“Get up!” Priest Quisac said.
William shot a startled look over his shoulder, and he saw the Serpent Priest coming down the passage; he had a torch in one hand and the sacred weapon in the other. “Thank God you’re here!” William said. He stood and picked up the anti-gravity device that he had dropped during his fall. “There are more of them coming.”
“I can see that… stand back,” the Serpent Priest said, motioning for him to step aside. William pressed his body against the cavern wall, covering an ear with his free hand. Priest Quisac fired again-with a thunderous blast-vaporizing another batch of feathered serpents that had made their way into the tube. “We must get above. They won’t follow us into the light.”
They moved through the rocky passages until they reached another section of metallic tubes. A stampede of footsteps resonated from behind them. Priest Quisac stopped and gazed at the base of the cavern wall, at the point where the creek initiated its flow of water into the tunnels. William glanced back and saw lots of yellow eyes racing up the passage behind them, like a swarm of glowing bees. “We’ll never make it!” he said.
“Take this,” Priest Quisac said, handing William the sacred weapon and torch. He snatched the anti-gravity device from him. “Get to the top!”
“What are you going to do?”
“Just go!” the Serpent Priest said. He poked away at various buttons on the anti-gravity device, causing sparks to jump out and latch onto the rock wall above the stream. While William backed down the tunnel, he could tell that Priest Quisac was trying to block the passage, pulling his weight away from the rocky wall; the device made a terrible grinding noise. Just when the feathered serpents rounded the corner, the cavern collapsed. A flood of water gushed forth, blasting the creatures back down the passage. Falling rocks and dust filled the tube, followed by a torrent of water that swept William off his feet and extinguished the torch in his hand.
He got up and waded through the tunnel; it had flooded up to his waist. “Priest Quisac!” he called out. He could only hear the falling rocks. When his eyes adjusted to the dim glow of the fluorescent algae in the tube, he noticed that the passage beyond had completely collapsed. He feared that Priest Quisac was crushed, or that he had been flushed away with the feathered serpents.
William struggled up the flooded tunnel and bumped into something floating on the water; it was the Serpent Priest. Blood covered the back of his head; his ponytail had become red. William turned him over, and Priest Quisac coughed up a mouthful of water.
“What happened?” Priest Quisac asked with a dizzy look.
While kneeling beside the Serpent Priest to examine the cut on his head, William could hear the steady gurgle of rushing water just beyond the cave-in. It occurred to him that Priest Quisac had removed the barrier between the passage and the underground river, which went all the way to the Cenote Azul. That was the connection that had pulled William and Betty down there in the first place.
Priest Quisac had dropped the anti-gravity during the rock slide, and William couldn’t find it anywhere. After fishing around the tube further down the tunnel, he came across the sacred weapon. “At least we still have this one,” William said.
“It is good that we do,” Priest Quisac said. “We will need it.”
They climbed up the steep entrance to the Sacred Cavern of Jade and found Teshna, standing with her arms crossed, glowering at them. From the anxious look on her face, she had clearly been going crazy with worry. But when she noticed their injuries, her stance softened. “What happened down there?” she asked, leaning closer to inspect William’s bloody leg.
William shrugged with a crooked smile. “The feathered serpents found us.”
Teshna gasped. She snatched her pack and retrieved some rags. She handed one to the Serpent Priest before returning her attention to William’s injured leg.
Priest Quisac wiped the blood from his head. “Our mission to reach Chichen Itza is even more critical now. The feathered serpents will be coming for us.”
“We should have gone with our ancestors,” Teshna said. She pulled a jar from her pack and poured its gooey green contents onto his leg; he groaned from the pain.
“No,” Priest Quisac said, regarding William with a knowing look. “You were correct, Balam. They are not our ancestors.”
“That’s what Gukumatz told me too,” William said. “He called them the Grey Ones. He said they come from the north.” William winced when Teshna rubbed ointment into his bites.
“If they aren’t our brothers from the stars, then who are they?” Teshna asked.
Priest Quisac shook his head. It was clearly a mystery to him too.
Teshna finished wrapping a bandage around William’s leg and stood with her arms folded, giving Priest Quisac an angry stare. “You knew they weren’t our ancestors, and yet you still let them take Yax?”
“Their intensions are not hostile,” Priest Quisac said. “Yax will be safe, and he will keep our people under control. It is better that the Grey Ones did not know of our suspicions.”
“Why didn’t they take us all on the night of the eclipse,” William asked.
Priest Quisac smiled. “They tried, but the bloodstone somehow prevented it,” he said. “I could sense it… and I believe you felt it too, Balam. When they let their guard down during that moment, I could see their thoughts. They have no plans to leave our world. They only have Chichen Itza in mind. Yet I could not see what their agenda is there. We will find the Grey Ones. When we do, we will free our people for a greater purpose to come.”
William sighed, realizing that his responsibilities were far from over. There were new obstacles to tackle in the days and months ahead. But after all the difficulties he had already overcome, he knew he was ready to face any challenge. It didn’t bother him that the tunnels leading to the Serpent Passage were now blocked, for he had helped Betty to get home. She would let his mom know that he was okay, freeing him of that lingering concern. Now he could focus on his path ahead. His future was there, with the people of the ancient Maya.
Teshna handed Priest Quisac the jade box she had been guarding. He retrieved the bloodstone by its silver necklace and held it out to William with a proud nod. It reminded him of the day he first accepted the bloodstone at Yax’s palace. Back then, he couldn’t grasp the significance of the red gem. William leaned over, allowing the Serpent Priest to place it around his neck; it felt as if he was renewing his pledge to help the Mayans. He could now appreciate the magnitude of the gift, and he understood the important responsibilities the bloodstone carried. For the first time, William felt that he had truly earned the privilege to wear it.
William pulled Teshna close to his side and gave her a confident smile that melted away the worries he saw in her eyes. He gripped the bloodstone over his heart and gazed into the warmth of the solstice sun-embracing his new life unfolding before him… and daring the adventures to come.