Shadowshaper

Sierra looks over Dr. Wick’s notes, noticing that he writes about Lucera, an archetypal spirit who vanished from the community; without her, “the murals that are touched with shadowshaper magic will eventually fade and the connection to the spirits will be obliterated” (56). Sierra returns to the junkyard, where the mural of Papa Acevado has continued to fade. Sierra and Robbie work in silence for a while, with Sierra painting her dragon and Robbie painting his skeleton before Sierra asks if Robbie is ready to talk. Manny interrupts them to say goodnight, and Sierra asks him about the shadowshapers. Manny explains the shadowshapers were a social club, “a place for the guys from the neighborhood to get together every now and then” (60). Manny tells Sierra that Robbie can tell her some more about the shadowshapers, and Sierra insists Robbie do so as he walks her home.

Robbie was Papa Acevado’s student, and Papa Acevado trained him how to paint and “to work with spirits. Shadowshaping” (62). The spirits are usually ancestors of shadowshapers or others who want to help protect them, and they look like shadows until they’re shaped into a new for.