Julian huffed and tugged his hood over his head.
Luca gave them an apologetic smile. “He doesn’t mean nothin’ by it.”
Julian glowered, heavy brow pulled down over his dark eyes, but Luca seemed to be thawing his anger.
“But when he gets mad, he’ll throw it like that, y’know? It was really freaky.” He lifted his bony shoulders in a shrug. “Plus, you guys were talking to like, nothing.” Luca gestured vaguely. “So either you’re both crazy, or Julian’s dead,” he guessed. “And you guys can see him?”
Maritza looked to Yadriel, but he kept his mouth shut. Instead, he looked to Julian. He wasn’t going to say anything without his permission.
Luca followed his gaze, searching the air and tilting his head, as if he just needed the right light to see Julian standing there.
Julian’s eyes were hidden under the hood of his jacket. Yadriel couldn’t read his expression, but he could see his jaw was clenched. After a moment, he gave a curt nod. “Okay,” he said. “Tell him.”
Yadriel swallowed, trying to find his voice through the tightness of his throat. “Yes,” he said.
He regretted it immediately.
Luca’s expression wavered between surprise and sadness. “I thought so,” he said, sniffing as his large eyes started to glisten in the waning twilight. Luca tried to smile, but his chin wobbled. “Julian wouldn’t have just left us without a reason, he wouldn’t—” He cut himself off, rubbing at his forehead.
Yadriel felt Luca’s grief, rolling off him and hitting him in the stomach.
Julian stood there, body rigid and expression still hidden.
Yadriel tried to come up with something to say that would offer the smaller boy comfort. What would his mom say if she were here?
“Luca—” he started gently, but Luca didn’t let him finish.
“Yeah, see, there’s no way Rio will see you on your own.” Luca rubbed his nose on his sleeve, drawing Yadriel’s attention back to the bruise. “He doesn’t like strangers, doesn’t trust people—kind of like Omar, but worse.”
Yadriel wasn’t sure that was possible.
“But if I’m with you, he’ll at least let you in the door,” Luca explained.
Julian crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head. “You little traitor…,” he said, but it lacked heat.
“I don’t know…” Yadriel trailed off, waiting for Julian’s guidance.
“I owe him.” Luca’s expression pinched, his delicate eyebrows bunching together. He tugged anxiously on the frayed hem of his sweater. “Julian, I mean. If he is dead, it’s because of me. He was trying to protect me, and then I ran off, and…” He swallowed hard.
Yadriel stole a glance at Julian.
He pushed his hood back, expression somber as he looked down at his friend. “Luca…”
“I want to find out what happened,” Luca went on. “We were too scared to go to Rio, but if he does know something…” When he spoke, his voice was firmer, more sure of himself. “I want to help, if I can.” He was staring down at the dogs again, as if they were part of the conversation. “I owe it to Jules, and Rio.”
Julian winced. “You don’t owe me shit,” he said in a quiet sigh. He tipped his head to the side, watching Luca as the smaller boy waited for an answer.
Yadriel didn’t say anything. This was Julian’s choice, not his, no matter how much he wanted Julian to agree to it.
Luca, meanwhile, was distracted. “Can I pet your dogs?” he asked Maritza with a hopeful lift of his eyebrows.
Maritza laughed. “Yeah, sure,” she said moving closer. “They’re friendly.”
Luca immediately put down his skateboard and dropped into a squat, small arms in long sleeves held out to his sides. Donatello and Michelangelo bowled Luca right over, knocking him off his feet. He was practically swallowed up by the large dogs as they nudged and licked at him happily.
As he laughed, hands giving them both a good scratch, Donatello’s lolling tongue gave him a particularly good swipe. It slicked back Luca’s mass of light brown hair, revealing a large scar running down the side of his face. It was a patch of marbled skin.
Yadriel’s heart made a hard thump in his chest. He’d seen scars like it on Maritza’s dad’s arm. Burns.
She noticed, too, the grin on her face slipping to a look of shock.
Julian didn’t say anything.
There was a lot about Julian and his friends that Yadriel still didn’t know.
When Julian remained silent, Yadriel said, “I don’t think he wants us to see Rio.”
Luca stared up at Yadriel with his large deep amber eyes while Michelangelo lapped at his ear. “So you can hear him? And see him?”
Yadriel nodded. “Yes.”
Luca looked around, twisting his fingers together. “Where is he?”
Both Yadriel and Maritza looked at Julian.
Julian stood there, motionless as he watched Luca. Even his silence was loud. His stillness was unsettling. Yadriel didn’t like it. He almost preferred Julian yelling to this.
Luca searched the empty air, squinting, even venturing to take a step closer. “Can he hear me?”
“Yes, he can hear you,” Yadriel said softly.
Hesitantly, Luca held out his hand. “Can he touch me?”
Julian’s expression was slack, his spine bowed and eyes dull as they studied Luca. He stepped forward and reached out. His hand hovered just above Luca’s. Yadriel held a breath as Julian’s face pinched in concentration.
Julian lowered his hand, and his fingers slipped right through Luca’s palm.
Luca shivered, his arm quaking inside the large sleeve, but otherwise didn’t react.
“It doesn’t really work like that…,” Yadriel said as Julian stepped back and turned his head away.
Pink bloomed in Luca’s cheeks. He dropped his hand to his side and rubbed his arm. He gave that apologetic little smile again.
“Fine.”
Julian’s voice was so small, at first Yadriel wasn’t sure he’d heard right.
“Really?” Yadriel asked, trying to get a look at his face, but Julian kept it turned away. Instead, he gave a jerky nod.
“What?” Luca asked, looking around again. “What’d he say?”
“He said yes,” Yadriel said. The relief crashing over him felt so good, he smiled.
Luca smiled back. “I could meet you guys tomorrow morning, give you the night to think it over?”
“It would need to be the afternoon, we’ve got school.” Yadriel nodded toward Maritza.
“Oh, right. Afternoon, then.” Luca nodded. “Where should I meet you? Do you live nearby?”
“Yeah, I live there,” Yadriel said, motioning through the large gate. The lights were on in his house. The church loomed on the other side.
Luca’s eyes went wide. “You live in there? Whoa, no wonder you can see ghosts.”
Maritza laughed.
Yadriel grinned and bit back the urge to correct him.
“I’m Maritza, by the way,” she cut in. “And that guy is Yadriel.”
“Oh.” Luca’s eyes did that quick little dart to Yadriel’s chest.
On instinct, Yadriel curled in on himself, tightly crossing his arms as heat crawled up his neck. He hated that glance, and he hated the mix of embarrassment and shame that came with it.
“I’m Luca.” His lips tugged in a lopsided smile. “But I guess Jules told you that already?” He laughed. “Okay, well I’ll meet you guys here, then, tomorrow afternoon.”
Julian straightened as Luca hopped onto his skateboard. “He can’t walk back on his own, it’s dark out—”
“Do you need somewhere to stay the night?” Yadriel asked quickly. He was already housing one boy in secret, he didn’t think he could handle another, but Julian was right—it was dark out, and if someone was going around picking off kids from the street—
“You could stay at my place,” Maritza offered, toying with her rosary. “I bet if I talked to my parents—”
“Oh, no, that’s okay!” Luca waved her off, rubbing at the back of his neck. “My parents live a few streets over—”
Yadriel saw Julian tense.
“I’ll just stay there tonight.”
Before Yadriel could think of something convincing to say, Luca was already rolling down the sidewalk and around the corner.
For a moment, all three of them stood there, not saying anything.
All the ferocity Julian had shown earlier seemed to have drained out of him. And, to be honest, Yadriel felt too exhausted to be combative, either. “Julian—”
He spun on his heel and glided right through the iron bars of the gate.
Yadriel sighed.
Maritza shooed him. “Go on after him. I have to go home before my mom kills me.” She gave a short wave before Donatello and Michelangelo pulled her down the street.
Yadriel raced through the headstones to catch up to Julian. Voices came from the church, and he could see through the windows that the brujx had gathered inside. Warm light spilled from the open doors of the church, washing over the steps and path lined with marigolds. A couple of stragglers made their way into the church.