Sun Kissed

20. Blood Orange (EDITED)

20. Blood Orange

The shadows pressing in on Toni no longer intimidated him. He welcomed the cover of darkness as a blanket against the brutal Amazon sun. Sofi seemed to be enjoying herself and the dolphins weren't hurting her or forcing her to do anything against her will. Toni was close enough to hear everything. He tied his rope around a tree so he wouldn't drift away. Then he stretched out and got as comfortable as possible in the tiny boat.

The music, the splashing, Sofi's laughter – together it all lulled him to sleep.

. . . Wake up.

A chill climbed around his neck.

Our little mariposa is on the move. Catch her before she flutters off.

His vision wasn't quite right. Something balancing between his eyes was forcing them to cross. He fanned away a butterfly. Wings that might have been plain yellow appeared golden in the darkness.

Toni sat up regretfully, wondering why he would ever take a nap in a wooden boat. His eyes followed the butterfly. Something about it was off. Its wings seemed laden with dust, and with every wingbeat, a glittery cloud condensed around it before promptly evaporating.

Toni reached for his knife.

Save your edge, noble shadow and follow me.

Toni blinked and strained his eyes. The butterfly wove its way through the creepers and into the waterfall basin. The late afternoon sun made it harder to see, but it was clear that all of the music and circus performances had come to an end.

As Toni abandoned the boat and cut a path through the inflated vines, he wished he had brought a machete. The butterfly served as a glistening beacon when his own sight failed him. Toni released his breath when he finally emerged inside the basin. The roof of the forest ballooned overhead into a stunning latticework of tree limbs and flora.

There was no time to appreciate its beauty.

All of the Encantados had reverted to their dolphin forms. They swam towards the mouth of the waterfall. Sofi was at the rear, clinging to the back of a mostly gray dolphin.

Toni wanted to call her name, but his throat constricted.

Stay out of the water.

The command was a warning, he realized. After clambering onto a broad, flat boulder, Toni shouted Sofi's name.

Two by two, the dolphins disappeared under the waterfall. They were going home, Toni realized, to their paradise.

Toni tried again to get Sofi's attention. He waved frantically as she passed by the rock. They locked eyes and Sofi slid from the dolphin's back. Her expression was a battle between guilt and disbelief.

She floated towards the rock. "What are you doing here?"

Toni ignored the ache in his shoulders as he reached down and hauled Sofi out of the water like it was poisoned.

"I lost Paola," he growled. "I'm not losing you too."

Sofi disengaged herself, but thankfully, didn't leap off the rock. She hugged herself protectively and blinked like she was trying to clear her head. In that moment Toni noticed how thick the air was with the scent of shapeshifters. He smelled citrus – Sofi's dolphin – but there were other aromas fighting for dominance. Sweet corn, lavender, cacao powder, juniper berries.

How could she possibly think straight with so many of them at once?

"I trust Amancio," Sofi whispered, but it hardly felt like she meant it.

Toni glanced at the pool. The last round of fins were swallowed up by the downpour.

"This has gone beyond saving my sister." He knew she wouldn't want to hear what he had to say next. "You're just using them now, Sofi."

Her gaze cut worse than his knife had only hours ago. "Shut up. You don't know what you're talking about."

He swallowed. "You think the Encantados can take you away from your problems. But they can't. Your mamãe – "

She covered her ears. "Stop it!"

Behind you.

Toni was too slow. It had been a long time since he had to test his strength against another man. He wasn't ready for the kick of adrenaline as his attacker's bicep closed around his windpipe.

"Amancio, no!"

They crashed against the rock. Toni fought to orient himself. To catch his breath.

His ribs.

Toni delivered his elbow to the vulnerable area. His attacker cried out and let go. Toni gathered the air that he needed, rolled and found his feet as fast as he could.

He fumbled for his knife while assessing his attacker. He had never gotten a proper look at Amancio until now. Standing there, bent over, cradling his cracked rib, he was not as intimidating as Toni's dark-haired doppelganger. Still, his smokey orange eyes were too savage to mistake him for a human.

"We were having fun," the monster ground out. Toni remembered Sofi's words from the night of the storm. He's sort of like a child in some ways.

"Toni, please," Sofi's voice trembled, "go home."

No one moved.

Something yellow and cloudy bloomed in Toni's periphery. 

Do not leave her here with him.

"I'm not going anywhere."

The Encantado smiled. "Sofi would rather have fun with me than stay here with you," the shifter's words made Toni tighten his grip on the knife, "and watch her mamãe rot."

Toni ignored all reason. He meant to end this all now.

But Sofi got in the way.

"Wait!"

He let go of the knife as he collided with her. She fell back against the Encantado.

Not the water!

The pool swallowed him. The sun seemed so far away, until two more appeared in the watery gloom. Toni recognized those solar flares and prayed that Sofi had enough time to swim away.

Go on, he wanted to say, I'm not afraid to die.

He thought of laying out on the deck with Sofia. Holding her in the sunshine. Little yellow butterflies trapped in her curls.

The solar flares flickered and the peculiar taste of iron scorched his tongue. Darkness took over once more and something slender but strong wrapped around his wrist.

Sofi pulled Toni to the surface. "Are you okay?"

He coughed, wretched, and coughed some more.

"I lost your knife. I'm sorry."

She led him by the hand to shallow waters. There was hardly any sunlight. Just a pink haze barely visible through the jungle barrier.

"It's okay, Toni. They're gone."

He hadn't realized he was shaking. He wanted to talk, but he just . . . couldn't right now. Sofi knelt in front of him and made him rest his head against her chest.

"I couldn't just let you kill him. Amancio is my friend."

He leaned harder against her as the shaking got worse. He hated himself for it.

Sofi whispered, "I want to go with you to Carnaval." She wiped something from under his nose. Blood?

"I know the difference, Toni. I know what's real." All the scents had left the air except one. "And I don't want to pretend anymore. I'm not going to run away again."

She hugged him and – damn him – he hugged her fiercely back.

"I promise, I'm done pretending."