Nyira and the Invisible Boy by K.M. Harrell

Author:K.M. Harrell [Harrell, K.M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: K.M. Harrell

23

The first day of the following month was to be Enriquillo’s eleventh birthday. He knew his mother had planned a village feast, but the night before he was anxious and couldn’t sleep, so he dragged one of the canoes from their hiding place at the edge of the jungle, intending to go paddling on the ocean. He wanted to be awake when he turned eleven. He considered going to look for Nyira and have her share the moment with him. She was surely asleep at that hour. Her dream had been so powerful that he half expected to see Arak waiting for him at the spot on the beach where they usually cast off.

The moon was huge that night—as bright as a giant torch—and the stars were out too. This was a good omen. The tide was out. He would have to drag the canoe a few yards to meet the waves. The sea was calm and had a dark glossy solidity as if he could walk out onto the water and gaze down into the depths. Before he made it to the surf, he saw someone else had come out to walk along the shore as well.

Enriquillo stood for a moment and watched the person, looking to see if they were carrying a fire spear. As they came closer, he didn’t see one. The person looked familiar, or rather what they wore did. They were clothed in the hooded black garment preferred by those the white men called priests. Usually, during the heat of the summer, they kept their heads uncovered. This individual had his hood up. Perhaps it was too big for him since the garment dragged the ground as he walked. The priest appeared headed directly for him. Enriquillo had no desire to encounter a white man this evening and again began to drag his boat toward the waves. Something strange happened in the sky then: brightness like a burning hot coal streaked past the stars. He wondered if that was the moment, signifying his passage into eleven. He felt an odd tingling upon his skin, radiating up his arms. It was warm, but not hot, and it kept going all the way to his toes. He was practically naked and could see his skin emitted a kind of glow, like low moonlight. It was unsettling, but not painful.

This is definitely eleven, he thought to himself. He’d been so self-absorbed that he’d forgotten the priest. The white man had gotten much closer now. As he drew near Enriquillo discovered, that whoever it was wearing the hooded garment, it wasn’t a white man. Suddenly the being rushed him, and when the hood fell off, he saw that it wasn’t human either. It was a giant toad-like creature with huge bulging eyes and long jagged teeth. Enriquillo instinctively threw his arm up to shield himself, and when the thing tried to take a bite out of it, it let out a scream and was jolted about ten feet. Enriquillo had felt something hot go through him, but no pain.

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