Mateo spun. A boy stood three steps below him, though he hadn’t been there a moment ago. He was about Mateo’s age, but his eyes were old—ancient—and his clothes were woven from what looked like shredded clouds. He carried no lantern, but his skin gave off a soft blue light.
Mateo looked up at the infinite staircase, at the light pouring from the unseen top. “I need to save my mother.” escalera al cielo capitulo 1
Mateo hesitated. The stone in his hand pulsed with a faint, feverish heat. He thought of his mother’s face before the machines—how she’d laughed when he fell learning to ride a bike, how she’d held him after nightmares. How she’d whispered, “Mi cielo, my sky.” Mateo spun
“Who are you?” Mateo whispered.
He placed his foot on the obsidian step. He carried no lantern, but his skin gave
“You’ll know when you reach the bottom,” she whispered, her breath smelling of mint and centuries.
He left the village just before midnight, following the overgrown path behind the abandoned chapel. The jungle swallowed the moonlight. His flashlight cut a trembling cone through the ferns and lianas, and the stone grew warm in his sweaty palm. He’d expected ruins, maybe a mossy pyramid. Instead, he found a single step.