Chapter 4 ★ CNS Issue#20

      How old is she? The voice sounded in my head softly and echoed a few times. I saw blonde hair and indigo eyes.. and.. oddly.. stars? Sweet laughter filled my mind, and echo of what i heard when Sol and Nina were preparing breakfast the previous day. Nina. How did she do this       “Adahna..?” Sky was staring at me as i sat up in my hammock. I grumbled.
      “I told you i was fine,” i said flatly.
      “Uh huh,” Sky sneered as Jos and Vivi joined.
      “You’ve been off since you realized who Jet is,” Vivi said.
      “We heard her, too, asking how old you are.” Jos raised her eyebrow at me.
      “I want to talk to her. Now.” I stood up abruptly, ignoring them. We were like those friends who could finish each other’s sentences at this point; what else could be expected of witches who’d known each other for decades, minimum? They already heard her question as well and knew that we had to talk to her, mostly because i needed to know what this was. We had felt so much magic nearby in the last week but this was as close as they’d been to it, other than Sol, who we were afraid to think about right now.
      We made our way to Sol’s apartment. I tapped lightly on the glass. The dogs didn’t bark but grinned excitedly at Jos who grinned and waved at them. I looked through the glass and saw an alarmed Nina looking at us curiously as we waited to be let in. Sol waved us in and i walked over to Nina slowly, cautiously. Everyone sat down around the living room and i looked at her. I wanted to sit next to her. Did she know this? She looked back at me and i saw a tiny nod so i went and sat down. The time for pretense was over. I took her hands as she gasped.
      I could see what she saw. She saw my origin, that i was bred to be a weapon, my entire purpose, my captivity. She watched as i was force-fed the–i cringed–the prisoners they took, that i was meant to take their power to strengthen their defenses, their offenses. She heard the screams of the spirits i took in and how they tormented me for years, thinking that i had wanted this. She saw the darkened Aztec leaders throw me into surrounding villages, ordering me to destroy them and take prisoners and she saw me refuse. I was thrown into secured quarters as the leaders–who didn’t want to let go of my potential power but were at their wits end with my refusal to fight anyone–paced and shouted at me in frustration, even occasionally attacking me. In the end, the spirits realized i wasn’t going to be used and they gave me their power the second i accepted it. I showed her everything, right up to the colonizers’ final act of war and my mother dying to push me and the rest of the younger smallpox survivors out of the village.. and our final stretch to what is now San Diego. I didn’t know if she needed to know about the “birth” of Panto, so i left that part out for now. I saw tears fall from her eyes as i took in her background and realized something. We were both–
      “Bred. For different purposes but.. we were both bred! You were.. oh my god. They made you.. eat.. them. You can’t eat flesh anymore. At all. It hurts you. Everything you took in.. everyone gave you their power. You’re.. 13 people. I can feel them. God. It’s overwhelming. But.. you’re like 500 years old. How..?” Nina stared at me and Sol stared at her.
      “519…” i trailed off. “I have no idea. All of us stopped aging when our power awakened. Sky is the youngest and he is 102.”
      “But..” Nina said as she gulped. “I’ve never met another.” She reached out but stopped hesitantly. “Um. Sorry. May i?”
      “Yes,” i said softly. She took my hands again.
      “Tenochtitlan. The.. oh wow.. the Aztecs. They call you all Aztecs now.”
      “Damn right,” i grinned and the rest of the witches looked amazed.
      “She’s never been this ok with talking about any of it. They were wiped out.” Jos looked disgusted. “The Europeans spread their hate and their growing darkness weakened them, Tenochtitlan was taken over by an urgent thirst for power, the ability to protect themselves, but darkness took over then infected all of the other tribes in the area. They were destroyed.”
      “And history tells it differently,” Nina said angrily. Her eyes were blank as she took in everything Adahna could give her. She watched Nina sadly. “They say they just disappeared.” Tears welled up in Nina’s eyes again then she then let go of my hands. “I can’t.”
      “It’s ok, neither can i.”
      “I’m not happy that you experienced this.. but i am happy that i’m not alone.” Nina said as she looked at me in amazement.
      “I understand. Truly.” I nodded at her then narrowed my eyes and looked up at her again. “How can you.. read people?”
      “I have no idea,” she said, but i saw her eyes flicker to Sol. I continued listening. “It started when i was a child and it’s only grown.”
      “What made it grow?” Vivi chimed in.
      “I suppose.. time?” Nina lied. Sol’s eyebrows creased in confusion. Nina had to know she couldn’t fool us, but i realized there was some sort of confusion there and dropped it. Sol didn’t understand why Nina kept looking at her and she scowled. Nina shrugged. We all jumped as another knock broke the silence, this time from the other balcony.