“Dios mío,” Amá says, dropping her head into her hands. “I am glad that you’re dressing like a proper woman now, but, Sky, you need to make your mouth match! No man would respect—”
“Hey, everyone, how are we doing today?” The server appears out of nowhere, like a wraith. But he flinches back when he sees the way Amá glares at him.
“I was in the middle of a sentence, young man.”
“Ignore her. She’s constipated,” Nadia says, ignoring Carter’s and Sky’s snorts and Amá’s gasp of indignity. “Would you mind giving us a few minutes?”
The server doesn’t even respond verbally. He gives Nadia a short, fast nod and turns and sprints away.
“Back to the topic at hand.” Nadia’s voice is firm.
But of course Amá isn’t finished. “Even Teal was pure when she married Carter,” she says, giving meaningful glares not just to Sky but also to Sage’s incriminating baby bump. “You two could learn a thing from her on how to keep yourselfwithout sin.”
Sage is the first to laugh, then me. Carter’s shoulders shake as he tries to rein it in.
“What is wrong with all of you,” Amá demands, rather than asks. “Is the sacred pureness of the body so hilarious?”
Nadia lets out a short breath. “Back to the topic at hand.” She looks right into my eyes and I squeeze Carter’s hand. “What happened with your mother, Teal? Why do you need her to fix your gift? ¿Qué tomó ella?”
I look down at the table, made of what looks like shimmery dark chocolate milk spilled over white marble. “What does it matter?” I mumble. “It’s not like anyone can do anything about it.”
“You don’t know that,” Sonya retorts, her tone indicating the gravest offense.
“Teal.” This time it’s Sage addressing me. “I know what you’ve been up to lately. Trying to buy us things, and doing us favors. You think you’re not good and that you have to prove that you are somehow.” Her eyes fill with tears. “But youaregood, Teal. You don’t have to get us cars—”
“Though the car is awesome,” Sky interrupts with a beaming smile.
“Though these things are great. They aren’t necessary. You are already worthy.” Sage sighs and Tenn wraps his arm around her shoulders, sliding his other hand over her belly. “Which means you are worthy of support. You’re worthy enough to tellthe people who love you what you need. So tell us. What do you need?”
Damn. My cheeks are all wet now, but for some inexplicable reason, the sky has shifted to a bright, topaz blue, the clouds butter yellow in the sunlight. The weather doesn’t match me—or maybe it does. Maybe I’m crying because that’s the first time anyone in my whole life has asked me what I need. Not what I want. What Ineed.
“You can tell them,” Carter whispers, his breath warm against my ear. “I’m right here, mamita.”
I take a shuddering breath and close my eyes, taking one big deep, counted breath. “I was there, when Mama left. I saw her go. I saw the truck…the man in the truck come and get her.”
“Damn,” Tenn says. “That’s fucked up, what happened to you all. And for you to see it when you were that little…”
My laugh is bitter, and not just because it’s salty from my tears. “You don’t know the half of it.”
“So tell us,” Nadia says, her voice smooth and warm and comforting.
Carter has pulled me toward him so that my ass is right up on his thigh. I’m practically sitting in his lap. Sonya keeps glancing at us like he’s damn near penetrating me, like she’s about to retract the only compliment she’s ever given me, about my total lie of purity.
“My gift came for the first time that night. A lightning storm, out of thin air. She—this probably is going to sound dumb and impossible—”
Sky snorts. “Remember who you’re talking to here.” She points at Nadia—“Psychic”—then Sage—“communicates with plants”—then Amá—“can see ghosts but is in denial about it”—then herself—“and creatures are my brothers from another mother.”
“Sky. Temple.” Amá’s tone is hostile.
“Should I have not said ‘mother,’ given our conversation? Fine.” She taps her chin. “They’re mysistersfrom anothermister.”
It probably seems like Sky is being an unempathetic pest, but I know what she’s doing. She’s giving me a moment to catch my breath. To count my breath, even.
“I get it. Thank you.” I smile at her. “Anyway, she pinched a piece of my gift from me. Right from the center of my palm, she took a piece of…I don’t know. Light. From my body.”
“She can’t do that without permission,” Nadia growls.
I blink back surprise. I was certain no one would have an idea of what I was talking about, but Nadia sounds like she not only has an idea but understands exactly what had happened that night. “She did ask me for permission. I said yes. But I was four. I thought if I said yes to anything she asked for, she might change her mind and stay.”
