are just a symptom that will fade.” She looked at Coyote. He scowled.

But his soul was still so warm. Even in my chest, gray battled with something small and fluttering. It seemed to have a lighter color—something closer to pink, maybe?

I tucked Coyote’s soul back into my shirt, like that would somehow protect it. “Do I have to try pain? What about something happier? Can I practice with happiness?”

Coyote’s eyes cut to me, studying my face, as Grimmer Mother scoffed.

“Estúpida,” she said. “You’ll never need to make your criatura happy. That won’t win you the Fights.” Grimmer Mother stepped toward me. “I see the softness is still sleeping in your heart. You remember what I said about that, don’t you?”

She backed me up to the nearest wall. I froze against it, hand flat over Coyote’s soul. Coyote studied me over the woman’s shoulder. La Chupacabra crawled quietly toward him and reached out to touch his ankle with her pale, hairless hands. His face stayed stoic, guarded, but gray filled his stone. She tilted her head, like she was worried about him. He gave her a small nod.

Grimmer Mother noticed the direction of my stare and rounded on them. “How many times have I told you not to distract other criaturas while I’m training?” She grabbed La Chupacabra by the arm and dragged her to the doorway. Coyote flinched as La Chupacabra thrashed. Grimmer Mother nodded to me. “Just a minute, mija. I’ll deal with her, and we’ll get back to your lesson.”

I gave a weak thumbs-up.

She slammed the door behind them. I held myself together for all of ten seconds before hyperventilating.

“I can’t do this,” I blurted. Coyote came up beside me. “Why did I think I could do this? She just made that criatura into an . . . empty doll! I can’t do that. I don’t want to do that.”

“Well, panicking’s not going to fix anything. If she sees you like this, she’ll definitely know you’re a fake bruja.” Coyote crossed his arms.

He was right. I should focus—Grimmer Mother would be back any second. I nodded shakily. “Okay,” I said. “But I don’t want to hurt you or turn you into a puppet. Ugh, what am I going to do?” My throat tightened.

Coyote sighed a little. “Just focus on calming down. I’ll think of something.”

“This is my sister,” I said. “This is my life. I have to be the one to do something about it.”

He stared into my face, and after finding something there, unwound his crossed arms. “Okay,” he said. “Okay, we will handle this. Any ideas, bruja?”

The sound of footsteps grew closer on the other side of the door. I whispered hurriedly, “Maybe we just make it look like I’m hurting you. How are your acting skills?”

He gave me a mischievous smile just as Grimmer Mother reentered the room. I buttoned my mouth. La Chupacabra was no longer with her.

Grimmer Mother dusted off her hands. “Where were we?”

I gave Coyote the briefest glance I could. His head moved a fraction. The tiniest nod. I hoped that meant what I thought it did.

“Oh that’s right.” Grimmer Mother gestured at me. “Practicing. Go on, bundle your pain tight in your heart and press it into Coyote’s stone.”

I turned to him, wide-eyed. His soul was warm as my hand embraced it. He gave me another tiny nod. So I screwed up my face, mimicking what I thought pain should look like, and narrowed my eyes on him.

Coyote cried out and dropped to the ground.

It was so startling I nearly let go of his stone. But I squeezed it at the last second and watched, face frozen, as he writhed in the dust, crying out occasionally, his face twisted with pain.

Grimmer Mother smiled. “Muy bien.”

She watched Coyote scratch through the dust, clearly hungry for the sight of the Great Namer cowering on the ground. Soon, I didn’t have to pretend my scowl. But my gaze rested on Grimmer Mother as I did.

After a few moments of Coyote’s pretended pain, Grimmer Mother flicked her hand. “You can stop now. You don’t want him too tired to continue.”

I let go of his soul. Coyote caught sight of the movement just a few seconds late and stopped. He breathed heavily on the ground. I bit my lip at his shaking limbs. He was pretending, right?

“As I thought. You’re a natural, just like Catrina.” Grimmer Mother didn’t spare Coyote a glance as she nodded at me. “Now, let’s try something a bit more advanced, mija. Let’s try making him stand.” She circled Coyote where he still lay on the ground. He did a good job of looking tired, but his eyes still followed her every move.

“All right,” I said, loudly, to give Coyote the hint. “So just—make him stand up, right?”

Coyote held my gaze and lumbered upright. He swayed for a moment there, like his movements weren’t quite his own, but he flashed me a conspiratorial smile.

I tried not to smile back.

Grimmer Mother clapped her hands together. “Muy bien! Now, make him crouch.”

I nodded to him. “Right. Okay, so crouching—”

His knees bent, and he got into an animalistic squat. The corner of his mouth tweaked, like he was suppressing a smile.

Grimmer Mother’s grin cut like a razor across her face. “Mija, this is the fastest I’ve ever seen a bruja master her criatura.” She came over and clasped my arm and gave it an almost-too-hard squeeze. I tried to look grateful, but all I wanted to do was pull away.

“Now.” She let go and headed for the door. “Make sure you keep practicing before the Bruja Fights. At this rate, you’ll have him completely under your control by tomorrow.” She paused in the doorway. “No doubt you will make your