DISCLAIMER: If you recognize it, I don't own it.
"Nightmares?" Ixa asked. "About something happening to Ofelia?"
Manolo squirmed in his spot on the sofa, while Maria looked at her lap and didn't say a word. "I suppose," the former replied. "We've never seen it."
"But you feel her suffering. Do you not?"
Maria bit her lip. "We can hear her calling for us. And when we go looking for her — "
"You find only Pax and his men."
"I never said it was them," Manolo said, his countenance darkening.
"If you see red moonlight when they appear," the woman said, "it cannot be any other."
"What do you mean?"
Ixa clammed up at the question. "I-It's something I have never spoken of before…"
Maria reached out and took her by the hand. "You don't have to talk about it again. But if it might be important, then we need to know."
"Y-Yes…yes, you do." She took a few breaths as she laced and unlaced her fingers. "It happened long ago. Before the men and gods of the Old World first came upon these shores. Every two centuries, my sisters would take me to the jaguar city near the eastern coast. A festival, they called it. Held under the red moon." She fell silent for another moment. "Pax was a mighty god in those days, but his form and his power could not be long sustained. When the moon began to shine red, he knew it had come time to feed and…"
"And what?" Manolo asked.
"…And replenish his ranks."
"What does that mean, Ixa?"
"It means just the thing it would seem to." She shook her head vigorously, as though to dispel a hated memory. "I shall not frighten you any further. You need only know that you must keep your children close until these strange things come to an end. When the moon begins to wane, the danger shall have passed." She stood up. "I should go."
"Wait!" Manolo said, springing to his feet and placing a hand on her arm. "Is…is he looking for Ofelia? Is that where these dreams are coming from?"
Maria shot him a dark look. "Manolo, we — "
"We need to know if we're going to protect her, don't we?"
Ixa looked miserable by now. "I cannot say for certain."
"But if he was…?"
"Then I pray the gods still favor you." She hastily averted her eyes from them both as she hurried to the stairs and called for her children.
"What, she knew what went on at those ceremonies and she didn't tell you?" Xibalba asked, an eyebrow raised. "What good is she, then?"
"She was scared," Manolo snapped as he glared at his listener, who was slowly but surely losing patience. "And I don't blame her for it."
"But if she had told you about the…"
"Then I don't know what would have changed," the mortal man answered. "It wouldn't have made me less of a fool." He looked down at the broken glasses. "I suppose that's always going to happen when I love someone."
Blood seeped into the upturned dirt and dripped down the steps of the pyramid. Was it his blood or theirs? Even if it mattered, Manolo couldn't have told. Pushing aside the last jaguar corpse, he staggered up towards the top platform, where a small, struggling figure was bound to a stone altar. "Ofelia!" he shouted.
She tried to sit up, pulling at the ropes which bound her wrists and ankles. "Papa?"
He began to run, not noticing the dark clouds parting above them.
The moon was full as it emerged, and its light was dark red. A single beam shot down from the heavens and struck the altar, scattering into a blinding glare. Manolo cried out in pain as he recoiled and covered his eyes. His foot slipped on the pooling blood, and he tumbled down the steps, his head bashing against one as he landed on the wet ground.
When his vision finally stopped spinning, the world had gone dark once more. An eerie silence blanketed the jungle, broken only by the click of claws on stone.
Manolo pushed himself up, gritting his teeth as his bones trembled. Creeping down the steps was another jaguar, this one smaller than the others. Its eyes gleamed yellow, and a low growl escaped its throat as it focused on its prey.
The sword. Manolo fumbled for his weapon, but found it gone. No matter. It's small, perhaps I can take it —
Crouching, the jaguar opened its maw and spoke. "Lo siento, Papa."
Manolo tried to bolt away, but the creature was already leaping onto his chest and pinning him down. It bared its teeth and roared, but the only noise that came out was her scream.
It was the last thing he heard before it dug its teeth into his throat.
"No!" he shouted as he catapulted awake, grasping in vain at the air. He had been splayed out across his bed, drenched in sweat and tangled in the bed sheets. Forcing his breath to slow, he wiped the tears from his eyes and looked around.
Maria, by some stroke of luck, had gone. Still up reading, perhaps, or tending to Alejo. The candle which sat on the table next to their bed had vanished. She must be downstairs, or in the library.
Sitting up, Manolo flexed his stiff joints and fumbled about in the darkness for his robe and slippers. When he found them, he felt his way to the door and slowly opened it. The corridor was as silent and dark as ever — even a bit too much, he thought in passing as he began walking towards the stairs.
"Not so loud…!"
"But why won't you?"
Manolo froze. Is…is that Gabriela? In Ofelia's room? He turned around as quietly as he could, looking towards his daughter's door. Moonlight and candlelight spilled out from the gap near the floor, and within, three voices were whispering at once. Tiptoeing back towards the end of the hall, he knelt by the door and peered through the keyhole.
The window hung open, the top rung of a ladder poking above the sill. In the middle of the floor sat Ofelia, while Vicente and Gabriela sat facing her. The redheaded girl was inching closer to her friend, her face growing more animated as she spoke of something Manolo could not hear. Ofelia shrank backwards, wrapping her arms around herself. "I should tell Mama and Papa."
"They wouldn't let you, Felia. You said it yourself, they aren't telling you anything. Don't you want to know what's wrong with them?"
"Of course I do."
"Then we need to go find what it is about this map that made them so nervous. Tonight."
No. No no no no!
Vicente seemed to be growing more uneasy now. "Maybe we should just — "
"No," Ofelia said abruptly, louder than before. "Bry's right. I need to know what Mama and Papa are scared of."
The children fell silent as the clock on the wall struck half past eleven. "Come back in half an hour," Ofelia whispered when it was done. "Meet me in the backyard."
He wanted to fling the door open and storm in, demand to know how they could possibly be so foolish, but the icy fear pulled him away. He staggered back to his feet and away from the door, took a wary step and nearly collapsed against the wall. His breathing, calm a few moments before, now came forth in frantic gasps.
They're coming for her, he thought. The pack. They're coming for her. She'll die if they find her alone. I need to stop her…
He reached for her doorknob, but paused before he could grab it. She'll know I was listening, though. What would be the chances of her obeying him then? Perhaps she wouldn't even believe him — he made it all up because he didn't trust her, she would say.
I have to keep her inside somehow. If I can just keep her inside until morning…
He hardly realized he was running towards the parlor until he was halfway down the stairs. He stumbled onto the landing and sprinted down the last few steps, then ran across the room and through the kitchen door. He was vaguely aware of passing Maria, seeing her put down her book and follow him, hearing her ask him what was happening. By then, he was too busy rummaging through the drawer full of keys to answer her. It took him only a moment to find the one he wanted, and then he was rushing back upstairs, skidding to a stop in front of Ofelia's door. His hands seemed to move of their own accord as they jammed it into the keyhole and forced it to turn.
The relief brought by the click of the lock lasted only a few seconds. Slippered feet ran to the door, and small hands twisted the doorknob in vain. "Papa? Papa…?"
"I'm sorry, mija," he whispered, to himself as much as to her. "Te amo…"
"Manolo?" His wife was slowly approaching him, confusion and suspicion clear on her face. "What did you just do?"