Milo's Journey

Chapter 29: The Shape of Absence

Milo looked over at Diego. “So what about Maboyas?”

Jose turned his head and looked up at Milo.

Diego was about to answer when Jose chimed in.

“We got that all wrong,” he said, continuing to pet Piyelito. “Maboyas isn’t a who. It’s a what.”

Milo looked down at Jose, a question written all over his face. He looked so confused that Jose began to giggle.

“Querido,” Milo growled softly.

Jose only giggled more. Milo reached down and began to tickle Jose’s side, sending the boy into a squirming mass of laughter. Piyelito jumped up and began to yap and squirm between the two of them, joining in the impromptu ticklefest.

After a few minutes of Adriana and Diego watching the three of them rolling around in the grass, Diego cleared his throat and adopted his mock-professor tone once again.

“Children, children. Don’t make me have to separate you both!”

Milo kissed Jose on the forehead and sat up. He pulled Jose over to him and wrapped his arm around him. Piyelito lay back down between them, panting.

As I was saying before everything went un poco loco,” Diego did his best to maintain a stern demeanor, although the grin on his face ruined it. “Coqui told us that Maboyas wasn’t a Zemi. It was what happens when a Zemi leaves. Imbalance… chaos.”

Adriana sat up. She didn’t speak, but everyone could see she was working something out in her head. Even Piyelito looked at her. Everyone held their breath, afraid to speak in case what she was working out slipped away.

Adriana spoke softly, closing her eyes for a moment as the words came to her. “So the prophecy isn’t about a battle, but a restoration.”

Adriana opened her eyes, and a tear fell down her cheek.

“The prophecy said the spark is attached to a human soul… how many lives? How many times did the spark reincarnate? The sense of being displaced, abandoned, alone, all those lives.”

Jose looked at her, their eyes met, and he whispered softly, “Did it ever know love?”

Milo pulled Jose close, his arm supporting and protecting him. He whispered as well, “We can hope, querido, we can hope.”

At that moment, the sun fell behind the mountains, and the first stars appeared. The four of them sat in the twilight as night settled around them.