Aztec Calendar - Day sign for 11/07/2066
I find it amazing that the ancient Aztecs and their forerunners had the presence of foresight to predict my brothers-or that the fates aligned in such a way as to provide my brothers as a method of proving their point.
I've always said if you're good at something you should use it to your advantage. Who knew that the Miller Dysfunction Factor would be a tactical advantage.
Okay, seriously we decided to play up the dysfunction in order to a) lull our opposition into a false sense of security b) ferret out whoever's been spying on us and c) use it as a method for misdirection.
As I've said, they've been following the Aztec calendar for sacrificial purposes and as a kind of oracle dictating their actions.
Let's face it "bad day for working with others" definitely sums us up. So we used that-with Matt and Alan storming off and Michael going after them in an effort to 'smooth things over' (act as a contact point for coordinating our attack)
I went to the gym at the hotel to burn off steam (act as the command center for our attack)
Case went to talk to Jonathan (make sure the family was safe), while Nathan went sight seeing with Tabs (watched over our suspects until we were ready to reel them in.
It wasn't a bad plan-and for all our issues we did work well together-we just had to do it apart.
We managed to chop the off the snake's head… again, and I'm beginning to think we aren't dealing with a feathered snake but a hydra.
Aztec Calendar - Day sign for 11/08/2066
Again we used the calendar to our advantage. In this case-rest, tranquility and trying to cement …my brothers into a wall… I mean our relationship was just what the doctor ordered.
I did come to understanding with Alan and Matt, and I think yesterday helped.
I'm not the little girl they remember. They're neither the heroes I remembered nor the villains I built them into-they're just well… if I weren't related to them I'd have nothing to do with them and I've learned the same is true for them towards me.
That's fine. We're strangers with a shared history but what's happened in between is what has defined us. I'm a paramedic and a cop's wife. They're adventurers, scoundrels and rogues and they like it that way.
When this is over-we are over. It's probably for the best.
Aztec Calendar - Day sign for 11/09/2066
If our opposition was counting on the reversal of my fortune benefiting them, they obviously never took a lesson in Jess Miller Luck.
I will be the first to admit that my luck has kept me from ending up dead, but let's face it, after that all bets are off. In fact, I'd go as far as saying it really loves putting me dangerously close to it.
A reversal of that… I'd either end up dead or smelling like a rose, possibly both. Thankfully the not ending up dead part of my luck held and we're down one hydra head.
Advice: if your idea of action is drawing down on a medic… don't do it when her entire family around to stop it.
He didn't stand a chance.
Aztec Calendar - Day sign for 11/10/2066
Snakes .. hydras… coatl… have I mentioned I really hate the awakened world?
Okay, the coatl in question was actually sort of on our side. He was as 'on our side' as you can be when you a) don't really mix in human affairs and b) you've got your own agenda. Fortunately for us our needs don't run contrary to his agenda.
The Hydra's on the other hand did and I guess it comes down to the enemies of my enemies … well, they can be made to fight my battle for me while I stay back and maybe advise.
Yesterday's attack seemed to be an attempt to illustrate how easily one of us could be taken out, only of course the lesson went the other way. To be fair we did learn something from the attack, something our opposition is probably wishing we hadn't. As it was a day's research on him netted us another three cells of the hydra.
Three cells-three heads, however you look at them, they're gone now but it took a lot more work and a lot more magic than we were really prepared to dish out. By the end of the day we were all crashed out in Jonathan's room and I found myself talking to Tabs.
It was one brick commiserating with another.
Aztec Calendar - Day sign for 11/11/2066
Day Miquiztli (Death) It is a good day for reflecting on your priorities in life, a bad day for ignoring possibilities. It is a day of transformation, signifying that briefest moment between old endings and new beginnings.
Today's information is something auspicious while at the same time a reminder that just because something ends doesn't mean everything else ends. Life goes on. Even in the ending something else begins -- truth be told things are ending and beginning all the time. That's life.
In our case I like to think that this is the end of us feeling our way in the dark and the beginning of us leading the way to an end to this insanity.
Interpol has a trace on Giselle Mendoza, Philippe's wife. It seems she and their son were spotted in Peru. Looking at the airport footage at La Paz it was hard not to notice the familiar features on their son's face.
Yeah he's a Miller all right, right down to his charming personality: he was crying all the way through customs.
Matt was torn between wanting to hurt the woman and the relief at seeing his son for the first time.
As Case was working on arranging transport to La Paz, Mom Walker, Gina and I were fighting Jonathan. He wants to go, but he's in no shape. He knows it, but that doesn't stop him from wanting to be in on this.
I know how he feels.
There is no way I'm going to be going on this trip. Not with the folks we've got heading down there and definitely not heading into what we know is going to be a combat zone. It's common sense but that doesn't mean I have to like it.
Aztec Calendar - Day sign for 11/12/2066
It's never ceased to amaze me how much can change in a day and today was no different. Yesterday I was going to be staying with Mom Walker and the Council Island Contingent. Today I arrived at La Paz with my husband and brothers.
Logic and reason still tend to run the show, but let's face it when a Coatl says 'she's going with you' well… it carries a lot of weight.
I know Yachachek can't tell what will happen, but he does know what should happen-of that I am certain and so we followed the calendar and the clues to La Paz.
My question for the day is simple: If you're the bait-do you count as predator or prey?
I don't really know the answer but I do know Giselle Mendoza thought she was the predator. She's made no effort to hide her tracks which goes with the whole bait aspect of things.
We followed her from the airport to the hotel and 'overheard' her arranging for transportation to Lake Titicaca in the morning.
They're going back to the last ending-and trying to find a new beginning. I don't care-it's going to be the end. Of this I am sure.
Aztec Calendar - Day sign for 11/13/2066
I'm not even sure who's calendar we should follow anymore. We know they're following the Aztec Calendar, and the day's meaning makes sense. It's what Mario's always tried to teach us: that true strength comes from self sacrifice, from thinking of others before yourself-not sacrificing others, but our enemy doesn't seem to accept that.
This is part of their culture, their history and they're picking and choosing which translations to use, which advise to take.
If they really were following the Aztec Calendar, today would be the day to stop and take notice of the rules they're breaking. Instead, they're taking us back to the lake. They're taking us back to the island stronghold, back to the land of the Incas, back to the statue and somehow they think my nephew is the key to it all, the key to their journey and the key to controlling the statue.
They have set the arena for this battle and we have chosen our starting point. We came back to the island this morning and spent the day both in contemplation and in fortifying our defenses.
If they follow the calendar, they will most likely attack tomorrow.
Copyright 2010 M.T. Decker