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Chapter 69: First Sight
Last Updated:
2024-02-13 21:06:21
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“I silently chided myself for focusing on the royalty part of Mathias’s statement. He must’ve thought then that I was such a materialistic girl. To make up for the slip of tongue, I said: ‘I know how that feels.’ “I was being sincere. I recognized a kindred spirit in Mathias just as I had in the sea turtles. “‘See? It is fated that we meet each other,’ he told me. ‘Will you not come with me and help me convince my father that he is wrong? Please? No one should be forced to do anything when it comes to matters of the heart.’ “I said: ‘I would love to help you out – honestly, I would – but I don’t think that idea’s going to fly with my family. They’re very strict, you know?’ “‘Sneak away with me,’ Mathias said. “‘No, sorry. I simply can’t.’ “‘Sneak away with me. I promise to bring you back before first light.’ “‘I hate to break it to you, Mathias, but I can’t just—’ “He tsk-tsked impatiently like the prince that he was, the royal who always got what he wanted. He snapped his fi
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“A woman from the first group decided to rouse herself from her languid state and sashay into my and Mathias’s path. I felt timid before her icy glare because She. Was. Stunning. She looked ethereal and would’ve easily put the most beautiful celebrities in Manila to shame. I, on the other hand, was just plain me. And like at all the other times Mathias and I were together, I was wearing only house clothes that doubled as pajamas. I think I was wearing a tank top and jogging pants on that particular occasion. “Mathias reluctantly introduced the woman as Marikit, a dayang or princess. I thought she was as lovely as her name suggested. The dayang part actually made me debate with myself whether I should bow or curtsy but, seeing that she was staring daggers at me, I decided the best course of action was to stand toe to toe. “She and Mathias started conversing in their local tongue, which I had overheard only twice or thrice before and to me sounded both sibilant and enchanting, like a m
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“‘You can understand our language, can you not?’ Marikit leaned over me as I sat quietly in the anteroom. ‘You can hear what they are talking about in there.’ “I kept my head bowed and my hand clasped on my lap. I didn’t want any friction, nor did I want to get Mathias in any more trouble than he already was. “‘You should set him free, you know?’ Marikit didn’t let up and kept baiting me. ‘You do not belong here. You two do not belong with each other.’ “Despite my efforts, she got on my nerves. I snapped: “‘And who does he belong with? With you?’ “Marikit let her breath out sharply, in a half-sigh, half-hiss of exasperation. “‘That goes without saying!’ she answered. ‘Both of you must be with your own kind. And you, like water, must seek your own level.’ “‘You mean I shouldn’t be too ambitious and set my sights on a prince, right? Because I’m trash and that’s all I’ll ever be.” “‘Your words, not mine.’ “I was seething and rose from my seat to look her in the eye. “‘Well, let
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“The first attack came from the left. A sigbin leapt and Mathias met it with his blade in one fluid swing, inflicting a mortal wound in the creature’s side. The sigbin fell and managed to scamper away – eerily backwards – disappearing with a squeal and a canine whine into the bushes. It was a good start that should’ve sent fear into the hearts of the other sigbins, but they were undeterred and continued their rabid hunt. “Mathias’s weakness is that his weapon, the kampilan, was short. The remaining sigbins resolved to exploit this by attacking simultaneously from all directions. Another lunged low from the right and he drove it back with a side kick that connected with the creature’s skull. Like the first, it backed away with a squeal. “‘Stay close to me, Fina,’ he shouted as our enemies surrounded us. “I spied a largish branch on the ground and picked it up. Then I shrieked because another sigbin leapt from directly in front of Mathias and he fell on his back as the rows of crooked
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“As ineffective as the exorcism was, it managed to do one thing: it brought Mathias back to me. Much later after the exorcism, I would learn from the others how I went into a trance. Considering the intensity of punishment Aling Tikya was dishing out on me, I wasn’t surprised. “Mathias appeared to me in a kind of vision. We were standing on the seashore and the tide was low, the beach windswept. It was just like how we used to meet but this time it was in broad daylight and I wasn’t asleep. Or at least I didn’t think I had passed out. “‘I am sorry,’ Mathias told me. ‘I did not expect things would come to this.’ “‘It’s all right,’ I said and I wasn’t lying. Inside my head, I didn’t feel pain anymore, only an overflowing sense of calm and happiness at seeing him again. ‘I’m just glad to see you’re okay.’ “‘I am,’ he told me, smiling a thrift but genuine smile. He once told me faeries were incapable of crying, but his eyes turning from blue to gray jumped out at me from his deadpan fa
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Kate fell quiet. The intensity of emotions from her ma’s story was such that she needed a minute to process everything. And the fact that Kate personally knew the main character doubled the impact. Even while Mrs. Lapuz was narrating, Kate couldn’t help but draw parallelisms between her ma’s love story and Kate’s own experience with Ecto. In fact, at times during the narration, she had imagined Mathias with Ecto’s face and, based on a rare and faded school photograph, she and Mrs. Lapuz indeed bore a striking resemblance when they were the same age. “Wow,” was all Kate could say afterwards. Her expression felt weak and inadequate. “You should keep in mind though,” her ma said. “All those things happened about 25 years ago. I might have embellished parts of the story to make up for what I’ve forgotten.” “Did you try visiting the banyan tree again?” Kate asked. “Yes, a couple of times. I even thought of crawling between the roots and entering the hollow core. But just as the tree f
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