“Uh, huh. What are we supposed to do here?”
She frowned. “I’m not sure. In the old stories, the house was full of captive jaguars. But these are just statues.”
“I doubt very much that they are just statues,” Alex said.
“True.” She turned to her warriors, chose one of them. “You.”
Despite his fierce appearance, the man went pale. He glanced to his comrades as if looking for moral support, but none would meet his gaze.
“Go,” Carina commanded. “Show us the way.”
“You should be the one to go,” the man hissed. “Or are you afraid to face the Lords of Xibalba? Maybe you are not fit to lead us.”
He started to raise his war club, but at that instant, all four of Alex’s men brought their assault rifles up, aiming them at the man’s chest.
Alex laughed. “Is this going to be a problem, Carina?”
Carina moved like lightning, drawing her obsidian dagger and pressing it to the warrior’s throat before he could even blink. She leaned close to him and whispered, “It is an honor to be sacrificed to the gods of heaven and earth. Or would you rather I spill your blood like this?”
“You never liked me,” he spat. “That is why you are sending me to die.” His eyes flicked to the side. “She will sacrifice all of us, brothers, and give the Shadow to this outsider.”
“If the gods will it, you will pass safely through the jaguars of Xibalba.” Carina lowered the blade and eased away from him.
The warrior bared his teeth and shook his club, but then turned away from her and started across the floor of the cavern toward the rows of stelae.
Alex pretended to follow the man’s progress but he was far more interested in the silent power struggle going on between Carina and her warriors. Underneath their tattooed savagery, they were cowards. Cosplay warriors, ready to kill, but afraid to die. Carina would not be able to maintain her control of them for long if—
There was a loud snick and a blur of motion right in front of the advancing scout. One of the carved figures had spun completely around, and as it turned, a score of sharp, obsidian blades — each at least three feet long — had shot out from holes in its body.
A haze of red mist filled the air around the warrior, and then he collapsed onto the stone floor.
In pieces.
“Ouch,” Alex said, wincing a little. He faced Carina but continued to watch the other warriors. “Next batter?”
Carina’s expression was more confident now. “He was a coward and the gods demanded his blood. But his sacrifice has appeased them. I know the way, now. Follow me.”
Without waiting for anyone to acknowledge, she turned on her heel and started out across the floor.
None of the warriors moved.
Alex shook his head in disbelief. This woman had more balls than any of her men, but courage alone wouldn’t guarantee her safety.
She reached the bloody chunks of the fallen warrior and turned left, moving along the row of statues until she reached two that looked like mirror images facing each other. Without hesitating, she stepped between them.
Nothing happened.
“I didn’t understand at first,” she called out, without looking back. “But then I remembered why el Guia appears to us in the form of the Lightning Dog. The jaguars kill, but the dogs show the way.”
“Guide dogs,” Alex muttered, hurrying to be the first to follow in her footsteps. “Of course.”
Bones was still twenty feet from safety when the floor under his left foot split apart with a resounding crunch. He stumbled forward, hitting the floor face down, and triggering another loud crack. Jagged fracture lines, like red lightning bolts, shot out from underneath him.
Maddock’s breath caught in his throat and his hands curled into claws, as if he might, through sheer willpower, keep the floor from collapsing and delivering his friend into the volcanic fury below.
Willpower or not, the floor remained more or less intact.
“Don’t move,” Maddock hissed, mindful of what might happen if he raised his voice any louder.
“Easy for you to say,” Bones called out. His words were fast and clipped. “Now I know why bacon makes that noise on the grill.”
“Don’t try to get up. Keep your weight spread out evenly.”
“Can we give the fat jokes a rest?” Bones said through clenched teeth as he reached forward, placing his palms flat on the superheated surface, and began pulling himself forward. He had let Miranda take the heavy pack with the SCUBA equipment across, but even without it, he was still the heaviest of the group. Maddock wanted to crawl out and lend a hand but knew that any extra weight on the already damaged floor might cause it to fail completely.
After several excruciating minutes, his hands and legs blistered and raw, Bones reached the doorway. “Holy crap. That was—”
Angel and Miranda shushed him in harmony.
He stared at them in disbelief. “No, it’s okay. I’m fine. Just second-degree burns.”
“Shhh!” Angel hissed again, pointing up at the ceiling. “Bat House.”
Despite the obvious pain he was in, Bones brightened. “For reals?” He looked past the others, shining his light out across the cavern floor. “This isn’t at all what I expected. If I don’t see Anne Hathaway in about ten seconds, I’m officially calling shenanigans.” In response to Miranda’s look of confusion he added, “Catwoman? Because we’re in the Bat Cave? Jeez. Tough crowd, tonight.”
“Sorry. She doesn’t really do anything for me,” Maddock kidded.
Bones’ eyes went wide in shock and he clutched his chest as if having a heart attack.
Maddock grinned. Bones had to be in a lot of pain, but his sense of humor remained indomitable.
“Bats are a good sign, right?” Angel whispered. “They have to be able to get in and out, so there must be another entrance nearby.”
“There better be,” Bones said. “No way am I going through that again.”
“We’re lucky they’re just ordinary bats,” Bell said. “The Popol Vuh describes a house filled with giant Death Bats that have blades for wings.”
“Lucky is one word for it,” Maddock said. “But if they get spooked, it’s going to get ugly in here.” He shone his light down onto the cavern floor below. “We’re going to have to get across that.”
“Smells like the world’s biggest litter box,” Angel said, wrinkling her nose.
“Close,” Miranda replied. “It’s guano.”
“Bat droppings are rich in nitrates,” Maddock said. “That’s got to be the source of the ammonia refrigerant. There must be channels in the floor that shunt the liquid ammonia away to another cavern under the Cold House.”
“The Maya figured out how to turn bat crap into a refrigerator over a thousand years ago, but they never invented the wheel.” Angel shook her head. “That’s insane.”
“It’s batshit crazy,” Bones agreed.
“Clean up your act,” Angel said, “or I’ll tell Grandfather.”
Bones rolled his eyes.
“Getting across that guano field to the other side isn’t going to be easy,” Maddock said. “It’s probably several feet thick. The fumes are almost certainly toxic, but if we stick to the perimeter of the room where the accumulation is thinnest, we should be able to make it through without breathing too much.”
Even as he said it, he realized that what he was suggesting might be too much for Bell, but the archaeologist just nodded. “I’ll manage.”
“That’s probably where we’ll find the door to… ” He looked at Bell again. “What’s left?”
“I can’t say for sure, but Bat House was the last of the six Houses.”
“So we should be close to whatever it is we’re hoping to find.”