Princess Carmelita (Chp6)

PRINCESS CARMELITA
(Adapted from the movie “El Laberinto Del Fauno” or “Pan’s Labyrinth”)

“Alright, Book of Crossroads. Show me what my next task is.”

Maya was in the bathroom as usual opening the Book of Crossroads, waiting to see what was in store for her. After her meeting with Faun and the upcoming engagement ceremony, Maya was more determined to complete her mission and get the heck out of this manor. Especially when she had discovered a few skeletons in the Garcia Manor’s closets.

For example, after her meeting with Faun and after eating the cheese Pedro gave her, she went down to the kitchen secretly to get herself a glass of water when she accidentally saw the Count, Alberto and Pedro talking in hushed tones with a few burly-looking men in black coats and hats through the gap of the door of the study. When she quietly followed behind them towards the warehouse, she realized that the Count actually kept dark-skinned children at the underground coal cellar right beneath the warehouse. Some of them were about Pedro’s age or older, but most of them were almost the same age as she was. They were all wearing dog collars which were chained together with each other, forming a long line, and there were ropes tied around their wrists that were so tight they bled. They were shouted at harshly and were gagged to stop them from crying out loud and some were whipped, kicked and beaten when they tried to resist. All of them were pushed into a huge cage connected to several carriages before it was covered with a huge canvas and the carriage driven down the mountain.

Turned out that the Count led a double-life—a tobacco merchant by day and an illegal slave trader by night. Because the mountain where he lived was facing the sea, he would receive a steady supply of dark-skinned children from the black market that traveled by sea to be sold to his fellow high-classed friends as slaves or labour workers. Another interesting discovery was that although Pedro participated in the trading, when the Count was not looking or when everyone was in bed, the so-called errand boy would go off secretly to the woods and handed information about the trading to few other men who looked and dressed like law-enforcers. It seemed as if Pedro was working undercover for them to try and bring down the Count and his illegal trades, like an informant of sorts.

Maya decided to keep the secret she knew to herself. The last thing she wanted to do was get Pedro into trouble. She realized that somehow she had developed a fondness for the teenage errand boy that was more than just brotherly love. She would blush every time he approached and asked her if there was anything he could do for her. The feelings she was supposed to reserve for her future baby husband were blooming at the sight of him and her heart would race every time he did something nice for her. She knew that Pedro was an age too old for her and that she should not have feelings like this. Besides, he was only working undercover and may leave as soon as the Count gets arrested by the law-enforcers—and she is the future Young Mistress, after all—but she couldn’t help it. The warm and fuzzy feeling hung about her whenever she was around Pedro. Times without him around were lonely and at nights she often feared for his life whenever she heard him sneaking out of the house to pass another one of his information to the law-enforcers.

The Count and Countess would have her head for this if this ever went public, so she had no choice but to keep this little secret hidden deep within her heart.

As she took a deep breath to clear her mind, the pages began to fill up again. But this time, they were not covered with words or pictures. Instead, a slow, steady pattern of red swam across from both corners of them to the middle of the book, flowing down the spine like someone poured red dye on them. The red colour continued to spread through the rest of the pages, making a shape of a pair of butterfly wings and smelt horribly of sulfur and blood, and within the pages she could hear the faint sounds of a baby wailing, getting louder and louder by the second…

Maya quickly slammed the book shut. What does this mean? Is there something going to happen? Faun did say something about the book showing her future, so what was the book trying to tell her?

“Maya? Maya dear? Are you in there?”

Before she could figure out what was wrong, the sound of knocking on the bathroom door and Pedro’s kind voice woke her from her concentration. She quickly hid the book back behind the bathroom cabinet and opened the door.

“What are you doing in there so long, Maya?” Pedro asked with a naughty gleam in his eye.

“Nothing. Just an upset stomach,” Maya smiled as innocent as possible, trying hard not faint at the sight of his drop-dead gorgeous eyes.

“Uh-huh,” Pedro looked unconvinced, then shrugged and said, “Oh well, you better hurry and prepare yourself as soon as possible. The maids are preparing the water for your bath but you must hasten. The engagement ceremony is tonight, remember? Alberto has given me strict orders to watch you tonight so that you would not repeat the previous incident again. I will have to personally bath and dress you, so no going out tonight, understand?”

Maya nodded, feeling her body steam from head to toe. Pedro bathing and dressing her? Him seeing her naked? It was something she both dreaded and looked forward to.

Needless to say, she couldn’t go anywhere, not even to have another sneak peek of the book. She was kept under Pedro’s watchful eyes all day and she couldn’t go anywhere without having Pedro stalking her, watching her every move. At least the bright side was that she got to have Pedro all to herself instead of having to entertain the Countess or do the household chores alone.

Later that night, dressed in the same (but new) beautiful dress Alberto bought to replace the other, Maya made her grand appearance before dozens and dozens of guests who came to attend the ceremony. While they waited for the Countess to get ready to come down and complete the ceremony, the Count led her around the living room, introducing her to each and every Duke, Duchess, Baron, Baroness, Lord, Lady and Sir he knew. Everyone either whispered to each other about their opinion of the new bride-to-be or reached over to shake hands and compliment on her directly. Pedro was right: meeting dozens upon dozens of strangers who are going to judge you and consider your position as the future Young Mistress Garcia sure gives you the jitters, not to mention the pressure of meeting up everyone’s expectation of being the perfect bride to the future heir of a Count. Her stomach was doing the flip-flops and butterflies were ‘flying’ all over her insides as she prepared herself to be blessed by the priest together with her fiancée who still resides inside her future mother-in-law.

Suddenly there was a slight commotion upstairs. One of the maids rushed downstairs and called for the Count to go up. He excused himself and went up, leaving Maya to take care of the guests. But she was not about to be left in the dark as well, so she asked Alberto to take over and went upstairs to see what was going on. She was shocked to see that the bed the Countess was lying on was covered with blood and the Countess was still bleeding like it would never stop. The Count quickly called for the family doctor while the maids quickly took the bloody sheets away.

After what seemed like forever, the doctor was finally able to stop the bleeding and stabilize her. As Maya and Pedro sent the guests away and watched over the Countess, she heard the hushed conversation between the Count and the doctor.

“It was hard work, but she’s stabilized now. Your wife needs uninterrupted rest for now, and I’d advise that she be kept sedated most of the time. The ceremony today proved to be stressful for her, coupled with the excitement and nervousness. She’s lucky it did not result to a miscarriage.”

“Thank you for the effort, doctor.”

“It is best too that only your workers tend to her. Your daughter-in-law should be allowed visits as little as possible. We do not want to traumatize your son any further.”

“Make her well, doctor. I don’t care how much it costs or how long it takes. Make her well.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Come, Maya,” Pedro said as he laid a hand on her shoulder, signaling her to leave. “We must let Mistress rest.”

Once inside the room, as Pedro helped her change in her nightclothes, Maya began to shiver, not because of the cold, but because of fear. She was reminded of the sign the book tried to show her. Was that what it was trying to say? Is that what women have to go through whenever they’re having a baby? Would that happen to her once she got officially married with her baby husband and get pregnant? Her future looked even more bleak and scarier than it should.

“Don’t worry, Maya dear,” Pedro said as he stroked her back to comfort her. “Mistress will get better soon, you’ll see. Having a baby is rather…complicated.”

“Then I’ll never have one,” Maya muttered.

“Nonsense. You’re a strong girl. You’ll turn out just fine. Mistress’ body is just a little bit too weak to handle a baby, that’s all. Off to bed, dear. I’ll tuck you in.”

Maya climbed up the bed and laid there while Pedro pulled the blanket over her. She looked around, making sure that no one was around before braving herself to ask, “You’re helping the children in the cellars, aren’t you, by talking to the law-enforcers?”

Pedro stopped short for a while, his face showing shock and concern, “You…You saw?”

Maya nodded.

“Then you must know that the Count is actually a very dangerous man.”

Another nod.

“Have…Have you told anyone?”

“No, I haven’t. I don’t want anything bad happen to you. You’re my friend, no, you’re like a brother to me…err…maybe more than that…”

Judging by Maya’s face that glowed almost as red as the freshest tomato you can find, Pedro had pretty much figured out what she was trying to say. It was something he could not reciprocate, not with his current situation and his age, and not with her status and life in the line. He reached over to hug her.

“Nor I to you. But you must understand…we are not meant to be. I’ve always treated you like a sister. Nothing more, nothing less. Besides, what with me being a double-agent…”

“I know…” Maya replied, though her eyes brimmed with tears as her heart broke into a million pieces. Rejection is often so hard to stomach.

“You are the future Young Mistress Garcia, and even though I may finally put Master behind bars, your marriage with Mistress’ son is still binding and cannot be broken. Even if I want to, I can’t take you as my bride.”

“But I never wanted to marry him in the first place…He’s also just like a brother to me…With you, I…”

“It’s too late for regrets now. What’s done is done. There is no undoing it. Just remember, Maya dear, that you’ll always be dear to my heart no matter what happens.”

Maya nodded. She knew all that. Though it hurts not able to be with the one you want, like Pedro said, life was not all about fairytales in her storybooks. Finally she wiped her tears and said, “Do you know a lullaby, Pedro?”

“Only one,” Pedro chuckled as he helped dry her eyes with his sleeves, “but I don’t remember the words.”

“I don’t care. I still want to hear it. Sing to me, please.”

And so he did. As he held Maya close to his chest, he hummed the old forgotten song his grandfather used to sing to him before bed, gently lolling his little future Young Mistress Garcia to sleep…