“Everyone ready then?” I asked and everyone assented, making my heart race with anticipation of what we might see. We’d talked about Diego countless times before, but none of us had answers about him. Was he an anomaly? The only Nymph with a good soul? Or were there more like him out there?
I took Orion’s hand then pulled on the hat with the other before reaching for Tory’s hand beside me. As her fingers met mine, I was yanked away into the darkness of the shadows, tumbling into their depths while feeling the presence of everyone following me into it.
A gasp hitched in my throat as the white cloud of the soul web appeared before us and I felt Diego reaching for me from within it.
Fingers curled around my arm though I couldn’t see anyone there, but then his presence moved closer and his voice echoed around me and I felt Tory being drawn nearer to him too.
“It’s time to know the truth, amigas.”
He pulled us into the web and I braced myself for what was going to happen as I fell deep into the past, drawn into a long lost memory as my eyes opened and by instinct I knew whose memory this was. It was Diego’s.
I held a little blue Pegasus toy between my finger and thumb, making it fly in front of me as I knelt in the mud around the back of my house. I’d found the toy washed up at the edge of the river down in the woods and though I knew I should have given it to Mamá, I also knew she’d throw it away if I did. She hated anything to do with the Fae, but I secretly wanted to know more about them. Everything about them.
I wondered about the kid who’d owned this little Pegasus, if they knew what they’d Emerge as one day. What would it feel like when they had their power Awakened? Did the stars shine on them and make them feel all good inside?
Mamá didn’t like the stars. She said they’d cursed our kind and that was why we never had much money or food. My stomach growled in hopes of a meal that might not come tonight, but I was used to that, and while I was looking at this little blue winged horse in front of my eyes, I didn’t feel much of anything except the imaginary life I was dreaming up for myself.
What would it be like to fly?
To have a herd, and magic in my veins, and gifts from the stars?
Would the stars like me if I was Fae? Would I get to walk along the streets in the daylight instead of having to hide away all the time?
Suddenly a strong hand latched around the back of my neck, yanking me to my feet while another snatched the little Pegasus from my fingers. I was thrown against the wall and I stared at my Uncle Alejandro as he sneered at the toy in his hand in disgust, my pulse thumping furiously in my ears.
“What is this?” he spat, but I couldn’t get an answer out, fear making me choke. “Answer me, Diego.”
“J-just a toy,” I spluttered.
“Was my nephew playing in the mud dreaming of being Fae?” he snapped and I shook my head several times, feeling every drop of blood in my face draining away.
He clucked his tongue then let fire bloom in his palm to surround the little Pegasus and something possessed me to lunge forward with a cry, reaching for it and burning my fingertips as I tried to save it. But Alejandro knocked me back with his other hand and I watched as the Pegasus turned to blue gloop which he let fall onto the grass with a hiss.
“Be thankful your madre didn’t find you with it,” he said, stepping closer and adjusting the bright red scarf around his neck as he scrutinised me, running a hand over his short, dark curls. “How old are you now? Eight?”
“Ten,” I whispered, wishing he’d go away, but the look in his eyes filled me with dread because I could see he was far from done with me.
“Old enough,” he said under his breath with a decisive nod. “Come. I have a job you can help me with.” He shoved me ahead of him, striding after me and my mouth dried out in fear as he corralled me towards his car.
When he opened the door and shoved me onto the backseat, mi abuela came hurrying down the porch steps of the house, her old legs carrying her towards me as panic ringed her eyes.
“Alejandro, where are you taking him?” she demanded.
“It’s time he became one of us. The boy has gone soft,” my uncle explained, getting in the car and locking the doors.
Mi abuela tried the handle of the back door, looking to me in alarm as she shook her head frantically. “He’s just a baby!”
Her fear made my palms sweat and a ball rise in my throat as Alejandro started the car, driving down the track into the woods.
“Wait!” she cried as she was left behind, but he didn’t listen and my hands began to shake as Alejandro drove deeper into the dark forest that bordered our land.