Teshna was so angry that she felt like pushing Muluk down the steps to demonstrate her opinion of their ceremony. But she remained under control and simply nodded in response.
After Muluk left, Lamat turned to Teshna and asked, “What must we do?”
Teshna sat beside Balam, cradling his head against her. “We wait,” she said, and focused on the sun’s descent, trying to will it to move slower.
Chapter Thirteen
William cringed from the pain in his arm as Kinich Ahau yanked him up the steps of the temple, his sharp cat- like nails digging into his skin. At the top of the pyramid, he saw a massive orb of light glowing as bright as the sun. While shielding his eyes from its glare, he tried to pull away, but he could not break free from the Sun god’s vice-like grip.
He knew he had been drugged and was hallucinating, but the vision seemed so real. William considered the possibility that he had died and was now passing through the light. But if that were the case, he wondered why he would have such a horrible escort to the afterlife? He had never heard of any near-death stories like
After a blinding flash, William found himself on a boat in the middle of the ocean. The sound of a sputtering compressor drew his attention to a tanned Mexican wearing shorts and flip-flops, refilling scuba tanks. Scanning his surroundings, he could see that he was standing on the upper deck of a commercial dive boat. Several fair-skinned Americans mingled near him, enjoying the orange and red colors in the sky where the sun neared the horizon. William approached a heavy dude with sunburned skin. “Where am I?” he asked, but the man didn’t answer. William assumed he didn’t hear him over the noise of the compressor. He tried to tap his shoulder, but his hand passed right through him, as if he was a ghost.
Scuba divers emerged from the ocean in small groups, waving to the vessel. One by one, the divers made their way up the boat’s ladder in their shorty wetsuits and began stowing their gear.
A scream for help caught everyone’s attention from the group of divers that had just surfaced. When the boat neared, it became obvious that one of the divers was unconscious. Another diver in the group hollered to the dive master, “He passed out underwater!”
When they pulled the unconscious man onto the boat and began giving him CPR, William nearly fell over the railing, staring down at the diver with big eyes. “It’s my dad!” He rushed down the steps to the platform where his father lied. The dive master tried to revive him; he pounded on his chest, counting the strokes as he went, and gave him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation in between. “This is the trip where my dad died. Why am I seeing this?” William asked. “This isn’t real!”
“Oh, but it is, Balam,” Kinich Ahau said, now sitting cross-legged atop the upper deck of the boat like a monstrous version of Buddha in a peaceful yoga pose, with his clawed hands resting on his furry knees. His eyes had a bright orange glow as he gazed down at him with a mischievous smile.
William lurched back, startled to see the frightening creature there. “You’re making this up just to mess with me! I wasn’t even on this dive trip. How can you know about something that didn’t happen in your time?”
Kinich Ahau had a long and raspy laugh. He raised his hand, freezing the scene before them with the suddenness of pressing the pause button on a DVR. “As the sun shines upon all who inhabit this world, I have the power to see through the souls connected to me through the Ritual of Ascension. Time is irrelevant to me.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“I am the Sun god! Through the power of the sun I illuminate the darkness. There is darkness within you, Balam. It eats at your soul, and it has changed your life’s course forever. It began at this place… and in this time.”
“What are you talking about? Who are you?”
The Sun god growled and spoke with a hint of frustration in his voice. “Your people see us as gods. By your standards, perhaps we are. We once traveled the universe, but are now bound to this world on a higher vibration. Beings such as myself have the ability to harness the elements of this world-to effect change on your physical plane by uniting with the energy of the souls that inhabit your world. Our kind may promote growth, or create chaos.” He pointed a sharp claw at William, and the scene continued before him, with the dive master thrusting his weight against his father’s chest.
“Please stop it,” William said, as he fought back the tears that began to surface.
“Passing through the Serpent Passage and binding the bloodstone to the soil plague created an imbalance. It has drawn the attention of the feathered serpents to our place in time. They seek to end our influence on this world… they will send the chupacabras for you and the bloodstone.
“How can it help for me to see
“I will give you a chance-a gift-to redeem yourself, and to alter these events.”
“What? Anything!”
He leaned toward William. “Remove the bloodstone and place it near your father’s chest. It will draw out the destructive energy that now attacks his heart.”
William did just what the Sun god advised and held the bloodstone over his dad. A red mist rose from his father’s chest and was absorbed by the stone like a range hood collecting smoke off a frying pan. William held the bloodstone up to the Sun god; it buzzed like an electric razor in his hand and glowed in a pulsating manner-like a beating heart. Yet his dad still didn’t move. “It’s not helping!” William said.
“To save this one, you must transfer the damaging energy to another. Touch the stone to any other person on this boat. Do it now, before the sun sets.”
“What?” William asked with a worried laugh, hoping he had misunderstood. But the creepy smile on the Sun god’s face confirmed his fears. He couldn’t believe what he was being asked to do.
Teshna glared at the sky, watching with dread as the bottom edge of the sun made contact with the horizon. She studied Balam and Subiac, sprawled out on the hard stone floor, their arms and legs twitching like dogs running in their sleep. She tried to detect any change in their health, but couldn’t notice anything different. Teshna covered her face to conceal her sadness.
Lamat came near, placing his hand on Teshna’s shoulder. “Princess, I would stay and care for them until the very end. You should leave now. Go with Salmac and the others… while it is safe.”
When Teshna hesitated, Salmac threw his hand up. “Balam will be sacrificed either way-whether he awakes or not,” the Captain said, looking anxious to leave.
“Yes, I also heard King Snarl Tooth’s declaration,” she snapped. Teshna froze when the Jaguar Priest approached, making another ascension in his jaguar mask and robe, chanting and waving his incense burner on his way up the steps. The Jaguar Priest bowed to Teshna, entered the chamber at the top of the temple, and then returned back down the steps.
While watching the Jaguar Priest exit around the side of the pyramid, it occurred to her that his next ascension would be at sunset. She would have to ready herself for that painful moment when the light of the sun faded from Balam’s face. Teshna returned to Balam’s side and noticed a glow flickering from the bloodstone, renewing her determination. “As long as they live, there is still hope,” she said to the others. “We will wait until the sun sets.”
“You now hold a powerful weapon, Balam, that only
“If I do this, my dad will live?” William asked, wanting to understand the implications.
“Yes,” Kinich Ahau said.
“The person I touch will actually die… right here?” he asked, a little confused. “It will be like my dad never died?”
“Yes, but you must do it before the darkness comes,” Kinich Ahau said, as the sun began to dip beneath the blue horizon of the ocean.
While holding the buzzing red stone in his hand, William found himself considering the idea, scanning the
