her dark eyes shimmered in the lamplight and she smiled. "i feel connected to you. it is so strange to look into your eyes and know a part of you is inside me, taking what it needs. what it wants."

another wave of lust coursed through my body. i beat it back down by thinking about elyssa and her fierce violet eyes as i touched her soft cheek. before things spiraled out of control, i had to tell lina about my girlfriend. so i gave her an abbreviated version of mine and elyssa's history, and told her about the nightmare. talking about the woman i loved dimmed the lust i felt for lina to almost nothing, and made feeding easier. i wanted nothing more than to feel elyssa's soft lips pressed against mine. no other woman compared.

tears sparkled in lina's eyes by the time i was done, and it was all i could do to keep the bitter taste of sadness and disappointment from fouling our connection.

"how romantic," she said in her cute accent. "but so tragic as well. you will stop her father from doing such a terrible thing to her, yes?"

"i think it might be too late. i think she's already been mind-wiped."

"the dream told you this?"

i shrugged. "i've learned ignoring dreams of this kind are dangerous. i absolutely have to get back home. i have to save her and figure out a way to make her father accept me."

"and you think answers about what happened at thunder rock would help?"

i nodded. "the ambush caused him to hate spawn. i have to prove they had nothing to do with it. from what i understand, he didn't have a beef with them before the massacre went down."

"you should take the arch at la casona in bogota. it is very expensive, but maybe we can find a way to pay for it. you can reunite with your girlfriend if her memory of you is still there."

taking another arch was not what i wanted to do. but it seemed the fastest way home. "how do i get to bogota from here?"

"it is almost twenty hours by bus. maybe more."

"you don't happen to have any flying carpets do you?" i asked, remembering when i'd seen the novelty items floating around the grotto.

she laughed. "i do not know of any."

"isn't there a faster way to get to bogota? this town is full of sorcerers, for goodness sake."

"i am sorry, justin, but i do not know of a magical way to get from here to bogota."

i groaned. on the upside, my demon tummy was feeling better so i cut myself off from lina. her eyes popped wide.

"you just pulled out, didn't you?"

my face went hot at her choice of words. "i disconnected."

"you are already full?"

"full enough. i'll get by." i leaned back against the headboard. "when does the bus leave?"

"the buses leave all day, but it is two hours from here to the town with the bus depot. we will take you there whenever you wish."

"i want to leave tomorrow."

her eyes grew sad. she placed a hand on mine and squeezed. "i wish you could stay longer. you are the most exciting thing to happen to me."

i laughed. "exciting is not always a good thing. just ask my friend shelton."

"who is he?"

"a sorcerer. i think i've made his life more interesting than he wants."

lina yawned wide. smiled sheepishly. "i think i will go to bed, justin. sleep well."

"good night, lina. and thanks."

she kissed me on the cheek and slipped out of the room. i lay back down, rubbing my cheek and doing my best not to think about elyssa and what my nightmare meant.

after breakfast the next morning, alejandro, lina, and i piled into the pickup truck. their grandfather, senor eduardo, waved goodbye from the front porch as alejandro drove around the unpaved circular driveway. a narrow dirt road bordered by a dense canopy of trees and underbrush connected their home to the main road in town.

"there is a spot about sixty kilometers from town where you can use my cell phone to call home," alejandro said, showing me what looked like an ordinary cell phone as opposed to the ones made by orange and magicsoft. "we should have a signal by then."

but as we reached the end of the long driveway, a beat up old van appeared from the right and honked its horn at us.

"what's going on?" i asked, an uneasy feeling bubbling up in my stomach.

alejandro stopped the truck and looked at the other vehicle. "i don't know. wait here while i check."

he hopped out and walked toward the van. two figures got out. men with staffs. arcanes. they spoke for a moment before alejandro turned around and came back. the two men didn't seem angry or threatening, but the mere fact they'd stopped us couldn't mean anything good.

"they want you to meet with the council," alejandro said when he came back.

i looked around. "who, me?"

he nodded. "i told them you only wish to go home, but they insisted."

i growled. "how did they know i was here?"

"several people saw you driving through town with grandfather. from there it probably took five minutes before everyone else knew."

"but what makes them think i'm not just some average joe passing through?"

"old bella told them you were the one the minute she heard about you."

"who?"

"she's the one who foresaw your coming all those years ago."

"fine, fine! can we just get it over with?" it took all my willpower not to just jump out of the truck and dash through the woods. but where would i go? i had no idea where the bus depot was, and i'd run myself ragged in the middle of nowhere, knowing my luck. on the other hand, one of the crazies who did these foreseeance things was here. my curiosity was definitely piqued. maybe this old bella woman could enlighten me.

alejandro signaled the other sorcerers, who hopped back into their van. we followed them less than two blocks before parking in front of a large one-story building standing next to a grocery store. a group of chickens strutted around in front, clucking and pecking at the dirt.

we entered the building, revealing a large room filled with foldout chairs arranged in a haphazard circle. a large yellow cooler sat atop a stout wooden table along with an assortment of food, mainly rice and beans with fried eggs on top-exactly what i'd just eaten for breakfast. i hoped they had good ventilation in this room after everyone chowed down on all those beans.

a little old woman sat at the other end of the room. old bella, i presumed. i walked over to her and took a neighboring seat. she took my hands in both of hers and kissed me on both cheeks.

after i recovered from the surprise of her colombian greeting, i remembered what i'd wanted to say. i smiled. "look, i know you think i'm someone important and all, but i really need to get home. my girlfriend is in danger, and there's a big crap storm about to take a dump on my hometown. maybe you can clarify a few things now, or friend me on facebook and we'll chat."

the old woman smiled and nodded. her wrinkly hand gripped mine and she said something in spanish.

just great. i motioned alejandro over. "can you tell me what she's saying?"

he listened for a moment. "she says you're a handsome young man and if she was younger, she would marry you in a second and teach you things only an older woman can."

i blushed-i didn't know why after all the scandalous comments and actions i'd endured from stacey and elyssa-and smiled stupidly at her. i looked to alejandro. "will you tell bella i really can't stick around?"

"sure, if you want. but she speaks english."

"then why'd she answer me in spanish?"

a confused look came over alejandro's face for a moment before he laughed and shook his head. "this is grandma lola. she's not a sorceress, but she likes to sit in on the meetings." he pointed a thumb over his shoulder at a short, dark-haired girl who couldn't have been more than twenty. "that's old bella."

"you people really need your eyes checked if you call her old." i shook my head and, after kissing grandma lola goodbye on the cheeks, strode across the room to the girl-young woman, whatever. i noticed her violet irises the moment she looked at me. "you're a dhampyr?"

a smile brightened her pretty face as she gripped one of my hands in both of hers. "exactly, my dear. it is so wonderful to finally see this day come." her accent sounded different from the others-not entirely spanish, and every bit as fluent in english as alejandro.

she stood on tiptoes and graced my cheeks with the touch of her lips. i decided it must be a colombian thing and wasn't sure if i should return the favor or not. "uh, i didn't realize dhampyrs could foresee stuff. i thought future vision was something arcanes do."

"it's all magic, young man. i am the daughter of a sorceress who, unfortunately, was turned by vampires. she took her own life nearly a century ago to rid herself of the curse. i followed in her professional footsteps and practice the arcane arts."

"my mom's a sorceress too," i said, ignoring the sharp stab in my abdomen at the mere thought of my traitorous matriarch. "one of my friends told me i should study magic."

she reached up, pressed a hand to my forehead, and closed her eyes for a moment. "yes, i can see potential in you."

"how can you tell? is it like midi-chlorians?"

"midi what?" her expression turned bemused.

"never mind. do i have a lot of potential? or crappy?" my nerves knotted. what if my magic mojo was poop?

"potential is very hard to measure, young man. and it is like a muscle. the more you use it, the greater it grows. that is not to say some people don't have a natural advantage. some are better at conducting large amounts of raw power while others have less strength, but finer control. neither is better, simply different."

"do you think it'd come in handy if i learned some magic spells before all the bad stuff from your foreseeance happens?" i had visions of driving into the dense rainforests of colombia to search for the overworld version of yoda in the quest to save my friends.