All at once the air in the room compressed, and a wave blew through her as Javier’s power bunched, squeezed, then collapsed. Hettie was knocked back as the protection spell surrounding Villa del Punta shattered.
She wasn’t sure how long she lay on the floor, but she felt a strange wrongness about everything. An oppressive weight drained from her, as if her veins were filled with lead and she were bleeding out.
Heavy footsteps pounded up the stairs. The door to the bedroom was flung open. Loud shouts, men, women, wailing and crying.
And then she was pulled up by her shoulders, and people were shouting at her. Faces—Luis, Rosa, Raúl …
She couldn’t hear what they were saying. Overlying their angry shouts was a song. Something like a keening dirge, an aria that rang in her ears and sang th
