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

spat. “And the mark didn’t make her burst into flame like the other failures. The wound just healed!”

I stood on shaky legs. The blue light soaked deeper into my skin, reaching past all my nervousness and worries, beyond my fears, and touched my heart. My knees strengthened. I lifted my chin to the arguing Dark Saints with all the boldness of a storm at sea.

“I’ll never swear allegiance to you,” I said. “Now—give me my sister!”

I lunged for El Sombrerón. He dodged back. Kit Fox and Little Lion launched forward with me. Coyote leaped the opposite way, aiming for his back. But Brujo Rodrigo’s criaturas jumped forward and grappled with my friends. I didn’t pause. Didn’t wait. The blue light filled me up, strengthening me, and poured over into my friends. Their eyes flashed with turquoise light, just like the stones on the mosaic in the Sun Sanctuary.

I could do this. I kicked off the ground and reached high for El Sombrerón’s soul. This time, I wasn’t going to—

He strummed his guitar. Sour music filled the air. My body froze just inches away from him. Coyote, Lion, and Kit stopped moving too. The notes crystallized around us, thick and irresistible, until everything felt so cold that I thought my blood would turn to ice. It was just like when he played for Juana, only this time, he was looking for revenge, not a bride.

The music shook the dust, shook the boulders, the canyon. As he strummed, his guitar notes morphed into rampant words that crowded my skull.

You can’t do it, carried through the notes. They scoured my soul until I buckled over. Your mamá is disappointed in you. Your papá always hated you. Your sister is gone because of you. El Sombrerón’s eyes flashed red. You’re weak. Your water will boil away in the heat of fires more powerful than you. And you were wrong to ever believe otherwise.

The words drilled through my skull and drowned out the blue light inside me. The glow around my skin vanished. I was on my knees again, shaking as the music pressed down on me.

“As I suspected, this was all a ruse to steal back her sister’s soul.” El Sombrerón stopped beside Brujo Rodrigo and tilted his head down at him. “You let yourself be tricked, Soul Stealer.”

“It was a calculated risk,” Brujo Rodrigo spat, glaring at El Sombrerón. “Catrina said—”

“Your weak-minded attachment to Catrina has muddled your thinking. Now, I trust I can leave the child to you—or do I need to tell El Cucuy to replace you with the Cager of Souls?”

The anger in Brujo Rodrigo’s face drained away as he looked at me. “I know my duties.”

My body wouldn’t move. You can’t do it. You’re worthless. The words still echoed in the air, paralyzing and sharp. El Sombrerón strode away into the distant nighttime. Brujo Rodrigo headed for me.

He crouched down and grabbed my three necklaces. My chest tightened. “Don’t,” I said. “Please.”

Brujo Rodrigo smiled, as if I were an amusing, inanimate thing instead of a human being. But Coyote was recovering from El Sombrerón’s song faster than I could. He stood behind the brujo and shakily swung for him.

Ocelot caught his fist before it could interrupt her master’s work.

Her yellow eyes met Coyote’s. But her gaze was dull, and her face was slack. Everything inside her was Brujo Rodrigo.

The man’s smile curdled. “I think it’s safe to say you’ve failed the Bruja Finals.”

He ripped all three souls from my neck.

My raw scream blended with Coyote’s, Lion’s, and Kit’s. Almost in unison, the three of them collapsed. My chest ached deep and wide, like an open wound. I hadn’t realized how accustomed my soul had grown to theirs after all this time. It was an attachment immediately mourned.

Gila Monster grabbed the back of my jacket and held me aloft. I dangled there, cold and trembling and alone. Coyote, Lion, and Kit lay in the dirt beneath me, completely unconscious. Gila Monster moved me so Brujo Rodrigo and I were face-to-face.

Brujo Rodrigo glared at me. “Do you know why the Dark Saints are so feared, Cece? El Sombrerón and El Cucuy have a power greater than all other criaturas. They have the power to steal and transform the souls of Naked Man.” He pulled back his arm like he was preparing for a blow. His hand tensed, the fingers curled. “And when I became the third Dark Saint, they endowed me with the same ability. That’s why my title is the Soul Stealer.”

“No!” I yelled with all the air in my lungs.

“For daring to defy the rulers of Devil’s Alley, Cecelia Rios, I will be your judge.” Brujo Rodrigo aimed his hand at my chest, just above my heart. “I take your soul to avenge your disrespect against El Sombrerón, guardian of Devil’s Alley, and for breaching the greatest law of all: El Cucuy’s will and pleasure.”

His hand sunk into my chest.

It was the most invasive thing I’d ever felt. It was all the tears I’d ever cried, all the feelings I’d ever had, squirming between the claws of a stranger. Brujo Rodrigo’s fingers tugged backward, and his hand emerged from my chest. A stone, small enough to fit in his palm, sat like a light greenish-blue teardrop in the cup of his hand.

A piece of turquoise. My soul stone?

The heartbeat filling my ears began to fade. I couldn’t breathe. The world felt as if it were falling down around me.

Brujo Rodrigo held up my soul. It flashed frantically between his fingers. “Turquoise,” he breathed. “An unusual color for a human born in Tierra del Sol. Usually, it’s a ruby or a fire opal, filled with fire from the Sun god. But you’re touched by the Ocean goddess, aren’t you, Cece?” He smirked at me. “That explains the glowing light from earlier, at least. You’re no bruja at all. You’re a sniveling little curandera.”

He nodded. Gila Monster dropped me.

The impact rattled my bones, but I didn’t feel it. I struggled to