Page 27

We do in fact reach the designed spot just as the sun leaves the sky. A couple of connected cabins in the middle of nowhere,El viejo's dwellings are nothing much — not that I expected much, anyway.

One step into the enclosure, and a man in a long robe exits one of the cabins, his eyes narrowed as he takes us in.

"Abuelo," Joaquin addresses him, lowering his head in a sign of respect.

The man barely pays him attention as he walks forward, his movements brisk for someone his age.

Stopping in front of me, he raises his head to look me in the eye.

"Te estaba esperando,"he states, looking me up and down before closing his eyes and breathing in the air around.

Moving around in a circle, he starts chanting something, his voice low.

"Muévense, siempre muevanse," he intones, the wind howling strongly as if reacting to his voice.

"Come," he eventually tells us, inviting us into his home.

"What are you seeking here, stranger?" El viejo turns to me, and for a moment I feel like his eyes can see right through me.

"What everyone else does.” I smile. “To have my curiosity assuaged."

"Ah, a non-believer. I see." He nods to himself.

"I told him he wouldn't be well received because he doesn't believe," Joaquin interjects.

"He does not believe yet he is here. There is always a reason," he says, moving around the small space and offering us some freshly brewed tea.

"Tell me, stranger. What plagues you?"

He sits us on the floor, settling next to us and completing a circle of three.

"I have some episodes," I tentatively start, slowly recounting my issue. I may not believe in this, but the mere possibility that it might work, should it just be a fluke, pushes me forward.

I need her.

Sisi is my only impetus for moving forward, even when the entire process is so antithetic to my core beliefs.

"I see,"El viejoresponds, studying me, his shrewd eyes taking in everything.

"You're desperate," he continues, and Joaquin chuckles.

"The mere fact he's here means he's more than desperate. You've heard of him,abuelo, el Supay."

El viejodoesn't answer, still looking at me.

"You rule over death, when life is right in front of you," he says quietly. "I will help you, stranger. But not because you deserve it." He pins me down with his stare. "For you know you do not."

I nod at his words, the mere fact that I'd put my hand on Sisi making me the least worthy son of a bitch to ever exist.

"But because someone else deserves it. And through you, they will get what they deserve," he continues cryptically, and I frown.

"Don't." He puts a hand up when I'm about to speak. "We may have just met, stranger, but I know you." He pauses, the air swirling around, tension mounting. "You who profess no God and no religion but take science as your creed. But now there is no science and here you are." His words stilted, his phrases are mysterious at best as he continues to bare my entire identity.

"I know your problem." His hand comes up to touch my forehead. "It's here and." The hand moves lower until it hovers over my heart. "Your head rules everything, your heart six feet under. You cannot understand when you've never tried to listen."

"My episodesmustbe rooted in my absent memories," I speak, looking him square in the eye. "And that is a matter of only this," I say as I point to my brain. "It's faulty, and I've heard that your potions may help with that."

El viejo stares at me for a second before he starts chuckling.