I miss Seamus but Seamus never existed and this nigga has been building a life on the side. Imagine that. Anansi is a trickster like Loki in Norse myths. Except he isn't a myth and in the back seat. "Are we going to discuss this bullshit?" echoes Curioso. "Por el amor de dios, alguien diga algo."
"abuela, estamos pensando..." replies Thankful. "Also, we have to get grandma a body, Deidre."
"Eso es lo queue prometiste. I can't be a phone forever."
I've been away a long time. I have my own fair share of the business to get to but I have a hint into my mother's murder. I can't stop now, "Teconseguire lo queue quieras ten paciencia. I have to take care of my mama's death."
"We just said she isn't dead!" scowled Curioso. "She's in a puppet!"
Thankful grins and looks at me, "And she does like the marionette body." Now I'm questioning all my morals. What am I doing? Well, first, I used to be a damn circus animal because I ran away. And I got tired of my brother eating me. Although, I'm suspecting it now. If my brother tried to eat me once. Why would I let him do it again? And again? I haven't said much about it but I've been groggy lately. I can't hold my head up.
Aleigha has that god-awful anxiety my mother has. She used to get so overwhelmed she would bite herself. Aleigha had to one of those kids that mock their parents. Mom and dad used to argue mainly because our beautiful mother was suffering from trauma. Waking up in night sweats, she would pick us up and freeze. She wouldn't say a word, Penelope had to witness that and so much more.
"Where are we going?" Anansi puzzled, leaning more in the seat. "To Mexico. What happened to the girl's story?"
"Oh yeah... I took the body of this white boy named Seamus. Seamus killed his niece, she lives in Texas. The girl was forced to sip on..." Anansi sucks his teeth and gags. "Period blood. Valentina is Growden's granddaughter. One of his favorites."
"Is that helpful?" asks Thankful in the passenger's seat. "Is Valentina important?"
"La Dama Falsa, or by her birth name, Toda de Limonsin. The Clan is playing The Name Game."
Well, that isn't fucking annoying. "If you haven't figured it out yet. These niggas is going from body to body and Toda decided to leave her body completely."
"Tomas is way in Mexico. He worship's her." says Thankful. "Icluso tiene sexo con el cuerpo, pero no quiere escuchar. By the way, Deidre your Spanish is getting better."
I smile, "Gracias. Also, what the fuck was that last part?"
"I'm African but I heard something about sex." says Anansi. "You heard right." Laments Thankful. "Toda was loved by a cult she made. The bitch grew up orphaned."
"Literally. Ella no es normal. Los padres de hoy la tiraron a la basura."
"They threw her in the trash?" I make a left turn and stop at a red light. "Didn't you say, she's your half-sister?"
"Si, her father was my uncle who threw her in the trash. Back then, there used to be a huge cartel. Underground, we still had the Sinaloa Cartel but The Celebridades No Muertas Cartel worked with the Blood Market in Virginia."
Thankful opens the glove compartment, she picks up the gun. "We're crossing the border to Mexico. I just wanna be safe." We aren't there yet...
"It's best to be prepared, poco agraciada. Deidre nor Anansi knows about Mexico." warns Curioso. "What's so dangerous about Mexico?"
Thankful looks in the backseat. "Mexico has changed. The cult depleted the land. No one moved away, Mexicans... either died or tried to escape the country. Go to Texas or Arizona. And then some went to New Mexico. That's about all we got."
"You have more than that..." I say. "Mexico is home but everything that touches it--"
"WE DON'T HAVE ANYTHING!" Curioso and Thankful scream at me. "Toda won't let anyone out of Mexico!"
My wife is Mexican and I'm a simple black-ass native American. One of my half-siblings has Spanish origin. She went to Mexico with Uncle Comma and by the way she explained it. It's fucking terrible but the man is attached to it. "Ok, ok," don't fucking kill me. "About the Celebrities."
"The Celebridades No Muertas Cartel carries the blood market and the graveyard for Toda." speaks Curioso. "Which is fucked up considering, they're helping bury Childhood."
"What do they sell? The Market in Virginia supplies blood, teeth, bone marrow, a little sex trafficking to human trafficking." The human part is a snack. Rent a human and keep them in your house to eat later. Then there was that big Maul who kidnapped one girl and a boy. He bred them which in my eyes is fine since they do it to us and take away the baby.
"Did you buy someone?" asks Anansi.
"A bought a little hoe once. She didn't know how to suck dick." My eyes glaze over to my wife, her eyes beam at me and she punches me in the arm. I howl with laughter. "I'M KIDDING!"
"Eres tan jodidamente estupido!" She crosses her legs and looks out the window. "I hate you."
"Tsk, aww, I'm sorry." With my free hand, I slide across her thighs. "Get off!"
"Not while I'm in the backseat. Hey, can y'all stop for snacks?"
____________
Reaching the border, Thankful scurries for her ID. Every shuffle she makes, she says shit. "do you really need to show your Visa?" asks Curioso. "We're from Mexico."
"Fuck!" she yells, she looks at me with a smile with hands in her lap. "Honey, I'm illegal. This car is illegal."
"Well, It's five cars behind us." Thankful looks in the backseat through the rear view glass. "How!?"
"People, coming home?"
"Fuck!" she yells. "Grandma, she knows we're coming."
"Nina estupida, usa tu magia."
"Deidre!" she picks her ID out of her purse and waves it at me. "What is wrong with you?"
"She hasn't acted like this in a while. Carina, esaremos bien." Curioso says sweetly. Thankful grabs her head and starts rocking back and forth. "I'm fine!" she blurts. "I'm fine, I'm not eight anymore."
Now I realize how little I know of my wife. I grab her hand and squeeze it gently, "What's wrong with you?" Her eyes are big as she looks at me, grandma Curioso sighs. "A long time ago. We used to be servants of the clan. La Dama Falsa kidnapped Thankful from us and she was sold as a sex worker..."
She never told me that. "Thankums?"
"They held me for ransom, an outrageous amount of money. I used to throw up a lot, I have emetophobia. I'm a vampire and she thought it was funny." Child abuse amongst vampires is at an all-time high. They don't care about us, even Vampires themselves will put their own kind for money. So what.
I understand because Aleigha went through it too.
"We're going to be ok. I promise," I take the ID from her hold and swipe across the name. "Ioz Acciti." The name changes on the ID card, "There Lottie Jones. From," I tap the city, age, and ID number. "North Coralina, Age 25."
She takes it from me, "What about appearance."
"Oh," I reach over and change the birthday, hair, eyes and height. "There."
"I'm not 4'1, my eyes aren't green and brown--I have your brother's eyes." She snaps her fingers. "Um, Cassis. I was born on 12/12? What no year"
"What is the year?"
"Double spell," her eyes flutter. "You smart, nevermind."Once the border touches the ID he'll see what the card says. No need to change her appearance. I know what the hell I'm doing.
I put the car in drive and push forward. Coming to the booth, the world around me changes. The sky blackens, the border officer is a skeleton with colorful markings. The cheekbones are outlined, the lips are black, and the eyeshadow where the eyelids should be. Cars behind us are replaced with a line of individuals chained to the car. "What the fuck"
The border officer cracks his neck upon facing me. He speaks in a ghastly tone, "Bienvenido a Mexico."