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

aiming straight for me—but I braced myself, caught it with my chest and arms, and used the momentum he’d knocked me back with to carry the instrument straight out of his grasp.

I fell back, clutching it to my chest. “Now, Coyote!”

Coyote scooped me up and ran. I held the guitar as he carried me out of El Sombrerón’s reach. The dark criatura followed us away from the canyon’s mouth, out toward the rocky cerros surrounding Iztacpopo’s base. Ocelot leaped up behind him, raised her claws, and slashed them down his back.

The blow made him stumble, but only slightly. Kit and Lion joined her, and the three beat down on him from every side. He slowed under their constant barrage. Coyote stopped to catch his breath about twenty feet away from him. I slipped out of his hold, my hands shaking around the neck of the guitar.

“Now what?” Coyote asked over the din.

I grinned shakily. “He can’t use this against us if I break it!”

Coyote gave me a firm smile, nodded, turned, and jumped into the fray. Together, the four criaturas battled El Sombrerón, tearing at his cloak and at his smoke skin, barely dodging his powerful blows. Now, it was time to level the playing field. I dug my feet into the crags of the rocks and tried to heave the guitar onto my shoulder. But I must have misjudged its weight, or my footing, or my clumsiness, because in midair its weight pulled me sideways. The two of us toppled off the rocks.

The guitar hit the ground with an unearthly clang, but the silver itself was unharmed. I wasn’t as lucky. Sharp pain erupted all over my body as I pulled my head up from the sand. But I couldn’t stop. Large, thundering footsteps echoed through the cerros. I reached for the guitar. I had to destroy it—

A shadow blotted out the moonlight. I looked up as El Sombrerón surged above me, throwing Ocelot off him and reaching down for me. I screamed. He wrenched me into the air.

His red gaze burned from beneath his hat’s brim. “You foolish child. Even if your criaturas were strong enough to defeat me, my guitar would only heal me. I am El Sombrerón, the Bride Stealer, the Undying, Guardian of Devil’s Alley’s gate. Thus, I was Named. Thus, I will be.”

So the guitar was even more important than I thought—we had to break it for sure now. But I couldn’t help fixating on his robes, on what I knew hid within them. This was my chance. “Well, I’m Cecelia Rios!” I thrust my hand into his cloak. “The curandera who will defeat you!”

El Sombrerón made to rip me away from his robes, but just then, Coyote and Lion pounced on his back. He whipped around, trying to shake them off. The scenery swirled with his rough movements. I scratched at his cloak. Come on. Ocelot said Juana’s braid had to be here somewhere! The clouds gathered overhead. My fingernails and soul started to glow with a rush of determination that made my chest swell and the hair on my arms stand on end. Thunder began rumbling above us. Suddenly, a rush of air whipped up behind me, and Ocelot’s and Kit’s claws swiped down El Sombrerón’s robes on either side.

Everything slowed. A crash of lightning struck not far from where we fought and illuminated El Sombrerón’s smoky cloak. It split into fraying pieces of smoke, solidifying into fabric as the strips fluttered away. Items spilled from his torn clothing. A couple of bones. A few ribbons. A guitar pick—and a long braid of thick black hair.

I caught the braid just before it fell. It was warm, pulsing with something electric. El Sombrerón roared as my criaturas attacked him from every side, their swipes just precise enough to miss me. His grip tightened on me, and his other hand swung to rip the braid out of my hand.

I clutched her braid to my chest in one hand. “I won’t let you take her again!”

I threw my other arm forward, to block his approaching blow. My fingernails reflected a brilliant turquoise. Sapphire light surrounded my skin.

A great deluge of rain suddenly poured from the sky, directly over El Sombrerón’s head.

The criatura months were usually dry, but rain came down heavier now than I’d ever seen even during the storm-prone summer. It swelled like a waterfall, and soon even El Sombrerón’s tight grip wasn’t strong enough to resist the stream. He dropped me to the desert ground. It was already flooded, and the water cushioned my landing.

I looked around desperately for El Sombrerón’s guitar, but it had vanished under the sudden flash flood. El Sombrerón stumbled as the rain hit him, hammering him down and slowing his ability to fight back against my undeterred friends. Coyote whooped. “You’re doing it, Cece!”

Me? My heart jumped as the storm rose. My soul glowed in my pocket, even lighting up the water. The rain’s roar echoed in my ears and chest and tingled against my skin. Wait—was I really doing this? This—this water was here for me?

Was this the power of a curandera?

El Sombrerón thrashed through the water and rounded on me. “Return my bride!” he roared.

Well, there was one way to find out. Help me, I reached out to the water with my soul.

My soul’s light grew almost blinding. The water around me pulled, and the current dragged me steadily out of El Sombrerón’s reach. I gripped Juana’s braid close to me as the water kept me just a few steps ahead.

El Sombrerón dove for me. The rain kept following his movements, but the current wasn’t fast enough to keep me safe.

“Lion!” I cried, because he was the fastest.

El Sombrerón’s hand aimed for my head. I squeezed my eyes shut and let the tingling power of my soul flood over, into Lion. Footsteps splashed through the water, and Lion reached me just in time, dragging me out of El Sombrerón’s grasp.

Lion landed on a cluster of rocks