and twist, but it won’t come free. The creature groans, then falls

lifeless to the ground, pulling me with it.

“Let go,” Nova shouts. His hands are on my shoulders.

I don’t understand what he means until I realize the reason I

can’t break free is because I’m still holding on to its heart.

My body shakes from head to toe, the recoil crippling me to the

ground. Nova grunts as something knocks him to the side. But Nova is

fast and jumps on the creature’s back. He grips the giant by the

throat and struggles to choke it.

There’s a shadow, another creature coming for me. I push myself

up. Face the giant. I conjure a ball of flame and hurl it at him. Its

skin catches on fire, but the giant keeps advancing. It growls as it

pulls back its arms, ready to shoot me down with its vines. I crawl

over bones and jagged stones, shielding my face with my arm, but then

there’s Rishi, jumping from the ledge above. She cracks the giant’s

head open with a whack of the mace. Her dark hair is matted to her

cheeks with sweat and blood. I force myself to get up.

“It’s not over, Ladybird,” Nova says, panting.

“Alex,” Rishi says.

The three of us stand back to back to back. More of them climb

down from the mountain walls. There are so many blind giants I can’t

keep count, and they close in.

The sky trembles above us, matching the rhythm of my heart. I see

lightning break across the sky, and I know what I have to do. The

power inside of me urges me to reach for it. Every cell in my body

wakes up with electricity.

I grab hold of the lightning with a tight fist, feel its current

hit my heart. I am an element. I am the storm. The lightning is a

whip, and I lash it at the giants. Suddenly, the world is vibrant,

overexposed. When my lightning hits the giants, they break apart, all

burned limbs and shattered bone.

The explosion blows me back. My ears ring and my skull throbs. I

land on top of Rishi and Nova. I call for my mother. Pain sears from

my skin down to the core of my bones. I try to push myself up but

can’t. I am dead.

No, I am death .

The inside of my eyelids is red. Hands, warm and strong, hold me

and carry me. I don’t even have to look. I’ve already memorized the

way his heart beats against mine.

Nova buries his face in my hair and then something settles over

us. I can feel shadows and fear fill his heart, though the darkness

has surrounded him from the moment I met him. I cling to him because I

can’t seem to move. It’s the worst recoil yet. How does anyone live

with this pain?

“We made it to the other side of the mountain. We’ve made it out,”

he whispers, but I know there’s something wrong.

The wind is cold and carries the scent of cinder. My senses are so

sensitive, I can hear the spike of Rishi’s heart, the way her lungs

expand for air, the way she struggles as something takes hold of her.

“Rishi?” I reach for her in the dark, but Nova holds me tighter.

“Now, Alejandra,” the Devourer says, “let me see how easily you

are broken.”

32

Liar’s tongue and feathers fair,

take this path, if lovers dare.

- The Forbidden Canto, a.k.a. the Romeo Death, from The Art of

Poison, Angela Aurora Santiago

The Devourer appears out of the dark, a creature of the shadows.

She stands feet away from Rishi. My eyes begin to clear, but I wish I

couldn’t see anything. I pull myself out of Nova’s hold. When he sets

me down, my knees want to give out under me. I fight the urge to cry

and scream because the recoil is making it impossible to think

clearly. All I see is Rishi, bound and gagged. She shakes her head.

The Devourer’s dress of metal and bone clings to her like

darkness. Her red eyes are bright behind the helmet of bone. She

traces her long, pointed nails along Rishi’s cheek. Vines rope around

Rishi’s feet, keeping her locked to the ground. A thorny rope winds

around her arms, torso, neck, and mouth. Blood drips where the thorns

pierce her lips shut.

“So tender,” the Devourer says in her smoky voice. “Tell me,

Alejandra Mortiz. Did you begin to hope that you three would make it

out of here alive?”

“Don’t move,” I tell Rishi. Every time she moves, the vines wrap

tighter, the thorns dig deeper. “Let her go,” I say through gritted

teeth.

The Devourer walks on the gray earth. For the first time, I notice

the dark hill in the background, a great structure erected at the top

like a crown. The labyrinth. She stops inches from me. My power is a

weak pulse, struggling to come to my aid. I have a dagger, but my mace

is on the ground beside Rishi’s feet. How quickly would the Devourer

break my neck if I move?

She conjures a glass vial on the palm of her hand. It glows red

like lava and has tiny gold flecks inside.

“Nova,” she says, “be a dear, won’t you?”

“I’m sorry,” he whispers. I can hear the regret in his voice.

Nova won’t look at me. He stares at the ground. Then at the

Devourer’s hand. He takes the vial and goes to Rishi’s side.

“Nova?” I hate the way I sound. Hurt. Childish. The Devourer

watches every movement of my face. She grins wide, taking pleasure in

all of this.

“My dear, Nova,” she says. “You chose her well.”

I hate the way she says his name. Hate the way he moves when she

tells him to. Hate the way he doesn’t put up a fight. Mostly, I hate

that I didn’t see.

I didn’t want to.

Look twice.

Nova stands at the Devourer’s right-hand side. She rests her hand

around his throat, like she’ll snap it in two. Then, all she does is

rake her fingernails softly down his neck.

“You remember this potion, Alejandra, don’t you?” the Devourer

asks.

“No.”

“Liar’s tongue, feathers of a golden bird,” the Devourer

singsongs. “I have to thank you. You’ve helped my boy so much. It’s a

pity you didn’t fall in love with him like the others. You’re losing

your touch, Nova.”

Nova won’t look at me. Look at me , I will him with my mind. My

power whimpers in response, and so Nova just stands there.

“No matter.” The Devourer walks around us like she’s corralling

her prey. “I have this sweet, sweet girl. Her love for you is so

strong she threw herself into another galaxy to be with you. That’s

the kind of magic I can’t fabricate anymore. Surrender, Alejandra

Mortiz, or Rishi dies. I will open her mouth and empty this vial down

her throat. Do you know what the Forbidden Canto does?”

Rishi’s eyes are shut. Fat tears carve their way through the dirt

on her face. She shakes her head. When she squeezes her lips, the

vines get tighter and blood drips from every puncture wound.

“What?” I growl.

“You really should study your cantos, dear,” the Devourer chides

me. “The Forbidden Canto breaks the heart. It’s meant as a form of

poetic suicide. It’ll attack all her tender human organs, saving the

heart for next to last. In those moments, she will endure lifetimes of

agony. You see, she will stay alive long enough to watch you watch her

die. Then, her brain will give out, and that is the last thing Rishi

will ever see.

“Nova’s grandmother wrote this particular canto and created the

draught. Your world is full of so many possibilities. I can’t wait to

rip a hole through it. Now, surrender your power, or I will pour this

down Rishi’s throat.”

With a wave of the Devourer’s hand, the vines around Rishi’s face

come undone. Blood drips from the holes around her lips. She cries out