Diamond, Chip, and Dunbar had parked their two flying creatures out of sight, not that there seemed to be anybody in the city to overwhelm. A narrow street of stucco buildings stretched ahead with the colors of the exteriors ranging from bright orange, to red, to light blue. However, wide entrances between their pillars appeared shadowy, even in midday, without a candle illuminating them or soul inhabiting them.

  With the breadth of the town consumed by a shiver inducing chill, Chip stopped for a gut check. He placed his hands on his hips and turned to Dunbar. “Why do you suppose Calamity would settle in an abandoned area?”

  “You mean to tell me that you’re racking that noggin over a witch choosing a haunted and feared location? If she aint here, we’ll fill our time using them dirn bricks in your head to build betterments round these parts. Lawd.”

  Chip balled his fists, poked his chest out, and stood with his forehead less than an inch from Dunbar’s nose. This caused Diamond to place a hand on a shoulder from both men. “Hello, eyes on the prize, boys. We noid to be on the same team. This village is sad and lonely enough as is.”

  Dunbar took her hand from his shoulder and placed it back to her side. “What we need to do is to find food.”

  She wagged a finger. “We can thoink about food later. We have a mission at hand.”

  “You wig wearing street marm, if we find food, we find people.”

  Chip covered a baboon smile trying to break a-loose.

  Diamond opened her mouth in shock. “Chip Blaze, are you amused by this?”

  “He’s absurd.” Chip chuckled. “But I guess—” He turned to Dunbar. “You do make a point in all that bluster.”

  After they had advanced, a whiff of tortillas grilling took them down an alley where trash blew about from turned over barrels, and further down, an old man in a sombrero and a multi-colored patterned shawl cooked over a pit down in the earth.

  When they reached the white mustached man, he rose up in the smolder from his grilling. He stood no more than half Dunbar’s height and rushed away through his backdoor.

  In a jiff, he was to his second floor, head poking out the window. Between trembling lips, he spoke as if it’d been a while since he made an utterance. “Hola. Dose pesos por dose tacos?”

  “Amigo, we aint here for no dang tacos,” Dunbar replied. “We want to know the deal with the blamin’ weird ongoings round here.”

  “No English.”

  “Look, don’t pull that,” Chip said. “Or we may start getting suspicious as to why you’re the only one who hasn’t skipped the cog on this town.”

  The man became more forceful. “No English, gringo. Vete.” Slammed his window down.

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  Diamond began stomping up the alley. “It’s no use. We may as well give up.”

  Chip trailed a few steps in pursuit of her. “Diamond, since when did you become a quitter.”

  “Since I couldn’t save Dylan.” She leaned her back against a wall and was a-hollering over to them with an echo. “This man aint going to help us. He doesn’t know how it feels every day, when you lose someone who you thought you would have with you forever.”

  The window opened, and the indigenous man looked down in sadness. The old man watched Chip make it halfway to her and prove to be too slow of a draw with any right word.

  When the backdoor squeaked open, all three posse members fired their attention at the elderly man. He appeared intense under the shade his brim cast down. “Powerful forces are at play here, repurposing all our places of worship. They’re converting El Sobrenatural into a mecca for something dark and sinister.”

  Dunbar replied, “So, now you speak English?”

  “That’s right. I did not know if I could trust you, but I see now that I have no choice.”

  Chip said, “So tell us your deal.”

  “I lost my wife to smallpox twenty years ago. That’s when the dark forces first appeared. They took advantage of the pandemic by locking us down, and it killed many. When those in black robes opened the borders back up, they received the reaction they desired. The locals deserted their homes and spread panic, causing all Mexico to fear El Sobrenatural.”

  Chip looked to Diamond for guidance on whether to trust the old man, but her stare was toward the white mortar a couple buildings up.

  The old man lifted his voice. “You need time to mourn, mujer. Stay here and rest from your journey, until the open wound in your heart has dried into a—How do you say it in English? A scab?”

  Diamond said, “That’s really hospitable of you and all, but.”

  “If you’re determined to fight against the forces that have taken this city, vamos, all of you. Come inside. Mi casa, tu casa. I’ll show you a map with many churches and temples where you can investigate.”

  The posse looked at one another, each seeking approval, until the same old man who had first insisted that they leave, reached up and began to lead the sheriff by his neck rag through the open doorway.

  Instant warmth in the abode heated the skins of the posse members. They lay eyes on the source, a forge with crates of scrap metal nearby. It crackled on the far end of the room. Along their way, they saw that scattered swords, knives, and hammers hung on the maroon-colored walls and lay on the floor and coffee table.

  “Don’t mind my shop, and mujer, come with me, let mi sala de estar, my entertainment room, inspire you.”

  She followed him upstairs, where she complimented the piano and vases, and when a spider monkey entered, wearing a sombrero and smile, she said, “Well, that’s quite cute.”

  “He took up here a year ago. We look out for one another in this deserted land.” His eyes appeared adrift. “Wish mi wife could have met him. This was her favorite room, back when people still dwelt around.”

  They stepped out on a balcony to a view of a menacing, branchless ceiba treed jungle. “This sight seemed friendlier, twenty years ago.”

  “I understand.”

  He nodded back at the piano inside. “Do you play?”

  “Oh my. I-I’d have to sharpen my skills.”

  Chip joined them and squinted at the sun, while cicadas in the nearby jungle went about their rhythmic ticking. He awkwardly kept peering up, hinting for the man to leave him alone with Diamond.

  When the old man understood and departed, Chip cleared his throat and gestured her over. “This old blacksmith fellow is right. You need time to grieve. Stay here. Let Dunbar and me investigate.”

  Diamond shuddered at a cool wind that came through. “Ok.”

  ***

  At a clay kitchen table, Dunbar and Chip leaned in to read the old man’s map, while slow piano playing came downstairs from Diamond’s practicing. The man spoke to the music, “By the way, mi name is Gustavo, and I transform metals into weapons, using fire. “Caballeros, gentlemen, it’s time to transform this hell back into a city.” His finger glided to some hills on the map. “There’s one church here that has a priest but no congregation. Speak with him.”