Mateo kicked off from the lake bed and treaded water, propelling himself farther. He was a good swimmer. Only a few more inches and he could get a grip on Lily. If he could get his arm around her waist he could pull her back to shore even if she was catatonic.

Mateo swung out an arm to grab for her, but the water slowed his movements, made him sluggish and weak. Finally, Lily turned and looked at him.

Then she went under, her eyes still open wide.

“No!” Mateo’s voice finally came unstuck. “Stop! Lily! Stop!”

He kicked at the water until he was at the spot where she’d disappeared. He sucked in a long breath of air and dove under. He reached out in every direction, but his flailing arms never connected with anything but more water.

No!

He kicked to the surface, took another gulp of air, and went back down. He forced his eyes open this time, even though the water felt like icicles stabbing at his face.

He couldn’t see anything. Not Lily. Not the plants that must’ve lived under the water. Not even the moonlight breaking through the surface.

It was all black here. Empty.

Lily was gone.

“Lily!” He surfaced again and shouted her name. She had to be somewhere she could hear him. “Lily!”

He dove under the water again.

Are you down here, La Llorona? I dare you. Come and get me. I’ll fight you this time, I swear I will. I’m not going down like Lily.

He waited to feel a hand closing around his leg or his arm, pulling him under.

But nothing was there. Just the emptiness. He could feel it sucking at him.

He surfaced again.

“Damn it!” He shoved his arm into the water. It didn’t make a splash when it connected with the surface. Instead the water closed over it, accepting. The way it had with Lily.

No. No. Not again.

Delilah. Brandon. Lily.

This was all Maria’s fault.

She’d been too busy faking emails to Mateo’s father to notice her girlfriend was having a nervous breakdown. She should’ve been the one watching out for Lily, not him.

Mateo swam to the shore and climbed out of the water. He took off running back up the hill barefoot, heading straight to Dunsinane.

It was Maria’s turn to see what this felt like.

22

FAIR IS FOUL, AND FOUL IS FAIR

Maria had stood in the old dining hall for hours, but the spirits hadn’t spoken to her again.

So she’d gone to Dunsinane to wait. The spirits had given her the tool she needed, and when the time was right, her enemy would come to her.