The Secret of the Codex
Page 25
But she couldn’t. She looked up the long hallway they’d just come down and knew they would never make it back that way. The only way out was through. She just had to trust that Grady knew what he was doing.
So she jumped, backpack and all, into the swirling abyss, praying that Grady’d been right.
Mandy gasped as soon as Kayla hit the water and dropped out of sight. She turned wide eyes to Justin. “What do we do now?” She didn’t like the panic she heard in the voice echoing around the small chamber.
Justin seemed to be frozen for a second or two, then blinked and few times and shrugged. “I guess we follow them.” He started toward the hole.
Mandy thrust out her hand to stop him. “No!” She couldn’t help but shout, which she regretted immediately. She winced as the shout rang in her ears.
But Justin turned to her and smiled. “Look, honey, I’ve learned to listen to Kayla—and Grady—in the past few weeks. I know they’d never do anything to hurt us. They believe so strongly that this is the way we have to go that they jumped in, no questions asked.” He drew a shaky breath as he inched closer to the edge. “So now I think we need to believe them.” He took one final step over the edge and disappeared just as Kayla and Grady had before him.
Mandy wasn’t fully convinced. How could she put her trust in something she couldn’t see? How could she be certain that this one decision wouldn’t kill them all?
The short answer was: she couldn’t.
She sighed, but was still unsure. How did she know they hadn’t just slammed the coffins shut on their own watery graves? Why would they do such—then, out of nowhere, she heard a hurried shuffling echo off the cave walls. She jumped, almost losing her balance and stopping herself just short of hurtling headlong into the hole.
She saw something moving at her feet, and scrambled away from it as best as she could. Then, from what she hoped was a safe distance, she looked at it more closely . . . and recognized what it was.
A rat, just inches from her feet, scurried by and headed back up the tunnel.
That was it. This tunnel was getting way too creepy.
She took a deep breath and plunged into the rushing water.
CHAPTER 32
Water
Grady had been holding his breath for what seemed like forever. A million questions were running through his head, but one prevailed: What had he just done?
Had he condemned himself and his friends to death? Had his one spur-of-the-moment decision cost all of them their lives? Would this river ever resurface?
Would he ever resurface?
His lungs were screaming for oxygen. His head was throbbing, desperately pleading with his body for air. He thought that this might be the end, that he might never see . . . no, he couldn’t let himself think that. That was more than his mind could handle at the moment. He struggled against the urge to breathe, tried to hold on for just a little while longer. Tried to remember that Kayla was just behind him—he heard her decide to jump in but her thoughts had grown quiet after that. He hoped she was okay.
The river was rushing around him, catapulting his body down the tunnel while relentlessly battering it against the tunnel’s edges. He was mentally kicking himself for this stupid decision. How could he have been so foolish?
But then he remembered how he’d felt before he’d jumped into this deathtrap. He had been positive—beyond the shadow of a doubt—that this was where they needed to go. The book was calling out to him, pleading with him to find it, and he’d been sure that this was the only way.
Then an odd realization hit him, and his mind started to clear. He suddenly felt as though he was about to find something he’d never known he was missing. Like the book already belonged to him—he had just misplaced it. And this river, this watery tunnel under the earth, was his way to what was rightfully his.
If he didn’t drown first.
Kayla kept her eyes tightly shut as the torrent of water propelled her under the ground. She was almost certain that this was the way to the next book, but how could she be sure? She had no way of positively knowing, one hundred percent, that they wouldn’t be dead in the next few minutes.
But Grady had been so sure. He had jumped in without hesitation.
And she’d followed him. She trusted him, and now she knew how completely. She trusted him absolutely, with her very life.
There, in the turbulent stream of water with her lungs begging for air, she realized just how much she needed him, just how much she loved him.
She just hoped she would have the chance to tell him.
Grady opened his eyes in the murky water, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the wet darkness. He thought he had sensed light just a few seconds earlier—now he was sure. There was light ahead!
His lungs were burning, but he no longer cared. He was seeing the literal light at the end of the tunnel—he wouldn’t be underwater much longer.
His feet exploded from the watery shaft but touched nothing but air, and more water. The rest of his body followed, shooting him out of the tunnel. He flew through the air for what seemed like an eternity as water sprayed all around him. He struggled to hold his breath for just a few seconds longer.
He landed hard on his back on a sand-covered but rocky surface, which knocked the wind out of him. He sat up as soon as he could recover, coughing and gasping for air. The air here was very thick, saturated with water, but wonderfully breathable. He sat there for a little while, content to simply breathe again.
Kayla shot out of the tunnel a few moments later, and Grady quickly moved out of the way. Kayla landed hard, just as he had. Then, while caught in a coughing fit, she rolled over next to him to catch her breath. She had apparently figured out where Justin and Mandy were going to land.
Justin catapulted from the hole soon after Kayla—and Mandy soon after that—and they both lay on the ground gasping. Mandy’s sling was soaked, but it appeared that she had miraculously avoided landing on her arm.
Kayla squinted up at the hole they had just burst out of. It was easily twenty feet above the ground. She was amazed they didn’t break their backs when they fell.
Water was violently spewing out of the hole in the wall, sending a misting spray around the entire room. The torrent flowed out of the hole and into another river, creating a beautiful yet volatile waterfall. The river continued out of the room, through another hole in the wall, this one at floor level. There didn’t appear to be any other exit, which made Kayla frown without really meaning to. Would they have to risk drowning again? She hoped not. She certainly wasn’t looking forward to it.
Then it suddenly occurred to Kayla that she was squinting. She looked around, her brow furrowed. Why would she be squinting in here? Kayla focused her attention on the ceiling, where a bright light was shining and filling the room. It seemed to be coming from directly above her. She blinked a few times, shading her eyes with her hand, trying to adjust her eyes to the light.
Once she could see again, she took Grady’s offered hand and let him help her to her feet. She smiled to herself as she brushed herself off, then began to really take in their surroundings.
The room itself was large—but still much smaller than the cavern at Lamanai—a circular dome whose sides curved upward from the ground. At the apex of the domed ceiling, Kayla imagined a small hole—the light was so bright she couldn’t see it, but a hole in the ceiling was the only explanation she could come up with—that allowed the midday sun to shine through freely. The entire room was brilliantly lit, and, as her eyes adjusted, Kayla found the sunlight comforting after the darkness of the watery tunnel. And the warmth, which had nearly dried her shirt and thin khaki shorts despite the mist surrounding them.
Grady snorted to her immediate left. “Well, that was fun.” He shook his head rapidly, his sopping wet hair sending a spray of warm water over Kayla.
Kayla leaned over and playfully smacked his arm, noting the similarities to that rainy morning in the mess tent just a few weeks ago. Had i
t only been a few weeks? “Thanks for that.” She theatrically wiped at her face.
He grinned widely at her, then pulled her to his side. “Oh, you were wet anyway. Quit complaining.” He leaned down and kissed her forehead.
Justin rolled his eyes. “Geez, guys. Get a room.”
Kayla laughed aloud.
“Wait a minute,” Mandy spoke up, and Kayla noticed that her voice was missing the playfulness of the rest of the group’s conversation.
“What?” Kayla frowned.
Mandy looked up at the ceiling, surveying the room. “There’s no echo in here. But there should be . . .”
Grady nodded in agreement. “Yeah . . . that’s definitely odd.” He too began to survey the curving walls that led up to the hole in the middle of the ceiling.
Justin clearly didn’t understand. “Why does that matter?”
Kayla tried to explain. “There should be an echo in here. These walls appear to be made of rock, so our voices should echo off them, but they don’t, and, come to think of it, neither does the sound of the water. It doesn’t make sense . . .” her voice trailed off as she started to walk toward the nearest wall, taking the first step away from the group. The wall appeared to be made of solid rock, just as the ground under their feet.
Then she reached out to touch it—and her hand disappeared. Into the wall.
Mandy let out a short cry as Kayla’s mouth dropped open.
“But . . . how . . . how is that possible?” Grady stammered, staggering over to Kayla’s side. “How are the walls even staying up?”
Justin and Mandy joined their friends, eyes and mouths wide.
Kayla pulled her hand back out of the wall and stared at it in astonishment, turning it over again and again, afraid it might disappear if she stopped looking at it—and unable to shake the unsettling spongy feeling of the interior of the pliable wall.
“Amazing,” Grady breathed. He reached out his own hand to test the wall, but his fingertips never touched the wall. He froze. Kayla looked up to see his eyes glaze over, and the sight terrified her.
He began to walk away from the group robotically, heading down the wall about twenty feet before he abruptly stopped. He eerily turned toward the wall and reached out his hand, eyes wide but unseeing.
His fingers slid through the malleable substance that comprised the wall and Kayla held her breath. Grady extended his arm further and it vanished into the wall up to his elbow. He kept going, and soon his entire arm disappeared.
Then he stopped.
“What?” Kayla’s stomach was churning as she ran over to him. Mandy and Justin were close behind.
Grady was still, his expression blank. Kayla was really starting to get worried. She put her hand on his shoulder and spoke softly. “What’s wrong?” Her voice came out much lower than she expected, and she realized at once that she didn’t want an answer to her question.
Then Grady’s countenance suddenly relaxed, and a glow shone on his face. His eyes cleared and he slowly began to smile.
But Kayla couldn’t relax. “Grady, tell me! What’s wrong?”
Grady shook his head, blinking as though he was coming out of a trance. His next words came out barely above a whisper, but Kayla could hear the wonder in them. “I found it.”
Mandy tilted her head and squinted. “What?”
Grady grinned now, and began to pull his hand out of the wall. Slowly his elbow reappeared, followed by his wrist, then his fingers . . . which held something tightly in their grasp.
Mandy gasped, the pieces coming together in a rush.
The third book.
Emblazoned on the distressed leather cover was the Mayan symbol for “water”—Grady remembered enough K’iche to know that—and his heart skipped a beat as he turned it over in his hands. He had found his book.
He stared at it silently for a moment, then sunk to the hard sandy ground, opening the book carefully, almost reverently. He felt Kayla drop to the ground beside him as his eyes took in the first page.
Mandy, having little knowledge of the Mayan language, got up and started exploring the rest of the room, looking for a way out. Justin—who knew even less of the Mayan language than she did, Mandy knew—followed suit; they headed in opposite directions, running their hands lightly against the wall as they walked.
Mandy was astounded. The wall—if it could even be called that; its consistency was completely permeable and lacked any substantial foundation that she could determine—gave way under the slightest touch. Only by dragging her hand along the wall with a feather-light touch did her hand not breach the surface.
What little she could feel under her fingertips felt surprisingly like rock, only thin and somehow pliable. She gazed up at the ceiling and wondered, as Grady had, how the walls were still standing.
Mandy was nearing the gushing waterfall from which they had all been propelled. She gazed at it as she approached, taking her hand off the wall without really realizing it.
The water was moving so rapidly that it saturated the entire area around it except the ground directly beneath, where the water couldn’t reach. Mandy took the last few final steps and stood directly under the falling water, leaning over slightly to examine the floor and the wall next to her.
She slowly reached out her hand to test the wall beneath the opening. She touched it ever so lightly, anticipating that her hand would simply plunge through the thin outer layer and slide easily into pliant material.
But nothing happened.
She pressed her fingertips a little harder—applying only the slightest bit more pressure—and the wall started to give way. But instead of her hand contacting the sponge-like material that comprised the rest of the wall in this room, the wall crumbled in her hand. She retracted her hand quickly, as if a snake had snapped at it.
Then, to her horror, she heard a sharp crack.
She stared, frozen, at the wall in front of her and watched as a large fissure shot up from the small depression she’d made toward the large hole from which the water was gushing. She tried to back away, but jolted to a stop just before she was doused in a torrential waterfall; she’d forgotten about the rushing water behind her, which was now holding her in place.
For the moment. She turned and ducked to the side, sprinting back into the room, away from the deluge.
She didn’t get very far. Just a few seconds later, a second, much louder cracking sound seemed to split the room in two and Mandy jolted to a stop. Kayla and Grady flew to their feet, eyes wide. Justin started running toward her.
Feeling as though she was in slow motion, Mandy turned around to gaze at the wall, which was now barely visible under the ever-increasing stream of water. Her eyes widened; as much as she wanted—and tried—to, she was unable to pull her eyes away from the terrible sight.
She sensed rather than saw Justin coming up next to her. Unable to think of anything else to do, she slowly reached for his hand.
His hand was trembling.
CHAPTER 33
Faith
Kayla looked on, eyes wide, as the wall beneath the waterfall deteriorated with a grating sound so loud she had to clasp her hands over her ears. The water previously gushing from the relatively small opening was now spewing forth through a massive hole that had replaced an entire section of the wall. The small river bisecting the room was overflowing, slowly filling the room with an ever-rising flood.
“Time to move!” Grady shouted, snatching up the book just before the water reached their feet.
Yes, but to where? Kayla wondered, her eyes frantically scanning the room for an exit—any exit.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Grady running toward the flowing water. Toward? Was he insane?
Even though her instincts were screaming for a better solution, she headed toward Grady, toward the waterfall. Her feet sloshed through the rising water surrounding them, slowing her progress, but she closed the distance to Grady’s side more quickly than she would have thought possible.
What she saw on Grady’s face should have surprised her. It would have surprised anyone else. But she wasn’t surprised; she was, instead, comforted. She smiled, an unfamiliar but gratifying warmth flooding her veins.
She saw in his face an expression she was certain now mirrored her own. One that displayed a strange and inexplicable peace, a calm assuredness that defied all logic and reason.
In that moment, nothing could touch her, nothing could harm her. As long as he was with her, nothing else mattered.
She reached over and grasped his hand with a slight smile on her face as they stared at the ever-rising water.
Justin just stared at his two friends. What were they thinking? What was left of the wall beneath the gushing water was certain to give way in a matter of seconds. This room would be completely flooded in only a few minutes. So why were they so eager to face the danger head on? Why were they now staring at the water pouring from the wall as though it was their salvation?
Grady smiled serenely as he looked at the waterfall before him. The water around them was rising; he could feel it lapping at his knees. He clutched the book to his chest and gripped Kayla’s hand tighter. Then he waited.
For what, he wasn’t entirely sure.
His brain—his logical side—told him that this was foolish. That they all would certainly die in this underground cave, and the mystery of the books would never be found out. The only smart thing to do now—the only logical thing—would be to search for a way out.