Epilogue Madalena
Epilogue
Madalena
I stand on the veranda drinking a cafezinho while in the distance, Leandro digs.
I told him to dig at least a dozen meters past the cemetery of forgotten Neves ancestors.
Torrential rains waterlogged the soil and we were forced to wait weeks to bury him.
There can be no headstone, no grave for Doctor Lobo.
Weeds will cover the soil, and they will turn into wayward trees and branches and wild brush, and eventually there will be no hint that the earth there was ever disturbed.
The newspaper Jornal do Recife reported that the body of a girl was found in the house of a respected local physician.
Although there has been no official report, word on the street is that he killed her.
No one has seen him since two days after her disappearance, and officials believe that he is on the run.
In town, flyers with his photograph are plastered on posts, and a reward is listed for his capture.
They’ll never find him.
Maria das Dores never turned up to work again. I have already found a suitable replacement.
Tonight is the first night of the full moon. It’s a special night, one I always look forward to. I tell Leandro I am going to Midnight Mass.
I wear a mask as I enter the house on Rua Imperial. It is not as large as Doctor Lobo’s house. There are twelve people here in total. Twelve planets revolve around the sun, twelve signs in the zodiac, twelve members of the brotherhood.
It is not a room; it is negative space. I leave my past at the door, along with my face, name, and everything else. The space within has no boundaries.
I am engulfed by warmth as we chant, dance, pray, and exchange secrets.
He died, but the one that I am bound to can never die. He is the one whose power opened my eyes again; the one made of shadows, who pulses in my depths and promises to fulfill my yearning. The prince of the kingdom of air, whose mark is seared under my skin. Our bond can never be undone.
Every full moon I remember what he said: No matter what happens from here on, know that this feeling is real. This feeling is true. All else is false. This is what you must return to.
So I do. I return again and again. And when I step into the ring of flames, I rise.