Page 64 of Cemetery Boys

But Omar was zeroed in on Yadriel. “What?” he asked.

Yadriel blinked. “What?”

“What are you looking at?”

“Nothing,” Yadriel said, way too quickly. He was starting to sweat.

“We just want to find him and make sure he’s okay,” Rocky said, hugging her skateboard tight to her chest. “We don’t want him to end up missing for good.”

“Just like the rest of them,” Luca added miserably.

Yadriel frowned. “Rest of them? What does that mean?”

“Bunch of street kids have been going missing—that’s three now, right?” Rocky looked to Flaca for confirmation, who nodded.

“Three missing kids?” Maritza repeated.

Luca pressed his palms against his eyes. Yadriel caught a glimpse of his dimpled chin before Omar stepped in front of him, blocking Luca from view.

“That’s nothing new,” Omar insisted. “Kids go missing all the time, just no one notices ’cause they’re already living on the streets, or their parents threw them out.”

Flaca flinched.

“Yeah, but they all went missing in the same area—around Belvedere—and all been labeled runaways,” Flaca said. Her fingernails dug into the crook of her elbow. “Whoever took them probably took Jules, too.”

“They’re worrying too much about me and need to be worrying about themselves,” Julian spoke up, walking closer to the group. “They need to go somewhere more safe than this,” he said, thrusting his arms out.

“Is there somewhere safe you guys can ride this out?” Yadriel asked.

“Usually, when stuff goes down, Rio takes us in,” Flaca said in a small, crestfallen tone.

“There’s gotta be somewhere else!” Julian fumed, his patience, once again, wearing thin.

“There’s nowhere else you can stay?” Yadriel prompted.

“Not everybody’s got places they can run off to when they’re in trouble,” Omar sneered in a way that made it seem like he thought Yadriel was gloating.

It caught him off guard. “There’s got to be someone,” Yadriel said with a shake of his head. “What about your parents? Your families?”

“We’re it,” Omar snapped, gesturing between himself and his friends. “We take care of each other.” He stood tall, his chin jutting out stubbornly.

“Blood of the covenant,” Omar told Yadriel, holding his hands out as his sides.

Julian sighed and said in a defeated tone, “Is thicker than the water of the wound.”

“Is thicker than the water of the wound,” Yadriel repeated automatically. His eyebrows furrowed, and he glanced to Julian, barely able to keep himself from correcting him for yet another malapropism. Yadriel was so distracted, he hadn’t noticed that Luca, Flaca, Rocky, and Omar were all staring.

“What?” Omar hissed.

Yadriel jumped, turning his attention back to them. Their expressions were all varying degrees of shock and confusion. “What?”

“What did you just say?” Flaca asked, staring at him like she’d seen a ghost.

“Uh—” Yadriel rushed for a coherent reply. “The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb,” he said.

“No, you said wound,” Rocky insisted.

“Did I?” A nervous laugh bubbled in his throat.