24. The Photograph

Maria understood now. Why Encantados needed humans. Only a month in the human world and she had already bonded with one.

Amancio. A child that suffered from neglect. He needed her. She sang songs to him on a guitar. Showed him how to form the notes. His fingers were too short to reach all the chords, but one day . . .

"Maria."

She greeted Master with more warmth than she had in a long time. But as she ran up and wrapped her arms around his middle, she paused. Where had his scent gone?

Maria looked up. His eyes were cold.

She let go and took a step back. "Master?"

A sword? Master never carried a sword. He took an oath.

Mestre Julio cut her down. As Maria bled out against the ferns and fronds, she wondered who would be there when Amancio came to the river to play.

~

The storm rocked the region for two nights and three days. The water table rose until it sloshed over the bridge linking the community to the forest.

"It's Amancio," Sofi told Toni. "It has to be."

"He's going to flood the town," said Toni, oddly calm. "We won't be able to evacuate everyone in time, including your mamãe."

Sofi looked out the sliding glass door of the shorehouse. Thunderous clouds rolled and choked the sky with their threatening calls. The inlet was unimaginably high, repeatedly trying to swallow up the deck. The fact that she and Toni were there was insanity.

But we're the only ones who can stop Amancio.

Sofi inhaled and released it. "I know what I have to do." She went for the couch. "You remember Amancio's mentor?"

Toni's eyes followed Sofi across the room. "Yeah."

She dug between the sofa cushions and pulled out a book. "Well, you're not the only one with a copycat." Her movements slowed as she opened the old copy of Peter Pan and removed a bookmark. She sat down on the couch and waved Toni over.

"What is it?"

She closed her eyes. "At first I didn't know what was happening to me. I kept having these dreams."

Toni touched her back. "Sofi, just breathe."

The hand holding the bookmark trembled. "No matter how hard I tried to remember what happened in the dream, I would always forget. At the same time, I always woke up feeling different. It wasn't until a few days ago that I started making connections. I wondered if maybe these dreams were never mine in the first place. Maybe they belonged to someone else."

She unfolded the bookmark.

But it was no such thing.

~

Sofi didn't know where to find Amancio.

Maria, however, did. So Sofi called upon her dreams to track down the Encantado. It was the only way she could convince Toni to let her go alone. She had to go alone. She crossed the flooded jungle in his wooden speedboat. The impossibly strong winds and growing water made her wonder if she was ever going to make it back.

Hurricanes formed in the ocean. Yet The Amazon River had become one. And Sofi was headed straight for the eye.

~

Something else rustled in the shorehouse. Toni's eyes drifted open. Damn it. He hadn't meant to fall asleep. Sofia was out there all on her own.

The rustling started again.

Toni sat up on the couch. "Who's there?"

Nobody answered, but the sound intensified – something brittle scraping up against a slippery surface. Toni followed the noise to the other side of the wooden island.

Stretched across the floor and bent oddly were a pair of legs.

Toni blinked and they were gone, replaced by a puddle of ooze – sticky and dark. The scuttling went on. Toni peeked over the other side of the counter, wishing he had his knife. The pool thickened and bubbled.

A butterfly with black wings actively drowned in the dark bath.

Toni watched, entranced. He didn't flinch as he stepped in blood. Warm and gooey between his toes. He dropped to his knees and scooped it up.

Feet, knees and palms wet with blood, he held it in the light so he could properly see it struggle. Toni brought the butterfly to his lips and whispered, "Don't be afraid." And as if in understanding, it stopped fighting.

The butterfly held very still while Toni swallowed it whole.

~

Sofi didn't know how much more of this she could take. She found Amancio clinging to his sanity by the skin of his teeth. His feet were bloody from pacing across the shards of his broken guitar. He must have been going at it since Carnaval.

Sofi called his name, but he ignored her. He continued to pace and twitch while his storm revolved around them. The place where they stood was peaceful, the very eye of his impossible storm.

Sofi tried again. "Amancio, please."

He twitched. "Don't trust the butterflies. Don't trust the butterflies."

She knelt and slid the photograph in his direction. "Just stop for a moment and look at this, Amancio. Her name is Maria."

Amancio stopped. Finally, he stared at Sofia. "You trusted them. The butterflies." He shook his head. "You weren't supposed to."

Thunder exploded.

Sofi's head slammed back as Amancio threw his weight against her. She swung her legs up and backwards, somersaulting until she was on top. She jerked once to stun him and then leaned everything into her forearm across his windpipe while the other hand held up the photograph.

"Damn it, Amancio – Look!"

For the briefest of moments, his eyes cleared. Recognition flashed across his orange irises.

"W-who," he stammered, "who is Maria?"

Sofi sobbed in relief. "She's a friend."

Amancio's eyes narrowed. "Where is she?"

Sofi let him go and rolled off him. "She's gone, Amancio."

With each second that passed, the cyclone died down.

"Maria," Amancio repeated. He sat up. "I never got to say goodbye to her."

Sofi sniffed. "I know. But maybe you still can."

Amancio looked at her. "How." His eyes were clear, focused. The storm nonexistent. But evidence that it had happened was all around them. The rainforest was a broken mess.

Sofi made Amancio hold the photograph and concentrate on Maria's face. He didn't think anything was happening until something sudden and vivid flashed through his mind.

An angelic woman with red hair and orange eyes waited at the lip of the river.

Amancio flinched.

Water. He was underwater with her. He couldn't swim. The woman grabbed his wrists, pulled him up. She held him at the surface. It felt like being held by heaven. He could smell tart citrus all around him. And her eyes . . . they were so orange.

"Hello, dear friend. Why do you cry?"

I couldn't save you.

"It's not your fault. It needed to happen. It was preparation . . . for what will come next."

Maria, I'm lost. I don't understand.

"Listen to me, Amancio. You're not a child anymore. It's time to grow up. You've been through the worst of this. You have suffered enough."

What should I do?

"Fulfill your debt to Sofia. Bring Paola back from the Encante. And some oranges too. Leave them with Sofia."

Oranges? Why oranges?

"Any fruit will do. Then you must get as far away from her and Julio as possible."

Why?

"We all have our own path to walk, Amancio. It will be some time before yours crosses again with theirs."