Maggie mostly stayed at the taco cart serving food, as the people
danced and sang to wild
music. When she was not serving food at the taco cart, she was
serving at the enchilada stand, the quesadilla station, or the
seafood grill, or the tequila bar, or conjuring yet another food
vending area according to someone’s request. She had conjured a few
more trampolines for the children to bounce around upon, she had
conjured tents for people to sleep in, she had conjured glittering
bangles for people to wear as they danced. She was feeling fairly
tired even without dancing, for it had been quite a wild first day of
true existence.
And yet -- she still had questions to ask. There were still those
certain nervous people who had looked like they knew where Los Ojos
actually were. This entire party had not been entirely altruistic.
People tended to speak more freely amidst the euphoria of
dance and fellowship, even if they were not inebriated. Although
that definitely helped.
Presently she flipped a sign around on the taco stand so it read
"GONE DANCING" and moved into the crowd. As she swayed and
weaved around people to the beat, shekept her eyes on some of the
people she had identified.
For example, there was an older fellow chatting with Sisters
Batida and Margarita near the great statue. Maggie sashayed over to
him. "My good fellow," she said, "I don't think we've
been introduced --"
"We have not," said the man.
"His name is Fernando," said Sister Batida.
"Fernando," said Maggie. "And might a respected
elder such as yourself know where --"
"Not safe to speak of them," said Fernando.
"To speak of Los Ojos?" said Maggie. She pointed up at
the branches, which formed a canopy through which no starlight came.
"Please, my friend, you can relax here."
The man followed her gesture, then looked around, before stepping
back into the shadow of the great stone bowl's overhang, and letting
out a long breath. "Hard to talk about those things after losing
three family members. But Los Ojos must be up in the sky, mustn't
they? They must be looking down upon us all, to snatch people away
like that so easily."
"So it would seem," said Maggie. "But." She
stepped closer to Fernando. "I can promise you that your loved
ones are not lost forever."
"What on earth do you --"
"They are here." Maggie gestured to a place beside
Fernando, and there appeared an older woman, along with an older man
and a young lass, all looking startled.
Fernando looked astonished. He took the older woman's hands.
"Dolores?"
"Fernando," said the woman. "We cannot stay. We
have been kidnapped." She gave him a gentle kiss. "I am so
sorry." Then she threw her arms about him, held him tight -- and
vanished, along with the older man and the young lass.
Fernando was left standing there, utterly bewildered, tears
running down his cheeks. Maggie almost apologized -- but as Sister
Margarita put an arm over Fernando's shoulder, Sister Batida gave
Maggie a look that warned her away from saying anything else.
So, chalking that one up to inexperience with handling human
emotions, Maggie made a hasty retreat to a distant part of the
clearing, where a group of middle-aged people were having a good old
time dancing and passing around a bottle of Tequila. Maggie hadn't
actually needed to conjure the alcohol itself; it had been supplied
by the nuns, from a stash in a dead tree. Maggie shimmied her way to
a worn-looking woman she knew only as a garbage collector. "Hey
there sweetie, you look experienced."
The woman was barely dancing, compared to the others, and hanging
a little out of the group, hogging a whole bottle of tequila for
herself. She looked Maggie up and down. "What...kind of
experience?"
Maggie giggled. "Sadly I'm not referring to that
kind. I was just, you know, wondering who might have some idea where
our great grand enemies actually are? Might you have some idea? Oh,
where are my manners. What's your name?"
The woman took another swig. "Juanita."
"Juanita," said Maggie, "a lovely name. Now, ah,
not to be too bold in asking, but perchance have you lost a family
member to --"
Juanita threw the bottle onto the ground, hard. It bounced on the
spongy turf. She looked disappointed and deflated, before glaring up
at Maggie. "I saw what you did with Fernando. Don't -- don't
fucking do that to me. Don't you ever fucking do that to me. That was
a cruel trick. What the hell were you thinking?"
Maggie sighed, and stepped closer to Juanita, meeting her cold
glare with what she hoped looked like firm resolve. "I don't
play tricks with people's hearts, madam. I make huge mistakes, I will
admit that --"
"As big as those trees you conjured," said Juanita.
"Yes, precisely. But the point is, my mistakes are based on real things. Nothing I
conjure is an illusion. I will prove it. I will not drag any of your
own loved ones here, I have learned my lesson. But I can bring one of
mine. Mojito stands beside us."
And there was Mojito, munching on an empanada, looking quite
perplexed. "Mom," he said with a mouthful of food, "I
was having fun."
"You can still go and have fun," said Maggie. "Sorry,
dear. Go on now." Mojito scampered away, vanishing into the
crowd. "There. And now, I will conjure another of mine. For my
dear Rafael stands before us."
And there was Rafael, looking flustered for half a second, before
he spotted Maggie. "Girl, I'm kind of super-busy? Luis is
keeping me up at all hours. Oh, and I'm kind of kidnapped, so I can't
even stay here. I'll just take a few of those stars, thank you."
A patch of artificial stars overhead winked out, and Rafael vanished.
Maggie found herself standing there, feeling as frustrated as she
had this morning in the house of Madame de Surdeville. "Dammit,"
she muttered, "it has to work at least once, come on." She
turned to see Juanita staring at her warily. "Yes?"
"You -- I don't know." Juanita crossed her arms. "I
don't know. I thought I'd moved on. I let Claudio go. But now you could
bring him back? Except just for a moment? I don't know what to do
now." She stooped, and picked up the tequila bottle, knocking
back the rest of its contents. "I'm going to need more of this.
No, don't conjure it for me. Just go dive to the bottom of the sea to
find your stupid Los Ojos, and leave me be." She stomped off to
the stash in the dead tree.
So that was strike two, it seemed. Up in the clouds? Down in the
sea? Both? Well her reputation might be sunk as deep as the sea, at
this rate.
She whirled around and stomped away to another part of the
clearing, where some of the musicians were taking a break. Two of
them looked promisingly nervous. Although at this point Maggie wasn't
sure if she should even be speaking to such people directly. Maggie
approached the two – a couple of young ladies, one a deep tan with
dreadlocks bound up behind her head, the other a pale blonde lass
holding a large 12-string guitar. "Ladies, if I may?"
The two of them looked askance at her. The tan girl stepped
protectively in front of the blonde. "What are we being asked to
allow from the wacko witch, then?"
"I think she just wants to ask if we’ve seen Los Ojos,"
said the blonde.
Maggie laughed nervously. "Word gets around that fast, eh? I
guess I’ve been less subtle than I thought. But no, please, I ought
to be polite and ask after your names, before I hit you with any hard
questions."
"Martes," said the blonde. She smiled faintly, but kept
her eyes fixed on Maggie, as if wary.
"Carolina," said the tan girl. She crossed her arms.
"And why’d you pick us two, then? Why would you think we
knew?"
Maggie glanced away. "Ah, well, you kind of looked nervous
here, so I thought, maybe they’re hiding something?"
This was the wrong thing to say. Both Carolina and Martes narrowed
their eyes. "So that’s it then?" said Carolina. "You’re
trying to drag information out of people instead of asking politely.
For your information, ma’am, we’re both nervous because this is
the first time we’ve ever played a set with other people."
"And we’ve never done a formal professional thing either,"
said Martes. "Not for money, not like this. We have to be at our
very best!"
Maggie chuckled. "Money? My dear, there’s no –" But
then she caught herself. For if she spoke it, it would be so, and the
last thing she wanted to do was have musicians earn even less. "You
know what? Every musician gets five kilograms of gold for each gig.
That settles that. Now, should I be assuming that neither of you know
anything about Los Ojos? Should I get out of your hair?"
"I’d like that," said Carolina.
"Well don’t let her go with just that," said Martes.
"She’s paying us properly, she deserves something in return."
Carolina huffed. "Fine. Rumor has it that Los Ojos are far
away at the ends of the earth, because they know what everyone would
do to them if we could reach them." She cracked her knuckles.
"Martes here had a crush on this guy named Kyle and then he got
vanished. And they took my old keyboard along with him."
"But we are crusading to find them," said Martes.
"Right? And we’ll get Kyle back."
Carolina gave Martes an odd look. "You’ll get your Kyle
back, if...if Wacko Witch here leads us right." She glared at
Maggie. "There, ma’am, we gave you what help we could. Can you
pester someone else now?"
Maggie bristled a little, as she walked away, feeling odd to be
called a leader in one moment and dismissed in the next. But, she had
earned such treatment, especially this evening. So it was with more
trepidation that she approached another couple that had seemed
suspicious before – there at the taco cart, a wiry-looking
raven-haired fellow, his arm draped over the shoulder of a blonde man
wearing a red shirt. The two of them had their backs to her, as they
were bent over the counter of the taco cart, holding open what
appeared to be a scroll of parchment.
Maggie cleared her throat, causing both of them to spin around and
stand tall, trying to look innocent. "Gentlemen?"
"Tully," said the blonde man.
"Michael," said the raven-haired man.
"Such...odd names," said Maggie. "But, I’ve heard
many odd names today. Might I know what you two were looking at?"
"Looking at what?" said Michael. He reached behind him
and tapped the parchment, causing it to roll up sharply, its own
momentum carrying it off the taco cart. The man spun around and
grabbed the roll off the ground, spinning back around with it
clutched in his hands, before he put his hands behind his back.
"Nice try," said Maggie, crossing her arms. "What’s
on that scroll? Is it a map?"
"Ye – no," said Michael. Tully elbowed him. "Yes?
It’s useless, though, totally fanciful, never mind, ha ha."
Maggie gave Michael a Look. "Show me. Please."
"Uh oh," said Tully. "The magic word. Can you
resist, my friend?"
"It’s nothing!" said Michael. "And why do you
think you can order me around? Are you the mayor or something? You’re
not the boss of me."
"Fine," said Maggie. "The scroll’s in my hands."
And lo and behold, it was, leaving Michael looking shocked. Maggie
held the scroll open. Within a fanciful border, it showed a peninsula
at the very center of the map, with mostly water and scattered
islands to the south, open sea to the east and west, and a great
landmass to the north. At the top of the map, there was a sliver that
showed a northern coastline.
So far that all tracked with what she knew from her old
encyclopedias. But then in the middle of the landmass, there was a
picture of a squat human figure, brown like it was carved of stone,
and it had a pile of gold next to it. In the southern sea there was a
picture of a big red crustacean of some sort, halfway between a crab
and a lobster, and there was a big wooden chest full of gold below
it. Then Maggie looked at the fanciful border, and it looked like
there were multiple clouds with big open mouths and wide eyes, and
there was a gold coin above each.
Maggie rolled up the scroll. "What were you going to be doing
this? Leading us on a treasure hunt? Or going off and doing it
yourself? I could just conjure you two all the gold you want. Which
would be a hell of a lot more certain than following this nonsense."
She shoved the scroll back into Michael’s hands. "How much did
you pay for this thing? Who sold it to you?"
"Don’t worry about that," said Tully. "What
matters is we were promised it would help us find someone."
"Someone we lost," said Michael.
Maggie looked between the two, whose faces were now grim. "Would
it help if I told you I have a decent idea of where your someone
went, and that we’ll be heading right for their captors?"
"The crusade," said Tully. "Yeah, that. Sure."
"No guarantee she’s with Los Ojos," said Michael.
"This map was supposed to be a lead," said Tully.
"Who sold it to you?" said Maggie.
"I told you don’t worry about it," said Tully.
"Why so reticent?" said Maggie. "What matter if I
know? Surely no retribution can come to you, here in this place?
Or...is it that you think anyone would think less of you two, if they
knew who you had done business with? Does it matter, really? Please.
Tell me."
Michael sighed. "Alright. It was some guy with a big blonde
beard –"
Maggie grabbed the map out of Michael’s hands again, unrolled it
and peered at the pictures. They showed a path leading to the squat
brown figure, but otherwise the map was so vague as to be useless.
"He was trying to get people out of the way," she growled.
"Send people on a wild goose chase after gold. Or something.
Gentlemen, you got fleeced." She rolled the parchment up and
tossed it away. "You won’t find your lost person by following
that thing."
"And I expect we’ll find her by following you and your dumb
crusade?" said Michael.
"We can be certain this." Maggie took a deep breath.
"Gentlemen, I have, I will admit, been rude this evening. I have
the ability to bring your lost one to you, but it will only be for a
brief moment. It can only be to confirm that she is with all the
others who were vanished. If, indeed, that is what happened to her?"
Both men nodded.
"Would you want me to conjure her here, knowing all of its
limitations?"
"Please," whispered Michael.
"And her name is?"
"Ixchel," whispered Tully.
"So be it," said Maggie. "Your Ixchel is here with
you."
A wall of fur appeared before Maggie’s eyes. She stumbled
backward, realizing that it was a large horse – and atop the horse,
riding bareback, sat a woman of long black hair, deep tawny skin, and
a prominent aquiline nose, wearing skull-embroidered shorts that were
cut very high, a crop top, and little else. She leapt off the horse
into Michael’s arms, kissing him all over the face. He laughed and
gave her a kiss on the lips before passing her to Tully, whereupon
she wrapped her arms around him and gave him the same. Shortly
followed by Michael embracing them both.
"Chel," said Tully, "Where are you? Where were you
taken?"
"How do I describe the place?" said Chel. "The peak
of an entire mountain range made of crystalized sugar? I’ve never
seen so much at once. Windy and cold. If Rafael and Luis hadn’t
carved us all a shelter, we’d –"
But then she vanished, leaving Michael and Tully holding nothing
except each other. The two stumbled into each other, before righting
themselves. With a steely look in their eyes, they clasped their
right hands, holding them up as if making a silent promise. Then they
embraced each other.
"That’s it then," said Maggie. "There’s your
confirmation. Your Chel is with everyone else who ever got got. Get
it? You never needed the map."
"Yeah?" said Tully, releasing Michael. "Bring that
thing back."
Maggie sighed. "Alright, I have the map again." The
scroll appeared out of thin air just above her hands. She bobbled it
a bit before getting a grip on it and rolling it open. It was the
same as ever. "So what, then?"
Michael pointed to the border. "Take a closer look."
Maggie peered at the fanciful border. It was not completely
abstract, as she had thought at first glance – it was a The hell is that supposed to meanstylized
pattern of mountains. And there were five of those mountains that had
a circle with a dot in it.
She looked up at Michael. "This has to mean something.
But...I don’t know."
"Ends of the earth," said Tully.
"That’s where the biggest monsters always are," said
Michael.
"Carolina said something like that," said Maggie. "Was
she right?"
"Best bet," said Tully.
"But...does that mean we can just pick any direction?"
said Maggie. "Like, if we go far enough, is that enough to find
Los Ojos?"
Tully and Michael exchanged glances. "Maybe it’s something
to think about for tomorrow," said Michael. "Right now, I
need a stiff drink." He took Tully by the hand and led him away
towards the stash of booze in the dead tree, leaving Maggie standing
there, holding the scroll, wondering what she ought to do now.
Then up to her danced Alejandra, and all thoughts flew out of
Maggie’s head. Alejandra took Maggie by the hand, and led her onto
the dancing ground.