Dear Citlali [Completed]

Chapter 29. Dovi

We couldn't find anything in the house to explain what to do with the glyph, so I called Carlos, an ex-sorcerer whom I had met a few years ago in the hope he would be of help. He was a trouble magnet but a very nice guy. He listened to me and asked me to switch on the camera on my phone so he would see the room and the glyph.

As he did the same, I smiled at him. He had a bit more grey hair but the same look as ever, his rock band t-shirt covering only partially his sorcerer tattoos. "You look good," I said.

"I look old, you mean." He ran a hand through his hair.

"Not at all."

He shrugged. "I don't know. But of course, you look amazing. The earring is crazy. I'm jealous."

I laughed. "I'll send you one."

Then I turned the phone to show him what we were dealing with.

"Okay," he sighed. "That's very specific magic. I don't know the language. I don't know the rituals. It may not be very complicated to open, but if we have no clue what we're dealing with... I don't know."

"Lali knows the language, but she doesn't know magic. She said the word refers to a sculpture or an idol. But we don't know if it's supposed to be what is hidden or what we have to use, or if it's just an image, something like an arbitrary code. We have no idea."

Carlos looked away, deep in his thoughts for a few seconds. "I know some people. They can find pretty much anything and we can trust them."

"Alright. I'll send you a picture of it then. Thank you so much, Carlos. Keep me posted."

"Of course. No worries. Take care! And we have to go to a gig together again one of these days. Would be fun!"

"Sure!"

Kai, Lali, and I spent the rest of the day searching the house. There were some references, in the notebooks, to the fact that Ameyal had learned some magic in the course of her life, but no instruction about what was hidden in the sitting room.

We needed to get some fresh air, and I grabbed a few woolen blankets while we sat in the garden lounge. Kai nestled against me and I covered her body with the blanket, before laying my arm around her. Citlali sat in front of us, wrapping her arms around her legs and resting her chin on her knees. The sun was bright, but the air was freezing.

We talked about everything and nothing. I told them how I had met Carlos, at a concert in Portugal. Quite a story. They laughed. And Kai had a million questions about sorcerers. Lali and I answered to the best of our abilities.

The sunlight dimmed and, when our teas were too cold to warm our hands any longer, we went back in the house.