“Let me go… Let me go… Let me go…” Antonio kept repeating, already breathless. 

As they reached the top of the hill, Olivia released his arm. “There, you happy? Now come in, let’s have lunch”. 

She opened the gate that led to her house a few meters afront. Antonio, holding his twirling stomach, did not object, and so followed Olivia, with a face of frustration. 

Coming from the front door of that humble, wooden shack, sat above the hill and surrounded by fruit trees and vines, loud noises could be heard. Antonio was startled to hear the door hit open.

He heard the light, quick footsteps on the grass and dirt, as two tails rushed from the house when a short, yellow dragon girl appeared, swinging her broom enraged.

"Don't you come back here you thieves!!" shouted the girl, as the ones came rushing close to Antonio and Olivia. They tripped and fell right by their feet, and Antonio took a closer look at them: two manned wolf boys, laying stunned on the ground.

"The wolf boys again??" shouted Olivia. 

One of them leapt up almost instantly. He wore an over-the-top furious face behind his mirrored sunglasses.  “Wolf boys?" he asked "Call us by our official band name, will ya?”, he tried to intimidate Olivia, despite him being half of her size, “and we weren’t stealing anything, as that crazy sister of yours was on about”, he continued, hiding a little brown bag behind his tail.

Antonio rapidly snatched the bag. “Hey! Gimme that!” the wolf boy reacted. 

Olivia sighed and impatiently spoke to the problem children, as if it was her day to do the laundry. “Fuça, can you stop taking things from our house? We don't have anything of value."

"Dude", he replied, sweating, trying to come up with something to say, "we were just umm… borrowing your money, because we need food".

"We give you food," replied Olivia, "and you can take fruits from anywhere around the town. They even grow on the walls downtown."

"Yeah," continued Fuça, "but… who's this kid with you anyway?"

"What are you still doing here?!" shouted the dragon girl from behind, running with her broom towards them.

Fuça stepped back at the furious pace of that girl, and immediately helped his friend get up “C’mon Mau, lets go, lets go!”. 

Mau was enjoying his time laying by the mud. He got up slowly, and moved his long hair from his face. Not saying a word, his face sparked in horror as he saw the broom girl coming.

They rapidly bolted towards the forest. While Mau grabbed his violin, Fuça took out a pandero from his other bag. Together, they began a striding melody, mixed with an impatient rhythm. Soon, they stopped and looked at Antonio and Olivia at a distance

“But don’t you forget us!”, Fuça shouted, “Don't forget the Big Bad Band!”.

Soon, a gust of wind blew in front of them. 

In the blink of an eye, Fuça and Mau were nowhere to be seen.

“I really wish they couldn't teleport inside our home" shouted the dragon girl, still swinging her broom in rage. 

"Hey, Isa, calm down, we took care of it." said Olivia, and Antonio gently returned the stolen bag to her.

Isa, the yellow dragon, cooled her scales down, and said "Thank you, little guy".

"I call him Tom, short for Antonio" said Olivia, "he'll have lunch with us today". 

"As long as he doesn't touch my stuff" Isa replied.

Antonio, for the sake of being polite, gulped down the purple potatoes that were on his plate. The strong spice burned down his throat, while he sweated, and showed a fake “this is delicious” face. 

“They’re delicious as always, Marina!” said Olivia, who loved spicy food, to her older sister, who knew of her particular tastes.

Marina nodded back at her with a very subtle smile. She almost never spoke. A dragon like Isa, but taller than Olivia, she was covered in light brown feathers that twitched gently to every little movement of her arm.

Antonio stared at his plate, in silence. He had eaten much worse, but he still longed for those fatty shrimps. 

Isa was the first one to finish her plate. “Okay, it’s Olivia’s turn to wash the dishes” she said rapidly, while hopping out of the table. However, Marina gently grabbed her shoulder before she got up. 

Marina’s sleepy but powerful gaze showered upon Isa, who understood she needed to wait for Antonio to finish first. She stayed there, hiding her annoyance.

“So Antonio!” began Isa “or Tom or whatever. Where do you come from? I’ve never seen you around town, are you a stranger?”

“I’m from very far away” Antonio replied, proudly.

“Then why did you even come here?” asked Isa, while Marina tried asking for her honesty to be less thorny.

“It was to fulfill a dream” Antonio smiled, as he slowly forgot to eat the rest of his meal.

“Oh, it’s like Olivia with her flute right?”, continued Isa, “It’s all she ever talks about. That she wants to be the greatest flutist, that she wants to see the world, and so on”, she said with a teasing voice, as Olivia blushed furiously and coughed.

“Keep it down, okay?” Olivia asked, and went back to eating. But Antonio looked at her, filled with a renewed curiosity.

“So, you know how to use magic?” Antonio asked, bluntly, impatiently waiting for her to tell him she could make him fly.

“You see, that’s the problem…” Olivia said, looking down at her plate. “You need at least two people for a band. But…” she gulped, distant, playing with her fork.

“She can’t do it” spilled Isa, to Olivia’s absolute outrage. “Tried with every other musician. Her spells never work, right?”.

Olivia stared statically at Isa. They were both locked into a tense stare. Soon, Olivia looked away to the walls. “I’m not doing the dishes” she breathed, and left the table without another word.

Antonio gazed awkwardly at the scene, and was about to get up from the table, when Isa told him “She will be fine. She just has some crazy thoughts. About leaving town, exploring the world, whatever.”

Antonio’s eyes challenged Isa, as he felt personally stinged by her words. “Well,” he began, “I explored many places in my life, why wouldn’t she-”

“Ha! Another kid with a lot of imagination!” Isa interrupted “I can see why Olivia likes you”. Antonio’s face was heating up, almost blasting some words on the table, but he tried shrugging off that frustration of always being told the same thing. Marina noticed the tension building up, and quickly tapped the girl’s shoulder gently. She stopped talking, and looked at Marina.

“You see Tom…” Marina spoke to him for the first time, in a deep but soothing voice, “Olivia can’t leave town. Baleias has only one entrance and exit: the Mangrove Path, over the bridge.”

Antonio, unmoved by her discourse, proudly said “I have crossed worse roads and paths, what’s to fear in a mangrove?”

“The bridge” Marina voiced in a ghostly tone, as if Antonio was now listening to an untold secret, “It isn’t made for us, living beings.”

There was a foggy feeling in her gaze, which Antonio tried avoiding.

“It’s for the spirits”, continued Marina, “The deceased cross the bridge to rest by the mangrove, and return in the next cycle.”

She closed her eyes and looked up. “It’s a really unfortunate fate for those who survive the passage”.

“But anyway,” Isa interrupted, “I’ll do the dishes since Olivia is in such a mood today.”, and quickly got up and away from the table. 

Marina stopped speaking, and slowly got up, walking to Antonio, gently grabbing his half-eaten plate. “Be careful,” she whispered to him “and don’t cross the bridge. Don’t go near the bridge. Okay?”

Antonio listened to all these words, puzzled. He nodded.

“You can stay here for as long as you need” she completed, kindly. “Just watch out for Isa’s fuzz”.

The day quickly burned out as Antonio re-read through his journals, outside of their house. Hours had passed, and he could not find anything regarding music magic, haunted bridges, Baleias…

Everything was very new to him. Yet, as he did every night, Antonio watched the night sky on a wooden mallock he borrowed from Marina. He set it under a tree, and peacefully awaited the next day. Tonight, something was missing. No music. Antonio struggled to sleep. How could he ever know how the next day would go? His knowledge was useless here. 

“Hey Tom,” Olivia appeared suddenly from behind, startling Antonio “check out what I made!”.

She held a thin, flexible, red hat made out of thin stems and cotton. “It’s for you.” she smiled, giving him the hat.

Antonio examined the object cautiously, “You made this?”.

“I learned how to make these in school” she explained. “Everyone in Baleias makes their own clothes, that’s why everyone looks so cool.”

Antonio couldn’t help but smile. He thought that hat would look very nice on him. “Thank you kindly, Olivia.”

“No problem, little fella.” she said, smiling.

Antonio kept staring at that beautiful hat.

“You want to be a flutist?” asked Antonio, with a calm voice and mind.

“Ah,” Olivia felt a bit embarassed, “sorry for leaving the table today. I am a flutist, but I can’t… really…”

“We could try it tomorrow,” suggested Antonio, dreaming of wings and skies, “your flute and my guitar. We only need 2 people to cast spells, right?”

“Ah…” Olivia hesitated, but happy, she said, “Yes! I’d love to practice with you. Just please have patience with me, haha…” completed Olivia, shriking her voice.

Antonio nodded. “We’ll get that done tomorrow”.

“But are you sure you want to sleep outside?” Olivia asked puzzled, “Aren’t the mosquitos going to bite you?”

“I’m used to them” said Antonio, calmly.

Antonio felt his chest soften. As he laid down to sleep, he put his new hat above his face. It smelled of flowers and cut grass. 

There was a sweet flute melody now swooping past by him, from the window of Olivia’s home. It soothed Antonio’s heart and his eyes felt foggy. 

There was much he did not understand, yet Antonio had a direction.

To continue pretending to be a child to learn music in the town school.

Baleias… 

Antonio smiled and chuckled. Strangely, his dream never felt closer to his heart.