CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE

JEB, ADEL AND Gwyn, along with three other Everlast militia and all five of Marisol’s unit had survived the battle. After attending to the living, Evie and I helped scour the town for the dead. Unfortunately, there were more of the latter than the former. I would have normally insisted on shielding Evie from the carnage, but the effort would have been ridiculous after what she’d just experienced.

Without spoken orders we had split up and taken different sections of town. Early in the process Evie and I cleaned up the leftovers of the two twitchers killed by the laser cannon. After that, gratefully, we found ourselves sweeping a section of the tunnels little impacted by the fighting.

As we worked our way slowly through tunnels lit by flickering and burnt-out fluorescents, I kept Evie close, routinely checking the current to make sure we wouldn’t find any unpleasant surprises. In a mild state of paranoia, I found myself wondering if this was how Marisol had felt constantly. A short distance from the room where Evie had been secured, we investigated a broken-down door leading to a similar-sized space.

“Isn’t that the Mexica sun stone?” Evie pointed at a tile mosaic half-buried beneath overturned furniture and caved-in earth.

“I believe so.” I took in the rest of the room. “That’s odd.”

“The room’s an octagon centered around the mosaic.”

I nodded. “Ancestral Nahuatl worship.”

“I thought that was just a nationalist trend. You know, just a chic fashion statement.”

“For most it probably is.”

“Over here.” Evie navigated through the debris to one of the eight walls. “Which one was this?”

“Quetzalcoatl, important in Teotihuacan.”

“That’s right, birthplace of the gods.” Evie spun in place, gathering in each of the seven walls and the door occupying the eighth. “And this room represents the seven caves of Chicomoztoc.”

I stared at her. “You’re getting all this from a public education?”

She shrugged. “I’ve got a good tutor.”

“Ah, I almost forgot.”

“What do you suppose used to be in here?” Evie opened a tiny wall safe that had been left ajar, hidden within the tile mosaic of Quetzalcoatl.

“No idea.”

Stepping away from the empty safe, she continued, “Doesn’t all this imagery mix time periods and people groups?”

I nodded. “Right again. Starting with Teotihuacan before the time of Christ, the depictions seem to follow a single linage through to the Mexica of Tenochtitlan. Several hundred years.” We both fell silent, the space around us taking on a sacred aura despite its state of disarray.

“You don’t think—”

“Nah.” I shook my head. “We’re talking over 2,000 years ago. No one’s that old.”

“Except the gods themselves.” Evie smirked.

I took a deep breath. “Well, I’m glad to see your sense of humor is still intact. Now come on, let’s get back to the others.”