Ballad & dagger

When sixteen-year-old Mateo and Chela discover each other and their powers during a political battle between neighborhood factions, they set aside their differences to unravel the mystery behind their sunken homeland and to stop a dangerous political operative who is trying to harness their gifts to unleash terror on the world.
When the island of San Madrigal disappeared into the sea., the survivors escaped to New York. Mateo, now a high school junior and piano prodigy living with his two aunts, is focused on one thing: getting the attention of locally-grown musical legend Gerval. He gets his chance on the night of the Grand Fete, an annual party celebrating the blended culture of pirates, Cuban Santeros, and Sephardic Jews that created San Madrigal all those centuries ago. When he witnesses a brutal murder by a person he thought he knew, Mateo is thrust into an ancient battle that spans years and oceans-- and awakens a power that not only links him to the killer but could unravel the secrets behind his lost homeland.-- adapted from jacket