Page 26 of Espíritu

“You’re making my stomach growl!” Julian whined.

“Fine, we’ll get your tacos,” Yadriel conceded, shaking his head fondly.

“Three tacos!” Julian confirmed, emphasizing each word with a waggle of his eyebrows, getting a rush of joy at the small victory.

“Three tacos,” Yadriel echoed, and this time, he did smile—a small, genuine thing that made Julian’s heart skip a beat.

“If we’re getting three tacos, we might as well get four,” Julian reasoned as he led the way.

“Julian—”

“It’s two for like a buck fifty!”

The scents of greasy fries and sizzling burgers mingled with the laughter echoing off the walls of the bustling Jack in the Box where Yadriel, Maritza, and Julian were tucked into a corner booth. Crumpled napkins littered the table amid half-empty salsa packets and the remnants of their quick meal—or well, Yadriel and Julian’s meal. They’d learned that the only vegan option at Jack in the Box was a chicken teriyaki bowl without the chicken, so Maritza opted out.

It was one of those rare moments when the supernatural world didn’t seem to press so urgently against the veil of normal life.

Julian leaned back on the pleather bench with an easy grin. “So there I was, right here, midnight munchies hitting hard.” He pointed at the floor for emphasis, his lanky frame stretched out as he launched into his story.

“Then me, Omar, Rocky, Flaca, and Luca go outside, about to head back,” Julian went on. “When, suddenly, I hear this rustling and scraping by the dumpsters. And it’s, like, serious horror-movie vibes, y’know? All we needed was a guy screaming ‘Did you hear that?!’ Thought for sure it was La Llorona coming to drag me away after I escaped her down by the LA River—”

Yadriel’s head tipped to the side. “Wait, what?”

“Don’t interrupt, Yads!” Maritza shushed, her pink-and-purple curls bouncing with suppressed laughter.

“I went to go check it out and threw open the lid of the dumpster. Turns out”—Julian paused for effect, his smile wide—“it was just a chubby raccoon trying to score some leftover tacos. Swear to God, his eyes were all lit up like tiny demon flashlights, and then—”

Julian slapped his palm on the table. Maritza and Yadriel jumped, dissolving into a new fit of laughter.

“It jumps out at me like a bat out of hell!” Julian told them. “It latched on to my sleeve with its teeth, and I didn’t know what to do, so I just spun in a circle, shouting and swinging this raccoon around—”

“Oh my gods.” Maritza cackled. “This is what happens when I’m not around to supervise?!”

“I’m gonna barf!” Yadriel groaned, doubled over with laughter. “You weaponized a raccoon?!”

Julian threw up his hands. “I blacked out halfway through, but I think I earned its respect!”

As Yadriel and Maritza’s laughter tumbled, cold suddenly prickled at the back of Julian’s neck. A flicker of movement yanked his attention. Past the windows streaked with fingerprints, shadows were moving just beyond the glow of neon signs. But only at the edge of his vision. Every time he tried to look at them directly, they dissolved.

A sharp tug pulled at Julian’s ribs, as if someone had hooked him and was trying to reel him in. His scar throbbed in time with it, a pulse that wasn’t his own.

Julian froze. The booth, the neon glow, Yadriel and Maritza’s chatter—all of it blurred into a tunnel. The pull dragged his attention toward the back door, insistent, urgent.

He felt the urge—the need—to get up and check it out.

“Uh, give me a sec,” he muttered, already sliding out of the booth. His legs moved before his brain caught up, sneakers sticking to the syrupy floor as if resisting him.

“Where you going, Jules?” Yadriel called after him, still half laughing but his voice muffled.

Julian didn’t answer. He couldn’t. The hook kept tugging, dragging him closer to whatever was outside.

“Probably nothing,” he mumbled to himself, repeating the words in his head like a mantra. But Julian knew better than to ignore his gut, especially when it whispered warnings that clawed at his insides.

His feet carried him instinctively, the fluorescent lights of Jack in the Box casting long shadows that danced unnaturally across the linoleum. His heart thumped an erratic rhythm as he approached the door, the chilly night air sneaking through the crack and nipping at his skin.

“Hey, wait up!” Yadriel’s worried voice cut through Julian’s concentration like a knife.

He and Maritza caught up as Julian pushed open the heavy door, a bell clanging their departure overhead. The parking lot outside was a stark contrast to the artificial warmth inside—dark and deserted except for a few scattered cars, the rattle of an old AC unit clinging to life above them and the steady hum of traffic like distant thunder.