In Midnight's Silence by T. Frohock

Author:T. Frohock
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2015-06-01T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 5

RAFAEL SNIFFED THE collar of his papa’s coat and smelled the spicy odor of his sweat. Excitement tickled his belly. How many nights had he gone to sleep dreaming of being rescued from the nuns and their harsh voices full of fear? More than he could count. More than one hundred and one nights, or a thousand nights, or ten thousand nights, and more than he thought he could bear. His mamá had promised him that when he found his papa, he would finally be safe. Now they were together, and Rafael would never have to face Sister Benita or the other sisters again.

He tugged the coat around him. Something heavy caused the garment to hang to the left. Rafael reached inside the pocket and allowed his fingers to travel over the rectangular shape. The sensation of his father’s warm magic bled through the paper. Rafael peeked into the pocket to find a thin ray of silver, gleaming in the pallid light. Was his papa rich?

A quick glance at the stairwell assured him that Miquel had not returned, so Rafael enlarged the opening to reveal the box Señor Prieto had given to Doña Rosa. A drop of blood from the cut on his hand smeared across the glass. Rafael tried to wipe away the smudge, but he merely succeeded in dirtying the glass even more. He smoothed the paper over the box, then took his hand from the pocket. Maybe Papa wouldn’t notice the dirt, or if he did, maybe he wouldn’t think that Rafael had made the mess. He didn’t want to make Papa angry, so he formulated the lie he would tell about how the box got dirty. Sister Benita had taught him—­indirectly—­to always have a lie prepared in advance, because any hesitation on his part meant an extra whack from her ruler.

The sound of Miquel’s footsteps startled Rafael. The top of Miquel’s head came into view. He paused on the stairs and looked down as if he was examining something at his feet.

Curious to know what Miquel might be looking at, Rafael stood quietly. He was very good at being quiet, because Sister Benita could hear pins drop on angels’ heads, or something like that. Rafael could never remember exactly how the saying went, because Sister Benita usually delivered her speeches while waving a ruler in his face, and the ruler always distracted him.

Miquel’s breathing was labored like when Señor Prieto had placed the sigil over his heart, and that wasn’t good. Rafael had worried that Miquel might die, but Señor Prieto had promised that as long as Papa did the right thing, Miquel would be fine.

Miquel certainly didn’t look fine. Rafael’s heart kicked up a notch when the older Nefil stumbled over the top step. He righted himself and pressed his palm against the wall. Color returned to his cheeks and the episode seemed to pass. Rafael remembered the hourglass, and Señor Prieto telling them they had two hours. Had it been two hours? Miquel offered Rafael a wan smile that did nothing to reassure the youngster.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.