Page 76 of Speak No Claim

Hennessy: The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention.

For the first time, I laid aside my stubbornness and actually cooked the food my uncle had bought me a month ago. From scratch, I prepared Onyx an Aguadito De Pollo. A hearty chicken soup to help him heal faster. Grabbing some lemon from the fridge, I poured the soup into a Tupperware and grabbed a spoon and a fork for him.

On my way out the door, I grabbed two Inca Kolas from the drink fridge. I packed it all in a heated lunch box, wanting the soup to stay as warm as possible as I made my way to his room.

To my shock, my uncle stopped me.

“Where are you going?” he questioned.

I didn’t stop. “Out.”

“Hennessy, you need to stay away from him.”

Now that stopped me dead in my tracks, snapping around. “It’s none of your business.”

“Try again.”

Reluctantly, I gave in. “It’s just soup.”

“It’s not just soup, and you know it as much as I do.”

“Tío—”

“You’re playing with fire, and he already got burned for you.”

“Don’t you mean lashed for me?” I didn’t hesitate. “Which is exactly why I’m bringing him this soup.”

“You’re not just bringing it. You made it for him.”

“Yeah, and I filled it with affirmations. Would you like me to tell you what spell I used for healing?”

“Hennessy…”

“You can’t stop me from visiting a friend.”

“Onyx doesn’t have friends outside of the Brotherhood.”

It was the first time he acknowledged he knew about them.

“And what exactly is the Brotherhood? Do you know what the first two initials mean?”

He thought about it for a second, admitting, “Blood Oath, Hennessy. That’s what they mean.”

My mind snapped back to the moment the man with the dagger mixed our blood and then to Deja asking me if he said anything as he performed it.

Did he perform a blood oath on me?

I must’ve made an expression. Tío noticed and made a face, but I couldn’t tell if it was good or bad.

“So B.O.B. stands for Blood Oath Brotherhood?”

He merely nodded.

“Is that who lashed him?” I searched his stare for more answers, only to come up empty.

Instead of continuing this debate, I spun around and left.

At the last second before I closed the garage door, Tío blessed, “Que Dios te bendiga y vaya contigo, mi niña.” He made the sign of the cross, expressing, “May God bless you and accompany you, my girl.”