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

almost didn’t recognize her, but when she turned to look at me, her nose piercing caught the light.

I stiffened. It was the apprentice bruja I’d met when I first entered Envidia. She had a serpentine smile, but her demeanor was a bit calmer this time.

“For a girl with two criaturas, you still look awfully scared.” She smirked. “So tell me, how does it feel getting this far in the competition?”

I tried not to bite my lip and glanced down the street. I shouldn’t stay out in the open for too long. But I didn’t want to antagonize Bruja Bullring too much. When I saw the area was still clear, I turned back to her. “Are you not in the Bruja Fights anymore?” I asked.

She sighed and pulled her shirt collar back from her neck. There was no necklace. “Unfortunately not. The police caught me in the raid last night. I made it out, but they stole my criatura. She’s probably dead by now.”

I resisted the urge to check on Little Lion’s and Coyote’s souls. “Who did you have?”

“Criatura of the Tarantula,” she said and shook her head. “A complete shame. I’d have loved to have seen her go against Coyote.” Her smirk widened. “How did you capture a legend’s soul, Bruja Cece?”

“It wasn’t that hard,” I said with a shrug, trying to avoid details.

She shook her head and chuckled. “Chiquita, I found out who you are, you know. You don’t have to pretend.”

The hairs on my arms stood on end. Had whoever sent Ocelot after me told her something?

“I’ve heard about Catrina, the Cager of Souls. She’s a big shot in Devil’s Alley. Guess it helps having some of that blood in your veins.” She frowned out toward the Ruins.

I let out a nervous breath. Okay, she hadn’t figured out that I was doing this to get Juana back. “My tía left me some . . . uh, tips, I guess.” I cleared my throat when she sent me a dark look. “But you seemed to know a lot of stuff about the Bruja Fights all on your own. Have you entered them before or something?”

“For the past two years,” she said. “Last year I had the Criatura of the Cantil Snake. He lost in the semifinals, probably just to spite me.” She sneered. “And now I’ve lost Tarantula. I swore this’d be the year I got into Devil’s Alley.”

I knotted my fingers together. “Why do you want to go to Devil’s Alley?” It was hard to think anyone would want to, especially now that I knew what it was like for the criaturas.

Her eyebrows played with each other, like the question confused her. “Same reason you do, I guess. Probably the same reason Catrina did. To get out of this infernal desert.” Her face hardened. “In Devil’s Alley, I won’t have a mamá beating me, telling me to respect people who’ve only ever tried to make me small.” She gritted her teeth. “In Devil’s Alley, I’ll be the big bad bruja everyone else has to fear.”

Except El Cucuy, who was the biggest bad of Devil’s Alley. But she didn’t mention him as she glared at the streets she’d just cursed.

If I could have turned Tía Catrina’s journal into one single expression, it would have been the one Bruja Bullring wore just then—with eyes that had learned to hate more than to love. And in that same gaze, the implication that they’d been soft once. That they’d grabbed onto the wrong weapon to stop that softness from being hurt again.

“That’s why I need a new criatura,” she said. “How did you find Coyote so quickly? I saw you that first day in Envidia. You didn’t have a criatura then.”

There was a change in the air. It went from vulnerable sharing to pins and needles in a moment. I didn’t like it.

I stood a little straighter and scanned the area. No signs of Ocelot watching us from above. But Bruja Bullring’s glare had turned on me. “I went to the old silver mine and hunted,” I said. “I found him and took his soul.”

“That easy?”

“That easy.” I certainly wasn’t going to tell her how it had really happened.

Her gaze dropped to my neck. I felt it flush. She pushed off the wall and walked toward me, slowly. I locked my legs so I wouldn’t back away.

“Bet your tía’s tips helped a lot, huh?” I jumped as she grabbed my wrist. “Imagine being able to power two criaturas at the same time, at your age. You got Catrina’s talent too, I guess.” She smiled down at me. “Two souls must be a hard weight to bear. How about I take one off your hands?”

“Don’t you dare,” I snapped.

Her dark eyes were framed with long, luscious lashes like Juana’s, but there was iron in them. “It’ll be better if you just let me have my way.” She reached for my throat. “So just stay still while I—”

I slammed my skull into her face.

Immediately, pain shot through my forehead from the impact. The bruja wailed and thrust me back. I stumbled. Her mouth was bleeding, a front tooth missing.

“You cucaracha!” she cried.

I took that as a pretty solid cue to run.

I flew down the street. The bruja wasn’t far behind. I pumped my legs and arms, Coyote’s and Little Lion’s souls thumping against my chest.

The wind bit at my skin as I threw myself into the run, faster, faster. Dust sprayed up behind my heels as I skated around a turn. I didn’t dare look back. Her footsteps sounded too close as it was. I flung myself into the next street and took off. It was a backstreet, less populated, lined with trash cans and a few tubs of stored water. I weaved between them, chest heaving.

“Get back here, cucaracha!”

I threw myself behind someone’s water tank. She gripped the other side, and we dodged back and forth, trying to anticipate each other. Then she lunged over it. I covered my face and screamed.

Only—a spray of water thrust