I observed my men sleepily. “Coffee.” Michael jumped up and slipped on his jeans to go search the lobby area for a pot of coffee before I could open my mouth to protest that I didn’t mind going myself. I hoped he remembered how I liked it as he slipped out the door.Thank gods for a man that wants to spoil his lady by going on coffee runs.
I took a long shower. The water pressure and temperature at the hostel was phenomenal. I knew we needed to get moving, but if it was going to be my last shower, it was going to be a good one. I shaved and conditioned the tips of my hair. I’d actually thrown in the travel size microdermabrasion set I loved to use at home, so I went ahead and smoothed my skin so my makeup would go on easier. I took my time with my face, covering the few zits that cropped up overnight and making my eyes pop with some carefully placed eyeliner. All in all, I cleaned up pretty nice when I was finished.
My Gigi would roll over in her grave if her granddaughter waltzed into a whole new world without a face on.Oh, Gigi. I wish I could talk to you now. You’d love me having three boyfriends, you dirty old bird.
I’d never be a great beauty, but my self-esteem was fairly balanced. Everyone worried about body issues, and I was no exception. My view of my attractiveness was realistic. I was rather medium. Certainly not ugly, yet I was also not someone to write home about. I’d never understand how three men with the faces and physiques of my guys fell in love with me. They could have any celebrity or beauty queen in the world.
Once I was as good as it got, I made my way to our room where they sat patiently waiting on me. I filled another blood bag and took my vitamins while the boys drank their cups of blood. Michael took his to the bathroom to get ready.Is he going to drink while he brushes his teeth? Yuck. Vampires.
I sat up straight, excited by my musings.Good lord, if I have Unseen relatives that can help me, I might not have to drink blood.
The thought of not drinking blood made me want to sprint to wherever the hell the portal was located, barrel through, and demand immortality from my ancestors.
I jumped up when the blood bag was full and started bouncing on my toes. “Let’s go!”
Mama Pacha shushed me. “Pack some snacks, girl, we'll get hungry. It’s about a two-hour walk. When I’m not out in the world, I generally stay somewhere here on the island to be near the connection to my home. I don’t need a map.”
We packed up a couple of backpacks that the men insisted on carrying and went on our way. “Mama Pacha, is there anything you can tell me about the world I might be going to?”
She huffed at me as we climbed the hill to the side of the hostel. “I’ll talk to you on the waydownthe hill, girl.” I tried to be patient and hold my questions until we crested the hill, and she rewarded my patience with all the information she was willing to give me, which was a big fat nothing.
“I’ve told you, girl, it isn't my story to tell. To be honest, I don’t really know much. I understand what you are, but your people were almost extinct by the time I entered this world. No more of your ancestors were willing to cross the portal into this world. The ones that were here adored living here and were unwilling to leave. That scared those that were left behind in their home world.” She shrugged and continued. “I suppose they were afraid of losing their heritage, I don’t know. Maybe one of them came through and had a bad experience and frightened the others. For all I know, maybe they all already came through, then died, and you’ll be going to an empty dimension.” She cackled. “I guess we'll test your mettle today, young ’un.” She continued to laugh as we trudged down the path.
“Whatever the case, I’ve never heard anything about the world you are entering. I never even met one of your people in person. I heard stories, but like I said, when the last one died, the portals closed.”
“How could the last of my ancestors be dead, yet here I am, one of their descendants?”
“Part of the story I won’t tell, but I’ll make you a deal. If you go through and you do find an empty world, I will then tell you what I know. But you’ll have to send one of the boys in after me, because once I make it home, I’ll never return. I’ll write it out if it comes to that.”
Elias slowed to walk beside me and Mama Pacha. “I will go in and get any information I can find. Maybe some of the other gods in your world learned more.”
“I told you kids; we aren't gods. Our society and knowledge was more advanced than this world’s. I wonder how much more advanced they might be now?” she mused out loud.
The view was once again spectacular. I breathed deep; my altitude sickness almost gone since spending the night on the island. Focusing on the scenery helped me ignore the increasing anxiety in my gut.
Before getting in the shower, I’d managed to have a nice poop while two whole doors and a hallway separated me from the master noses. I had a clean colon, and I was on my way to my destiny.
I snickered, thinking about fart jokes. “Michael?”
“Yeah, Baby?” He stopped and waited for me to catch up.
“I didn’t fart. My butt blew you a kiss,” I said. He laughed with uncertainty, unable to remember when he’d heard that joke before.
Elias saved him having to admit he didn’t remember. “Is that some inside joke?”
“When David was three, he tooted in my lap. I sort of scolded him about it being rude to pass gas in front of someone else. He replied with that, about blowing a kiss with his butt. It was so funny, Michael and I burst out laughing. So of course, he had to say that same joke every five minutes for the next six months, hoping to get another laugh out of us.”
Everyone chuckled at the memory of our little David, but Michael looked somber, unable to remember. I took his hand and squeezed it. “It’s okay, my love. We’ll make new memories, and we'll go through my recollections until you know them so well, you’ll swear you can remember them yourself.” He pulled our hands up to his mouth and kissed my knuckles. My anxiety took a back seat to my libido waking up for the day.Not the time, Hoo-Ha. Not the time.
Hand in hand with Michael, I once again tried to focus on the view as there was still a long walk ahead of us and I didn’t want to be thinking with my vagina the entire way.
“Mama Pacha?” asked Elias. “You haven’t mentioned anything about Viracocha, who was supposed to have created you and Supay and Inti. Was he from your world?”
“Oh, no, we made him up. We needed someone to flesh out our stories a bit. We told everyone that he created us on this island, and then Inti and Supay in turn created the human Inti and the Supay species.”
“Well then, okay. Everything we’ve learned our entire lives is made up,” said Anthony.
“Pretty much, kid.”
