Beginning

"Good morning" Gorgeous, she added in her mind. Coral had set her alarm a little earlier than usual, although it's a pain in the back for her. "I've prepared…" she felt her brother's gaze on the back of her neck. "We've prepared breakfast for you."

"Good morning," Yûsuke replied, still with his eyes full of tears. The chaise longue was not as comfortable as it seemed.

"Still jet-lagged ? Well, I don't know if you can call it that…" she pulled out the chair at the table for the boy to sit down. "It's your favorite food, so you feel at home."

"Thanks for the food. It wasn't necessary," he said out of politeness, although he salivated profusely at the sight of what were supposed to be sweet pancakes. This trip had made him hungry.

Adassa was still sleeping soundly, missing a few days of school was no problem for her.

"Zucchini, avocado and cream cheese. There was no salmon" her guest suppressed his look of surprise, although a microgesture escaped him. Something Coral was not used to reading, or seeing.  "Don't you like it?"

"No, sorry. It's okay. I was expecting something sweet, that's all. Sorry for the inconvenience" he continued eating, but he always prefers other flavours.

"No way, I've read the story twice and cried even more," she thought. "But... throughout the story your self-rewards are salty sweets, like Pretz and... Oh, I see." She realized that maybe she didn't know him as well as she thought. Although, perhaps, this was an opportunity to get to know him better, to get to know him well. "So, what's your favorite flavor?"

"Don't force yourself so much," he replied with a half smile that, although circumstantial, had seemed disarming to her.

"You, neither" she observed how the boy had already started his second notebook in less than seventy-two hours.

"I have my reasons."

By the last class period on Monday, Coral was lost in her thoughts, which was unusual for her, as she had been chosen as the student representative for a reason. She was also the one who usually drew the attention of her desk neighbor, and best friend, in the middle of classes.

The last pages of her notebook were full of crossed out lines, arrows and circles, with the purpose of finding a solution. Science was not her field, of course, she left that to her parents, so she had almost completely ruled out the possibility of taking him back by the same means by which he came, but she could investigate. "After the club we're going to the trail," she wrote to her friend in a note, to which she nodded, as did the teacher who, with the worst of his intentions, asked them to read the note out loud. Coral got out of the way with a charismatic laugh while stroking the back of her neck, but Teresa, despite being used to being scolded by teachers, blushed like the first time.

On Mondays, training sessions were not as long, unlike the day before. The coach had started to respect the schedule during the week since most of the runners had entered more advanced courses. Most likely, some mother would complain behind her back about her child's bad grades. "What's the fault of the rest of us that he doesn't study?" was what Coral always complained about. However, this time she had benefited, so it didn't occur to her to stay a few more minutes.

At the risk of being followed by some gossip and then talked about in class, both friends headed to the place in question.

"And what are we looking for? Traces of star dust? Some ritual I can decipher? Or perhaps a craft shaped like a blue police box?"

"No" she couldn't help but smile because of the platinum blonde's great imagination. "The truth is I don't know, but I want to help him."

Did she really want to help him? It was an internal debate she had been having since… well, since she saw him, in real life, in the flesh, less than four days ago. Luckily for her, her best and most attractive current husbando was sleeping in her living room . If he stayed longer than necessary, it didn't bother her, and besides, no one else but the four of them ever came by the house, it would be a well-kept secret.

When she came back to her senses from her inner monologue, they were already standing on the rocky path, many meters away was where they had met, however, only a few meters could her friend walk in such Victorian high heel boots. Coral was struck by the fact that no adult at school had said anything to her about her style, there were stares, of course, as well as from the students, but nothing more, it didn't bother anyone, but a pseudo-modernized Victorian Gothic style was not seen every day.

"Here, take these," she said, offering her the shoes he had worn to class that morning. She was still wearing her sneakers.

"He he he, we immortals don't back down when faced with a goat path, but... thank you"  her bragging faded away to tenderness.

"Yes, but if you twist your ankle the Dark Assembly will not be able to take place" she laid out a towel on the floor, already dry from sweat, so that her beautiful reddish dress would not turn an earthy color.

Teresa, docile as a rabbit, agreed. After several years, Coral was almost sure that her friend really believed everything she said, for her brother it was escapism, although they had never talked about it, or even mentioned it, it was a delicate subject and a person they both respected, so the chestnut with pink tips had learned to tame The Immortal.

The path wound its way through the undergrowth, which although beautiful, had been mistreated by its walkers over the years. Each and every centimeter was being analyzed by the girls, but perhaps not in the same way. Coral tried hard to look for something, anything, some hint of a different civilization, or any indication that this portal? had opened again, but, despite the long and detailed explanation of the previous day, she did not really know how to help. The only thing that encouraged her was knowing that her friend's incomprehension of this strange and new technology was the same as hers, or even greater... Teresa, on the other hand, had chosen the easy way and, although she continued searching, she delighted in appreciating the rainbow of colors formed by the flowers, these had not been planted by the city council, so there was a certain random harmony caused by the bees and the wind.

"Misery loves company, I suppose" Coral snorted.

"We may not be looking right, maybe it's not the exact location" she suggested while focusing his attention on pulling out a few flowers by the roots.

"It could be, Yûsuke said that the location varied depending on the position of this land ."

It was still strange to think of several Earths, several galaxies and several universes. But it didn't keep him up at night.

"Maybe if we ask him where exactly he landed."

"No! Mmmh, I'd rather not" the sudden tone made her friend break the oleander by the receptacle, but that didn't stop her from adjusting it in her hair.

"Okay" she put his hands on his knees to stand up. "Shall we continue?"

When the moon began to rise and the light colors of the sky mixed with dark blue, that's when Coral gave up. Just for that day.

The journey back was just as tortuous, Teresa connected yawn with yawn, she had no more imagination to use that day. Coral, although she usually always found some topic of conversation, this time limited herself to saying a few sentences, she was too wrapped up in looking for a how? how to follow the thread.

"I'll tell him that I found him by chance, yes, I'll pretend that we came for a walk just that day and that we saw him"  thought the brunette.

"Are we going to your house?"

"No… if you don’t mind I want to pay a visit."

Mr. Chinea's house used to smell of cinnamon, it was long, like the rest of the street, and it had no garden, only a narrow sidewalk that separated it from the cars in traffic. The paint on the outside walls was peeling off in patches, and Imobach had had a hard time stopping the desire to tear them off the first time he saw them. At least three bejeques made up the garden on the roof, and the stones on the sides that some modern architect in the 1920s had placed only made the house look older than it was.

At that time, Don Honorio was leaning out of the window, focusing his cell phone on the sky, without losing sight of it, as if it were the first time he had seen it. Coral knew she would find him there. "Isn't my wife beautiful today?" was what he answered when she asked him in a burst of curiosity.

"Kids" his surprise was joyful. "I haven't seen you for a long time."

"Sorry, these have been different days than usual, apart from training, what can I say?"

"Right, we were finally called by the mystery, the Dark Assembly won't let me rest - she puffed out her chest proudly."

"Yeah… Well, who’s hungry?"

Normally the septuagenarian used to take out peanuts and set up the small table that took up part of the sidewalk, however, some passerby had decided to leave an anonymous protest and, regrettably, Mr. Chinea had to give in.

"Do you want a drink too?"

"I, if you don't mind, would like to go to the bathroom."

The athlete also stood out in the social field, it didn't matter who she spoke to, she always had a topic of conversation and a way of acting.

"Of course" the gentleman indicated where and returned with the blonde.

"What about family, girl? Your grandparents?"

He always used to ask about them, even though the only person he knew from childhood was his great-great-grandfather.

"There is less business lately, and Grandma has to do longer sessions" Teresa hoped her friend wouldn't take too long.  "Grandpa is always in the fields… In addition to taking care of the rest of the family."

"That's good, there's no shortage of work" he tapped the ground with his cane and looked down. "I worked from the age of eleven until recently. I was lazy, I didn't want to study and my father put me in the works, they were bad times but then things got better…"

They had told something similar in history class but I hadn't paid much attention.

"Is that where you met your wife? " Coral joined the conversation.

"Yes, well, no. Later on, Milagros" he sighed  "She was the boss's daughter."

"And they fell in love and got married?" Coral took her friend's hand in excitement, her hands were still wet, at least she had washed her hands. Teresa loved love stories, especially the ones where they grow up loving each other and have a whole life together.

"Yes, well, no. We liked each other, she always watched me work, and I took advantage of the breaks to drink water. I had strong arguments with my saintly mother! I was fired from that job, but years later she hired me again and…"

"And?" the brunette insisted. The blonde only looked from one conversationalist to the other, like in a tennis match.

"She got pregnant and we had to get married."

"What a… nice story" a hesitant, lying smile appeared on Coral's face.

"Pregnancy…?" the one with the eye patch finally intervened. "Great-grandma didn't tell me she had a child, and she loves to gossip," she thought.

There was a momentary silence, in which everyone looked away, no one wanted to be the one to break it.

"She lost him on the day of delivery. He was stillborn."

"Oh" Coral squeezed her friend's hand. Now out of guilt, part of her had made her remember that event.

"I'm coming, girls."

On his return he brought some old albums, a bit dusty and smelling of being stored. He dropped them on the table and began to show them his memories.

"This, this was the last photo before the birth. We wanted to baptize him in our lifelong hermitage."

On the side of the photo was written: "Family of three." The girls looked at each other out of the corner of their eyes, not knowing what to say.

"He wrote it months later, just like the rest."

The girls searched through the photos; "Here", "Where?", "Maria, Carmen, Eduardo"...

"Would you like to talk to them? I have my portable Ouija board here…"

"No, girl, those things are carried by the devil! You shouldn't play with that!"

Coral grabbed the artifact from her hand and shoved it into the owner's purse to keep it out of sight.

"Excuse her, she's a joker" The man hesitated, scolded her face and turned to look at the last rays of sunlight. She took the opportunity to scold her friend in whispers. "In what did you think? Portable Ouija board?!"

"The real-size one is at home"  Teresa excused herself without really understanding.

After a few silent minutes in which Coral could not even think of how to break the ice, Don Chinea resumed the conversation.

"Since then, it was hard for her to be herself, always sad, always thinking... Don't torture yourselves with life's obstacles, girls."

It was the last thing he said before saying goodbye to the visitor.