“Oh, gawd.” Angélica cringed at just the notion. “We need to set boundaries if she’s going to continue to hang around.”
She moved silently through the camp, trying to enjoy the love buzz Quint’s kisses had fueled and not let the sinking weight of failure return. They had just reached the mess tent when pounding footfalls came from the darkness behind them.
Quint turned, pushing her behind him, facing whoever was coming first.
He sighed a moment later. “It’s just KuTu.”
She stepped out from behind Quint to greet the guard.
“Dr. García,” KuTu said, breathing hard. “We must go.”
“Go where?” Quint asked.
He pointed toward the trees and the path to the site. “He … climb … eh … wall.” He struggled with both breathing and speaking English.
“What do you mean, KuTu?” she asked in Mayan.
“The other man.” He switched to Mayan, too. “The cursed one who was attacked byAh Mucen Kab.”
She frowned. “The Bee God?”
He nodded, taking a couple of quick breaths. “He snuck out in the darkness. I saw someone moving through the trees and followed. He climbed over the wall.”
“What’s he saying?” Quint glanced back and forth between them.
“Dr. Fernel went to the dig site just now,” she explained. “KuTu saw him scaling the wall.”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Is he delirious?”
“Maybe. Teodoro gave him some strong painkillers.” To KuTu, she asked, “Did you try to stop him?”
“I called out, but he did not hear.” KuTu frowned toward thetrees. “He was not alone.”
“What’s he saying now?” Quint asked.
“Dr. Fernel wasn’t alone.”
“Dark shadows were with him. One led the way.” KuTu shook his head solemnly. “I think he is going to try to summonCamazotz.”
Angélica blinked in surprise. Had she interpreted that correctly?
“Did I hear him sayCamazotz?” Quint whispered.
She nodded. “KuTu, why would Dr. Fernel want to summon the death-bat god?”
His wide eyes glittered in the moonlight. “I believe he wants to go through the reincarnation ritual so he can become immortal.”
“How can you know that?”
“I heard him blowing on the whistle of death in his tent two suns ago.”
Her breath caught. The whistle of death? Did that have anything to do with the whistling Esteban had heard coming out of the ruins earlier? The sound Daisy—or her mom—had claimed was growing louder?
“Come!” Kutu ordered. “We must stop him beforeCamazotzclimbs up fromXibalba.” He looked at Quint. “The demon must come, too. We will need his sacrifice to save us all.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
The demon must come, too.
