Page 84 of Wicked Witch of the Wolf

“What’s that mean, Mama?”

“It means that it’s okay to be scared.” Abuela Lulu took my hand, and we walked barefoot to a damp, spongy spot between two tall rows. “But you must show the soil that you’re willing to trust it—that your trust isstronger than your fear.” She closed her eyes and bowed her head. “Gracias, Madre Tierra.”

Mom did the same. “Thank you, Mother Earth.”

“Gracias, Mother Earth,” I said, copying them.

Mom took my other hand, and together we three sank into the soft, welcoming earth. Panic crept in when it was up to my chin, but the soil sensed my fear and soothed me in a way only I would understand.

My mother’s music burst from somewhere outside me. One of my favorite songs. A happy tune, one we’d belted out in the car and danced to in front of the fire at Abuela’s house.

“Come and get your love,” I sang with Redbone as my head went under, and I melted into the earth with the two people I loved most in this world.

There were few words capable of describing the feeling of sliding into the soil, but the first that came to me this time was: painless.

Though I was grateful for the power, the process of the soil vaporizing and absorbing into my bloodstream through my skin had grown progressively more painful.

But this was different.

This time the power that enveloped me was invigorating, comforting, and joyful, the way it’d been that first time with Mom and Abuela. I even hummed the first few bars of “Come and Get Your Love” until the last of my breath gusted out of my lungs and into the soil.

My breathing ceased, but I felt no fear. It would return when I needed it, and in the meantime, the soil would provide everything I needed.

“Where is she?” Desmond’s muffled voice came from somewhere above me. “No. Stay back. Stay away from me.”

Beneath the earth, I didn’t move the same way I did above it. There was no walking or even swimming through the dense soil. It was more that I existed everywhere at the same time. The cells in my body connected to the minerals surrounding me. I felt people on thesurface rather than saw them, though the pictures created in my brain made everything as clear.

Desmond was above me now, the foul magic in which he’d drenched himself bleeding into the soil. I started to reach for him when I realized he wasn’t alone.

Four sets of tiny paws were behind him—the rats, I guessed—and several sets of large paws surrounded him. The feel of these creatures was unmistakable.

Wolves.

Beyond that, and approaching quickly, was the most dangerous being out there—a two-legged creature with animal speed and the scent of blood on his skin.

The human form of Floyd Pallás.

I couldn’t sense Fennel, Cecil, Bronwyn, or Margaux. They weren’t touching the soil.

“Sent your wolves to do your dirty work, Alpha?” Desmond’s voice deepened with dark power again. There was no wavering this time. He sounded fully in control.

“Why would I dirty my hands for someone like you, Mace?”

Floyd’s voice filled me with anger. The soil tried to calm me, but I didn’t need to be calm.

I needed to take action.

The alpha leader sounded bored. “I’ll need that book back.”

“Your favorite witch has it. She stole it, along with my wife.”

Floyd let out a string of Spanish curses. I couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up at the idea that I “stole” Maya. She not only went willingly, she thanked me for saving her.

“Aren’t you supposed to be a dirt witch like she is? Take it back.”

“What do you think I’m doing? If you’d stop distracting me?—”

“Should’ve known you were a loser. Anyone who’d sell out their people for a stupid book has to be.”

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