Shaman, Healer, Heretic (37 page)

“I’m sorry, did you say sacrifices?”

“The usual, bulls, lambs–”

“Bulls?” she said. “I’ve never even seen a bull.” But, not wanting another tirade, she quickly followed up with, “Would beef do? And I could get pork and chicken?”

He screwed up his face and crossed his arms over his chest. She waited for another rant but he clenched his jaw instead. “Yes on the beef,” he growled. “I like it well done. Burn it. Forget the other stuff.” He made another face. “Chicken!”

“I’ll do it right away,” she said, as a bright light filled her eyes. She held up her hands to block the sun but it didn’t do any good.

“A quickie,” he said. “Still, a longer visit than most. Don’t worry, there’ll be more.”

She had lost sight of him in the glare. “I don’t understand,” she said.

“Looks like you’ve got to go,” she heard him say. “Make the sacrifices, get your group, meet me in the Middleworld.”

“But…”

Livvy found it difficult to get the words out.

“I’ll see you there,” he said, from a great distance.

• • • • •

She coughed and water spewed out along the tile next to the Jacuzzi. As she gasped for air, she involuntarily sucked water back in and started to cough convulsively.

“Good,” said the Nahual.

Livvy tried to sit up as she coughed and found wet hair falling into her face. She pushed it back.

“Take it easy,” said Joel.

She felt lightheaded and the room started to spin. She sank back down as her coughing started to subside.

“Water in the lungs,” said the Nahual. “But not as much as you would think. The larynx constricts fairly quickly, sealing off the air tube.”

Livvy turned over on her back and closed her eyes against the spinning room. She felt someone lift her wrist, measure her pulse.

“Good and strong,” said Joel.

“Of course,” said the Nahual. “I have never lost one. I am going to change out of these wet clothes.”

Livvy opened her eyes and looked at the ceiling, a bland white that was hard to focus on. She slowly turned her head to the side and saw SK. He was sitting against the wall, hugging his knees, staring at her. He tilted his head over when he saw that she had opened her eyes, and he smiled.

“Hey there,” he said.

“Hey there,” she said hoarsely, coughing a few times.

“Don’t try to talk,” said Joel, from the other side.

She looked over at him. He was looking at his watch and holding her wrist. She saw his clothes were soaked from the chest down. Suddenly, she shivered.

“You need to get those clothes off,” he said.

“I need to get beef,” she said quietly.

“You what?” said Joel, putting her wrist down. He held three fingers up in front of her face. “How many fingers do you see?”

“Three,” she said. “Marduk wants beef.”

“Does he now,” said Joel, wiping water away on her forehead. “Well maybe Marduk can wait a while.”

“No, he can’t,” she said, looking over at SK. “For sacrifices. Can you get it?”

SK stood up. “How much?” he asked.

“As much as you can get.”

“Wow,” he said.

She started to get up.

“Hey, hey,” said Joel. “Just hold on for a second. You were clinically dead about five minutes ago.”

The soggy clothes made it harder to get up. Joel reached a hand down to her and pulled her up to a standing position, where she wobbled.

“Didn’t I say to take it easy?”

“Yeah,” she said. “I’m all right though.”

She shivered violently.

“Liv, you need to get changed,” said SK.

“Hey, little guy, I think I can handle this,” Joel said to him as he helped Livvy away from the Jacuzzi.

She stopped and looked at Joel.

“Joel,” she said quietly. “His name is SK, not little guy. Okay?”

Joel paused ever so slightly but recovered smoothly.

“Oh sure,” he said. “Sure. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Where they had stopped, puddles started to form.

“I don’t suppose you brought extra clothes,” said Livvy, looking down at his sodden trousers.

“Ah, no,” he said, looking down. “I didn’t realize we were going for a swim. I guess I’ll need to go home and change.” He looked over at SK. “But I’ll be back.”

SK glared at him but said nothing.

The Nahual appeared at the door as Joel passed her on his way out. She had changed into a sweatsuit. Again, Livvy shivered violently.

“Come,” she said to Livvy. “You need a hot shower and dry clothes.”

Livvy obeyed.

As she led her away, the Nahual asked, “So, did you find Marduk?”

“Yep,” she nodded and looked back at SK, smiling. “SK’s in charge of the beef.”
 

FINALLY WARMED UP and out of the shower, Livvy fetched her phone to start making calls. But as soon as she turned it on, she realized she didn’t have to call the other shamans. They were calling her. First was Carmen.

“Oh Livvy, when you didn’t answer, I thought maybe…sorry,” she said, sniffing. “I’m so glad.”

When Livvy told her about Marduk and helping him in the Multiverse, there was silence on the other end.

“Oh, no,” said Carmen. “No, sorry. It’s not a good idea.”

Livvy hadn’t wanted to pressure her. She could already visualize Carmen’s hands fidgeting in the air.

“No, not again,” she’d said, before Livvy had even asked her. “Sorry!”

Ursula was a different case altogether. “When are you going to do it? Today?” she’d asked. “Ursula can be there in an hour.”

The question caught Livvy off guard. She hadn’t thought about a time and place. She was exhausted and starting to feel cold again, even wrapped in the thick terry cloth robe and sitting in front of the fire. Besides, they would still need to make the sacrifices. But then she thought of her last words with Sam. Livvy and Ursula agreed to meet in a few hours at the Nahual’s house.

Livvy called Alvina, who was surprised that she’d done it.

“Straight to the Upperworld? Goodness,” she’d said. “And now you have a date with Marduk? Interesting.”

“Ursula’s gonna be here,” said Livvy.

“Ursula, yes, that makes sense. How about Wan-li?”

“I haven’t talked to her yet.”

“Well, dear, why don’t you do that first and then let me know what she says.”

Like before, what Wan-li did was going to influence what the others did. It was also going to influence if they’d be successful or not. As she hung up, she saw the Nahual on the deck. Of course, Wan-li wasn’t the only powerful shaman in the area at the moment. Right out there on the deck was a Nahual.

Before Livvy even got the words out, the Nahual said, “Yes, I will do it but I am warning you that I have never used goggles before.”

“Seriously?” said Livvy, smiling. “Really?”

“For Indra’s sake,” she said.

Livvy’s smile melted. “Yes,” she nodded. “For Indra and Min.”

“A Nahual?” asked Wan-li. “I would not have thought that a Nahual would favor the technology, yes?”

Livvy glanced out to the deck. “Well, I’m looking at one right now,” she said. “She’s the one who drowned me.”

“Water, yes, of course, the ancient way,” said Wan-li, considering. “And this…Nahual, she is a techno-shaman, yes?”

“No, but she’s willing to give it a try.”

“Really,” said Wan-li, drawing it out.

The front door opened and SK had his hands full of grocery bags.

“When are you planning to do this?”

“In a few hours,” Livvy said, nodding at SK and smiling.

“Very well. Text me the address.”

“Wait, Wan-li,” said Livvy. “Could you call Alvina?”

“Call Alvina?” She chuckled. “Yes, I can do that. We can carpool.”
 

URSULA ARRIVED FIRST, and she was alone.

“Where’s Bruno?” asked Livvy, as the Nahual motioned Ursula into the sunken living room.

“He’s dead,” she said, her voice tight.

A few wisps of hair had escaped her head wrap, and she wasn’t wearing any lipstick.

“
Dead?
”

The Nahual left them and went out to the deck. Ursula seemed not to have even noticed her or the surroundings. She sat down at the end of the couch, perched on the corner.

“Vigilantes,” she said, spitting the word out with distaste.

Livvy sat down at the fireplace across from her.

“They thought he was a shaman. They caught him alone in the parking lot. Shot him,” she said without emotion. “Eleven times.”

“
Oh no
,” said Livvy. “I’m so sorry.”

“But that’s not the worst part.”

Livvy waited and watched as Ursula shut her eyes tight, as though she was trying not to see something. Then Livvy realized what the worst part had to be.

In unison, they said, “He’s come back.”

“You know?” asked Ursula with a searching look.

“Yes,” said Livvy.

Ursula seemed to relax a little and hunched forward. “It’s been awful,” she said. “Ursula can’t sleep.”

“Do you want to lie down?”

Ursula straightened up. “Ursula wants this over,” she said. “Now is not soon enough.”

The Nahual came back in the room then.

“Well, if you want to give me your goggles,” said Livvy, standing up, “I’ll get busy with that. I’ve still got Sunny’s goggles hooked up. You can use those,” she said to the Nahual.

“A techno-Nahual?” asked Ursula.

“Not exactly,” said the Nahual.

Even a Nahual would have to get used to the goggles, especially after the disdain that most traditional shamans had for the new technology. SK entered from the deck as well, holding an empty platter that was full of blood and a pair of barbecue tongs.

“Barbecue?” asked Ursula, surprised.

“Not exactly,” said SK.

Wan-li and Alvina arrived not too long after and fell into conversation with the Nahual near the barbecue pit. SK piled the beef on, every part of the cow that he’d been able to find. Piece by piece, he put it on the expansive grill and seared it black, watching the smoke rise upward.

As Livvy finished the soldering, sitting in the middle of the living room floor, SK came in from the deck and set the empty platter down on an end table.

“Just a few more slabs to go,” he said, wiping his hands on the improvised apron he wore, safety pinned at the bottom to raise the hem a couple feet, and the neck strap knotted short. “I read a few old prayers that I could find. I hope Marduk has a good appetite.”

Livvy moved the magnifying lens and leaned her head left and right, stretching the taut muscles in her shoulders and neck.

“Joel is going to be here, right?” asked SK.

“You’re that worried?”

He shrugged, trying to be casual. “Why take chances?”

“I didn’t think you liked having him around.”

He snorted. Clearly, he didn’t.

On an impulse, Livvy went over to him, knelt down, and started to hug him. A spark leapt out between them and snapped in midair.

“Santa Anas,” they said together.

She closed her arms around him. “It’s going to be all right,” she said.

Taken by surprise, he seemed stiff at first, but he hugged her back, and they stayed like that for several moments. She could smell the faint scent of smoke on him.

“You smell like steak,” she said as she released him.

“Ha,” he said, smiling. “I hope that’s good.”

“It’s pretty wonderful, actually.”

The doorbell rang, but neither of them moved. It rang again.

“I’ll get it,” she said. “There’s a grill calling your name.”

Although Livvy hadn’t been expecting any more arrivals, she wasn’t all that surprised at who stood there. Carmen looked as nervous as usual.

“Carmen,” exclaimed Livvy, as she pulled her in with a hug and closed the door behind her. “I didn’t think we’d see you.”

“Sorry, I don’t want to be left out,” she said.

“Come on then. Everybody’s on the deck. Give me your goggles though, so I can hook them up.”

Livvy overheard the snippets of conversation as the other shamans filled the Nahual in on what she could expect–besides Tiamat. They were poring over the books that SK had brought from his library, reviewing the various descriptions of Tiamat, Marduk, and their epic battle.

Having met Marduk, Livvy found it hard to envision the battle as described. Marduk had ridden forth in a glorious chariot and used a net to ensnare Tiamat and a spear with a special blessing to pierce her underbelly. Would he use the same tactics? Would Marduk, the old gardener, be able to do the deed again? Tiamat the monster seemed invincible, especially now that Livvy had seen them both.