“His parents don’t give a shit about him,” Julian continued, his lip curling in distaste. “Most of the time, they don’t even notice if he’s home, and when they do, they treat him like garbage. They make him sleep outside for any damn thing, like leaving a dirty dish in the sink. His piece-of-shit dad used to use his arm like an ashtray.” Julian’s anger was palpable, like an electric storm in the air around him. “He didn’t show up for picture day because he had a black eye.”
Yadriel’s stomach gave a sickened lurch. “Jesus…” He understood Julian’s anger. He’d only met Luca a few hours ago, and the thought of someone causing him harm made his blood boil.
“He got sucked into one as soon as he started high school,” Julian continued. “We didn’t see him for weeks, and his parents didn’t care. One less thing for them to worry about, I guess. By the time we tracked him down, he was living in a drug den and had gotten branded with tattoos.” Julian ran a finger along the side of his face.
Yadriel remembered Luca’s scar. “What happened?” he asked, knowing the answer would be ugly.
“My brother, Rio.” Julian’s expression softened just a touch. “He’d been in the same gang when he was our age. He went and got Luca, which is not easy.” Julian shrugged. “I never asked how he managed it. Maybe they owed him or something? I dunno. But you don’t get to just leave. When Rio brought Luca home, they’d burned all his tattoos off.”
Yadriel sucked in a breath, and Julian must’ve heard it because he added, “Usually, it’s blood in, blood out, so it was a better alternative.”
Yadriel involuntarily cringed. That was a sort of pain he couldn’t even begin to imagine. Even just getting a burn from the oven was nearly unbearable.
“Rio’s got the same kind of scars on his arm. Luca was laid up on our couch for weeks. It was like if he wasn’t sleeping, he was just moaning in pain,” Julian said, wincing as if he could still hear it in his head.
“Why didn’t you take him to a hospital?”
“No health insurance. Luca got real sick, we did everything we could, but it still got infected. He got a fever. My brother heard about this lady who did, like, natural healing stuff? Y’know, weird herbs that smell terrible, made him drink stuff that looked like dishwater. After a few days he felt better. His scar looks way better than Rio’s now. Whatever she did worked.”
“I wonder if it was a bruja,” Yadriel said.
Julian looked over at him. “You think?”
Yadriel shrugged. “Kind of sounds like it, doesn’t it? If he was in that bad of shape, and she healed him that quickly…” It definitely seemed in the realm of possibility.
“So there’s witches out there who can heal people like that.” He snapped his fingers. “And they’re just handing out favors to poor folks?”
“Well, some of them are doctors,” Yadriel explained. “Maritza’s sister, Paola, is in medical school right now—”
“Isn’t that cheating?” Julian frowned.
Yadriel scowled, feeling suddenly defensive. “Does it matter, if they’re still helping people?”
Julian jutted his chin and shrugged.
“Anyway, we have to afford to live, somehow, so they get jobs where they can use their healing. And, like you said, some of them run little businesses right out of their homes and disguise it as naturopathy. That’s what my mom did.” Yadriel’s eyes slid over to the framed photo of his mom. It was cast in shadows, but he could still make out her white teeth and big smile. “Sometimes she wouldn’t even take payment, either, even though it cost her every time she healed.”
“Ah, right. Bigger tasks take more magic, y’all only have so much to tap into, yada yada yada.” Julian nodded, recalling their conversation from the other day.
Yadriel’s stomach twisted. His mouth was dry, like his tongue was stuck to the roof of his mouth. “And if you use too much, you can die,” he said, refusing to look at Julian when he said it. Yadriel could practically hear Julian’s brain buzzing with a slew of questions, so he cut him off at the pass.
“And some people aren’t born with much, or any,” he plowed on. “Like my uncle Catriz—”
“Tall guy with the big nose, gauged ears, and man bun?” Julian asked.
Yadriel scowled. “It’s not a man bun!” he snapped defensively. “Wearing your hair long and having stone plugs