She hurried away toward home, leaving Lira standing alone, with the tears running down her plump little cheeks. She was afraid to go home, and so she wandered down to the wide beach.
Here children were playing, while boys and girls with flashing eyes were swinging along, clapping their hands and singing. Music sounded. Laughter rang. Night had begun to fall.
A crescent moon hung in the sky. It was a moon that had been cut in half, and the other half was Cadiz. The air was full of dream dust, with garlic in it.
Lira did not feel the spell of night that had settled upon the rest of the world. She was too miserable. What had become of the castanets?
Had some evil power removed them from behind that rock? And if so, what frightful thing would happen to her and to her family?
Gradually the people began to leave the beach and finally Lira found herself alone. She looked out across the bay—a bay that was to become the scene of historic battles during Spain's wars with England and France.
Moonlight twinkled silvery upon the water. It was very quiet. And then, all at once, Lira heard a step behind her, and a mysterious voice whispered: "Lira, Lira, turn around!"
Her heart skipped like a pebble across a lake. She turned. There stood her older brother, his figure looming straight and tall in the moonlight. Lira sighed with relief.
| ALCAZAR GARDENS, SEVILLE |
But her brother did not move. He only stood, scowling down at her. Then he continued to talk in that low, frightening voice.