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Back Maya and the Lord of Shadows
Chapters (34)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. One
  4. Two
  5. Three
  6. Four
  7. Five
  8. Six
  9. Seven
  10. Eight
  11. Nine
  12. Ten
  13. Eleven
  14. Twelve
  15. Thirteen
  16. Fourteen
  17. Fifteen
  18. Sixteen
  19. Seventeen
  20. Eighteen
  21. Nineteen
  22. Twenty
  23. Twenty-One
  24. Twenty-Two
  25. Twenty-Three
  26. Twenty-Four
  27. Twenty-Five
  28. Twenty-Six
  29. Twenty-Seven
  30. Twenty-Eight
  31. Twenty-Nine
  32. Acknowledgments
  33. About the Author
  34. About the Publisher

“Yes, ma’am!” Eleni answered cheerily while I groaned.

I was still getting used to Eleni calling Mama ma’am. But what else would she call her? Certainly not Clarisse or Mrs. Abeola. It wasn’t something that we’d ever talked about.

“So does your father know about this evil auntie?” Mama asked.

“I’m afraid so.” Eleni grimaced. “He and Obatala helped us stop her.”

Mama wrung the apron and mitts in her hands. “I guess it was too much to hope that the Lord of Shadows would climb back under a rock and leave us alone.”

“Maybe when pigs can fly,” I said. Scratch that: they probably already could. “Actually, not even then.”

“I won’t stand in your way of guarding the veil, but I want you both to promise me that you’ll stay safe and won’t take any unnecessary risks,” Mama said. “Leave the Lord of Shadows to the celestials, okay?”

I cocked my head to the side. “Define unnecessary.”

Mama gave me a look serious enough to make chocolate melt and onions cry. She didn’t have to say another word.

“You know what?” I gulped down a mouthful of air. “Never mind.”

“We’ll be extra careful,” Eleni said, glancing at me. “We have each other now.”

“You’re still only kids.” Mama cleared her throat. “Try to keep that in mind.”

Once Mama left for work, Eleni announced, “No offense, Maya, but you stink.”

To think that she’d been the one rolling around in garbage soup and she had the nerve to tell me that I smelled bad. The hypocrisy of it all.

The next morning, I forced myself to climb out of bed before daybreak after tossing and turning all night. What was Captain Nulan’s mission in the human world? Was she here to recruit magical creatures like Eleni suggested? Was she doing reconnaissance on the orishas? Did she have a plan to bring the veil down faster? She sure wasn’t sightseeing or trying out the local cuisine.

Eleni was right about one thing: Nulan couldn’t do anything now that she was imprisoned in Alsar. But whatever the Lord of Shadows was planning, he’d find a way to do it without her. He had plenty of cronies willing to help him.

I rubbed my eyes, second-guessing myself. I wanted to crawl back underneath my blanket and sleep until it was time to go to school. I groaned as I fought the urge. Did I mention that I am not a morning person?