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

rumbled. El Sombrerón’s fingers closed over Coyote’s trembling wrists. “You have been tamed by a pollo who believes herself to be a hawk. And mortal or not, I will make sure you fall with her when her wings break.”

He snapped Coyote’s arm with the last word.

Coyote’s scream echoed around me. My heart froze. El Sombrerón shoved Coyote to the side. The energy coming off him was different now. It wasn’t the calculated, mysterious monster anymore. Now that his guitar was gone, he was a hulking, burning beast, and his gaze shone like fire as he came toward me.

Juana seized my shoulder. “Run, Cece!”

Coyote’s broken arm dangled uselessly by his side. “Cece, run!”

But El Sombrerón, even injured, was faster than their words or my reflexes. He knocked Juana aside, sending her rolling through the floodwater that was now two feet deep. I lurched after her, but El Sombrerón’s hand caught my neck and hauled me into the air, above his head.

Nine feet off the ground, I stared down at El Sombrerón’s faceless darkness. My heart thundered. His fingers dug into my skin and began to burn.

“What should I transform you into?” he asked. As he spoke, crimson marks crawled out from his touch, each one a pattern of heat and pain. Tears blurred my vision as his magic sizzled against my skin, and I gasped and struggled.

Coyote found his footing below. “Cece!” he cried. “Remember! You’re not just a human!”

El Sombrerón tipped his head. “How about . . . a pile of ash?”

The burning marks wormed up my face as smoke rose from his hand.

“You’re a curandera!” Coyote yelled.

The heat spread over my friends’ soul stones. I saw the moment it hit them. Each of them collapsed into the water, writhing. Coyote held his broken arm and fell to his knees. My lungs trembled as we shared the destructive power of El Sombrerón.

No. Juana’s word reverberated through me and interrupted the heat, stopping just beneath my eyelashes. My heart shuddered with my refusal to burn, and my soul’s light surged upward. Something shot up inside me, a geyser, a crescendo, a wave that drowned out the fear. Thunder boomed again overhead. Slowly, the light around my skin evolved from a low glow to a stunning turquoise shine.

I grabbed El Sombrerón’s wrist with both of my wet, trembling hands. The last time he’d held me like this, he’d beaten me and stolen my sister. He’d broken my familia. But things were different now. He might have wounded us, might have broken Coyote’s arm, might be able to throw me around, but—

“You have no power over me!” I yelled into the storm.

The blue light of my soul spread, overflowing into my criaturas. Their soul stones started glowing blue around my neck. Coyote looked up at me, and his eyes shone like blue suns. Kit and Ocelot raised their heads from the ground, their eyes sharp and turquoise.

I squeezed El Sombrerón’s hand at my throat, and the red streaks on my cheeks suddenly shattered like glass off of my skin. Rainwater dripped down my face and cooled over any pain. His red eyes widened. A dark shudder moved through his arm as I pushed my water’s strength toward him. Glowing blue streaks, wound together in intricate patterns, appeared on his hand and spread down his sleeve.

El Sombrerón shook his head and stumbled back, but didn’t let me go. “What is this?” His other hand grabbed at his smoky skin, trying to push the blue lines away. They only wound up his shoulder, spreading faster as my soul stone pulsed. “No curandera has done this before.”

I dug my nails into El Sombrerón’s hand as a spiral blossomed down his throat and washed over the soul stone hanging there.

“You don’t get to hurt anyone! Not anymore!” I yelled.

The moment my blue light encircled El Sombrerón’s soul stone, his body froze. His arm locked, paralyzed. I willed his fingers to open. They lifted like a hinge and set me free.

Coyote and Kit Fox lunged forward. Kit Fox somersaulted and caught me as I fell. Coyote raised his good hand’s great, sharp claws, jumped into the air, and twisted above El Sombrerón’s head. Their eyes met, dark criatura and Great Namer.

Coyote delivered the final blow.

Kit and I hit the ground. The rain overhead slowed to a trickle. El Sombrerón swayed on his feet—and then fell to the earth in a great, thundering slap of water and mud.

His soul swung up in the air, trailing his fall. The large black stone caught the moonlight. I watched a single scratch dig its way through its surface. And as it finally dropped next to El Sombrerón, the water and desert ground parted for it. Together, his newly scarred soul and body disappeared instantly into the sand.

Everything fell finally, serenely quiet.

The rain petered out. The flood began to recede. Coyote straightened up next to where El Sombrerón’s body had fallen. He stared at the ground as the gray in his soul seeped away, and a peaceful pulse moved through his stone. His soul filled with the words it’s done. He closed his eyes. Finally, the pink could shine brightest of all his feelings.

I sighed as relief settled over us. My body slowly stopped glowing. Kit lowered me to the ground, and he, Ocelot, and Coyote went to check on Lion.

Sloshing footsteps sounded from my left. I turned and found Juana standing there, a little scuffed, but no worse for the blow she’d taken. The water had nearly drained away. She approached hesitantly, eyes glancing between me and my criatura friends gathered around Little Lion.

She stopped in front of me. “You’re a bruja,” she said.

“A curandera, actually.” I said. “But also kind of a bruja? Maybe both. I don’t really know. Either way, these four are my friends.” I placed a hand over the four souls at my throat. “They won’t hurt you.”

That should have been obvious considering Little Lion had saved her earlier, but I still found it helpful to say aloud. Ideas become more