~ ~ ~
By the time we got back, we could see the headlights of the vans as the shifters were all ready to head to Chichen Itza. Soon we would be doing the same. We walked into the kitchen, where Adriana and Richard were sitting at the table.
“Look who’s here!” Richard said, giving us a half smile.
I flushed about ten shades of red.
“Would you two like some tea?” Adriana asked. “We’ve still got a little time before we have to leave.”
“I’ll have some,” I said, sitting down at the table.
“I’m good,” Matt said.
I looked into the living room, where I could barely make out the dark outline of Cesar sitting alone on the sofa.
“Cesar, do you want some tea?” I asked.
“No, thank you,” he replied politely.
To my surprise, Matt got up and walked over to him, sitting down on the arm of the sofa. Within minutes they were deep in conversation about something.
“Huh,” I said.
“A few things have changed while you were away,” Adriana said.
“You mean those two are getting along?”
“Well, I can’t say that they’ll ever be the best of friends, but they’ve found one thing they can agree on,” Richard said.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“You.”
“Oh,” I said. Yeesh. I went back to sipping my tea.
“Good morning,” Adriana said, as the twins came into the kitchen.
“Uh, we have a slight problem,” Damian said, turning around. There on the back of his neck was the mark of a beautiful, bright sun. It wasn’t all one color like a shifter’s mark. It was in full color with bright yellows and oranges.
“What the—” Richard began.
“—Wait,” Damian said. “There’s more.”
Lyssa lifted her hair. On her neck was a gorgeous blue crescent moon.
“Oh, my God,” Adriana said. “Richard, the Hero Twins!”
“It has to be,” he answered.
“Wait,” I said, “the hero what?”
“The Hero Twins. From Mayan mythology. But they were boys. And, oh, Lord, I can’t believe I didn’t see this before! They were ball players!” Adriana was shaking her head in disbelief.
“Like soccer?” Lyssa asked.
“No,” Richard said. “The ancient Mayan people played a different ballgame. But the Hero Twins were incredible players. Just like you two.”
“Isn’t there a myth about the Hero Twins defeating some kind of sky god?” Damian asked.
“There is. Actually, they defeated several gods in the Mayan creation story. But most of them were in Xibalba,” Adriana said.
“She-bal-ba,” I repeated, “What’s that?”
“The Mayan Underworld,” Richard said.
“Maya, remember when we talked about the Chilam Balam?” Adriana asked.
I nodded.
“Well, the Hero Twins come from the other Mayan book I mentioned, the Popol Vuh. It actually contains numerous stories about the Hero Twins,” she explained. “At the end, one of the twins becomes the sun and the other becomes the moon. That has to be what their markings stand for. The question is, which story fits?”
“Maybe none of them do. It’s possible that they’re meant to help Maya,” Richard said.
“Okay, hold on.” Damian took a step closer to his twin. “Watch this.”
The twins took hands and closed their eyes. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, out of nowhere, I heard a yelp come from the living room.
“What the hell!” Matt yelled.
“What did you do?” I asked.
“We pushed a thought into Matt’s mind that his sneaker was on fire,” Lyssa giggled.
“Don’t ever do that again!” Matt sounded pissed.
“Your powers have expanded since you got your marks?” Adriana said. “That’s fantastic. I wish you had more time to practice.”
“Well, we already know we can push thoughts and visions. And we can still read each other’s minds, too, but we still can’t read anyone else’s,” Damian said.
“Looks like you were right all along, Adri. They must have a purpose to fulfill,” Richard said.
“You two should stay with us at the museum until we figure out what it is,” Adriana said.
“And we’d better get going,” Richard said. “The sun’s almost up.”
The next thing I knew, we were packed into the van and heading to Chichen Itza. I sat next to Matt and laid my head on his shoulder. We took the highway, so the trip was smoother and a lot shorter than I expected. Or maybe it just seemed that way as I sat looking out the window, wondering and worrying about all that was to come. Matt held my hand and gave it a squeeze as we pulled into the parking lot at the museum. There were already tons of cars and busses filled with tourists in the parking lot.
Immediately, Adriana, Richard and the twins walked into line at the front gate, while Cesar, Matt, and I stayed in the van and waited. Matt and Cesar were both wearing watches, and they checked the time repeatedly, which made me even more nervous. Finally, Matt looked at Cesar and nodded and we all clambered out. I noticed that as soon as we started walking toward the line, Matt and Cesar never left my side.
It took us a good half hour to get through the line and inside the museum. Once we were inside, we headed northeast to the Jaguar Temple. The crowd was so thick we had to push our way through, so I was grateful to have the guys as bumpers on either side of me. They were heading straight for our meeting point, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of El Castillo, which was directly to my right. It looked so much taller than it did in photos and I couldn’t believe how steep the stairs were. There were ninety-one of them, practically all going straight up. I cringed. Adriana had told me to wear jeans to protect my legs in case I slipped while I was running. Looking at it now, I felt like I should have worn knee and elbow pads and possibly even a helmet.
We finally got to the entrance to the Lower Temple of the Jaguar by the Ball Court. The entrance itself was made up of several very ornate carved columns. There was a worn Jaguar Throne at the entrance. I touched it briefly with my hand and felt a sudden jolt of power. I looked around me, but no one seemed to notice.
“Cesar,” Richard’s voice startled me out of my thoughts, “Good, you made it. Have you seen anyone from Toltec?”
“No, but they are here, I am sure,” Cesar replied. “This crowd is thick.”
“Well, let’s just hope that this wall of people is hiding us as well as it’s hiding them. We’re going to have to be very careful. And remember, no one phases unless it’s absolutely necessary. The last thing we need is a riot on our hands,” Adriana said.
“I have a feeling we’re going to end up with one no matter what we do,” Matt said.
“Okay, Maya.” Richard turned to me. “Tell me what you’re going to do.”
“We make our way to the bottom of El Castillo. I wait until I’m signaled and then I run the steps. I enter the temple at the top where I can’t be seen, open a portal, and move to the roof. Or I could just open a portal at the base of the pyramid,” I suggested hopefully.
“No. That’s too dangerous,” Adriana said. “You could miss.”
I gave an internal groan as I thought about the hellish run that awaited me.
Richard took over. “Once you get to the top of the roof, you’ll feel the pyramid amplifying the power from the earth. Just follow your instincts,” he said.
“Okay.” I nodded, but I actually had no idea what that meant. Especially since my instincts at that particular moment were telling me to turn around and get the hell out of there. But I knew I couldn’t run. I knew what had to be done, and I knew that I could die doing it. Please be with me, Grandma, I thought. Just then I felt Matt take my right hand to comfort me and a vision of my grandma chanting before her altar flashed before me. I knew instinctively that Matt’s impulse to reassure me had come from someone else.
I smiled to myself as we rounded the corner and began the walk to El Castillo.
Jaguar Sun (Jaguar Sun Series Book 1) Page 30