Tío Catriz froze, a look of pure shock on his face.
“He said that when my mom returns for Día de Muertos—” His stomach gave a violent churn, thinking about how she was in the cemetery waiting for him with no idea that they were all in danger. “—they’ll talk to Lita and the other brujx.” Yadriel swallowed hard. “He said I could be in the aquelarre.”
Catriz jerked back, as if the words had struck him across the face. For a beat, he just stared at Yadriel. Disbelief turned to hurt, which quickly clouded to anger. Every smile line or bit of kindness in Tío Catriz’s face hardened to stone. “I see,” he said, his voice cold as ice.
“Please, Tío,” Yadriel begged, his throat burning. “We can talk to them, we can work through it, but you have to stop this, before it’s too late.”
Tío Catriz’s smile was forced. “I’m sorry, Yadriel,” he said, detached and unconcerned. “I will take what’s mine.” His tío drew in a deep breath. On the stone slab, the tendrils of gold emitting from the dagger in Julian’s heart snaked through the air and dove straight into Catriz’s nostrils.
“Don’t!” Yadriel pleaded, but his tío ignored him.
On the floor, a pained cry ripped through Julian’s throat. His back arched, his body twisting in unnatural angles. Yadriel ran to kneel at his side, but there was nothing he could do. Julian’s body flickered in and out of existence. Yadriel couldn’t touch him. There was nothing he could do but watch as Julian writhed in pain.
When Catriz stopped inhaling, he sighed, and it was like an invisible force released Julian’s spirit.
Julian collapsed in a heap, his limbs heavy and his chest rising and falling with rapid, shallow breaths. “Yads,” he groaned.
“Hang on!” Yadriel ordered, though he had no idea how to stop all this.
Catriz approached the cenote. He picked up a candle and dropped it into the pool. The surface burst into electric blue-and-green flames. The ground quaked, a faint reverberation under Yadriel’s knees. A low, thunderous growl filled the crypt, echoing off the walls.
“He’s almost here,” Catriz whispered, the acid lights dancing in his eyes. The flames curved and undulated.
Grief, betrayal, and paralyzing fear swarmed inside Yadriel. He couldn’t think. He could hardly breathe through the tightness in his lungs.
At the fire, Catriz murmured the ancient words he couldn’t understand. His tío withdrew a dagger and dragged the blade across his palm.
“Don’t!” Yadriel shouted, but it was too late.
Catriz hissed between his teeth and squeezed his fist. The blood dropped into the water. The flames burned bright, casting glowing lights of green and blue across the walls.
Yadriel watched as a huge jaguar paw moved beneath the water. Its back rose from the cenote, a curve of iridescent black fur. Its spots shimmered in shades of venomous green and quetzal blue. The large head of a jaguar broke through the surface, revealing huge, bone-white teeth and a bloodred tongue.
Frenzied panic shot through Yadriel, a choked shout lodging in his throat. He scrambled back, placing himself between Julian and the cenote. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
The jaguar’s mouth yawned open, large enough to swallow a man whole, before it sank back into the water.
Yadriel had no plan, but if he didn’t do something, he would lose everything. His mom and the rest of his relatives would all become trapped in Xibalba, and he would never see them again. His father, Lita, Diego, and all the other brujx would be in grave danger. Julian, his body bleeding out on the stone table, would die and his spirit would be trapped in the amulet, just like Miguel and the others. No one would find peace. No one would be safe.
Yadriel had to keep Bahlam from rising.
TWENTY-THREE
Yadriel didn’t want to hurt his tío, he just wanted to make him stop.
As Tío Catriz stood over the cenote, muttering as the blood dripped and the water roiled, Yadriel looked at Julian’s body. The golden wisps of smoke were quickly fading as the dagger drained his body of its life.
If he was going to stop Bahlam from returning, if he was going to save his tío, then he needed to stop the ritual.
Yadriel ran to Julian’s body and tried to yank the dagger out of his chest, but before he could get his hands on it, Catriz grabbed Yadriel from behind and threw him to the floor. Yadriel crashed to the ground, sharp pain exploding in his head.
“Yads!” Julian’s spirit tried to drag itself to Yadriel’s side, but could hardly move.
“It’s too late to stop it,” his tío said, placing himself between Yadriel and Julian.
But there was no way he was going to give up.
Yadriel threw his entire body weight at Tío Catriz, but he sidestepped him with surprising ease, hardly bothered.
Scrambling to his feet, Yadriel tried again.
This time, Catriz turned and caught him, barely even budging. His bloody hand was an iron grip, his fingers tightening painfully around Yadriel’s upper arm.
Yadriel tried to pull away from him. He’d never seen such a look of anger, of barely contained violence, on his tío’s face before. The amulet around his neck burned bright, pulsing with power. It was doing this to him, corrupting Catriz with the poisonous, vicious magic of Bahlam.
Yadriel hissed between his teeth, cringing as his tío gave him a rough shake.
“Don’t make me hurt you, Yadriel!” his voice boomed through the cavernous crypt. His lips peeled back over his teeth. His eyes burned, their whites visible all around his dark irises.
Suddenly, the jaguar headdress was yanked from Tío Catriz’s head and sent flying.
“DON’T TOUCH HIM!”
Surprise flashed across his face before his head jerked back. Tío Catriz let out an angry shout and released Yadriel.
He stumbled back to see Maritza with a fistful of Catriz’s hair.
“I’LL KICK YOUR ASS MYSELF!” she shouted furiously, dragging him away from Yadriel.
A monstrous snarl twisted Catriz’s face. In two swift motions, he knocked Maritza’s hand away and then caught her by the throat.
Teeth bared, Maritza fought him tooth and nail, kicking wildly and clawing at his arms, swiping for his face with a frenzied look in her eyes. It wasn’t clear if Tío Catriz was holding on to her or trying to keep her away.
White-hot anger exploded in Yadriel’s head.
He charged for Catriz again, but his uncle tossed Maritza away and kneed Yadriel in the side. He collapsed to the ground, moaning and curling up against the splitting pain.
“Yads!” Maritza called to him. She tried to get to her feet, but her legs buckled under her.
Julian was sprawled on the ground next to her, barely even visible anymore.
Catriz sucked in a deep breath.
Julian cried out, his body seizing.
The golden tendrils of smoke flowed from the dagger as Catriz breathed them in. The amulet burned bright around his neck. He splayed his hands out over the cenote. The flames licked at his fingers as he continued to chant.
No longer clear blue, the cenote rippled thick and dark. A paw, bigger than Yadriel’s chest, reached out, followed by a second. Claws, thicker and longer than human fingers, hooked over the edge of the pool, clicking against the stone.
From the dark pool, the jaguar’s head emerged. Blood dripped from its fur and fangs. Its eyes were bright, smoldering orange and bulged in its skull. The jaguar’s jaw hung wide open as it breathed a low, rattling growl.
Catriz’s face split into a wicked, cruel smile. He let out a wailing laugh, the likes of which Yadriel had never heard. It made the hairs on his arms stand on end.
The smell of decay and rot made Yadriel’s eyes burn. His heartbeat thrashed in his ears as he tried to back away. His legs felt weak. A primal voice in his head told him to run, but he refused.
Even though his body seared and throbbed with pain, he forced himself onto his feet again.
Catriz rolled his hands through the air, muttering incantations as he backed up, coaxing the jaguar to drag itself out of the cenote. One paw landed with a wet thud on the ground. Its angular shoulders emerged as it slunk forward.
Yadriel clenched his jaw and ran forward.
Catriz turned sharply and grabbed the front of Yadriel’s shirt in his fist, breaking off the incantation. The jaguar slipped back into the pool, but the surface continued to bubble.
“Don’t do this, Tío, please,” Yadriel begged. His eyes stung and watered, blurring his vision as his erratic heartbeat throbbed in his temples.
Catriz held him in place and laughed. “You aren’t strong enough to stop me, Yadriel.” His smile bent into a sneer. He tightened his grip. The jaguar-head amulet burned bright around Catriz’s neck.
Yadriel did the only thing he could think of. His hand shot out, snatching at the amulet.
Catriz jerked back, trying to get out of his reach, but Yadriel’s fingers caught around the leather cord.
He tugged hard.
The cord snapped.
Catriz sucked in a breath, his eyes wide. His grip buckled, and he released Yadriel. “No!” he snarled. Catriz swung wildly to face the pool.
The flames began to shrink. Without the amulet, he wasn’t able to keep it burning.
He spun back to face Yadriel, fury burning in his eyes as he shouted, reaching to grab the amulet back.