Shadowshaper

Sierra wakes up on the street, disoriented, and sees “three towering gold shrouds” standing a few feet away from her (105). These enormously tall figures wear hoods and robes, and they fight off the shadow creature when it reappears and tries to attack Sierra again. Out of the blue, Sierra’s brother Juan approaches on a bike. Sierra wonders how Juan managed to find her: “You never bike around Flatbush. And you’re s’posta be in, like, Connecticut or something with the band” (108). Juan confesses that the spirits sent him. When Juan was 10, Grandpa Lázaro told him about how he brought spirits over with him from Puerto Rico. Lázaro also tried to tell their older brother, Gael, but he wouldn’t listen. Sierra feels hurt that Lázaro withheld this information from her; Juan thinks it has something to do with their grandfather’s “machismo crap” (110). Sierra and Juan continue home to get out of the rain.

Sierra asks her sleeping grandfather why he hid the truth from her. Downstairs, Juan tells Sierra he was in the middle of a concert when the spirits told him to help her; the spirits can’t talk, but shadowshapers can hear their voices in their minds.