Summary

Petra Pena is spending time with Lita, her paternal grandmother. Because Lita will not be with Petra for her 13th birthday, she gives Petra her gift early. Petra accepts the pendant shaped like the sun with an obsidian stone in the middle. She has an identical pendant and says their people – the Yucatecos – believe there is magic in obsidian. Petra and Lita briefly discuss the upcoming events, including that Petra is leaving Earth with her parents, and that Lita is too old to make such a journey. Lita feels Petra needs a story. They lie down and look at Halley's Comet in the sky. Lita tells about the child of the Earth and the sun, a fire snake called the nugual. When Petra begins to ask questions, Lita says “This is my story” (3). The fire snake once rushed toward his father, burning his...