In a small rural town, Zalli Tlahuizcal is a successful rose farmer - at least up until now. Her once thriving farm has declined out of nowhere, and she must scramble to find a solution if she wishes to continue supporting her family. To add to her stress, a real estate company wants to buy her land under the guise of offering her help, when really they act for underhanded reasons. She will need to figure out how to break the curse that has come over her roses, or she will be forced to give in to the handsome CEO that can't seem to leave her alone.

Calip Yoltzin is a man of opportunity. He sees the potential of a rural town and what it can become. While all the locals agree to what he can offer, there is one obstinate rose farmer that just doesn't want to budge. Even though his proposal is nothing but generous, she continues to reject anything he throws her way. And whatever he can convince her of, it is only enough to get him a millimeter closer to what he is truly after. He will do whatever it takes to convince the beautiful farmer to hand over everything he seeks from her.

Inspired by 1960s Mexico fused with a classic fairy tale, follow Zalli as she navigates the mystery of her crumbling farm, the gentrification of her town, and the invasion of a zealous man. 

Shattered Illusions

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“Council member uh ...,” Zalli stumbled on her words.

Necalli’s last name seemed to escape her. The man raised an eyebrow up at her pause. She flicked her eyes to the side, inadvertently looking at the showroom.

Just as Necalli was about to say it for her, Zalli spat it out with sudden recollection.

“Ozoma!” He flinched at her outburst, but she only continued to speak, going at a fast tempo. “What can I help you with?”

The man placed his elbow above his head and leaned against her door frame.

“May I come in?”

“Uh, no. Now is not a good time.”

Zalli gripped the door handle still in her hand. Necalli brought his orange eyes down to the subtle flex of her forearm, then flicked his gaze back to the woman.

“Why? Do you have visitors?”

He spoke with disbelief in his voice. Zalli hardened her expression as she responded.

“Not-not really. I can’t right now.”

Necalli leaned further into Zalli’s door frame, which positioned him into a comfortable stretch. His button shirt pulled out a couple centimeters from the action, still tucked into his dress pants. He looked away from Zalli to stare at something random on the street. He spoke with a calm indifference.

“Please, it will only be a few minutes. I wanted to discuss with you about the council meeting from this morning.”

Crap. I don’t remember that, Zalli thought to herself.

An overwhelming sensation of dread overcame her mind as she scrambled to remember anything that happened before she was placed in her deep slumber. The most she gathered was that not a day had passed by. She could only guess a few hours had passed since the sun outside was high in the sky already.

With a need to get rid of the man, she spoke with a stern voice.

“Any discussion with you about policies is never quick. Plus, I am home. It will have to wait for when I return to the office. We can discuss business then.”

“But it’s the weekend. Office hours won’t be until Monday. Come now, I promise it will be fast.”

In his eagerness, Necalli surged his body forward. Zalli caught his action with a quick observation. She brought her hand up to his chest out of reflex and halted his forced entry. His foot did not even pass through the threshold as she held his torso in her hold.

“Ozoma, I know how the weekend works. Even more reason for us to wait until Monday, considering it is our time off,” Zalli said as she pushed his body back to stay outside her home.

Necalli clenched his fist from above. Zalli glanced up at it before returning her gaze to his face. He held a harsh expression with lips pressed into a fine line and eyebrows drawn down together.

“But, you see, the policy regarding trade with the Madrid development company. You need to change your stance on it. Some of their representatives are expecting an actual deal.” His eyes flicked away from Zalli, before he returned his gaze to her. “I gave them my word it would go through, yet it was your word that flipped the majority vote around. If you could just budge your position to allow at least something—”

“Council member Ozoma, please stop.” The council member moved closer to Necalli. She set herself up, ready to close the door in a swift movement. “Especially for that, I will not change my mind for a deal that is obviously to the benefit of that company only. Now, if you don’t mind. I would like to enjoy the rest of my time off.”

Zalli squeezed the door handle and swung the wood forward, but Necalli pulled his arm down from the frame and obstructed her goal. His palm slammed on the door and gave a loud smack. He lowered his head and spoke in a low voice, so only Zalli could hear him if anyone passed by.

“You’re going to regret not listening to me.”

“Why do you always threaten me in such a way?”

Zalli narrowed her eyes in her response, before she clenched her jaw.

“Threaten? Oh, no. It’s just a ...” He brought his gaze down Zalli’s body, then back to her face as he finished his sentence. “Considerate tip.”

Necalli lifted one corner of his lip up. His eyes narrowed into slits as arrogance steamed off his body. The young woman experienced her blood boil at his attitude.

As she spoke, she breathed slowly to calm herself. She had to restrain her actions or else she might plummet the man in front of her.

“Please leave before I report you for misconduct to the Conduct Officer.”

He flared nostrils. Not caring whether she hit him or not, Zalli closed the door on him while she gave her dismissal.

“Goodbye, Necalli.”

The young woman did not notice how Necalli pulled his head back at the use of his first name. It was not something she had done before, yet it felt natural for her to roll it out in her dialogue.

Once she locked her door, Zalli leaned against it with a beating heart. She stayed there and waited to hear when Necalli would leave. From the other side, she heard him curse to himself. Then, the muffled sounds of his dress shoes hitting the concrete ground grew faint.

She placed a hand over her chest and wavered in her spot. Her heart was taking some time to slow down to its regular tempo. As she stood, she recalled some tidbits about the meeting Necalli mentioned to her. It was not a complete memory, but she could figure out why she said to him she would not change her mind.

In her research of the company, she discovered they aimed to build luxury homes she knew would not be affordable to the local people. Although the proposal predicted a local economic boom, Zalli voted no.

She investigated their projects in other areas of the country. In her review, she searched for the effects they had on the societal infrastructure. Zalli discovered those towns changed over a few years to cater solely to the upper class. Public transportation became less accessible, pricing on basic goods increased, and many of the locals left to live within their means. In the meeting, she stated as such and could convince the majority to vote no.

Once the vote was finalized, Necalli’s grim expression from across the room told Zalli he would seek her out later on. Other details from that morning were still hazy to the woman. Eventually, her head hurt from the amount of concentration she had to use.

With a shake of her head to remove the tension, Zalli pushed herself off the door and headed to her room. As she passed her living room, she gave it a longer glance. Some things still seemed misplaced and eerie. Yet, it was also in an odd transition of feeling familiar to her.

When Zalli reached her closed door, she heard Tepi and Yoltzin arguing about something. What they were saying was indistinguishable for Zalli, so she brought an ear to the door. Words like “idiot”, “annoying”, and “useless” were all that the council woman could pick up on.

With eyebrows drawn together, she entered her room in a dash. On the ground she witnessed Yoltzin laying down with his hands behind his head. He crossed his ankles in his relaxed position. Tepi’s cheeks were slightly red from exertion and she stood with one hand on her hip while her other hand pointed at the fae.

“What’s going on?”

As Zalli asked her question, both Fae turned their attention to her. Yoltzin gave her a captivating smile while Tepi opened her mouth to respond to her friend.

“I don’t understand how you stand him! I only thought to question why he tried to infiltrate your mind—to get any information out of him! And he is over here being an annoying hijo de–!”

Tepi lowered her accusing hand and walked away from him. The man only shrugged his shoulders. Zalli carried a calm expression as she let go of a small breath. She sauntered over to Yoltzin and crouched to make eye contact with him.

“What shall I do with you?”

She asked her question with a curious quirk of her head. Yoltzin adjusted himself to lie on his side. As he responded, he held his head up with one hand.

“Anything you want, amor. Although, to recreate our night together is at the top of my list of suggestions.”

The fingers he rested on his thigh tapped in succession. The movement caught Zalli’s attention, but she refocused her gaze on Yoltzin’s face. She gave him a blank stare.

“Should I just kill you to make my life easier?”

Her icy voice held no effect on the fae. He only bit his lower lip and moved his head closer to Zalli.

“If you have it in you, why not? I’m okay with you roughing me up.”

“Ew! No flirting in front of me, please!”

Tepi poked Zalli’s back from behind her when she spoke. The young woman turned her head over her shoulder to throw an apologetic frown at the fairy. Then she asked Yoltzin a different question.

“Why do you want the kyanite gemstone? What can you possibly do with it?”

“That is what he has been after?”

Tepi replied first to Zalli before Yoltzin could say anything. Zalli glanced at Tepi and pursed her lips. When she looked at Yoltzin, she clenched her jaw and asked her question to the fae again.

“Is that not true?”

He turned to lie on his back. He placed his interlaced fingers across his stomach and released a sigh of boredom. Yoltzin took his time to respond.

“Yes, it’s the kyanite I want.”

“Why do you want the Kyanite?”

Zalli asked a second time. Yoltzin still did not answer her question, but he gave a knowing look to Tepi. The young woman caught on to the glare. Zalli turned her body to the fairy while Yoltzin closed his eyes to signal the end of his participation. She asked Tepi her next question.

“Do you know why he would want the kyanite?”

Zalli stood to her full height and crossed her arms. Tepi pressed her hand against her cheek and looked down. When she brought her gaze back to Zalli, she nodded her head only a couple of times. Zalli brought her palm to face the ceiling and rested her elbow of the same arm against her other hand.

She waved it side to side as she asked, “Well?”

Tepi hugged herself. She rolled back her hunched shoulders and took a step forward to reply to her friend.

“I am not allowed to tell you why, but—,” Tepi looked down at Yoltzin. Her eyes wavered, but she brought her gaze back to Zalli. “Considering the situation and our friendship, I will say it.”

“... Okay.”

Though Zalli paused from hesitance, she made her eyes soft and pressed her lips together as she waited with patience. Tepi took a deep inhale with her nose, and spat out her knowledge.

“Well, each gemstone has its own properties—your race has already figured out that much.”

“Uh-huh.”

Zalli nodded her head in encouragement. She thought back to what she knew about the gemstone herself. Anytime someone would visit the small shrine in the showroom, there were always reports of their energies feeling refreshed and rejuvenated afterwards. People in the town knew the crystal helped anyone meditate and clear their minds.

Tepi gnawed on her lip, but continued on.

“But some properties of gemstones are kept as a secret. Some things humans are not allowed to know. Especially when it comes to the magical abilities of a crystal.”

“Magical abilities?”

Zalli quirked an eyebrow as she asked her question. From behind her, Yoltzin spoke with abruptness.

“Just spit it out already.”

His eyes remained closed. His body made no imperceptible movements; it was as still as if he was sleeping again.

“You can tell her then, if you’re going to be so impatient about it.”

Tepi scrunched her nose at the fae as she jutted her head around Zalli with an accusatory tone.

“What, tell me what?”

Zalli spoke with urgency as she turned back to Yoltzin and gave him her attention. He replied to her with a waving gesture of his hand moving in random arches.

“Kyanite can also develop metaphysical abilities. Something grand like psychic powers or as simple as your intuition.”

Yoltzin lifted himself into a raised position with both of his elbows carrying his weight. Zalli used her free hand to point at the man. She took a step forward as she gave him her accusation.

“You want the kyanite to enhance your dream powers!”

“No, I told you already, that is not my actual power.” Yoltzin surged upward to go into a sitting position, but stopped himself. He placed his palm up to the top of his imprisonment with a pout. “Can you please rearrange this format? Being forced to stay in one position for a long duration of time is barbaric.”

Zalli exhaled a quick breath through her nose. She rolled her eyes, then flicked her hand to make her force field taller, but with a narrow base. The walls near the fae propelled his shoulders up and scrunched his legs in. With a swift change, he could sit in a comfortable position without letting the walls knock him around further.

Yoltzin quirked an eyebrow at the young woman. He planted his feet and rested his forearms on his knees. When he spoke to Zalli, he pushed his hair back and reclined against the side of Zalli’s bed.

“I want your town’s precious crystal. Consuming a large piece is easier than constantly searching for small pieces of jewelry.”

“You’ve been eating it?”

Tepi spoke with incredulity in her voice. She stepped around Zalli and brought her head back with a curled lip.

Zalli glanced at the fairy. The hand she had been using to gesture fell limp by her side.

“Is that not normal?”

“No.”

Tepi spoke with a wrinkled nose. Zalli looked at Yoltzin with wide eyes.

“Why are you eating it?”

The fae pressed his lips together as he looked away. Then he brought his eyes back to the two women in front of him. He protested with a need to justify his motives.

“So it stays in my system longer.”

Yoltzin said it as if the answer was obvious. Tepi shook her head. She responded to him with a small grimace.

“You are so weird.”

“Ah, weird or not. That means we cannot keep him here. It will only leave him closer to the kyanite.”

Zalli sat on the nearby nightstand as she gave her declaration. The small lamp on the compact dresser wiggled from the action.

Tepi placed a hand on her hip. She took a few steps away with her palm underneath her jaw. She wriggled her lips, then gave Zalli a proposition.

“What if we imprison—” Tepi froze and stared at Yoltzin. She grabbed Zalli’s arm, then pulled her into that hallway. They kept the door open, but Tepi continued what she had to stay in a hushed voice. “What if we imprison him somewhere in the nearby forest?”

“We would have to keep constant guard. And we would need help from Ezi and Xilo, too. I don’t think we can ask them to do that.” Zalli shook her head. “Don’t you have your own authorities that could take over?”

She placed her hands on her hips. She waited for Tepi’s reply with an expectant look.

“Ah, not really. It’s a bit of a free for all in conflict management between us and humans.” Tepi clasped her hands in front of her as she thought of something else. “What if we drop him off somewhere far away?”

“Only for him to return at any moment and try again? I don’t think I want to look over my shoulder my whole life.”

The young woman rubbed the back of her neck. She looked to the side and narrowed her eyes. Tepi provided another idea to her.

“Maybe ... maybe we should put him to sleep again. Trap him in his own dreams for eternity.”

Zalli paused. She snapped her focus to Tepi and pressed her lips together. She spoke with a resolve.

“Then we could hide him in the forest. Chain him to a tree and hide him away.”

She looked at Yoltzin while Tepi offered her knowledge to their dilemma. The fae hung his head down between his knees.

“Since he is not an actual dream weaver, that means he got a dreaming potion from someone. We will need to get one of our own.”

Sensing eyes on his body, he flicked his head up to make direct eye contact with Zalli. She twisted her head away and sensed a blush growing on her face.

“Alright, let’s do that.”

Tepi raised her eyebrows at Zalli’s reaction, but said nothing about it.

“I will talk to the girls about it. Once we figure out where to start, we will come back and move from there.” Tepi flashed in front of Zalli and transformed into a small green orb. “Are you going to be alright here with him?”

Her glowing form bounced around as she hovered before Zalli’s face.

“Yes.” Zalli flicked her gaze back to Yoltzin, but she only saw a blur of his form before she returned it back to the fairy. “Are you going to be okay leaving like this?”

“Oh yeah, it’s becoming the evening, so I will probably be mistaken as a firefly.” She circled around Zalli, then hovered in front of her again with a realization. “Wow, I can’t believe only some hours have passed. When I arrived to visit you, it was noontime. Anyway, I will try to check in on you tomorrow. Be careful.”

“Yeah, you too.”

Zalli waved goodbye to her friend. Tepi zoomed away to find a cracked window to sneak through, leaving behind the young woman with the fae.

She brought her free arm to match its counterpart on her hip and dropped her head back with a silent groan. Zalli forced a quick breath out through her mouth and entered her room.

Yoltzin spoke to her first. He remained in a similar sitting position Zalli left him in, but one knee was resting on the ground this time.

“Do you need to imprison me? What harm am I actually going to cause? I can even promise to leave town if you just let me free.”

Zalli narrowed her eyes.

“You don’t seem like the type to just suddenly give up. And considering your lack of respect for boundaries, I don’t think it would be wise to grant you freedom. Who knows what else you have done to others?”

Yoltzin tilted his head. He raised his eyebrows with an expectant look.

“That’s one way to say you don’t trust me. Then, I’ll find a way to convince you to hand the kyanite over to me.”

“Those who seek power are the ones we should make sure are never entrusted with it. I will never give you the gemstone.”

The fae tilted his head in the opposite direction. He gave Zalli a devious smile and spoke with mirth.

“We will see about that.”

Zalli bit her lip with a stern expression. Then she left her room at an urgent pace and searched for an open space of wall far away from Yoltzin. The woman leaned her head on her overlapped hands she placed on the wall. She sighed with a soft resolve and whispered to herself with closed eyes.

“This might just be a long weekend.”

To be continued ...

Zalli opened her eyes to discover Yoltzin’s face directly in front of her sight. He had his forehead touching hers and his hands cupping her jaw.

“Santa mia!”

The up close perspective caused the young woman to shriek and push the already falling man away. Her shove was hard enough to make her lose her own balance. Zalli fell off the stool she sat on, but someone from behind caught her and pushed her back into her seat. To Yoltzin’s luck, no one was behind him to catch his fall, so he collapsed to the floor.

When Zalli turned her head around, she saw it was Tepi behind her, who was no longer in a green glow. She spoke first to the fairy.

“Hey. So, where are we?”

Tepi dropped her hands away from Zalli’s shoulders. She looked around with a frown.

“Yes, where are we?” Her response left Zalli disorientated. The fairy continued speaking after she took a gander around the room they were all in. “It looks like a kitchen. A fancy one at that.”

Zalli swiveled on her seat to observe her surroundings.

Colors accented the muted white walls to make the room seem less clinical. Dark purple and bright pink appeared in the backsplash design above the counters and in the wall paintings. The cookware hanging above the island held different shades of dark gray.

As she stood up, a scraping sound of a nearby tea cup emitted from her fingers bumping into the porcelain. Zalli stared at it with a quizzical expression before she walked over to the crumpled Yoltzin.

She grabbed his wrist and placed another force field around his sleeping form.

“Let’s get out of here, Tepi.”

Zalli held determination in her voice as she spoke. Tepi nodded her head with a grim expression.

The group moved into the living room, with Zalli dragging the fae behind them. Tepi jogged ahead to search for a mirror they could use; she moved around to different entryways.

The young woman observed how the dark purple she noticed in the kitchen was more prominent within the room. The furniture held the dark shade while the walls were painted with a dark gray.

In her survey, Zalli lost sight of the fairy. She released a sigh then called out to her friend with a realization.

“Tepi! I can just create a mirror for us.”

“I found one! It’s right here, in the hallway!”

Tepi hollered to Zalli at the same time. The fairy stuck her head out with her hand holding onto the edge of the opening. She waved a hand to Zalli with a rapid beckoning gesture, then disappeared behind the wall.

Zalli shrugged a shoulder, then moved towards the opening. She had to move around a couch to arrive at Tepi’s destination. The maneuver accidentally bumped Yoltzin into the edge of the couch’s backrest. With the walls of the force field, the slight bump caused his body to deflect away from the impact. His figure only moved with a small bounce.

Zalli took notice of the accident, but only gave a placid frown. As she reached the opening, Yoltzin groaned from behind her. She froze with wide eyes.

The young woman turned to look behind her to investigate if the fae was waking up. The seconds that passed by were perceived as minutes to her. Yet, no other movement came from the man.

“Zalli, hurry!” Even though she was going to move again, Tepi’s voice helped to spur her advancement. With a new sense of urgency, Zalli picked up her pace and hauled the man. Once she was within the dark entryway, she peeked around to scan for the fairy. “Over here!”

Zalli detected Tepi’s voice from behind. She made a pivot in that direction and tugged Yoltzin with a whipping motion until she was next to the fairy. It was awkward considering she kept knocking into the walls from the clunkiness of her energy walls.

The young woman grabbed her friend’s hand once again, and together they moved through the tall mirror. Even though they did not have to crouch their heads down, Zalli struggled a bit as she entered from steering Yoltzin to follow behind them.

A cold blanket surrounded the group. The bright light from before flashed once more, and alongside each other, they left the first level of Zalli’s dream.

. . •⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅ . .

When Zalli opened her eyes, she found herself in a compromising position. She lay on her bed with her hands tied together by a metal wire; they rested on her lap. Yoltzin initially hovered above her, with his forehead resting against hers. Although, once they returned to their physical bodies, he remained unconscious and fell on top of her.

His weight dropping on her forced Zalli to grunt from the impact. At an awkward angle, his face rested on hers. She turned her head away, which caused his nose to fall into the crook of her neck. Yoltzin inhaled with a deep breath, as if he was aware of Zalli’s presence.

“Ugh, get off!”

She exclaimed to him with a rough push. He fell down to the floor once again. The young woman sat up at an abrupt pace. She tried to pull her hands apart with formidable effort.

As she clenched her core from the strain, she noted she was creating a small gap in her attempts. But she also felt the wires cutting into her skin, which caused some pain. Zalli grunted in defeat. When she debated if she should risk the bodily harm for her escape, she heard a groan come from next to her.

Zalli turned her head and noticed Tepi was lying by her side. The fairy, in her human-sized form, sat up as well. She rubbed her face in an attempt to get herself to wake up.

“Hey, Tepi,” Zalli said in a soft voice.

“Hey.”

The young woman adjusted her body to face the fairy. She brought her hands up and displayed her restraint.

“Do you think you can help me get this off?”

Tepi turned her head to stare at the wire with a groggy gaze. She scrutinized the metal before she gave her response.

“Oh, yeah. It looks like it’s copper.”

The fairy changed herself to a kneeling position on both knees. She inched closer to Zalli. Tepi grabbed a forearm and brought the wire close to her face to see where the end could be.

After she moved her head about, she finally found it. Tepi had to use her fingers first to grab the end. It proved to be difficult since it seemed to be secured within the grooves of the wound wire.

Zalli sat with patience and hoped the fairy could get a good grasp of the restraint. If Tepi could not undo the wire, then Zalli would have no choice but to fight against the compact strength the wire gave from being wrapped around itself.

When Tepi created a small lip from her fingers clenching around the end, Zalli looked behind her shoulder and investigated Yoltzin’s condition. She had almost forgotten about his presence.

Considering how he was still unconscious—to her mild surprise—she focused on creating another energy barrier around him. She felt a mellow heat grow within her body. In that same moment, Tepi got a good grab of the wire end and made the first pull around her wrists.

Zalli completed her task before Tepi did, so the young woman sat in an uneasy silence. It was a struggle for Tepi, since Yoltzin had wrapped the wire around Zalli’s wrists several times. On top of that, it was not always easy for the fairy to unravel the restraint in a smooth manner; sometimes the metal would bend at an odd angle from the direction it was being pulled from.

Having immense strength was not something fairies were known for.

With a triumphant grin, Tepi finally managed to free her friend, even if it took some time. Zalli rubbed her wrists where the skin became raw and indented from the wires. The depression had a red hue, and it gnarled up the lifted skin.

The young woman brought her legs to hang on the edge of her bed with a swing. She faced away from Tepi as she asked her a question.

“Why do you think he is still knocked out? You don’t think it is possible that ...”

Tepi completed the thought that Zalli did not want to say out loud.

“That he is still in your subconscious? I really hope not.”

The fairy pushed herself off the bed and walked around it. She placed herself to stand across from Zalli with the sleeping fae between them.

“What can we do?”

Zalli inquired to Tepi without taking her eyes off of the fae.

“Hmm. Maybe we need something more imitate than just physical contact to pull him out.”

“Something more intimate? Like, what?”

The young woman snapped her eyes to the fairy with scrunched eyebrows. She noticed her friend stood with her hands on her hips. She bore a serious look, and her voice held no hint of mirth.

Not that Zalli figured Tepi was making a joke right now. She had only hoped she was—considering it seemed like she was insinuating something Zalli did not want to do. And even though she had yet to say it out loud, she made a muted wish Tepi would not, which left them in a tense silence.

Zalli glanced at the mirror resting on her dresser in front of her bed. A flash of her shadow self appeared behind her body before it disappeared. She turned around to check if anything was actually there, but discovered nothing. When she looked in the mirror again, she saw nothing there as well.

Then, a whisper of a thought appeared in her mind.

You need to kiss him. Kiss him awake.

It was a thought that sounded like Zalli’s voice, but she recognized it as something that came not from her own consciousness. She looked at the mirror, and did not see red eyes looking back at her. Yet, she knew it was the owner of those eyes that had spoken just now.

Hesitance was in her voice as she proposed the thought to Tepi.

“Do you think ... do you think a kiss would wake him up?”

The fairy tilted her head and placed her finger on her bottom lip in contemplation.

“A kiss? That could work ... some spells require that.”

“Ah ... But isn’t that an invasion of privacy?”

Zalli jumped to her feet and walked away. She found herself at her dresser, staring at her reflection. She searched for a different solution with a hard gaze.

Tepi called out to her from her spot.

“Zalli. The man invaded your mind and took over your dreams. I think we are beyond that.”

The young woman dropped her head low. She sighed a long breath. Then she flipped herself around and leaned against the furniture with her hands gripping the edge.

“Ugh ... okay, fine.” She pushed herself forward and stood in front of Yoltzin’s feet. She crossed her arms and jutted her hip out to one side. “What are we going to do when he wakes up—if he wakes up?”

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t just leave him imprisoned in my house. And it’s not like we can take him to the authorities. No police wants to deal with the supernatural, crime dealing or not.”

Tepi placed herself next to Zalli and crossed her own arms.

“That can be the next step to figure out next? Let’s just get him out of your head so he’s not in there learning things.”

Zalli rubbed the back of her neck and turned her head away from the fae with her eyes closed. Once she pushed air out through her nose with a hard flex of her stomach, she walked to the fae’s side. The young woman knelt down on both of her knees. She brought her palms up and rested them on her energy barrier.

With firm concentration, she enlarged the barrier to include her own body. When she found herself inside, she scooted in close to Yoltzin. Then, she placed her hand underneath Yoltzin’s head and lifted it up to wedge her lap underneath. She used her other hand to lift his shoulders, making the adjustment easier.

Zalli allowed the fae to rest on her lap. She kept the hand she used to lift his head in the same position while the other rested by her side; it carried a restless energy, not really wanting to stay still, but also unsure how to be placed. Zalli closed her eyes and inhaled through her nose with a powerful pull.

After her quick exhale, she opened her eyes. She lifted Yoltzin’s head up and brought her own head down. Doubt creeped into Zalli’s mind as their lips barely met in the middle—only a millimeter gap between them. She flicked her eyes to analyze his calm expression before she brought it back down to his lips.

Then she moved in without further thought and pressed her lips against his with a gentle touch. She kept her eyes open to be cautious; she wanted to make sure she could move away the moment he regained his consciousness.

As some time passed, Zalli thought to pull back. She blinked her eyes at a rapid pace and made to remove her head, but then she had to halt all movements. Yoltzin’s lips molded against hers, while hers remained stone still.

He pulled at her lips with a soft tug; her heart seemed to pull down like a yo-yo. Zalli flicked her eyes to his and brought her eyebrows down when she saw his eyes were still closed. Since his body seemed to move on its own, the young woman decided it was time to end the kiss, even if it meant he would not wake up.

The moment Zalli removed her lips, Yoltzin snapped his eyes opens and reached his hand forward to grasp Zalli’s neck. He wrapped his fingers around her nape and squeezed. It was tight enough to cause Zalli to feel discomfort, but it wasn’t enough to make her lose her breath.

He steeled a harsh gaze as he tried to make sense of the situation. Zalli noticed Tepi call for her but only looked at Yoltzin with bright, unflinching eyes—their lips remained in front of each other. With each heavy breath they took, an accidental collision of their flesh would occur; neither knew who was actually at fault.

When the fae finally realized who he held within his hand, his eyes softened and his grip became loose around Zalli’s neck. The young woman took no risk of losing the small gap of opportunity given to her for an escape. She smacked Yoltzin hard on his nose and pushed him off of her lap.

“What the hell!”

Yoltzin yelped as he covered his face. The man rolled over to lie on his side as he experienced a tingling heat form across his nose. Zalli crawled backwards with her knees facing up; she pushed herself away from him and removed herself from her force field.

Tepi ran to her side and helped Zalli to stand up. The fairy held Zalli’s hand while her other arm went around her back and hugged her shoulder. They stood side by side as they observed the man before them turn back to face them, still covering his nose with one hand.

He tried to sit up, but because of Zalli’s force field, he could not actually sit, and bumped his head on his way up.

“Mother–.”

With a harsh whisper of his curse, he fell back onto one elbow. The hand that had been covering his nose was now soothing the pain that radiated from his crown.

Yoltzin remained in his laying position as he glanced at the duo that were gawking at him. He said nothing at first. Instead, he took to observing his surroundings as he became more alert.

Once he finished placing the puzzle pieces together, he dropped his arm down to place weight on that elbow, just like its counterpart. Yoltzin crossed his ankles and turned his head to regard Zalli with an intense stare. When he spoke, his tone held a sense of friendliness that countered the stern expression he had on his face.

“I guess you actually won, huh, little thorn?”

Zalli squinted her eyes at the fae. She brought a nostril up, as if she was going to growl. By contrast, she flipped her face away from Yoltzin to settle her nerves.

Just as she was about to take a calming breath, Zalli heard a muffled knock come from her front door. The young woman anticipated the barking she became conditioned to hear, but she only heard silence in consequence.

She looked at Tepi with raised eyebrows. No longer concerned about the fae, she spoke with a deep voice.

“I will ... find out who that is. Keep an eye on him for now.”

Tepi widened her eyes. She lifted her eyebrows and pressed her lips together into a frown.

“Is that thing going to keep him inside?”

Tepi pointed her finger in Yoltzin’s direction. At that moment, he pressed his palm against the barrier’s ceiling and pushed upward with a firm motion. He tensed his muscles of his exposed arm enough that some of his veins became more visible. When he dropped his arm from exhaustion, he looked at Tepi with a blatant look.

“Yes, I think you will be alright.”

Zalli responded to Tepi, even if it was Yoltzin who answered first. She placed her hand on her friend’s shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze. Then she turned to leave her bedroom and headed to her front door.

She walked down her hallway. Zalli gave a quick glance to her living room, but then kept her stare straight ahead. Everything about the place she was in felt uncanny. She knew it was what she called home, yet an unsettling energy was in the pit of her stomach as she traversed her way through.

Zalli heard her doorbell ring and more knocking as she reached the door leading to her enclosed vestibule. She frowned at the obvious impatience the unknown person held.

She grabbed the handle of the door, but then paused. Zalli looked to the right and saw an array of shoes piled next to each other. She grabbed a random pair. The young woman felt poignant not to enter the other room with bare feet.

More knocking and ringing occurred. Zalli rolled her eyes. After settling her feet, she took her time walking through the vestibule to her front door.

Standing in front of the wooden entrance, she grabbed the handle and pulled it open. On the other side, with his hand raised for another knock, was Necalli. He carried a pinched expression, but then transformed it into a charming smile when he noticed Zalli had opened the door. He spoke with an artificial sweetness in his voice.

“Council member Tlahuizcal. Busy?”

Chapter 25 - End of Book 1

Previous Episode: The group made it back to the real world, but Zalli is left to deal with the problem that is Yoltzin. Now: Zalli needs to get rid of the prying Necalli, and determine the best course of action to take.

Ren RogueRen Rogue

Zalli’s shadow self widened its eyes to large saucers. Its red orbs then rolled to the side. The thing walked in the same direction as where it looked. It held its hands behind its back as if in deep thought, and it circled around the small coffee table with a small hop in its step before it spoke with a tone of mocking ardor.

“A once prominent cultural heritage that brought a town together two centuries ago no longer has any value within this time. They only want to focus on the new and evolving technology.” Its hands came up wide in a taunting gesture. “No one wants to honor their history anymore. They all look to the future, not a boring rock.”

“Just because others stop appreciating it, that does not mean I should, too. I agree that the townspeople have turned their eyes away from the kyanite stone to other things, but that is out of my control,” Zalli said. She brought a hand up and placed her palm on her chest. “I can only continue to protect it myself. Because I want to.”

She fixated her gaze on her doppelgänger. In her fervor, she brought her body forward, which caused her to notice her arms did not get pulled back to the couch. Zalli looked at one arm and noticed how the bind looked transparent.

It still held her down, but it also gave her some room to move. The discovery brought her to a realization. Any disagreement must lead to being confined. So, when she agrees, she receives her freedom. As the thing said, she must truly accept the words that it says.

The shadow self spoke again. It was still walking in circles, but now it was looking down.

“You should give up on everything in your life. Fuck the man senseless, let him use you for his desire, and give him the kyanite. Then you can let go of all the standards you hold for yourself.” Its hands returned to clasping its fingers behind its back. Every so often, it would lock one of its knees, as if it were kicking a nonexistent rock. “Isn’t it so tiring, trying to be perfect all the time? You try to do everything right—help others—and for what? What do you get in return?”

Zalli sighed and fell back onto the cushion behind her. She accepted she had to agree to the shadow before her. Yet, it was difficult for her to do it with a wholehearted intention. There must be something else she needed to do.

The warm feeling in her gut seemed to say she had to not only acknowledge the thoughts as a part of her, but she also needed to decide how to go about her feelings and judgements within these situations. That the reason they existed was to help her process her emotions, her fears, and her weaknesses.

It is what will lead her to her liberation from the confinement only she placed herself in; from what she created with her own denial and suppression of these things.

Zalli bit the side of her lip as she took a steeling breath. With soft eyes resting on her copy, she spoke.

“I am trying my best and that is the all that I can do as an individual person. I cannot control others, nor do I want to. Even though giving up is easy, and maybe acceptable in certain situations, I will not do that.” The shadow restraints vanished. Zalli could tell once the odd sensation of emptiness the shadows gave disappeared. She stood up and rubbed her wrists to affirm her sense of touch still worked. “Being perfect is tiring. So, maybe I should stop ...”

Zalli’s thought process paused. She waited for the right words to appear, but nothing seemed to pop up to the forefront of her mind. The young woman knew it would come to her—she just needed patience for that moment.

While Zalli was mulling it over, she noticed her shadow self’s calves had become darker in shade; its lower limbs were transforming into its accurate shadow representation.

She then caught her own legs were going through their own transition, replicating her copy’s progress. The difference was that a yellow glow surrounded her limbs. It was a similar pale color that Ezi’s eyes had.

Huh, Zalli’s interjection was more of a curious wonderment than confusion at the change occurring. She raised her eyebrows, then peered into red eyes, finally ready to say the rest of her thought.

“Being able to please everyone is an impossible task. I just—need to do what I can based on my better judgement. If I can support the majority, then I can accept the hatred of the minority. Because—” Zalli paused again as she observed how the transition for both of them continued to grow up to their hips. It spurred her to pursue further in speaking. “I am enough for my community. If I acknowledge all the progress I have achieved so far, that statement holds true.”

As she finished her speech, the warm yellow glow around her body engulfed her entire form, and complete darkness shrouded her shadow self—a true shadow. The only thing that remained the same in its physique was the features that always creeped Zalli out the most; red glowing eyes and a bright smile with pointy teeth reflected to the young woman the thing’s true nature.

The shadow self moved in silence towards Zalli.

“You’ve kept these thoughts inside you for too long. If you don’t talk to me, these things will build up and escape you negatively,” it said with a soft hum. “You will cope with bad habits and allow negative attributions to take over.”

No longer surrounded by a yellow orb, Zalli ran her fingers through her hair. Her blue highlights cascaded down to frame her face. A crack escaped from her voice, laced with concern.

“You said so much to me. I don’t think I can even remember the rest of everything.”

Her copy brought its hands up and pushed Zalli’s hair back. Its fingers combed through with a gentleness that settled at her nape. Before it uttered its sentence, its palms settled on the angle of her jaw.

“That can be dealt with later. Your mind and heart have already taken enough for today.” Palms squished in Zalli’s cheeks and swirled the flesh around, providing the young woman with some discomfort. “If we did any more work, you might just implode from the overload.”

The shadow self’s voice squeaked when it spoke about implosion. Zalli released a dry chuckle. She drew her head away from the shadowed hands and created some distance with a step back.

“So, I can reach out to you whenever? To work out the rest of the stuff?”

Zalli drawled her words. She glanced away from her doppelgänger, but returned her eyes to it when it responded.

“I will always be with you. I will always be what you say you are and what you decide to hide—what you are not ready to accept in order to process and grow.” It closed the distance between the two by latching onto Zalli’s hand at a sudden pace. “A shadow only exists because there is light. Do not allow your light to disappear, Zalli, because without it, you will be truly lost.”

Slightly cryptic, but not all of it is confusing.

Zalli considered her reasoning with a frown.

The shadow self pulled the young woman to the other side of the living room, where a giant mirror had emerged. Once the pair arrived in front of the ornate glass framed with golden leaves, Zalli resolved with a new aspiration for herself.

In the past, she did a lot to ignore almost everything that made her feel strong emotions; she would focus more on work or on others. Now, Zalli committed to confronting her feelings, even if it meant risking vulnerability.

“It’s time for you to go back.”

Her shadow self declared with an assured regard. It snatched Zalli’s shoulders and rotated the woman to stand directly between it and the mirror.

She turned her head to glimpse at her reflection over her shoulder, only to see two figures within a room. Green Tepi was pacing around while Yoltzin still lay unconscious, with his hands bound to the ring above. His head hung to the side at an awkward angle.

Zalli whipped her head back to face the shadow as her final thought appeared like a flash from a firework.

“Wait! Would you know what my third power is?”

She blurted out her question in a panic. Yet, with a calm expression, the copy only smiled.

“Don’t get lost.”

Shadowed hands pushed Zalli through the mirror. With an exclaimed oh shit, she experienced a coolness surround her form again. With quick thinking, the young woman imagined Tepi’s bedroom with her eyes closed. She observed in her mind Green Tepi biting the nail of her thumb and a sleeping bound man. It was an exact copy of the picture she saw in the mirror's reflection.

Zalli did not stop walking backwards until the cold that pricked her skin disappeared. Before she could properly open her eyes, a hug surrounded her shoulders in a tight embrace.

“Zalli! You’re back!”

Tepi pulled back to grab Zalli by the shoulders. The green fairy still carried tension on her forehead, but her shoulders were relaxed.

“How long have I been gone for?”

Zalli clutched onto Tepi’s hands when she asked her question. She wrinkled her brow and flitted her eyes between her friend and the still masculine form on the floor.

“Quite a while, I would say, for about thirty minutes.”

“Seriously? It seemed way faster when ...” Zalli trailed off in her thought. Since she wanted to stay on task, she shook her head with a meticulous impulse. “And he is still knocked out?”

She jutted her chin toward Yoltzin.

“Yeah. He would move every so often and mumble something under his breath, but he hasn’t woken up. Honestly, he creeped me out for a bit.” The fairy shuddered as she sensed a tingling sensation run down her spine. “How did it go? Were you able to get your power back?”

“It was such a headache, but I did it.”

Zalli moved away from her friend. She crouched with her heels touching the floor and her forearms resting on her knees as she observed Yoltzin. His chest expanded with each soft breath he took. There was an obvious strain within his shoulders, yet his face was not even scrunched up in pain. The young woman detected a need to grab a stick and poke the fae in his side.

“We better get moving, before he wakes up.”

Green Tepi spoke while she crouched next to Zalli and used her elbow to bump into the human with a gentle shove. She wanted to grab Zalli’s attention and make sure it was focused on important matters.

“Yes, we need to go.” Zalli stood up by pressing her hands on her knees for support. “So, we can use the mirror to return to the first level. But—we all need to do it, right?”

“Right. I don’t think you want to risk leaving him in your subconscious.”

The young woman frowned. She placed her concentration on trying to figure out how to bring Yoltzin along. The obvious choice was to work together in carrying him, but that sounded like a lot of work.

“Hey, I think I know what my third power is. Can you let me know if I’m correct or not?”

Zalli spoke with her hands on her hips.

“Yeah, I can try. More of my memory had been seeping in while you were gone.”

Zalli closed her eyes and took in a long breath. She wanted to make sure she was listening to her intuition with precise awareness based on her own memories she had gathered.

“I can create energy force fields. And from what I could tell, the walls were pretty unbreakable.”

Green Tepi said nothing as she placed her index finger and thumb over her mouth in thought. Then, her face lit up with wide eyes and a soft smile.

“Yes! That’s the power Ezi gave you!”

She jumped once in glee, then turned to face Zalli to see what her thought process was brewing.

“Do you know if I could move it around—with like items in it?”

The green fairy’s open mouth from smiling closed shut like a lid of a wooden container. She brought her hand back to her chin, this time to rub it.

“I am ... not too sure. I don’t think I’ve seen you do it before.”

Zalli rubbed the back of her neck. With a solidifying breath, she dropped her arm and closed both hands into fists. She nodded her head and said nothing more to the fairy.

She drew her brows in to each other and imagined a transparent wall that shimmered when one brought their eyes close to its form. The image flashed in and out of her mind’s sight. Zalli forced a breath out and grunted.

Since nothing appeared around Yoltzin, she tried again; this time she closed her eyes to bring out a vivid image within her concentration. With some seconds passing by, she opened her eyes and gave a victorious smile.

Yoltzin and his shackles were surrounded by an energy wall. Zalli could sense the subtle vibrations it would emit.

She then looked at the chain ring holding her prisoner up. An unsettling feeling appeared within her stomach—there was a chance Yoltzin could be faking his unconscious state and then make an attempt to flee once she took the ring away. Considering how she was still unsure about the power level her barricade had, images of another fight happenning flew across her mind.

Yet, Zalli had to take a risk. So, she imagined the ring gone. In an instant, Yoltzin’s arms dropped with a hefty plop. He was still slumped in his sitting position, but he made no other movement.

Zalli quirked her head as she brought her arms out in front of her with her hands splayed upwards. Her form was awkward since it looked like she had her arms open to receive a hug.

A dry cough came from her friend as they waited for something to happen. Zalli shifted her weight on her feet from side to side when nothing did.

She stretched her arms out further; an act of desperation from not seeing a change in results. Before she knew it, Yoltzin’s body drew forward at a slow pace. Zalli felt her heartbeat move faster in her chest. Once the fae was between herself and Green Tepi, she turned to her friend, and asked her a question.

“Help me bring the mirror down? I think it would be easier for us to walk through that way.”

“Got it.”

They worked together to lift the intricate mirror down. The pair was able to place it in a position where they could rest the upper end against the dresser. The mirror’s height reached up to their chins, so they would have to crouch their head once they were ready to enter.

Green Tepi then spoke with lowered brows.

“Zalli, when we entered into each dream level, there was some form of physical contact made. From what I saw, he always brought his forehead down to yours, but I was able to enter just by touching your arm, after drinking the potion of course.” She stopped talking in hesitation, but then continued with a soothing voice. “We will need to leave at least by holding each other’s hands—just in case.”

“Potion?”

Zalli drew her eyebrows upwards, but Green Tepi dismissed her reaction with her hands waving down in front.

“Yes, I can explain that later. Let’s just go.”

Zalli wavered. Then, with a nod of her head, she grabbed the fairy’s hand and turned to face the sleeping Yoltzin.

She observed the energy field she created, then pushed her fingers through. She held her concentration to only focus on allowing her passage while maintaining the integrity of the wall. In her success, she felt a warm heat surround her arm, like a spring sun was inside her barrier.

As she got a good hold of the bed sheets bounding Yoltzin’s wrists together, the young woman looked up to discover Huizi sat at the door’s entrance. The Xolo thumped its tail on the tile floors in a solemn cadence. She whined and brought its forelegs up in alternating multiple taps.

Zalli sensed her heart clench, but Green Tepi called out to her.

“Zalli, come on! Let’s go.”

The young woman opened her mouth and whispered out to her pet.

“Bye, Huizi.” She turned her head toward where she figured the barn was and whispered her final goodbye. “Goodbye, Churro.”

As she felt her eyes water, Zalli pulled Yoltzin’s arm with an aggressive force. She dragged his form to swivel around and placed his front away from the pair. She then turned away and walked through the mirror with her friend leading the way.

Zalli experienced the cooling sensation again, but this time it felt icier. Rather than the cold prickling her skin, it seemed like microscopic icicles were stabbing though her epidermis multiple times.

The young woman shut her eyes in reaction as a bright light shone around the group. Once Zalli could no longer hear Huizi’s soft thumps, she knew they had left the second level of her dream world.

Chapter 24

Previous Episode: Zalli completed her last trial, and was finally able to leave with Tepi; although, it came at a cost she did not foresee. Now: With an unconscious Yoltzin, the two find themselves in unfamiliar surroundings, with a race against diminishing time.

Ren RogueRen Rogue

Zalli kept her eyes closed as she crawled her way into the icy atmosphere. She kept her mind focused as she concentrated only on meeting her shadow self within the next level of her subconscious.

As the seconds passed, the air changed into an odd sense of warmth—it was no longer cold, but there was no heat either. She stood up and opened her eyes, only to see darkness. Her heart picked up in pace at the unsettling gloom of the unknown surrounding her.

“Hello?”

Zalli spoke. She wanted to fill in the void with her voice while also testing the air to learn if her doppelgänger was present.

“Hello.”

She heard a feminine voice appear next to her. Her stomach compressed into a tight flex. She turned to face the direction she thought the voice came from, but she had no genuine sense of its location.

Zalli bit her lip in concentration. With a deep inhalation to calm her buzzing mind, she chose her first question to tackle the issue at hand.

“Are you, uh, the thing I’m looking for?”

A giggle appeared at what Zalli assumed was the opposite side she was facing. She whipped herself around and waited for a response.

“Depends. What are you looking for?”

“My shadow self.”

The young woman compressed her lips into a thin line. She had the impression that this would not be a compliant and straightforward conversation.

“You want to know if I am the shadow version of you?”

“Yes.”

“Difficult to know. I can’t answer that.”

Zalli crossed her arms and tapped her foot to release some energy. Her repetitive action produced no sound.

“Wh-why not?”

Humming materialized above her head in a short melody. Then its voice spoke.

“You have to decide that. I only exist. Whatever I am is up to you.”

Zalli experienced an ache simmering in her head. She inhaled another deep breath and released a heavy sigh. Even though she meant to calm her nerves, her speech came rushed out. The looming threat of limited time made it difficult to keep a calm mind. In addition, this thing’s unaccommodating nature did not help with her predicament.

“Can you at least show yourself to me?”

Silence. Zalli zipped her eyes around as she waited for some type of response. When none came, she moved forward and turned herself in circles. She thought it was the only thing she could do, since the only thing she could do was control herself.

“I am.”

The young woman cursed under her breath. The thing’s voice appeared by her side again, but this time it sounded like she was within her ear.

“But—I can’t see you.”

“It’s because you don’t want to see me.”

Zalli pressed her teeth together with force.

“I do, I do want to see you.”

The tension in her voice was clear. When the thing responded, it sounded further away this time.

“You haven’t removed the darkness, though? You have all the power here. However, you want to see me is up to you.”

The confusion in its voice was unmistakable to Zalli. The young woman brought her head down in thought.

She wondered if the thing was telling her she had the power to control the actuality of the subspace they were in. Taking a chance, Zalli imagined a spotlight shining on her from above.

Within seconds, the soft light appeared. She could see her hands when she brought them up and the legs she stood on when she looked down. She still wore the pajamas she had on when she left through the portal.

When Zalli looked around herself, she noticed there was still darkness present surrounding the light.

“Nice lamp.”

The thing spoke in a monotone voice. Zalli ignored it and closed her eyes. She imagined in her mind a space that appeared cozy. She wanted a place where she could sit down if needed, but also something that was familiar.

Her living room materialized in her mind. Yet, it was not the same living room she left behind in the farmhouse. Though the aesthetics were similar, the placements of the furniture differed and it appeared smaller in floor space.

There was only one couch, which still faced her television, and there was the coffee table in between the two. A lamp remained on the right side of the TV, but her radio stood on the opposite end. The chair Ezi sat in all the time from her dream world was present as well. It was positioned by the radio, just as before. Even the carpet below her bare feet remained the same; medium brown background with florals designed throughout in dark tones of green and purple.

Zalli opened her eyes and saw her vision come to life. The only thing that was odd was the area surrounding her new space—it remained black in visibility.

“Homey.”

Although the thing’s voice was heard nearby, it was nowhere in sight.

With a soft sigh, the young woman pictured a person with her broad, slender figure. It had her long, blonde hair with blue highlights and her angular face.

Zalli wondered if she should have made the highlights pink like when she first analyzed her reflection only hours ago, but she settled on the blue for now.

She made sure to not understand what she was imagining was not her inherently; it was its own thing that was only a part of her.

She peeked one eye open to find no one in front of her. She only heard a heavy sigh nearby. Zalli closed her eyes again with the same person in mind. With her vivid memory, she added the piercing red eyes and wide smile the thing liked to carry. Its sharp teeth always seemed long and slender to her.

When Zalli peeked her eye open again, there stood what she assumed to be her shadow self. It was walking around the room without a care, wearing the outfit she had imagined on it; a blue flannel shirt hung on its shoulders as it framed the black tank top on its torso. Basic jeans and botas de vaquero completed the outfit.

Despite occasionally turning toward Zalli, it remained focused on the little trinkets it discovered on nearby living room shelves. It would crouch, pick up an item to turn it around for a critical analysis, then place it back down in a different spot.

Zalli said nothing, quizzical at the behavior of the thing before her. Although, with each item not returned to its original position, she could feel tension building in her neck and shoulders.

At the end of her patience, Zalli finally spoke to the thing meant to be the physical representation of her deep, subconscious thoughts.

“So, you are my shadow self, that is what I say you are.”

“Mhmm.”

“How do I accept you?”

“Ah, finally. This is what I am more interested in.” Her almost carbon copy stood up from its crouched position as it spoke. It turned to face Zalli completely, one hand placed on the hip it had shifted its weight onto. It brought the other hand up to inspect for any imperfections on its nails. “So you are done pushing me away and are ready to listen to what I have to say about you?”

“Uh, that’s it? I only need to agree with your thoughts and opinions about me?”

Zalli settled one hand to wrap around her other in front of her body. Her outer fingers tapped in succession in each other like waves on a lake shoreline.

“They are NOT thoughts and opinions. They are what I know. Do not think you can just lazily agree and be on your way. I will know whether your acceptance is genuine or not.”

Taken aback by the firm voice her shadow self had, Zalli turned away with a sharp turn to face the couch that was next to her.

“Oh ... okay. I, uh. I am ready to listen.”

She moved to sit down on the cushioned seat.

“You don’t do enough for your community.” The young woman halted with an abrupt collapse in her gut. She unknowingly held her breath. “Your fellow council member, Necalli, has more policies passed than you, so he must be more efficient at his job. He is more charming, more persuasive, and his rhetoric is incomparable.”

Zalli sat down. She said nothing to her copy; she did not even make direct eye contact with it. Her hands appeared relaxed on her lap, but the tension she held in her shoulders said otherwise. She took a moment to process the thing’s opening statement, but just as she finished repeating the words back in her mind, it began speaking again.

“Did you really think you could go up against an experienced politician like that? You must have thought your mamá’s reputation was enough to get you by. Just because nepotism was enough to get your foot in the door, that does not mean it will continue to allow you to float by, especially with your mamita gone.”

Zalli flinched. She threw a quick side-eye in its direction. She felt the need to retaliate with quick-witted words and unabashed confidence of her defense, but nothing appeared in her mind. Her voice was silent.

It was not like the thing was wrong. These were valid thoughts she had in the past. She had thought of them, but then pushed them away from her mind in what she considered as a deletion. Instead, her mind had stored them in a hidden archive that only her shadow self had access to.

It dissipated and appeared directly in front of Zalli. Using her peripherals, Zalli saw how it placed both its hands on its hips. It spoke with acid laced with its inflection.

“Each policy you make is a waste of time and they do not even benefit all the townspeople. There is always someone who is upset at the effects. You need to try harder to make everyone happy. It was something your mamá could do, effortlessly.” A rising heat grew in her face. The young woman squinted her eyes and felt her breath pick up in pace. “Too bad she died before she could pass any knowledge to you. Then, I bet, being on the council would be much easier. But, no. She left you alone to fend for yourself.”

Zalli’s eyes held a fierce glare as she fired it at her shadow self. At last, she spoke, but it was with the fire of her heart.

“Everything you just said is wrong. You are only repeating useless thoughts I have had before in the past. Every thought a person has had does not mean they are the concrete facts about themselves.”

Her red-eyed copy smiled. The corners of its mouth looked like they were curling in on themselves. Its eyes scrunched so much, Zalli swore she could only see its eyelashes, but the gleam of its eyes still peeked through.

It gave no response to what Zalli said; all it did was snap its fingers, which caused shadowed restraints to cover Zalli’s wrists and ankles. The restraints held her legs against the sofa seat and pulled her arms away from her body. They trapped her to the cushion of the backrest. Despite Zalli’s relentless efforts to pull free, she remained completely trapped.

When she turned to look at her shadow self, it continued on with its brutal speech.

“All she taught you was how to protect the kyanite stone. Which, I guess, you’re alright at.” With a sudden movement, the thing brought its face to tower directly over Zalli’s, forcing her to look up. Their foreheads were micrometers away from touching. “Why did she have to leave you alone, anyway? One minute she was there in your life, then suddenly her sickness took her away from you. She abandoned you.”

Zalli closed her eyes. Her heart tightened. She bit her lip as she detected water build up in her eyes. What she opened them again, she saw her shadow self had taken a step away from her.

No longer did it look identical in her appearance. Instead, its facial features appeared softer in flesh. Its jawline was more rounded and its cheeks had a plumpness to them. It was like it looked like what Zalli did when she was a teenager. When it spoke, its voice was higher in pitch by a slight difference.

“She left you alone in this cruel world, where favoritism is the master. You do not even talk about her so much. You must not have loved her a lot, either.” As it kept talking, Zalli saw how it shrunk in size until it reached the height of a young child. Its voice held more youth, yet the venom behind it never left. “I think the most you have ever said about her was to the handsome fellow, Cal. Your so-called friends do not even know a lot about her. You hide her away from your heart, and for what? Do you think hiding her existence from yourself will make it easier to accept her absence?”

A tear ran down Zalli’s face. She wanted to tell the thing her answer was no. Yet, Zalli knew the moment she did, it would be an absolute lie. She had assumed hiding her mamá’s death would make grieving her easier. After crying for a week after her death, she threw herself into work.

She was only contemplating becoming a council member like her mamá was previously—a job she could easily do with guarding the gemstone. When she thought she had grieved enough, she entered the government world of her town as an intern.

Of course, she still honored her mama’s memory; when it was the anniversary of her death, she would play her mama’s favorite music throughout the day. On Día de los Muertos, she would decorate her grave and leave her favorite foods there. She would even pay her mama weekly visits to her resting site. Zalli did everything that was expected of her to do.

More tears escaped in a slow procession.

While Zalli reminisced about her actions, her shadow self had grown back to its original height. Its identical face, that was expressive as it spoke to Zalli before, became stoic at this turn of the conversation.

“Why are the fairies always hanging around, anyway? Isn’t it so annoying when they come to your house like free loaders, always at unknown times? They have to be taking advantage of your hospitality.” The thing sneered at Zalli. “How pitiful. You are so lonely you let yourself be manipulated into handing over your home to three little fairies and expecting nothing in return.”

The young woman still felt her tears falling, but the heat from earlier returned. She pulled at her restraints again as she retaliated against the accusations.

“They are not free loaders! And why should I expect anything in return? Is companionship not enough? They have their own contributions in my life. They are my friends that offer me support, advice, jokes, and, yes, the occasional headaches. It’s true, sometimes we do not get along. Sometimes I wish to be alone when they barge in at unexpected times. But not all relationships are perfect.” As Zalli spoke, she did not notice the binds around her ankles were slowly disappearing. “And, you know what—yes, they take advantage of me, but I do the same in return. I ask them for favors that require them to use their powers to make my life easier here and there. At the end of the day ... we are there for each other. It’s okay to feel a little lonely, by the way. I am someone who wants to have their friends around.”

Zalli moved her legs around to adjust her position, but the realization of her ankle’s freedom did not reach her. Her shadow self’s next words absorbed her attention.

“So then, what about Cal? You were lonely enough to allow him into your home when you only knew him as a stranger. What kind of justified promiscuous behavior is that?” Zalli turned her head away. She could not hide the blush appearing on her cheeks, but she could at least hide her shameful gaze from the thing. “Even now, your desperation for sex is strong. You still lust after him, even though you know what he is actually after. I am sure he is not even attracted to you at all. He just used you for his pleasure. And now, because of your weak will and lack of self-control, he is going to take the precious kyanite your town values so much.”

“That’s-that’s right. I am still attracted to him. Is it not okay to have this attraction, especially when it seems like it is out of my control?”

Her shadow self said nothing, but it did not continue to speak. It waited for Zalli to arrive at her own conclusion.

Her eyes wandered around as she wondered how she should answer her own question. As she took calming breaths, a decision settled within herself—it was the answer she was searching for that only appeared because she felt it from deep within, and not by forcing it out through logical analysis.

“It is alright,” she said in a steady voice. “My attraction is valid, because in some ways we are compatible. But even with that, I will not hand over the stone.”

The copy looked at her wrists with a brief glance as it saw the restraints around Zalli’s wrists had become transparent. Its expression remained serious, but it spoke in a bored voice.

“I think you should just give it to him. The visits of the townspeople have decreased over the years. You’ve noticed the trend yourself. They have lost their appreciation for it.”

Zalli shook her head in a disagreement. The restraints were returning to its opaque dark shade.

“Yes, I know that.” Zalli’s statement caused the restraints to pause in their transition. “I cannot surrender my duty, though, even as fewer people visit.”

The shadow self looked at Zalli with a knowing gaze. Silence filled the room; no one spoke. The young woman had a soft look in her eyes while she observed her doppelgänger purse its lips.

Zalli figured out her copy would not respond to her words—that it would continue its never-ending rant. So she waited. She waited with calming breaths and hoped that whatever else it had to say would be enough for her to manage.

Chapter 23

Previous Episode: Zalli finally met with the shadow she kept seeing within her mirrors only to feel confusion and frustration from talking with it. Now: She continues the conversation with the intent to free herself from her physical and mental restraints.

Ren RogueRen Rogue

Yoltzin angled his body to lean his shoulder on the door frame. He let one arm hang while placing a hand in his pocket and crossed his legs at the ankles. Both Zalli and Green Tepi took steps away from the man. Side by side, they held each other’s hand to search for support.

Yoltzin tilted his head to Green Tepi and squinted his eyes.

“You were not a factor I considered.”

She raised a hand up and wiggled her fingers at him with a cheeky smile. He twitched one eyebrow up. Then, he pushed himself away from the door frame to comb his hair back. Yoltzin took a step into the room, which caused Zalli to move as well. She placed herself between Green Tepi and Yoltzin, and spoke with a clear voice.

“The ruse is up Dream Weaver. You’re not going to get the answers you want from me. Just give up and leave us alone, or else.”

“Dream Weaver? What the hell is that?”

Zalli brought her head back in confusion before she turned to gape at Green Tepi for guidance. The fairy only brought her hands up and shrugged her shoulders at the young woman. Zalli spoke, returning her gaze back to Yoltzin.

“Well, that’s what you are, right?”

The man turned to the dresser Zalli had been sitting on and grazed his fingertips across the surface of where she had been. He lowered his eyes while he spoke.

“No, I am not a dream—whatever—that is.”

“Then, how do you have dream weaving powers?”

Zalli looked around her space to spot anything she can use as a weapon against her captor. Her eyes bolted from one end of her space to another until she landed on a metal case that contained Tepi’s paints—in an unfortunate spot. They were set on the dresser Yoltzin stood by, only a meter away from his hand. His voice stole her attention back to his person.

“They’re not really my inert powers. I had to study dream manipulation from a book I ... bought from the bookstore.”

She squinted her eyes and turned her head slightly as she judged at what he had just stated.

“What are you then?”

Zalli maneuvered herself to take a step closer to the dresser. She aimed to move herself again when Yoltzin veered his head to stare at the young woman. Her heart plummeted. It remained heavy in her core as his intense stare pinned her in her spot. The blue of his eyes, that typically shone bright with mirth, now appeared like an obscure ocean, murky from the shadows of the room.

“Not human. Your friend over there might figure it out, considering how we are closer in kin.”

He jutted his chin in Green Tepi’s direction. The fairy narrowed her eyes at Yoltzin’s, but said nothing in reply.

She had picked up on Zalli’s plan earlier, but was unsure on how she could assist her friend. It was not like she could grab a weapon of her own; long ago, in her many moments of bored solitude within the room, she had tried to mess around with the items belonging to her doppelgänger, and found it to be futile. Her form was too incorporeal for her to actually grab anything.

Although, when the man spoke of their relation, she came across a revelation which encouraged to take action. She darted to Yoltzin with the discovery and used it as a chance to occlude Zalli’s intended actions from his sight.

“You’re actually a fae, aren’t you? You can’t be a fairy, so you must be from the Fae Folk.”

Green Tepi spoke with her voice raised to a boisterous level and a hand raised to Yoltzin’s eye level. Her hand was curled to point at his face while trying to obscure his vision with zipping movements.

It was a success as the fae masculine became absorbed with the fairy bouncing around. Zalli moved without a second thought and grabbed the metal briefcase.

She brought her hands to the side and aimed to swing at Yoltzin’s head, but he was quick in his reaction with a glint of his focus away from the fairy. The fae dodged the strike and jumped off to the side. It did not help that Zalli tried to maneuver around her friend, worried she would hit her by accident. Even if it was for naught, Green Tepi appreciated the sentiment her friend cared for her. It was only a shame it costed the surprise element to fail.

The fairy hoped to recover the fumble and lunged at Yoltzin. He dodged her attack and pushed her forward, to her great surprise. Green Tepi crashed into the wall behind him and smashed her head, causing her eyesight to lose focus.

With Yoltzin’s back turned, Zalli took advantage of the opportunity her fairy friend gave her. She swung the metal case at Yoltzin again, this time hitting her mark. She was able to strike at his temple since he was turning around to face her at the same time.

The fae masculine stumbled from the attack and brought his hand up to where Zalli could make her blow. When he brought it down, Yoltzin found blood on his fingertips.

He peered at Zalli. The moment their eyes connected, he only smiled at her in jest. In a flash, the blood disappeared. Then, he charged towards her.

Yoltzin grabbed her wrists and squeezed hard enough to force her to let go of the metal container. It fell down to the floor with a loud clunk and a yelp from Zalli. She brought her free hands together and crossed them to make a tight embrace. It took some strain considering how Yoltzin was still holding on to her, but once she could latch on, she pulled back with a step while driving her elbows up to break free.

Now free to move, Zalli darted in to punch him in the face, but he dodged it with ease. He redirected her punch with a block above her elbow. It caused her to turn to the side and lose some of her balance. This gave him a chance to go behind the young woman.

Yoltzin slid his arms between hers to move in front of her shoulders and overlap his hands behind her neck. Yoltzin placed Zalli in a full nelson hold. Her shoulders were trapped and her arms hung high from the restraint.

Green Tepi stood up with a hand to her pounding head and saw Zalli confined by the fae. Now knowing she was tangible enough to attack Yoltzin, she ran forward and used her fists to hit his back.

It wasn’t enough to cause him to flinch.

Yoltzin leaned in to whisper to Zalli as she felt for the position of his hands. He spoke to her in a lowered voice.

“I see you’ve recalled your guarura fighting abilities.”

Zalli paused in her movement as she questioned internally what Yoltzin said she had.

Guarura ... Does he mean I am the official guard of the gemstone he is after?

The fae masculine continued in his dialogue.

“No matter, I can place you under another dream spell for a third time. Something I was trying to avoid since it puts you under strenuous mental conditions—it might break that beautiful and unyielding mind of yours.”

Growing tired of his speech, Zalli jerked her flexed elbows down and threw her head to the side. Her weight dropped with the movement and she could strike Yoltzin with the parietal side of her head. Her hips hit a vulnerable spot in the fae’s gut, as revealed by the sudden gasp he released.

Free from his hold, Zalli turned around to see Yoltzin clutching his temple area. A smile of accomplishment broke on her face.

She turned her head to the side the find Green Tepi had moved back a few paces from the sudden change in positions. The fairy raised an arm to move in for another attack, but Zalli held her hand up to her friend. She shook her head at the fairy and signaled her to step away from the fight with a wave of dismissal from her hand.

Green Tepi held a frown on her face, but nodded her head in acknowledgment. She took some more steps back to provide space for Zalli.

Not wanting to waste any more time, Zalli moved forward with rocket bursting speed and wrapped her hands behind Yoltzin’s neck. She pulled him down to meet her knee with a powerful force. To her misfortune, his body remembered when she had done that similar move only a week ago. Yoltzin brought his arms up in an ‘X’ formation and blocked the kick at the right time.

Both adults took a step away from each other, creating space for both of them to strategize their next move. Yoltzin spoke with a boisterous voice as he brought his hands up under his chin for his fighting stance.

“Give up now, little thorn. I’ve won both rounds previously in putting you to sleep. We both know this will only end similarly.”

Zalli squinted her eyes and felt her chest tighten. His words were almost successful in convincing the young woman she would fail again. Her mind, though, sensed a hole in his logic.

She looked down at her open hands and flipped them into fists. The maiden dropped her weight into a structured squat and she brought her hands up into her own fighting stance; one fist by her chin while the other hung low by her waist. As she spoke, her eyes imprisoned Yoltzin’s gaze. Her voice lilted with an unwavering confidence that reinforced her steeled nerves.

“If you truly won, then we wouldn’t be here, fighting. You would already have the gemstone, Yoltzin. All I see is you have failed twice in acquiring the kyanite. And this will be the third time.”

Yoltzin held a snarl in his face. He burst forward with a punch aimed at Zalli’s head. She had no thought in how to counter his attack—she only moved based on instinct.

She dodged her body to the outside of his arm, then trapped his wrist between her hand and lifted elbow. Circling it down, Zalli held his hand within both of hers, and stepped underneath it with her foot closest to his figure. In quick succession, she prepared herself to place a locking twist on Yoltzin’s shoulder joint.

The last measure she took was pivoting her body to turn herself around. With the momentum, she untwisted her arms to transfer the energy into Yoltzin’s limb.

The forceful armlock brought him down to one knee. Zalli moved in to place pressure above his elbow with her hand. Her intent was to maintain the lock and direct him down to lie flat on his stomach, but the adjustment gave the fae masculine a small window of opportunity.

Yoltzin found he could flex his arm to break free from the lock. Doing so pulled Zalli closer. With his other arm, he wrapped it around her legs and used his shoulders to tackle her figure. The force was significant enough to lock out her knees.

Zalli fell backwards, hard on her ass, and missed hitting her head on the dresser positioned behind her. It was a marginal enough difference that saved her from making an impact with one of the metal knobs that could have left a nasty gash on her scalp.

She did not lose consciousness, as the young maiden kept her chin to her chest. It allowed her to keep her head up, even with the strong tackle. Although, with Yoltzin’s speed, it did not matter if she could stand up just after the fall.

In a blink, he was on top of Zalli, with his knees on either side of her form. His forearm was used to apply pressure across her shoulders, along with his waist sitting on top of her to pin her down.

“Zalli!”

Green Tepi’s ear-piercing voice carried from a distance away, but Zalli did not pay it any mind.

She stared intently into Yoltzin’s eyes. Her brows were furrowed, but his seemed relaxed. In her gaze she felt a fiery heat, but she saw an amused glint within his own. When she brought her forest brown eyes down to his lips, she noticed the corner had quirked up to a negligible degree.

This jerk is having fun.

Her thought ended the 10s standoff between the pair. With an aggravated yell, Zalli used her hand to push Yoltzin’s forearm off of her chest. The force behind his elbow was enough to make it slide off with ease.

His shoulder fell on her in a rough slump, but it wasn’t enough to interrupt Zalli from wrapping her arms around his neck. She grabbed her forearm and squeezed to place him into a choke hold. She hoped she could apply enough pressure to cut his supply of oxygen.

Zalli decided she would need to be over him in order to use gravity as an added force. She dug both heels into the ground. One heel was closer to her body; she placed the other further away to use it as the driving force. Once she solidified her position, she lifted her hip up with a powerful push from the foot that was further away.

The young maiden flipped Yoltzin over with a loud thud. She continued to hold on to him, making sure to not allow any instances of escape.

Yoltzin struggled underneath her. He writhed and jutted about, but within seconds, his movement slowed down. As soon as his body remained still, Zalli released her hold, knowing he would get his air back.

As he gasped for desperate breaths of air, Zalli brought her elbow down, aiming for his temple. After her blow landed, Yoltzin lost consciousness with heavy breaths.

She did not know how much time she had, so she pinned down his shoulders with her hands as a cautionary measure. Then she turned her head to look at Green Tepi behind her and spoke with urgency.

“Can you get me something to tie him up?”

The fairy looked around the room, intending to find an actual rope. Not coming across one, she used her quick thinking and settled on the bed sheet laying on top of her doppelgänger. Green Tepi ripped the covering off and ran to Zalli to hand it to her.

Zalli looked at the linen with doubt, but then figured it was the best thing that could work for now. Before grabbing it, she spoke to her friend.

“Could you hold him down as I tie him?”

“Yes, absolutely.”

Green Tepi spoke with apprehension, but dropped the sheet beside Zalli anyway. She knelt above Yoltzin’s head and replaced Zalli’s hands with her own.

Zalli grabbed the bedsheet and wrapped one end around the fae’s wrist a few times in a tight clench. She allowed some of the end to hang off to use it for the knot. With the other end, she mirrored the same to restrain his other wrist.

The young maiden made sure both of his wrists were next to each other within the entire process. She pulled at the ends to tighten the hold, then looped them around the center from their outer placement.

Once she thought it was secure, Zalli double knotted the restraint with formidable pulls. She looked around to identify if there was something she could tie Yoltzin to.

Green Tepi located the place first and notified Zalli of her discovery.

“Zalli, you could place him over here.”

She pointed to a random metal ring jutting out from the wall behind them.

“Qué demonios. Where did that come from?”

The earth fairy only shrugged her shoulders with her palms facing the ceiling. Zalli pulled her brows down as she tried to figure out where the thing could have appeared from.

She and Green Tepi pulled the fae by his elbows. He was of considerable weight because of his tall form and relaxed muscles, but he was not immovable. As they dragged Yoltzin, Zalli thought with a frown on her face.

In the search for something to secure the fae to, she had imagined a metal ring sticking out of the wall. As soon as she saw it clearly in her mind, that is when her friend could point it out. On top of that, Zalli knew the metal ring had not been there before. She had been within the room enough times to know the item was a recent addition.

There was a possibility that, because Yoltzin lost his consciousness, he probably also lost control of this reality. They were within her mind anyway, she should be able to have all the control of the landscape.

Once she tied the fae masculine to the ring with Green Tepi’s help, Zalli took a step back and observed him. As she pondered on what to do next, she took notice of how the ring was at the perfect height to apply an uncomfortable stretch to his shoulders while he slumped against the wall in a sitting position. His head hung low, but every so often it would move like he was trying to wake up.

Zalli turned to her friend and spoke with urgency. There was not much time left for her to waste.

“Tepi, my shadow self. I think I’ve seen it before in the restroom mirror.”

“What did it look like?”

Green Tepi crossed her arms and shifted her body weight to one side.

“Like me. Sometimes dark—like a shadow. But it had sharp teeth like fangs and red glowing eyes.”

Zalli paced around with a hand rubbing the back of her neck.

“Mirrors are a type of portal. Perhaps within your mind, we can use a mirror at least as a portal to the third level of your subconscious, which is where the shadow self will be, anyway. I think it’s possible you are seeing it. I didn’t know it would look so ominous, though, by the sounds of it.”

“Hmm. Alright, let’s do it.”

Zalli turned to the mirror resting on the dresser by the door. She had not paid it any attention until now.

She walked toward it with trepidation, with Green Tepi trailing behind her. As Zalli stepped in front of it, the fairy turned to look at Yoltzin to make sure he had not regained consciousness yet. When she brought her face back to the mirror, she jumped standing next to Zalli with the startle of what she saw.

In the mirror, Green Tepi saw a reflection of herself in her more accurate fairy form, but she also saw the reflection of Zalli in a shrouded darkness. As described by her friend, there stood a thing looking like Zalli, but with glowing eyes and gleaming teeth.

Green Tepi took hold of Zalli’s arms. She spoke in a soft voice.

“Only you can go in there. To face your shadow self requires no help from anyone. I will stay here to monitor the fae.” Zalli nodded in acknowledgement without looking away. Her friend released her arm and took a step back to give the young maiden space. As Zalli brought one knee up to climb the dresser, Green Tepi said one last thing before Zalli disappeared through the portal. “Make sure to only think about the third level, or you might get lost. And please, be careful.”

With both knees on the dresser, and her fingertips hovering in front of the glass, Zalli turned her head to the earth fairy.

“I will.”

Then she moved her fingers and pushed forward. Zalli felt a coolness, but a minor resistance before her entire hand went through the iciness of the mirror. As the portal swallowed her whole with her crawling in, sharp teeth grew into a wide smile and its owner’s red eyes squinted with glee.

Chapter 22

Previous Episode: Zalli battled it out with Yoltzin. It was a fight that kept her challenged, but ultimately led to her victory. Now: Zalli must confront her shadow self and figure out how to accomplish this final trial for her last power.

Ren RogueRen Rogue

Zalli felt sweat coat her underarms. The heart she had just calmed down raced again, but she did not dare move for even a minuscule twitch.

Yoltzin sighed at the silent response.

Her bedroom door creaked open, yet he had not moved his hands away from Zalli. When he arrived at her bed, he gently laid her down.

No movement came from either of them after. Zalli sensed her clothing shift around a little, but not by his hands pulling at them. It was like they moved on their own.

Zalli felt a dip in her bed as he sat down next to her. He must have placed his hands by her head as she detected her head wiggle from her mattress sagging beside her. She sensed him move in as his breath was only a few centimeters away from her lips.

It seemed like he was going to kiss her. The young woman made sure not to react to anything that he might do. Then she felt a hand on her forehead as he petted her hair. Yoltzin spoke in a low voice so as not to disturb the sleep she was assumed to be in.

“I suppose I am.”

He stood up and took a few steps away before stopping. Zalli remained still, with only her chest rising with her slow breath.

Yoltzin then continued his exit, as revealed by the clacking of his dirt-marked dress shoes, and closed her door with an audible click. Zalli wanted to open her eyes immediately, but she restrained herself. She focused on her sense of hearing, paying close attention to the light footsteps moving away from her room.

It was not until she heard complete silence that she dared to open her eyes. She threw the covers off of her and looked down to see she was wearing pajamas. Zalli pinched the soft fabric with furrowed eyebrows.

The slight head shake she did was enough for her to figure he had used his magical ability to change her clothes. Zalli sat up with a swing of her legs, reaching her tiled floor. She softly patted to her door on her bare feet, and turned the doorknob with her fingertips clutching the rounded end. She opened it slowly with a repeated thought in her head.

Don’t make a sound, don’t make a sound. Please don’t make a sound.

At each possibility of a creek, she halted all movement. When she assumed it was safe to continue again, then she would open the door wider. Once the gap was wide enough for her to slip her body through, she left her room.

When Zalli turned the corner to leave her bedroom, she froze in her spot. There stood Tepi at her door with her hand on the doorknob. The elder woman of the two hunched her shoulders up, and she silenced her breathing as an attempt to camouflage with the dark hallway.

Tepi only looked straight forward the whole time. The both of them stood like porcelain statues until Tepi turned her doorknob, and went inside her room. Zalli let go of a sigh. She reached for the wall closest to her as support to uphold her slumped body.

Once Tepi’s door was shut, Zalli tiptoed past it. She noted to herself to return directly to the green fairy’s room when she was done ensuring her temporary home was secure. At the end of her hallway, she heard another door click that sounded like it came Xilo’s room. Zalli stopped to check if she could hear any further noise before continuing on. She outstretched one ear to the side to find no noise emanated from the dark space around her.

As she rounded the corner of Xilo’s room, she realized too late that Ezi had turned her own corner on the staircase landing already. Zalli stopped walking and leaned her back against the railway. She did not dare move and was already gathering an excuse to give Ezi in case the fake abuela thought to question her.

But the woman only moved past her with the same dazed expression that Tepi had. With her head tilted to the side and her eyebrows raised, Zalli followed Ezi to her bedroom, which was the closest to the washroom.

With a calm breath, she dared to wave her hand in front of Ezi’s face, only to see no reaction come from the fairy. Zalli took a step back as Ezi opened her door and entered, paying no mind to the young woman.

Zalli took hesitant steps away from the closed room, but moved with purpose after determining there was nothing for her to do but leave the fairies in their rooms. Moonlight entered through the hallway window even though it was the early morning just minutes ago.

Zalli turned her head behind her shoulder to peek at the lower crevice of Tepi’s door. She wanted to check if Green Tepi was there.

With no green glow in sight, Zalli left and went down the stairs. She walked with careful consideration.

She was not sure if Yoltzin was still present in her home or not. If he assumed she was unconscious right now, then perhaps he would still be here—snooping around for something that would give him an advantage over her.

Zalli peered over the wooden handrail to investigate if she could sense his presence anywhere nearby. She heard no noise and saw no movement. Her heart raced, and she imagined it was beating so loud that the noise filled the entire room. Zalli took a meticulous step onto the first floor.

It seemed like her house was empty, but she still had to move with caution. Zalli walked past the hallway leading to the restroom and assumed he would not be there for any reason. Just as she was about to enter the living room, doubt crept into her mind, which forced her to suspect her original thought.

It would not be too much trouble to double check, just in case.

Just as the night before, she used the same wall as her guide. To be extra careful, she placed her back alongside the wall and crept to the entrance of the restroom. When she reached the door, she did not move past the trim.

Zalli had the luck that the door was not closed shut, or else she would have to risk opening another creaky door. She inhaled a deep breath in and brought her head to turn around the corner to look around the dark room.

Her vision to see in the dark was no different from last night, but her intuition appeared stronger. When she sensed nothing within the room, she turned to bring her head back out until something caught her eye.

There, in the mirror's reflection, were red glowing eyes staring back at her. As Zalli widened her eyes in surprise, so did the reflection, exposing the red pupils further. When Zalli covered her mouth, the reflection smiled brightly, exposing its sharp teeth once again.

Zalli cursed under her breath and brought her head back into the hallway in a snap. Whatever that thing was, she would have to deal with it later. Another thing to add to her to-do list.

It seemed trapped in the mirror, so Zalli figured a confrontation with it could happen at a different time. Right now, she had to make sure Yoltzin was not here anymore.

Zalli moved her body and stayed close to the edge. She detected the corner of the dresser behind her as she entered the foyer. From her position, she did not notice a body standing in the living room. When she turned her head around the arch dividing the rooms, she determined there was no presence of someone there.

She pushed a comforting breath out of her body. The young woman continued to move along the edge of the rooms and did a check before she entered a new one. When Zalli arrived in the kitchen, she felt her whole body relax.

Yoltzin was nowhere to be seen.

She sat her body at the counters by the refrigerator and rubbed her neck to soothe the tension she held there. She planned to return upstairs and try to summon Green Tepi, but a sensation in her stomach kept her rooted in her spot.

Zalli had been looking down and staring at the ceramic tile throughout her brief interlude, but the sensation caused her to make direct eye contact with the window stationed over the sink.

Zalli dropped her arm and stood to her complete height. Someone left the curtains pulled open. She looked to the adjacent window and saw it had its curtains half drawn open. If anyone was outside right now, they could clearly see her standing here.

She plunged into a crouching position with nothing in front of her to hide behind. Her heart thumped in her chest. Zalli chewed on her lip, then crawled over to the sink in quick succession.

If Yoltzin had seen her and was on his way to her now, then she needed to at least be mentally ready to fight. Her hands gripped the corner of the counter.

With a steeling breath, Zalli slowly raised her head until she could look out the window. Her perspective was not clear, but it was enough to notice someone standing by the tree.

Yoltzin had his arms crossed in front of this chest, still dressed the same as when they had worked the fields together just minutes ago. His hat was nowhere to be seen. Her nostrils flared as she hoped he didn’t just carelessly toss it away somewhere. She discerned the hat had a special meaning to her from back home.

Zalli observed him further. He did not move from his spot, standing stone still like a statue within a garden. He seemed to gaze at something. Zalli brought her head up higher to see what he was looking at.

By her guess, he had to be looking in the direction where her mamá’s tree was at. Once she got a better view, her guess was confirmed. Zalli brought her head back down and sat on the floor with her back against the cabinets.

She wondered what he was trying to determine. Perhaps he would try to dig there without her permission. But then, would it even be possible for him to access the thing she was meant to hide from him?

The young woman doubted that could be the case. It would mean he had wasted all this time chasing for her consent, only for it to mean nothing. Regardless, she had to move at that moment. Whether he was going to return to her house or not, she needed to take advantage of the slight distraction he placed himself in.

Zalli crawled away on the floral tiles of her kitchen floor. It was not until she reached the living room that she stood up at a rapid pace and ran upstairs. She gave her best attempt to stay as quiet as possible, but every so often her steps would leave an audible thud on the ceramic stairs.

The adrenaline coursing through her body left her slightly out of breath. She reached Tepi’s room and opened the door without thinking to be careful. It creaked enough to make Tepi adjust to a different position under her covers, but it was not enough to startle her awake.

Zalli stepped in and closed the door with gentle awareness this time; she only left a small gap between the door and the frame. Her chest remained heaving from the run, but she stood with a sharp mind. She whispered out into the room.

“Tepi? Green Tepi, are you here?”

Nothing initially appeared before Zalli. When she opened her mouth again, though, a green orb appeared at an abrupt pace in front of her and spoke with a bit too much of enthusiasm.

“Oh, hi Zalli! I hope you would be back!”

Zalli had jumped back in her startle, but then moved in close with her finger against her own mouth. She shushed the green entity, then whispered to her again.

“We can’t be too loud right now. The Dream Weaver is still here. He’s outside in the backyard.” Zalli brought both hands up to grab Green Tepi by the shoulders. After making sure the entity was tangible, she shook her mercilessly in her haste. “I need to know how to get out of here. Quickly!”

The green fairy pushed Zalli away with kindness as she gathered her thoughts in quick succession.

“Uh, okay, okay, okay. Let’s see. In order to do it, I think you need to regain your powers back. Have you done that yet?”

“Uh, maybe. But why would I need to do that? Wouldn’t my powers still be available when I return to reality?”

Zalli’s hushed voice grew louder with her concern. She looked to the Tepi in bed and saw she made no reaction to the noise. She wondered if she could command this Tepi if she were to wake up; considering how they were within her dream, it should be possible no matter that it was Yoltzin who fabricated this place.

“Well, it’s likely you might close them off within your mind and not be able to access them ever again. We have to make sure you get them all back before I can tell you how to leave.”

The statement caught Zalli’s attention. She snapped her head back to the fairy in front of her and gave her absolute focus. Her voice held a slight crack to it as she gave her answer to Green Tepi.

“I am pretty sure I could get two of them back, but I am not really sure what the second one is. The first one is obviously super strength.”

“Yes, that’s it! That’s the power I gave you!”

Tepi released a small shriek of excitement and jumped a few times with her hands by her shoulders. Zalli suppressed her smile to keep her mind on task.

“Okay, since I received the second power by answering Xilo’s riddle, then that must mean I got the power from her. Do you know what it could be?”

Zalli moved her body to rest on the dresser next to the door. She crossed both her arms and ankles as she waited with patience to see what Tepi could say.

“Let’s see, if I can remember, hmm ...” Green Tepi brought her hand to her chin and scrunched her eyebrows in deep thought. “Oh, I know! It was for a powerful will and intuition, something kind of like mental fortification.”

The young woman brought her head down in reflection. That must be how she could evade Yoltzin’s attempt at making her fall asleep. Her will became strong enough to resist it.

A curious thought entered Zalli’s brain as she realized the discrepancy between how she received both powers. She looked up and asked Tepi a question with a tilt to her head.

“Why is it that, in order for me to get the power from Xilo, I had to like solve a riddle, but for your power, I just kind of like got it from nowhere?”

Green Tepi brought the hand from her chin to go in front of her with her palm up and fingers curled. She leaned on the hip where her other hand rested as she spoke in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Well, our powers reflect our personalities, as they are a gift bestowed from our inner essence. When I originally gave you my power, I did not have to put a lot of thought into it, because the answer was so obvious.” She waved her hand around before she dropped it down to her side. “You saved me because you were strong enough to pick up the rock, so I was like, ‘She’s strong. Let’s make her super strong.’”

“Aha.”

Zalli did not know how to respond to such straightforward thinking. Her expression must have appeared as judgemental, though, as the fairy felt the need to justify herself.

“It was just the first thing that came to mind. But it also must have been a good move, since it made it easy for you to receive the power back, probably just from interacting with me.”

Tepi shrugged her shoulders.

“I think-I think it makes sense. I like it too. It felt good to throw Yoltzin and Necalli around.” She brought one hand towards Green Tepi to appease the situation that now had a slight awkwardness to it. The fairy only gave a half smile and nodded her head, compelling Zalli to drop her arm. “What do you think I need to do to figure out the power Ezi gave me?”

“Well, she is more introspective than I am.” Green Tepi turned away from Zalli and sat on the bed that was behind her. “Her gift would probably want you to confront something about yourself. You know, do some self-discovery.”

“Self-discovery? I thought I already did that with Xilo. Accepting my thoughts as they are and being accountable for my actions.”

Zalli brought her hands down to grip the edge of the dresser.

“Nah. Ezi likes it when you confront that deep part of your stuff—the hidden part. She would always talk about something like it was called ... a shadow self, maybe?”

Tepi placed her palms down by her sides to hold her body up as she leaned back. Zalli spoke after Tepi adjusted herself.

“Like a shadow person?”

“No, not like a shadow person. That’s something totally different. You don’t want to mess with that.” Tepi shuddered at the possibility of meeting a terrible creature like that, then continued on. “It’s something that is essentially you, but stored in like you’re deep, deep subconscious. It is something only you can access. That’s all the information I have, though, since it was more of Ezi’s interest, her being an air fairy and all.”

Zalli quirked her head at the new information given to her.

“An air fairy?”

Tepi jumped up with a giggle.

“Yes, she’s an air fairy! I guess you must have forgotten. What kind of fairy do you think I am?”

Zalli crossed her arms in thought as she eyed the assumingly younger maiden. She considered her bubbly personality and concluded based on her logic.

“Are you also an air fairy?”

“No. I’m an earth fairy.”

Tepi’s shoulders drooped, and she hunched her back, sensing her body grow heavy. Zalli rubbed her neck with her head turned to the side from giving the wrong answer.

“Oh, sorry.”

Tepi peeked at Zalli from underneath her eyelashes before she stood up and grabbed her friend’s hands in her own.

“It’s okay. But, anyway, I hope what I gave was enough to help. Since we are already on the second level of your subconscious, I wonder if you can access your shadow self either here or if you need to go down one more level. We need you to get your third power, fast.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that. There’s no need to rush now, is there?”

A masculine voice spoke next to the two maidens, which caused them to jerk their heads to the door next to them. As the door swung open, it revealed Yoltzin standing in the hallway with a stoic expression.

Chapter 21

Previous Episode: Zalli had a useful conversation with her friend, Green Tepi. Now: They are both discovered by Yoltzin and are left to defend each other.

Ren RogueRen Rogue

Zalli could feel sweat build on her palms. In her mind, she erected a strong stone wall. A calmness settled inside her, even though her skin prickled at knowing Yoltzin was nearby.

She was at least ready to act naturally around him. She knew if she went back to showing her dislike towards him, she would definitely give her position away to Yoltzin.

The young woman brought her leg up and stomped hard on the step of the shovel. She lifted the pile of dirt with ease and placed it on the edge of the field to begin a pile.

Just as she was about to stab the ground a second time, Zalli stopped as she had elbows pulled back. She groaned as she realized she needed to get rid of the topsoil first.

So much for all that farming knowledge. Zalli berated herself.

She threw the shovel to the side and glanced at her back porch. She wondered why the man had yet to come outside.

Zalli grabbed the rake and worked on tilling the soil. She moved the dirt around the scorched stem of a dead rose bush and brought it to the pile of dirt she had left to the side.

Once she thought she brought all the damaged soil around the bush, she returned to her discarded shovel. As she crouched down to pick it up, a shadow loomed over her. She had her arms reaching in front of her for the tool when she tipped her head back to get a good view of the visitor behind her.

There stood Yoltzin, wearing a 3 piece suit. His blue suit made him seem like a dark shadow to Zalli. As always, he had his hands in his pockets and leaned to one side in his stance. He was the first to break the silence.

“Hello there, little thorn. Need any help?”

“No, I’m good on my own here.” Zalli cringed at her behavior. She was not doing so well at appearing warm and friendly. She reacted quickly to see if she could cover her mistake. “Actually yeah, sorry.”

The young woman grabbed the shaft of the shovel, then brought her free hand upwards for him to grab. Yoltzin assisted her in standing with ease.

Zalli dusted herself off, then spoke before he could say anything. She hoped she could distract him long enough by giving him a slight task to do. She wanted to give herself enough time to think clearly and reroute herself to the original plan.

“Do you think you can help me out here as well? There’s another shovel and rake in the barn you could use.”

“Sure thing, love.”

Zalli gave him a small smile, but when he turned around, she rolled her eyes at his use of another pet name. Of course, he would try to force the idea that they somehow grew closer to each other over the past few days. Not that it had an effect on her. There was not a blush growing on her face, and her center didn’t feel warm at the term of endearment.

As Yoltzin strutted towards the barn, he had already taken off a portion of his jacket and placed it in the crook of his arm. As she admired his narrow shoulders, Zalli formed a pinch expression.

So far, she was not doing too good. Her reactions to him were too sincere, and she moved more on instinct than calculated thought. Zalli had apparently lost the self she had prepared mere minutes ago to face on Yoltzin. Yet, she could not mess up this early on.

A high-pitched neigh came from Churro, as if he was telling her to get her act together. She agreed with the sentiment and moved her shoulders and head around. She wanted to solidify her will, and remove any doubt she might have of her capabilities.

Zalli asserted herself she could be friendly around Yoltzin. It was only play pretend. She had to get revenge and return the act of being affable to him, too. If she lowered his defenses, then she could take advantage of his trust. She held her chin up and expanded her chest to intake a full breath.

Not wanted to get caught staring at nothing, Zalli moved onto the next bush and moved with quick actions.

She finished piling the dirt in Churro’s cart around the time Yoltzin returned. She had a blank expression on her face, which the gentleman found concerning.

“Hey, are you okay? You look like you’re in a daze.”

Zalli only glimpsed at him before she responded.

“Yes—maybe. In all honesty, it’s taking me a while to process all of this.”

She brought her entire arm up and displayed her fields to him. When she turned to look at him properly, she saw he had left his jacket somewhere in the barn, along with his tie.

A wide-brimmed hat sat on his head. It looked like something that could belong to Ezi. The band around the base of the crown was a dark brown ribbon that went with the soft beige of the woven hat. But if you scrutinized the band, you could see there were embroidered flowers in a matching dark brown.

This was a hat Zalli was sure she had seen before in the real world.

Yoltzin took a step forward and entered Zalli’s personal space. She looked up at him with squinted eyes while he looked down with a sweet look in his own. She twitched the corner of her mouth up to settle her beating heart.

Then the man brought his arm up and placed a baseball cap on Zalli’s head. He pulled the brim down with a roughness that was enough to cover her eyes, but not so much to cause pain in her neck. Her head shook from side to side as Yoltzin secured it on.

By the time Zalli could look up and adjust her hat properly, Yoltzin had already taken two steps away and was saying something that she accidentally ignored at first. She was distracted by the button down he wore, which was open down to his navel. It exposed the white tank top he wore underneath. It clung to the curvature of his abdominal well.

“—stand this is a tragedy for you and your family.”

Zalli didn’t catch the first part of what he said, but she could figure out his message based on the context. She then only nodded her head in return.

She took a step forward to grab the rake, but then halted when she felt a hand grab onto her arm. The young woman turned and looked down to see Yoltzin’s hand gripping there before she looked him in the face. Her heart picked up in pace, and her throat constricted at what could happen next.

“Zalli, I am sorry that this happened.”

She softened her gaze and spoke.

“I know.”

They maintained eye contact for a while until Yoltzin let go of her arm. His fingertips grazed her own until her arm came down by her side. Her thoughts jumbled and an empty feeling settled in the pit of her stomach.

Zalli pinched her lips and tensed her shoulders as she turned away from Yoltzin. She directed him to work on the first bush in the adjacent row with his own rake as she put her hair up into a ponytail to wear her hat better.

She gnawed on her own lip while they worked in silence. Zalli did not like how his apology felt real. As if he felt remorse for causing her to have her heart break over the loss of her hard work.

Even if he didn’t fabricate the fire, all of this was his fault—to the very end. He was responsible for her imprisonment here in the first place.

Zalli turned around and side eyed Yoltzin as he worked on shoveling his pile of dirt. He was working faster than her. She squinted her eyes and scrunched up her face in defiance when she turned to look in front of her again.

As she worked on her own pile, she thought about how she might have let Yoltzin get too close to her—which was twice so far. A feeling told her that if he made contact with her skin, then he could control her conscious state. It would explain how she suddenly fell asleep the night they finished weaving the lirio roses. The young woman just couldn’t remember exactly what he had done to her.

At the fourth bush, Zalli asked Yoltzin a question, who had already caught up to her in progress.

“So, when will you resume digging?”

“I was not going to start soon.” Yoltzin threw a glance in her direction. “The treasure I search for will not vanish, I’m assuming. I have time to wait until you’re ready.”

“You can start now if you want, I don’t see any reason to make you wait longer than necessary.”

Zalli flashed a glint at the man next to her and took notice of his arms. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, exposing a thin layer of sweat cooling his forearm.

“I just want to give you time to properly grieve.”

They raked alongside each other. Yoltzin’s shoulders never passed beyond Zalli’s position.

“I think I’ve done enough of that already. If I do any more of it, I am sure I’m going to lose my sanity.”

Zalli’s gut tightened as she cut her eyes to the cause of all her troubles. Some silence existed between the two adults, growing like a vine desperate for sunlight. She was not sure what Yoltzin was contemplating.

“I will begin again tomorrow, then.” He stood at his full stature and took the handkerchief previously in his breast pocket of his blazer out to wipe some sweat away from his face. Then he returned it to the pocket of his pants as he continued to speak. “I hope you know that’s not the reason I came here for. I just wanted to check up on you.”

“I—... I appreciate that.” Zalli continued working as the man next to her stood with his weight leaning on the shovel he just stuck into the ground. “Do you-uh, know anything about Necalli?”

She thought asking about her supposed friend would help keep the pretense that she still believed this world was real. Even though he tragically betrayed her, her as her illusioned self would definitely be worried about his whereabouts.

“I talked it over with your local police force just yesterday. They said you had to file the police report, but as of right now, they have yet to know where Necalli could be.” He dug his shovel into the pile and threw it into the cart nearby, since Churro had been trailing behind them as they moved. His movements carried minor aggression, as if he didn’t enjoy talking about Necalli. “I have some of my people tracking him down, too. It seems like he just disappeared, though.”

“I see.” Zalli grabbed her shovel and fixed her hat to straighten the brim. “Are you done digging in that area?”

She threw her head toward the original digging site.

“Just about. I think whatever we get done tomorrow will complete it. I hope we can find it there. Considering how your mother’s tree is very dear to you, I would hate to dig there next. But that spot contains the highest likelihood of the treasure there.”

Zalli’s whole body froze before she could stab her tool into the ground.

“How do you know that’s my mother’s tree?”

The suspicion in Zalli’s voice was clear. She knew she had not told him anything about the tree. Only that he had to leave it completely alone.

How much about me does he actually know?

“I was curious about the tree the day you went to go harvest more lirio leaves. I just wanted to understand why it was so special to you. Now I know.”

Zalli cleared her throat and gave Yoltzin a heated gaze.

“It could just be any relative’s grave, though. Why would you assume it’s my mamá’s?”

He rubbed the back of his neck. The man placed one hand on his hip while the other rested on the rounded end of his tool.

“Considering how strongly you felt about the thing, I guessed it must have been someone who was very dear to you.”

“Look, don’t-don’t go near that tree.”

Her voice did not get any louder, but there was a clear, stern cadence behind it. The idea of Yoltzin being near the tree made Zalli’s heart race. Her hands that clutched her shovel shook in her emotion.

“I’m sorry, Zalli, I didn’t—I didn’t realize I would cross a boundary by visiting the tree. I didn’t even see the grave until I was up close to the trunk.”

Liar.

Zalli closed her eyes and fortified her mind. She told herself she needed to calm down. He had yet to actually dig by the tree, and she had a whole other day before it even came to that. By then, she might even escape from this place.

If she completely banned him from excavating there, she was not sure what manipulative tactics he would do to revert the situation in his favor. She needed to let him continue thinking he was in control.

Give him bait to fall for.

She spoke with tenderness in her voice.

“I’m sorry.”

Zalli left her shovel to lean against the cart and walked towards Yoltzin. Against her better judgement from earlier, she reached for his hand to finesse a positive outcome. He frowned with his head tilted to the side, but gave it to her. With another step closer to him, she gave the hand a comforting squeeze with both of her hands encompassing his.

“I didn’t mean to lash out like that. I-uh, kind of lost my cool there.”

Zalli brought her head down to appear demure and vulnerable to the man in front of her. She sensed no movement from him, which caused her heart rate to pick up. She didn’t dare raise her head just yet.

Please, fall for it. Fall for it, fall for it, fall for it.

She repeated the mantra in her head for comfort. Before she believed she should give up the ruse and step away, she gave one more squeeze to the masculine hand she held.

Her breath hitched when Yoltzin finally took a step closer to Zalli. She didn’t let go when she felt his hand hold her jaw with a gentle caress. She didn’t loosen her grip when she felt her head tilt up.

The moment the two made eye contact, Yoltzin’s lips came crashing down to hers, and they melded together like they were one. When they separated for a breath, he removed his hand from her hold to join his other in securing her head. Zalli brought her hands to clutch onto the flaps of his open blouse.

They kissed again, this time swirling their tongues around each other. She moved her hands to wrap around his sturdy core while he adjusted his hand slightly to bring his finger to hover over her forehead.

She thought nothing of it at first, focused on battling his tongue with her own, but then it hit her. The last time his finger tapped her head, her vision went black, and she ended up dreaming about him and her going into the forest. That is how it happened the night they finished weaving.

If he was going to make her fall asleep now, then she had to make sure to not easily succumb to it. She gripped his abdominal and repeated to herself in her mind.

Stay awake, stay awake, stay awake, stay awake.

She kept her eyes closed when she felt the first tap. They continued to kiss as warmth spread over her body, and her mind felt like it was fortified in forbearance.

His power must not have worked. Zalli was able to stop him from taking over her conscious state.

She should have pretended it worked, though. She had blindsided her focus to only ensure she would not succumb to slumber.

Then, if he tapped her again, she established she would fake it. She would just need to make sure she kept repeating in her mind to stay awake.

On the second tap, she relaxed all her muscles and went limp. Since he was still embracing her, Yoltzin could catch her dropping body with ease.

Zalli willed her breathing to slow down and focused on calming her beating heart. She really hoped he did not have heightened hearing, because she was sure her heart was as loud as a beating drum at the moment.

She felt an arm go under her legs. Yoltzin lifted her up into a cradle. Her head rested on his chest, which forced her to take notice of his beating heart. It was moving just as fast as hers was.

In a way, it was calming as it gave her mind something to focus on as he walked toward what she assumed was her house. With each small bounce she felt in his gait, she noticed the dimness behind her eyelids grow darker.

He must be turning the day into night.

Zalli took another deep breath in and got a whiff of his scent. There was no presence of tobacco this time. Instead, she got a mixture of the natural scent his sweat gave off with sandalwood and amber. It was annoyingly pleasant.

She heard the screen door of the back entrance squeak open. Humming came from within the kitchen combined with the sound of running water and clanking porcelain. Ezi was washing the dishes.

Yet, there was no reaction as they walked past her. When Yoltzin entered the living room, the radio could be heard while Tepi and Xilo had a soft conversation. Zalli could not figure out what they were saying, but she knew they paid the pair no mind since there was no audible reaction given. Just as it was with Ezi, it seemed no one saw them as they walked through.

Together, they went up the stairs with Yoltzin still holding her in his arms. He walked her through the hallway, which felt unbearingly long. It wasn’t until they reached her bedroom that Yoltzin stopped. When he spoke, Zalli’s stomach dropped.

“Do you think I am a fool, little thorn?”

Chapter 20

Previous Episode: Zalli attempted to deceive Yoltzin to lower his guard. Now: Zalli investigates her house again, this time in search of Yoltzin.

Ren RogueRen Rogue

The glow dissipated from Zalli’s body. She was left standing by her bed, feeling the same as before the glow appeared. She flipped her hands a few times before speaking out loud.

“Uh ... what?”

She stretched her arms in front of her with her hands splayed wide open. With a tongue poking into her cheek, she waited for a semblance of her new power to appear to her. When nothing happened, she collapsed her arms and made noises of complaint.

It looked like she would have to wait for the right moment for the power to reveal itself. She might have to bring it out forcibly by interacting with Yoltzin. Her mind knew to keep guard around him. Now it was time for her body to come into agreement with the assessment.

Either way, it seemed like she was making progress.

Zalli sat next to Huizi on her bed. She rested her elbows on her knees and relaxed her neck to let her head hang low. As she closed her eyes again, the young woman thought to the gemstone.

Kyanite had a reputation as a gem that could ... it could ... do something. Zalli stood up and paced in front of her door. Nothing of inspiration approached her.

Out of some unknown habit, she turned her face to the window behind her. She noticed how some morning light entered around her curtains. It was then she heard a whisper come from her brain.

It told her kyanite was a gemstone that could enhance powers. That must be why Yoltzin wanted it, to enhance his own dream manipulation powers. Whatever he was trying to find here would allow him access to the gem. That was what he was searching for on her farm.

Zalli walked over to the window.

He had really wanted to search by her mother’s tree before. That must mean the answer is there.

She pulled the curtain back and angled herself tightly to the wall. It was not the best view, but in the right spot she could see a portion of the roble tree.

Whatever was buried next to the tree would be the thing to break into the showroom. Zalli just hoped it was maybe a treasure hidden very well, and not the buried bones of her mother. She knew they would not be the actual remains of her mamá, but that did not mean she was inclined to see the visual representation of them.

Another whisper entered her mind. It sounded similar to her mamá’s voice, like what she heard in her dream from two nights ago.

You need to hurry and go back. The gemstone is not safe.

Zalli sighed. She turned her body to rest on the wall and brought her palm to cradle her forehead. A headache formed in her head from stress. She knew about her responsibility, but found it difficult to take direct action on it. She was a prisoner in her own mind.

In order to leave, she had to play stupid mind games here. It annoyed her that the riddles she had to solve were riddles her subconscious was giving her. It was not even Yoltzin making her jump through these ridiculous hoops. He was only trying to trick her into trusting him.

The pain did not leave from Zalli’s head. She ran her hand through her hair and let her head fall back to rest on the wall behind her.

Huizi whimpered from next to her. Zalli turned to look down at where the noise came from. She got on both knees to face her dog.

Some of the pain was subduing, but she still winced from the motion. She downturned her facial features and slumped her shoulders. Then she took Huizi’s head in her hands and petted her softly.

Huizi did not exist in the real world. Zalli did not have any pets back home. Not even Churro existed.

Zalli brought her hand underneath Huizi to scratch her chin. The Xoloitzcuintli brought her head up and closed her eyes in comforted pleasure.

The young woman was not sure what purpose Huizi had in this dream world. Perhaps Yoltzin wanted to give her a sense of comfort, so it would be easy to bring down her walls. Zalli guessed, though, that her subconscious created Huizi to be her protector.

All the canine had done so far was stand by Zalli’s side and remained loyal to her. If Yoltzin had created Huizi for his benefit, she was sure he would have used her as a spy tool.

Zalli brought her head down to touch Huizi’s head. The pair remained like this until Zalli heard noises from outside her room. It seemed like her pseudo family was awake, and perhaps they had been for a while. Zalli brought a hand to her face and covered her mouth in thought.

If she confronted her family about them being fake, it could trigger whatever alarm system Yoltzin might have. Or, it’s even possible it could trigger something in her subconscious to freak out. The young woman had to act with caution.

Then, it was best to act like everything was normal. Although, Zalli would prefer it if she could just avoid them all together. The falsehood of this situation made her muscles tense and brought a forced a laugh out of her.

She stood up and thought about how she enjoyed having family around her since back home she typically lived by herself. As true as it was here in this dream reality, her mother had passed away when she was still a teenager, only seventeen years of age. Solitude had been her lifestyle for the past decade.

Even her friends had left her to live their life in the city. That was not so upsetting to Zalli, though. She knew they had left to follow their dreams. She had stayed in her hometown to fulfill her duty, passed onto her by her mamá.

Zalli sat on her bed and reassessed her rumination. The fairies she had befriended did visit her often. Though they would arrive in sporadic moments, they would stay for some days. It kept her home spirited. But when they left, they would leave behind a dead silence that was a never ending void. To replace the dead calm, Zalli usually had to use music from the radio or another type of background noise.

She looked around her room and noticed something strange. The layout of it was identical to her room back home. In the same corner to the right, it held her desk, and her wardrobe faced her bed as before. The dresser with the broken top drawer was against the same wall as the door, and her two differently sized nightstands were placed the same, with the smaller one closest to her full-length mirror. The only thing that differed was the window currently in front of her. Something else was supposed to be there, but Zalli could not recall what it was.

A feeling of displacement filled her entire room. Her hands trembled on her lap, and something kept her rooted in her spot. She only moved when she heard a knocking at her door. She flinched at the sound, but settled when she heard Ezi’s voice.

“Zalli, mija, are you awake?” She spoke from the other side before she swung open the door. “Oh, qué bueno. El desayuno is almost finished. Come down when you are ready.”

The young woman shook her dazed expression away.

“Okay, uh ... Abue.”

Zalli heard footsteps lead away from her door after the makeshift grandmother closed it with a careful respect. She looked down at herself and decided she would not change her clothes. She did not see the point of it.

The young woman chose to at least brush her teeth. She wanted some sense of cleanliness as she traversed around the figures downstairs. Zalli patted Huizi’s head on her way out.

As she passed by Tepi’s door, she heard movement behind the wooden enclosure.

I should speak to Green Tepi tonight. She might help me find a way out of here. Maybe I should have spoken to her last night or, well, should I say this morning. I am not sure if I would have trusted her, though. Maybe it was better this way for me to figure it out on my own. Zalli pondered from her spot, not moving for a while.

Tepi swung her door open to discover Zalli there and spoke in a chipper voice.

“Buenos días, Zalli! How are you feeling today?”

Zalli kept her face expressionless, but responded in a timely manner.

“I’m doing fine, how are you? How is your rest?”

“I am feeling so much better! I’m not sure what changed, but my insomnia has not returned.”

This was not good for Zalli to hear. She was not sure what it could mean, but it could result that Green Tepi was gone.

She gave Tepi a blank stare, but nodded to appear receptive to her improved condition. Tepi side eyed her sister, before she darted her gaze away to find comfort. She spoke again to break the silence.

“Alright, well, I guess I’ll meet you downstairs for el desayuno.”

Zalli nodded her head again, this time bringing her thumb close to her lips. She moved to the side to allow Tepi to go around her, and bit her fingernail as she tried to determine what she should do if Green Tepi was not around anymore.

Taking away all muscle control in her arm, she dropped her hand down by her side. Zalli had to worry about that later. Now, she needed to control herself to prepare for facing her family.

She stood there for what felt like mere moments, but it was actually longer since Ezi had to call her from down the stairs.

“Zalli! Hurry, because we’re going to say grace.”

Zalli snapped out of her daze and moved to the top of the stairs. She shouted down to Ezi.

“Ah, hold on! I still need to brush my teeth!”

“Apurate, niña!”

“Okay, okay, I’m going!”

She bolted down the stairs and went straight to the restroom to brush her teeth in haste. After spitting her toothpaste out and rinsing her mouth, Zalli looked at her reflection. She angled her head from one side to the other with her teeth bared, similar to what she did mere hours ago.

Satisfied to see no pointy teeth, the young woman left the restroom with a push away from the counter. When she reached the kitchen, everyone was already sitting in their usual spots. Zalli felt all eyes on her as she walked to her chair and sat down.

The smiles they gave her, she imagined, were meant to give her warmth and comfort. Instead, she felt uneasy and out of place.

After sitting, the group bowed their head and held their hands in prayer. As Ezi led the grace, Zalli noticed something about her tone. It seemed weird to her. The grandmother lilt seemed to not be present. Instead, it sounded youthful and clear of the rasp that would occasionally appear.

When the prayer was done, Zalli brought her head up and observed her fake family. Tepi, sitting closest to the refrigerator, looked the same to her. The green of her eyes was vibrant, and her skin didn’t look pale anymore. It had returned to the medium brown shade she shared with Zalli.

The young woman turned to look at Xilo who sat directly in front of her. Her blonde up-do appeared like it carried more volume than usual, as if energy kept it afloat. The little wrinkles she had by her eyes were gone, and her eyes held a spark within them.

At her last sweep of the table, Zalli turned to Ezi, who sat across from Tepi. She had the most change in her facial features out of them all. Her cheeks no longer sagged from gravity and the stripes of grey had disappeared from her blonde hair. The braid she usually had her hair styled in seemed to be thicker. Like Xilo, all her wrinkles were gone, and the excess lymph fluid she had in the bags under her eyes was no longer present. Her pale yellow eyes twinkled with youthfulness.

It prompted Zalli to stare at Ezi the longest. The abuela felt someone staring and looked up, meeting Zalli’s gaze with a curious expression before she spoke.

“Mija, is everything alright? You’ve just been sitting there and staring. You’re also wearing the same clothes as yesterday. Did you not change?”

Zalli blinked and pursed her lips. Her hands underneath the table wrapped around each other a few times before stopping at an interlock.

“Yes ... Abue. Everything is good.”

Ezi put her fork down and stared at her nieta with soft eyes.

“Are you sure? If you’re not feeling any better, you can continue to relax in your room. And if Don Callip returns, I can send him away until you’re ready for guests again.”

Zalli wondered if her mind was trying to protect her by allowing her to avoid confrontation. She sighed, knowing that would only push back the inevitable.

Lost in thought, Zalli did not respond to Ezi. This caused Tepi to call out to her to see if she could get a response.

“Zalli?”

Hearing her name was all she needed to snap out of her thought circle. She stood up with a firm push of her chair, causing it to scrape across the tile floor.

“Yes, I’m sure. I’m actually going to work on the farm today. I have to start the cleanup.” Zalli let go of the fork she clutched in her hand and dropped it next to her untouched breakfast. As she reached the back door, she turned to her fake family and said one more thing before leaving. “If Yoltzin drops by, allow him to go to the back. I suppose there is business we need to discuss.”

Without waiting to see if any member would respond, Zalli left and stepped onto her back porch. The screen door behind her clacked a few times from her letting it fall.

She stood there with her hands on her hips and released a heavy breath she had not realized she was holding in. She contemplated on what to do next. Zalli left the room, using her farm as an excuse to get away from the awkward atmosphere she had placed herself in. Now she had to actually do something about her burnt farm, especially if she did not want to arouse suspicion from the others inside.

Zalli thought again about whether her subconscious would attack her or not from exposing herself to knowing the truth. If she remembered correctly to what an old high schoolmate had once told her, she had to blend in as much as possible when dreaming.

When the old friend picked up the peculiar hobby to lucid dream, she spoke to a person in her dream. She had let them know she was aware they were not real, and that she was dreaming. By her description, her doing so had seemed to piss them off. The school mate said she felt all eyes turn on her the more she spoke, and before she knew it, all the surrounding dream people kept grabbing at her until she woke up.

Zalli shivered at the thought. Being attacked and clawed at was not something she wished to ever experience.

She went straight to the barn, intending to grab a shovel and a wheelbarrow. Zalli saw Churro there and went over to him first. He grunted in her direction as an acknowledgement.

Even though Churro was more of a companion to Tepi in this reality, Zalli still felt her expression go slack, knowing he did not actually exist. His sassy behavior to others always entertained her.

The young woman grabbed his brush that was nearby and went over to his pelt. She felt his head nudge her body. She smiled at his affection. Zalli had a feeling he did it to provide her comfort.

Once his coat looked to be shiny, and in order, Zalli continued on with her original task. She hooked the cart onto Churro and grabbed a shovel with a rake to place them in the cart.

Then, she lead him to the burnt area of her fields with soft tugs. She felt no rush to work today, which encouraged her to move at Churro’s languid pace. The young woman brought a hand up to cover her eyes from the morning sun. She cursed at herself for forgetting to bring a hat out again.

Zalli knew clearing her fields would be a mundane task for her to do. It was not something that would bring actual physical results. Beyond the pretense she gave to the enchanted replica fairies inside the house, she did it to occupy her hands—to help her think. She could only spin around in her room so many times.

Plus, it gave her a reason to be outdoors.

She made it to the divide where she intervened and stopped the fire from continuing to expand. Zalli pulled her bottom lip up to form a frown as she observed all the damage up close. She squatted down and dug a bare hand into the soil. Her hand contained a pile of leftover ash and crisp leaves that had not yet completely burned through.

The would-be farmer grunted and threw the soil away. Farming knowledge flooded her brain, and Zalli thought about how the soil was most likely suffering from severe erosion. The chemistry balance had to be all messed up, and she would need to take care of the top layer if she wanted to fix the issue.

Zalli’s brain went fuzzy, and all thoughts stopped moving. She was not sure what the source of her assessment was.

She concluded it must be because her dream reality brainwashed her into believing she was a farming expert. With a shake of her head, she moved to the cart to find the heavy duty gloves she usually left there. The young woman placed one on each hand, then got a firm grip on the shovel.

On the first stab into the ashened soil, she heard a commotion come from the front of her house. It sounded like a car had arrived. Zalli brought her head up to see if she could figure out who it was.

In the space between the barn and her house, she saw a Shelby Cobra drive down the road. Zalli took a cleansing breath and rolled her shoulders back to prepare for what was to come.

There was only one person who drove a car that was that shiny and that blue. It was loud and obnoxious from where Zalli stood. Either way, it looked like the unavoidable happened earlier than what she expected.

Yoltzin had arrived.

Chapter 19

Previous Episode: Zalli developed a different mindset which alienates herself from her family and reality. Now: Zalli and Yoltzin work the fields and have a conversation she uses to try to gain an advantage over him.

Ren RogueRen Rogue

Zalli woke up with a startle, and sweat beading on her forehead. She sat up, placing her head in her hands. As she hunched over, she felt heat emanate from her cheeks.

A soft breath left her as she patted her head to wake herself up. She did it with a gentle regard in her dark room. Her shoulders sagged from knowing she slept the day away, getting nothing done. She did nothing for her farm, nor did she actually do anything for her situation. All she did was have another sex dream with Cal, which was useless to her.

Even if it was a memory, it was a memory that contributed to nothing in her information gathering.

Zalli pushed herself off her bed at a slow pace and went to her curtains. She peeked through the glass and saw moonlight stream in. I really did waste my time away. She hugged herself in comfort as another thought appeared in her head about the dream she had.

She found it oddly coincidental she had a dream interaction with Cal as her other self. It was only just earlier she had thought to have none with him yet. Zalli pushed her hair behind her ear and thought deeper into a theory.

Does that mean he is aware of my thoughts even now? Or does he only have an inclination to where my mind goes? A shudder crept over her body.

Either way, this meant Zalli had to act fast. If he was catching on that her trust in him is wavering, and that she knows he is the culprit behind all her issues, then it would not be long until he placed her in another slumber. As Green Tepi said, she was in a dream within a dream. She would not know how much harder it will be to escape a third time around.

The maiden turned around and ran a hand through her hair to gather her thoughts about the riddle. Her lame first attempt at solving the riddle resulted in her falling into a deep slumber. Zalli needed to switch up her approach.

As she walked to her door, she rubbed Huizi’s head to let her companion know she would return. The maiden peeked her head out to find the hallway dark. She opened her door slowly, cringing at each creak the hinges would make.

She walked with measured movements; her feet landed from her heel to her toe so she would limit her noise output. Zalli sauntered with outstretched arms to avoid bumping into her surroundings. Without windows to provide even the smallest light, she remained in almost complete darkness. It made it hard for Zalli to see her home well, but it allowed her to attempt her second strategy at the riddle. She was going to try to physically see the dark.

She walked past each door and noted if any light seeped through the crevices. She did not consider checking the time when she left her room, so she was not sure if her family would wake up soon.

Zalli made it to the hallway next to the stairs with all doors closed. Her surrounding area was dimly lit from the window by the stairs. She wondered if her family had tried to wake her for dinner during her nap. Knowing them, it was always important to eat with everyone, if it was possible.

Well, that was what her mamá had always told her when she was young. Digging through her memories, she could only recall her mamá explaining the concept. She could not see her abuela or tía talking about it to her before. They only acted on it, as if to fulfill their roles.

With all that has happened, Zalli was not sure anymore if her family here acted the way they did from their own volition, or if it was because it was her mind’s expectations of them. She supposed it did not matter in the end.

Zalli bumped into the corner of the handrail as she turned and released a small squeal from the pain. She brought her hands to cover her mouth and tried to silence her breathing; the first breath was too loud, but after focusing on slowing down the flow of her inhalation, she could achieve minimal to no noise.

With wide eyes, she looked around to see if anyone had heard her. Moments passed in silence, which comforted Zalli to move on. As she took her first step down, she heard a soft tapping approach her. She halted her movement again and waited for who was approaching her.

If it was one of her family members, then they would have brought a candle with them to see properly. The vast darkness showed no candlelight.

The taps got slightly louder, indicating to Zalli the thing was approaching her. Her heart rate stayed the same as she willed herself to remain calm, but her stomach fluttered with a thousand butterflies. The tapping stopped in front of her, and Zalli heard gentle breathing by her side. Taking a chance, she whispered out to the shadows.

“Huizi. Is that you?” Time passed with no response. She whispered out again. “Huizi?”

Suddenly, Zalli felt her hand being licked, and she jumped away from the source, almost losing her balance on the stairs. Her heart beat like a loud drum, no longer in her control.

Going against her better judgement, she reached her hand out to where she imagine Huizi’s head would be, and came into contact with the plush skin of her dog. Gathering confidence, she moved her hand to caress the would-be head of her canine. When her hand moved up to find the fluffiness of her ears, she was relieved to discover it was Huizi that had followed her.

Zalli crouched down and scratched the dog a little more aggressively before she spoke to her.

“Huizi, go back to my room and stay there. I will be right back.” She stopped her massage and waited to hear movement from her dog, but nothing happened. “Huizi, I said go.”

After using her firm voice, she heard the taps again, this time getting softer in volume as her dog obeyed and went back to the room. Zalli relaxed into a sigh, then turned around to continue her journey down the stairs.

The maiden arrived at the first floor and placed her hands on her hips. She looked around as if she could properly survey her home, even though everything was shrouded in shadows and darkness. With a careful step forward, she brought both hands out in front of her.

She walked with trepidation as she turned and headed for the restroom first. She tried to walk straight in the middle, but with her sense of sight being restricted, Zalli found herself walking in a diagonal line when her hand made contact with the wall. Not finding it to be an inhibitor, she used it as a guide. When she made it to the restroom, she placed herself in what she assumed was the center.

She relaxed her arms down by her side. Zalli looked at nothing as she turned around in a slow circle from the toilet to the tub and cabinet. When she reached the sink, she detected a faint outline of herself in the mirror above. She wondered if all the mirrors in her house were affected like the one in her room.

Zalli moved in close and grabbed hold of the counter. With one arm approaching her reflection, she brought a fingertip to the surface. As she moved to tap the mirror, she looked at the image of her reflective self. Her heart dropped to stomach as she observed the thing that looked like her, but was not her.

Just before she followed through with her action, her reflection smiled back at her with sharp teeth and narrowed glowing eyes with white pupils.

Zalli jumped back as she witnessed her shadowed reflection revert to normalcy in the rippling movements of the glass. She placed a hand over her chest as she tried to calm her breathing down. With a bite of her lip, she moved in close again to check if her reflection would remain the same.

It was difficult to tell, but she couldn’t see a glow in her eyes. She bared her teeth to check if they were pointy, but everything looked the same. She must have allowed the dark to mess with her vision.

With a shake of her head, she turned around in the opposite direction and left the little room. Zalli still was not sure what she should look for, but she hoped she would at least sense something internally as an indicator.

So far, all she felt was emptiness and fear.

She released a sigh through her nose. She ran her hand along the wall again, combined with adjacent furniture, until she found herself at the entrance of the living room. Zalli stood there for some time before she walked around the couch and coffee table. She found nothing stood out there.

She headed towards the kitchen, where some moonlight seeped in from the sink window. All the other windows had their curtains pulled close.

With no notion in mind, she followed it and placed her hands on the counter. As she looked out, she studied the aftermath of the fire. A heaviness fell on her heart. A battle grew within her.

She wanted to shed tears from looking at the disaster. But every time she felt like crying, a boiling heat would rise in her chest. It left Zalli in a struggle to find the right reaction.

She felt the deep loss of her hard work, but she also felt anger. Anger from it happening, but anger from crying over something that wasn’t even supposed to be real, even though it seemed real to her.

Zalli pushed herself away with a hard shove. It was irritating at how it appeared like mental gymnastics for her to make sense of the situation.

I need to focus on the task at hand. She continued her tour around her house after completing her thought. She walked around the dining table, dragging her hand along the back of the chairs. When she completed her loop, she blew out a forceful breath.

Just as what happened in the living room, she felt nothing in the kitchen. There was nothing reaching out to her. She decided to make her way back to her room, thinking all that she had done was for nothing. All she did was spook herself.

As she passed by the storage room, the maiden realized she almost forgot about it and entered there. The cold brought a shiver to her shoulders. She did her spin and used her hands to touch the shelves. She found nothing of consequence, yet again.

This time, she let out a loud groan. Zalli marched out of the room and went straight for the stairs. As she passed through the living room, she forgot about the coffee table and bumped her shin hard against the corner. She released an audible yelp and fell down to her side to brace her lower leg.

Pain radiated over where she hit it and caused her to cry. Tears ran down her face and her nose got stuffy. Her heart raced as she thought about how she hated everything in the current moment. She laid on the ground for a while. Her blonde hair covered her face, acting like a shield to the outside world.

Zalli took her time to calm down. Once her tears were subdued, she picked herself up and trudged back up the stairs. Her head hung low.

She still felt pain in her shin, but it wasn’t enough to cause her to limp. Once she was inside her room, she slumped against the side of her bed. Huizi was there, laying on top, waiting patiently for Zalli’s return.

The canine came over and licked the side of her owner’s face a few times with her tail smacking against the bedcovers. A small smile left Zalli as she reached a hand up to scratch her pet’s head.

Zalli thought she would sit there and think about nothing, but her mind acted contrary to her motivation. It forced her to think back to the dream she had with Cal. Heat washed over her face.

With eyes downcast, she wondered if the thought she had earlier was valid. If Cal was catching onto her, then he should have intervened by now. Analyzing his character, he was definitely one to involve himself and take charge of the situation, so it turned out in his favor.

If everything was under his control, then he would be aware she was awake right now and would be here to either dissuade her or place her in another slumber. But he wasn’t intervening right now. So maybe it was something else. Maybe it was her intuition reaching out to her to tell her something about him.

Maybe it was her intuition talking to her about how to deal with Yoltzin. Even though she shared a very intimate moment with him in the memory, her other self felt she should place an air of caution around him. Her other version simply overlooked his keen interest in her and the showroom.

She could blame the alcohol, but Zalli knew it was really because she found him hot. She shook her head and braced it on her fingertips as a heat rose in her face.

Still sitting on the floor, she re-positioned herself to sit cross-legged. A sense of strong confidence settled in her stomach as she confirmed why her other self made the decisions that she did.

When Zalli acknowledged it, a nugget of certainty appeared in her center. It was like the puzzle she was piecing together became clearer in resolution.

Whatever was in the showroom was the thing that Cal wanted from her at the start. The knowledge her brain had about the showroom must be what he was trying to extract from Zalli here.

Clarity smacked Zalli in the face. Maybe this was the darkness Tia Xilo—no Xilo was speaking of. She needed to see her inner darkness—to accept her inner thoughts and judgements—in order to see the light, which was the truth. She needed this acknowledgement and accountability of her behavior in order to remember.

She straightened her back and placed her arms in her lap. She was going to try her first strategy from earlier again, but this time allow the images to enter her brain freely. The young woman needed to see her inner thoughts rise, allow them to pass through, and accept them as they are.

Zalli was sure each time she did this, her memory of her true self would return. She just didn’t know where to start. A soft sigh escaped her.

Trying not to stress about it too much, she settled on starting with whatever thought appeared in her brain first. Which happened to be images of her kissing Cal.

Zalli tried not to enjoy it too much, but a satisfaction washed over her at remembering how good it felt. She wanted to ignore the feeling, but knew she couldn’t do that. It would go against her plan.

So, she sat there and enjoyed reliving how soft his lips were on her body. She brought her fingertips to her own lips at the memory. But no matter how good she felt with him, she was aware Cal was not someone she could trust. No, not Cal. Yoltzin.

She found him attractive, but he was also her enemy. Even if he showed helpfulness here in this dream world, her intuition was telling her he moved with an ulterior motive. Another feeling of confidence settled inside her.

Along with this feeling, Zalli also felt like there were vibrations within her insides. It forced her to stand up and pace around for a bit as more of her memory returned.

Her eyes lit brightly as she remembered the rock she spoke of within her dream was actually a precious gemstone. It was valuable because ... of her town. Her town considered it with high regard because of the history behind it.

But she was not sure why Yoltzin was after it. It certainly had a lot of value to it, but the mines nearby still had an abundance of the stone. Although, it would be an easy sell if he were to take it from her instead of the smaller gems that still needed to be extracted.

So, he was a thief looking for an easy plunder.

Zalli grimaced and sat back down with her eyes closed. She breathed in deeply and released it through her nose with a controlled exhale to think about her next thought.

Her farm. Her farm caught on fire. It didn’t matter; the farm was not real. But it still left her stomach clutching from remembering it. She could not care for her farm properly and uphold her duty to her family. Her family that was not even real.

Her abuela, her tía, her sister. They were not who they say they were. Or, they were not the actual roles that they were given here. They were ...

They were the fairies she saved a long time ago. Fairies she had befriended. Huizi approached Zalli and nudged Zalli’s head. It was as if her pet was confirming her thought process. Zalli continued on with a shake in her shoulders to settle into her position more.

They were fairies that gave her powers for rescuing Tepi and bringing her back to health. Zalli clenched her hands into fists. Powers like heightened strength, like the strength she has now. And there were other ones too. Two more, to be exact, but she was not sure what they were.

She thought on the strength she used to push the men away, which directed her to think about the fire—which was not her fault. It was out of her control. If anything, Yoltzin caused it to probably stir up trouble and direct her into his arms.

That thought did not settle well within Zalli. Like her mind was saying, that was not true. The surprise he had that night was genuine. Which meant her mind acted on her own.

Why would I do that to myself? Zalli opened her eyes with scrunched eyebrows as she questioned herself. She hugged her arms and adjusted her legs to cross the other way. Then she closed her eyes again and continued on. Her arms lumbered back to her lap.

Her mind was ... it was warning her. It was alerting her about Necalli. Based on her memories from the real world, Necalli was someone she had to be careful about. From what she had seen before, he was someone that was clearly her opposition. There was never a policy they truly agreed on.

It was possible he could be after the stone too, as he always acted for selfish gain. That seemed to be unclear to Zalli, though.

She wished she could remember what the name of the stone was. Another sensation of confidence grew inside her, stronger than before. As she considered the identity of the stone, Zalli opened her eyes and spoke in a clear voice.

“Kyanite!”

Recalling everyone was still sleeping, she stared around with wide eyes to see if she had disturbed anyone. When no noise came from outside her room for a long period, she continued with her internal investigation.

Just as she was going to shut her eyes again, she looked down briefly to find her hands were glowing blue—the same blue as Xilo’s eyes. She jumped up and went to shake the glow off her. It was a futile attempt, considering how her body was the source of the light.

Her heart beat loudly in her chest as she was skeptical about what the phenomenon could mean. Zalli brought her hands close to her face to observe the soft light. She noted how she felt no unease or pain with the glow that was around her whole body. If anything, she felt a tranquility overcome her, and if she paid close attention, she swore she could smell fresh water, like from a river.

The sensation was familiar to her. She had felt it once in this world before, when she spoke to Yoltzin about not digging by her mother’s tree. But she also felt it from the other reality. It was when her friends had blessed her with her powers. Zalli was receiving her second power.

Chapter 18

Previous Episode: Zalli figures out the riddle Xilo gave her as she moves within darkness. Now: Zalli figures out how to navigate around her family.

Ren RogueRen Rogue

“Tooo seeee the liiiight, yoou ne-ne-ne-need t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-to se-see the daaaaark.”

With each word Tia Xilo croaked out, her head would twitch at a sharp angle. On the stuttering, her spasms would get out of control.

Zalli turned her head away and shut her eyes tight, hoping the action would save her. Her hands clenched as she dug her fingertips into the concrete behind her, leaving behind imprints.

What felt like minutes going by were actually seconds before Zalli opened her eyes again. She found the woman before her staring with a blank expression and her jaw hinged open. Then Tia Xilo turned around and sat back down on the couch.

Zalli stared at nothing in front of her with her chest heaving from her deep breaths. Huizi brought her head up and bumped into Zalli’s thigh. It caused her to remove her hands from the wall. It left one free hand for Huizi to scoot her head into the curvature of Zalli’s palm.

So. That didn’t really answer anything, Zalli thought to herself as she rubbed her dog’s head for comfort. Realizing there was nothing holding her hostage, she zipped upstairs to escape the creepy atmosphere her Tia Xilo left behind. She ran straight to her room.

Arriving at her door, the maiden stared at her doorknob with trepidation, but then shoved herself inside her room. Her door closed with a resolving click. Zalli stood in a stiff posture with arms by her side and her legs at a hip’s distance. It was like she was stuck in a weird limbo and could not even make sense of what she had just experienced.

Not being able to figure out what she should do to solve her problem, Zalli acted on impulse and spun in a circle twice. When no inspiration could reach her, she discovered long ago moving her body with no intention helped her to generate the gears that moved in her brain. After her final spin, her strategy worked, and a spark appeared in the front of her mind.

Zalli concluded that perhaps what her tía was saying was actually a riddle. Figuring out whatever the “light” was would be the answer she needed to know about her makeshift reality. But in order to reach the answer, she would need to overcome whatever the “dark” was.

So, her first task was to see the dark. Which was not physically possible, but maybe it was something not to take too literal.

Zalli took a step towards her bed with the plan to see the dark by closing her eyes. It was not true darkness, but it was a start for Zalli. As she neared her bed, she noticed the late afternoon light streaming in through the open curtains. She walked to her window and grabbed hold of the fabric before looking at her mirror.

Zalli took a moment of curiosity, then stepped to her mirror and tapped it as she did earlier in the day. She proved the claim she knew to be right—that the mirror would display the same behavior as it did before she left her room, much to her behest.

The maiden released a sigh, then pulled the curtains close with a rough tug. She hopped onto her cushioned bed, making a soft plop sound. Zalli closed her eyes and submerged herself in her rudimentary darkness. She slowed down her breathing and tried to think of nothing.

The way she thought was through images, and if she let her thoughts run wild, pictures would appear instead of the black canvas she was aiming for. It was a struggle for her to desist from her natural tendencies.

She pushed out a frustrated sigh before she fell back to lie in the comfy embrace that was her bed. Huizi had joined her some time ago, already sleeping at the end of the bed. Before Zalli knew it, she joined her companion in the slumber.

. . •⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅ . .

Zalli slipped an arm around her dance partner’s neck. She felt him bring his body close from behind as they swayed to the beat of the drums. He removed one of his hands from her hips to move her hair away from her neck. The moment she felt his hot breath on her exposed skin, Zalli knew what he was asking permission for.

The maiden tilted her head away from him to grant him better access. On the first kiss he placed on her shoulder, she let out a soft sigh. As he continued his kisses up her neck, Zalli bit her bottom lip and ran her fingers through the hair on the man’s nape.

Zalli didn’t care she did not know the identity of the man currently leaving a love bite atop her shoulder. It was a surprise to her as it went against her typical protocol of community administration.

Knowing the people in her designated district is expected of her from her job, but she surpassed that by familiarizing herself with most of the townspeople.

The council woman was even aware of the many strangers who passed through her town, either for the tourism or for visiting family. But as she snuck a peek at her dance partner, Zalli knew this was the first time she was seeing him tonight. Sure, she had seen glimpses of him as she danced by herself, but she did not see him earlier in the day during all the festival activities.

Yet, her drink from earlier made her think it didn’t really matter this man suddenly appeared from nowhere. If anything, she felt an exciting thrill run through her body.

Zalli turned around and wrapped both her arms around the man’s neck. She could get a better view of his face and concluded he was very handsome, with a dashing smile.

She brought her lips close to his, as if to go in for a kiss, but then stopped to rub the tip of her nose against his. The man released an attractive chuckle and Zalli saw he held mirth in his sapphire blue eyes.

He didn’t move his head forward to complete the expected kiss; he only continued their swaying and waited to see what she would do next.

Zalli hesitated. She was about to think against the idea. But when she glanced at his eyes again, she saw what look like pleading, which spurred her to move in. She crashed her lips against his.

They molded their lips to each other and got lost in a tight embrace. The man ran the tip of his tongue along the outline of Zalli’s lips, seeking entrance, which she gladly gave.

In an instant, she pulled away. The maiden remembered how she was a known community figure surrounded by her constituents. Usually at these social functions, behavior like what she displayed at this hour was not frowned upon, but Zalli still felt too self-aware.

She brought her lips to the man’s ear, ignoring his furrowed brows.

“My place is nearby. Do you want to come over?”

Once she finished whispering in his ear, the confusion he held in his expression left and transformed into excitement. He nodded, then pulled her in for a last kiss before she grabbed his hand and led him to her home.

The walk to her house was not too far away.

Yet, every so often, the man would pull Zalli into him for a longing kiss. She would giggle or smile after each time they intertwined. When they pushed themselves out of the crowd, Zalli increased her pace in the open space. She had a growing inability to wait.

Her breathing became harder to manage from their kisses.

Some time passed before they could reach Zalli’s street. She pulled her lover along to reach her door faster. She made sure not to pull with too much force, though. If she was not careful, she could hurt his arm.

The maiden pulled her keys out of her bag as they arrived at her home. She placed her hand on the door before she inserted her key into its designated hole. To the man, it looked like she was bracing herself for balance. But Zalli had to subdue the hidden security she placed on the door before she left for the fería earlier in the day.

As she turned the handle, Zalli felt a strong heat behind her. It caused her to halt her movements and look over her shoulder with a marginal glance.

Cal stood close to her and looked down. He had a hand up to touch her, but he only hovered around her arm. It triggered the hairs on her arms to tingle from the slight tickle.

Not wanting to stay like a deer caught in headlights, the maiden pushed the door open and stepped into the foyer. Her lover followed behind her and gave her time to lock the door properly before seizing her into his arms.

He raked one hand up her hair to latch it at her crown, while the other arm cocooned around her waist. He took her bottom lip between his teeth before suckling it. It left Zalli feeling like her body was sizzling in the anticipation.

The man flipped her around and walked her backwards until her back hit a wall. He took his lips away from hers to kiss down her throat. As Zalli’s hands moved up to squeeze his biceps, he rasped out to her a question.

“Where’s your room?”

Zalli fluttered her eyelids open. She spoke in a heated voice.

“Oh, it’s here to the right.” She pressed him backwards and indicated with her head where they should go. “Let me just check the lock over here.”

Zalli moved in the opposite direction and walked over to a set of double doors. When she placed one hand on a handle and the other hovering in front of the wooden door, she heard him speak from where she left him.

“What’s in there?”

She pressed on the door and felt the energy remained strong, just as she left it. Then she turned around and responded in a cheeky tone.

“A, uh showroom.”

She softened her gaze and smiled in his direction.

“For what?”

Zalli strutted to stand in front of the man and placed her palms to rest on his solid chest.

“Just a relic. It’s really just an old rock.”

“You into rocks?”

A giggle escaped Zalli before she got on her tiptoes and grabbed a hold of his face to kiss him with a delicate press.

“The only rock I’m into right now is you.”

The man furrowed his brow and had his mouth ajar.

“I’m ... a rock?”

A blush crept onto Zalli’s as she realized what she said was nonsensical. She brought her gaze down, but raised her hands to grip his arms and shoulders as she spoke.

“Well, yeah. Your body is like rock hard.”

He brought the corner of his lips up. Then he grabbed her chin between his index finger and thumb. The kiss he gave her was tender and sweet. It differed from the other ones he had given her so far. It left her with butterflies in her stomach.

When he pulled away, Zalli grabbed his hand and brought him into a narrow hallway where they left their shoes. She led him to the end of the hall, to where her bedroom was. Before she knew it, they were laying on her bed with him on top of her.

He placed his hands on either side of her head and kissed her with a stronger fervor. Her lover brought his elbows down to get into a more comfortable position and prodded Zalli’s lips with the tip of his tongue.

Zalli opened her mouth and swirled her tongue with his. She brought her hands down to pull his tucked shirt out of his pleated pants. Then, she caressed his exposed skin before grabbing the ends and lifted the polo shirt up his body.

The handsome man stood on his knees and crossed his arms to finish taking off his shirt. As he threw the garment to a random corner of the room, a thought entered Zalli’s head, which she blurted out.

“Hey, what’s your name?”

Though his figure was thin, the man bore an athletic frame. Zalli, distracted by his toned abs, placed her hands on his stomach while she waited for his reply.

“I go by Cal.”

“Mmm, Cal.”

Warmth spread across Zalli’s chest. She sat up and moved to take off her strapless blouse, but Cal stopped her to continue the action.

“My name is—”

“Aurozalli.”

He spoke in a calm tone. It threw Zalli off.

“How-how do you know that?”

He threw her blouse in the same direction as his shirt and then began working on unzipping her floral skirt.

“You’re the famous council member that calls all the shots around here.”

He threw the long skirt away without a care. Cal then brought his lips to the side of Zalli’s neck. Which each kiss he left there, he appeased her to lie back down.

“Oh, I don’t know about that.”

“Really? That’s what one of your esteemed peers had said. Although ... he seemed disgruntled when saying that.”

He bit into Zalli’s flesh to leave a love bite. Cal stayed there for a while, interchanging from sucking to kissing the same spot.

“Hah. Let me guess. You spoke to Council Member Ozoma.”

“Don’t know. Didn’t really care to know what he was saying other than he was talking about you.”

(If interested, please read full NSFW scene on my patreon - Patreon.com/RenRogue)

“It must have been him. Which is funny, considering everything.”

“Mmm.”

“By the way. You can call me Zalli.”

He got back on the bed and moved her up to lay her on the pillows.

“Zalli. Your name sounds as pretty as you smell.”

Zalli fell completely backwards. Her blonde hair splayed around her like a veil.

“And what do I smell like to you?”

When she detected no further movement, Zalli adjusted herself to find he was waiting for her to make direct eye contact with him for his response.

“Like a rose.”

So he had noticed her perfume, as that was her preferred floral scent.

Cal smiled at Zalli and moved in to kiss her. When he pulled back to look at her, Zalli saw adoration in his eyes and a blush appeared on her cheeks. His hand moved to pet her hair.

The moment Zalli turned her gaze away to follow his arm, darkness appeared, and she was left feeling like she was floating in space.

Chapter 17

Previous Episode: Zalli tries to solve the riddle and fails by falling asleep to only dream about Cal. Now: Zalli investigates her dark house at night. By herself, she tries to see if she can answer the riddle left by Xilo.

Ren RogueRen Rogue

Zalli woke up in the same position she fell asleep in—knees close to her chest and hands tucked underneath her chin. She was stagnant the whole night and morning while everyone else around her continued on.

The farmer did wake up a few times throughout her slumber. Her family would come check up on her, and she would dismiss them with a false placation of her well-being. Once, she heard Yoltzin’s voice rise from downstairs, asking about her well-being. Zalli wanted to greet and placate Yoltzin in person, but she stayed in her warm bed instead.

It was not until her room held an unbearable heat from the afternoon sun that Zalli finally pushed the covers away from her body. She splayed herself across her bed before lifting herself up to a standing position.

Zalli then walked around her bed to reach the mirror she had placed next to her nightstand. She had not thought to look at herself until after she stood, which left her with poor foresight and extra steps she had to take.

Little light seeped in from the windows she had over her bed and next to her mirror. Her curtains were thick enough to leave her room shrouded in darkness to keep it as cool as it can be from the summer’s heat. But light still always sneaked in to offer enough visibility for Zalli to navigate throughout her room without bumping into too much of her furniture.

Zalli analyzed the form she saw in the mirror’s reflection. She saw a woman slumped in her posture wearing a wrinkled dress and sporting mussed up hair. Though she slept for about a half day’s length, she still carried dark circles underneath her eyes.

As Zalli stared at herself, she clenched her jaw and tightened her eyes. In her haste, she ripped her dress off and threw the garment in an unknown direction. The maiden moved in closer to examine her eyes. While she pulled her skin taught—knowing it would not do anything to help—a glimmer of pink caught her attention.

Zalli brought her face closer to the mirror and found her blue highlights that framed her face were now a pink hue. She raised her fingers up to grab a strand to bring it closer to her eyesight.

When Zalli looked down in her grasp, she saw the usual blue she was used to, but when she looked at it in the mirror, it was clearly pink. She rubbed her eyes, thinking it would help with her vision. As she looked in the mirror, it did not.

Speaking to no one in particular, Zalli spoke her first words of the day.

“What-the actual-crap.”

The cadence of her sentence took a rhythmic beat in its delivery, coming out more as a sentence than as a question.

Zalli’s mouth fell open slightly as her eyebrows came in close to each other in her concentration.

She moved in closer again, not really sure it would change what she saw in front of her, but then had to jump back in quick succession once she made contact with her reflection. When her nose touched the reflective glass, it did not meet a solid surface.

It felt to Zalli as if she dipped her nose in cool water. And if that was not strange enough, she saw there were ripples emitting from the point where her nose dipped past the surface.

The maiden’s heartbeat increased to a rapid pace and her stomach held a tightness as she processed the weird physics displayed in front of her.

Zalli walked away from her reflection and made it to her desk before she halted her retreat. Considering all the oddities that have been appearing in her life thus far, she needed to make sure what she experienced right now actually happened and was not a trick of her mind.

She pulled the curtain to the side of her open, not caring about her current state of undress. Light poured in like a gushing river; it blinded Zalli for a moment before she blinked her sight back to its normal threshold.

She inhaled a comforting breath, then moved forward to stand close to the mirror again. She brought a shaky hand up and slowly placed it a hair’s distance away from its reflection. Zalli paused her action as she let doubt creep into her thought process.

Huizi’s barking from outside spurred Zalli to move in. Once Zalli tapped the glass, she felt the cooling sensation again and saw the ripples move from the contact. She took a leap backwards; she knew what could happen, but she was still not ready for the reality of it.

On Zalli’s third touch, she brought the same finger up to dip the whole digit in, but found she could not go past more than a millimeter. She tilted her head to the side and narrowed her eyes. The maiden pushed harder on the next attempt, but it only gave her the same results—a fluctuation of her image. It moved like jello until it settled into its stillness once more.

Zalli pulled away. She flipped around at a complete half turn and brought her head down to bury it in her hands. She navigated herself around her desk and placed herself at the foot of her bed. The maiden released a guttural groan, then looked up to find Tepi staring at her from the doorway.

Her little sister held a wide smile that somehow reached each end of her face and displayed all of her teeth. Her eyes were wide and round, and she raised her eyebrows up to their highest point.

Zalli took a quick glance away; the fluttering feeling in her stomach made it hard for her to hold her attention on Tepi. When she returned her gaze to her sibling, the original smile Tepi bore had resolved into the usual soft smile she wore when she tried to comfort Zalli. The rest of her expression eased back to normalcy as she spoke.

“You’re up! That’s good.”

Zalli moved to wrap her arms around her midsection. She was not uncomfortable with being near naked in front of her little sister—many times had they bathed with each other when they were younger—but she felt the need to shelter herself from her.

The maiden cleared her throat, then spoke in a firm voice.

“Yes. I got hungry.”

“Great! Abue made tacos for lunch. We already finished eating, but it’s still fresh enough for you to eat, if you eat it right now.”

Tepi took a few steps in, but halted when she noticed Zalli moved away from her. The younger sibling chewed on her lip, but determined her sister must still need space. She tried not to take the action to heart.

“Okay. I’ll be down.”

Tepi nodded at an unhurried pace, then turned around to leave Zalli alone. She sent a small smile in Zalli’s direction when she twisted to grab the doorknob from behind her. Zalli returned her own polite one, then Tepi left her unaccompanied once again.

A shiver ran down her spine. She spoke out loud, talking to no one.

“I’m either going crazy, or ... that thing is right, and I am dreaming.”

Zalli pressed her lips together and pulled the corners taught. With no resolution in sight, she moved to dress herself rather than drown in the unsettling feeling of the unknown that could develop into a dull headache.

The maiden came downstairs wearing jeans and a simple top. She padded her way to the restroom, taking notice of how there was an eerie silence in the surrounding area. Zalli avoided looking at herself in the mirror as she freshened up.

When she stepped into the living room, she saw Tia Xilo sitting in her usual spot on the couch while she embroidered. Her tía had her head bent over, invested in her work, which Zalli thought she could take advantage of to sneak by the woman.

Zalli tip toed to the kitchen, not knowing how successful her task would be. Even though Tia Xilo sat facing the television and could see Zalli out of the corner of her eye, there was a high chance she could move undetected considering the focus margin of her tía.

It was not enough, though, as Zalli heard her tía’s voice from behind her just as she was about to round the corner to move past the storage room.

“Hola, Zalli.”

The maiden cringed at being caught with her shoulders raised to her ears.

“Buenos días, Tia Xilo.”

“Buenos tardes.”

Zalli blinked a few times. She knew her tía was only correcting her considering the time of day, but the tone she carried was odd.

“Oh, right. Buenos tardes.”

The tone sounded to Zalli like her tía was on autopilot; it was cheery yet over-exaggerated in inflection.

Once Zalli heard a hum left her tía, Zalli knew that was her dismissal and zipped to the kitchen. She found it empty, which she was thankful for. When she walked past the back door, she heard scratching from the other side, and knew it was Huizi requesting entrance. She opened the door and let her dog in.

Then, the maiden moved past the sink and stove to sit at the dining table with her back turned to the windows. Huizi followed behind and placed herself next to her owner, laying down by her side.

The afternoon lunch was left out for Zalli in multiple small dishes, along with a plate that was placed in her usual seat. She stood up to reach over and bring the plate in front of herself.

As Zalli grabbed three tacos and situated them on her platter, her thoughts began to race. Her need to problem solve and understand situations took over, even though she felt exhausted to think about anything at all.

In her thinking roadmap, Zalli wondered about the validity of Green Tepi. There were two explanations she thought made the most sense when it came to that entity. She scooped some cheese and sour cream into each of her tacos as she battled between deliberating if either Green Tepi was right and she was dreaming, or if the stress of the past month made Zalli hallucinate the supernatural thing.

Considering how it has affected real Tepi—maybe real Tepi, a loud thought from Zalli escaped her—then the thing must be assumed real, for now. Yet, that did not mean she had to completely trust its word. It could be an evil creature, and Zalli would not know it.

She placed a spoonful of chile in each of her tacos, and considered that might not be the case, though. So far, it has shown no malignant intentions, and it has been honest in all things it has said—even if it does not have the best memory. Plus, Zalli felt a weird sort of calm around it; no sense of unease the more she spoke to it.

So, she was dreaming—maybe.

Zalli moved to grab some lettuce and tomatoes for her crunchy tacos. Her next contemplation brought more validity to the dream claim. She looked back at all the odd instances she had come across thus far.

In the most recent, her mirror did the weird physics-jello-thing, which still unnerved Zalli as she thought about it. Sometimes her family felt uncanny in either the words they spoke or the behaviors they displayed. To Zalli, they seemed familiar, yet unusually out of place as well.

If she thought about her memories, it made her brain activity buzz from the juxtaposition; she would see them as hazy whenever she tried to remember them, but her dreams were clear images, and easy to recollect. As far as Zalli knew, it was supposed to be the other way around.

The maiden scooped arroz rojo and frijoles onto her plate to complete her meal. A musing entered her mind, which stumped her.

At some point, she had gained a huge amount of strength.

During the fight last night, she should not have been able to push those two grown men as far back as she did. And her doorknob she had crushed last night—that was made of metal. Yet, she crumpled and crushed it away from its original shape as if it were aluminum foil, not a dense brass alloy.

I should test my strength to see how strong I am, Zalli thought as she took her first bite. Her eyes closed in satisfaction at the wonderful flavors mixing in her mouth. On top of that, the texture was perfect—crunchy on the outer edges, but soft in the center.

Freshly fried tacos are the best.

Zalli let the distracting thought run through her mind before she focused again on her strange predicament.

As she chewed, she wondered who was the supposed dream weaver. The obvious thought went to Necalli, considering how he sabotaged her farm last night ... well, her fake farm. She guessed that dilemma did not matter anymore.

Yet her heart still tightened at the thought of it. Tears brimmed her eyes, which caused Zalli to bite her lip hard—an attempt to stop a sob from escaping.

Zalli wiped the moisture away in a rough measure. She stuffed the last of her taco and shoved a spoonful of her arroz and frijoles into her mouth. Her cheeks were full to their capacity.

All of Zalli’s focus went to her chomping. Her move to distract herself was a success.

Zalli grabbed her second taco. She thought whether one of her family members was the dream weaver, but concluded that was the least likely. Even though they had displayed strange behavior before, their presence was always one of comfort.

Of course, there was the possibility that it was only a deceptive pretense. Zalli figured she should only make note of it and not consider it as a lead.

She wiped her mouth with a cloth napkin after she finished her second taco. A clarity hit her, which caused her to pause midway in bringing her last taco to her mouth.

Why didn’t I think of him before?

The last person who could be the dream weaver was Yoltzin. There was something here he was after, and out of everyone, he was considered as the newcomer. When it came to her dream interactions, Zalli noticed she only dreamt of him in dreaming about this place. Her other dreams all occurred in a different location.

Am I actually dreaming?

The taco from Zalli’s hand fell to her plate with a soft clunk. Her gaze became blank while her vision caved in on the sides with a black shadow. She flared her nostrils and blinked rapidly, trying to remove the shadow away, but it returned to shroud her vision.

Zalli swore she heard her name being called out, but it sounded fuzzy and displaced. It was not until something warm placed itself on her lap that she could snap herself out of her engrossment of nothing.

The maiden looked down and saw Huizi had placed her head on her lap. She smiled and gave her an adoring rub before speaking to her canine companion.

“Hey there, preciosa.”

“Zalli!”

Startled with a racing heart, she brought her head up and looked around the kitchen with erratic movements. Snapping her head to the back door, she found her abuela standing there with eyebrows drawn together. The matriarch had her lips pressed together and her hands steadily placed on her hips. She took a small step towards Zalli, but then stopped in a decision against getting closer to her nieta. She thought the woman before her might still need space, but continued in asking her if she was doing alright.

“Zalli, I’ve been calling out to you for the past minute. Is everything okay?”

“Uh, yeah ... yeah. I was just lost in thought.”

“Dios mío, you scared me, though. If Huizi had not gotten you to move, I was about to run over there and shake you awake.”

The maiden looked down at her plate and brought a spoon of food to her mouth. She was riddled with emotions, as her chest tightened at the thought of upsetting her abuela.

Even though she knew she was not getting scolded, she had no energy to discern the distinction and allowed guilt into her body. She cleared her throat before she responded to Abuela Ezi.

“Lo siento ... I just-I think-well ... I’m done eating.”

Zalli’s fingers tapped on her thigh in fast succession as she wiped her mouth clean. Her abuela stood in an awkward stance as she watched Zalli get up to wash her hands in the sink.

When Zalli turned back to the table to clean the mess, Abuela Ezi placed a gentle hand on her shoulder to stop her and spoke in an affectionate tone.

“No te preocupes, mija. I will clear the table. Go rest. No working for you today.”

Zalli turned her head to the side and nodded in agreement. She moved her body around, avoiding facing her abuela, and left the kitchen with her head hanging low.

Huizi stayed close to Zalli’s side, but stopped in front of Ezi. Her tail had hung low, with a slight curvature at its end. The canine turned her head to look at the older woman, which caused the matriarch to speak to her.

“Vayase. Make sure she’s not alone the rest of the day.”

Once Huizi received her task, she brought her tail up at full attention. There was a slight waggle in the appendage as she trotted to catch up to her owner.

When Huizi found herself next to her mistress, they were both passing through the living room. Zalli was trying to remember her last thought before her abuela entered the kitchen. Nothing came to her mind, though, and she felt her head hurt from the inability to summon the last part of her analysis.

Just as they were about to enter the foyer, Zalli halted at a sudden intercepting thought. Huizi circled around her with her tail swaying from side to side, curious to know what her owner was thinking.

Zalli turned her body to face her tía. In a hesitant voice, she called out to her.

“Tia Xilo?” Her tía’s head remained looking down as she worked on her project. Even though she did not respond to Zalli, the maiden continued in her query. “What did you mean yesterday when you said ‘to see the light, you need to see the dark’?”

Her tía’s head snapped up, and her posture straightened in an instant. Zalli remained standing behind her, not sure how to proceed. She only crossed her arms and opened her mouth to speak again, but was interrupted by the strange display of behavior she saw her tía display.

Tia Xilo’s head twitched to one side in repetition. Every so often, it would shake at a fast pace.

“Uh, Tia Xilo?”

The moment Zalli called out to her again, her tía stood up at a rapid pace, with her project falling to the ground with a thud. She stayed facing the television as she moved around the couch and walked backwards to Zalli at an identical fast speed. Her head didn’t stop twitching and shaking as she moved with a rigid motion.

Once Zalli realized her tía advanced in her direction, her stomach tightened and she walked backwards herself. She moved until her back hit the wall and she was standing at the foot of the staircase.

In that short time, her tía had reached her at about an arm’s length away. Her head did not stop moving in its strange manner.

Zalli placed her palms on the wall to brace herself when Tia Xilo first turned her shoulders around, now at a slower pace. Huizi was next to her, barking as if to wake her tía, but no sound came from the canine.

Once her tía’s head followed behind her body, and Zalli saw her face, she widened her eyes at the sight.

Her tía’s scleras glowed an aquamarine blue and held no irises or pupils. Her face was pale, and the smile she held carried no mirth or soul behind it. She creaked her mouth wide open and remained unmoving.

Zalli tried to turn her head away, but she couldn’t seem to break the spell her body was under. So, she remained staring in horrid amazement as the person, or thing, heaved using its full body. It heaved and heaved until finally, something came out of its mouth.

Chapter 16

Previous Episode: Zalli discovers that maybe her reality was not what she originally thought it to be. Now: Will Zalli be able to solve the riddle her Tia Xilo left her?

Ren RogueRen Rogue

Zalli sat on the bench in front of her house. She hugged her arms in a tight hold and she crossed her legs. She moved her foot in a continuous tempo and she tilted her head down. The farmer held a blank expression as she carried a vacant look while she stared straight ahead into nothing.

Her family had yet to return home. Zalli was unsure if she should make a phone call to someone, or if she should just wait for them to arrive so she could deliver the terrible news in person. Even if she made a phone call, she was unsure who that person would be.

Not a lot of her neighbors carried a personal phone like Yoltzin did—the need to share urgent enough news was never a thing here in her town. The general preference was to either make a call to a house phone, or to talk to the person face-to-face. So, she settled on waiting for her family members to return home to tell them.

Yoltzin stayed with the firefighters in the back. When Zalli left the group, the fire was almost put out. She did not see the need to stay, seeing how she had little energy to continue watching, anyway. When she left, Yoltzin told her he would update the officials about Necalli and the whole situation.

As the night continued to move in its course, Zalli stayed still in her position. Unmoving and unfeeling. She heard footsteps approach, but even that did not spur her to react.

The scent of smoke filled Zalli’s nostrils as Yoltzin sat next to her. Yet, she ignored it like how she ignored the firefighters getting into their truck as they passed by her. One tried to approach Zalli to notify her of their departure, But Yoltzin waved her off. She gave a nod of understanding, and before Zalli knew, everyone had left the farm except for her and the CEO.

Their silence filled the air and combined with the sounds of nature that typically surrounded Zalli’s home. The grasshoppers chirped, and a raven croaked with a blaring sound. A wolf howled at a faraway distance. It made Zalli grimace. She did not like how the world around her had seemed to already move on while she just had something devastating happen to her.

Yoltzin opened his mouth to speak. He had sat next to Zalli, thinking of how best to console her. He was able to put together a sentimental speech with well thought out words, and something to display his sympathy for her. The CEO never got to say it, though, because the moment he uttered a noise to begin his first sentence, Zalli bawled.

She dropped her head into her hands and hunched over as heavy tears left her eyes.

Yoltzin stiffened in his posture, taken aback by the sudden burst of emotion. Though he understood Zalli’s reaction. A pained look appeared in his expression as he heard Zalli sob next to him. He reached an arm out to hug the maiden, but hesitated. He did not know if he would cross a boundary and do something Zalli would be against.

As he continued to hear her cry, he decided to take a risk and went in for the hug. He held her in a tight hold in his arms as she shook with her tears. Zalli clutched onto him and held him as if she would slip if she were to let go.

They sat together like that for a while. The surrounding noise continued with their symphony. Zalli held the melody with her cries as Yoltzin existed as nothing more than the audience, listening to it all.

When Zalli’s cries turned into a soft whimper, Yoltzin asked her with a gentle voice if she wanted to go inside. She nodded with a slow movement, then stood at the same rate.

She kept her face down. Zalli knew her face looked like a wreck. Whenever she cried like this, her eyes and nose became red and puffy, and snot would leak out against her will. She did not want Yoltzin to look at her while she was in this state. She used the sleeve of her blouse to clean up the mess that was her face. It helped somewhat, but she still made sure to look away from him, just in case.

The pair made it to the staircase when Zalli came to a stop. She told him she could continue from here on her own. Yoltzin took a step back to give her some space. He said he would find her family and he would tell them what happened, so she would not have to. He told her to rest, and that he would return in the morning to check up on her.

With all the actions he took in this night, Zalli took her own risk, and she looked at him to speak.

“Thank you.”

She wanted to express her gratitude with as much honesty as she could, given her state. Even with her low energy and sad look, Yoltzin knew what she attempted to convey. He gave her a small smile and watched as she went up the stairs in a slump. He didn’t leave until he saw Zalli turn from his sight at the top of the stairs.

As Zalli entered the hallway she shared with Tepi at a languid pace, she heard the front door shut with a small thud. Yoltzin had left, and she was now all by herself in her home.

The farmer’s head hung low. She passed by Tepi’s door to reach her room, but shuddered with an icy chill. Zalli did not stop until she was in front of her bedroom door with her hand on the circular handle.

She paused at a curious thought.

The disastrous luck she had so far started around the same time Tepi got her terrible insomnia. Tepi’s insomnia was caused by the green entity living in her room. When Zalli confronted the thing, Tepi’s sleep schedule improved. That must mean if Zalli confronted the thing again, then her situation should get better, too.

The maiden did not eradicate Green Tepi when they interacted with each other the last time. All she did was redirect its attention since it wanted to speak with her, anyway.

If she got rid of it now, then everything should get better. And if that statement holds true, then everything that has happened so far was caused by the green entity.

So, it was all its fault.

Zalli inhaled a rough breath and clamped the doorknob in a forceful hold. She stood up to her full height and felt a sudden rush of energy run through her. When she turned to march towards Tepi’s room, she left the doorknob in an odd shape; no longer was it in its circular form, but it was caved in at odd angles as if it were a crumpled ball of paper.

Moving with no need for decorum, Zalli opened the door at a full swing. It slammed against the wall, causing the walls to reverberate.

She found the room empty and dark. Zalli took a step in and brought a hand up to search for the light switch on the wall.

She could not find it fast enough, so she gave up without further thought, and entered Tepi’s room in stride. The maiden stood in the center, just as she did the last time. As she waited for something to happen, she changed her posture from crossing her arms, to placing her hands on her hips, then to pacing around before she exclaimed out to the green entity.

“I’m here! I know you want to talk to me! Where are you?” Silence responded to Zalli, causing her to stop her pacing. Instead, she returned to crossing her arms along with tapping her foot at a rapid beat. “Come out, now.”

“Hello, Zalli.”

A serene voice appeared behind the farmer. Zalli pressed her elbows in at the sudden noise in the otherwise silent environment. She turned at a blinking pace and came across Green Tepi, glowing just as it did before.

The entity bore a relaxed appearance with its hands held behind its back. Zalli narrowed her eyes at the sight. Then she spoke to Green Tepi in a clipped tone.

“Why are you still here?”

Green Tepi raised one eyebrow up before she took a steeling breath to respond.

“Well. I need to talk to you. You forced me to go away last time, and you never came back yesterday to talk.”

“If we speak, will you leave?”

It turned its head to the side and spoke in a soft tone.

“Will I leave ... I am not sure. All I know is that I need to tell you something very important. The thing is ... I have been so focused on thinking about telling you the thing, I forgot ... what the thing was.”

Zalli brought her hand up to massage her temples. She looked down and spoke with bitterness in her voice.

“Qué maldicion. Are you serious?”

Green Tepi took a step back with a flushed face. She walked over to Tepi’s bed and sat on it with a plop. It held its back straight, but held its elbows for comfort while it crossed its arms.

“I have been in this form for a long time! I couldn’t leave to find you, and my doppelgänger was of no help! All she did was stare at me for long periods of time. It was very creepy.”

A shudder came from it as it made an uncomfortable expression.

“... Doppelgänger? What are you talking about? You are the doppelgänger.”

Zalli brought an accusing finger up to designate to the entity that it was wrong.

“No, no, no. I am me.” Green Tepi brought her hand up and placed her fingertips on her chest to demonstrate the point. “The thing you call sister is nothing but a-uh, weird shell that looks like me. It might act like me, but inside it has no substance.”

“You’re confused. You are the thing with no substance. Quite literally. You are see-through.”

It moved its hands away and curved its back to get a good view of its transparent form.

“Well-that’s-that’s because I was forced into a limiting form. I am only like this because ... because ...”

“This is so useless. You should just disappear.” Zalli used her raised hand to wave it around. “I think you’ve fulfilled your purpose, anyway. You’ve spoken to me, so now you can go.”

“Uh, no. I still need to tell you that something that’s important ... which I can’t remember. Because of the form I’m in. That I was forced into!” Green Tepi stood up at a hasty pace and walked in front of Zalli. “And I’m in this form because. Because ...”

The maiden rolled her eyes with her head turning, following the direction of her eyesight. At seeing the attitude she was giving, the entity bared its teeth before it reached out to grab Zalli by her shoulders. It only meant to shake some sense into the woman, but the contact brought an electrifying feeling between the two.

It forced Green Tepi to rip her hands off Zalli, but it also gave her a sudden clarity in thought.

“Because, Zalli! You’re dreaming!”

The farmer blinked her eyelids at a rapid pace as she processed what the entity had just said.

“I’m. Dreaming?”

“Yes, you’re trapped in your own dream right now. Well, actually it’s a dream within a dream. If my memory is finally returning to me, I had to reach you ... twice.” Green Tepi grabbed hold of her jaw and looked down. It shifted through its fuzzy memories before settling on its conclusion. “Yes, it took me two tries to find you, each in a different state of existing.”

Zalli walked backwards until she hit the dresser with Tepi’s radio on it. She shook her head and did not want to accept what the supernatural thing before her was proclaiming.

“No way am I dreaming. This all feels too real. I can literally remember everything. Like my childhood. The precious moments I have made with family and friends. That cannot be made up.”

She brought both hands up to hold her face until she dragged them down; she clenched her skin with her fingertips as if she were checking what she felt was real.

“Well, actually, a dream weaver can fabricate anything to make you believe what you’re experiencing is real. They have to in order to trick you for what they want.”

Zalli had a dazed look on her face as she looked up and stared through Green Tepi.

“Dream weaver?”

“Yes, dream weaver.” Green Tepi took a careful step forward, not wanting to scare Zalli, considering the confused state she bore. “Whoever that person is, they are the reason you are stuck here. I know who it is, but the image is not coming to mind. Again. I was too hell-bent on reaching you. It’s harder to control yourself as you go deeper into the levels of dreams.”

“Uh-huh.”

The entity moved closer to Zalli, then had an idea spring into her mind.

“Maybe I can remember who it is by touching you again!”

It brought its hand up and moved in at a faster pace. It was excited to finally get answers after being in a confused haze for such a long time, and its need to know more took over its body.

Zalli was quick to move out of the way and dodged its lunge forward.

“Don’t, don’t touch me again. I need—I need time to think.” Zalli tensed her fingers, not sure what to do with her body. The farmer took one step closer to the door and turned to leave, but then faced Green Tepi again. “If you have done all that you need to do here, leave me and my family alone. Your purpose is complete, right?”

The entity shrugged its shoulders with its palms facing upwards and its lips pressed together. It said nothing else. It only stared at Zalli as she walked away from it.

Zalli moved at a fast pace, eager to leave the situation. She entered her room with a loud thud and a heaving chest. She rested her back on the door as she tried to calm down. But then she thought about the fire and everything else that happened after that. The craziness and chaos of the night caused her to burst into a loud sob and she flung herself onto her bed.

Large tears ran down her face. Knowing she was home alone, not counting the entity as someone, she did not subdue the loud wails that left her body. She crawled underneath her blanket and curled into herself.

Her boots were long gone, taken off before she went up the stairs. Zalli did not move to get into her sleepwear, though. She had no energy to change or even properly do her night routine.

When her tears quieted down, and was finally easing into a soft slumber, the maiden heard low voices come from downstairs. It seemed her family had returned, although Zalli was unsure how much time had passed since the incident. She thought about going downstairs to discuss with her family about the fire and Necalli, but then she heard the tenor voice of Yoltzin.

He was able to fulfill his promise to her.

Cal has it under control, was the last thing Zalli thought before she felt her eyelids flutter shut. Exhaustion overtook the maiden, and she fell into a deep sleep.

Zalli’s dreams that night moved in quick succession. One scene after another would come at her at a neck-breaking pace. Her brain conjured up images of her in a council room speaking at a podium, of her voting against Necalli in his proposal, and of her sitting with a community member as they spoke to her about a civil issue they were experiencing.

Then, Zalli saw her interactions with the three fairies she helped before. This time, their faces were clear, and she identified each fairy as her family members. Tepi was the green fairy who had endless energy after Zalli nursed her back to health. Xilo was the blue fairy she allowed to boss her around. According to her, Zalli needed to harmonize her home better for a complete balance of energies. Ezi was the yellow fairy who gave her wise advice whenever Zalli came across a troublesome issue within a policy.

The last thing the maiden saw was her mother’s face. But the setting her mother was in was different compared to the rest of her dream. While the images Zalli had seen were distinct and detailed, she could only see her mother standing next to her roble tree surrounded by a grey fog.

It was like they were the only two things to exist in the space. Not even Zalli felt she could see her own self. It felt to Zalli she was merely watching a movie scene as an audience member.

Zalli tried to speak to her mother, but no sound left from her form. She could only observe as her mother looked at the tree with a calm expression. Zalli opened her mouth again, attempting to speak; her mother then turned her head, fixing Zalli with a stern expression. She did not remove her two hands from the trunk of the tree, but she spoke to Zalli in a booming voice.

“Don’t let him get the gemstone.”

“Who? Who should I not let get the gemstone?”

Before Zalli could receive an answer about who her mother was talking about, her mother and the tree disappeared and everything went black.

Chapter 15

Previous Episode: Green Tepi reveals a truth to Zalli she has a hard time accepting. Currently: It’s the day after the fire and Zalli avoids the aftermath contemplating if what Green Tepi said was true.

Ren RogueRen Rogue

Wind rushed past Zalli’s ears. She sat in the passenger seat of Yoltzin’s Cobra as he sped on the road back to her house. Even though he was not driving over 64 km/h, it was faster than Churro could ever run. It gave Zalli a slight uneasy feeling throughout the trip, even though she held no expression on her face saying otherwise.

Her hair did not whip over her face as much as it could have been doing. Yoltzin had pulled out a satin handkerchief from his glove box and he gave it to her, instructing her to tie it around her head with the knot underneath her chin. Zalli didn’t understand at first, but she was glad for it now.

When they left from the festival, Zalli had tried to continue their conversation with avid interest. Even though the CEO responded to her with matching enthusiasm, she could not maintain the flow as the drive continued on.

The sounds of the wind eventually were too much for her. She could no longer process much of what Yoltzin was saying.

Therefore, they currently sat in a comfortable silence. Yoltzin had one hand on the wheel with his outer arm resting on his door. Zalli was similar in position to him, except the arm she had on her door held her head up with a fist underneath her jaw. Her elbow supported her upper body’s structure. Her other hand rested on her lap; fingers tapped on her bare leg, helping her pass the time.

Zalli was slightly concerned about her family. She originally was going to find Tepi before leaving with Yoltzin, to let her know of her premature departure. But when she came across Srta. Maceuhqui, she acted on impulse, and asked the dance teacher if she could deliver Zalli’s message to them on her behalf.

Srta. Maceuhqui agreed to it with a giggle as she clung onto her boyfriend. Zalli realized then she might have been a bit too intoxicated and regretted asking her, but her boyfriend was kind enough to assure her he would help deliver the message to her family.

Zalli turned her head to see what the CEO was doing. She knew, of course, that he was driving, but she was curious to know what his demeanor was like at the moment.

Yoltzin was staring straight ahead as he drove. It looked like he was paying attention to the road, but the far look in his eyes revealed he was lost in deep thought. The arm he had on the steering wheel was relaxed, but its hand gripped the wheel in a tight hold. Zalli assumed he was clenching his jaw as showed by his neck flexing and his jawline appearing more prominent at some times than other. His hair tousled about, no longer a defined comb back, with its structure lost to the wind.

Maybe he should have worn a handkerchief too. Am I wearing his? Zalli inquired to herself, turning away for a moment. She touched her wrapped head while she found herself lost in her own thoughts.

When she returned to look at Yoltzin again, they made eye contact, to her surprise. Zalli was not sure if he knew she was basically gawking at him, but she didn’t want to risk finding out by opening an invitation to have a conversation about it. So, she snapped her head to look away at the passing shrubbery, which was difficult to see due to the night sky.

What she could see, though, was orange glowing dots between the foliage. She held confusion in her thoughts, since it was usually very dark in this area. Something unsettling appeared in the bottom of her stomach.

She narrowed her eyes to scrutinize the mysterious lights before her. As they passed a clearing, Zalli realized what the little lights really were.

In the open, the many orange lights formed one enormous light. Since it was dark, it was hard to detect its smoke, but with careful observation, Zalli could see the light emitted it around its top edge.

She turned in haste and grabbed Yoltzin by his shoulder.

“I think-I think there’s a fire over there!”

He had looked in the same direction as Zalli at the same time she did, but could not give it the proper consideration she had. He was intent on driving safely by looking forward most of the time. But once she gave her assessment to him, he looked over to the side again and found what she said to be true.

“I think you’re right.”

Zalli turned to look at the growing fire again and another revelation came to her as she calculated the distance from where they were to her home and compared it to the distance of the fire.

“Yoltzin. I think that fire is at my home.”

Her hand remained on his shoulder. She used it to grip him as trepidation overcame her.

Yoltzin bore a serious look. He did not answer Zalli immediately as he thought about how to handle the situation with efficiency. Within seconds, he came to a solution and brought his hand to the inside of his jacket. This caused Zalli to pull her hand off him in a brisk movement.

He pulled out his phone and handed it to Zalli in an instant.

“The pass code is 16-97. Use my phone to call for help.”

Zalli held her stare with wide eyes as she took in what Yoltzin said. The astonishment she had only froze her for an abrupt moment before she pushed herself into action.

She ripped the phone out of his hands; the panic she carried forced her to move with little grace. Placing both hands on the steering wheel, Yoltzin picked up his speed, going way above the safe speed limit.

“1-6-9-7.”

She spoke the code out loud, ensuring she heard what Yoltzin said correctly. She might have pressed the black square buttons with more force than necessary, but the adrenaline she had made it hard to act with care.

The screen above the number pad lit up, showing it was unlocked and ready to be used. Zalli touched the screen to open the call function of the phone. Knowing the number of her local firefighters by heart, she punched the number in with swift dexterity and touched the green button with the phone icon on the screen.

Just as she brought the phone up to her ear, Yoltzin made a hard turn to drive down the short driveway leading to her house. The phone rung twice before someone picked up on the other end. While Zalli spoke to the operator, Yoltzin placed his Shelby on the brake and turned it off. He spoke to Zalli as he jumped out of his car.

“When you’re done, stay here. I will try to see what I can do until the firefighters arrive.”

With Zalli busy explaining the situation on the phone, and Yoltzin leaving as soon as he finished speaking, she had no chance to argue with the CEO about staying in his car. All she could do was watch as he jumped over her gate and ran towards the blazing fire that currently covered half of her fields.

“Señora? ... Señora?! Are you still there?”

The phone operator’s voice pulled Zalli out of the horror trance she found herself in as she saw her family’s legacy burn at a rapid pace to complete nothing.

“Yes, yes. I am. Sorry.”

“The firefighters have been notified and are on their way. Please stay at a safe distance until they ...”

The operator droned on the typical safety instructions to Zalli, but she could process none of it. Once she heard the man on the other end ask if she wanted him to stay on the line with her, she gave a courteous ‘no thank you’, the proper goodbye, then hung up.

Zalli dropped the phone onto the driver’s seat, pulled the handkerchief off her head, and got out of the car herself. The terror she felt in her veins made her walk slowly to her side gate. She continued to watch in dreaded awe, not able to break away from the trance she found herself in.

Even though she was internally screaming at herself to take action, all she did was grip the edge of her gate.

Huizi appeared on the back porch and barked with a boisterous yelp. Zalli was not sure if her canine companion was barking to her, or was barking at the fire, but it was enough to wake the farmer up.

She took in a breath and jumped over the gate. Her athletic ability did not match Yoltzin’s, but she had enough agility to get over the wooden gate without falling on her face.

Zalli ran over to her barn and entered its darkness. She knew where her irrigation hose was by heart, so she did not waste time by turning on the light. Once she had the loops in her hands, she threw the rubber over her shoulder and dashed to her water pump.

On her way there, she fell over and scraped her knees. The weight of the hose was hefty for her, and it caused her to lose balance while she rushed to her destination.

Zalli picked herself up and kept moving. She ran in front of her two wells to reach her water pump, which was on the side of her reservoirs. She chucked the hose and attached the open end of the hose to the pump. Zalli grabbed the closed end and sprinted through her fields, following the perimeter of the fire.

As she ran back, she saw Yoltzin lifting a bucket up from the well next to the pump. He looked up as she approached closer. He wanted to demand her to stay away, to get to a safer location, but the words couldn’t quite leave his mouth. So instead, he gave her a nod of understanding, grabbed a bucket in each hand, then ran back to the fire on the other side.

Zalli moved to the back end of her pump and uncoiled a hose already attached to it from underneath. She pulled it out and brought it over to the furthest well, seeing how Yoltzin was using the closest one to the pump. She chucked it in, then went to the pump to turn it on.

It took a few too many pulls to get it started. The adrenaline rushing through her body did not allow her to yank it at the angle it need to get the engine going. But she eventually got it and heard the engine roar with a start.

Zalli took a step back and waited. She waited to see when the water would spurt out on either side of the hose. She waited to see if she chose the correct distance to place the hose down. She waited to see if the hose was not too close to the fire for the infernal beast to burn it, too. She waited.

Then the water came out and began irrigating her fields. It was not a gush that could put the fire out, but it was something to at least wet the remaining flowers and soil she had to deter the fire from growing further in. At least she could stop it from reaching her house.

Zalli took a step forward in her dirt covered boots. She thought she should grab her own bucket and attempt to douse the fire from this side. But then she heard odd noises coming from around where Yoltzin went to. It sounded like someone was fighting.

She ran around the bend of the blazing wall. The fire licked out, trying to get a taste of the maiden who ran too close for her safety; it almost caught her platinum hair a few times as it swished behind her.

Zalli found the source of the noise and skidded suddenly to a stop to figure out what was happening.

There were people fighting with each other, as she suspected. Yoltzin sat on top of Necalli. He pinned Necalli down with his hand on his shoulder while he pulled his arm back to throw a punch down, aim for Necalli’s face. Sometimes he would land it, other times, Necalli could dodge the blow with a block.

Zalli was unsure why the two were fighting, but she knew she needed to stop it. She raised her voice to ensure she would be heard over the roaring they were next to, but also because she felt her emotion take over as she continued to observe the violent scene in front of her.

“Hey! HEY! The both of you, stop it!” She moved in as she spoke, but her demand went unnoticed. Instead, Necalli flipped Yoltzin over and threw his own blows back to the CEO. She moved closer to them with clenched fists and tried to get their attention again. “Oye, carajo! I said to STOP!”

Necalli glanced up and made direct eye contact with Zalli. He heard her this time, but all he did was send a sinister smile in her direction before he pulled his arm back to continue with his punch.

Zalli’s stomach dropped with a heavy thud. The expression her old friend held forced her to loosen her fists; she swallowed loudly and shook her head as she tried to make sense of why Necalli would do that.

Not being able to arrive at a quick conclusion, Zalli decided to pretend it didn’t happen.

As Zalli was sorting through what she was feeling, Yoltzin was able to stop the punch Necalli was about to use against him. When Necalli’s arm came close to Yoltzin’s face, the CEO moved his head to the side and used his own arm closest to the attack to wrap over the limb from the inside. After Yoltzin got a good lock on Necalli’s elbow by hugging just above the joint in a tight grasp, he hit Necalli hard. Then he flipped Necalli over by lifting his hip up from the opposite side and holding onto him with his free hand for balance. He popping him off with a hard push.

Just as he was going to continue the fight, Zalli finally intervened physically as an attempt to stop the fight, since her words were clearly doing nothing. She went behind Yoltzin and grabbed him by his shoulders. In a tight hold, she used all of her strength to pull the man off.

To her surprise, it was an easy maneuver to do. Yoltzin flew back and fell hard on his bottom, breathless from both the impact and from the physical activity he was just engaged in.

They stared at each other. Zalli raised her eyebrows at her own strength while Yoltzin gave her an incredulous stare. Before Zalli could grasp the depth of her action, she heard Necalli get up behind her.

She turned around and saw the crazed intention he held in his orange eyes. He brought his shoulders down and aimed to tackle Yoltzin, but Zalli immediately stepped in front of him. She raised both arms up to his chest and bent her arms to push him back.

As she shoved him hard, she hissed in her friend’s direction.

“Necalli! That’s it, stop!”

The physical force she used caused Necalli to fly backwards by almost two meters. He fell hard on his back—a rougher plunge than what Yoltzin went through.

Over her shoulder, Zalli heard a bark of laughter emit from Yoltzin. She turned around to see the CEO dusting himself off. She felt a fluttery sensation in her stomach, which quickly turned into anger. Zalli walked in his direction and yelled at him with passion.

“What the hell is wrong with you?! Do you think this is funny?!”

“No. Your strength just amazes me.”

His assessment made Zalli feeling exposed and only spurred her anger on. She stared down at the ground before she met Yoltzin’s gaze with narrowed eyes.

“Why were you even fighting, anyway?!”

Yoltzin took his time to respond. He shifted his weight and rubbed his brow. His patience was already thin from all the stress he felt from the past half hour. Now was not a good time to deal with Zalli’s constant questioning. But he exhaled to ground himself and spoke with a careful control in his tone.

“Necalli is the one who started the fire.”

“You have got to be joking.”

Zalli brought her eyebrows down as she spoke, but the serious expression Yoltzin had told her he was, in fact, not joking. Her eyebrows softened at the acceptance. Then, she turned to Necalli, who was still on the ground.

Silence existed between the two friends before Zalli asked her next question to him.

“Necalli, is it ... is it true?”

He stood up with his shoulders heaving up and down. He held a blank stare and the muscles in his face were completely relaxed as he spoke in a bored tone.

“Can’t you obey me like everyone else? I told you to sell your farm.”

Déjà vu washed over Zalli again. Just like before, his words sounded familiar to Zalli. And like before, they were as threatening and cruel as they were the first time she heard them.

“So you set my farm on fire? You could have burned my house down!”

Her pitch increased as she spoke. Her eyes held a tightness to them as she felt her heartbeat pound loud in her chest.

“My resolve is better than yours when it comes to decision making.”

Again, a tense familiarity of the scene hit her. It felt displaced, yet specific to a memory from before.

The Necalli she spoke to now was not the Necalli she knew as her long-time friend, but a Necalli that Zalli knew deep down was actually his true self.

Before she could respond to him, the sirens the group heard in the background suddenly became louder, as if the volume from a radio was suddenly turned all the way to full blast. It distracted both Zalli and Yoltzin, which gave a window for Necalli to sprint into the trees.

The CEO moved in the same direction, as if he were going to chase down Necalli, but Zalli spoke to him with fervency first.

“Yoltzin, wait! Leave him. Just stay—please. Help me with my farm.”

He turned to look at the spot where Necalli entered the forest with clenched fists before he released a resolving breath. Yoltzin moved away from the trees and stood next to Zalli without saying a word. He brought a hand up to push his hair back, but it only fell back down with little resistance.

Zalli looked up with a small smile, even though her eyes still held a tenseness to them, and spoke again.

“Thank you.”

It was low and soft, but Yoltzin heard it all the same. He nodded his head to her in acknowledgment.

He opened his mouth as if to say something, but the noise from the firefighters nearby stopped him. Without further thought, the duo moved to the group, who were working together to put the fire out.

Chapter 14

On the last episode: Zalli came home with Yoltzin to find half her farm was set to fire. Now: The aftermath of the fire and Zalli’s confrontation with Green Tepi.

Ren RogueRen Rogue

Zalli still held the CEO’s hand in hers. But she did not clench it like before. It grew into something soft as time wore on and she became stuck in her thoughts. Axolin cleared his throat, indicating to Zalli she should let go of the man’s hand.

“Yoltzin. I’m surprised to see you’re here.”

They disengaged and looked away from each other. It was like they got caught doing something bawdy.

Zalli scooted closer to Axolin and squeezed his arm for reassurance. She hoped to insinuate to the CEO that he was a disturbance, and thus, would leave them alone.

“Yes, I wanted to check out the local festivities. It seemed like it could be a blast.”

Yoltzin knew exactly what he had walked into when he came upon the two. Ever since Zalli arrived at the feria, he tailed her as she walked throughout the center of town. He did not originally intend to stalk her during her exploration, but when he was about to approach her, she had bumped into the gentleman now standing by her side. It only delayed him in a meager way, but seeing the two interact unsettled him to a high degree.

He only intervened at the moment he did because of what he overheard from their conversation. It seemed like it was steering towards something intimate and heartwarming, and he wouldn’t allow that to transpire between Zalli and any man other than himself.

Zalli glared at the CEO with her forest brown eyes. Her annoyance increased with each minute that Yoltzin used to meddle between her and Axolin.

Axolin felt the electricity build in the air between the two. He did not know what differences Zalli held for don Calip, but being a natural mediator, he broke whatever tension was present.

“Don Calip, are you having fun?”

His question was enough to redirect Yoltzin’s attention to him, but Zalli stay adamant in her aggrievement. He could not deter Zalli from turning her scowl away.

“Yes. I was playing some games when I saw Srta. Tlahuizcal from afar. There was some business about her farm that I was not sure to discuss with her tomorrow or not, but seeing her made me think it I should tell her now.”

Zalli brought one hand away from Axolin to gesture nonchalance.

“I’m sure we could speak tomorrow, Yoltzin. Today is my day off, and I was hoping to—”

“Oh, yes, of course. I only mean to steal you for a moment. Plus, I think you would really like to know what I have discovered.”

Her other arm came off Axolin as she took a step in Yoltzin’s direction. Passion beamed in her eyes; she prepared herself to argue with the CEO without taking notice of anyone around them, including Axolin.

“We can do this tomorrow.”

“That is true, but since we are here, we should talk now. It affects your farm directly, little thorn.”

Just as she was about to go off for Yoltzin using his pet name for her, the man behind her she could barely classify as a friend spoke.

“Zalli, it’s alright if you need to speak with don Calip. I was feeling tired and was going to head home soon, anyway. We can hang another time. Maybe.”

Zalli turned around with shame etched into her expression. She went up to Axolin and embraced him with arms around his waist. His height difference was not so difficult that she could not put her arms around his shoulders, but she still found herself placing them around his midsection.

“Okay, Axolin. Until next time.”

She gave him a kiss on the cheek, then pulled back.

“Sure.”

He spoke with little conviction.

They separated from each other’s grasps. With nothing else to say, Axolin turned around and walked away from the duo to disappear into the crowd.

“Your knack for interruption really irks me.”

Zalli made a sharp turn to grimace at Yoltzin.

“Whatever do you mean, little thorn?”

Yoltzin brought a hand up to inspect for any dirt underneath his immaculate nails; his other hand went to hide in the pocket of his green dress pants. The pattern was a dark plaid, and they fitted around his legs attractively.

“You know what I mean. And stop calling me that!” She crossed her arms and tapped her foot with fury. “You always interrupt what I say. And now you’re interrupting my time with others.”

“Do I ... really?”

Yoltzin dropped his hand and looked away as he processed what Zalli had said. He had thought she was only talking about him interrupting her right now. It was obvious he meant to separate her from Axolin. But as she explained herself, he realized she meant he always cut her off from speaking while they were together.

When he returned his attention to Zalli, his eyes were dilated and his head was tilted to the side. He looked like a lost puppy to Zalli. It was kind of endearing to her to see him not be so sure of himself for once.

She bit her lip at the cute sight, but then used her teeth a little harder to ground herself back to reality.

“Yes, you do, really.” She waved him over to continue their conversation at the water fountain. They walked together toward the aquatic statue, which depicted a maiden riding her horse, leading her invisible army to battle with her weapon held high. “How do you know Axolin, anyway?”

They approached the ledge of the fountain, and Zalli looked up to stare at the beautiful woman before her. She never understood why the water sprouted from the warrior’s head instead of her sword. She thought it looked awkward. For the water to gush out at the tip of the sword, it would mean the artist showcased that the maiden’s power was in her hands. It’s what she imagined would be a stronger interpretation.

“I know everyone in town. I have visited everyone at their homes and I’ve acquainted myself with them properly.”

“Ah, so you’re a nuisance to everyone, not just myself.”

They sat next to each other. They both gripped the edge of the fountain, with Zalli crossing her legs at her ankles, while Yoltzin spread his.

He chuckled, then leaned back to play with the water behind them while he gave his response to her.

“I wouldn’t say I was being a nuisance to them. I only wanted to understand the context of their lives. You’ve figured out that I am taking over your town with my business ambitions, but ... I also want to ensure I can fulfill the needs of the people with my presence.”

Yoltzin sat back up and splashed the side of Zalli’s face with the fountain’s water.

“I can only do that if I can get to know them.”

Zalli smiled as she wiped the water away. She attempted a joke to prevent the mood from becoming heavy.

“And here I was thinking I was special, and you were only bothering me.”

Yoltzin brought his hand back down, this time placing it closer to her own than where it was in its original location. He leaned in close to her and spoke in his lower range of voice.

“I can arrange that. Say the word, and you will have my full attention whenever you want it. Say it and I’m yours.”

Zalli’s heartbeat increased to a thumping pace. Her eyes were downcast, unable to make eye contact with the man next to her.

She froze, but then felt a comforting warmth on her pinky. Zalli turned her head and saw Yoltzin had wrapped his pinky around hers in a tiny embrace. She looked up and met his fiery gaze with her own. Something coiled in her lower abdomen as neither dared to be the first to turn their gaze away from each other.

The world around them was silent until two feminine voices interrupted their shared moment.

“Buenas tardes, don Calip, Aurozalli.”

They snapped their heads at a crackling pace and pulled their hands away at lightning speed from the sudden appearance of the older ladies. Zalli took in her surroundings while Yoltzin directed his attention to them, able to address them first.

“Buenas tardes, doña Mocel, doña Ilamaton.”

Zalli looked at them and provided them with a similar greeting.

The pair walked away, giggling with each other. It seemed like they purposefully heckled the farmer and CEO, wanting to disturb the intimate moment just for the joke of it.

No longer trapped under Yoltzin’s spell, Zalli scooted an inch away from the man. She wanted some breathing space so her brain would not feel so fuzzy again.

Yoltzin cleared his throat, which caused Zalli to turn her attention to him. He spoke in a serious tone, but it was a bit shaky in the delivery.

“I-uh ... I want to apologize. Again. I was not aware I was being rude to you like that.” His foot tapped in a consecutive beat of four as he moved his elbows to rest on his knees. “I mean, when I interrupt you. It’s a bad habit of mine. I don’t mean to do it, but I haven’t ... tried to stop. But I can try! I’ll-uh be more aware around you.”

The more he spoke, the faster he delivered his speech and turned it more into a rambling mess. Zalli raised her eyebrows with a small smile at how quick he was to lose his composure. Even though he was cool and collected in what he showed to the public eye, once a crack appeared in his presenting face, everything came crumbling down.

Zalli’s empathy appeared and nullified any self-conscious thoughts she could have in her next action. She brought her hand up to cover Yoltzin’s and gave him a comforting expression as she spoke.

“It’s okay, Cal.” The small smile she carried quickly disappeared along with her need to console as she realized her small slip-up. Zalli snatched her hand away and continued talking to distract the CEO. She didn’t need him to become aware she used his first name out loud for the first time, and, thus, gloat in her face about it. “So, what was the important update you had for me that couldn’t wait until tomorrow?”

Yoltzin was, in fact, distracted, but not because the maiden changed the topic so fast. He stared at his hand for a pleasant moment, revering in how she held his hand in a comforting way.

“Well, like I said. I could have told you later, but I feel you would have bitten my head off for not telling you soon enough.”

She rolled her eyes and hoped the blush on her cheeks had finally disappeared.

“So what is it?”

Yoltzin turned his body to face the farmer as much as he could, given their seating arrangement. It forced his knee to make contact with hers, but what he said made Zalli think very little about the touch.

“I think someone is poisoning your farm.”

She uncrossed her legs and brought one knee to rest over the other. Zalli turned her eyes downward as she compressed her lips and brought one corner up.

“Poisoning my farm ... why—why would anyone do that? How do you even know that?”

“While my team and I were digging yesterday, I figured to take some soil samples to begin researching the quality of your soil. So I would know what resources to provide you with.” Yoltzin brought a hand up to comb his hair back, but he carelessly ruffled it instead. He felt some provocation present in what he was about to disclose. “We took some samples from the perimeter and some from the inside, and I had them sent to my technicians—express mail, of course, I like fast results. About a couple of hours ago, I got the results.”

“What did the results say?”

Zalli brought her eyes back up. Her full attention was present and apprehension ran over her body, stiffening her muscles to stop all movement. Her eyes were wide as she waited patiently for Yoltzin to continue.

“We did all the usual tests, per standard maintenance. But when we tested the electrical conductivity of your soil, we found it to be extremely high.”

“Okay.”

“And after determining the ion composition, your soil has exorbitant amounts of salt present.”

Yoltzin shifted his position to rest a hand on his knee.

“Salt? Like. Someone has been adding salt to my fields?”

The CEO used his free hand to wave about in sync with his cadence and punctuation.

“Yes, excessively so. I’m surprised it hasn’t been noticed yet. Usually you would see—”

“Salt crusts, right? Typically, some white layers would have appeared on the topsoil.”

“Exactly! Which, I am assuming, you would have noticed and done something about it already.”

Zalli moved her hand to tuck her hair behind an ear again. No strands had become loose on either side, but she did it out of habit.

“Yeah. I’ve combed through my soil many times, checking its composition and looking for any indicators for the lack of growth this season. Yet, I couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary.”

Yoltzin stood at an abrupt speed and paced in front of Zalli. He enjoyed being a problem solver and was now analyzing the situation to deduce who could be the perpetrator.

“I’m thinking, whoever has been adding salt to your soil has been doing it for a long period. Something slow and steady to make it harder to detect.”

“Who would do that, though? There is no one in town I am enemies with.”

Zalli’s eyes followed the man as he stepped from one side of her to the other.

“Who has the most to gain for your downfall?”

“You.” Yoltzin stopped in his tracks. He narrowed his sapphire eyes at Zalli, his skepticism heavy in her direction. “Well ... is it not logical to think that? You are the one who wants to buy all the farmland here. Perhaps completely ruining me and eliminating all possibilities of recovery is the only way. Then you could finally convince me to sell you my land.”

He crossed his arms in defiance. He could not believe the reasoning Zalli was giving him.

“I thought we were beyond this. Have you forgotten what I was originally digging up your soil for?”

“No ... but you haven’t dropped your pestering to change my mind this entire time.”

Yoltzin shifted his body weight from one hip to the other.

“What?”

“Yeah, just yesterday you came over and asked me again! You were smoking a cigarette and you wouldn’t leave me alone.”

Zalli uncrossed her legs to squeeze her knees and ankles together. Her body leaned forward as turmoil filled her body.

“Smoking a ... how do you know I smoke? I do it seldomly and I’ve never done it around you.”

She stood up with fervor and took a step closer to Yoltzin.

“Well, you did! You were smoking yesterday, and then you followed me into the forest at the edge of my farm. And then—”

Zalli ceased all talking as the realization hit her. Her eyes grew wide and her pupils dilated. She, without proper consideration, had remembered the dream she had with him as a memory.

“Yesterday, we started digging ... I know I didn’t smoke yesterday … Zalli. And then, what?”

Heat expanded on her cheeks as her blush appeared without her consent. As she spoke, she tried to look at anything but Yoltzin.

“And then ... uh. And then-nothing! My brain must be scrambled from all this stress. AH-HAH ... hah! Sorry about that.”

Yoltzin brought his shoulders down to be at eye level with the maiden. When he addressed her, he was able to force Zalli to look at him.

“Zalli ... did you dream about me last night?”

She glanced away, then returned her attention to Yoltzin when she responded.

“No, of course not. I don’t think of you that way.”

A smirk grew on his face.

“You did, didn’t you? What did we do in your dream? Argue like always. Or ...” Yoltzin bit his lip before continuing his interrogation. “Did something else happen?” Zalli looked away again and her blush grew from a soft pink to an intense red. “Something else happened, didn’t it?! Zalli, what did you dream? Did we—?”

Zalli shoved a hand up to his mouth, pushing his jaw up, but covering it at the same time. With the amount of force she used, she pushed Yoltzin away to stand as much as the length that her arm gave.

The duo stood there, frozen. Sounds of laughter and dinging from nearby games could be heard around them. Incomprehensible chatter enclosed them in the personal bubble they had formed.

After a lengthy moment passed, Zalli finally spoke again after clearing her throat, hand still latched onto the CEO’s face.

“Alright, alright. So it’s not you. Who could it be then?”

She brought her hand down and let it fall idly to rest by her side. Yoltzin moved his head to crack his neck, then rolled his shoulders back to stand back at his full height.

“That will be the fun part. Finding out who.”

“Yeah, sure. Fun.” Zalli felt her shoulders droop down and her energy levels decrease. Her need to socialize was no longer present, and everything around her felt overwhelming. “Do you ... do you think you can drive me home?”

Yoltzin examined her body language. Seeing how crestfallen she had become, he understood her need to escape the loud environment.

“Of course, little thorn.”

They moved together, shoulder to shoulder, at an easy pace.

“Why do you call me that?”

“Ah, little thorn?”

Every once in a while their fingers would touch, but never moving further than just that.

“Yeah.”

“Because you’re a huge thorn in my side.”

Zalli threw a wayward glance in his direction.

“Why not call me a huge thorn, then?”

Yoltzin chuckled. He rubbed his jaw in mirth, then responded to Zalli.

“Because that doesn’t sound as cute as little thorn.”

She let out an exasperated groan and stopped her smile from appearing. But she couldn’t stop her eyes from smiling in amusement. The two continued their walk towards Yoltzin’s fancy car. They made amiable small talk the whole way there.

Chapter 13

On the last episode: Zalli has an impromptu date with Axolin only for Yoltzin to crash it. Now: Zalli has Yoltzin take her home where a surprise is waiting for her.

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