Oz watched them closely, his gun trained on them. Much to his surprise, the tablets had seemed to snap into place, as though held by magnets. He inwardly grinned. He knew there had to be some kind of metal laced throughout this space, this confirmed it. He realized there was much more to this cavern than met the eye. He intended to reveal all of its secrets.
By the time all of the tablets were installed, they formed a striking dark golden wall, spanning over thirty feet across.
Javier, Carlos, and Mari stepped back a good distance away from the tablets.
Rick watched them closely. He could tell they were wary of them.
Seeing their reactions, Oz also backed up a few feet. He then ordered two of his men, Alpha-1 and Alpha-2, to take position at either end of the wall of tablets. The other two, Alpha-3 and Alpha-4 were ordered to guard the main entrance to the cave.
Very quickly the space felt warmer. The tablets glowed in the lighting that had been positioned around the cavern. The placement of the tablets seemed to create an energy field that surrounded them all. The hairs on their arms stood up, their skin tingled. They all felt as though they were wrapped in some kind of electrical field that permeated the surrounding area. There was an accompanying nearly imperceptible hum.
“Do you hear that?” Oz asked.
His men nodded in the affirmative.
Just then, Oz felt the compass he’d taken off of Javier start to vibrate in his pocket. He took it out. The hands on it were spinning much faster now. He inched closer to the wall of tablets, holding the compass out. Sure enough, it vibrated more strongly, the hands spinning wildly.
“Is that what this compass does?” he asked, turning around to face Javier, who was trying his best to conceal the deep alarm he was feeling. “It alerts you when you’re close to these tablets?”
Javier again said nothing.
“And these symbols inscribed on the back of it, they’re very similar to the ones on these tablets.” Oz grinned at Javier. “Most valuable. I’m definitely going to keep this.” He re-pocketed the compass and slowly stepped towards the wall of tablets. As he did, he yelped and jumped as he got a shock where the compass rested against him. “What the hell?” He quickly fished the compass out of his pocket and tossed it on the ground. The compass vibrated wildly, bouncing around the cavern floor.
The group was startled.
The hum grew louder and the cavern warmed even further. The electrical field the wall of tablets gave off practically buzzed in the air.
Oz looked over at Javier, glaring at him. “That’s a surprising turn of events. I guess that wasn’t all this compass was designed for.”
Javier held his gaze, but didn’t answer.
“Tell me now—what is the true purpose of this compass?” Oz fumed, aiming his gun directly at Javier.
Rick knew the man wasn’t going to take no for an answer. He didn’t want to see Javier get hurt. He hoped they could all still make it out of this alive. “Javier, just tell him. We don’t want things to get even worse for us.”
Oz nodded his head. “You should listen to your friend. He’s not as stupid as he looks.”
Rick bit his tongue.
The Ares operatives listened, but showed no outward response to the startling turn of events. They held their positions and kept their weapons trained on the group. They waited for Oz’s lead.
Javier blinked and took a long breath. “It activates the tablets.”
Oz looked at the wall of tablets. “Nobody move, nobody touch the compass.” He stepped warily around the vibrating compass and walked the length of the wall, gazing at each tablet. He studied the large number of peculiar symbols. He held his hand up to one of the tablets, but was careful not to touch it.
“These are warm,” he said. “Incredible.” He angled his ear towards one of the tablets. “And definitely the source of the hum.”
Then, he noticed the sandstone protrusion with dark mineral striations in front of the tablets. It had a bowl-shaped depression on the top of it. He glanced back at the compass, still vibrating noisily on the cave floor.
“Does that go here?” he asked Javier.
Javier clenched his jaw. He hated seeing these gringos in this sacred space. They defiled it. His mind raced for ways he could work this situation. He didn’t know how exactly this was going to play out, but he knew he couldn’t allow this secret to get out. There was far too much at stake.
“Si,” he answered.
“Makes sense,” Oz said, “you wouldn’t want to be holding onto that buzzing thing.” He went to retrieve the compass.
“We place a cloth inside, so as not to damage the compass from scraping against the rock,” Javier said. “Allow me.”
Oz nodded.
Javier removed his outer layer, then stepped forward and placed the nylon jacket inside the depression. “There,” he said, as he stepped back.
Oz picked up the compass, his hands tingling as he did, and quickly deposited it in the depression. He also stepped back a few feet.
Rick watched Javier, trying to figure out what was going on. He may not have known the young man long, but he knew him well enough to know something was very wrong. His instincts were telling him to get the hell out of here before something bad happened. Javier had told them nothing of this. And what one didn’t know in a situation like this could prove deadly. He glanced over to Sofia, Luis, and Diego and quietly motioned them all to stay still.
They understood at once the worsening precariousness of their predicament.
“So,” Oz said, looking back at Javier. “You know what my next question is.”
Javier didn’t answer.
“Tell me what all of this does,” Oz said, his voice getting tight as his
