Yes, he meant it. And as he spoke, his eyes roamed slowly and openly over Catalina’s body. She stepped back, hands clenched into fists. She told him no, that she would rather leave than accept that. Jacinto laughed, short and dry, and reminded her she had nowhere else to go, that nobody in town liked her, that Don Erasmo controlled everything, and if she tried to steal or do wrong, she would end up in jail—or worse.
Then he mounted his horse, turned his back, and before riding off, shouted over his shoulder that she had three days to leave—or come up with the money. Three days, not one more. The horses’ hooves faded down the mountain, leaving Catalina trembling with rage and fear. Tomás emerged from the cave, pale, with Lupita and Carlitos clinging to his shirt. He asked what they were going to do. Catalina did not answer immediately.
She stared at the abandoned house, at the trapdoor she had discovered, at the cellar filled with coins that no one seemed to know existed. For the first time in a long while, she felt something stronger than fear: fury. That night, when the children slept, Catalina returned to the cellar, carrying a lit candle that illuminated the damp walls and the crates stacked along them. She knelt before one of the larger crates and carefully opened it.
Inside were more coins, but there was something else: an old book with a worn leather cover, pages yellowed and stained with damp. Catalina opened it with trembling hands. She couldn’t read well, but recognized words, names, dates, amounts, and at the end, a phrase in black ink still legible: “May whoever touches this treasure bear the curse of the dead who guarded it.” Catalina slammed the book shut, her heart pounding in her ears.
She looked around the basement, feeling the weight of the silence, a chill not from the air but something deeper, older. Then she heard it—a scratching, as if something clawed at the wall from the other side. She froze, the candle trembling in her hand. The scratching stopped, and in the heavy silence that followed, she heard slow, heavy breathing, very close. Catalina ran from the basement, dropping the candle, stumbling on the steps, and didn’t stop until she was outside, under the starry sky, gasping like she had just emerged from underwater.
