Chapter 38 Ignacio
Ignacio
The music playing on repeat within the carnival wasn’t some made-up ballad.
It was about the men who had found Tezcán.
The Valerio brothers from the song were the same brothers from his mother’s book.
The obsidian they had found was the same stone the god was watching Ignacio from.
The enchantments were coming from him. But what did his mother have to do with this?
Tezcán offered a sharp-toothed grin. “You are so like her, you know? Your mother was a beauty, both in spirit and in appearance. She was strong and mighty in heart and physicality. But, unfortunately, she was also foolish.”
Ignacio shot to his feet. “Don’t you dare speak of her like that!”
Tezcán’s smile grew wider. “I apologize if I offended you, but it is true. Your mother loved your father fiercely. She thought her love would save him. She even got the rulers of Dos Palos to close their borders to keep us apart. She thought that would free your father from my grip. Instead, she found her demise.” His face grew larger as if he were moving closer to the mirror.
“Do you want to know a secret? Your mother didn’t die at the hands of Dos Palos spies.
She was brought to me. I devoured every morsel of her delicious soul. ”
“Shut up!” Ignacio roared.
“I’m afraid I do not listen to the commands of man. I do, however, happily grant wishes. I can show you what happened to her, for a simple exchange.”
Weak fingers wrapped around Ignacio’s wrist. He met Camila’s teary gaze.
“Don’t trust this bastard,” she said.
White-hot fury lanced through him.
“Why did you do this to Camila?”
“She was a payment owed. Youth, I am due. I work in bargains, as you well know. I am fed the young, the fearless, the hopeful. In exchange, I bestow my enchantments.”
“On the ringmaster?”
“I’ll never tell,” Tezcán said in a singsong way. “Unless you pay the right price. I’ll make it easy for you. Give me Camila. And then bring him to me.” The god’s glowing eyes flicked behind Ignacio.
Ignacio’s head turned toward the passageway behind him. Gabriel stood within the labyrinth. He stared blankly at one of the mirrors. He blinked hard. “Javier?”
Gabriel shook his head in confusion and stumbled closer to the mirror.
“Javi, how could you? You said you loved me.”
He reached for the smokey glass.
“Get away from there!” Ignacio shouted. “Gabriel, don’t look in the mirror!”
Tezcán’s laugh rumbled through the entire Fun House.
Gabriel’s eyes went wide, and he stumbled back. “What the hell?!”
The god popped into view in a small mirror to Ignacio’s right. “What will it be?” he asked. “The girl and that clever boy in exchange for knowledge about your mother. I know you hardly remember the sound of her voice. Certainly, you’d like to see her again. To remember her—”
Camila smashed a shard of obsidian into the reflection. “I’ve heard enough.”
The bulbs overhead shook as if angered.
“Same.” Ignacio scooped her up and they wove their way through the maze to get to Gabriel.
“What is happening?” Gabriel said, confusion playing on his features. “I’ve never seen anything like that, and I built half of the attractions here. Why was Javi in the reflection? Why was he kissing some other fella?”
“He’s a figment of your own imagination. Your worst fears,” Camila replied.
Gabriel’s brows pinched together. “Who are you?”
Camila glared at him.
His face paled. “Oh my. Camila?!”
An explosion sounded from the center of the carnival.
“Was that from the Big Top?” Ignacio asked.
Tezcán’s gravelly laugh reverberated through the Fun House, then faded as if he were walking away.
“The show must have already started,” Camila said.
“But it was barely the afternoon when we entered the Fun House.”
“And I had the body of an eighteen-year-old then. I think we’re past logical understandings.”
“What is happening?” Gabriel’s voice cracked. “Why do you look like my grandmother?”
Applause echoed faintly from the Big Top, then screams of joy.
Ignacio searched the reflections. “Where did Tezcán go?”
As if on cue, the Big Top drums began to rumble.
Pretty doves fluttered about within the mirrors. Their movement became erratic, and they began to smash into the glass. Snapping their own necks.
Ignacio gasped. “Dovie.”
Gabriel took Camila in his arms and shouted, “Go!”
Without a second thought, Ignacio bolted toward the Fun House exit. He dodged and weaved around walls of mirrors that suddenly formed to block his path. When he kicked out and broke one of the mirrors, the others shuddered and let him through as if they were afraid they’d be next.
Cool air hit his skin. The smells and sounds of Carnival Fantástico enveloped him. He raced through the dense and meandering throng all shuffling toward one place: the Big Top.