Alexander Death(28)

Fortunately, more guests arrived to distract her. Manuel escorted a group of four Hispanic men in dark suits and ties toward the table, and Alexander rose to greet them in Spanish. Alexander paid particular attention to one of them, a middle-aged man wearing several gold rings. The other three men were much younger than him.

“Jenny,” Alexander said, “This is Ernesto Calderon, Papa Calderon's nephew.”

Jenny smiled at the man and spoke one of her new Mayan greetings, which brought a bemused expression to his face. Alexander laughed.

“Maybe we should try English,” Ernesto said. “I have brought someone to meet you.” He nodded at his men, and they stood aside. An old Latina woman in a plain dress and some kind of black head scarf approached. She was very short, and leaned on a cane with one gnarled, trembling hand. Her mouth was wrinkled and collapsed into itself, and her sparse hair was white. She stared at Jenny with small, black eyes.

“Señora Emygdia is one of my uncle's advisors,” Ernesto said, while old woman hobbled closer to Jenny. There was a horrific smell, like the rot of a dead animal, emanating from the woman, and Jenny was feeling a little scared of her. The woman raised one small, misshapen claw of a hand and pawed at the air while she stared unblinking at Jenny. This strange gesture did not put Jenny at ease.

“My uncle wishes that she study you,” Ernesto said. Everyone around the dining table had fallen silent, watching the old woman and Jenny.

“Why?” Jenny asked.

“To assess you,” Alexander said. “She's a holy woman. Or a very unholy woman. Whatever. A very old bruja. She's been sent to look you over for Papa Calderon.”

The old woman reached her clawed hand towards Jenny's face.

“Um, can we warn her about the not-touching-me thing?” Jenny asked.

Alexander spoke in Spanish, and the woman drew her hand back and asked him a question. Her voice was low and hissing. Alexander replied, and the woman's eyes opened a little wider.

She closed her eyes and waved her hand around Jenny's head and body, walking in a slow circle around Jenny. Jenny didn't know what to do, so she crossed her arms and tried to look calm.

Finally, the old woman opened her eyes. She spoke in a low, croaking voice to Ernesto. Then one of Ernesto's younger companions escorted her back inside.

Ernesto and Alexander conversed in Spanish. Ernesto frowned, with a few wary glances at Jenny, while Alexander seemed to smile wider as he spoke.

“What's happening?” Jenny asked Alexander.

“One second,” Alexander said. “Kisa.” The girl straightened up at the sound of her name. Alexander made a gesture with his hand, and she nodded and hurried inside.

“What did the old woman say?” Jenny asked.

“She said you had a deadly power, and you cannot be trusted,” Alexander said. “Which is just how I remember you.”

“Thanks,” Jenny said.

Kisa returned with a large glass bottle of tequila and several shot glasses.

Ernesto took one glass and spoke to Jenny in English

“Papa Calderon welcomes you into our house,” Ernesto said. “May God grant us a full harvest and a shitload of money.”

Alexander raised a glass to that and motioned for Jenny to take one, too. Jenny, Alexander, Ernesto and Ernesto's two remaining companions drank together.

The tequila scalded Jenny's throat and chest, and she went into an unstoppable coughing fit. The two younger men laughed and pointed at her, which made her angry enough to glare at them. She was amazed that they actually fell silent under her look and decided to walk off for a look at the roasting deer.

Kisa pressed a glass of water into Jenny's hand. Jenny drank it down, then gave her a grateful smile. “Thanks.”

Kisa returned with a different drink for Jenny, something called taxcalate that tasted like milk sweetened with cinnamon. This was also delicious.

More food arrived, first shrimp with tortillas and tomatoes and spicy peppered salsa, and then tender fish in a tangy tomato sauce seasoned with bright herbs, fried plantains and freshly cut mangoes. Jenny ate and drank and watched the dancers in their incredibly elaborate costumes and makeup. This whole event seemed terribly expensive to her.

She looked up and down the crowded table, where everyone was talking in either Spanish or Mayan. She felt a warm glow towards all these people, though she barely knew them. Maybe because they seemed to value the exact thing that made Jenny such a freak, and they had a place for someone like her.

After she ate, the party broke into smaller groups, and many people went to dance.

“Jenny, I have to go up to my office with Ernesto for a minute,” Alexander said. “Boring stuff. Back in a minute.”