“Gatita, what are you two saying?”
“Just hold on, Dad.” To KuTu, she asked, “Then what makes you believe we are in danger?” She pointed at the skulls. “These people died long ago.”
He held his hands out wide, palms toward the sky. “There are whispers in the trees.”
Shoot, she’d forgotten to consider metaphysical sounds that could be confused as a warning.
Angélica cocked her head slightly, listening. “I hear nothing.”
“You are not listening close enough.” He squatted, sniffing around. “The ground smells rotten.”
She sniffed, too. “It smells musty from decay, like a jungle.”
He walked over and took her by the arm, leading her to the wall, and pushed aside a tangle of morning glory vines. “Touch the stone.”
She did. It was crusted with lichens, warm under her palm. “What am I supposed to feel?”
“This rock is not singing.”
Had she translated that word correctly?
“Singing?” she repeated.
He nodded. “There is no vibration here. Only death.”
Having worked for years with Teodoro, a longtime shaman, Angélica understood that in Maya culture, inanimate things possessed a soul. This belief in animism was an important part of their beliefs. She spread her fingers wide, but felt nothing other than a hard stone.
“What the hell is going on?” Bronko asked, pulling out a lighter.
“Maybe she’s trying to push the wall down,” Quint said.
Her father sighed. “I wouldn’t put it past her. She has that gleam in her eyes.”
“What gleam?” Raul asked.
“The one she gets when she’s hell-bent for leather,” Quint told him.
Ignoring the wiseacres, she prodded KuTu in Mayan, “Are you certain?”
He nodded solemnly. “We must protect ourselves before going any farther. Make offerings for safe passage.” He glanced in Quint’s direction. “But not the tall one.”
“Why not him?” Was this about Quint and his camera? “Those photos he took of the skulls are for me, for later. I want to know why these poor people died.”
KuTu brushed off her concern with a flick of his hand. “The tall one does not need protection.” He pointed toward the sky, where five king vultures still circled, gliding lazily on the air currents. “They will watch over him.”
“The vultures?” Angélica had a feeling she knew where the Maya guard was going with this, but she played dumb for the time being. “They are here because of theaguada.”
KuTu shook his head. “The Lord of Death sends his messengers to travel with the tall man.”
Shit.She’d had a similar hair-raising conversation with Teodoro not so long ago about Quint. The shaman had called Parker anXtaabay—with two a’s in Quint’s case, meaning a demon from the Maya Underworld, rather than the femme fatale,Xtabay, who waited in the dark forest intent on enticing men to their deaths. Teodoro had explained that he believed Quint came from a long line of good demons, who were supposedly sent here to protect humans by capturing and killing tormentors who’d escaped from the Underworld.
He’d also taken a page from her father’s book and recommended she bear a child with Quint, but while her dad was just looking for grandkids, Teodoro wanted to continue Quint’s line of good little demons, which frankly made Angélica wary. She’d seenThe Omen. Demon kids could be hard on their parents.
KuTu patted the wall. “If you want to know what is on the other side, send the tall man up there to see.” KuTu pointed up at the vultures. “They will watch over him.”
Angélica turned away, running her hand down her face. Now was not the time to relay to Quint and the others what had been said, but she really wanted to see what was on the other side of this wall. They were so close. To turn back now without knowing would have her tossing and turning in her hammock all night.
Maybe she could slip past whoever was keeping watch tonight and come back on her own when … No, that would be foolish, especially with theaguadanearby, luring in predators as well as their prey.
