Page 140 of Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt

‘If I have,señor, it is not consciously. I am sure that my form was merely a vessel for whatever message the universe needed to send you.’

Comically, the remainder of my ice cream fell out of its cone, and plopped onto the steps. ‘You mean to say you do not recognise me at all?’

‘I do not, no.’ The girl took my palm once again. ‘Dreams and visions are wildly powerful things,señor. We cannot control them, yet we manifest them. When we met before, what did I say to you?’

I closed my eyes and recalled that terrible night. ‘You told me that I had to live... that I had a purpose.’

‘How interesting,’ the girl mused. ‘Let us see if I was right.’ She scrutinised my hand. ‘It is nice to meet you in person, Atlas. I am Angelina.’

My heart was racing. ‘How do you know my name?’

‘I can see it. It is engraved in the stars. As is so much of your destiny.’ She looked up from my palm and stared into my eyes. ‘Do not be fearful of what I am telling you, or what I know.’ She flashed me a reassuring smile. ‘Thebrujacan see everything that ever was, is and could be. It is a gift passed down through our bloodline.’

I was simply dumbfounded. ‘I’m not even supposed to be in Granada. I was merely delivering a statue. It was pure chance I ended up here.’

‘A statue?’ asked Angelina. ‘To the Alhambra Palace?’

‘That’s right.’ I nodded.

‘Lucía Amaya Albaycín. My aunt.’

‘Your aunt?’

Angelina giggled again. ‘That is correct,señor. Now do you see what I mean when I say that our destinies are entwined, and we were always going to meet? To you, it appears as pure chance. But to me, it is part of a greater plan.’

‘Good Lord,’ I said breathlessly.

‘Regrettably, Aunt Lucía is no longer with us on earth. But she is truly free now, and dances amongst the clouds.’

‘The gentleman at the Alhambra believed her to be very much alive.’

‘Yes, as does her mother, and her daughter too.’

‘Her daughter?’ I asked with concern.

Angelina pointed towards the little girl I had bought an ice cream for. ‘Isadora, my cousin. They are notbruja,señor, so they cannot feel that Lucía is gone.’

I stared over at the innocent child, who was blissfully unaware that her mother was dead. The heartache she would have to endure pained me. ‘Why do you not tell them?’

Angelina sighed. ‘What is better, to learn the truth and be empty, or to live in hope? After all, it is the only thing that keeps us alive,señor.’

A pleasant citrus smell filled the air, and an elderly gentleman wheeling a wooden cart full of fresh oranges passed by.

‘Very unusual,señor. Very unusual.’ Angelina’s eyes flitted between my palm and face. ‘I have never met another like you here in the plaza. You are something different.’

‘What do you mean?’ I said, hanging on her every word.

‘Often, I can advise people, and give them the power to change their destinies. But your path is fixed, Atlas. Unchanging.’

‘What does that mean?’ I asked, unease growing inside me.

A smile from Angelina went a long way towards reassuring me. ‘It means that you will do great things. Your name is appropriate. Atlas is a man who carries the weight of the world on his shoulders, is he not?’

‘So the myth goes,’ I replied.

Angelina narrowed her eyes. ‘Myths are just what stories become when there is no longer a soul alive who witnessed the events first hand.’

‘I see,’ I replied. The cathedral bell rang to signify midday, and I nearly jumped out of my skin.