I See Fire | Wattys 2021/22 Shortlist | ✔

Chapter Seven

I'd had enough disappearing animals for the day. Or the month, really, though I hoped to never see another turkey in my life. I wanted a nap, but now I was alone in the town unless Emma was hiding somewhere. I had no Grifo to warn me if a coywolf approached. I took Emma's spot against the house and waited for Jem to come back.

He did eventually, and dropped a fresh rabbit beside me. "I found their snare lines."

I winced.

"I know. But we need to eat."

"We're stealing from the dead."

"If you'd rather have turkey..."

I couldn't muster up the strength to laugh. I needed an ally in all this. "Jem, tell me if you can see the dog prints going around the house."

He left me with the rabbit and followed Chimalli's trail. I heard him stop for a long time behind the house, then pull himself over the wall and jump down inside. He emerged wide-eyed. "What visited you this time?"

Of course he wouldn't question it. "A dog."

"Ad..."

"Hairless." I held up my hand. "About this tall, dark reddish-brown. Big ears."

"A Xolo?"

It hadn't crossed my mind. I had never seen a Xoloitzcuintle, a Mexican hairless dog, before, but I guess that matched the stories. And the myths. "Yeah."

"Diez madres." He pulled off his hat and clapped a hand to his forehead, then ran it back over his hair. "I've had enough of this for two days. Can we go home?"

"About that."

He looked down at my face and sat beside me.

I told him what Emma had told me, then about Chimalli's visit. I was glad he didn't freak out, because my throat was closing up again and I didn't know if I could handle the reminder. "I refuse to believe I have to be alone for the rest of my life now," I finished. "But if there's a way to fix this, we don't know it yet."

My predicament loomed like a mountain in front of me, so tall I didn't see how anyone could cross it. Fuego didn't leave survivors. It wasn't even a normal disease; herbs and tonics would be no use against it. My mind flickered briefly to the shrine in Jem's family's tent. Was this a punishment from an all-seeing God? If I only knew what I was being punished for, maybe I could atone for my sins. Maybe he would forgive me, and cure me.

Or maybe that God didn't exist. Two discrete lines of belief still persisted in Grillo Negro, passed down from the days of the founders. Some people blended them, but for every Catholic Abraham there was an abuelo Godofredo, staunch in his conviction that there was a god for every element and then some. Those gods and goddesses could be benevolent, but they could also be selfish, petty, two-faced, and apathetic towards the world below.

If I was honest with myself, one of those described the state of our world a lot better than the other. And only one had magic. Or maybe I just wanted someone else to blame.

Jem scratched the back of his neck. "If that dog was here, I'd have said we follow her."

"Why?"

"Well... magical things like each other, right? And she at least seemed friendly. She might belong to someone who could help."

I gave a short laugh. "A god's dog. That would be helpful."

"I'd settle for a friendly spirit at this point."

"Diez madres, I can't believe we're talking like this. Remember when I used to say I didn't believe in myths?"

"I remember your tío Rodolfo sat us both down and told us about El Día de Fuego. That shut you up."