Renato opened his eyes with the sun hitting his face. His vision darkened for a moment and his head throbbed. He sat up in bed and felt his stomach boiling and the urge to vomit rising dangerously. He managed to hold it back. He took a deep breath. The world seemed to move in a strange way.
"Hangover, huh?" Clara was sitting on a chair in the corner of the room.
"That's why I always say teenagers shouldn't drink," she continued. "Now you're going to have to marry that little Christian girl. If you don't, I'm afraid she might kill you in your sleep. Or maybe her sister will kill you, I don't know."
"What are you talkin...?" Renato raised an eyebrow.
At that moment, the blankets began to move and a delicate arm appeared from underneath.
"God, please don't let it be the fourteen-year-old!" Renato closed his eyes and tried to summon whatever faith he had left.
Clara burst out laughing.
Red, wavy hair emerged. Renato's legs trembled. Mical threw the blanket aside and sat up in bed, stretching and yawning calmly.
"Good mor—"
That was when she froze.
She looked down. She saw her small, still-developing breasts exposed; saw that she wasn't wearing anything below. Her eyelids trembled and Renato could swear he heard the sound of an electrical short circuit somewhere inside her head.
"That's it. I'm going to prison!"
"You're underage too, Renato. You're not going to prison," said Clara, "but you'll probably have to get married, which is much worse. In short, my friend Renato, you're completely screwed. Oh, and her sister is coming, by the way. I lent her my twelve-gauge so she could practice shooting. She should be arriving in 3, 2, 1…"
The door opened. Jéssica appeared, cheerful and bouncing.
"Good morning! Clara, I managed to hit the cans like you tol—"
She frowned.
"What's going on here?"
"Imagine, Jéssica, that I came to warn Renato that you were practicing shooting and were going to call him to watch, and I stumbled upon this scene?" Clara looked shocked.
A gigantic vein began to pulse on Jéssica's forehead. She turned toward the door and when she turned back toward the room she was pointing a twelve-gauge shotgun at Renato.
"You abused my little sister, you bastard?! Prepare to die!"
"Hey, hey! I didn't do anything! Wait, where were you even hiding that gun?!"
"Mical, get away from him! I'm going to blow this sinner apart!" she said, cocking the shotgun.
Mical rolled off the bed and ran out of the room.
The first shot came. An explosion from the barrel. Renato rolled and threw himself onto the floor.
"Wait! I didn't—"
The second shot came.
He rolled under the bed.
"Wait!" he shouted.
"You defiled my pure and beautiful little sister! We should have burned you at the stake yesterday!"
Clara burst into loud laughter.
"There's still time! There are matches in the kitchen and gasoline has been pretty cheap lately!"
Jéssica quickly loaded more shells into the shotgun and cocked it again.
"Damn demon! I bet this is somehow your fault!" Renato shouted.
"My ways are mysterious too," she replied.
At that moment Mical came back into the room, now properly dressed and bouncing with excitement.
"I'm still a virgin! I'm still a virgin, sister! Nothing happened!"
Jéssica looked at her sideways.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes! I just checked!"
Clara frowned.
"Wait… checked how? Technically there's no way to be sure of—ah, forget it! Screw it. I'm not explaining biology to those two!"
Jéssica sighed in relief.
"So that's it. My little sister remains pure, thank God!"
"Empty heads," Clara muttered.
"So we're not going to burn Renato then, right?" said Mical with a sweet smile.
"I haven't decided about that yet," the older sister replied darkly.
"Come on! We already decided I didn't do anything," said Renato from under the bed, "and that I'm innocent."
"No. As far as I know, my innocent and clever little sister managed to escape your demonic and perverted claws! Your innocence has not yet been proven."
"Wait! Demonic and perverted claws? Are you sure that description doesn't fit someone else in this room better?!"He crawled out from under the bed and cast a sharp look at Clara Lilithu.
"What? Me?" she protested. "Just because I'm a succubus? I don't even have words to express the size of my indignation at this prejudiced accusation!" she said, clearly looking guilty.
"Hmm, now that I think about it…" said Jéssica. "She was the one who gave me this gun and said I could practice shooting, and then she said she'd come here to call you and that if she took too long I should come myself. I wonder why."
"Hmm…" said Mical. "I think I had a strange dream. In the dream I was attacked by groping demonic female hands that took off my clothes."
"I think manipulating dreams is one of the abilities of succubi, isn't it?" said Renato.
"Why are you asking that, Renato? Have you been having erotic dreams lately?" Clara gave him a malicious smile.
"Ahem!" Renato cleared his throat. "You set this up, didn't you? You took advantage of the fact that I was asleep, put Mical in my bed, took off her clothes, and made sure Jéssica would come see it. Confess before I start performing an exorcism ritual!"
"Well…" Clara shrugged. "I didn't put Mical in your bed. She was already sleeping there with you. I just made a nice lemonade with the lemons life gave me."
Jéssica wrinkled her forehead.
"Why were you in his bed, sister?"
"W-well… that succubus is clearly lying! I was definitely carried there while she drugged me with strange dreams!"
"Hm…" Clara scratched her chin. "Actually, the one who carried Mical to Renato's bed was Renato himself."
Jéssica cocked the shotgun again.
"I knew it!"
"W-wait! I'm sure I had good intentions!"
"I came from hell and I guarantee he's full of good intentions."
"And he's about to get even more full of them!" Jéssica retorted.
"Alright, alright, I've had enough fun. Forgive the prank, but this succubus was bored. Actually, Renato really didn't do anything. What a disappointment! That's why teenagers shouldn't drink!"
Everyone looked at her in confusion. Clara shrugged and continued:
"Last night you all got completely drunk, you know? I said it wasn't a good idea to mix wine with whiskey, but did you listen? No. Young people these days think they know everything!"
"The demon lady is feeling responsible!" said Renato.
"You got so drunk! At one point Mical stood up and said she was going back to the Priory just to set everyone on fire. Then she fell on the floor and vomited on that little pepper plant."
"My pepper plant?"
"Yes, Renato. I think it died, by the way. It was right when Jéssica started venting to me saying she's afraid her little sister will lose her virginity before she does. Then she started mumbling something about thinking you're kind of cute."
"Demon lies!" Jéssica protested.
"And that's when Renato offered to take Mical to rest. He was so drunk he ended up falling beside her. After that the other one here passed out too and slept with her head on my shoulder. I'm telling you! This little girl snores like a truck driver!"
"More lies!"
"We spent almost the whole day drinking yesterday! I won't even tell you about the bra fight or what we did to the neighborhood water reservoirs!"
"Wait! What?! Those reservoirs are several blocks away!"
"Yes, I saw. Before the 'underage trio' passed out, we decided to take a Camaro ride. You know how it is. One thing leads to another. We stole a few traffic cones along the way. But seriously, you people have terrible memory! Maybe it's because of the drugs I brought from hell. Do you know how potent a drug has to be to affect a demon? I can't even imagine what it does to humans! This morning I saw how cozy you two were and decided to play a little prank. Judge me!"
"M-but who took off my clothes?"
"I did, obviously. While I was giving you that dream. You're welcome!" Clara winked at Mical.
The girl lowered her face, her cheeks turning hot and red.
"But the question that remains is: 'what now?'" Clara said excitedly.
"What do you mean, what now?" Jéssica raised an eyebrow.
"What do we do now? What's the plan? I get bored very easily."
"Judging by the time," said Renato, looking at his phone, "the plan is to go to class. I'm late! I should already be on the bus by now!"
"Alright then!"
"Alright what?"
"I'm going to school with you. What do you learn in that school? I always got good grades in hell school, especially in the subjects of Kama Sutra and penile explosion."
"You're making that up, right?"
"Maybe. We'll never know."
"Anyway, you can't just go to school like that!"
"And why not?"
"Because the students there are between fourteen and sixteen! You must be what, twenty?"
"Six thousand four hundred and ninety-one in Earth years."
"See?! That's a little more than sixteen!"
"But that won't be a problem. Age is just a number, right, Mical?"
"Hmm… I don't know. Maybe."
"Besides," the succubus continued, "I can change my form to look younger."
"You know what?" said Renato. "Why don't you just enroll already? I don't see why not. Nothing like good school moments to cure boredom: lots of bullying, snobby rich girls who think they're the center of the universe, guys who think they're gangsters because they smoke Paraguayan cigarettes, and teachers disillusioned and pissed off with their salaries! It'll be great. Having a demon there could be an interesting social experiment."
"I don't know if you're being ironic, but now I'm even more interested," the succubus replied.
"I want to go to school too," said Mical.
"Hmm, thinking about it," said Jéssica, "I think I want to go too."
"While you're discussing that, I need to take a shower. I'm really late. Buses always take forever!"
"Don't worry," said Clara. "I'll drive you. Let's all go by car and check out the school."
"There's a church next to your school? How convenient!" said Clara Lilithu, frowning. Her hands were still on the steering wheel.
The car was parked in front of the entrance. Several students moved about, some in uniform, walking in a kind of robotic march through the gate for another day of classes.
"Well, this is Brazil. There's a church and a bar on every corner. And I bet half the houses in this neighborhood are drug dens!"
"But seriously?!"
Mical and Jéssica, in the back seat, watched silently through the car windows.
"Well, thanks for the ride! Now I have to go."
Renato grabbed the notebook and the new pen he had bought a little earlier. He had lost his backpack with his old materials on the day of the alley incident.
He grabbed the handle and opened the door. His feet touched the ground. He took a deep breath. He rubbed his eyes, trying to hide the dark circles, and began walking. The car behind him remained parked, and he could feel the curious gazes of the three girls on his back.
Something intrigued him. The other students were looking at him in a strange way. Some were curious, others afraid. Most looked away as soon as he glanced back.
The boy reached the courtyard and turned toward the classroom hallway. He decided to stop at the drinking fountain for some water. He was startled by how thirsty he felt. The cold water sliding down his throat was the most pleasant sensation he had felt in a long time.
"Renato!" It was Hiro's voice. "You came?!"
"Yes, I came," said Renato, wiping the water that ran down his chin.
"Wow! Your eyes are so red! What happened?"
"Oh, that? I just slept badly last night."
"Yeah… sure."
Hiro looked suspicious, as if he were hiding something.
"What class do we even have today? I still haven't memorized the schedule and I lost the notebook where I wrote it down and everything."
"Math and geography." Hiro sighed. "Teacher Geovana is so hot!"
They started walking toward the classroom. The gazes of all the other students following him made Renato uncomfortable.
"They're looking at me in a weird way…"
"You have no idea why?"
"No," he replied, frowning.
"Renato, come with me!"
Hiro pulled his friend to a corner with fewer people and pressed him against the wall. Renato began to worry about what Hiro might be planning.
"You're my friend, right?" Hiro said with a serious look. "So I need you to answer me honestly."
"What are you talking about, man?"
"Renato… are you in a gang?"
"What? What do you mean?"
"And I'm not talking about that little group of idiots Roger used to hang with. I mean big stuff. Bank robberies, novo cangaço, things like that."
"Hiro, my friend… did you start doing drugs? Are you high?"
"It's just that… how can I say this? There's a video going around. I'm not judging, you know? It's just… if you're in a gang, put me in the scheme."
"What kind of video?" Renato raised an eyebrow.
"KISS ALREADY!!!" shouted a student passing by who saw the two of them.
"Here." Hiro took his phone from his pocket and, after tapping the screen a bit, handed it to Renato.
Renato recognized the footage.
The police car on fire. The Camaro parked next to the limousine. Clara covered in blood from head to toe. Bodies scattered across the street. Jéssica and Mical. And himself appearing, being questioned by an aspiring reporter.
"Son of a bitch!"
"So? That's you there, isn't it? That's you in the video, right?"
"What?! Of course not…" Renato looked away.
"You've always been a terrible liar."
"No… it's just… you wouldn't believe…" he laughed nervously.
"Renato!" It was Clara's voice, coming from behind his shoulder. "Finally I found you! I'm looking for the Torture Laboratory. Can you tell me where it is?"
After recovering from the scare, the boy quickly shoved the phone into his pocket.
"Laboratory of what?! We don't have anything like that here!"
"You don't?! What a pathetic little school! Where I come from, even kindergarten schools have Torture Laboratories. They're essential for learning, you know? They stimulate motor coordination, creativity…"
"Have you people never heard of LEGO? Cuiabá is hot, but not that hot! Things are a bit different around here!"
"Y-you… it's you!" said Hiro, pointing at the succubus. "The woman from the v—"
Renato covered his mouth.
"So you decided to check out the school?" he said nervously. He removed his hand from Hiro's mouth and made a face that clearly meant shut up or she might explode your genitals.
Clara looked suspicious.
"Of course! Before deciding whether I enroll here, I need to evaluate the quality of the education. From what I can see, the infrastructure isn't the best."
"So you're from out of town, miss?" Hiro said, trying to enter the conversation.
"I am," Clara replied with a proud look tinged with a bit of disdain.
"Well… welcome to Brazil."
"Renato," said Clara, "could you ask your friend to stop smiling at me like that? There's a piece of lettuce stuck in his teeth and it's making me want to vomit."
Hiroshi fell silent and lowered his head, frowning. He ran his tongue over his teeth. He felt like crying but endured it proudly.
"I'm going to class now."
He turned his back and left.
"You didn't have to be that mean. He's my friend, you know."
"Your friend should be introduced to a toothbrush."
"He was just trying to be nice."
"I know, I know. I'm an evil bitch, like you always say. Anyway, I need to go. Who knows what kind of horrible and angelic things those two might get up to if they stay alone for too long."
Clara vanished into a black and red mist.
Renato shook his head. It was hard to get used to these things.
As soon as he turned to head to class, he came face to face with Tâmara. He wondered how long she had been standing there.
"Hi," she said shyly. Her beautiful amber-colored eyes were still bruised from Roger's slaps and punches. "Hiro said you'd be here.
I still haven't had the chance to thank you."
Too calm. Doesn't look like she saw Clara turn into mist, Renato thought.
"Oh… yeah. It's fine. Uh… are you okay?"
"My friends told me to break up with him, you know. But I couldn't. He was my first boyfriend. I couldn't imagine myself without him, even with the constant aggression. I read on the internet that they call that emotional dependency." She gave a forced smile. "And now this happened. I feel free in a way… but I also feel guilty."
"You broke up with him?"
"You didn't hear? Didn't you watch Crime News today?"
"No. I was kind of busy." Renato frowned.
"Roger was found dead. His body was floating in the Cuiabá River, inside a suitcase."
The boy couldn't hide the shock and surprise. And a bit of nausea.
"He was stabbed a lot of times," the girl continued. "You're a kind guy. I see goodness in you, that's why I don't believe the rumors that you ordered your gang to kill him."
Renato placed his hands behind his neck, stunned. A wave of weakness ran through his body.
"They're saying that…?"
"After your video went viral, everyone started thinking you're like some kind of teenage apprentice to Don Corleone, or that you joined a criminal faction or something. And that because of the fight, you ordered your subordinates to kill him."
"My subordinates?!"
It kept getting worse. What would the rest of the school year be like?
But the question boiling in his mind was who had killed Roger. The first name he thought of was Clara Lilithu, but it didn't make sense. She didn't even know him.
He felt like he was sinking into filth. His breathing became irregular. The dizziness made the world sway.
He remembered the fortune teller and the massacre in the church. He remembered the vampires, all the blood from the day of the limousine chase.
A sharp pain struck his chest, as if his heart were about to stop beating.
He thought of Jéssica being cruelly whipped with a scourge whip.
And now this murder.
Chaos seemed to spread around him like a plague.
He saw flashes of the day when that terrible tragedy took his biological parents before his childish eyes.
He sat on the ground, trying to breathe. His hands trembled.
"Calm down, calm down. I'm here," said Tâmara, caressing his face. "It's just a panic attack. It will pass. Breathe. Everything will be okay."
Meanwhile, Jéssica and Mical had entered the church and, ignoring the strange looks from the few faithful sitting in the pews, they sat on the floor in a corner near the wall, legs crossed, facing each other.
"You brought it?" Jéssica asked.
Mical nodded. The little girl put her hand into the pocket of her jacket and pulled out a light-blue candle—almost the color of the sky—and a lighter.
She placed the candle between them and lit it. The flame flickered, dancing with the faint breeze.
The two closed their eyes and concentrated.
They were searching for something.
It was like trying to see in the dark.
They sighed and opened their eyes.
"Did you find it, Mical?"
"No. Nothing. And you?"
"Nothing either."
"Excuse me, girls, but what are you doing?"
It was a man in a suit and tie. Tall, with a thin mustache. His hair was combed back. His shoes were old but well polished.
The two girls looked at each other.
"We can't tell," said Jéssica.
"Why the candle?" This time the man let a faint glimmer of anger show in his eyes, like the flicker of a flame.
"It's a secret."
"A secret. I see. Everyone is welcome in the house of God, but we need less of these practices here."
"Actually," Jéssica said politely, "it's fewer, not less."
The man looked like he was sucking on a lemon.
"I don't mean to sound presumptuous," she continued, "but a representative of the Father's ministry should set an example. Speaking the language properly is essential, don't you think?"
Then she blew on the candle, extinguishing the flame, and put it back into her pocket along with the lighter.
"We're leaving now, good man. God be with you."
They walked out the door under sharp, suspicious gazes.