This world is constantly under construction as strangers come and locals disappear.

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Many Doors Lead to One Room.
In distant islands and forests, where there are things still held to be sacred, nothing—and nobody, vanishes forever.
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Evocations.
In Magdalene, I devoted myself to women and skulls.
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Passages.
Santa Clara appeared before him hidden in the belly of a giant cicada
that surfaced from the ground. She said to him,
“I am a wound shrouded in devotion.”
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Rites of May.
It was time to go home.
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Cristina.
The Bayan Gazette, reported by a certain Ronnie Mayari. “...tunnels were reportedly found across the area, linking the Llanes Mansion to the old church and the mass graves… Some bones were dated to four hundred years, and some belonged to people who are estimated to have passed away some twenty years ago… Engr. Laureano Gomez declined to comment.” Susmaryosep, Noni thought.
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The End.
Folktales surrounding the engkanto belonged to women, especially mothers.

That is my wound, my devotion.

Beacons. Acrylic and ink pen on canvas. 8 x 10 inches. Zeny May Recidoro, local woman also unfit for spiritual visions.

✺ Frequently asked questions ✺

Strange and secretive, with an ancient lineage that traces itself back to a datu’s clan and a bunch of shipwrecked refugees from the Spanish Inquisition. Somehow, the family has wisely avoided the tendency to inbreed.
Beneath idyllic scenes of peace and prosperity is corruption and rot. Also, the annual festival San Antonio, patron saint of swine, sponsored by the Tocino Queen brand of pork products.
There were moments when I would remember one of my childhood friends, Florentina Llanes. Recollections of her would come as an intense lightning flash in my mind and would linger for days, the imprint of her person a blinding afterglow. With Florentina there was no looking away.
A family of witches and warlocks, and a hot springs resort called the Enchanted Comet.

Where all orphans come from, the disappeared.
It was the stuff of fairy tales and no one was immune to it. When beloved Mark decided to let Rowan free, they did not realize that things had already gone terribly wrong.
Those who held their eyes downturned on golden plates and ornate boxes.
Balaybay is considered the third kakanin (rice cakes) dessert capital of the Philippines, and birth place of Tamara Tovar, 1970s socialite and creator of the internationally renowned Tovar Shoes. Among the places to visit are the Bulalakaw Mountains, which is home to an endemic species of poisonous slug the Placidous sacerdocii or the Placid Priest, and the Roth’s-Kris bearcat, the church ruins of Santo Ovidio, the newer parish church of Santa Lucia (built in 1682), the Llanes Mansion, the Museum of Talismans, and the Enchanted Comet hot springs. During the country’s 1998 Centennial Celebrating National Independence, Balaybay became a part of the Karagatn Project which sought to document and preserve the memory of objects and persons of cultural significance.