13. Beatriz
Chapter 13
Beatriz
“I expect more from you this time.” Papá propped open the parlor door and gestured toward the opposite side of the room.
Rather than yellow rays of sunlight cutting through the space, a dull white glow seeped from the windows. I stepped toward Uncle Uly who sat in the far armchair in the corner again. Papá fled the room and my lessons. Didn’t Uncle Uly say he’d speak to Papá for me? Should I assume the conversation was a failure or never occurred?
“So, you’re stuck pretending to give me lessons?” I stood before my uncle and refused the common greeting. “And the conversation with Papá?”
“We’ve come to an agreement.” Uncle Uly smoothed his beard. “You give me a month, and he’ll set you free.”
This was not a win, and time continued to tick by with only letters to look forward to reading. I pouted.
Uncle Uly chuckled. “Are we to be enemies?”
I crossed my arms, ready to disperse the next set of jabs I had planned out in my mind.
“How about a walk through town?” Uncle Uly grabbed his staff and pulled himself to a standing position. “I’d love to treat you to something delightful.”
My tongue stumbled. I had expected a retort or explanation but not a mundane invitation.
“You won’t have to use your gifting.” His shoes thumped across the hardwood. “We can stop at the bakery along the way. Unless that sounds too exerting for you?” His bushy eyebrows waggled, daring me to reject his offer.
My gaze narrowed. “Is this a trick?”
“Of course, it is.” He laughed. “But I promise, you get to choose how or if you use your gift.”
The sincerity in his response comforted me, though I disliked that he had ulterior motives. But wasn’t it better to know the other’s intentions than to be surprised by hidden motives? I strolled alongside my uncle through the parlor door and out the front entrance. A gray slab of clouds promised rain, but not a droplet fell from the sky. Guards opened the front gate to a bustling cobblestone plaza. The wide-open square had many tents propped up along the edges where vendors sold water jugs, trinkets, fruits, and cloth. Many bystanders snuck glances in our direction, but no one bothered us besides a child who grabbed my skirt. He yanked on the turquoise fabric with dirt-caked fingernails. I glared down at the floppy-haired boy.
His brown eyes were like pools and his gap-toothed smile was quite endearing. “Are you the mean princess?”
I flinched. The frank question had no malice. It affirmed my fear about how others perceived me, but the child’s gentle gaze held no insult. “Yes, but I have a secret for you.” I bent down toward his ear. “We’re going to get a treat, and my uncle will buy you something from the bakery up ahead if you accompany us.”
Uncle Uly chuckled and waved his hand in front of his nose. An aroma drifted in the air from somewhere beyond the square.
The boy rubbed his hands together and licked his lips. He stayed by my side as we continued our walk. Now, my uncle couldn’t require me to use my gifting no matter what. He wouldn’t dare risk a child’s life to teach me a trick or two.
Uncle Uly glanced at the boy. “What’s your name?”
“Juancho.”
“And what is your gifting?” Uncle peeked over his shoulder at me, but the question was for Juancho.
“I haven’t got one.” The boy kicked a rock. “There’s no one to take me to my whyzer, and my whyzer hasn’t come. I think it’s because I haven’t got a home.”
The child had to be five or six years old. Most children received their gifts when they were younger unless they were destined to possess a powerful gifting.
A carriage rattled by, drowning out the next portion of Uncle Uly’s and Juancho’s conversation. We squeezed in front of a miller’s shop where a line of people had gathered. Then, we crossed the road. A woman flew through the air, pinning clothes along a wire between flat-roofed buildings. Trails of blurred air emanated from her.
“Is that so?” Uncle Uly stopped below the bakery sign hanging overhead. A yeasty aroma drifted from the doorway and woke up a hunger that should have been sated by my breakfast.
“I’m your whyzer, Juancho,” Uncle Uly said.
Juancho bounced on his toes. “Does that mean I get a special power today? Will I be able to fly or read minds or heal or something like that?” The eagerness in his little voice reminded me of how I had felt not too long ago. How the tides had shifted.
Uncle tapped on the boy’s shoulder with his staff. The top of the staff glowed as if holding firelight. I had never seen a person receive their gifting before because the ceremonia was personal and done at a very young age for most. People also never knew when the whyzer would arrive, so no one had the opportunity to send invitations.
An old woman, who swept the front of the herbalist shop next door, stopped to watch. Other pedestrians gathered around.
“Juancho, I bestow on you invisibility.” Uncle’s words echoed between the buildings despite the clomp and rumble of horses pulling wagons of food on the road.
The boy vanished under Uncle Uly’s staff. I blinked several times and tried to catch light bending along the boy’s figure, but no hint of him remained. Was he still there?
“You just made a thief of him,” the old woman said. “I’ve seen the likes of him before stealing a coin from a pocket. No redeeming him now.”
Uncle Uly nodded. “It’s possible he could become a thief, or he could find some other work to earn the coins he needs.” Uncle Uly turned his gaze down again. “Would you like a quesito from the bakery?”
The boy’s tan skin and tattered clothes reappeared. “That was awesome! It feels like little bugs landed on all my fingers and toes.” He wiggled his hand with glowing light on each finger pad. The pale markings must have been hidden under all the dirt.
“He’ll never do a day’s worth of real work in his life,” the old woman muttered and swept the cobblestones in front of her shop with angry swipes.
We entered the bakery and ordered three treats from behind a glass display. The moment the clerk placed the treat in my grasp, I took a bite of the sweet, cheese filled pastry. Why would Uncle Uly take me on this walk just to pick up treats? He must plan to soften my shell before demanding I use my powers. We continued our stroll with the boy flickering in and out of view by our side.
Though I could have devoured my bread, I nibbled on the sweet edges, savoring my break from lessons. The roads twisted and turned. Many people parted in front of us and some bowed. My expensive attire or well-known face could have branded me as royalty.
Uncle Uly approached the guard at Giddel’s Wall Gate. “Good sir, what’s your biggest need at the moment?”
The guard’s brown eyes flashed in recognition. “Duke Uly, it’s an honor to see you.” The tall man dipped his head toward me in greeting. “Princess. Thievery has increased these past few months. Prices of goods have risen with more people moving into town and supplies being scarcer.”
“What’s your gifting?” Uncle Uly asked the guard.
The guard kept a stoic countenance. “I can discern truth from lie.”
“What if you could have a witness to uncover the culprits?” Uncle eyed me.
“Do you know of someone who can blend into the throng?” The guard asked. “If so, we’d love to hire someone with that ability.”
Someone shoved my side.
“I can do that.” The little boy appeared between Uncle Uly and the guard. “No one can see me, see.” The boy vanished and reappeared. “I can’t hold it long but it’s going to grow, right Senor Whyzer Man?”
“Indeed, it will.” Uncle Uly arched his eyebrows to the guard in question.
The guard’s prickly face curved into a shape that could almost pass as a smile. He bent downward to meet Juancho’s gaze. “Do you promise to always tell the truth?”
“Yes. I will never lie to you.” Juancho’s head bobbed with enthusiasm.
The guard nodded at Uncle Uly with approval.
Uncle Uly patted the boy’s head. “You have a big job, little one. If someone refuses to pay you, send a note with a bird. The birds seem to recognize my name now.”
A pigeon flapped onto Uncle Uly’s shoulder and cooed.
Juancho nodded vigorously. “I will.”
“Good.” My uncle patted the boy’s head. “The Ancient One will be with you if you seek Him. Always remember that and His commands.”
We left the boy at the guard’s post at the gate. A knowing look tiptoed across Uncle Uly’s expression, but I didn’t respond to it. Sure, some gifts can work beautifully together to make our community better, but how could my gift be useful?
Uncle Uly broke the silence once we passed the herbalist’s shop. “I’ve watched Juancho pickpocket in the square since I arrived in Giddel. I debated withholding his powers, but I also believe he can use his experience, and his new ability, to help others.”
I strolled in silence back to the palace.
When we made it within the front gate, I stopped outside the entrance where stakes lined the cobblestone walkway. No one had hung on the posts since Prince Lux had been flung onto one. “Juancho hasn’t killed someone like I have.”
“You were untrained, like Juancho.” Uncle Uly squared up to me. “One day, Juancho will be able to hold his invisibility all day without a glitch, just like you will one day turn the hearts of kingdoms.”
“Do I want that ability? It seems intrusive and selfish to manipulate people to favor me. The Ancient One knows that I’m a terrible person.” I hugged myself and heard the echoes of Cosme’s harsh words: You know how Beatriz is.
“It’s needed. Your gift could be a curse if you misuse it, or it could be a gift all of Giddel needs.” Uncle Uly extended his arm for me to cling onto. “It’s going to rain soon.”
I wrapped my arm around his, and we crossed into the front entrance. The moment we entered, rain poured from the skies.
“Do you trust my judgment?” Uncle Uly asked me.
A splattering of raindrops confirmed his unique ability to understand life, and so did his reading of Juancho. I touched my sleeve with the letter from Zichri, knowing Uncle Uly’s training could help me in more than one way.
I inhaled a heaving breath. “I trust you.”
He patted my hand. “Then tomorrow you’ll learn to control how you read emotions.”
Dread coiled in my belly, but I’d give Uncle Uly a chance to prove me wrong.