TIKBALANG
Ani stared at the last moon. How could a thing so far away cause so much trouble?
She sat crouched under the window, trying her best to stay hidden while observing the figures in the clearing behind her home.
Once, that clearing was a place of power. Now, it was just part of Ani’s backyard. A bonfire crackled, surrounded by shadows of different shapes and sizes.
Her mother sat with the elders of the Old Ones. She was the only human, and the only one visible to the human eye. To the casual onlooker, it looked like Ani’s mother was sitting by herself. But to those with true sight, the clearing was packed.
The group was well-represented: the engkantos from the forests and streams, the duendes from deep within the earth and the insides of big trees, the kapre who lived on its br
