66 pages • 2-hour read
Cemetery Boys
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Chapters 16-20Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 16 Summary
Yadriel and Maritza chase after Julian. Julian is still extremely upset, and it takes him a while to calm down. Yadriel tries to convince Julian that everything will be alright, but Julian responds, “I’m dead” (196). This catches Yadriel by surprise; he seems to have forgotten that Julian is only a spirit. He does not want Rio to think that Julian abandoned him and offers to talk to Rio again. Julian declines.
When they reach Belvedere Park, Julian gives the dogs a shirt he took from his bedroom to sniff. Michelangelo is uninterested in the shirt after a few sniffs, while Donatello tries to eat it. Though Yadriel is disappointed at the lack of clues, he is relieved that he did not have to face Julian’s dead body. Though Yadriel has only known him as a spirit, “Julian was the most alive person he’d ever met” (199). Maritza and Yadriel try and push Julian to remember more about the night in question, but he can’t. They worry that if Miguel returns on the Day of the Dead, he too will not remember what happened to him.
Chapter 17 Summary
Yadriel and Julian slowly make their way to Yadriel’s home, careful to avoid Enrique who is on patrol duty. Yadriel offers to talk to his uncle, to get his help, but before Julian can agree, they are attacked by the spirit of Tito, which cares for the cemetery gardens in death just as he did in life. He stubbornly refused to move to the afterworld. After so much time on earth, his spirit has gone malignant. He slashes at Yadriel with his shears, trying to kill him. Julian fights off Tito while Yadriel tries to cut through Tito’s bond to his tether with his portaje but fails. Enrique appears just in time to sever the bond and usher Tito’s spirit into the afterlife.
Enrique notices Yadriel’s portaje, and Yadriel comes clean to his father about his quince ritual. He does not tell him about Julian. With the knowledge that Lady Death accepts Yadriel as a brujo, Enrique apologizes to him, and admits that he was wrong for denying him his ritual. He tells Yadriel that Yadriel will be part of this year’s aquelarre ceremony. Yadriel is overjoyed and Enrique is beyond proud of his son.
At home, Yadriel finds Julian in his room and tells Julian that he wants him to stay. The boys almost admit their feelings for each other, but Julian tells Yadriel that he wants him to release his spirit to the afterlife.
Chapter 18 Summary
Julian wants to be severed from the human world right away. After seeing Tito turn malignant, he does not want to turn in the same way. Julian and Yadriel argue but come to a compromise: Yadriel promises to release Julian the next day at midnight. He wants one more day with Julian. He does not want to lose Julian, the thought of which is intolerable to him.
They lie together in Yadriel’s bed and talk. Julian confesses that he does not speak Spanish because that was all he spoke with his late father. It feels too intimate to speak it with anyone else. Yadriel tells Julian about the Day of the Dead and how it feels to reunite with his relatives and ancestors. When Julian turns away to listen to music on Yadriel’s old phone, Yadriel pulls out Julian’s shirt from under his pillow, breathing in the other boy’s smell as he tries to fall asleep.
Chapter 19 Summary
It is the morning of October 31st. Yadriel skips school to spend the day with Julian. Maritza covers for Yadriel. Yadriel takes Julian to the local Mexican market where he buys him all his favorite foods. After, they buy Yadriel a mask to wear to the Halloween bonfire that Julian wants to go to. Needing a ride to the beach, Julian convinces Yadriel to go to Rio’s apartment and steal the blue Corvette Stingray their father left to them. Yadriel is terrified, but they manage to get out of the garage without being caught.
Chapter 20 Summary
Blasting music, Yadriel and Julian drive through Los Angeles to the beach. Julian is reckless and happy, urging Yadriel to drive even faster. They reach the beach just as the sun is setting. Yadriel has countless missed calls from his father, but he does not check his voicemails. Everyone is in a mask and Yadriel feels invisible in the throng of people. Julian offers him a drink, but Yadriel tells him he doesn’t drink.
They dance together for a long time before the cops arrive to break up the party. Julian and Yadriel race back to the car and drive to a lookout point over the ocean. They climb onto the hood of the car and talk. When Yadriel asks Julian if there’s anything that he regrets not doing on his last day on earth, the other boy leans in closer. In Spanish, Julian asks Yadriel for a kiss. Yadriel nods yes and the two boys kiss. Just then, Yadriel’s phone alarm goes off. They head back to the cemetery. Yadriel desperately wants to rewind time so that Julian won’t have to leave him.
Chapters 16-20 Analysis
In this section, the novel explores how a friendship and attraction become a committed romance. Yadriel and Julian grow closer through shared secrets: They tell each other things that even their closest friends do not know. Rather than rushing into a physical relationship, the boys have long conversations about their parents, their past, and feeling like they do not belong anywhere. Yadriel realizes that he loves Julian when he begins to feel panicked at the thought of his spirit going into the afterlife: “It was too fast. Yadriel wasn’t ready. He needed more time” (211). Conversely, Julian’s growing feelings for Yadriel are marked by his confession about why he does not speak Spanish. Because he used to speak it with his father, it “didn’t feel right using it without him, I guess. Feels too…” (214). Yadriel fills in the blanks, offering, “Intimate?” and Julian agrees (214). However, at the end of this section, Julian asks Yadriel for permission to kiss him in Spanish. His decision to speak Spanish with Yadriel shows how comfortable he feels, and how much he has come to love and trust him.
Yadriel also finds the thing he used to want most in the world: His father discovers Yadriel’s portaje, accepts him as a brujo, and begins making plans to have Yadriel join them at the aquelarre. Accomplishing this has been Yadriel’s prime motivation since the beginning of the novel. Now, though, while being accepted by his family and community is still important to Yadriel, it is no longer as vital as keeping Julian by his side. While he should be happy about his father’s acceptance, the rest of the section is marked by Yadriel’s sorrow. This is because the coming Day of the Day has become a bittersweet celebration: Yadriel will be inducted as a brujo and see his mother again, but this is will also be the day Julian goes to the afterlife.
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