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EVERYTHING WENT SMOOTHLY from there on out, and no more fights ensured. Jesse and Grant said everything they needed to say to each other on the trip to the store, and after the air was cleared, we had a good night, with no problems.
In the morning, we rented a boat and scuba gear. The dive shop even provided us girls with lessons, for a good price. That was a good thing, because I had little experience with an underwater breathing apparatus, and the equipment was somewhat complicated. We didn’t have to hire anyone to take us out on the lake, though, because Jesse knew how to drive a boat.
Julie pulled Jesse aside. “Don’t we need a boating license? And don’t you need to be eighteen?”
“I’ve got this,” Jesse said.
“Okay,” the boat owner said. “Just let me see your driver’s license, and—”
Jesse looked deeply into the man’s eyes. “You don’t need to see anything. We’re good to go, no paperwork necessary. We look like responsible young people, so you don’t feel worried at all.”
Julie snickered when the man repeated, “Looks like you’re all good to go.”
I grinned widely as Jesse reached into his wallet and paid the man.
The man looked at all of us and handed Jesse the keys. “Have fun out there.”
“Thank you,” Jesse said.
He and all his siblings had been boating in Big Bear Lake for years, so I felt totally safe and confident with him behind the wheel of the vessel. The breeze blowing off the lake smelled wonderful and fresh, tugging at my hair as we cut through the water at amazing speeds. The sun shone brightly, and the sky was powder blue, speckled with fluffy clouds. It was a perfect day to be out on the water, and I was in perfect company, with my best friend and my amazing guy.
As Jesse drove us toward the sunken city in the middle of the Rock Lake, I couldn’t stop staring at him. Our sea captain looked so sexy and in control, as if he was in his element. I would have let him take me anywhere. I knew committing to him could be very well be a stormy sea, but I didn’t care. He’d risked everything for me, and I would do no less for him.
A love of nature was something Jesse and I shared, another common bond we had. I couldn’t imagine being limited to only coming out at night, so I was glad he was a Leyna; being cooped up like that would have killed him. I could never allow myself to turn like Fred had, because I couldn’t give up the sun on my face.
Jesse caught my gaze and grinned. The wind blew dark strands of hair across his face, and he looked absolutely gorgeous in the sunlight.
When Julie began slipping into her wetsuit, I did the same. I’d worn my bathing suit under my clothes, but when I slipped off my shirt and shorts, I caught Jesse staring rather hungrily at my black and white bikini.
“You look hot,” he said.
“Well, it is pretty warm out here,” I said with a grin, fanning myself and loving his attention.
“You’re supposed to be driving,” Grant said from behind Jesse, “not drooling all over Taylor.”
“Yeah, we don’t need a crash course in boating out here,” Julie joked, trying to ease the tension.
She knew it was hard for Grant to relax when he felt her life was hanging in the balance. He seemed so worried about her, and he only cared about finding the ruins in order to save her life. I understood, because Jesse was just as concerned, even if he handled it differently; definitely, the vampire and the werewolf had very clashing personalities, and I hoped they’d keep them at bay.
I slipped into my black wet suit and zipped it up, then tossed my hair back into a ponytail.
Grant stared intently at the sonar device. “Hey, we’re picking up some structures on the fish-finder,” he joked.
“Wow! Look at that,” Julie said.
He tapped the screen. “That one’s about 15 by 100 feet, and the one next to it is a little shorter, with a steeper slant.”
I peered down at the structures, still baffled as to why there was a city under a lake in Wisconsin. There were about a dozen of them. Some were rectangular, while others were conical or triangular. “Why are those over there shaped so weird?” I asked Grant. “They’re flat on top.”
“Those were made for observation, so they could track the movements of the sun and planets.” He pointed down at the screen. “I think those longer shapes are roads, leading to the mounds onshore. They performed a lot of ritualistic ceremonies. That must be why they called it City of the Dead.”
“That’s freaky,” Julie said.
“We studied this place pretty good,” Jesse said. “Strange things happen around Rock Lake. People see things that aren’t there. When ice fishermen come out here in the winter, their chainsaws suddenly quit working. Underwater cameras mysteriously malfunction. There’s obviously some kind of energy disturbance going on.”
“Like in the Bermuda Triangle?” Julie asked.
“Kind of,” I said, “but I don’t think people, boats, and planes go missing here.”
“I can really feel the energy,” Jesse said.
Grant held out his hands. “Definitely,” he said. “It’s strong.”
“What do you think we’ll find down there?” Julie asked. “And is this the part where one of us is supposed to say, ‘We’re gonna need a bigger boat’?”
I laughed. “Jules, you watch way too many movies.”
“That’s from Jaws, remember?”
Jesse met her gaze. “I don’t know, but this energy is pretty powerful. It would have to be contained in some sort of vessel.”
Grant fussed with the buttons. “From our Web research, we know that the ancient people of Rock Lake harnessed electromagnetic energy.”
“Is that why they took the powers away from the witches in the first place? They wanted to harness their energy?”
“We don’t know for sure,” I said. “It looks like in the long run, the Aztecs lost, because the city flooded.”
“They had no business toying with power like that,” Jesse said. “It kinda serves them right.”
Grant nodded. “Maybe someone was trying to hide the city so no one would ever find it. After all, they had to hide it for 10 generations, 1,000 years.”
“Think about it,” Jesse said. “The structures were built around the time when the witches lost their powers. There are rumors that the Aztecs build them, and I’d bet anything the Aztecs stole the witches’ power. Because they didn’t give it up voluntarily, that’s for sure.”
We all looked at each other in stunned disbelief and confusion. Did the Aztecs really travel this far north? I wondered. Is that even possible? Or did they live here and migrate south, to Mexico? Why were they messing with witches anyway? And why would they dare to try to steal their power?
“Look at the layout of the ancient city,” Grant said. “The architecture is exactly like that of the Aztecs, with all those mounds, pyramids, trenches, and tall, thick walls. The Aztecs had to be here at some point.”
“Wow. They never wrote about that in our history books, Aztecs in Wisconsin,” I said.
“Do you think it’s safe to go down there?” Julie asked, gripping Grant’s hand. “I gotta say, I’m a little worried about all that energy seeping into mortals like myself and Taylor.”
“You’re petals,” Grant said, “and we’re immortals. We should all be fine, and Jesse and I have immortal eyesight that will allow us to see through the murky water.”
“Lucky for us, the water’s pretty clear today,” Julie said, glancing down into the lake. “Well? Are we gonna go on this little underwater adventure or what? I feel like a baking seal in this thing,” she said, tugging at her wetsuit.
“Yeah, I guess it’s about time we go for a swim,” Grant said. “And for the record, you’re the cutest seal I’ve ever seen.”
Julie smiled back at him and stuck out her tongue.
The sun beat on my face as I adjusted my fins and snorkeling mask. “How deep are we diving anyway?”
“At least sixty feet,” Jesse said.
I smiled as a breeze ruffled through his dark, messy hair.
Julie jumped off the side with a huge splash. When her head burst out of the water again, she smiled. “C’mon, guys! We’ve got some lost pyramids to find.”
When I glanced down, I could see about ten to fifteen feet into the water. I swallowed hard; not knowing what was down there scared me to death. I adjusted my mask and made sure it was sealed, nice and tight, against my face. Jesse had made sure we had all the right equipment, so we could communicate as well as commercial divers. The fact that we’d be able to talk to each other down there made me feel a whole lot better.
I jumped in, and Jesse threw the staff to me. I caught it with one hand. We didn’t know if we’d need it or not, but we didn’t want to have to come back for it.
Grant jumped in next and adjusted a yellow buoy with an orange flag.
When we submerged, I could hear the sound of air, myself breathing underwater. I trusted my equipment, remembered my lessons, and actually enjoyed the experience. In fact, everything felt quite natural and not nearly as scary as I had expected.
“Can you hear me?” Jesse asked.
“Yep, loud and clear. I can’t believe we can talk underwater.”
“Yeah, this gear cost a small fortune, but it was money well spent.”
I gripped the staff tightly. “Absolutely.”
Jesse gripped my hand and guided me deeper, toward the underwater realm. It was one of the most thrilling moments of my life. As we waited for Julie and Grant, I floated in one position, enjoying the weightlessness and the feeling of being free from the grip of gravity. For a moment, I felt as if I was an astronaut, floating in outer space.
As we descended, I glanced back up at the bottom of the boat, bobbing in the light current. I remembered to remain calm and breathe normally, and it really was quite peaceful and relaxing. In fact, being underwater was a very serene, unique experience, unlike anything I’d ever done before. I felt like I was flying in slow motion—up and down and left and right.
Jesse smiled at me, his entire face lighting up in that mask. “Quite exhilarating, isn’t it?”
“It’s absolutely amazing!” I said.
“We’ll have to do it again sometime.”
“I can’t wait.”
“How about in Australia?” he asked. “There, we’ll swim over rainbow-colored coral and tropical fish.”
My eyes lit up at the mere thought of it. “That sounds fantastic. I’ve always wanted to go there on vacation.”
“I promise we will one day, mate!” he said with a smile.
I grinned back at him. “I’ll hold you to it, mister.”
Grant and Julie swam down to meet us, and then we all headed to the submerged city. It was like exploring Atlantis, deep beneath the ocean.
“Look at the streets,” Julie said, pointing.
I propelled through the water and stared down at the flat, rectangular blocks of stone on the ancient paved road at the bottom of the lake. It seemed to stretch for miles along the lake floor. I caught a glimpse of the first structure, and it was amazing, almost better preserved than those on land. “Wow,” I whispered in awe.
“Tell me about it,” Julie said.
I wondered why the city had ended up in that watery grave. We had our guesses, but it really was quite a mystery. The stones had to weigh hundreds of tons. How could they have put this thing together without modern-day equipment? As I gazed at it in disbelief, lines and squiggles suddenly caught my eye. Hieroglyphs! I motioned for Jesse to shine his light over. “What does it say?” I asked Jesse as we looked at the ancient language etched deeply into the stones.
He studied it for a minute. “Reader’s Digest condensed version, right?”
I smiled. “Please.”
“It’s a warning. Only chosen ones should be here, and everyone else should turn around and leave.”
“Petals?” Julie asked.
Jesse sighed. “I hope so, because...well, otherwise, there’s good reason for this place being called the City of the Dead.”
Goosebumps rose on my skin beneath my wetsuit. I didn’t like intruding in places that threatened me with curses or death, and suddenly, I was very on edge.
“That’s freaky,” Julie said, her voice trembling.
Grant gripped her hand. “You’re fine. You and Taylor are chosen ones.”
She nodded. “Yeah, I hope you’re right.”
“You knew we were coming to the City of the Dead,” Grant said. “Didn’t you expect it to be a little spooky?”
“Spooky or not,” I said, “this architecture is a work of art. Are you sure we’re in Wisconsin and not Atlantis?” I joked, trying to lighten the mood.
Everyone chuckled.
I was trying so hard to be brave, but part of me wanted to kick like crazy and get out of the water and back on the boat. I’d read far too many stories and seen far too many movies and even played far too many videogames where ancient relics were guarded by hideous, nightmarish bosses of some sort, and I was scared to death. We had run into one already, when we’d gone into the ice cave to read The Book of Lantera. I would never forget that thing’s creepy face and eyes for as long as I lived, and it was far scarier than anything Hollywood or the Xbox could ever come up with.
“This looks like the first pyramid,” Grant said.
Jesse swam closer. “I don’t see a way in. Do you?”
I looked around carefully, but there didn’t seem to be any windows or doors. “They haven’t exactly put out a ‘Welcome’ mat,” I said. “Let’s swim around it and keep our eyes peeled.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Julie said, kicking her fins and propelling herself through the water.
I glided forward, using long strokes and kicking my feet. We slowly swam around sunken arrangement of blocks, looking for any sort of entryway. I didn’t know how we’d ever get inside, because the place was like a fortress, completely secured. We circled the monument a few more times, to no avail. It seemed to be entirely sealed off from the outside world, and that only made me more curious about what was inside. I was sure there was a wealth of history just waiting to be discovered. “It all looks so old,” I observed. “I feel like we should be down here with an excavation team.”
Julie swam past me. “Yeah, where’s Indiana Jones when we need him? I still can’t believe this city is just sitting down here at the bottom of a lake in Cheese Country.”
“Grant...” Jesse said.
“Yeah?”
“Do you feel that?”
He nodded. “Yep. It’s almost overpowering.”
Jesse motioned to him. “Let’s follow it. It has to be coming from the second pyramid.”
I didn’t feel any sort of energy surge, so I assumed it was some sort of immortal sense they had, which gave us the extra edge we needed. Jesse’s black hair flowed behind him, waving back and forth with the rhythm of the lake. It was hard to keep my eyes off his muscular frame. He looked so hot in that tight, slick wetsuit, glued to every muscle in his powerful body.
Fish darted all around us, but I soon caught sight of something else: a huge face, like that of a statue. “Look!” I said, pointing to the carved Aztec priest or warrior with bangs, a headdress, bulging eyes, and jagged teeth. It was definitely intimidating down here, but it was also quite beautiful.