It was nearly seven in the morning when sunlight began to shine through the cracks of the thick, hickory brown curtains near the boy's bedside. The boy slowly began to wake up before he sat up and stretched his upper body. He let out a big yawn as he looked down at his bed and observed his quilt. *This quilt,* he thought as he lifted it to his face, *Looks exactly like the one from my dream last night and the night before.* He sighed, *And the one before that night.* The boy climbed out of bed, wearing a new, clean pair of clothes. Instead of sleeping in his dirty outdoor clothes again, he was now wearing a set of linen, baby blue pajamas.
In the kitchen, Tezria poured herself some coffee while speaking to another woman who was sitting at a little table in the room.
"I'm so glad you finally found him!" Said the woman, full of glee.
"So am I, Rita." Said Tezria right before she sat down in the chair across the table from her.
Rita had the same wavy, black hair as Tezria, except her hair was short and reached the middle of her neck. Her skin was almond brown, slightly lighter than Tezria's skin, however, Rita's eyes were also bright scarlet. The woman had a small, button nose while Tezria had a roman nose. Rita's rouge pink lips were a tad bit thinner than Tezria's rosewood colored lips.
"Good morning." said the boy in a drowsy tone as he walked into the kitchen while rubbing his eyes.
"Hijo!" Said Tezria, excitedly, "You're finally awake! Please sit and join us for breakfast, I made chilaquiles."
The boy walked over to the table and sat down next to Tezria as she got up and fetched him a steaming bowl of food along with a fork. The boy looked down at his bowl and began to stir through to see the contents of his hot meal. The bowl was filled with pieces of fried corn tortilla, shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, pulled chicken, scrambled eggs, refried pinto beans, and red salsa. The scent from the food was strong enough to make the boy's mouth water. Rita gave him an odd look as she stared at his smooth face, slender hands, narrow shoulders, soft facial features, and hip-length, dark, pecan brown hair that was tied into a low ponytail.
The boy scooped up some of the food and placed it into his mouth.
"Mm," he said softly as he chewed it slowly before swallowing. He faced Tezria, "This is really good!"
The woman smiled, "Thank you, hijo! Is it better than Maria's chilaquile?"
"Actually," he forked more food into his mouth and continued to chew, "She never made this. My mom-," he paused and swallowed before he corrected himself, "Maria only made porridge and cornbread for breakfast."
Tezria shook her head, "Poor baby."
"Have you ever had proper Mexican food before?" Asked Rita.
"I've had tortillas with jam before. Does that count?"
The woman shook her head as she sighed, "How disappointing."
"Rita," said Tezria, facing her and pointing to the boy, "This is my son."
"Yes, I noticed." Said Rita before she took a sip of her coffee.
Tezria then faced the boy, "Hijo," she pointed to the other woman, "This is Margarita 'Rita' Leon, my sister and your aunt."
"Oh," he looked at the woman and smiled, "Nice to meet you, aunt Rita."
The woman smiled back, "Hello, Lucas."
"Lucas?" The boy was a bit confused.
"Don't tell me you don't even know your own name." Said the woman in a condescending tone.
"Rita! No need to be rude." Said Tezria.
The woman sighed, "I'm sorry, Lucas."
The boy smiled, "It's alright."
"So how old are you, dear?" Asked Rita.
"I'm going to be eighteen in a couple of weeks."
Rita stared at the boy for a moment in confusion. "You're almost eighteen, yet you don't have any facial hair and still sound like you're twelve?" She then faced Tezria, "Are you sure this is your son and not some pale, hairless white boy?"
"Rita!" Tezria was visibly furious with her sister, "That's extremely rude!"
"Pale?" The boy looked down at his medium beige hands, "I'm not *that* pale."
"Listen," said Rita, holding her hands up in a surrendering position, "I understand that Lucas's soul was reincarnated into another body but, from what you've told me about his birth parents, this boy doesn't look like a Mexicano. In fact, he doesn't even look like a boy."
The boy's heart sunk as the room suddenly became silent. A couple seconds later, Tezria broke the silence as she slammed her fist onto the table.
"That's it!" Yelled Tezria, "Get out!"
Rita gasped, "But-"
"Now!"
Rita sighed as she got up from her seat and walked out of the room. The boy looked down at his bowl of half-eaten food as his stomach felt queasy.
Tezria took a deep breath as she faced her son, "Hijo, are you alright?"
The boy nodded, "Yes, I am." He gently pushed his bowl away from him, "May I be excused?"
"But you've barely eaten your breakfast."
"I'm full. I can't eat anymore."
Tezria sighed, "Alright, hijo." She hugged him tightly, "I'm so sorry about my outburst."
The boy hugged her back, "It's alright, Tez." The two of them slowly let go of one another.
"I almost forgot," Tezria got up from her chair, "Your conversion ceremony is in a couple of weeks. Until then, I need you to pick a new name for yourself."
"Why not Lucas?" Asked the boy.
"Do you want to have that name again?"
He looked down and thought for a moment, "I'm not sure. By the way," he looked up at his mother, "Why did you pick that name? Isn't that supposed to be a Christian name?"
"I never picked that name," Tezria gave him a soft smile, "Your father did."
"Really?" He raised an eyebrow.
The woman nodded, "Yes. Enrique was a devoted Christian and Luke was his favorite name from the Bible. So he named you Lucas."
"Wait a minute," the boy scratched his chin, "My father was Christian, yet he married a witch?"
Tezria chuckled, "Not all Christians hate witches, hijo. In fact," she grabbed the coffee pot and poured some into a mug, "He wanted to help protect our kind from the local church." She placed the mug on the table in front of him.
The boy paused for a moment and scratched his head as he remembered his dream from last night. Tezria sat back down and looked at him with a concerned expression.
"What's wrong, hijo?"
"Well," the boy took a sip of coffee from his mug, "I had this dream last night." He looked down at his hot beverage, "A man was helping me hide inside a closet before he was taken away by an angry mob and a priest."
The woman sighed, "It wasn't just a dream. That was a memory from your past life. A memory of the night your father was killed."
"I figured," the boy looked at her, "But how did I survive? Don't those types of mobs burn the witch's house down as well?"
She nodded, "Yes, they tend to burn down houses after burning the witch," Tezria then gave him a sad smile, "The house Enrique took you to was a safe house. He, along with a few other people, built some underground tunnels for us witches to use for escaping from those kinds of mobs. He was also part of a group of humanitarians who helped non human creatures fight injustice from the government."
"But why was he burned at the stake for witchcraft if he's not even a witch?" Asked the boy.
"In order to protect you, your father sacrificed himself by pretending to be a witch in order to buy me some more time." Tezria frowned as her eyes began to fill up with tears, "It's all my fault," she looked down as she sobbed and tears started to roll down her face, "I could've saved him but I arrived at the safe house too late."
The boy placed his hand on her shoulder, "No, it wasn't your fault. You did your best." He grabbed a napkin from the table and handed it to Tezria, "Besides," he continued, "That mob was huge, it's not like you could've fought them all off."
She looked at him and sighed as she began to wipe away her tears, "I guess you're right but to this day, I still feel like I could've done more."
"I understand." The boy then hugged her tightly.
Tezria hugged her son back, "Thank you, hijo." She smiled.