“Holy smokes!” Daisy whispered, squeezing Quint’s arm in her excitement. “What are the chances of having two dead kings stop by to give us news?”
“I don’t know, but their messages must be urgent.”
Quint glanced down the road toward Angélica. Was she seeing this? She had her back turned to them, saying something to her father from the looks of it, so maybe not.
More fluttering and flapping came from up on the wall.
Daisy gasped.
Quint turned back. Four king vultures were now perched up high. They stared down at them with heads lowered, their white breasts puffed out, black feathers tucked.
“Did you know they have a king vulture in a zoo up in Tucson that’s over sixty years old?” Daisy said. “That’s almost twice as long as they normally live.”
Quint glanced her way. “Your knowledge of vulture trivia is downright surprising, Daisy.”
She shrugged. “I love all things Maya, and vultures played a large role in their beliefs and lore.”
“Are you two seeing this?” Pedro asked, coming up beside them. “Or am I dead and thosepájarosare here to pluck my eyes out?”
Quint grimaced. “Daisy says they might be old, dead kings who’ve come to deliver messages to us from the gods.”
Two more vultures landed, bracketing the first four.
“And then there were six.” Daisy’s tone was a mixture of awe and glee.
His focus on the birds, Quint asked Pedro, “Where’s Fernando?”
“He’s watching from behind a tree. He said that vultures creep him up.”
“And out.” Daisy fixed Pedro’s expression without missing a beat.
“He prefersjavelinas,” Pedro added.
“Rover would be happy to hear that,” Quint said, watching as three more vultures joined the other six.
“Nine.” Daisy sucked air through her teeth. “Can you believe this?” She shook Quint’s arm. “You need to take a picture of this, Junior Mint.”
She was right, dammit. What was he thinking?
He opened his backpack, fishing blindly for his camera while keeping his eyes on the show up on the wall. Whether he was the bait for this death-eater congregation or not, he could be gawking at a once in a lifetime photo opportunity.
By the time he had his camera out and ready to shoot, four more king vultures had joined the party. “Thirteen!” he whispered in amazement, snapping several shots from his rock perch.
“Same as the number of heavens,” Pedro said.
Daisy trembled in excitement beside him, bumping him as he took another photo.
He stood slowly, stepping onto the old road to take a few more shots, some vertical, some horizontal.
A fourteenth vulture flapped down, claws first, and landed on the top of the pile of skulls. Its weight made the stack shift, but it held steady.
“¡Dios mio!”Pedro joined Quint on thesacbe. “I’ve only ever seen them gliding above. They aremuy grandeup close.”
Daisy came up next to Quint, her palm cool on his forearm. “They are watching over you,Kimi,” she said in a guttural voice.
Kimi?
Quint glanced down to find her looking at him with her eyes half-closed, lids fluttering rapidly. Christ, not now. Not with Pedro here.
