Page 136 of Cemetery Boys

“Yadriel’s okay,” Flaca tried to reassure him. “He’s still recovering.”

It did little to make him feel better, especially when Rio added stubbornly, “You’re not going anywhere.”

“The hell I’m not!” Julian growled, trying to get up yet again.

Luca threw himself across Julian’s lap, and a scuffle ensued, if you could really call it that. It was mostly Julian cussing out Rio and his friends to let him go and them not letting him up.

TWENTY-FIVE

When Yadriel started to wake up, he tried to force his eyes open, but they slid right back shut. The strange scent of antiseptic mixed with flowers filled his nose.

“Yadriel?”

He tried again. Everything was blurry and way too bright.

“I’ll get a doctor,” Diego’s voice said. There was squeaking of shoes on linoleum. The opening and closing of a door.

“Yadriel? Are you awake?”

With effort, Yadriel turned and saw his dad. He was a haggard mess, but he let out a heavy sigh of relief.

“Ay, Dios mío!” Lita practically wailed at his side. Yadriel flinched as she babbled incoherently, thanking every god and saint she could think of, her hand pressed to her breast.

“Jesus Christ.”

Yadriel’s eyes swung to his left, where Maritza hovered over him.

He tried to sit up.

“Here, let me help,” Maritza scolded him, carefully pulling him into a seated position.

A wave of nausea crashed over him. Yadriel groaned as bile rose in his throat. Someone pressed a cool, damp cloth to the back of his neck. “This will help,” his dad told him, gently rubbing his back in circles. His bare back. Someone had taken off his binder.

“Where am I?” he asked, dragging the blanket up over his chest.

“The hospital, pendejo,” Maritza snapped, huffing as she crossed her arms. She was very angry.

Yadriel rubbed his throbbing temples. “How long have I been here?”

“About seven hours,” his dad said. “It’s almost ten a.m.”

Yadriel looked around. They all were staring at him, wide-eyed and … frightened?

He remembered the old church. Tío Catriz. The jaguar. “Tío,” Yadriel blurted out. “He was trying to summon Bahlam— He was going to—” His thoughts crashed painfully in his head. He grimaced, trying to string them together into something that made sense.

“It’s okay. Maritza told us everything,” Enrique said, smoothing his large hand up and down Yadriel’s arm, speaking softly.

“I’m so sorry, Dad. I’m so sorry.” The apologies spilled from his lips.

Enrique blinked at him, surprised. He gave a slight shake of his head. “No, Yadriel—”

“If I had just told you everything to begin with, then—”

Yadriel’s dad pulled him tight against his chest. “Yadriel,” Enrique sighed into his hair. “My brave, brave son.”

Yadriel wept into his dad’s shoulder, hard and uncontrollable.

“That was not your fault,” his dad told him, his voice soft but firm.