Chapter 11

"Why are we here again?"

Izzy had protested against their return to the only place Reyna knew as home. She didn't like the memories of it and didn't want to think about what they had lost. But Reyna had insisted, before she read the letter she needed to remember. To see for herself what had been before the memories of her past had become a blur. Most of all she wanted to remember her mother, the one who raised her, before she could face the reality that someone else had given birth to her.

"You know it better than I do. I just need some time here to see what she was like, maybe then I can find her."

Reyna moved around the rooms looking for something out of place or anything that stood out. She found what used to be her room and everything was in the place she had left them before the explosion. All her toys were scattered on the floor because she had allowed herself to be distracted by her mother outside and had left them there.

But the rest of the room was as neat, her bed was made and her many books were arranged, according to language, on the shelf her mother had bought for her when she started learning. Her mother had been her teacher and she had taught her using so many languages that at the age of five Reyna was fluent in most of them.

"In order to learn a language, you first had feel it in your heart, that was what she always said. Because at the end of the day all words came from the same place,the heart, and no matter how different they were, if their intentions were the same then they were connected."

As Reyna heard the words coming from Izzy, she felt her shoulders tremble, that was exactly what her mother used to say during the many lessons they had. She always scolded Reyna for focusing too much on pronunciation. Instead she was supposed to focus on the intent of the words and their purpose.

Her eyes landed on a picture that was on her bedside table. It's frame was purple just like everything else in the room. It was of a woman holding a little girl in her hands. Only the girl's face was clear, the woman's was blurry and her features indistinct. They were both happy in the picture, the girl had her short arms around the woman's neck while the woman kissed her cheek. Reyna couldn't see the woman's face but she knew that whenever she smiled her eyes lit up and the small dimple on her right cheek became even more

"Izzy could you take us to thirty minutes before the house blew up? If I'm not wrong something happened during that time."

Even with the mental connection, Izzy still prefered it when Reyna spoke out loud.

"It is the only way you'll learn honey, stop complaining. Of course I can take us back. I wouldn't be what I am if I couldn't."

Reyna was already used to the tilting and spinning of the room before it changed. When the spinning stopped, they were still in the same room. It was only when you payed attention to the details that you could notice the difference. A purple bag sat on top of the bedside table near the frame, her emergency bag. She always had to keep it close just in case and never really understood why.

"Mama, look. Isn't it pretty?"

The voice came from outside. Reyna moved to the window that overlooked the garden below. The little girl from the picture stood in the middle of the flower bushes and held out her hand for her mother to see the thing she had been admiring.

"Very pretty indeed and do you know that this butterfly is one of a kind I have never seen one with such a beautiful pattern before. It is just like you, my love."

The woman went back to tending to her rose bushes while the girl followed her new pretty friend.

"Mama, why do love these flowers so much?"

The girl, tired of chasing after the butterfly had gone back to her mother's side to watch her work.

"Because these flowers are special to me, they remind of friends I lost a long time ago. Each one of them is unique on its own way."

She went on to explain to the child what each of them meant and Izzy's sniffles could be heard as she tried to hold back the tears welling up in her eyes.

Reyna didn't need to be told that the flowers held some meaning to the spirits, too bad they were already gone. It was then that she smelt it. An horrible stench of rotten flesh and sulphur filled the air. Reyna wished that she could shout to the two below and tell them to run but they couldn't hear her even if she tried.

In silence she watched as both mother and daughter finally became aware of it.

Her mother took Reyna by the hand and rushed into the house. From down the hallway Reyna could hear what her mother was saying to her little version.

"Reyna listen to me, I want you to go get your emergency bag and meet at the back door downstairs, okay honey? Hurry up."

At her mother's words, the little Reyna came in running, took the bag on the bedside table and dashed out.

"This is the last thing you saw of this room so time stops from here on." Izzy explain in a shaky voice.

They didn't need to go on any further, Reyna had found what she was looking for. The stench was the clue.

"I know that smell, could he be having my mother?"

The question was phrased in such a way that it only implied to what she was talking about. Reyna needed Izzy to answer it in order to find out if her suspicions were true.

The day her trainer had been brought he had reeked of a similar sulphuric stench, only that his was mild. Though he didn't smell of rotten flesh, the scent wasn't that different. It would have been so easy to point the finger at him if Reyna hadn't been by his side for the many years that she had. Apart from that first day never again had he reeked of sulphur meaning the scent wasn't his but acquired from somewhere or someone. Lucky Reyna knew just who it was.

"Yes, I believe he has her."