Chapter Thirteen #3
“If this site wasn’t open to the public, that might explain the lack of stelae. You wouldn’t need to tell everyone the purpose of a building or temple if it’s meant to be a secret.”
He swatted at a mosquito that had made it past the zippered flap. “You think the Calakmul population knew about this place?”
“Some of them must have. They were too close physically not to.” She stared down at the LIDAR map. “But it appears they kept it from the historical record for some reason.”
“Again, like a top-secret club.”
She shrugged. “Until we find more evidence leading us in a more solid direction, we can add it to our running theories.”
He turned her way and caught her hand, lacing his fingers through hers. “Are dig sites always this mysterious initially down here in the Maya world?”
“No, usually there are just temples, plazas, ballcourts, and other buildings with clearer indications of who resided there and what gods they liked to worship the most.” She scooted closer, splitting his knees with hers. “Although the last site got weird, too.”
“You think it’s me and Kimi, my death buddy, stirring up problems?”
She didn’t pretend to misunderstand the deeper question, especially in view of the concern lining his brow.
“We can’t rule that out. But it also could have something to do with Daisy, who has been at both sites, as well as you.
” She bumped her knees against his. “And we both know she is some kind of channeler.”
“That’s true.”
She looked down at where his thumb was rubbing over the back of her hand. “Tell me again what she said to you about kimi.”
There was something about Daisy’s words that kept replaying in her mind—beyond the obvious eeriness, of course.
She closed her eyes while Quint recounted the conversation about Daisy predicting without a doubt that someone would get hurt at the site, and then the bit about there being too many whispers and asking if he could hear the ancestors speaking to their guardian about death, which was smeared all over him.
He wrapped up with the part where Daisy said “he” must not be left alone.
“And that was it?” Angélica pressed.
“Yeah, well, except the rainbow part.”
She opened her eyes. “What rainbow part?”
“Daisy claimed to have seen rainbow colors in her head during all this.”
That was … interesting. “Rainbow colors or a rainbow itself?”
“She didn’t clarify. Just said the colors were vivid and beautiful, and that she got so focused on them that she forgot what we were doing.” He tipped his head slightly. “Why are you looking like that?”
“Like what?”
“All cloudy with a chance of rain from here to here.” Quint pointed at her forehead and then her chin.
She hesitated, not sure if she should tell him, or if it even mattered. Maybe she was allowing this supernatural stuff to rent too much space in her brain.
“Spit it out, Angélica.”
“Okay, but just keep in mind this is Maya mythology based, not facts, and various subsets of the Maya civilizations had different names and slightly altered beliefs for their gods.”
He waved for her to continue.
“The Maya believed in a goddess of rainbows.”
“That sounds like a nice job. Does she get to ride unicorns around?”
She grinned. “What is it with you and unicorns?”
He shrugged. “They’re pretty.”
“Anyway, most western civilizations are accustomed to rainbows symbolizing happiness and good luck.”
“And pots of gold.”
“Bingo.” She took another sip of water before continuing. “But the goddess of rainbows for some of the Maya should not be confused as a being full of goodwill, because some groups had a different belief when it came to rainbows.”
“Let me guess, they thought rainbows were a warning sign that the god of death was coming to visit them?”
“Close. Rainbows were sometimes thought to be the flatulence of demons, and they brought bad luck.” She took another drink. “Oh, and they caused disease, too.”
“Huh. That’s a bizarre twist on something so pretty.”
Setting her water down, she continued with her point. “I’ve told you before that Maya gods often have dual roles that play on the duplicity of Maya beings.”
“Yeah.”
“The goddess of rainbows is no different. She has a beautiful, youthful form, in which she represents fertility and childbirth.”
“Curvy hips, supple legs, long auburn hair?” he grinned. “Yeah, I’ve met her and got reeled in by her come-hither bedroom eyes.”
She wrinkled her nose at him. “But she typically takes the form of a sinister crone with pointy fangs and deadly claws.”
“That sounds more like Pedro.”
She chuckled.
“What’s your point about the rainbow goddess?” he asked.
“What if Daisy wasn’t just daydreaming about a rainbow while saying what she did to you? What if she was channeling the rainbow goddess and the part about death being smeared on you had something to do with bad luck?”
Quint knocked her leg with his. “Who are you and what did you do with Dr. García, the levelheaded brain-iologist?”
“I know it sounds nuts, but look at what happened at the last site.”
He sobered. “You think I’m the bad luck because I’m supposedly a Summoner? That I should leave and take my beast-luring beacon with me so any preternatural problems go away?”
“No, I don’t want you to leave.”
“Good, because I’m not going anywhere without you.”
Her heart melted even more in the steamy tent.
She lifted his hand and kissed the back of it, eyeing his lucky ring for a moment before returning to his face. “But what if that was a warning about this place being bad luck with smears of death everywhere. I mean, KuTu told me the wall stones aren’t singing.”
His gaze narrowed. “So, something died here and the skulls were a warning for any trespassers about a deadly disease?”
“Maybe.” She cringed. “Or maybe something is here that causes death and disease, and we need to be careful not to end up like the others.”
“Well, that doesn’t make me excited to crawl over that wall tomorrow.” He sniffed. “Maybe we should pack up this camp and call it a year. Take that vacation we put off.”
Guilt warmed her face even more, but she held his gaze. “We can’t leave, Quint.”
“I had a feeling you’d be too stubborn to agree.”
“I’m not being stubborn.”
“Then why can’t we get out of here before some kind of bizarre, ancient shit hits the fan?”
“Because if any of these what-if notions are true, especially when it comes to you being able to unintentionally summon supernatural troublemakers, then we need to keep any other archaeologists besides Dr. Fernel from coming here, at least until we can clear the site of whatever might be haunting it—for lack of a better word.”
“Haunting,” he repeated, his brow creasing. “And how do we do that?”
She sighed. “I don’t know, my Good Demon. But somehow we have to find whatever is at the end of that rainbow and bury it for good.”