Sun Kissed

24. The Photograph (EDITED)

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.

~