slackened, and Johnny sat up straighter, seizing a fold of Xolotl’s skin as he let go of his sister.
“I believe the danger has passed.” The hellhound turned its head and examined them with one wise blue eye.
“Leaving me with just one shoe,” Johnny muttered.
“You’ll not be needing shoes, for the most part.”
“Uh, do you see all those sharp rocks over there? You planning to let me ride your back all the way to the Lord and Lady of the Dead or whatever?”
Xolotl sighed heavily, causing the twins to shift. “You’re naguales . Your journey will largely be made in animal form.”
“But we can’t even control it!”
“You’ll have to learn.”
Carol turned and looked at him. Her eyes were full of tears. “You have trust me, Johnny. If I tell you to do something, you’ve got to just do it.”
“What?” Drama queen. Like always.
“You could have died! That thing might’ve pulled you into the river, and you’d sink and keep on sinking, and what would I do then, huh?”
She turned her back on him, stifling a sob.
The long silence that followed was suddenly interrupted by Xolotl’s rumbling, growly voice. “After that attack, you’re probably wondering why such a place as this even exists. What sort of a god would put souls through such torture just to move Beyond?”
Several snide comments ran through Johnny’s mind, but he kept his mouth shut and listened.
“From the very beginning, the oldest gods appointed a pair of brothers to oversee the development of life on your world, to ensure the balance of growth and decay, creation and destruction, life and death. Twins. They’ve had many names, but the Aztecs called them Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca. Well, as is sadly often the case, one brother’s envy of the other destroyed their friendship. Tezcatlipoca, hating the joy that creation brought Quetzalcoatl, began to undermine or outright destroy those creations, upsetting the balance. Time and again he wiped out life on earth. Quetzalcoatl, undaunted, would simply begin again.
“Finally, human beings came into existence and Tezcatlipoca, for some reason, decided to twist humanity to his purposes instead of obliterating it. One of the tools he used was fear, especially fear of death. But humans needed something tangible to fear, so the Lord of Chaos went to his brother the Lord of Creation and proposed a deal: he would not destroy man as long as he could create a way station for their souls, a stopover on their journey beyond all gods’ reach. Quetzalcoatl agreed, because he believed people’s faith and hope would be more powerful than their fear of the Underworld and its trials.”
Johnny leaned back a little, reflecting on the strange story. Is that why there’s evil in the world? Because one brother is crazy jealous of his twin?
Carol cleared her throat and reached up to rub Xolotl between the ears. “You’re his tonal , aren’t you? Quetzalcoatl’s.”
The hellhound said nothing for the space of several seconds, then murmured, “Yes.”
She doesn’t get it, though. She’s all relieved and teary-eyed. But if Xolotl, Quetzalcoatl’s animal self, is helping us, then that probably means Tezca-whatever has got mom. Which means we’re stuck in the middle of the oldest family feud in the universe.
Wonderful.
Chapter Seven
I’m pretty sure Johnny doesn’t get it. Xolotl is trying to warn us about what will happen if we can’t trust each other. The menso nearly slipped into the depths because of the chip on his shoulder. Why can’t he just understand that I would never do anything to hurt him? That my advice is for his good?
As Xolotl crossed the final mile or so to the inner shore of the river, Carol contemplated ways of broaching the subject with her brother without making him mad. He had their mother’s explosive personality, her tendency to make snap judgments and rush to conclusions without all the evidence. Most of the time, because of how insightful and
“I believe the danger has passed.” The hellhound turned its head and examined them with one wise blue eye.
“Leaving me with just one shoe,” Johnny muttered.
“You’ll not be needing shoes, for the most part.”
“Uh, do you see all those sharp rocks over there? You planning to let me ride your back all the way to the Lord and Lady of the Dead or whatever?”
Xolotl sighed heavily, causing the twins to shift. “You’re naguales . Your journey will largely be made in animal form.”
“But we can’t even control it!”
“You’ll have to learn.”
Carol turned and looked at him. Her eyes were full of tears. “You have trust me, Johnny. If I tell you to do something, you’ve got to just do it.”
“What?” Drama queen. Like always.
“You could have died! That thing might’ve pulled you into the river, and you’d sink and keep on sinking, and what would I do then, huh?”
She turned her back on him, stifling a sob.
The long silence that followed was suddenly interrupted by Xolotl’s rumbling, growly voice. “After that attack, you’re probably wondering why such a place as this even exists. What sort of a god would put souls through such torture just to move Beyond?”
Several snide comments ran through Johnny’s mind, but he kept his mouth shut and listened.
“From the very beginning, the oldest gods appointed a pair of brothers to oversee the development of life on your world, to ensure the balance of growth and decay, creation and destruction, life and death. Twins. They’ve had many names, but the Aztecs called them Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca. Well, as is sadly often the case, one brother’s envy of the other destroyed their friendship. Tezcatlipoca, hating the joy that creation brought Quetzalcoatl, began to undermine or outright destroy those creations, upsetting the balance. Time and again he wiped out life on earth. Quetzalcoatl, undaunted, would simply begin again.
“Finally, human beings came into existence and Tezcatlipoca, for some reason, decided to twist humanity to his purposes instead of obliterating it. One of the tools he used was fear, especially fear of death. But humans needed something tangible to fear, so the Lord of Chaos went to his brother the Lord of Creation and proposed a deal: he would not destroy man as long as he could create a way station for their souls, a stopover on their journey beyond all gods’ reach. Quetzalcoatl agreed, because he believed people’s faith and hope would be more powerful than their fear of the Underworld and its trials.”
Johnny leaned back a little, reflecting on the strange story. Is that why there’s evil in the world? Because one brother is crazy jealous of his twin?
Carol cleared her throat and reached up to rub Xolotl between the ears. “You’re his tonal , aren’t you? Quetzalcoatl’s.”
The hellhound said nothing for the space of several seconds, then murmured, “Yes.”
She doesn’t get it, though. She’s all relieved and teary-eyed. But if Xolotl, Quetzalcoatl’s animal self, is helping us, then that probably means Tezca-whatever has got mom. Which means we’re stuck in the middle of the oldest family feud in the universe.
Wonderful.
Chapter Seven
I’m pretty sure Johnny doesn’t get it. Xolotl is trying to warn us about what will happen if we can’t trust each other. The menso nearly slipped into the depths because of the chip on his shoulder. Why can’t he just understand that I would never do anything to hurt him? That my advice is for his good?
As Xolotl crossed the final mile or so to the inner shore of the river, Carol contemplated ways of broaching the subject with her brother without making him mad. He had their mother’s explosive personality, her tendency to make snap judgments and rush to conclusions without all the evidence. Most of the time, because of how insightful and
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