The Girl Between Two Worlds Read online

  “Even all my powers were of no help in locating Marie. No one can sense any trace of her, which is unusual. This tells me your mother’s disappearance was not of this world. I traveled here to be with you when you turned sixteen because it is after this birthday that your heritage manifests.”

  “Heritage?” Dad said, looking at me.

  “This morning, I touched a dying flower and brought it back to life. I wanted to tell you but I didn’t want to believe it was really happening,” I told him. I felt guilty that I hid it from him, no matter how brief.

  Dad squeezed my shoulder and kissed my head, like he always does when he’s comforting me. “Was it painful? Were you in pain?”

  “No, Dad, I’m okay. It wasn’t like that,” I smiled, hoping it would make him feel better. Then I remembered what I saw in the mirror. “Lolo, when I woke up this morning, I heard Mama say something to me, and when I looked in the mirror, she was there but then she disappeared. I thought I was just going crazy but now I’m not so sure.”

  “What did she say? What did she look like?” Dad said.

  “She said I look beautiful,” I whispered, holding back tears as I remembered her image in the mirror. “She was wearing the same dress she wore the night she disappeared.”

  I looked at Lolo and caught him looking at my necklace. I instinctively touched it, like I would when I felt nervous, caressing its smooth surface and willing it to give me strength.

  “Who gave you that necklace?”

  “Mama did. She gave it to me the night before she disappeared,” I said, still holding on to the stone.

  “May I?”

  I nodded and moved closer to him. Lolo held the stone and I saw light coming from it, getting brighter and brighter. A burst of air escaped Lolo’s hand, making me close my eyes. When I opened them, I saw images of Mama everywhere in the house—as a child, growing up in unfamiliar surroundings and even more unfamiliar creatures. It looked like we were staring at memories of Mama.

  “Is that your mom?” Alyssa asked, which startled me a bit as she hadn’t said anything for a while.

  “I think so,” I said, also uncertain at what I was actually seeing. “Lolo, are these Mama’s memories?”

  Lolo released the stone and all the images were sucked back into it. There was deep sadness in Lolo’s eyes, so familiar because I had seen it in my dad’s every single day. It must be hard for Lolo especially since he hadn’t seen Mama for a very long time. Although I had only met him, I felt like we had shared a lifetime together. I reached out and touched his hand, surprising him with my gesture.

  “What you just saw were your mother’s memories and mine. When she gave you that stone, she gave you everything she had. Her powers, her memories, her secrets. She did it to protect you.”

  “Why would Karina need protection?” Mark said. He looked nervous.

  “There are creatures from Engkantasia, dark ones, who are determined to take over the throne. This means destroying any possible heirs.”

  “Including Karina,” Dad said, gripping my hand. “But she’s only sixteen. What are we supposed to do about all this?” Dad was starting to panic. Who could blame him? The life we knew was unravelling fast yet again.

  “No one can force Karina to do anything. She has to want to become the ruler of Engkantasia. If she does, she has a lot of training to go through in so little time. She needs to get stronger so she can defend herself.”

  “You must understand that her powers will keep manifesting if she doesn’t take control of it,” Lolo continued. “She is not only in danger, but she could also be a danger to everyone around her. This mix of human and engkanto has been forbidden for thousands of years. It brings complications to our existence. The last time this happened, it almost destroyed both worlds.”

  “If that is the case, then why come for Karina? Why ask her to take the throne? She is human. She doesn’t belong in your world,” Dad said. His hand gripped mine tightly.

  “We are running out of options. I agree that this is unprecedented but it’s for the greater good,” Lolo sighed.

  Just when I thought we were slowly getting our lives back, something tore it to pieces again. Fear and uncertainty never seemed to leave our lives.

  “What can we do to protect ourselves? What can I do to protect Karina?” Dad asked, gripping my hand so hard it started to hurt.

  “Marie was supposed to help Karina hone her abilities, but I think she already knew something was going to happen to her. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have left herself vulnerable and given all her powers to Karina,” Lolo answered.

  He looked at the necklace again, touching it lightly. “This stone has been protecting you since your mother disappeared. But now you need more than that to overcome what is about to happen. That is why I’m here, to train you like I trained your mother.”

  I still had a million questions but I could not say anything. I felt like all the energy had been sucked out of me and I just wanted to sleep forever. I looked around the room and it seemed like everyone was feeling the same way. I excused myself and headed upstairs, crashed on my bed and closed my eyes. I wished that when I woke up, it would all be nothing but a dream.

  Chapter Five

  San Francisco Tribune, October 2012

  Missing Migrant Feared Dead

  After months without progress, authorities have resigned the case of the missing Filipino migrant as a recovery effort.

  Marie Harris, the Filipino migrant who disappeared from her house without a trace shortly after she migrated to America with her family, is feared to be dead.

  However, her family remains optimistic that they will find her, organizing their own search operations outside of the police investigation.

  June 2015

  D id you ever get that feeling that something was nearby but you couldn’t see anything? You’d hear tiny sounds of scampering or the frantic wings of an insect but you coudn’t quite figure out where it was coming from.

  It was like that time when we were still living in the Philippines and I slept under a mosquito net. I woke up in the middle of the night after hearing the buzz of cockroach wings. People always thought I was crazy to say that I knew the sound of cockroach wings, but I did. I knew the sound that my worst fear made. I opened my eyes in a panic, adjusting in the dark. I saw the little bugger crawling on top of the mosquito net. I kept telling myself that it was outside the net—that it couldn’t possibly crawl inside. But at the back of my mind I knew it wasn’t true. Sure enough, the giant cockroach dropped on my face.

  That was how I felt when I woke up in my dark bedroom. A sense that there was something close, something dangerous. Something I should fear. But I couldn’t quite figure out what it was. Did I hear something that woke me up? Did I see a glimpse of a shadow in the corner of my room? Of course, that was before the monster ever came to slice me with its tongue so I was adamant that I had nothing to worry about.

  I was not sure how long I dozed off after that dramatic exit from my meeting with Lolo. My hair was sticking to my face and I was sweating under the comforter. The house was quiet and I almost convinced myself it was all a dream. But then I heard voices coming from the living room. I sat up, contemplating on whether I should join them or not. Maybe I could just stay in the room forever and bury my head under the pillow.

  I took a deep breath and headed outside my room to find Dad. I found him in the living room, staring at the TV, a can of beer in his hand.

  “Hey Dad, where is everyone?”

  He turned around and smiled, already a bit tipsy. “Mark and Alyssa left after you went to sleep. They said they’ll see you tomorrow at school.”

  “And Lolo?” I asked hesitantly, a part of me hoping he was just a figment of my imagination. I heard Dad sigh.

  “He’s in the guest bedroom,” he said so quietly I almost didn’t hear him.

  “Oh.” I guess that was that. “Is he staying with us then?”

  Dad nodded, and continued to drink his be
er. I was hoping to talk to Dad about everything but it didn’t seem like the right time.

  Instead I went to the spare room to find Lolo. There were more questions I needed to ask him. I raised my hand to knock on the door when I heard him.

  “Come in, Karina.”

  I turned the knob and peeked inside the room. It was dark and quiet. The bedside lamp was off but there was a luminescent glow in the corner of the room. I blinked to adjust my eyes to the darkness and walked inside.

  “Lolo? Where are you?”

  I saw the glowing thing move toward me and I realized he was holding it in his hand. It was ball of light floating around like a torch, except this one didn’t need batteries.

  “I thought this might be a more sustainable source of light than that,” he said, pointing to the lamp. He took my hand and placed the light on my palm. It should feel warm, but I sensed nothing. I waved my hand around and it just sat there, following my palm. I moved to the bedside table and turned on the lamp, filling the room with more light. I handed the ball of light back to Lolo, and he closed his hand, extinguishing it. He sat beside me, and for a while, we just stayed like that, in uncomfortable silence.

  “You can ask me anything, mija,” he said, finally breaking the silence. Again, my heart tugged at the pet name, the same one Mama used to call me.

  “Tell me more about Mama. What was she like? How did she run away? How come you never looked for her?”

  I could see it pained him to talk about Mama, but he sighed and told me anyway.

  “Your mother was always fascinated with humans. She studied humans all the time, wanting to know everything about your kind. We were waiting for her to come of age so she could officially be sworn into the kingdom’s circle of royal council. She was going to take on more advanced training to prepare her for when she becomes queen. When she ran away, I didn’t do anything to stop her. Like you, Marie had to take on the role freely. No one can force it on her.”

  Lolo paused, staring at a painting on the wall Mama made a long time ago. I waited for him to continue.

  “I had no intention of looking for your mother after she ran away. It was a decision she made for herself. I was prepared to appoint another clan to the throne before the war broke out. But after the first war, I realized only a descendant would have enough power to impose order in Engkantasia. I could not choose any of my closest kins, knowing the forces fighting for the throne would overpower them. I needed Marie to come back,” he whispered. I kept quiet, afraid to interrupt his story.

  “I never realized until recently that Marie procreated while in the human world. Now I suddenly have a granddaughter, a half-human one at that. I not only have to protect my daughter, but also you. This crossover has become more complicated than I thought. But at the same time, it is also surprisingly fulfilling.”

  His lips moved, a small sign of a smile. Or perhaps not. It was hard to tell.

  “What about Lola? Did she do anything to convince Mama?”

  “Your Lola died when your mother was still very young. I guess in a way, your mother’s training began earlier than it should have because of that loss. The distress of having no queen intensified the pressure to be the perfect heir. After she left, I asked some of my closest subjects to keep track of her. For some time, I’d watch her myself, making sure she was safe. But it became too painful and so I stopped.”

  Lolo rubbed his hands together gently, a slow rhythm familiar to me. Mama used to do that when she was feeling sad.

  “What’s Engkantasia like? Where is it?”

  “Engkantasia has been around for as long as the Earth has been around. It mimics the reality of the human world but with more … intensity. Engkantasia and the human world are separated by a fortified veil, which can only be lifted by the royal family. This veil has protected Engkantasia from the harsh treatment the humans impose on its environment and on each other. Our waterfalls shimmer like diamonds, our sun isn’t harmful, and our forests are filled with nymphs and various creatures no one has ever seen before.”

  “Have I seen any of your creatures before?”

  “Probably not. We’ve kept our world as hidden as possible from humans. It wasn’t always this way. Hundreds of years ago, the engkanto signed a peace pact with the human tribes after one of us fell in love with a human. It was a promising unity that ended in a horrible tragedy. My ancestor died of a broken heart and a very gruesome war ensued. Many of my people suffered at the hands of humans. Many of the humans shed their blood. It was then that my grandfather declared the infinite separation of our worlds—never to be connected again. We were forbidden from crossing over, and the veil was enforced to stop the humans from entering Engkantasia.”

  I knew almost nothing about this new world I was supposed to be a part of. From the books I had read, it was hard to know which ones were fiction and which ones were real. Although Lolo hadn’t spelled it out, I was beginning to feel like I was the last resort, the only one who could save their kingdom.

  “How soon do I need to go through the training?”

  “You have to learn to control your abilities, and strengthen it.”

  “Strengthen? Why would I want to make my powers more dangerous than they already are?”

  Lolo paused, hesitating to tell me more, probably because it was more bad news.

  “At this point, your powers have already been made known to my world. That means, whoever wants to take over the throne will be trying to …”

  “Oh God!” I gasped, not wanting to hear the rest of the sentence. “Am I in danger? Lolo, are there creatures coming to kill me right now?”

  “That’s why I’m here until you finish your training. I can teach you everything I taught your mother, and protect you at the same time. I want to start tomorrow. The sooner we do this, the better chance for your survival.”

  Survival. The word sounded so definite, like I had no other choice. I guess it was looking like that. Survive or die. And here I thought our biggest problem was looking for Mama. It looked like her disappearance was supernatural as well. I got up to leave the room and gave Lolo a hug. He patted me awkwardly on the back.

  “Good night, Lolo. Thank you for being honest. I’ll see you in the morning.” And with that, I left the room. I went to bed without eating dinner. My stomach was tied up in knots, and I was too anxious to eat. I lied down, hoping for some reprieve, wondering what bad news tomorrow was going to bring.

  Chapter Six

  San Francisco Tribune, December 2012

  Reward Offered for Information on Missing Migrant

  The family of missing Filipino migrant Marie Harris has offered $100,000 reward for anyone who can give information on Harris’s whereabouts.

  Harris disappeared from her house in May this year shortly after arriving in the country with her family.

  A spokesperson from the police department has admitted they still have no progress on the case. They are working with Harris’s family to continue the search.

  June 2015

  Y ou would think that given everything that had happened—turning sixteen, the yellow flower, Lolo—I wouldn’t have to go to school. But “being normal” was something I needed.

  My “training” was set to start Monday. I didn’t remember saying yes to it but if there were creatures coming to kill me, I thought a bit of training wouldn’t hurt.

  There was some sort of relief in the knowledge that there was a reason why I felt so different from everyone else. I also found a bit of comfort knowing that there was a big chance Mama was still alive. Even when everyone else had lost hope, even when the authorities had switched the search for Mama to the retrieval of her remains, we never believed she was dead. You know how people who had lost someone said they could feel that their loved ones were still alive? Well, I knew in my heart she was, and every time I touched the smoothness of my necklace, I felt something more than hope, like an undeniable fact that Mama was still alive.

  After school, I was supposed to go
home immediately so my grandfather could share his knowledge of Engkantasia.

  I went through my school day ritual barely speaking to Dad and Lolo. I knew it was supposed to be Mama’s fault that I was oblivious to my other life, but I couldn’t help but blame my father as well. Why did he marry her without knowing her full background? But then again, how would you do a background check on someone who didn’t live in our world? It was all too convoluted.

  I rushed through my breakfast and grabbed my bag to catch the car pool with Mark and Alyssa. The drive to school was quiet, too. None of us wanted to talk about things with Alyssa’s mom there, so we kept our mouths shut until we reached school.

  We practically jumped out of the car before it even fully stopped. Mark and Alyssa had so many questions for me, and I desperately needed people to talk to—people who were not related to me. But before we could discuss everything, I felt a tight knot in my stomach, like a giant arm was gripping my innards. You know that feeling of anxiety when you were about to do something you were afraid to do, like maybe do a presentation in front of the class when you were totally not prepared, or climb the rope during gym class? My insides felt like that but ten times worse. I wasn’t sure why I felt it but it was so intense I had to grasp the rails to hold myself up.

  That was when he suddenly appeared. There was a new kid in school and he was hard to ignore. We paused to gawk like the rest of the school as he strode to the entrance. Even Mark couldn’t help it. His stature was a harmonious mix between royal and military, oozing confidence out of his pores. His skin was a perfect tan, his hair golden brown, but it was his eyes that shocked me the most. They were a piercing green with a hint of blue when he stood under the sun. I squeezed the rail harder as my innards continued to tighten.

  He walked past everyone with ease, oblivious to the stares. But just before he entered the halls, he stopped and turned to where we were standing—looking straight at me ever so briefly. It was so quick I thought it never happened. The first period bell rang, giving us no choice but rush to get ready. English literature would not wait, even if I had a great excuse to skip it.