I say nothing; I concentrate.

The roots wrap around him more securely, his arms bound tightly against his body until all you can see of him is his stark, enraged face staring back at us. I gesture with my hand and more thick vines encircle his legs.

A growl echoes from deep within the ruins of Askal’s face. A thick root sprouts up from its center, something sharp like teeth at its end, drawing closer to Hemslock’s face.

“It was you,” Chase whispers. “When I was attacked in the cabin—the vines beat them away. That was you.”

“I don’t understand,” Gries rasps. “You can control them?”

“No.” It takes immense effort to focus, to make sure that my hold over them doesn’t slip. It’s fortunate that the rest of the soldiers are no longer fighting, their bullets gone. They stand petrified with terror. “Only when he lets me.”

“Your father is the Diwata.” It hurts to hear Chase speak like this—like I’ve betrayed him, though that’s exactly what I‘ve done. “When you told me that he was weak—that he’d been sick for a very long time—this was what you…”

I don’t look at him, not wanting to see his face now that he knows how I’d misled him. I look up at the moving, twisting darkness above me. “Does it have to be this way?” I ask Him. “We have a sacrifice already. Enough to sustain you for a long time. Surely that’s enough?”

The cave walls shift, a ripple going through them like they were made of water. With it comes a heavy, rustling sound, like that of a thousand makahiya opening and closing, leaves scraping against each other.

“Pagod na ako, ’Tay. Sobra na ang kamatayan dito.”

More rumblings, murmurs from around us.

“What did you say?” Chase asks. “What is he saying?”

“I told him that I’m tired of all this death. He says that it is not on me to plead for who dies and who does not when they are all guilty. That I am here because I am His child and His conscience, but it is He who punishes.”

I turn back to the cave. “I am your conscience,” I affirm in English this time, again for Gries’s and Chase’s benefit. “You said you feared that your long absence had turned you cruel, that you would no longer listen. The cruelty is what they will remember of you. Gods forgive because they see humans for what they are: foolish. Please forgive them.”

A rattling sound from above us.

“Yes, ’Tay. This is what it means to be family. To listen to those who care for you. I’ve never asked you for anything before. Please.”

The roots overhead writhe quietly, the balete’s movements slowing as Father mulls my words. And then another rumbling, almost a purr, resounds throughout the cavern.

The cocoon dissipates, and Hemslock sprawls on the ground.

The teeth retreat back into Askal. The mass of roots disappears, and flesh shifts back into Askal’s dog form. He barks smugly.