The Witches' Night festival was one of the most anticipated events of the year. Some thought it was a festival to honor a saint who had driven out a coven of witches. Actually it was the witches who expelled the inquisitor who had come with the intention of cleansing the town of sin. El Cerro really was a haunted village, where magic was still present in its customs and superstitions. Sofia knew this well because she knew at least one family where all the women were sorceresses.

What they celebrated was an ancient pagan festival. According to the legends, the barrier separating the world of spirits from the world of the living was weakened, allowing contact with them through various incantations and rituals. However, it was something more complicated that had to do with channels of energy that, right during those days of the autumn equinox, flowed with more strength. Sara had tried to explain it but Sofia didn’t quiet get it, perhaps because she was not able to feel those channels like her friend did.

In any case, the village celebrated it in style, with a medieval market, sword dueling shows, minstrels and a lot of people dressed up to play the part. It was like traveling back in time, and Sofia loved it.

There was still time before Sara's sisters started their queimada show, so Sofia was using the time to browse the craft stalls. She did stay away from those displaying jewelry, just in case. It was probably costume jewelry, but she thought the same thing when she was fourteen and that silver bracelet had left her with a scar as a souvenir. However, she amused herself by browsing through a stall of handmade soaps and candles that displayed an interesting and colorful collection. There were all kinds, from those with simple shapes to others that imitated butterflies, flowers or pumpkins. The mix of fragrances and scents was intense, enough to make her sensitive she-wolf nose feel overwhelmed.

“Are you interested in something? Some soap perhaps?” asked the stall owner, offering her a bar with the color and scent of lavender.

“No, thank you,” Sofia replied with a polite smile.

As she turned to return to her stroll among the stalls, she bumped into someone who had stopped in the middle of the incessant flow of people. A new smell, reminiscent of pine, damp earth, rain and nature, flooded her nose and pushed away all the other scents, including those of the stall.

“Why did you stop all of a sudden like that, you piece of...?”

“I'm sorry, I... Sofia?”

“Oh! Dave, hi. So you decided to come.” A small smile spread across her lips and her irritation vanished completely. It had just been a silly incident anyway.

“Yes, although I'm not sure it was such a good idea,” he replied as he looked at the crowd around him and licked his lips in obvious discomfort, “Do you know where that thing with Sara’s sisters is? I've been looking around for a while but I can't find it.”

“Yes, it's this way. Come.”

Sofia made an attempt to grab his hand but stopped before her fingertips could touch his skin. After weighing her options, she decided to grab him by the dark jacket he was wearing so they wouldn't get lost as they moved through the crowd. There was so much people that walking was almost impossible, and Sofia noticed that the boy kept licking his lips and averting his gaze to the sides.

“You don't like these places,” she observed.

“Not really. Crowds stress me out a lot, so I've always preferred open spaces. I'm afraid I'm not the best company to come to a market or go to a concert,” he confessed with a little apologetic smile.

“I don't like crowds either,” Sofia said. “Come, I know a shortcut.”

Sofia pulled the boy to the side to get out of that suffocating tide of people. The two of them walked through the space between two stalls and out into the square on the other side. As soon as they left the crowd behind them, Sofia broke into a run towards the town hall building at the far end and headed into an alley.

“What kind of shortcut?” asked the boy as they ran.

“The kind of shortcut we shouldn't be in, so you're going to have to be quiet or we're going to get in trouble,” said Sofia, who couldn't help but smile.

The two teenagers stopped by the wall of thick gray stones that bordered the town hall's gardens. Sofia held on to the edge and peeked over to make sure there was no one on the other side. Thanks to her night vision, she could see inside the grounds as if it was broad daylight. There was nothing interesting about it, it was just a courtyard with large grassy areas crossed by dirt paths, and sections with yellow-leafed trees and bushes. During the day it was open for neighbors to walk around, but at night it was closed.

“There is nobody here. We can go in,” she said as she climbed up the wall and prepared to jump over to the other side.

“God... Are you sure about this?”

“Relax. I've done it many times. The most important thing is that you follow me and don't make any noise. Will you be able to do it?” she asked, a little more serious.

“Yes, of course,” he said, and again ran his tongue over his lips.

Satisfied with the answer, Sofia dropped onto the trimmed grass on the other side and crouched under the shade of a nearby tree to hide. Mere seconds later Dave joined her, and she noticed once more the scent of pine that mixed with his own. Using the darkness and vegetation as cover, Sofia crawled to a nearby bush and peeked through its branches. Again she saw nothing but that empty garden bathed in cold moonlight. With any luck they wouldn't have any unpleasant encounter. It had never happened to her before, since her hearing allowed her to anticipate the presence of security guards, but that was the first time she’d done this while taking someone with her. She hoped the boy was up to the task.

“Let's go,” she whispered as she motioned for Dave to follow her.

Sofia slipped through the cover offered by the shadows and the well-tended vegetation, but she wasn't just going to rely on not being seen. She also trusted not to be heard, so she made sure to seek out those areas on the ground where she knew her footsteps would be quietest. Dave followed her, and proved to be able to move as deftly as she did. Considering how tall he was, he barely made a sound when he walked.

Perhaps she should have listened to the alarmed little voice in the back of her mind which told her that only hunters knew how to move like that, but she pushed it aside when a smile tugged at the corner of her lips. That adventure was being much more exciting than getting lost among the stalls at the market, and she didn't want to spoil it because of her absurd fears.

Dave grabbed her hand and pulled her behind a bush, where he forced her to duck. Sofia's heart skipped a beat and she nearly let out the growl of insecurity and fear she felt bubbling in her throat.

“Mind telling me what...?”

“Shhhh. Quiet.” Dave placed a finger on his lips.

Disgruntled, Sofia opened her mouth to protest, but the words never came out of it. From inside the town hall came the muffled sound of someone approaching, and a shiver ran down the line of her back. ‘Impossible. How could I not have heard it?’ she thought as she looked towards the building. Her fine cinanthrope hearing was picking the background murmur coming from the market, but it was a low rumble compared to the rhythmic cadence of those footsteps.

The door leading to the garden opened, and a pale, yellowish light spilled over the vegetation. Out of the doorway stepped a suit-clad civil servant who, from the wrinkles in his shirt and the dark circles under his eyes, looked as if he had been working more hours than was wise.

The man took out a cigarette and lit it. As he smoked, he wandered absent-mindedly along the path. The earth crunched under his feet with every step he took, and that let them know that he was going straight to their hiding spot. As he walked past the beam of light emerging from the doorway, it created a shadow that hovered over the teenagers like a bird of prey. Sofia's blood froze. Shit, the civil servant was so close that, if he peeked over the bush, he'd see them without a problem.

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The footsteps stopped a short distance away, and a strong stench of sweat and tobacco wafted up to them and made them wrinkle their noses. Sofia, with the hair on the back of her neck bristling and a knot of anxiety in her chest, reached for Dave's arm and tugged him down, urging him to crouch lower and seek cover in the shadows. The boy obeyed without complaint, and the two of them ended up close together, hidden in the undergrowth like two frightened rabbits. Through the branches of the bush that sheltered them, Sofia was able to see a pair of worn loafers standing just a couple of meters away. No wonder she could smell him as if she was breathing inside his shirt, he was practically on top of them.

Sofia almost wanted to laugh at how ridiculous the situation was. The wolf was her, not that man who was probably too exhausted to care much about the harmless mischief of two teenagers.

After a few endless minutes, the man let out a last puff of smoke, stubbed out his cigarette on the floor and walked back to his office. The two kids remained as quiet as the plants around them while those footsteps moved heavily towards the building. Then the door closed, and the darkness, barely broken by the pale luminosity of the moon's rays, returned to the garden to join the silence. Only then did they allow themselves to breathe again.

“Whew,” Sofia released a breath of contained air. “That was close...”

“Yeah, he almost got us,” Dave commented, twisting his lips into a relieved smile.

The two teens exchanged a glance and started laughing. Sofia wasn't going to deny that she was having a good time. However, as they laughed together, as their gazes met, she had to listen to another voice. He had heard it. It didn't have to mean anything since there were humans with extraordinary hearing, and it was possible that she had been so distracted by her thoughts that she hadn't noticed. However, it was not the only thing she had noticed.

“YEEEEEEES!” There was a collective shout coming from somewhere beyond the gardens.

“Shit! We're missing the ritual. Come!”

The two kids got up and started running towards the other side of the garden while staying within the cover offered by the bushes and the shadows. When they reached the wall, Sofia jumped the two meters height without stopping and so did he. They both landed in a shadowy area occupied by several hundred-year-old trees. The dry leaves that covered the ground like a carpet crunched under their feet. They were in a park so large it looked like a patch of forest. Since there were no streetlights, the only light falling on them were the silvery rays of the moon, which played with the almost bare branches to draw patterns on the shadows.

“It's this way.”

Without thinking, Sofia grabbed the boy’s hand and ran. That darkness would have been enough to slow a human down, but she could see with absolute clarity, which allowed her to move among the thick trunks with no risk of crashing or falling. She didn't know at which point she became aware that she was smiling, that she felt butterflies in her belly and her heart was beating faster, not just because of the sprint.

“Who will be the brave one who will dare to look through the eyes of the spirits?” said a powerful and mysterious voice that seemed to reverberate throughout the forest around them.

A few meters ahead of them the vegetation opened and they were able to see the place where the show was taking place. It was a wide dirt square in the middle of a crossroad. In its centre, inside a circle drawn with some white powder that was probably flour, was a huge iron cauldron surrounded by candles, feathers, stones and some kind of runes written on the ground. Sara and her three sisters were there, all of them disguised as witches with big black cloaks and peaked hats.

“It's over there!” Sofia said through gasps.

There was quite a large crowd, so the two teenagers sought a more secluded and quiet spot from where they could watch the show. Panting, with their cheeks flushed and their hands still clasped together, they looked into each others eyes and smiled.

“I think we're a little late. We missed the ritual. Taking the shortcut wasn’t such a good idea,” Sofia said.

“I don't mind. I had a good time,” Dave replied without losing his smile.

“You two!”

That voice sounded so loud that both kids jumped. When they looked up they saw Monica, Sara's older sister, standing right before them and pointing her finger at them. The murmur Sofia heard around them made let her know that they were now the center of attention for half the town’s inhabitants. However, what really made her heart skip a beat was the way Sara was looking at them. The smirk, which clearly said that as soon as they were alone she was going to pepper her with questions, made her acutely aware of the hand that was still entwined with hers.

The two teens exchanged a quick glance, and both let go as if the other was a red-hot iron bar. Considering how heated Sofia's cheeks felt and how red Dave's ears were, they weren't that far off the mark.

“What an interesting couple,” Monica said in a mysterious tone as she walked around them with fluid movements. “Will you be the first brave ones to take the potion? Will you dare to see what the spirits want to show you?”

“Monica, I'm going to kill you,” Sofia muttered, suppressing the urge to growl at her.

“U... us?” Dave asked, licking his lips.

“You bet, buddy! Come, you're going to get your minds blown!”

Sara walked over to them and took them by the hand to lead them towards the huge iron cauldron. The liquid inside it emitted a bluish glow. Dave looked at it with some wariness before turning to Sara, frowning.

“You didn't tell me I'd have to drink magic potions,” he pointed out, disgruntled.

“Relax, man. It's got a suppressant in it,” Sara told him.

“A suppressant?” Sofia asked.

“Our pal here is a teetotaler and the queimada is made with alcohol. My sister pours an alcohol suppressant in it so that kids and teetotalers like him can drink the potion without any risk, and without it being fucking illegal,” the girl explained as she picked up a wooden bowl and handed it to Monica.

“Ah, so you dare to look through the eyes of magic, are you ready to dive into the realm of spirits?” said the witch with a mysterious voice.

“Cut the crap, Monica. I was already here last year,” Sofia answered with a laugh, making the four witches laugh.

There was trust between them. Sofia had spent many days in the company of Sara and her sisters, who in the year that she had known them had made her feel that they were more like family than her own mother. That's why she could afford to take those liberties with them. Of course, this meant that Monica could also allow herself to take liberties with her.

“Ah, but last year you didn't come with a boy. What will the spirits reveal this time?” A sibylline smile appeared on her lips.

“No, we aren't...” stammered Dave, blushing with embarrassment.

“I barely know him...” Sofia replied, noticing how her cheeks lit up as well.

“That doesn't matter to the spirits.”

Monica took the bowl from her sister's hands and used a wooden ladle to fill it with the luminous liquid before handing it to Sofia. The girl looked at the bright concoction with some apprehension. It was only a game, a magic trick that, according to Sara, allowed them to see the magical energy that all living things had. The problem was that this magic, disguised as elaborate staging, was very, very real.

Sofia looked up, and her eyes met Dave’s. The sky-blue color of his irises seemed more intense because of the light emanating from inside the bowl and cauldron. She then clenched her jaw in an expression of determination and brought the bowl to her lips to take a long drink. She wasn't going to back down now just because Monica was trying to mess with her.

While she savored the berry aftertaste the liquid had left on her tongue, Sofia handed the bowl to Dave. As he took it, the boy grazed her hands, and Sofia didn't know if it was the concoction, which was already starting to take effect, or the way Sara and her sisters were staring at them, but she became very aware of the touch of his skin. Dave eyed the bowl as if it were poison, let out a long sigh and downed the entire contents in one sitting. The effects were not long in coming for either of them.

The first thing Sofia noticed was a slight dizziness that made her close her eyes for a moment. The energy in her chest awoke and began to flow through her veins, through her blood, through her muscles and skin. Just a pinch, enough to fill her with an overflowing strength. When she opened her eyes again she saw that her world had completely changed. It was the same, but now the tree trunks were marked by tattoos made out of pale blue light. Winding lines formed complex lattices that branched and twisted in loops and spirals.

It wasn't just the trees. Those motifs were drawn on the blades of grass, on the feathers of birds and even on the very people around them. Everyone had similar light markings except the four witches, whose tattoos were more intense, although the one that stood out was Monica. In the center of her chest seemed to shine a star which’s cold light was so intense that not even her clothes could hide it.

“Wow,” Dave whispered, looking at his hand.

“It's amazing, isn't it?” Sofia exclaimed, and on impulse put her hand over his to compare the patterns on their skin.

“Yes, it is.”

Again their eyes met and they smiled at the same time. The boy kept holding back his smile, but it seemed different, more sincere, more spontaneous. This was a game, nothing more. Yet Sofia could not deny that she was having a lot of fun with him. It had been a long time since she had felt so alive and so happy. It had been a long time since she had smiled as much as she was smiling that night.