9. Pink Ghost

Sofi felt a little safer entering the jungle with the knowledge that Toni was not far off. She wasn't quite sure how she had convinced him to hold back from dicing up every animal he encountered like they were ingredients for some horrific salad.

"Dolphins aren't the only ones capable of shape-shifting," he told her. "Snakes, caiman, cats – pretty much anything can be an Encantado."

Sofi still needed him to check his bloodlust. She suggested that he run some reconnaissance. Population numbers, geographic range – stuff like that. He took the bait. That afternoon, Toni left with a new purpose and Sofi with some room to exhale.

Toni had his knife and his thirst for retribution, but Sofi had her own unfinished business. Amancio was still out there. Without Toni's permission, Sofi helped herself to the rain forest. She needed to find Amancio and make peace or war with him. She hadn't decided which.

And if he tries to hurt you again?

Whenever she remembered back to almost drowning, she would need to pause and catch her breath.

I'll scream for Toni, she insisted. Stupidly. As stupid as it was for her to walk blindly down dark forested paths towards her attacker.

As the jungle pressed in on her and sunlight suffocated behind the canopy, her thoughts evolved into more desperate, impossible noise.

If anything happens, Toni will hear me.

The tree shapes bled into the ground. Everything was a blur of green, darkness, and sweat.

Toni will hear me. He'll come.

The world at her back was wild, threatening. The mosquitos were relentless. She was lost. Couldn't retrace her steps even if she wanted to. All she had was the river.

Under the weight of the jungle heat, Sofi's head felt light. Her body had gone into auto-pilot. Once she reached a drop-off point, she let go of her shirt, shorts and shoes. Before she could talk herself out of it, she fell feet first in the shallows.

Underwater, Sofi gained clarity. When her toes kissed the muddy floor, self-preservation kicked in, jolting her to the surface. She fumbled with the mangrove roots until one became an anchor.

A number of horrific scenarios were possible in that moment. Caiman, constrictors, arapaima. The merciful, cooling water convinced Sofi that they were nothing more than catastrophic fantasies. She held onto her root and let her legs drift with the current. Plant detritus floated by. Her eyelids grew heavy.

Something sharp and pink flickered in her periphery, followed by a splash.

One of them!

Sofi's muscles spasmed as she tried to hoist herself out from under the cage of mangroves. She managed to clamber onto land, but not without swallowing some water. She didn't look back as she swept up her clothes and stole behind a barrier of green.

It was still hot and dark and now Sofi felt really dumb. Getting home before the sun completely disappeared seemed impossible. Sofi considered the thought of being consumed by a darkness that she wouldn't be able to wake from.

She slapped a mosquito on her thigh. Toni's name threatened to burst from her lips, but she bit her tongue at the memory of the unidentified pink presence that stalked her at the river. If there was any chance it was an Encantado, calling out for Toni would only signal the creature of her whereabouts.

Still in her underwear, Sofi sank to her heels and hugged her knees.

"Are you lost?"

Her eyes searched the trees in disbelief as she fumbled with her clothes.

"Up here."

She zipped up her denims as she stood. Adrenaline warned her that to stay was a death wish, but she did her best to ignore it.

"Are you an Encantado?" It was stupid to even ask, but truthfully, it was hard to tell.

Swinging lazily from a leafy hammock was a boy in his late teens. His hair was curly – short at the nape, wild on top. From Sofi's vantage point, it looked significantly darker than Amancio's. But Sofi had seen proof that Encantados could disguise their hair color. Where Amancio had playful amber eyes, this stranger looked down at her with two dark wormholes. Like he could suck her into some forbidden dimension if he wanted.

The dark-haired Encantado smiled. His mouth was wide and mocking; his eyes too intelligent to be Amancio's contemporary.

"This isn't your first stroll through these parts, I take it?"

Sofi blinked. I know that voice.

And just like that, he was standing before her, his drop from several feet preternaturally soft. Every fern was left undisturbed, every beetle and butterfly devoted to its purpose. As if the stranger was nothing more than a ghost.

"You look a little spooked, Sofia. Am I not who you were expecting?"

Now that he was closer, Sofi confirmed that his hair was indeed black and that his voice was the same one from her dream.

She swallowed. "How do you know my name?"

The boy inclined his head. "Walk with me."

Sofi could scream. Toni would come and defend her. But then she would never get the answers she wanted.

Not want – need, she corrected herself. I need to know who he is and what the hell is going on with Amancio.

The stranger moved through the forest understory like one might through their own home. He went barefoot, never needing to look down. His knowledge of the territory, no matter how dense the foliage, was intimate.

"No doubt you've solved it by now," he said. "Amancio and I are cut from the same cloth."

"You mean you're both monsters," Sofi said, following it with an internal applause. She had a real talent for thinking of ways to get herself killed. Though the Encantado chuckled, there was no laughter in his eyes.

"We prefer shapeshifters. The stories about us can be a tad . . . hyperbolic."

"Is that what you called it when you kidnapped my friend?" It was a shot in the dark, but Sofi had a feeling that Amancio wasn't behind Paola's abduction. At least not entirely. He also had an alibi. At the time, he was busy getting mauled in the face by his own guitar.

"Oh, your friend?" The Encantado eyed her pointedly. "Is that what you call it when you lure a helpless child into danger? Maybe you should reevaluate who the real monster is."

It was too hard for Sofi to find the words she needed in her defense. So she just pretended like she hadn't heard him.

The ghost boy chuckled again. "Don't beat yourself up, Sofia. She's safe."

Sofi wrestled with her next question. "Why her? Why Paola and not me?"

The boy came to a full stop.

Sofi added, "In my dream, you told me not to come here. So why aren't you dragging me off to wherever you took her?"

Paola's kidnapper didn't bother to move his rebellious hair out of his eyes. That didn't stop his gaze from feeling like a cut.

"You almost sound wounded," he whispered. "Would you rather it had been you?"

Sofi wanted to sound strong, but her voice just cracked like she was trying not to cry.

"Give Paola back."

"No." He said flatly. "I need her." And kept walking.

Sunlight continued to dim, bleeding the green hues into bluer shades. Sofi struggled to keep up with him.

She tried a new approach. "Who are you to Amancio?"

"He does what I say. He looks up to me."

Sofi tested another piece to the ever-expanding puzzle before her. "You told him to chase me down."

He smirked. "Something like that."

Enough!

Sofi shoved her way to the front. "Who are you and what the hell do you want from me?"

It was the closest she had come to the boy. Things that she hadn't noticed before now stood out. The metal ring in his ear that caught the final rays of daylight. The seriousness in his features that oddly made her think of Toni.

Lastly, the way he smelled. Like his dark eyes and his pink true form, his scent was invasive and sharp. It was so strong that when she opened her mouth, she could taste mint leaves.

But Sofi knew that trick. Amancio had a scent too. And his looks also had a way with her emotions.

Stay focused!

"What do you want, shapeshifter?" She repeated. His scent and eyes and freakishly attractive hair be damned.

"Today," he glanced over her shoulder, "I just wanted to walk you home."

Sofi's concentration broke as she took in her surroundings. She recognized the trees. They weren't that far off from the canal.

"Tomorrow . . ." He shrugged. "I might want something else." He drew back, but Sofi caught his wrist.

"So it really was you," she said, "from my dream? Why did you tell me to stay away from here?"

The boy gently disengaged his arm. "You didn't. So it doesn't matter anymore." He was swift in his departure.

Sofi stumbled after him. "Your name!"

The ghost boy grinned. His minty scent was too strong for her. Disoriented, Sofi took a step back.

"They call me Julio."

There was nothing left of the sun except its pink imprint on the clouds. The mosquitos were back to biting.

Julio with the dark hair was no longer a dream.

Flutter home, mariposa.

But rather, a very complicated nightmare.