Chapter 20

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.