RIQ STOPPED pacing and looked over Sera’s shoulder as she continued tinkering with the Infinity Ring. He sensed her frustration, and he wished there was more he could do to help. But she was operating on a level of physics that was simply beyond him. They’d been huddled behind the cave like this for several hours already, and it didn’t seem like they were any closer to a solution. She’d gotten the screen to come back on, but all it did was flash a series of error messages.

Riq resumed his nervous pacing. He needed to get down to the village and find Kisa. During another sleepless night he had decided to ask for her help with the riddle. It went against every Hystorian principle he’d ever been taught, but he was going to show it to her. Maybe she’d be able to decipher something that he and Sera weren’t seeing.

Sera placed the Ring onto the thick grass and clenched her fists. “I’ve figured out what’s wrong,” she said. “But you’re not going to like it.”

“What is it?” Riq asked.

“Basically, the Ring rebooted when it hit the ground. Everything is still operational . . . except the Ring ‘forgot’ what the date is. It doesn’t know when we are. And if it doesn’t have that data, it can’t warp us out of here. It doesn’t know what our starting point is.”

“That’s not so bad,” Riq said. “We just have to figure out the date?”

“Think about it,” Sera said. “The Maya have a calendar system, sure. But it’s different from ours. The Ring’s programming is all based on a European calendar. And the Mayan people have had no contact with Europeans.”

“We’ll get it, Sera.” Riq figured it was a good idea to put a positive spin on things. “Even if we have to cross the ocean to do it.”

Sera shook her head, staring at the Ring.

After a long silence, she picked it back up and resumed her tinkering. Riq watched, knowing he couldn’t tell her the other thing he’d been thinking about all night. How he wouldn’t mind being stuck here for another day or two. There was something genuinely special about this place.

And while he knew their mission was crucial, Riq wasn’t exactly in a hurry to return home.

He hadn’t told the others yet. Maybe he never would. But their visit to 1850 had cost Riq a great deal. He had been forced to interfere with his own family tree, and that meant he was pretty sure he had no family left in the present day. It also meant he could cease to exist if he ever returned to the twenty-first century. He wasn’t sure which possibility scared him more.

He was doing a good job of keeping his emotions in check, but all the uncertainty had hit him the previous afternoon, while he and Kisa were helping clear debris from the site of the observatory. Suddenly, these thoughts had hit Riq so hard he had lowered himself into the mud and covered his face with his hands.

Kisa had knelt beside him and patted him on the back and asked if he was okay. But that was it. She didn’t press him for details. She understood that there were things about him she would never understand. And she accepted it. And wasn’t that what true friendship was all about?

Riq realized two things in that moment:

One: Not counting his fellow time travelers, he’d never had a real friend before — other than his grandma.

And two: If Kisa was a real friend, then he should be able to trust her with the riddle.

Sera threw her hands in the air. “I have no idea what else to try, Riq. What if we’re stuck here forever?”

Riq paused a few seconds, thinking about this. How would he feel if they were stuck here forever? The idea didn’t bother him nearly as much as it should. “Look,” he said, forcing himself to focus, “why don’t we forget about the Ring for now and concentrate on the riddle? If we go down to the village, we can ask Itchik about the ceiba tree. And I have a few questions for Kisa, too.”

The worried look on Sera’s face made Riq feel guilty. He’d never seen her so distraught.

“Maybe you’re right,” she said, slipping the Ring back into her satchel. “Let me check on Dak and then we can go.”

They stumbled into Itchik as soon as they’d made it into the village. He was standing at the foot of the fallen observatory, laughing.

“Itchik?” Riq said.

Itchik turned to look at Riq and Sera, his grin falling from his face. “How is your friend? His condition is improving, I hope.”

“Jasaw claims he’s getting better,” Sera answered. “But he’s still unresponsive.”

Itchik nodded. “My entire family owes him a debt of gratitude. That was my youngest daughter he pushed out of the way.”

“What are you doing out here?” Riq asked. It seemed more than a little odd that a king would be laughing at his own fallen observatory. “Everything okay?”

“Oh, yes.” Itchik turned back to the rubble and said, “I was just thinking about how long it took us to build. Many years. The entire village pitched in. We made many important discoveries about the world from inside these walls.”

“Why were you laughing, then?” Sera said.

“My scribes were not harmed,” Itchik said. “And I believe one’s greatest misfortune is also his greatest opportunity. We will build a new observatory now. One that is bigger and better. One that will not fall, no matter how hard the wind blows.”

Riq wished he could have this kind of attitude about life, too. But it was easier said than done. He looked all around the village, at the series of storm-damaged huts people were already attempting to rebuild, the towering temple, the muddied white road. There had to be a reason Riq, Dak, and Sera had come here. It couldn’t be a random mistake. What if they’d come here specifically for Riq? So he could meet these people and see how they live and hear what they believe?

Riq looked up when he heard voices. He spotted a group of children hurrying down the path toward them.

“King Itchik!” they called in unison. “King Itchik!”

Itchik and Sera looked up, too. Riq saw that there was a smaller group trailing behind the children. Older kids. Teens like him. One of them was Kisa.

“King Itchik!”

“Yes, children, what is it?” Itchik asked.

A boy at the head of the pack spoke. “The men have arrived from the jungle!” he said, out of breath as they reached the foot of the fallen observatory. “King Yuknoom’s men. From Calakmul!”

“They’ve come days earlier than expected,” Itchik said. “Where are they now, children?”

“The north ball court,” the biggest Mayan boy said.

Itchik turned to Riq and Sera. “I must go greet the great king’s men,” he said. “They have come to appraise our learning. You are welcome to meet them, too.” He started following the children back the other way.

Riq and Sera looked at each other. “I’m going with him,” Sera said. “Maybe I can find out more about the codex.”

“I’ll meet you there later,” Riq said.

Sera nodded and hurried to catch up with the group heading toward the ball court. Riq moved toward Kisa. Before he could even open his mouth to ask to speak with her, she took his arm and told him, “Come with me.”

Kisa pulled him into an empty hut that no longer had a roof. This hut was much smaller than the one Riq had visited during the great storm. “I don’t trust these men,” Kisa told him as soon as they were alone.

“The king’s people?” Riq asked. “Why not?”

“Itchik believes they want to study our codex so they can learn from it. But he’s too trusting. I believe they want to steal our work and claim it as their own. Everyone knows Pacal is the best scribe in any village.”

Riq looked out the open door. Several older Mayan women were in an organized line sweeping the road. Men were moving in and out of other huts with ancient-looking tools. “Shouldn’t we warn Itchik?” he said, turning back to Kisa.

“He won’t listen. All he cares about is proving our progress to others.” Kisa took Riq’s arm. “You need to be careful, too,” she said. “And the smaller boy who was hurt. They have been known to capture people who look different. I heard they take them back to Calakmul and shove them in cages. People pay to view them.”

“Trust me,” Riq said, remembering his experiences in 1850, “nobody’s putting me in a cage.”

Kisa nodded and picked up one of the ceiling boards lying by her feet. She stared at it for a few seconds and then turned to Riq with glassy eyes. “I guess I’m just worried for the people I care about. This storm has ruined so many of our homes. And our observatory. Everyone is working hard to recover. And here come these men from the richest village in the lowlands, demanding to see the fruit of our learning. It doesn’t seem right.”

“I wish I could be more help,” Riq said.

Kisa shook her head. “You have your own worries.”

Riq focused on the ground, thinking. No matter what happened to him, he needed to make sure Dak and Sera were okay. He needed to make sure the Hystorians’ mission didn’t end here. He pulled the SQuare out of his satchel and looked up at Kisa.

He waited for her to ask what it was, but she just stared at it, watching him push the power button. “I was wondering if you’d look at something for me,” he said.

“Of course,” she told him. “But I’ve never seen anything like that. I may not be any help.”

He typed in the password and pulled up the riddle, then held the screen up for Kisa to see. When she gave him a blank look, he blushed. Of course she couldn’t read it. It was written in English. He translated for her verbally.

“This is why you asked about snakes in my jewelry,” Kisa said.

Riq nodded. “Do any of the lines make sense to you?”

“I don’t know what the clown could be. Or the treasure. But I know Itzamna, of course. He is the god who gave us our calendar. And the numbers you read, those are calendar dates. One of them is today. The other is far into the future. Knowing one, it is a simple matter to deduce the second.”

The hair stood up on Riq’s arms. “One of them is today?”

Kisa nodded.

Riq powered down the SQuare and stuck it back in his satchel, looking all around the battered hut, trying to think. He saw old cooking tools and fallen boards and cloth. He saw a half-covered piece of wood that had been carved into a snake head. Riq knew he needed to tell Sera about the significance of today as soon as he possibly could. The Hystorians really had led them here intentionally. It was now just a matter of figuring out why. Dozens of images flashed through his mind: Itchik leading them into his hut; the scribes coming up out of the rubble; the storm as seen from the mouth of the cave; Jasaw burning incense over Dak’s lifeless body.

“Is everything okay?” Kisa asked.

“I’m not sure,” Riq said. “I just know I need to get to Sera. You’ve helped us tremendously, Kisa. And please —”

“Don’t worry,” Kisa said, cutting him off. “I will not mention the riddle to a soul.”

Riq nodded. “Thank you.”

“Be careful, Riq. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

Riq squeezed her hand and turned to leave, but he only made it as far as the open door before spinning back around. “I need to tell you something, Kisa. Something I’ve been thinking about all day.”

“What?”

“The three of us. Me, Dak, and Sera. We’ve been traveling from place to place, trying to make the world better. It’s a quest I prepared for my whole life. But I’ve realized something since we arrived at your village.”

Kisa held the ceiling board, waiting for Riq to finish.

“Maybe helping the entire world is less important than helping a specific community. Because with a community you can see faces. You can know them, and they can know you back.” Riq returned to Kisa, took the board out of her hands, and studied it for a few seconds. “Who lived in this hut before the storm hit?” he asked.

Kisa lowered her eyes. “Me and my family.”

Riq nodded. “You know, all my life I’ve cared more about a quest than I have about people. I believed having a friend would take my focus away from what was important. But I was wrong about that, Kisa. Having a friend is the most important thing in the world.”

“It’s the most important thing for you, too?” Kisa asked.

“From this day forward.”

“And are we friends?”

Riq nodded. “I’d like to think we are. Even though we haven’t known each other very long.” He handed the board back to Kisa. “Do you think it’d be okay if I stayed here and helped your village rebuild? It would be a great honor if your people would allow me to help.”

“We’d like that very much,” Kisa said, dropping the board and taking his hands in hers. “I only wish I could do something for you in return. Something just as important.”

“You already have,” Riq told her.

His heart was racing. But at least the matter was settled. He would stay here and help Kisa and her family. Dak and Sera would be fine without him. They were the important time travelers. And when their mission was successful, Riq’s life back home wouldn’t be the same. If he even had a life there. Here, at least, he would serve a purpose. He would help rebuild a village. And he would be Kisa’s friend. And maybe he could even assist the scribes when they started their next project.

“I have to go,” Riq said. “Sera needs to know what you’ve told me.”

“And I have to help Mother with the children,” Kisa said.

Riq let go of Kisa’s hands and started through the door when Kisa called out, “And, Riq.”

He turned around.

“Please be careful of those men. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“Nothing can happen to me now, Kisa.” Riq left the hut and started running through the village, toward the ball courts. His legs and chest felt incredibly strong, like he could run forever. Like nothing in the world could slow him down.