Page 192 of The Moon Sister
The little girl had giggled in surprise and delight as she’d watched the big creamy bubbles appear on top of the water.
‘What alchemy makes this?’ she said as Lucía had encouraged her to climb in and dab some on her nose.
‘American alchemy,’ she said. ‘Have you ever seen a movie, Angelina?’
‘No, what is that?’
‘Moving pictures on a screen. I have been in one. Perhaps one day I will show you.’
*
‘Angelina is such an odd mixture,’ Lucía commented when she’d arrived back from Sacromonte after dropping the child back at her cave home. ‘She has wisdom beyond her years, yet she is a child who has grown up purely in nature, and her innocence is breathtaking.’
‘You too grew up in nature, Lucía, in the same cave as Angelina.’
‘I was not hidden away from the world, Mamá. I understood it all too well from a very young age. I asked her if she wished to come and stay with us for a while. She refused, saying that she could not leave Micaela alone, that she was too sick, but that she’d also miss her forest home.’
‘Well, one day she will have no choice,’ said María. ‘From what they both say, Micaela does not have long.’
‘It is almost as if this was all planned by an invisible hand,’ mused Lucía. ‘If we had not returned, what would have become of the child?’
‘Oh, I am sure she would have survived,’ María smiled. ‘That is her destiny.’
Lucía stood up from the table where they’d been eating supper, and yawned. ‘I am off to my bed, Mamá. I am tired tonight.’
‘Sleep well,querida.’
‘I will, goodnight, Mamá.’
María sat there for a while longer, before she cleared away the dishes, thinking what a change had come over her daughter. It was barely ten o’clock – the time when the old Lucía was only just beginning to come alive in front of an audience of hundreds, sometimes thousands – yet here, Lucía often retired early and slept peacefully through the night. The way Lucía had continued to exert herself over the years was frightening – she’d often worried that her daughter would dance herself to death – but this new Lucía was calm and a pleasure to be with. For now, at least . . .
*
Three weeks later, as the sun was setting, María saw a forlorn figure walking along the track towards the house.
‘Lucía,’ María called as she saw the fading light illuminating the small red-gold head, ‘Angelina is here.’
María ran down the steps to meet Angelina. When she reached her, she saw the little girl was ready to collapse.
‘Please, may I have some water?’ she panted as María helped her onto the terrace. ‘It has been a very long walk to get here.’
‘What has happened?’ María said as she sat Angelina in a chair and hurriedly poured her some water from the jug on the table.
‘Micaela has gone to the Upperworld,Abuela,’ she told her grandmother. ‘She left this morning at dawn. She had told me to come straight here to you if it happened.’
‘You mean . . .’
‘Yes,’ confirmed Angelina. ‘She is no longer here with us on the earth.’
‘Ay! Pequeña, if only we had known, we could have come to you. No wonder you are exhausted, it is a very long way to walk.’
‘A man offered me a lift on his cart, but then he started asking me strange questions, so I jumped off.’ Angelina drank the water thirstily. ‘Still, I am here, but we must go back soon because themaestramust be buried as soon as possible, or her soul will not settle.’
‘Of course, we will go tomorrow morning. Where did she—?’
‘I have left her in her bed.’
‘Are you sad?’ Lucía asked her as she appeared on the terrace.
