“I guess so,” she said. “But maybe not the part about walking through monsters’ mouths to reach other worlds.”
“They were a very mystical culture,” Atticus said, thrusting his free hand in his pocket and giving a long, soft sigh. “Sometimes, I wish I had a time machine. Then I could go back and actually live among people like the ancient Maya, or the citizens of Mohenjo-Daro, or ancient Athens! Think what that would be like!”
“A world without hot, running water, flushing toilets or deodorant,” Charlie said. “Very mystical.”
Atticus’s smile faded. “You haven’t a romantic bone in your body, have you, Mr Valentine?”
“Maybe not, but I can field strip an assault rifle in less than sixty seconds and I’m a total devil when it comes to making Thai kaeng khae curry. We all have our uses.”
Atticus tipped his head. “And a very valuable member of our team you are, too.”
Decker removed his hat to wipe some sweat from his eyes. “Can we get back to the capstone? Remember, those maniacs are probably down here somewhere!”
“Thank you, Mitch,” Selena said. “The point is that while Xunantunich is a very well preserved ancient site, it has many missing parts, and it looks like this capstone was once part of the temple roof there. If Montesino really did see what he described in his journal, it’s possible the destructive power he witnessed was somehow channelled by the capstone.”
“I’ll ask the obvious one,” Riley said. “How?”
She shrugged. “I’m an archaeologist, not a scientist.”
“But what if it’s not science?” Diana asked. “What if it’s some sort of divine power beyond our imagination?”
Charlie scoffed. “You can’t be serious? There’s no such thing! If it really was the capstone that caused the devastation Montesino wrote about, then there has to be a perfectly rational, scientific explanation.”
“If you say so,” Diana said, taking a step back from the alcove.
Decker scratched his jaw. “Fine, and it’s all great that we found these pretty pictures of the capstone, but where’s the real thing? Answers on a postcard and gratefully accepted.”
“Ah, that we still don’t know,” Atticus said, holding a wobbling flashlight in his old hand as he stared up at the alcove. “But this is something else! Already it’s one of the greatest moments of my career and we’ve barely scratched the surface.”
Selena drew up beside him and swept the beam of her own flashlight across the alcove’s ornate stone ceiling. “Postclassic era?”
He nodded. “I should say so. Certainly doesn’t seem to be any evidence of the post-contact era or Spanish conquest in here.”
“What does that mean to us plebs?” Charlie said.
“It means it was built between five hundred and a thousand years ago,” Decker said.
Selena and Atticus turned simultaneously and stared at him. “You amaze me,” she said.
He shrugged. “I do listen to some of your ramblings… occasionally.”
“You flatter me, Mitch. Please stop.”
He grinned. “But that’s the limit of my knowledge.”
Diana said, “It’s a very pretty alcove, I agree, but…”
“But it’s still not what we’re looking for,” Selena said. “It’s nothing close to what we’re looking for. At least now we know the Stormbringer seems to be somehow contained in a capstone like you’d see on the top of a pyramid.”
“Wait,” Atticus said. “You see that glow over there in the next cavern?”
“I do indeed,” said Decker. “And I don’t like it. What the hell could be glowing like that in a place like this?”
Atticus shrugged and swallowed nervously. “Not a fire.”
“No, not a fire,” Riley said. “Not unless it’s been burning for half a millennium.”
“Which it has not,” said Charlie. “Whatever the hell it is.”
“Please do not use that word,” Diana said with a shudder. “Remember where we are!”
“C’mon, Di!” Riley said. “Don’t you start, too. Just because we’re in a cave in Xibalba where the ancients said the entrance to hell was located, doesn’t mean this is the actual entrance to hell, right Lena? Right? I mean, does it?”
She thought about her reply. “Not sure on that one, Riley. To be honest, I’m as much in the dark as you are.”
“Let’s stop being silly,” Atticus said. “Yes, the ancient Maya said the entrance to Xibalba was to be found in a cave in this approximate area. But let’s use some deductive reasoning. Just because there is a fiery glow emanating from a cave here does not mean it’s the entrance to hell!”
“No, it does not,” Decker said. “All we have to do is walk in that cave and find out what it is.”
Charlie craned his neck forward and looked deeper into the bright golden glow lighting the cave walls. “And I’m sure when Riley gets back he’ll give us a full report of what he found in there and then we can proceed safely.”
Riley looked at him. “Wait, what?”
The glow suddenly went out and they heard boots crunching on the cave debris. Selena gasped and swung her flashlight up in front of her. She was horrified to see a man in a jade stone mask in the entrance to the next cavern. Beside him, what looked like a number of common thugs and gangsters. Four of them were carrying something heavy and hidden from view by a large tarp. Then, they saw the Avalon crew and pulled up fast, drawing weapons.
“Drop your guns! Now!” one of them shouted.
Decker looked at Selena. Everyone could see they were massively outgunned and stood little chance in fire fight. Reluctantly, they dropped their weapons and kicked them over to their captors.
“We finally meet,” said Decker. “I’ve been waiting to get a better look at the assholes who shot up my plane!”
“Yes, an unfortunate necessity,” said the masked man. He stepped into their flashlights and stared at them through the slits in his
