Yes, Mercedes had a brother. Pedro was one of the men hiding in the forest, a Maqui, as they called themselves, a resistance fighter, hiding from the very soldiers Mercedes cooked and cleaned for.

Ofelia ran to her side and they walked through the arch, leaving the cold stones and the horned face with the empty eyes behind. She drew in her breath sharply and pressed her hand on her swollen belly. “Your brother is acting up again.”Vidal placed bronze markers on the map. Mercedes didn’t take her eyes off his gloved fingers. That’s what she was: the eyes and ears of the rabbits they hunted, as silent and invisible as a mouse.

Dr. Ferreira was a good man, a gentle soul. That much was apparent to Ofelia the moment he walked into her mother’s room. One can spot kindness as clearly as cruelty. It spreads light and warmth and the doctor seemed filled with both. The soldiers on guard duty had captured two rabbit hunters poaching past the curfew. Vidal was surprised that Garces had found that worth calling him, although all his officers knew how much he hated to be disturbed at such a late hour.She bent her head to make herself small. Most men didn’t want a woman to be tall. Vidal was no exception. One night, while her mother is sleeping, Ofelia dresses the unborn baby growing in her belly. She speaks to her unborn little brother and tells him that he will meet their mother soon, and easily be taken in by her beauty. Not only are the adults in Ofelia’s life trying to convince her to fit in more with the adult world, but they also represent the authoritarian government of Spain. Vidal, Carmen’s new husband, is a Falangist and is working to hunt down rebels from the war, those who are still fighting the Francoist regime. Thus, the contrast and tension between the fantastical world, which so fascinates the young Ofelia, and the real world, the world that her mother has entered into by marriage, is analogous to the tension between the rebels—those who dream of a better political future for Spain—and the Falangists—upholders of the authoritarian and fascist government.

This will help you sleep,” he told her mother as he added a few drops of amber liquid to a glass of water. Meanwhile, we see Vidal taking out a shaving razor and shaving his face, then polishing his shoes. When Mercedes comes into his office, he tells her to cook some rabbits for dinner, even though she thinks they are too young to be cooked. He tells her the coffee is burnt, then invites her to try it herself. People talked about all the pain the thorns of the rose could cause,” Ofelia whispered to her unborn brother. “They warned each other that whoever climbed the mountain would die. It was so easy for them to believe in the pain and the thorns. Fear helped them believe that. But none of them dared to hope that in the end the rose would reward them with eternal life. They couldn’t hope—they could not. And so, the rose would wilt away, night after night, unable to bequeath its gift to anyone. . . .” Dr. Ferreira’s steps were as soft and careful as his voice. He stopped a short distance from the table. I have a task for you, Cintolo,” said the Faun, “and you won’t be allowed to fail. I want numerous sculptures of the king and queen—as numerous as the uncurling fronds of ferns—to grow from the soil in the Upper Kingdom. Can you make them?”

Must reads

It was the year 1944 and the girl sitting in one of the cars, next to her pregnant mother, didn’t understand what the trees whispered. Her name was Ofelia and she knew everything about the pain of loss, although she was only thirteen years old. Her father had died just a year ago and Ofelia missed him so terribly that at times her heart felt like an empty box with nothing but the echo of her pain in it. She often wondered whether her mother felt the same, but she couldn’t find the answer in her pale face. In the bathroom, Ofelia examines the book again, hoping for clues about her next task. The book fills with red the color of blood, and Ofelia closes it, frightened. When she goes into the next room, she finds her mother, bleeding profusely.