Serafina’s father slammed his palm against the wall of their living room and made the whole house shake.
“Who will take care of that boy while you are off playing with magic? Who will pay for his food, eh? Not me. I have my own to support.”
Serafina clenched her fists and dug her nails into her palms. Although she had expected a certain amount of ridicule and resistance, she had not expected fury.
“It will not be for long. And I’m not asking you to pay for him. I have money saved. Tell him, Mãe.”
Her mother looked away and shrugged. “Renato has a point—three months is a long time for a boy to be without his mother.”
“He’s ten. He’ll be fine.”
As soon as the words left Serafina’s mouth, she questioned them. What could she do? Not leaving wasn’t an option. Yãnsa had invaded her twice in the last two nights, each time with far more aggression than in the alley ten years before. Serafina had to safeguard herself and learn how to control the goddess, or the next time, Yãnsa might take control of her for good. Still, to abandon Carlinhos with her father and brothers?
Renato grunted in disgust. “Carlinhos is not like Paulo or Eduardo who could kick your ass if you messed with them. Your son is weak. He needs his mamãe.”
Carlinhos sat in the corner of the room with his eyes fixed on the floor the way he did when he was trying not to cry. Her father’s remark had wounded him deeply.
“You’re the one who’s weak,” Serafina yelled. “Weak and stupid and—”
Renato’s palm struck the side of her head and knocked her to her knees. Her temple throbbed and her vision blurred. Carlinhos yelled a warning, but she couldn’t make herself react, not even when she saw her father do that familiar hitching step he always did before launching a scoring futebol kick.
Her body folded on impact as waves of pain pulsated from her ribs. She needed to run or fight, but she couldn’t even suck enough breath to beg him to stop. Not that it would have mattered. Her father put years of futebol and a lifetime of resentment into every kick.
“Stop it, Renato,” her mother screamed.
The kicking continued. When Renato was bored of that, he crouched on the floor and beat Serafina with his fists. Eduardo ran into the house and tackled him from the side. While smaller than their father, Eduardo was accustomed to wrestling with his older brother and soon had Renato securely restrained.
Carmen barged into the house, her gravely voice raised to a screech. “What’s going on? Is Serafina okay? What is she doing on the floor?”
Serafina struggled to her knees and crawled toward Carlinhos, who was standing in the corner, frozen with shock.
He ran to her and threw his arms around her shoulders. “Why was Avô kicking you? I thought he was going to kill you.”
“Shhh, meu amor. I’m okay. How are you? Did he hurt you, too?”
“He’s fine,” her mother said.
Serafina checked Carlinhos’ face for bruises, and when she didn’t see any, hugged him to her chest. “Não. He will never be fine. Not here. Not without me to protect him.”
“Then don’t go.”
“She must go,” Carmen said. “Her god is calling.”
“Her god? What nonsense are you putting into my daughter’s head? We’re good Catholics in this house. We don’t buy into that slave voodoo.”
Serafina scoffed then moaned as searing pain shot through her torso. Did good Catholics beat their daughters near to death? If so, they could all rot in hell.
“If your daughter doesn’t learn how to answer her god, bad things will happen.”
“What kind of bad things?”
Carmen shrugged. “You want to find out?”
Mãe sobbed. “What can we do? Serafina is right; Renato will kill the boy if she leaves.”
Carlinhos pulled out of Serafina’s embrace. “Is that true, Mamãe?”
“Não. Of course not, meu amor.” She hugged him back to her chest and winced from the pain.
“I’ll take him,” Carmen said. “Do you hear? Everybody stop crying.” She wrapped her arms around Serafina and Carlinhos. “No worry, querida. Carlinhos can stay with me. I give him milk and cookies and keep him safe. Nothing bad will happen to him. I promise.”
Serafina grabbed Carmen’s arm. “Are you sure there’s no other way? Maybe Yãnsa will tire of me and bother someone else.”
“You know that’s not true.”
Mine.
The ferocity in that word could not be denied. The goddess had marked Serafina as her own and wouldn’t stop, whether it destroyed the host or not.
Serafina dug her fingers deep into Carmen’s flesh. “You’ll take Carlinhos home and protect him from my family? You won’t let anyone hurt him?”
“Sim, querida. I will guard him with my life.”