What if the death-bat god is real?
His gaze dipped to the stone altar in the middle of the chamber. Initially, he’d tried to pull it under the hole in the ceiling, but it was too heavy. The damned thing must be chiseled out of solid granite.
Who carried it down here?
At least he’d been able to free the other half of themacuahuitl, so now he had two broke-dick weapons, for what that was worth.
It’s better than nothing.
“Would you shut up,” he whispered to the voice in his head that kept giving its two cents. Now was not the time for a commentary on his every thought.
Not every single one.
Cursing, he grabbed the last of the somewhat flat floor stones and added it to the stack. There, that was the best he could do. He just hoped the pile would hold his weight.
Rocks clattered in the tunnel behind him.
Quint froze, listening for any other sounds to follow.
Is that something breathing?
Maybe.
His shoulders hunched in anticipation, he turned very slowly and shined his flashlight at the tunnel opening.
He held his breath and waited.
And waited some more.
After several seconds of hearing only the racket of his heart hammering in his ears, he breathed a sigh of relief.
“Pssst!”
Quint nearly jumped out of his skin.
“Mira aquí,” a voice overhead said, telling him to look up.
He did … and nearly cried out in happiness at the sight of KuTu and Fernel peering down through the hole at him.
“What the hell is that?” Angélica whispered, staring at the creature crouched at the top of the steps.
“¡Dios mio!”Pedro whispered. “Is that some kind of bat? No, it is too big to be a …”
Another dog-bat creature followed, bumping the first one down a couple of steps.
Then another.
Then a fourth.
“Oh,mierda,” Pedro swore. “We are in very big trouble.”
The four creatures crowded together as they scanned the surrounding forest, their wings rustling against each other as they adjusted to fit on the steps.
“So, we’re hunting monster bats tonight,” Bronko said quietly, slowly setting down the coil of vines.
“They must have been the ones making the noise Quint was hearing,” Angélica whispered, carefully pulling out her machete. Her heart was thudding hard, adding a tremble to her voice.Oh, Quint! Please be okay.“Do you see any blood on their wings or snouts?”
“No,” Pedro said. “I don’t think that’s blood. It’s too white.”
