I shake my head. “Nothing.”
“Yeah, you do,” Alba says, pulling me by my arm and turning my hand over. “You have the same blood coursing through your veins.”
Before I can stop her, she runs her sharp black nail over the palm of my hand, then presses her hand against mine.
“Are you crazy?” I scream, pulling away.
Alba silently walks over to Ramon at the back of the room. I run after her, Jan and the others behind me.
“You fucking cut me. With your fingernail!”
Without so much as a glance at me, she rubs her hands together, so my blood is on both her palms, then holds hands with her brothers.
Fuck. This is it. They are reaching out to my sister.
Rafi pulls me back as the Nox begin to mutter illegibly.
Ramon’s eyes are the first to fill with black, leaking inky tears as he shakes, Alba and Jan’s hands in his. Heads bowed, the three of them start to sway, eyes vacant hollows, dark blood dribbling from Jan’s ears and Alba’s mouth once again.
“Mikayla,” Alba shouts, exhaling wisps of black smoke.
Rafi puts his arm around me, and pulls me to him, Beatriz and Xavi stand behind us, and Luisa takes hold of my hand.
Nothing happens. The triplets keep swaying, their faces and white hair now streaked with dark liquid. Ramon remains silent.
“She’s not coming through,” Jan says. “I can’t hear anything.”
I feel my entire body sag with relief. My sister is alive. She’s still out there.
I smile at Luisa, Beatriz and Rafi, who also look relieved. Of course, they do, they knew her.
Rafi takes his arm away from my shoulder and Luisa turns to head back to the couch, but the Nox haven’t finished yet. Ramon is muttering again, this time his shaking is more violent. He looks distressed.
The room begins to fill with the scent of new books and old ink. I know that smell. It reminds me of when I was younger.
No. It can’t be. This can’t be happening.
“Someone is here,” Ramon shouts.
I know who it is, but I’m not ready. I didn’t come here for that.
“Saskia. He wants Saskia.”
I shake my head. I’m not ready, I wasn’t expecting to speak to my father again thirteen years after he died.
“What does he want?” I stutter.
“He says it’s not your place,” Jan says.
I don’t understand. What isn’t my place? The MA? Spain? This basement?
I shake Alba’s shoulder. “What does he mean? Ask him!”
“He says his time was longer,” Jan continues. “Solina is dangerous.”
I turn to my friends. “What does that mean? His time was longer? He chose when to leave us. He killed himself after he got bitten by a Werewolf.”
Luisa gives me a sympathetic look, but no one speaks.
“Alba, ask him what he means!” I cry again.
She looks over her shoulder at me, her eyes shiny like dark pebbles in a stream. “The dead are dramatic,” she says, her voice flat. “They speak in riddles. It’s not our job to understand but to simply impart. They see things we cannot.”
Does that mean they can find missing people? I rub my eyes, still itchy from my smudged makeup.
“Where’s Maribel?” I shout.
The room goes silent. Maribel didn’t come through earlier, but that doesn’t mean she’s not dead.
“Seek the First in the water,” Jan says.
Rafi gulps. “Water? Like she’s having a bath, on a cruise...or at the bottom of the sea?”
Beatriz huffs behind me. “This could mean anything. Anyway, aren’t we here to find out about your sister, Saskia? Ask him about Mikayla. The dead don’t hang around forever.”
Tears stream hot down my face.
“Papa,” I croak, barely audible. “Where’s Mikayla?”
Jan tilts his head, black ooze trailing a line down his dirty neck. “Mikayla has not crossed the veil.”
I breathe out. It hurts. All of this hurts so much.
“That’s good, right?” I ask. “That has to be good. So, my father doesn’t know where she is. That’s OK, at least it means she’s still…”
I’m interrupted by a strangled gurgle. Ramon’s mouth is open and something stringy and white is bubbling from it. It lulls out like a fat tongue then starts to float towards his face, wrapping around his eyes like bubble gum. He begins to shake as the white substance continues pouring out of his mouth, wrapping itself around his face. Alba and Jan’s eyes have cleared, and they’re pulling at the sticky string. Alba is swearing, and Jan has grown pale.
“He won’t let go,” Alba cries, her voice straining as she claws at the strange substance. It’s getting tighter over Ramon’s face, his eyes bulging and his lips twitching, trying to form words.
“We have to cut the connection,” Jan shouts. “He’s coming through.”
Coming through? My father?
“Papa!” I scream. “Where is Mikayla?”
Ramon stops shaking, and his head falls forward.
“Saskia.” It’s my father’s voice. “Go where the wolf meets the bear.”
And with that Ramon falls to the ground.
Chapter Sixteen
When we finally stumble out of the Nox’s den, I’m surprised to see it’s not only daylight but already breakfast time. There was no reception in the basement, and my phone starts buzzing wildly as soon as we’re outside. It’s my mother.
“Fuck,” I mumble. “I forgot about the MA luncheon today.”
Beatriz hears me. “It’s not until four this afternoon, you have time for a nap.”
“A nap?” Rafi shouts. “When we have the whole city at our fingertips?”
“You might have the whole city, cabró, but some of us have classes to attend,” Luisa says with a yawn, ruffling his hair.
She kisses us all goodbye and lingers long enough by my ear to whisper, “You’ll be OK.”
I pull her back by the hand. “Thank you,” I say, my fingers playing with hers. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”
She winks before walking away without a backward glance. No one seems to have noticed our exchange, but the sickness of confusion, hunger, and too much weed is now churning my guts like butter.
“How we got out of there without getting caught, I don’t know,” Beatriz says to Xavi, rubbing her red-rimmed eyes and
