Higher Ground

Chapter 1-2

She’d been caught by surprise, that was certain. The young woman’s dark eyes widened, and he could see the way she took in a quick gulp of a breath. “‘Gabriel Escobar’?” she repeated, as if she couldn’t be quite certain of what she’d just heard him say. “But we thought — I mean, Tony said….” The sentence trailed off there, and she gave a quick shake of her head, obviously impatient with herself, with her current loss for words. “Why don’t you come in?”

Gabriel could guess at the reason for her discomfiture. When her brother had last seen him, he had been surrounded by other Escobars intent on punishing him for helping Tony Castillo and the de la Paz witch who appeared to be his partner. No doubt, the Castillos had thought him dead all these months.

Well, he could forgive them for believing such a thing. There were times when he’d wished his brother Vicénte had killed him. That might have made things easier.

Ava led him down a dark, cool hallway and into a comfortable-looking room furnished with antiques and an improbably large television sitting on an old mahogany cabinet. A glass of untouched-looking iced tea sat on the table in front of the sofa.

Apparently noticing how he’d glanced at it, she said, “Would you like some iced tea?”

Since it was a warm day, and he’d walked here from the place where the Railrunner train had dropped him off in the Railyard district several miles from here, he nodded. “That would be very good. Thank you.”

Her expression was still rather dazed, but she managed to smile. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

She went and he watched her go, thinking what a beautiful young woman she was. Although Gabriel supposed Tony Castillo had been good-looking enough, his was an angular sort of handsomeness, while Ava was all full lips and big, tip-tilted brown eyes, far lusher than he would have expected the Castillo warlock’s sister to be.

This could be…interesting.

A few moments later, she returned with the promised glass of iced tea. After handing it to him, she sat down in the armchair to his left and gazed at him, her expression still perplexed. “I’m glad to see you’re okay,” Ava said, and her words had a ring of truth to them. She truly did seem relieved, although Gabriel wasn’t sure why she felt it had been necessary to feel such concern about a stranger. Certainly not many in his own clan would have reacted the same way, had their roles been reversed. “Actually,” she went on, “I was kind of angry with Tony for just leaving you there in El Salvador like that.”

“There wasn’t anything he could have done,” Gabriel told her, which was nothing more than the truth. “I only just barely managed to send him and Cassandra away before they were overwhelmed as well.”

Ava reached for her own glass of iced tea, but held it cradled between her two hands rather than raising it to her lips. “It still kind of boggles me that you were able to do that — send two people thousands of miles without batting an eye.”

Gabriel supposed such a feat would seem rather fantastical to even a witch or a warlock. But teleportation — whether it involved sending himself or other people over vast distances — was only one of the many gifts that had come to him as the magic within him awakened not long after he entered his tenth year. What a feeling that had been, to begin to realize how powerful he was, that his talents soon far outstripped those of his half-brother, whom their father had made the Escobar clan’s heir.

The memory of what had once been his made him realize how hollow he felt now.

“I am glad I was able to do such a thing for Tony and Cassandra,” he said, hoping that the woman seated across from him hadn’t detected any of his inner turmoil. “They were both very brave, to come to the heart of my clan’s territory in order to recover the de la Paz grimoires.”

“Or crazy,” Ava remarked. “At least, that’s what we all thought. I mean, I love my brother, but he’s not exactly superhero material.”

No, not really. But Tony Castillo had discovered a core of strength within himself when the crucial moment came, and that, in combination with Cassandra Sandoval’s steely determination, had been enough to see the matter through. Despite everything that had happened afterward, Gabriel was still glad to know that the de la Paz grimoires were truly gone, burnt to ashes and no longer a threat to anyone.

“Possibly not a superhero, but a hero nonetheless,” Gabriel said.

Ava didn’t appear completely convinced, but she didn’t protest. “But it all worked out, so I suppose whether he’s a superhero or not doesn’t really matter.” Now she drank from her tumbler of iced tea, only a brief sip before she set the glass back down. When she looked back up at him, her expression was still puzzled. “How in the world did you get away from Pico n***o?”

“I didn’t.”

She blinked, obviously nonplussed by his reply. “What?”

Gabriel allowed himself a bitter smile. It was not so much of an indulgence, not after everything he had lost. “I could not get away. Normally, yes, my power to transport myself in the blink of an eye would have been enough for me to make my escape, but in my clan, there is a null — you know what a null is?”

“A witch or warlock who can suppress all magic around them,” Ava said. “Or at least, that’s how Tony explained it to me. So…that’s what happened? The null from your clan came, and you were trapped?”

Succinct, if painful. He wouldn’t allow himself to sigh, only replied, “Yes. My brother — the Escobar primus — was very angry with me. I believe he would have struck me down then and there if one of the elders had not stopped him.”

“That was kind of them,” Ava said, although her tone sounded a bit uncertain, as though she knew they hadn’t been motivated by mere altruism.

“I fear kindness had little to do with their actions.” Gabriel reached for his own iced tea and took a swallow. It was good, cold and not sweetened at all, but still mellow, not bitter. After wetting his dry throat, he went on, “No, it was more that the elders feared my brother would invoke the wrath of the gods if he committed kin-murder.”

That remark made Ava’s eyes widen again. “Wait, you’re not…?” Her question trailed off, and she tapped her fingers against her jeans-clad knee. “Sorry,” she went on. “I just kind of assumed that if you were from El Salvador, you must be Catholic, like us Castillos.”

Had she put that bit about “us Castillos” in her comment to make him feel more at ease? Gabriel didn’t know for sure, but he felt himself warming toward her anyway. “We are, at least nominally. But our clan also recognizes the gods who dwelled in that land before the conquistadors came. Anyway, it does not do to make them angry, and to kill someone of your own clan is taboo. Despite such a prohibition, I believe Vicénte would have killed me, except that the elders proposed an even worse punishment.”

“Worse than death?” Ava said, looking skeptical. “I don’t know…death is pretty final.”

“True, and yet….” There were many times he had wished himself dead once he reawakened to himself and understood what they had done to him. But he would not say such a thing to Ava Castillo. He did not know her, even though she sat there with concern in her face, gazing at him with those beautiful dark eyes. Kind eyes. Such sympathy, for someone little more than a stranger. She must have a gentle heart, something almost as foreign to him as the land where he now found himself. He pulled in a breath, then continued. “You see, the elders of my clan wield terrible powers. They took me, and pulled the magic from within me, so that I am now no more than what you people call a civilian.”

Shock registered on her face, along with a terrible sadness…and comprehension. “I’d say that was impossible, but I know our prima’s parents did the same thing a long time ago to your…half-brother?”

Gabriel nodded. “Matías. Yes, he was my half-brother, although I never knew him. And of course it was when Angela McAllister and Connor Wilcox took Matías’ powers away that my father swore his revenge. That was what made him leave Pico n***o and go to America, seeking vengeance.”

For a few seconds, Ava was silent, absorbing what he had said. Perhaps this information was new to her, for of course, he had no idea how much Ava — or the rest of the Castillo clan, for that matter — knew about his father Joaquin. When she spoke, it was to ask a question he’d been dreading.

“What happened after they took your powers?”

Those were dark days, ones Gabriel would sooner forget. But he knew he needed to tell her the whole story, for he needed her to understand why he had come here to Santa Fe. “They stole my memory as well. I remember nothing after I stood there in my brother’s home and heard the elders pronounce my punishment…and then enact it.”

“Well, you must remember something,” Ava said sensibly. “Or else you wouldn’t have been able to tell me everything you’ve told me so far.”

He nodded. “Gradually, my memories returned. Only after I had been taken from Pico n***o and left in Guatemala City, with a thousand dollars in my wallet and no I.D., no luggage, no nothing.”

Gabriel paused, remembering how he had awakened in a hotel room in the capital city of El Salvador’s neighboring country, blinking at his surroundings and wondering how in the world he had gotten there. Panic had lanced through him, even though his mind was still a fog. For days, he could recall nothing of his life, nothing of where he had come from. He had ordered room service and sent one of the bellboys out to fetch him a change of clothing and some toiletries, then sat there dully watching the television, hoping that something — anything — would jog his memory.

Then one day, he had awakened, and a single thought had slipped through his mind.

I am Gabriel Escobar.

But there had been nothing else to accompany that one moment of clarity, nothing to tell him exactly who Gabriel Escobar was, what his life had been before he awakened in this hotel room. However, he had also realized that if he stayed where he was, he very likely would not be able to recover anything of his past.

“That’s terrible,” Ava said, her tone emphatic.

He allowed himself to smile. “I suppose so. It would have been worse if they had given me no money. But a thousand dollars goes a long way in Guatemala. I left the hotel, bought myself some new clothes and false identification, and took a bus north to Mexico.”

“Why there?”

Another good question, although one he had no true answer for. “I’m not sure. Something inside was telling me to head north, although at the time I didn’t know why. Anyway, it seemed the best thing for me to do. I arrived in Mexico City and got a room at a hostel there, and hoped that something about the place would awaken my memories.”

“Did it?” Ava asked.

“Unfortunately, no. But while I was wandering around the city, looking for anything that might help me remember something of my past, I met an Englishwoman — a photographer. She asked if I would be interested in modeling for her to earn some extra money. Since my funds were getting low, I agreed.”

“So you worked for this woman for a while?”

“For almost five months, yes. It was easy work, although I will admit it made me feel rather foolish.” That was something of an understatement. He had worn the clothes that Olivia asked him to wear, posed where she told him to pose. The entire time, he kept expecting her to shake her head and say no, that she had made a mistake and he actually had no aptitude for such a frivolous occupation. However, that didn’t happen, because she seemed pleased with him and even introduced him to other photographers, made sure he had a portfolio he could show around. The money was good, enough for him to leave the hostel and get an apartment. It was not until one day when he was walking the city’s streets in the spring and he glimpsed a dark-haired man with a beautiful redhead at his side that his memory suddenly came alive. He remembered Tony Castillo and Cassandra Sandoval, remembered how he had been born to a clan of witches and warlocks in El Salvador…how the elders of that clan had torn his powers from him in revenge for his perceived betrayal.

Ava’s expression was thoughtful. She also didn’t seem terribly surprised to hear that he had earned his keep all those months by working as a model. Was it because she thought him attractive enough to have that profession as his vocation?

He rather hoped so.

“But eventually your memories came back,” she said.

“Yes. I realized that Mexico was not my home, and yet it certainly was not safe for me to return to El Salvador.” Gabriel paused. Now that the time had come and he faced a Castillo witch in the flesh, he was suddenly uncertain as to how she would respond to the entire reason for his being here. And yet, after traveling all this way, he could not back down now. “I remembered how I had helped your brother and his woman. And I thought that possibly the Castillos might be able to offer me some assistance.”

That comment earned him an uncertain smile. “I’m sure we’ll do whatever we can. I doubt that our prima Miranda would turn you away, not after what you did for Tony and Cassandra. It might take some getting used to, but I think you’ll like it here in Santa Fe.”

While her words were encouraging, this was not all he wanted from the Castillos. He smiled back at Ava, and was glad to see the way her cheeks flushed and she glanced away for a second, as if not entirely certain of her reaction to him. “That is very generous, and I thank you. But that is not the only thing I was hoping you could help me with.”

“Oh?” Ava said, now looking slightly disconcerted.

“No.” Gabriel allowed himself a breath and then said, “I want you to help me get my powers back.”