6. Birth of a prophet

Bruno sighed deeply as he sat in front of the television, his feet dangling in front of it.

It had now been a couple of days since he and his sisters had realized they had gifts. And his sisters had not wasted a single second putting them to good use. Eager to start helping people.

Bruno however? All he got were flashes and glimpses of things there were going to happen possibly just seconds from now. At most, it had been an hour into the future. Like with Julieta's tamales healing Pepa.

But that was it… It was useless. Here he was. Just looking at these fictional characters in black and white, going through sorrows as deep as Bruno's own.

"How can I tell him? How can he ever know?" The beautiful woman on screen cried. "We share a father! Diego! He must never know! He is married to his half-sister!"

Bruno's eyes were glued to the screen as he mindlessly stuffed a cookie into his mouth.

"I swear to you. Lolita…. I will never tell Diego of your secret. But maybe there's something you should consider."

"What Bernardo? What?" Lolita asked.

"From the moment I first saw you. Though you were married to another… I knew… I love you Lolita!"

And Bruno gasped. "No way!"

"No! Bernardo! Don't say that. I care for you like a brother! But I love my husband!"

"Your husband is your brother!"

And then suddenly a third voice boomed and the camera shifted to the character Diego. "Lolita! My sworn brother Bernardo! What is the meaning of this!"

"Diego please!" Lolita cried. "I can explain everything!"

"There is no need." Diego gasped. "I heard it all!"

And then… The screen just cut to black and went to credits and Bruno groaned as he fell back on the couch.

"It always stops at the best part!" Bruno exclaimed loudly. "Do I really have to wait until next week?!" and then Bruno stopped... Wait a minute.

He could see into the future. Bruno looked up at the television screen now playing commercials. True, so far they had come at random and only shown things that were about to happen very soon but… Bruno hadn't tried having a deliberate vision yet.

Slowly Bruno sat down in front of the television with crossed legs as he looked up at it. The images flickering… Next week's episode. Right! What happens next?.

Bruno closed his eyes and tried to concentrate but… nothing. Then he opened them again and frowned. Hmm… What was it they always did on television?

There used to be words spoken and things burning… like… incense.

Bruno didn't have incense. But he did have a candle on the table. And their magic came originally from a candle so why not?

And then Bruno pulled down the candle to place it in front of him and lit it with a matchstick.

Okay then… Bruno inhaled a deep breath. Deep breath… Next week's episode!

He glanced at the flame and the smoke rising from it. Was it just him or was the smoke... making shapes?

Bruno concentrated on the smoke. On the things he wanted to see and then… his eyes started to glow green.

Then suddenly. The house started to rumble. A wind started to rise.

Inside the kitchen, Julieta was looking up. What was that?

Pepa was outside and wide-eyed looking up at the sky that had suddenly gone cloudy just above the house. "That's not me doing that." she breathed.

And then there was Alma. Alma was sitting in the dining room patching up one of Pepa's skirts that had been torn on a branch. As Alma felt the house shaking she looked up.

Then she heard the first crash and a big boom.

At once Alma jumped to her feet and threw away the skirt she was patching. "CHILDREN!" she screamed as she ran out and down toward where she could hear an incredible noise. Almost like a hurricane inside.

"MAMA!" As Julieta came running from the kitchen she had to lean against the wall so she wouldn't be blown away. "MAMA, WHAT'S HAPPENING?!"

"IT'S NOT ME DOING THAT!" Pepa screamed from the window she looked through. "IT'S COMING FROM THE LIVING ROOM!"

And then Alma gasped. "Brunito." and she rushed towards the living room. Defying all the winds and the items and furniture flying around. Finally, she got to the living room and saw it was true.

Bruno was standing there right in the center of it. The winds were ripping into his hair and clothes and his eyes were shining bright green as all the dirt flying in the room seemed to form different shapes in green glimmers. An indoor tornado seemed to have formed around Bruno.

"Brunito…" Alma gasped. "BRUNITO!"

Then Bruno turned to her and saw her with his glowing green eyes. "Mama?" he asked.

And then suddenly it stopped… It all stopped. All the plants, furniture, television, and dirt just crashed down on the floor. And Bruno's eyes were back to their normal dark color.

Alma gasped as she rushed inside. She fell down on her knees and just hugged Bruno as tightly as she could. "BRUNITO!" she cried.

Bruno's eyes widened and then he looked over Alma's shoulders and he gasped. "Did… did I do that?" he asked.

Slowly his two sisters stepped inside looking startled.

Bruno looked at them over his mother's shoulder. His eyes looked wet. "I… I'm sorry! I didn't mean! I didn't know!"

"What were you trying to do?" Pepa asked.

"I… I just wanted to see if I could control it. Looking into the future. See what would happen in next week's episode." Bruno swallowed.

"Brunito!" Alma gasped as she let go only to grab his shoulders rather harshly. "You would endanger yourself like that over a television episode!"

"I didn't know Mama! I didn't know this would happen." Bruno cried and Alma stopped.

"I'm sorry Brunito. That's not what I meant." Alma whispered as she gently swept some messy curls away from Bruno's face. "You just… scared me."

Then slowly Julieta bowed down to pick something up. "What's this?" she asked.

They all turned to her and Julieta seemed to be holding some sort of slab made of something looking like jade. But it was glowing and Julieta gasped as she turned it in her hands.

"Wow."

"Can I see?" Alma asked and Julieta nodded as she handed it over, allowing Alma and Bruno to see.

Wide-eyed, they both looked at it. There were illustrations in the jade. But they weren't normal illustrations. It was like fully formed people inside the stone… but still a picture. A man and a woman seemed to be kissing under the moon.

"Lolita stays with Diego after all?" Bruno asked. "I guess they are not really siblings then."

Pepa gasped. "So it worked! You saw what happens in next week's episode."

"Kind of…" Bruno stopped. "It was kind of weird. I could see images… in the sand. But it was just images. It wasn't very clear. And there weren't any sounds at all. Just the images and then… That." he pointed at the jade plate and then he looked around the room which was completely and utterly trashed.

"Well.." Pepa swallowed. "I guess we know what that extra room you have is for now."

Bruno's eyes widened. "Ooooooh."

Alma sighed deeply. "Brunito… Pepita… help me clean up." she requested as she stood up. Wobbling a bit on her legs as she looked beyond exhausted. "Julieta, do you think you can handle dinner alone today?"

"Yes, Mama." Julieta nodded.

Bruno swallowed as he glanced up at Alma. "I'm really sorry Mama," he whispered.

Alma sighed as she patted him on the head. "Just.. don't do it again," she said and then shivered. She could not deny that seeing her son standing there. With glowing eyes in the middle of an indoor tornado had scared her more than anything else in her life.

"Okay," Bruno whispered. "I'm sorry," he repeated.

Alma swallowed. She bowed down to quickly hug him again and then stood up as she walked to the couch, now lying against the wall, and pulled it back into the right place.

Bruno however was standing completely still. His eyes were on the television lying in a different corner. Now completely trashed and broken.

"It's okay." Pepa put a hand on his shoulder. "Just yesterday I made all the clean clothes all wet again. I didn't mean to do that either."

Slowly Bruno nodded and then finally followed his sister's lead to pick up some of the smaller items while Alma concentrated on the big ones they were too small to handle.

"So," Pepa commented. "You can decide what things to look into in the future for? That's so cool!"

"Really?" Bruno asked.

"Yeah. And this!" Pepa enthused as she picked up the jade slab. "I have never seen anything like it before! It's amazing!"

Bruno smiled lightly. "You can keep it if you want."

"Really?" Pepa asked, and then cheered. "Thank you Bruno!" she wrapped her arms around his neck. "I'm going to hang it in my room! I know just where it can go on one of the trees!"

And Bruno smiled as some of the tension finally left his body. Things really weren't so bad after all.