Page 42 of Cemetery Boys

And for Yadriel to lecture Julian.

“You’re going to get me in trouble!” Yadriel told him.

Maritza sat against the wall, eating a bag of Doritos Blaze, her eyes pinging back and forth between the two.

“I wasn’t trying to!” Julian said, holding his hands up defensively and clearly trying very hard to keep a straight face.

Yadriel glared. “It’s not funny!”

Julian pressed his lips between his teeth, but laughter escaped through his nose.

Yadriel turned to Maritza. “Will you do something?” he demanded.

Maritza licked the Doritos dust off her fingers and rubbed her palms together. “Should I curse him now?” she asked, wiggling her fingers at Julian.

Julian scrambled back “Whoa, whoa, whoa!”

The sudden panic on his face was satisfying, Yadriel had to admit.

When Maritza laughed, Julian scowled. “Y’all play too much; that’s not funny.”

“Oh, we play too much?” Yadriel threw his head back. “Hah!”

“Wait.” Julian squinted at Maritza and tipped his head to the side. “I thought you said you couldn’t do magic?”

“I said I wouldn’t do magic, not that I couldn’t,” she clarified.

“Because of the vegan thing?”

“Yup, because of the vegan thing.” She nodded.

“It’s at least locally sourced—the Lopez family runs the local butchery, and they supply the community with animal blood,” Yadriel pointed out.

“That doesn’t make it better.” Maritza scowled.

“Why don’t you use your own blood?” Julian asked.

“It’s forbidden.”

Julian looked to Yadriel. “Why?”

“It’s too powerful,” he said, leaning his back against the wall as he let out a heavy sigh.

Julian arched an eyebrow. “And that’s a problem?”

“It’d be like trying to light birthday candles with kerosene,” Yadriel tried to explain. “It’d be overkill. The candles would catch on fire, and then the cake would burst into flames,” he listed off. “But then the kerosene is tied to your life force, so you end up using all your energy and magic reserves just to light some dumb birthday candles, and then you’re dead.”

“That seems like a bad metaphor.”

“It’s an analogy.”

Julian waved him off. “Can we just go find my friends now?” he asked. “I told you they wouldn’t be at school.”

“I still have to take my math test,” Yadriel told him for the hundredth time.

Julian opened his mouth to complain, but a voice cut him off.

“Hey!”