She’s gone a bit pale. Kiki may be no stranger to violence, but she’s not as well acquainted with this side of it as the rest of us. Her life was far more sheltered all the way up on that hill. It’s one thing to take a man’s life in defense of your own. It’s another to see an innocent life stolen when you know it wasn’t well deserved.

“Her throat’s been slit,” I say. It’s easier to focus on that than on the deliberate cruelty of the display.

“Yes, I can see that.” Kiki gets testy when she’s uncomfortable. Can’t say I blame her really.

“If she was killed here, there’d be more blood. A cut like that would have hit a vein. A big one. So … more blood.”

Kiki nods, paler still. “Come on. We should go.”

Kiki tugs at my sleeve, but my feet are rooted in place. There’s something about the way she’s been left here. It’s almost as though she’s been displayed like this on purpose. Like someone wanted her to be found, exactly like this.

“We can’t save everyone.” Kiki pulls me harder. “And it’s too late to save her.”

I walk backward, trusting she won’t let me stumble. But I can’t take my eyes away from the girl’s legs. From the splash of blood on her white stocking. The shoe hanging off one foot, its mate lost.

This is Potosí. The richest city in the New World. And the poorest. Every coin of Spanish silver in the Empire begins its sordid life here. In our mountain. In our mines. Wrenched from the earth and pounded into submission by those who will never have the luxury of spending it. People live. People die. People gamble with their souls, and sometimes they come out on top. But sometimes, they don’t. Sometimes they wind up facedown in an alley, dumped and forgotten like so much garbage.

Kiki slips her hand in mine, as if she can read my thoughts. I shoot her a grateful shadow of a smile. I don’t need a mirror to know it doesn’t reach my eyes. I let her lead the way as a single thought chases me, all the way from the alley to our next destination.

There but for the grace of God go I.

That could have been me. If I had stayed on these streets, that could have been me. But Kiki saved me. She was right in one regard. We can’t save everyone, but she did save me.

I’m so lost in my thoughts that I don’t even realize we’ve arrived at Doña Esmeralda’s place until Kiki says, “We’re here.”