I gather she communicated my message?”
Prick . “If you plan on turning your tribe loose on Esperanza, then get on with it. We’re ready for you.”
Ricardo and his fellow warriors exploded in near hysteria. “Right, sure you are.”
“Let’s take the city now,” shouted one of the warriors. “We can do it immediately.”
“I think not,” Victor snapped.
Charlie flicked his lighter once more and tremendous flames whooshed out of it, incinerating two of the warriors instantly. The others fled their virtual forms and dived into the mirrors. Charlie aimed the lighter at the glass and the flames grew brighter, hotter, and the mirror began melting. Victor threw his arms up into the air and hundreds of tremendous crows filled the ballroom, all of them cawing, shrieking, their long wings flapping furiously, fanning the flames as they dived for the bits of light that suddenly seemed to be everywhere.
“Charlie,” Victor shouted, and assumed the virtual shape of a crow.
Charlie thought himself into the shape of the gigantic white crow he had used several times on Cedar Key, during Maddie’s rescue, and he and Victor soared through the broken window, their wings passing unimpeded and uninjured through glass and brick. Outside, they soared into the sunlit sky. Charlie glanced down only once. Thick fog rolled toward La Pincoya, and within it glistened thousands of bits of lights, the brujos Ricardo had summoned, some of the ghosts within his tribe. So damn many of them.
We’re fucked, Charlie thought, and flew faster, faster.
Five
Café Taquina
1.
Every morning, Tess and Ian raced the first mile of their three-mile run. The loser was supposed to buy coffee and breakfast. But this morning when Ian exploded off the curb in front of their building, she simply didn’t have the energy to try to catch up. She jogged a halfhearted mile through light that seemed as sentient as the darkness that had swallowed part of the hill and café deck last night.
Some mornings, Maddie and Sanchez jogged with them. But after they had driven Tess and Ian back into old town this morning, Sanchez said he wasn’t feeling up to a run, so Maddie had backed out, too. Life was apparently in flux again and she hoped it wouldn’t mean a complete upheaval.
Tess circled back to the plaza where all the food stalls were set up and bought two cortaditos and a full Ecuadorian breakfast. Between the plaza and their apartment, she stuffed her face, appalled that she could eat so much and still be hungry. Since Ian wasn’t back yet, she headed to the shower, stripping off her sweaty clothes, leaving them where they fell.
When she was in the shower and the steam had thickened to the point that she could hardly see her feet, the door opened and Ian stepped inside.
“Hey, what happened to you, Slim?”
“I was too hungry to give chase.”
He squirted shampoo into his hands and began lathering her hair, his fingers massaging her scalp, then he nuzzled her neck. His soapy hands slipped over her breasts and tummy and then lower. She turned and sought his mouth and guided him inside of her.
For long, sensuous moments, they moved to a rhythm only they could hear, the hot water pounding around them, over them, steam rising up around them. The first time they had made love, they were transitional souls, staying in cottage 13 at the Posada de Esperanza. It had felt as real and magnificent then as it did now.
Tess wondered, not for the first time, if they were still transitionals, their bodies long dead, their individual consciousness spinning illusions. Her gasps and soft moans, his rapid breath against her neck, the delicious sensations of his mouth and hands, the electricity that shot through her: how could this not be real?
She reached behind her and laced her fingers across the back of his neck, drawing his mouth closer to the curve of her shoulder. He slipped more deeply inside of her and began to move, slowly and deliberately, his hands
Prick . “If you plan on turning your tribe loose on Esperanza, then get on with it. We’re ready for you.”
Ricardo and his fellow warriors exploded in near hysteria. “Right, sure you are.”
“Let’s take the city now,” shouted one of the warriors. “We can do it immediately.”
“I think not,” Victor snapped.
Charlie flicked his lighter once more and tremendous flames whooshed out of it, incinerating two of the warriors instantly. The others fled their virtual forms and dived into the mirrors. Charlie aimed the lighter at the glass and the flames grew brighter, hotter, and the mirror began melting. Victor threw his arms up into the air and hundreds of tremendous crows filled the ballroom, all of them cawing, shrieking, their long wings flapping furiously, fanning the flames as they dived for the bits of light that suddenly seemed to be everywhere.
“Charlie,” Victor shouted, and assumed the virtual shape of a crow.
Charlie thought himself into the shape of the gigantic white crow he had used several times on Cedar Key, during Maddie’s rescue, and he and Victor soared through the broken window, their wings passing unimpeded and uninjured through glass and brick. Outside, they soared into the sunlit sky. Charlie glanced down only once. Thick fog rolled toward La Pincoya, and within it glistened thousands of bits of lights, the brujos Ricardo had summoned, some of the ghosts within his tribe. So damn many of them.
We’re fucked, Charlie thought, and flew faster, faster.
Five
Café Taquina
1.
Every morning, Tess and Ian raced the first mile of their three-mile run. The loser was supposed to buy coffee and breakfast. But this morning when Ian exploded off the curb in front of their building, she simply didn’t have the energy to try to catch up. She jogged a halfhearted mile through light that seemed as sentient as the darkness that had swallowed part of the hill and café deck last night.
Some mornings, Maddie and Sanchez jogged with them. But after they had driven Tess and Ian back into old town this morning, Sanchez said he wasn’t feeling up to a run, so Maddie had backed out, too. Life was apparently in flux again and she hoped it wouldn’t mean a complete upheaval.
Tess circled back to the plaza where all the food stalls were set up and bought two cortaditos and a full Ecuadorian breakfast. Between the plaza and their apartment, she stuffed her face, appalled that she could eat so much and still be hungry. Since Ian wasn’t back yet, she headed to the shower, stripping off her sweaty clothes, leaving them where they fell.
When she was in the shower and the steam had thickened to the point that she could hardly see her feet, the door opened and Ian stepped inside.
“Hey, what happened to you, Slim?”
“I was too hungry to give chase.”
He squirted shampoo into his hands and began lathering her hair, his fingers massaging her scalp, then he nuzzled her neck. His soapy hands slipped over her breasts and tummy and then lower. She turned and sought his mouth and guided him inside of her.
For long, sensuous moments, they moved to a rhythm only they could hear, the hot water pounding around them, over them, steam rising up around them. The first time they had made love, they were transitional souls, staying in cottage 13 at the Posada de Esperanza. It had felt as real and magnificent then as it did now.
Tess wondered, not for the first time, if they were still transitionals, their bodies long dead, their individual consciousness spinning illusions. Her gasps and soft moans, his rapid breath against her neck, the delicious sensations of his mouth and hands, the electricity that shot through her: how could this not be real?
She reached behind her and laced her fingers across the back of his neck, drawing his mouth closer to the curve of her shoulder. He slipped more deeply inside of her and began to move, slowly and deliberately, his hands
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