Page 78 of An Immaculate Deception

Chills run up my arms. He made me promise never to seek her out again.

“Why are you asking about her?” I manage.

She averts her gaze. She’s so guarded now that I can’t even tell if it is Mother still or Strange Madalena.

We are interrupted by the sound of horses outside. Maria das Dores runs to the window and announces Doctor Lobo’s arrival.

47

Mother runs down the stairs, and I follow. When I reach the first floor, she is nowhere to be seen. I hesitate for a moment, unsure whether to look for her or to intercept Lobo. Through the window I see Lobo’s carriage in the driveway, the doors opening. I run out, throwing the front door open. I’m surprised to see another man stepping out of the other side of the carriage. This man is wearing a mask over his face, like a masquerade or carnaval mask. A bag is slung over his shoulder. I don’t like it.

“Leandro,” Doctor Lobo says, “I received a message that she attacked you. Where is she?”

“What happened last night?”

“Look!” The masked man points toward the woods. “There she goes!”

“Go!” Lobo says. “I’ll catch up with you.”

The man takes off at a run.

“What are you doing?” I stare between the man and Lobo.

“Your mother has become violent. Did you tell her? About the past?”

“No!”

“Come, we must find her before she disappears in the woods.”

He takes off in the direction the masked man went, without waiting for me to respond.

I catch up to them in the south-facing clearing by the graveyard. Mother is flat on the ground, face planted on the dirt. The masked man restrains her, pulling her wrists behind her back. He binds her ankles and wrists with rope, like she’s a criminal. Beside him, the shoulder bag sits open. This sends a choppy ringing into my eardrums.

“Get off of her,” I say as I approach. The ground beneath my feet is rocky and uneven.

“We won’t hurt her,” Lobo says in a condescending tone.

“You’re already hurting her.”

“He is only restraining her so she doesn’t run off into the woods. We wouldn’t want her getting lost out there and hurting herself, would we?”

“They’re lying,” Mother cries. “They’re going to kill me!”

Kill her?

“Who is he?” I demand.

“A physician friend of mine. He’s just going to help me restrain her, then offer a second opinion. Of course, we won’t hurt her.”

“Why is he wearing a mask?”

“They abducted your lover,” Mother screams. “I saw her in his ritual chamber, unconscious. They used her as a human sacrifice for their black magic ritual!”

Joaquina…Human sacrifice. Black magic ritual.

Mother’s face when she saw the photograph, her strange questions about Joaquina.

The man strikes mother’s head. My hands curl into fists at my sides. He can’t do that. I hear the choppy ringing in my ears again, this time louder.