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The darkness had taken as ain

Today would be the final unraveling

Elizabeth walked along the street, bundled in her gray cape like any other teenaged girl People waved to her cheerily, each of the how dear she was, howback; they’d re that anyway They’d re sky overhead The flight pattern wouldn’t look unusual to any casual observer Only so in precise, geometric circles with Elizabeth at the center

Mateo Perez, she thought

Midway through the arc, the bird shuddered in the sky, its wings flailing for only a ained steadiness Elizabeth lifted one hand as if to point at the exact place the crow had faltered

In her pal bone, one from the first Cabot she had ever cursed It would help her reach the last

CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

THANKS FOR YOUR LOYALTY

LA CATRINA WILL RETURN!

The excla too hard Still, his dad had hand- another one, so, okay

He’d signed out of his first-period study hall, the better to finish closing the restaurant The few useless scraps of peppers and guacae before they went bad; they had to take another tally behind the bar--stuff like that Dad had worked late last night, leaving the finishing touches for Mateo Hanging the sign on the door was the final step

Mateo had never resented working at his father’s restaurant Yeah, it ate up a lot of his spare time--and now that Nadia was in his life, he’d rather have spent that time with her--but still, Dad had always made it clear that the restaurant hat kept a roof over their heads Grandnant with hi He had been expected to chip in as much as he could, as soon as he could, and that was just how things were Really, it was better, being in touch with reality Soetting the newest phone or whatever, he wondered if they had any idea where h, he realized that he’d miss his shifts at La Catrina Was it possible he actually liked it?

You’re just turning into ht, holding Nadia in front of the fire Just the hten, his heart turn over--

The light blazed around hiainst his bike All around Mateo, the world seemed to bend and break