Mucha Azucar Pt 2.

We followed Jones to the island and he climbed onto what appeared to be sand, but it was actually brown sugar. 

"Jones, this place is sticky all over. How do people like you and us make it here being that we have hair?"

"You just have to swim! It's the only way."

Luca chucked and then picked up some of the sugar. He licked it with his green tongue. 

"Mm, not bad. Have you anything like a lemon tart here?"

"Sure! We have a river with lemon filling and a forest full of tart and pie crusts."

"What is this place?" I finally asked. 

"This is Mucha Azúcar!"

"Woah, that sounds Spanish," I said. Jones nodded. 

"We speak a lot of Spanish here. Kriol too, and English of course. Not to say that Kriol isn't English. It most certainly is but it's its own dialect." 

"Brilliant! This is a sugar Caribbean!" Luca exclaimed. 

"Yes," said Jones. "So, what are you doing here, by the way?"

"We're just visiting," I said. 

"See, there's this bloke named Chase and we must find him and make him pay."

"Pay? For what?"

"Bein' mean to poor Janessa?" Luca said, putting his arm around her. She stifled a laugh at his dramatic gesture. 

"Oh, well we did get a new visitor besides you two."

"Did you catch his name?" I asked. Jones shook his head. 

"Let's swim to the peninsula's west side." Jones waved to us as he dove in. I jumped in after him, swimming to get the sugar off my body. As we swam after Jones, we noticed the glowing gummy jellyfish and the chocolate frosted palm trees. 

We pulled ourselves out on the west side and Jones got on all fours. For some reason, this beach did not have any kind of sugar on it but the sand was luxuriously soft from the crushed up coral skeletons. Luca followed closely behind me as Jones led us.

The forest was lit up with glowing fireflies and frogs saying "ribbet" among other sounds that were hard to describe. At least one made call like a trance music breakdown which I began to dance to. Luca chuckled and joined me for a minute but then Jones waved us on. 

I stared everywhere noticing that this was the only part of the place that wasn't made of something candy-like. Without having to be told, we were all quiet as we traveled through this part of the world. The sounds of water rushing over a falls and different animals in the woods sounded close. 

The air was now sparkling with glowing green and yellow dust, like neon under a blacklight. Jones stopped us for a moment and then he waved us on. He pointed up over the next area. 

In the darker jungle everything was humid and slippery. We walked carefully toward a constructed hut with a palapa on the top. The grass that hung down was contrasted with the slippery roots that swirled around the entrance. 

Jones tapped on the side of the bamboo building. With everything else nearly pitch-black, it was a surprise to see when someone came out of the hut with a glowing, decorated skull face. The face was painted in various decorative colors with swirls and flourishes. The rest of the body was like a human's but completely jet black with bones painted on it. Her raven hair hung long but it was braided to keep the strands off her back. 

"Calavera, these people are looking for a person named Chase."

Calavera slowly exited the hut, found footing from the slippery jungle leaves and then came closer to us. As they faced us all three of us stared up at Calavera. 

"He's down the road, a little bit north of here. The one with the candy cigarettes and Mentos. You know with the kids they will not stop with the Coke and Mentos experiment. I try to tell them that is out of style and annoying but they won't stop." I wasn't sure but Calavera sounded like a woman. 

"Bah, let them nips do as they please. They're only lads for titch, eh Calavera?" Luca nudged Calavera. She was not impressed and touched him once on the shoulder. Part of his indigo skin became bright purple for a moment and he cried out. 

"I'm the ruler of this place. Do you not see it?" she asked. I glanced at Calavera and our eyes locked. "And you, I can see you were gifted with wings. It means you respect death. Is that how you feel?"

I waited for a moment and then said, "Yes, I do respect it."

"Why?"

"Because it is part of the natural cycle of things. To not respect death is to no respect life." Part of me didn't understand where this insight was coming from but she appeared appeased. 

"If you'd like to find Chase, go to the area up there with the children. The 'nips' as your husband here calls it."

"Ahh, we're not--"

"Yeah, we're only--"

"Don't tell me you're only friends."

Both Luca and I began to blush which was very interesting to see on his indigo skin. A pink glow came to his cheeks. I giggled. 

"C'mon," Jones said, with an attempt at frustration but was just trying to hide his embarrassment. 

"Okay, let's get going," Luca said, holding his neck shyly, his blue hair falling forward. 

"I'm all for that," I said. When our eyes met, he smiled brightly again. "Thanks Calavera!"

"Calavera de Azucar is the full name."

"Nice to meet you!" I said, and Luca gave a grin and saluted to her. Jones raced off on all fours in front of us. I didn't realize how fast big cats are until I watched him rush off into the high field. 

Luca and I walked side-by-side in the drier wheat field. The sun was coming out now as we left the jungle. The golden sun was glittering over his safety-blue hair. I reached up to him and he bent to me so I could tousle it. When our faces were very close I wanted to kiss him but I didn't dare to. 

I held his face and caressed his cheek briefly.

"I didn't realize you'd look so good with skin like indigo, hair like cobalt, and eyes like yellow streetlights."

"Oh, c'mon, mate. It is you who is the loveliest here. You must look see your reflection."

"How do you feel about my hair?"

"Pretty as a picture, surely sweetheart." His voice was quiet as he gazed at me. 

"You two, get come along!" Jones shouted. 

We sighed and then sprinted off toward the direction that we heard the voice coming from. As we rounded the corner, Jones stood up, covered in flowers and the pointed up a hill. It was the same kind of hill that people love for skiing or sledding. It was steep.

"Would you two like a ride to the top?" I asked. After eyeing the hill and judging the effort it would take to get to the summit and they agreed. As my wings spread, I gripped them both by the hands and flew them up to the top of the hill. 

Once I set them down on their feet, I landed in the middle of them. There, a few yards away was someone I didn't recognize. They were in a dusty blue dress, with small white dots and ruffly edges to the sleeves and bottom of the skirt section. As they turned around, I could see that the skin was indigo like Luca's and the hair was the same color. 

"Hey, maybe that's a relative of some sort," Luca said and pointed. I nodded but then we noticed Jones's puzzled look.

"What are you doing? That's the person you're looking for."

"What do you mean?" I asked, staring at the person skipping around several animals that appeared like blueberry dogs. The person was hopping and the dogs were following.

"That's Chase," Jones said. Luca and I both squinted and yes, the person wearing the dress with similar physical features to Luca, was indeed Chase.

"Bloody hell. He's having quite a time. Should we interrupt him?" Luca asked. 

"I'm not sure," I said. "It's true that he seems like he is having a really good time."

"Look at them blueberry dogs. Makes the description of blue for a dog coat make more sense here, eh?" Luca chuckled. I nodded, giggling. 

"Jones," I said, turning to him. The man-cat turned to me. This time when he was closer to me, I could see the black stripes that were the color of his skin on his face. There were parts of his cheeks that had no fur. 

"Yes?"

"Has he ever caused any problems for you?" 

"Not that I can think of. It may be that you don't need to confront him."

Suddenly, the grass around us was becoming trampled down in long trails from Chase's direction. When they finally reached us, they began sniffing us all over. These were the blueberry dogs that were dancing with Chase.

Just as he turned and noticed us, Chase pointed, his face angry with sharp eyebrows and a big scowl. 

"Ah, sh*t," I said as a huge oven appeared and Chase began laughing maniacally. 

"Yep, guess we'd better get on with it."

"Azucar power!" Jones exclaimed.

The huge oven was starting to heat everything around them. I decided to fly up to see if I could talk to Chase. When he saw me from above, he pointed at me. His blueberry dogs were on their hind legs snarling at me. 

"What do you want?" I asked.

"You ... must ... BAKE!"