FicWad

The sixth day dawned. The town grew increasingly morose, and very few did any kind of work at all anymore. Half the populace was crammed inside the church begging the Lord Jesus and the Virgin Mary to save them. The other half drifted about with mournful expressions, or launched into a frenzy of activity in an attempt to cram within the few remaining days the lives they would have led if things had been different. Once, while passing by a copse of bamboo in an empty lot, I noticed an odd sort of rustling and a murmur of voices. Coming to investigate, I found Lawin and my cousin Marikit entwined on the ground, their clothes scattered all over the place.

When Marikit's passion-glazed eyes fell upon me, she shrieked. "What the hell are you doing here?!"

"I'm sorry," I mumbled, my face burning. "I heard a noise--"

"I don't care what you heard! Get out of here! Get out!"

Lawin squeezed her hip. "Quiet, Marikit." He looked at me and gave me what he must have thought was a seductive smile. "Want to join us, Amihan?"

My jaw dropped. "What?!"

"What?!" Marikit echoed, twisting around to glare at her lover.

Lawin ignored her. "Aren't you the least bit curious about what you're going to miss? Personally, I've always wondered what delights you keep hidden underneath those old sacks you wear. You don't want to die a virgin, do you?"

The gorge rose in my throat. "I have to go," I muttered, before spinning around and hurrying away.

Their voices drifted after me. "Are you mad?!" Marikit yelled. "My drab little cousin?!"

Lawin laughed. "You're blind, Marikit," was the last thing I heard from him.

When I neared the church, I stopped to take several deep breaths. The last thing I wanted was to face Tia Isabel and tell her what I intended to with the heated images of my cousin and her lover still dancing in my head. Besides, I thought as I recalled Lawin's outrageous proposition, there was only one man whose hands I wanted touching me that way. And if I didn't do something soon, he was more likely to skewer me on a claw along with a few of my town-mates the next time we met.

The thought galvanized me, and I pushed my way through the crowd of supplicants until I found my aunt arguing with another matron over who was first in line at the confessional. "Tia Isabel," I had to call several times before she noticed me.

"What, Amihan?" she snapped.

"Please, I have to talk to you."

She turned to tell me not to bother her, but something in my expression must have alerted her. Her gaze sharpened, and to the matron's indignant surprise, she grabbed my arm and shoved me out of the church without so much as a warning glare at her nemesis.

We stopped just before we toppled right over the edge of the crater in the plaza. It was the only place where you could take a few steps without bumping into a would-be penitent. She placed her hands upon my shoulders and turned me to face her. "You must move quickly," she said without preamble. "You have little over three days left. With luck, you might even be able to bring them all back from wherever they've been trapped in the spirit world."

The impassioned speech I'd rehearsed scattered like marbles falling off a table. "Wha--I was--how did you know what I was going to say?"

My aunt snorted. "I may not be as strong as my sister or Sinag, but I do have magic," she said, reminding me that she had in fact taught my sister everything she knew. "You silly chit, I've known since the moment I pulled you out of your mother's body that you weren't meant to stay in this town all your life. I couldn't see as far into the future as I wanted to, but I saw enough to know that your destiny lies elsewhere. I told Sinag this before. I told her that among the three of you, you stood the most chance of making it to the Diwata's realm, but for all her talent Sinag can be as stubborn as she is foolish, and she has always been envious of the power within you."

I was having trouble keeping my head above this torrent of revelations. "I'm sorry, I don't understand. What do you mean--"

"I know about your protector, Amihan."

"What?" I whispered as the blood drained from my face.

Tia Isabel huffed in annoyance. "You think I'm stupid, girl? I've felt the strains of magic around you ever since you were a child, and since your power hasn't been awakened yet, I knew it couldn't be yours. Sinag has felt it, too, and the knowledge eats at her. Whoever guards you is powerful indeed. Not /engkanto/, oh no, far more powerful than that. In fact, I wasn't sure who your devoted protector was until six days ago. Don't lie to me, girl, I saw the look on your face in the church that day. Tell me," she urged, leaning so close I could count the number of eyebrow hairs she still had. "It's the Guardian, isn't it?"

I said nothing. I didn't even move. But my aunt read the answer in my eyes anyway. Cackling darkly, she leaned back and crossed her arms. "Heh, how precious. My little niece, Marina's youngest daughter, has taken a dragon for a lover."

The color returned to my cheeks in full force. "Wait a minute!" I protested desperately. "I never said we were lovers."

"Don't be obtuse, girl. No dragon would ever debase himself by associating with a mortal unless something as compelling as love was involved. Or hunger, but that doesn't explain why you're still alive. This is why I wanted Sinag to take you along. You stand a bigger chance of persuading the Guardian to let you enter the Diwata's realm than Habagat has of winning against a dragon. Then again, Habagat has always had the devil's own luck when it comes to challenges," she amended with a shrug. "Who knows? Maybe he'll end up vanquishing this dragon like he said he would."

Oh sweet Lady, please not that. "D-do you really think Kuya could defeat a dragon?"

"It's been done before," she said bluntly.

I gulped and looked down, trying to slow the fearful pounding of my heart. Stop this at once, I told myself sternly. This is exactly the reason you've decided on this course of action, isn't it? Resolve stiffened my spine, and I raised my eyes. "I need your help, Tia Isabel. I need to know the spell that opens the doorway to the spirit world."

She stared at me, then nodded briskly. "Come then. We need to make preparations."

We headed toward their house only to run right into Marikit, who was still surreptitiously straightening her clothing. One look at me walking beside her mother, and my cousin's face screwed up with anger. "You filthy little tattletale!" she shouted at me before turning to her mother. "I just wanted to know what passion was, Mother. You can't blame me for it. We could all be dead in a few days, and I deserve to know what I'm going to miss. Besides, I love Lawin, Mother, I love him and he loves me--"

My aunt's face was turning red, and Marikit noticed too late the frantic way I was shaking my head. "What are you babbling about, daughter?" Tia Isabel said dangerously.

"I-I-you mean Amihan didn't tell you?" Marikit said weakly.

Tia Isabel advanced toward her, and my cousin shot me a pleading look. I touched my aunt's arm, an act of bravery considering that Tia Isabel had inflated to the size of a battleship. "I overheard Lawin ask Marikit to marry her," I improvised quickly. "She didn't want me to tell you because--because she was embarrassed that Lawin had asked her first before asking your permission to propose to her."

Tia Isabel arched her eyebrows in exactly the same gesture I'd seen my sister use. "Is that so?" She gave her daughter a measuring stare, which Marikit tried valiantly not to shrink from, then clamped a hand around my cousin's arm. "You there!" she hailed a passerby. "Find Lawin and his father and tell them I would speak with them. What better way to take our mind off our troubles than to hold a wedding?"

Marikit gave me one last helpless glare before her mother dragged her off to see to the preparations for a wedding that had, a few seconds ago, existed only in my mind. I mouthed an apology before heading off home. Although I wasn't sure how Lawin would react upon being informed of his proposal of marriage to my cousin, I knew Marikit had a chance at happiness, as my cousin had loved Lawin for ages. If by some miracle I managed to return from my journey with the Diwata's pardon, I promised myself I'd make her the prettiest dress to make up for not being here to sew her wedding gown. I didn't intend to be here long enough to witness the wedding, although I did feel a little twinge of regret that I wouldn't get to see Tia Isabel run her new son-in-law-to-be to the ground.

And as my wedding gift, I vowed to give my cousin and the rest of the town a future to look forward to, no matter what.