Cemetery Boys

The novel opens with an epigraph from “La Martiniana,” a Mexican folk song: “I’ll always live, and my spirit will never die,” a quotation that highlights the novel’s themes around death and life (5).

Yadriel, the novel’s protagonist, is part of the brujx community. Brujx are people whose magical powers come from the deity they worship, Lady Death: Brujx have “The powers of life and death: the ability to sense illness and injury in the living, and to see and communicate with the dead” (7).

Brujx watch over the cemetery and the spirits of the dead. Some spirits linger after their death, bound by a tether to the human world, often a material possession. When these tethered spirits lose “the parts that made them human” and turn malignant or violent (7), Brujos “sever the connection to their tether and release them to the afterlife” (7). At 15, brujx go through the quince ritual where they are given their portaje, their “chosen conduits” (13). Often, men receive daggers while women receive rosaries, a traditional gendered practice that makes men protectors and women healers. As a transgender boy, Yadriel is determined to prove to his family and community that he is a brujo. Due to his refusal to participate in a bruja quince, Yadriel is now 16 years old and without a portaje.

Determined to prove himself, Yadriel decides to hold his own quince ceremony, so he and his cousin Maritza sneak into the cemetery while the other brujx prepare for the Day of the Dead, when loved ones who have passed on return for two days. Dodging returning spirits, Yadriel and Maritza break into the sacred cemetery church. The quince ceremony requires a blood offering. At birth, brujx have their ears pierced in exchange for being able to hear the dead. At their quince, brujx sacrifice blood from their tongues to let them speak to Lady Death. As the only vegan bruja in their community, Maritza refuses to sacrifice the blood of animals, so her powers are relatively inert. She does, however, work in her father’s forge to craft portajes for their community. Yadriel’s portaje is a simple but refined dagger that Maritza made for him.

Yadriel completes the ritual and declares his devotion to Lady Death. He is imbued with golden light and the ritual is a success. Though he is ecstatic, he is saddened by the secrecy and loneliness of his quince ceremony: Most ceremonies are attended by family and friends. Yadriel has been out as gay and transgender to Maritza since he was 13, and to his family since 14. Yadriel’s mother was incredibly supportive, but she passed away a year ago. Before Yadriel can summon a spirit and test out his new brujo powers, Yadriel and Maritza are both overcome with pain. They feel the exact moment that Miguel, Yadriel’s cousin, dies.

The brujx are in panic—everyone feels the pain of Miguel dying violently. Maritza and Yadriel run back to the house. Miguel is only 28 years old, and nobody believes that he died peacefully. At the house, Miguel’s mother Claudia is crying inconsolably. Yadriel’s abuelita Lita uses her portaje—a flower-printed rosary—to help heal her, pulling some of her pain and grief. Lita comforts Claudia by telling her that she will see Miguel soon during the Day of the Dead. Yadriel is not so sure: “If Miguel hadn’t passed to the land of the dead—if he was still tethered to this world—he couldn’t return during Día de Muertos” (24).

Enrique, Yadriel’s father and the leader of the East Los Angeles brujx, tells the brujos to search for Miguel’s body and his portaje. If Miguel has not passed into the afterlife, he would still be tethered to his dagger. Yadriel desperately wants to join the brujos in their search for Miguel, especially now that he has completed his portaje ceremony, but Enrique snaps at Yadriel in front of everyone to “stay here with the rest of the women” (28). Yadriel is utterly humiliated, hurt, and refuses to forgive his father for “misgendering him and calling him by his deadname” (29).

Yadriel never had the healing abilities of a bruja. While the rest of the brujx assumed Yadriel was born without magic, his mother Camila always knew that Yadriel is a brujo, not a bruja. Yadriel’s mother bought him a binder and attempted to talk to Enrique about Yadriel’s gender. After her death, Yadriel finds comfort only in his uncle Catriz, the only other outsider in the brujx community because he was born without magic.

Lita interrupts Yadriel’s conversation with Catriz, using female pronouns even as “His deadname slipped from her mouth” (36). Yadriel immediately insists on his name, but while she apologizes, Lita tells Yadriel, “But you’ll always be my little girl” (37). Yadriel is heartbroken. Yadriel comes up with a plan to prove that he is a brujo to his entire family and to the brujx community by finding Miguel and releasing him to the afterlife. Maritza follows him eagerly.

Lita notices that “the claw of the jaguar”—a ceremonial blade from when “the dark art of human sacrifice was still in practice” (36)—is missing. The blade allows brujx to practice dark magic: If the blade pierces four human hearts, it will give the brujx wielding it considerable dark power. When she cannot find the blade, Lita warns young brujx about the dangers of abusing their magic.

Yadriel and Maritza sneak into the original brujx church built in the middle of East Los Angeles. Yadriel’s plan is to “Find Miguel’s portaje, summon his spirit, find out what happened, and release his spirit before Día de Muertos starts” (39), so that he can join in on the year’s coming-of-age ritual. Inside, an old statue of Lady Death in a dark shroud stands holding a real scythe and a clay orb. The place feels charged with power. Yadriel finds a silver chain with an engraved pendant of St. Jude. It is a tether. Believing it to be Miguel’s, Yadriel successfully summons a spirit for the first time.

The necklace actually belongs to Julian Diaz, a boy who went to high school with Yadriel and Maritza. Julian has a reputation as a gregarious, outgoing, fun-loving person. Julian tells them that his father gave him the necklace; the last thing he remembers doing is walking down the street with his friends. Yadriel and Maritza awkwardly explain to Julian that he has died and that the brujx are responsible for assisting spirits to pass on.

Yadriel is eager to help Julian pass on so that they can get back to their search for Miguel. Instead, Julian insists that they track down his friends to make sure that they are safe. Yadriel refuses, going so far as to attempt to cut the glowing golden thread connecting Julian to the human world. They reach a compromise: Julian promises to willingly leave for the afterlife after Yadriel ensures the safety of his friends. Yadriel is nervous about the “hot dead boy” (53) but decides to hide him in his room. Yadriel feels something strange in the church while departing but does not know what that might be. 

Julian, Yadriel, and Maritza walk home through the cemetery. Yadriel is panicked at the idea of having to take care of Julian while trying to find Miguel before the Day of the Dead. Julian tells them that he was walking through Belvedere Park with his friends the same night when they were attacked. Julian cannot remember anything about his attacker or how he died. He does remember fight the attacker off his friend Luca. Julian mourns the loss of his skateboard. When Julian accidentally misgenders Yadriel, Yadriel and Maritza are quick to correct him. Julian then corrects himself before asking Yadriel if ghosts can eat food—he is hungry. Together, they sneak Julian into Yadriel’s home without Lita noticing.  

Lita is sleeping in an armchair in front of the television. The house is full of decorations for the Day of the Dead. Upstairs in Yadriel’s room, Julian digs into food that the brujx make specifically to place on the ofrendas, or altars, for spirits. While Julian eats, Yadriel sucks on an ice cube to soothe the hurting wound on his tongue. Julian and Yadriel discuss whom to speak to about Julian’s death: Julian has no parents, and his brother will not care about his disappearance. Yadriel, who is used to a large and affectionate—if mostly unaccepting—family, cannot quite wrap his head around the idea of an uncaring family.

Yadriel explains to Julian that the Day of the Dead, which starts at midnight on October 31, is a two-day celebration for brujx to be reunited with their families. Only brujx can return from the dead to visit the living. Yadriel also explains what happens when a spirit lingers too long in the human world. Julian is furious that the other brujx will not allow Yadriel to join the brujo’s search for Miguel, before he wonders, “are you trying to prove to them that you’re a brujo, or that you’re a boy?” (76). Julian tells Yadriel that summoning him is proof enough that he is a brujo, and that he does not need to prove his gender to anyone, even himself.