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

He took a quiet breath. Little Lion and Kit Fox shuffled around, trying to act like they weren’t listening in, but they glanced frequently in our direction. “Eventually, the Moon discovered me. She told Ocean, who comforted me when I was afraid. She convinced Mother Desert to tell Sun about me. And Sun was kind.” His eyes softened as he spoke of the gods. “They each promised that they would do everything in their power to keep me happy and safe. So together with Mother Desert, they decided it was right for the world to begin. So that I could have a true life. That’s when they sacrificed themselves. And they each left a creation to populate the world.”

I wasn’t sure where this was going, but I did love the creation story. So I nodded. “The Moon goddess made the stars, and Ocean goddess made the sea life. Desert goddess made you and the animals, and Sun god made us, Naked Man.”

“Out of every creation the gods had made, I thought humans were the most—beautiful.” Coyote’s mismatched eyebrows tugged together, and he didn’t meet my gaze. “They were beings like me. Not exactly like me, of course. But more like me than the gods or their other creations were. So I watched Naked Man from afar. I saw their struggles and ached for them. I—loved them.”

My heart swelled with Coyote’s feelings; warmth, but followed by something colder, darker.

“Before Mother Desert sacrificed herself, she gave me her voice, the power to create—she made me the Great Namer.” He lifted his head slowly and looked at me. “And once she was gone, I was all alone. I loved humans so much that I—I wanted what they had, too. I wanted a familia.” He pressed his lips together. “That’s when I Named the criaturas. I modeled them after humans, but gave them teeth and claws like Mother Desert’s animals, so when hard times came, they could protect themselves. I called them my brothers and sisters. They were the familia I’d always wanted.”

The floor creaked. I glanced over my shoulder. Lion and Kit sat by makeshift beds, their stares focused on their Legend Brother in silent salute.

“But one day, Naked Man came across us. I was excited to become friends, so when they arrived, I welcomed them into our camp. But Naked Man was afraid.” Coyote’s voice reverberated against the stone walls, and the candles on my desk shivered as if in remembrance. “And they slaughtered my familia.”

His soul’s colors evaporated into blankness. Nothing painful, nothing joyous. Just numb. My heart ached for him.

That wasn’t the way our legends went at all. I wondered, silently, what other history we’d rewritten.

“Because of me, each criatura soul bears a scar. And no matter how much time passes, a part of them remembers that they were killed because of my love for Naked Man.” His Adam’s apple jogged. “I can never seem to protect anyone I care about.”

My room grew quiet as Kit, Lion, and I stared at Coyote. I reached hesitantly for his hand, but he stood and cleared his throat. “Anyway. We should get to bed. The finals are tomorrow.”

“Coyote, wait—” I started.

Footsteps echoed below. All of us looked at the floor. I froze, surrounded by my friends’ makeshift beds, jerky crumbs, and dirty footprints.

“Out, out!” I whisper-shouted, waving wildly.

In a blur, the three of them dove for my window. Kit was nearly too slow, but Coyote snatched him by the collar and pulled him out right before Papá lifted the hatch.

Then it was just me and Papá’s weary, glowering gaze.

“Hola, Papá,” I whispered. “Perdón, ¿te desperté?”

His heavy eyebrows crushed downward. I winced. He took another step up, so his arms were above the floor, and grabbed my wrist. I froze.

“After all I do to put you through school, you waste your time, make a mess, and wake me up in the middle of the night? Do you know how early I have to get up? Are you ever grateful?” He threw my arm back at me, so I nearly fell backward.

I scrambled up from the floor. I almost retreated to the far part of the room, but at the last second, something stopped me. I’d stood my ground against one of the Dark Saints tonight. I’d survived a confrontation with Ocelot. I should be able to stand up to my papá too.

Normally, I would’ve just shrunk back and continued to let him yell. But for the first time, I lifted my head and spoke back: “I am grateful for what you do, even if you don’t think I am.” He scoffed. I clenched my fists. “I didn’t wake you up on purpose—”

“Enough,” he spat. “Enough, Cece.” He clenched his jaw, and water rose in his eyes.

This time, I did take a step back. I’d never seen Papá cry—not even the night Juana was taken.

“If only El Sombrerón had taken you,” he hissed. “Instead, he left us with the child cursed by Tzitzimitl.”

Silence suffocated the room.

My already sore throat tightened again. Deep down, I’d been waiting for him to say it. A part of me had known that he’d wanted to all along.

He held a hand up. “Go to sleep, water child. You wake me up again, and I will show you how hard a papá is meant to be . . .”

The hatch door cut off anything else he might’ve said.

There was nothing left to do but blow out the candles. In the darkness, I curled up in my bed, silent, as Coyote and the others crept back inside like shadows. I tucked my face under my blanket and concentrated on keeping the stirring pain in my soul out of Coyote’s, Lion’s, and Kit’s.

The three of them went to bed silently. But as tears finally slid down my cheeks and spotted my mattress, the pitter-patter of water rang off the roofs outside.

“Rain?” Lion whispered. “In winter?”

Coyote’s voice was soft and low: “I’ve never seen it rain in Tierra del Sol at this time of year.”

The small nocturnal