Page 148 of Lourdes & the Mafia
“L-Lo—”
“Don’t speak, brother.” I recognize Lorenzo’s voice, a calm echo through my racing thoughts. His presence eases the pain. “Amore, what are you doing?”
“He is not going to die.”
“Whatare you doing?”
“I’m changing the course of time.”
Her palms press deeper into my skin and a shockwave enters my body, more brutal than before. My torture in The Pit is nothing compared to this sensation crawling beneath my skin.
I cannot help it when my mouth opens and I scream.
And scream.
And scream.
Lourdes
Thismagicisnewand vicious, and I take it for all that it’s worth. Even as a battle rages around me, as demons snarl and tear through flesh, as creatures open poisoned mouths and maw through tendon and bone. Even as the steady, furious wing beats of Ramiel and Thuriel battle from above, I concentrate my magic on a single thing.
On Kane.
His body convulses beneath my touch and his screams are something out of nightmares. Lorenzo is wary beside me. I know he wants to yank me away, and yet he puts his trust in me that I can do this. That I can do something new and really alter a chain of events and prevent Kane’s death from happening.
This is what my abuelita meant. This great magic, a caged beast within my soul ready to be unleashed. I don’t merely open the cage for it, but I decimate the thing entirely and watch as the beast springs free. And it latches, digging claws into the visions rushing through my mind.
I’m swallowed whole by them. By the scenes passing in front of me, drowning out the sounds of battle, death, motorcycles, and gunshots. I’m taken back to moments before, to Kane’s magic warping and wrapping around Thuriel’s body, to the moment the magic slaps out against Kane’s chest.
This is what I want altered. This is the magic hidden within me. This is the magic I wield. The birthright hidden from me. What Thuriel has killed others to possess. He wants to use me to alter his future and make something of his own imagination into being.
But I will use it for this.
I appear into the vision of the past. Everything is slow, except for me. As Thuriel’s face contorts and twists into killing rage, I use all my might to shove Kane’s rigid body to the side. We move together just as the magic strikes and lands on empty ground, creating an explosive geyser around us.
Everything moves rapidly once again and I’m sucked back into my body. Blinking pain and warm tears that feel a lot like blood from my eyes, I look down.
Kane has stopped screaming. He’s gasping, his eyes open, seeing, his hand clutching desperately at his chest. Like he can feel the phantom press of the wound that was there and is no longer.
I changed it.
I changed the course.
He sits up, no trace of pain threaded through his veins or his movements.
“Lourdes,” he gasps.
My energy feels completely waned, and yet shocks electrify beneath my skin. So much so that when he touches me, static zaps between our bodies.
“Holy fucking shit,” Lorenzo breathes. “Are you alright?”
“Fine.” Kane’s eyes don’t leave mine. “You saved me. You… changed it.”
I don’t know how. I changed the events, and he still remembers, and the consequences of it are still unknown. But I will face fucking anything if it means saving the life of the man I love.
Kane opens his mouth to say something, but a shadow passes overhead. He looks up, and then pulls me into his arms, yanking me away from the spot we’re lying. A blast sends us sailing backwards. Kane protects my body from the impact of hitting the ground.
We roll away from one another and he gasps, the sound of my name filled with fear. I groan as a gust of wind pushes against my body. I cry out as Thuriel’s body thuds to the ground in front of me. He lands in a crouch and snarls in my direction, his eyes vicious and cruel.
