The Smoking Mirror (9 page)

How are you doing this? How can you speak into my mind like this?

Johnny, hello…it’s the
xoxal
magic! We spent hours earlier today, yesterday, whenever it was, communicating with our souls.

What? Who are you? Why do you keep calling me ‘Johnny’?

The bat landed in front of him and leaned its fox-like snout close to his.
I’m your sister Carol, for God’s sake! You’re Johnny, my brother!

No. They told me my name is Chipohyoh. And how can I be the brother of a bat?

I’m not a bat. You’re not a jaguar. We are
humans,
remember? What did they do to you?

All around them the
kamasotzob
were attacking the
Balamija
, obsidian claws sinking into feline flesh. The powerful jaws of the jaguars and pumas managed to crush some of the snatch-bats, but there were too many, and slowly the cats were routed or destroyed. The red puma, seeing Chipohyoh face to face with the enemy, came charging with jaws gaping at the creature that called itself Carol.

Here goes nothing
, the voice whispered in the jaguar’s head. The bat wrapped its wings about itself and pulled into a crouch. It closed its eyes and began to tremble and began to change. Its brown fur drew back into its skin, its wings shrunk to two arms, its golden ruff became frizzy brown hair and its snout squeezed down into the features of a human; a young girl.

“Johnny,” she whimpered. “Save me.”

Like an explosion, Johnny’s human soul pulled away from its
tonal
, his memories restored. He leapt into the air, claws extended, and slammed into the puma before it clamped its jaws around his sister’s head. They rolled in the sand, reaching for each other’s throats, ears pressed back against their heads, snarls rasping their throats. The red puma, older and stronger, flipped Johnny onto his back. Just as its maw descended toward Johnny’s jugular, a snatch-bat swooped down and sliced off its head. Johnny shoved the body away and stood.

Now come on!
Carol projected at him.
This diversion’s only going to last a little longer, Johnny!

He followed the bat as it winged its way through the sky, turning toward the center of Mictlan and gradually curving back toward the Black Road.

I fell asleep
, Johnny tried to explain.
Well, they knocked me out. When I woke up, I don’t know…I couldn’t remember who I was. They made me think I was one of them, Carol. I’m sorry.

It’s okay. I found you. We’re safe. That’s all that matters.

He stared up at her gruesome form.
But, how? I mean, I get that it’s
xoxal
or whatever, but how’d you figure it out?

Well, when you rushed off like a big dummy, I tried to bundle up your clothes and mine so I could carry them off. That took too long, and I found myself surrounded by the bats. I took a look at their talons and realized there was one on my necklace. Figuring it would make a good weapon, I grabbed it in my teeth and shifted. And guess what? I shifted
into one of them
.

Dude. I bet that surprised the crap out of them.

Uh, yeah. After a few minutes, I realized I could communicate with them. It took me a while, but I convinced them that if they really wanted to hurt the…uh…

Balamija?

…yeah, them, that they should wait until they weren’t all together. After I hid our clothes, I helped them track you guys, in wolf form. I figured that eventually you’d be left alone or the Balamija would split up somehow. When you ran off with them toward the Green Road, I saw my opportunity. I got the bats to wait until you guys were so far away from the rest that they couldn’t come running, and then I suggested that we attack. You know the rest.

They were approaching dunes that reached higher and higher, merging into rocky hills and steppes.

I hid our clothes up there, near the edge of the next desert.

The bats let you come here before tracking us?

Well, with an escort. They didn’t totally trust me, but they hate the jaguars and pumas more.

Okay, so this isn’t easy,
Johnny said, slipping on some scree.
Would it be better if I flew?

Carol circled back and landed beside him. Examining his bracelet, she nodded.

There’s a screech owl feather right there. Put it in your mouth and let the
tonal
find its new form. Just step away, is all. Nothing to it.

Lifting his foreleg, Johnny used his raspy tongue to pull the feather into his mouth. He felt the eager joy of his
tonal
and stayed out of its way as it shifted fur into feathers, lightened bones, deleting mass by some unknown magic means. His talons gripped the rock and he spread enormous wings. His transformed eyes, even keener than the jaguar’s, made every detail of the shadowy landscape pop into sharp relief.

Wow. I’m a freaking
lechuza
!

And with two powerful flaps, he was flying.
 

Chapter Eleven

Carol led her feathered brother up the cliffs to the cave where she had stowed their clothing. They took the bundles in their claws and continued their upward spiraling. The sheer rock face seemed to go on forever, and the updrafts that bore them aloft grew thinner and less reliable until they found themselves having to draw on
xoxal
to give them strength enough to beat their wings and ascend into the colder and higher layers of atmosphere.

Finally they made it to the top. Perching, exhausted, on boulders that lined the edge of the cliff, they looked out over a vast and snowy mesa. An icy wind swept toward them, ruffling their feathers, chilling their blood. Distant swirls suggested storms of great violence.

Okay, I think my wolf form can handle this cold better. Turn around, though. I have to get my bundle tied around me. You’d better do the same.

What? Stand naked in this cold? Are you crazy?

Well, you can shift right into the jaguar, but you’ll have to carry it in your mouth. Not fun.

I’ve got a better idea. Hang on.

Carol watched as her brother’s owl form shuddered and morphed into something halfway between boy and jaguar: covered with fur, but humanoid.

“Stop
tonal
halfway,” he growled in a bestial voice. “Warmer.”

Clever.
As her brother tied his clothes bundle about his waist and finished shifting, Carol tried the same trick. Her
tonal
quivered in frustration, but by concentrating hard, she was able to be a wolf-girl long enough to square her clothes away as well. Then she slipped completely into her lupine shape, complete with an extra winter undercoat. The cold still nipped at her, but it was bearable.

They began to trudge across the snow, circling around drifts that had built up near boulders or dead trees. As they advanced, the wind’s velocity seemed to increase steadily until they were forcing their way almost blindly through flurries, guided only by their innate sense of direction. Soon the constant moaning of the wind gave way to something fiercer, a monstrous howling that made the plateau itself shudder beneath their paws.

What the…Do you feel that, Carol?

Yes. And, whatever it is, it’s definitely getting closer.

Squinting through the snowflakes, Carol suddenly saw it: an enormous white whirlwind, twisting its way along the wintery mesa, ripping apart boulders and trees. It was headed straight for them.

I think we need to run.

Johnny looked into the distance and saw the snowy tornado as well.
Uh, I agree.

They slanted sideways, running counterclockwise (based on Xolotl’s brief comments, Carol imagined each desert as a circle, like the ones her Pre-AP English teacher said existed in Hell). The whirlwind, seeming to sense them, changed direction abruptly and began to follow.

It’s coming after us, Johnny!

Freaking great. Look: there’s a huge outcropping of rock to our right. Seems there’s a hollow spot in the center, kind of like a cave. We can ride out the storm in there.

Carol wasted no time replying. She pushed her wolf form to its limits, leaping into the space among the rocks just ahead of her brother. They huddled together in the dark, panting, the warmth of their close proximity a welcome change from the bitter cold. The grinding approach of the whirlwind grew louder and louder.

Thank God we can communicate soul to soul
, Carol projected.
We wouldn’t be able to hear each other with this noise.

Yeah. And we’re lucky to find shelter. That tornado means busin…

The twisting whiteness struck the surrounding rocks and lifted them effortlessly away. The twins stared up into its funnel, a blank black space around which swirled snow, sand and shredded trees.

Carol moved without further hesitation, rushing away as fast as her four legs would carry her, Johnny right on her heels. With what seemed like a howl of frustration, the whirlwind changed directions and followed them again.

Dude, it’s like the thing is alive!

Or being controlled by someone
, Carol suggested. She was certain now that whatever had their mother was actively trying to keep them from reaching the center of Mictlan. As if to confirm her suspicions, two more freezing cyclones appeared on the horizon, moving quickly. The three would converge on her and Johnny within minutes.

Glancing down at the necklace that dangled about her neck, Carol took stock of her possible forms. None were faster than the wolf. She thought about becoming a snatch-bat again, trying to fly above the twisters, but it seemed a foolish plan, unlikely to end well. A glance at the bracelet round Johnny’s upper foreleg revealed a similar dilemma.

We need help, or we’re going to die. Quetzalcoatl, do you hear me? Tonantzin? God? Mother Mary? Please come to our aid. We want to complete this mission, truly, want to save our mother, stop the dark forces. But if we die now, we’re pretty much useless. We can’t do this alone. Please.

Thundering from between the two new tornadoes came Xolotl, insanely fast, the wrinkled skin of his face blown back in a grimace that was both fearful and funny. Skidding to a stop in front of them, he shouted against the wailing winds: “Shift into something with opposable thumbs and get on my back quickly!”

Carol saw only one possibility. She took a little desiccated black digit in her mouth. In moments she was a rather large raccoon, clambering up the side of the gigantic red hellhound. A similarly oversized spider monkey swung onto Xolotl’s back behind her.

Aw, Johnny’s found his true inner form
, she joked.

Ya cállate, méndigo mapache. Now I know who steals my sweets from my room when I’m asleep. Bandit. You don’t even have thumbs, just really flexible paws. You might have to use your little teeth, Rocky Raccoon.

“Hang on!” Xolotl called. Their hands gripped folds of his skin, and he exploded into movement just as the three cyclones came together. The hellhound moved with supernatural speed, sending up walls of snow and sand in the wake of his passing. Carol clung for dear life. When Xolotl began to ascend into the bleak mountains from which the biting wind blew, she nearly slipped, but her brother’s prehensile tail snagged her and pulled her close.

Careful, sis. I’ve got you. Four opposable thumbs and a grabby tail: I can hold on for the both of us.

Eventually they’d climbed high enough into the mountains that the cyclones could only beat uselessly against the slopes. Xolotl ducked into a large cavern, and Carol scurried off into a dark recess to change. It felt good to be a human girl again, to feel denim and cotton against her skin, to stand erect and have a voice.

Of course, it’s crazy cold in here, but I need to talk to him. We deserve answers.

Johnny had already changed and was huddling close to a fire that danced on the surface of a ring of rocks, presumably via magic worked by Xolotl. She hurried to the warmth, rubbing her hands with momentary delight before turning to the hellhound.

“Thanks for saving us.”

“You’re welcome. I was already on my way, but I heard your prayer and came as fast as possible.”

Johnny opened his mouth, his eyebrow raised as if to make a sarcastic comment, but Carol waved him to silence. “Xolotl, the first two deserts almost got us.”

“I know, Carolina. Our eyes are on you. We—”

“Your eyes…” She swallowed the anger she felt burning in the pit of her stomach. “But you guys didn’t intervene. I could have been lost in that dark forever. Johnny could have forgotten who he was forever. I need to understand why you would risk us like that if we’re so important.”

Sighing, Xolotl shifted into his human form. He mumbled a few words and the fur he clenched about him swirled into normal if old-fashioned clothes: boots, jeans, a woolen shirt and duster. At a gesture, a slouch hat appeared in his hands, and he set it on his dirty blond hair.

“It’s easier to chat like this,” he said, sitting on a nearby pile of rocks.

“Dude, you look like a cowboy.” Johnny had a real dislike for Western clothing, partly because everyone in their dad’s family was so Tex-Mex or country and was always pressuring him to jump on that bandwagon.

“Yes, well, this was how I dressed the last time I incarnated. It’s easier to conjure up.” He nodded in Carol’s direction. “Okay. Let’s talk about what you’ve faced thus far. Carolina, the black silence that attempted to possess you is
cehualli
, the dark shadow magic of Tezcatlipoca. It is his entropic response to
teotl,
the creative power that binds the universe together. You fought it off, amazingly, by using a
teocuicatl
, a sacred hymn that repels chaos, destruction and entropy. What I don’t understand is where that song came from.”

Carol cleared her throat to hide her emotion. “My dad. I was attacked this way five years ago, and my dad sang a song to help me get past my fear. He only sang one verse, over and over, but the entire song came to me there in the darkness.”

The man scratched at the stubble on his chin. “I suppose I just don’t remember, but someone in your father’s family must have been a
cuicuani
, a sacred singer. They passed the gift on to him, and it is now accessible to you. That’s good news. Songs are powerful defenses.”

“Yay,” said Johnny weakly, holding one of his bare feet toward the fire. “Carol’s a Jedi diva.”

“Hush, dork.”

“Strong in this one is the
teotl
,” Johnny croaking, aping Yoda’s voice. “Yodel she will against the Aztec Sith and their
cehualli
light sabers.”

Carol punched her brother in the shoulder. “I’m trying to be serious, Johnny. And he doesn’t even get your cutesy pop culture references.”

“That I don’t,” Xolotl confirmed. “But I do understand what happened to Juan Ángel among the Balamija. First, his
tonal
responded to the call of Acomiztli, one of the most powerful beings in Mictlan. That’s what made him foolishly to attempt to draw the creatures away. That and a newly blossoming desire to
belong.
For most of your childhood you have been inseparable. Your mother’s disappearance has pulled you so far apart that you, Juan Ángel, have been excluding yourself from groups of boys your age, while Carol had managed to build a support system of friends that helped her deal with the loss, not only of your mother, but of you, her best friend. The
Balamija
took advantage of your longing to once again be a member of a group.”

Carol noticed Johnny’s eyes, downcast and embarrassed at this revelation. She suddenly felt ashamed herself.
He needed me, and I pushed him away. My best friend.

Xolotl pushed his hat a little farther back on his head. “Then, Juan Ángel, you did precisely what I had warned you both
not
to do: you fell asleep.”

“Wait, they
knocked me out
, cowboy. Not the same thing.”

“Yes, but you put yourself in that position. When either of you becomes unconscious in this place, your human and animal souls will combine and you lose your memories.”

Johnny gritted his teeth. “Great. So Carol’s awesome because she sang away the darkness, but I suck because I let myself get merged or whatever.”

“Don’t get defensive. You should have been stuck that way forever, Juan Ángel, a random jaguar in the
Balamija
for eternity, or until one of the snatch-bats killed you. But you managed to peel your human self away from your
tonal
. How?”

Carol looked intently at Johnny as he remembered. “It was Carol. She…she was in danger. I
had
to be me again. To save her.”

“Good. Your love for your family is a powerful source of
teotl
as well, and that magic triggers the uncommon
xoxal
you both possess.”

Giggling, Carol mouthed
love Jedi
at Johnny, and he cracked a smile. Returning her attention to Xolotl, she expressed what was on both their minds.

“Couldn’t you have told us this stuff earlier? You’re not a very good guide, you know.”

“It’s the way of Quetzalcoatl. If you are given too much help, you aren’t acting of your own free will. There’s much he could do to interfere in human affairs. But he refuses to. People have to be free to discover the truth, to make mistakes. To believe lies, if you choose to. Like this place. For centuries, Tezcatlipoca spread a vicious lie among the Mexica and other Aztec tribes that souls are destroyed at the center of Mictlan. As I’ve told you, in reality they pass Beyond, where neither Quetzalcoatl nor Tezcatlipoca have any sway. But the Dark Lord thrives on despair and chaos. He made your ancestors believe that everything enduring about their personalities would fade away at the end of their four-year journey. For this reason there was no ancestor worship among the Mexica. Four years after their deaths, people’s names were forgotten. Grave sites were unmarked. A deep, existential sadness pervaded the lives of those who believed this lie.”

This was one of the most depressing things Carol had ever heard. It echoed some of her father’s own concerns about the Aztec empire; his articles criticizing this and other elements of their worldview had caused quite a furor among certain academic circles.