Labyrinth Lost Read Online Free PDF Page B

much I try to forget, the memory floats on the surface of my mind.
    It was an accident . Back then, I repeated that like a mantra.
    I was ten years old and suffered from nightmares and paralyzing headaches. No one could figure out what was wrong with me. My parents’ Circle came over one day and bathed me in seawater and rubbed ashes on my face to scare away the ghosts. But it wasn’t ghosts. It was something inside that wanted to rip me in half to set itself free.
    One day, the pain was so bad I stopped going to school. I was alone in the house. Something woke me, a voice calling from the shadows. Claws scratched against the wooden floor. Miluna prowled toward me, her paws trailing ragged, black shadows. Her normally green eyes were red as rubies, and her pearly white teeth were bared and covered in yellow froth.
    It was an accident . I repeat it still.
    Miluna attacked me. I raised my hands in defense, and the magic coiled in my heart was unleashed. I saw ribbons of red and flesh. Then, I remember darkness and, for the first time in a long time, relief. I woke to my father shouting my name. “Alejandra, Alejandra, are you okay?” He picked me up and carried me to the couch. My body shook with recoil. My veins buzzed with freed magic.
    I cried and screamed and my father held me tighter. He brushed my hair back and kissed away the tears on my cheeks. He cleaned the blood on my hands and face.
    â€œEverything will be okay,” he said, but I could see the fear darkening his gray eyes. I will always remember the way he looked at me, as if he didn’t know who I was. “Miluna was possessed. She didn’t know it was you. There are bad things in this world, Alejandra. They hurt people like us. I’ll take care of it. I promise. It’ll be our secret, but you can’t tell a soul. Do you swear it?”
    â€œI swear it,” I cried. I clung to him, but he pulled away. Wouldn’t look into my eyes.
    â€œSh, my darling. Everything will be okay.”
    He ran outside. From my window, I could see him digging a small grave. I told myself my dad would make things right.
    When I woke up again, he was gone, and I knew it was because of me. My own father was afraid of me. I pulled my magic deep inside and kept it there. Our secret.
    Now, in our kitchen, Lula gasps. My whole body tenses with magic.
    â€œAlejandra,” my mom says.
    I hadn’t even heard her come in. The door is wide-open, letting in the cold.
    My mom presses her hands against her mouth. “Oh, my sweet girl.”
    When I look up, I see what I’ve done. Everything—the dishes and the beads of water and soap on them, the flower pots, the jars of pickled chicken feet and frog eyes. The vials of cooking spices, the chairs, the frames on the walls, the fruits, and the collection of good luck roosters on the kitchen sill. Even the ends of Lula’s hair.
    All of it. All of it is floating around me.
    In a heartbeat, my mom drops her shopping bags. The air is thick, like a steam room. Then she puts her hands on my face. “Mi’jita,” she says. My little daughter. “Don’t worry. Everything will be okay.”
    I’ve heard that before, and I know it isn’t true. Then, like the fall of our tears, everything I’ve done comes crashing to the ground.

6
    Father, my father, my light through the dark,
    my soul and my hope and my path to embark.
    â€”Rezo de El Papa, Book of Cantos
    SOMETHING IS WRONG AND YOU’D BETTER TEXT ME.
    NO CALL ME.
    SILENCE WILL GET YOU NOWHERE.
    IF YOU DON’T CALL ME, I’M COMING OVER AND YOU BETTER LET ME IN.
    â€¦ARE YOU OKAY? I HAVE ALL THE WORRIES.
    All texts from Rishi over the last two days.
    For the first time in six years, I skip school. My mom is so busy planning my Deathday ceremony that she lets me. Rishi stopped by this morning and Lula took my homework from her but said I was sick and sleeping. Sometimes I want to tell Rishi the truth. I