That summer, Tali had been initiated into the Order by Adolfo Reyes, her father, and she was invited to the Ceremonial. When she saw Juan in the place of power, she fainted. No one noticed, they were all in some kind of trance. The fear didn’t last long. Her father had talked to her about the Order for years, and he’d told her the stories of the mediums. But she never expected the medium to be Juan. They’d hidden it very well; even Rosario, who was so close to her, had hidden it from her for years, and Tali understood why.

A little over a year later, Juan went to London for an operation and to see Rosario. He stayed living in England for some time, but disaster brought him back. Tali hadn’t gotten angry when she found out he and Rosario were together, because she knew that’s how it had to be. She merely cried, then tried to forget him; she couldn’t.

Tali fell asleep at dawn, and when she woke up just a few hours later, Juan and Gaspar were in the kitchen making breakfast. She put on a fresh dress and went over to the counter to help them. We’re making something yummy, Gaspar told her. And for a moment she thought, why not? Why not take her sister’s place and look after her widower and her son?

“Good morning, boys,” she said.

Gaspar was spreading butter with extreme care on to toast that was a little burned but perfectly edible. Juan told her:

“The protection on your temple is a disaster.”

There was that contemptuous tone she hated, the superiority that always irritated her.

“I don’t have your skills.”

“That’s quite clear. I’ll take care of it later.”

Gaspar handed her a piece of toast. It had a lot of jam, but Tali ate it anyway. Juan went on preparing the mate. Tali decided not to argue.

“Should we go to the lake today?” she suggested.

“Yeah! Let’s go!” cried Gaspar. “I know how to swim now.”

“He’s learning,” said Juan.

“We could go, there are no more palometas.”

“What are palometas?”

“They’re fish that are a lot like piranhas. But they only bite you, they won’t eat you.”

Gaspar’s eyes opened wide.

“Maybe you’ll get lucky and see one,” said Juan.

“But I don’t want them to bite me.”

“Don’t worry about that, I’ll take care of you.”

“Can I watch TV?”

Tali said sure and brought his milk and cookies to the living room. When she came back to the kitchen, Juan was sitting at the table, smoking.

“Did you get up early?”

“I try to get up first because Gaspar wakes up crying.”