I only have to take in the whole picture and remember the facts, clearing out everything else. Manuel’s heartache over his family. My mission to find the Illari. My own broken heart. I sweep all of that to the side.
Think, Catalina.Think.
All of the statues are the same width and height. The three gods are all wearing robes, facing away from one another, and somewhere on them they are carrying an item of importance. A crown, a pendant, and an amulet.
Perhaps the answer has something to do with that?
I step away from the three pillars, wanting to stare at them all at once. When I do—Ifinallysee it.
“Manuel,” I say. “Why do you suppose the statues are on platforms that spin?”
He comes to stand next to me. “I don’t know.”
“There has to be a reason,” I muse. “Otherwise, why not set them on the flat surface at the top of the pillar? Why have them move at all?”
“All good questions,” he says, taking off his hat to smooth back his hair. “Any ideas?”
I contemplate the three pillars and their corresponding statues until something shifts in my mind and an idea strikes.
Manuel studies me. “What is it? What do you see?”
I point to the statues. “They’re dressed identically, and their faces resemble one another. As if they’re a family—which is monstrous. But look, the artist who carved them designed them as a matching set. They somehow … belong to one another.”
He tilts his head. “Right. I see it. But I still don’t understand what we’re missing.”
“I’m getting to that. Right now they’re all facing away from one another, and it looks wrong. Weird, even. They spin for a reason, so logically there must be a correct direction. If we turn the platforms and have them face one another, the dials might finally work.”
“But there are three of them. How do we get them to face one another? It’s not possible.”
I frown. “True. I wonder if they need to be looking toward the center of the room, instead of away from it. Almost as if they’re pointing to something.”
“But there’s nothing in the center,” he says, walking over the marked floor. “Only this symbol.”
“It can’t hurt to try.” I point to the moon goddess. “I’ll spin Luna. You take care of Inti and Pachamama.”
“All right,” he says, studying the dials on the walls. “I bet the correct way to turn the wheels is counterclockwise, just like the platforms.”
I run to the moon goddess’s pillar and climb up so I can spin the platform around with the statue gazing toward the center of the room. By the time Manuel does the same for the other two, I’m already standing in front of the wheel that has one long dash down the middle.
He looks over at me and nods.
I turn the wheel counterclockwise and it slowly gives under my fingers. “It’s working!” I finish the turn and then run over to the third dial. Manuel spins his wheel with two dashes, and then I complete the turn for the last one. We meet in the middle of the chamber and glance at the vine-covered wall, and then slowly approach it, as if it were feral. I swing the vines to the side. The wall of stone is still there.
We’re still trapped inside.
CAPÍTULO
Catorce
The sound of rock scraping against stone rents the air. We stare at the wall, but it still doesn’t move. I spin away, searching for the source of the noise, and walk toward the pillars.
“Manuel!”
He rushes to my side and we gape at the floor—specifically at the triangle-shaped pattern in the center of the chamber. Whatever we did with the wheels, it’s propelled the stone to move, revealing a deep, dark hole. I walk slowly toward it, but Manuel stops me and pushes me behind him. “Let me check it first.”
I resist rolling my eyes. He carefully makes his way over to the pit and peers into the flat darkness.
“Well?”
