realized the Devourer was targeting you, I knew I had to act. The Deos

act through us. They want us to save this land.”

“That was you I heard calling out to me when we were in the River

Luxaria, wasn’t it?”

“You needed a push. Now that we’re together, we’ll set things

right.”

I scratch at the inside of my wrist. I can’t stop shaking. “When

the Devourer took my power, I wanted to die. I felt like there was no

place for me anymore. And there won’t be-not without the others. I

wish I’d told my mother the day my powers arrived, but I was too

scared.”

“I should’ve been there to teach you.”

“It wasn’t your job. I had a mother.”

Have , I correct myself. I have a mother.

“You can’t be mad at her. She had a hard time. I watched you guys

every day. You’re an amazing girl, Alejandra. Your mom did the best

she could even if it didn’t feel like it was enough. She did the best

she could. ”

“I get it, okay? I’m afraid to face her now. She’ll know what I

did. She’ll know about dad-”

“What happened with Miluna, with your father-that was not your

fault ! I’m going to tell you something about your mother, but you

can’t tell her.”

“She’s being held captive by an evil witch,” Rishi says. “Alex

couldn’t tell her even if she wanted to.”

“You certainly have a mouth, don’t you?” Aunt Ro winks at her.

“What about my mom?”

“You know, Alejandra, you’re just like your mother when she was

your age. Impatient and bossy. Magic was different then. It was the

eighties. Brujas were coming over from the islands to practice freely.

We were wild back then. Careless. A lot of people we knew died from

using too much or getting into nasty business. We were hunted. We went

underground. Your mother wanted nothing to do with her gift after our

dad was killed by hunters.”

“I didn’t know that. I thought Papa Renaldo died of a heart

attack.”

“Caused by a hunter,” she says bitterly. “It was a different time.

There’s a truce, a treaty now. The Thorne Hill Alliance they call

themselves. But back then, your mom told me we were going to run away

to the middle of nowhere. We could hide and never use our powers

again. It was the day before my Deathday, and I was scared. Treaty or

not, my powers were wild. The elements called to me. She feared for my

life. Rightfully so, I suppose.”

“What made you stay?” I ask.

“Your father.” She looks pleased with the shock on my face. “That

same night, we were at a social circle. We had to make the rounds, so

our mom wouldn’t suspect anything. You always had to be one step ahead

of her. She had the Sight, like Rose.

“So at the circle, there’s this handsome guy with big, gray eyes

and creamy, light skin. Real fresh, you know? He spoke about all these

hopes for all magical kind. How we needed to come together with not

just brujos and brujas, but with the half-beings. I thought he was

cute.”

“Gross.”

“But your mom, man. She loved him even before he started speaking.

She loved him even more when he walked up to her and introduced

himself. I knew I couldn’t leave. If I left, Carmen would have come

with me, and I just couldn’t do that to her.”

“Do you think you made the right choice?”

She looks at my face for a long time. “I don’t regret staying. I

regret a lot of things, but staying, being part of your lives, I never

regretted that. I want you to know that we could have left. The

thought was there. You weren’t the only one who felt like the magic

was too much.”

“I wish she’d told me. Maybe I wouldn’t have been so weak.”

She grabs my face in her palms. “Never, ever could you be weak. We

all think about leaving, Alejandra. We all get scared and want to turn

away, but it isn’t always strength that makes you stay. Strength is

also making the decision to change your destiny.”

“But look at what I did! My powers are gone.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” She stands and dusts off her white

dress. She holds out her hands for me to take.

“What do you mean I’m wrong?” I ask.

“The Deos act through us. Only my own blood can free me, and here

you are. You were born a bruja, Alejandra.” She looks at the big sky.

“Your powers are at the Tree of Souls, but your body is still a

conduit. Your body is made to hold your personal brand of magic. It’ll

always be yours. That’s why the Devourer constantly needs to feed to

accumulate power. With every bit she consumes, it takes a toll on her

physical body because the power is stolen. What happens when you don’t

feed a fire?”

“It burns out,” Rishi says.

“What do I do in the meantime?” I ask.

Aunt Rosaria grips my hands tighter. I jump with the shock of

power. “You’re going to borrow some of mine.”

36

She ate the stars and swallowed the earth.

She is the girl with all the power.

- Witchsong #5, Book of Cantos

Aunt Ro’s power floods my body. It’s familiar but foreign all at

once, like listening to my grandparents speak in the Old Tongue and

understanding what they say even if I can’t pronounce the words

myself.

Every time I look at her, I’m filled with more wonder. She’s

alive. I don’t know if I’ll ever be okay. I’m not sure if this will

work, but Aunt Ro says to trust her, and I do. The first step is

breaking her free. I pull the borrowed magic and rip the chains from

the ground. I think of Agosto and the Meadowkin. I whisper a prayer to

El Guardia for their safety. The chains break apart and melt into the

ground. I hiss as the recoil hits me harder, and my hands glow as

black marks burn farther along my skin.

The labyrinth shudders around us. For a long time, I wanted

nothing more than to be ordinary. As we run through the changing paths

of this maze, I realize I was never ordinary to begin with. We are

built a certain way, and the only thing I regret is that it took me so

long to see that. The Devour tried to take that from me when she took

my family. I’m going to get it back.

“Has the Devourer seen you here?” I ask. “I mean, the Deos put

both of you here.”

“The Devourer was put here by her crimes in her realm, your human

realm,” Aunt Ro says. “I have a different path. When Xara discovered

she could make herself stronger by feeding off the Tree, she thought

she could become so great, no Deo could imprison her here. She

recruits vulnerable creatures in other realms and uses them to bring

others she feeds off here.”

Nova . An unblessed brujo. A marked brujo. A boy who wanted more,

to never be powerless. A boy who didn’t want to die.

“So if she has enough power, she can break out of Los Lagos?”

“I believe so,” Aunt Ro says. “Power is addictive. She needs it to

survive, just as much as she needs it to destroy. The only way for her

to break free from her punishment, to rule with unlimited strength, is

to become a god herself.”

“Is that even possible?”

“By definition of immortality, yes. With the right amount of

powers, she could. Our family is among the oldest lines of brujas in

the world. She’d get pretty damn close.”

No , I think. She won’t.

We stop at a fork in the labyrinth.

“Remember what I said,” Aunt Ro tells me. “Don’t stand in one

place for too long. If you get taken by the vines, stab the thickest

part closest to the ground. Even plants have feelings, after all.

“Get to the tree, Alejandra,” she tells me.

“Keep Rishi safe,” I tell her.

Rishi kisses my cheek, and then they’re gone. A hedge separates