I knew I wasn’t in control of a damn thing when I opened my eyes to see myself leaning over me. Rattle in one hand and a bloody heart in the other.
“[Mxtl.]”
“Weaver.”
“To what do I owe the pleasure of your presence?”
“Just a checkup. Got some plaque on your heart. Don’t want that to calcify.”
“You know… there’s machines that will look inside a person’s body without having to cut them open.”
“You know… there’s more to the body than flesh, and you’re not taking care of yourself.”
She traded her rattle for a black knife and went to work expertly scraping off blackened spots from the heart. When she turned to better see her work in the soft light, I tried to turn with her. My bound body only allowed my head to move.
I looked down and saw my chest cavity rudely opened.
“You could have at least pulled some of the glass out. There’s one in particular that has been a pain in the ass last week.”
“Already got that. Couldn’t get the seed. You’re going to have to work on that consciously if you want to diminish it.”
It’s just another day in the Underworld, bound to a sacrificial altar with my heart cut out and blood making a damn mess all over everything. It was bright in the darkness, though no sun was seen. I remembered which pantheon Mxtl rolled with.
“Hey.”
“Hmm?”
“[Sunchaser.]”
“That ol’ dog?”
Gods help me. Mxtl made a funny. That’s not a good sign of anything but impending pain.
“Yea. Him. He sniffing around?”
“He dragged your ass down here. Said something about you using rules of hospitality to be downright inhospitable. He said other things too, but you’re best hearing them from him and not from me.”
I nodded as best as I could in the restraints. Mxtl leaned over me again with the cleaned heart and the rattle. I noticed a change in her appearance.
“Forked tongue?”
“Yup.”
“A leftover from when the caduceus bit me or you coming into Snake’s gifts?”
“You coming into yourself. You’re going to have to go up that mountain, you know.”
“Eh… I dun wanna. It took me long enough to trust Mary as it is.”
“I’ll give you a hint. Nothing unclean can touch that mountain or the fires will burn and you won’t be immune. If you can understand why, you’ll be already halfway up.”
She used the rattle as a faulty scoop and started flicking out the congealed blood and debris that had accumulated in my chest wound. It didn’t distract me from the paradox of her hint. It did answer why I woke up feeling beaten up yesterday.
“[Mxtl.]”
“Weaver.”
“Sangre sucia.”
“Si lo dices.”
“No. Seriously. What has been the hallmark of damn near everything I do. I took that unclean label and fucking owned it. It’s the foundation for my relationship with [Rummer John] and why I claim permanent liminal status. And you’re right. Keri could never ascend that mountain.”
“Oh, name change.” She leaned over so her face was upside down to mine. Eyes to glittering eyes, she asked, “Could Weaver?”
“I dunno. I have never tried to leave Keri completely behind in a thing. To even approach the flames, I’m going to have to leave behind all the learned reactions I have to Christianity and [Jehovah]. I’m gonna have to walk up like none of the abuses ever happened, and as if I’m meeting him for the first time with no knowledge of… anything, really. I really don’t know.”
She set my heart back in my chest with excessive force. My blood splattered my face as my arteries and veins lashed to reweave themselves. I hadn’t noticed the lack of a heartbeat until it started up again.
She smoothed out the healing wound on my chest with her rattle. “Well, you have something to think about when you’re not wrestling with those tarot servitors or running around that tree.”
“In between trying to learn astrology and remembering to keep up with my meditation sessions.”
“Yea, you know, when you’re fucking bored as hell with not a damn thing to do.”
She removed the ropes holding me to the altar. I’m not sure what she did, but I did feel a lot better. I sat up on the shaped altar. “And [Sunchaser]?”
She looked at me and I realized for the first time that her eyes are reptilian. I wondered if they had always been so or if this was part of her increases. “Be careful. He and his pantheon are not gentle. There is a reason you were kept layers removed from [one in particular]. Rummer John and his brethren have handled you like an unset cheesecake compared to what the Teteo of the Nahuas would do to you if given a chance.”
“Noted.”
“Now get the fuck off my altar. I have to clean up.”
“Yes’m!”
I jumped off the altar, and in doing so, exited the dream.