Page 132 of Espíritu

“Luca,” Julian tried again, voice tight. “This isn’t funny.”

From the bedroom came the thud of feet hitting the floor. Rio up, moving.

“You’re freaking me out, man,” Julian said, turning fully to Luca.

Luca just stared back, unblinking.

“Good.”

Julian’s stomach dropped. Something else was wearing his friend.

“You’re not Luca,” he whispered.

The cenote had followed them home.

Luca’s mouth stretched wider. Wider. A grin too big for his face. With too many teeth.

The apartment plunged into darkness.

Rocky gasped. “What the hell?!”

Flaca cried out, “I can’t see!”

Omar cursed. “Julian—?”

The dark felt wrong—too big and too close at the same time.

Julian forced a breath. In four, hold two, out six. His body trembled.

He reached for the wall and found only air. The room had shifted, like furniture had moved while his eyes were closed.

“Luca?” he tried, low. “Luca.”

Nothing answered—no shuffle, no breath—just the TV’s dead hum.

A voice slid in next to his ear.

“I SEE YOU.”

TWENTY-TWOJULIAN

Julian’s heart thundered in his chest.

Flaca, Omar, and Rocky were shouting behind him, their voices fractured by the oppressive dark. The air was heavy, electric, charged with something far older and more malevolent than anything Julian had ever felt.

And then, with a sound like snapping bone, the dark ripped open.

A blast of venom-green light seared across the room. Julian threw an arm over his face. When he blinked the afterimages away, his stomach dropped.

Luca’s chest was glowing.

The mark only Julian could see wasn’t a blemish anymore. It had split wide, jagged and pulsing, like a wound torn into the soul. Venomous light spilled from it in sharp tendrils, twisting and writhing like smoke that wanted to bite.

“LUCA!” Julian’s voice cracked.

Luca’s eyes flew open, wild and terrified, as a strangled scream tore from his throat. The light grew brighter—too bright. Shadows burst from his chest in slick ribbons, slamming into the walls and vanishing into the dark.

Julian lurched forward, only to skid to a stop as Luca convulsed.