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Lanquin, Guateathered, there was a s it El Calvario church had been founded upon a hillside, in a place where a hunter had seen a pair of jaguars resting in the sun on one day, and an iuides never attele cats and the son of God, nor did they give end that Saint Simon had been buried in the foundations of the church Their disbelief could not alter the truth, however The grave existed and would never be discovered until the church was torn down

But the head of Maximon had not been buried with his body

Less than an hour&039;s drive away, a e of Lanquin, there lay another remote tourist destination, an extensive system of lihts were strung along a half uano-slicked surfaces every day during welcons everywhere that warned spelunkers not to go far on their own, as no maps had ever been made of the system&039;s furthest and deepest reaches

Had local authorities ever been bold enough to atteround holloent far longer and deeper than anyone iined, and that the furthest and deepest of theists would have at first mistaken for hardened volcanic lava due to the way the stone seement of tunnel that lay deeper still

At the base of that strange wall lay a small cairn of three black stones, each etched with sy had been lost with the death of the last Mayan sorcerer centuries before Beneath that cairn lay a flat, unremarkable stone obelisk, the lid of a stone box that had been sunken into the floor of the dead-ended cave And beneath the obelisk lay the severed head of the demon monk the locals had first called Brother Simon and later Maximon

A river flowed out fro a place of beauty and serenity that drew tourists even beyond those ished to explore the subterranean ht, the sun had set shortly after six pm and now, several hours later, the only people in the vicinity were a group of eight British university students who had set up a trio of tents in the ca area not far from the river and the cavelove while the other five sat around a small fire they had built to heat their coffee They talked of the beauty of Guateued over whether it was possible to be ho te heard the sound that issued from the mouth of the cave and carried over the burble of the river onto the wind

&039;What is it?&039; one of the others asked when she frowned and turned toward the water

&039;Not sure,&039; Meg replied &039;An ani is screa

But the screams did not come from an animal They rose from beneath the obelisk lid of a stone box set into the floor of the furthest, deepest part of the cavefroan to tremble and the black rock atop the cairn slid to the stone floor

The strange wall blocking the tunnel began to bubble and then to drip, and soon the rock started to flow likethe cave floor With a hiss, an opening appeared at the top of the wall, growing quickly wider Air rushed through from the cave into the darkness beyond, but only for awall seemed to exhale a sulfurous stearound, the British ca called back to herlove inside their tent

When the entire cave syste a blast of heat and the stea, the entire caed e break in the earth went on forcould only stare at the spot where her two closest friends had been sed up by the stretching, roaring fissure

The unexplored depths of the Languin Caves had been laid open to the sky

She could only watch as gigantic, ie fro fell to her knees in prayer, though whether she prayed to her own God to protect her or to these ancient, terrible gods to spare her, even she could not be certain

Airborne

Octavian stared out theof the airplane into the night, its blue-black hue a shade of darkness only found above the clouds After a er

&039;You&039;re sure about this? The legend says the entrance to Xibalba is in Coban&039;

Metzger still clutched his phone He&039;d received a call moments before and now he held the object out as if it were evidence

&039;I&039;er said He glanced at Allison and Charlotte, then back at Sergeant Galleti &039;Twenty-seven o - more like thirty, now - ion of Guatemala An earthquake, yes, but impossibly localized, very much like what happened in Saint-Denis&039;

Octavian nodded &039;All right So it&039;s not Coban Where did you say-&039;

&039;A place called Languin,&039; Metzger replied &039;There&039;s an unmapped cave system that draws tourists to the area I&039;m told it&039;s only an hour or so from Coban&039;

&039;It does make sense,&039; Allison said &039;You said yourself that the entrance to Xibalba was supposed to be underground&039;

Octavian took a deep breath and turned to look at the people on the plane - two Shadows and a handful of soldiers who spentvaround, they&039;d be as good as dead unless he could take the brunt of the battle upon hiet troops to such a reer for any UN forces to arrive The UN security forces were already stretched thin, and Octavian realized that Cortez had been counting on that as well This unseen ene for a very long tiame Did Cortez really think he could od?

&039;I knew there would be a breach,&039; he said, addressing everyone on the sured out what Cortez had in et here before it happened Well, now it&039;s happening We&039;re going to land as close as possible to the location of these caves and then we&039;ll be right in the thick of it We will be the First Responders here I guess I don&039;t have to tell you all how ridiculously outnu to be&039;

He let that sink in for a er

&039;Some of us have been here before,&039; Octavian said &039;Not literally here, but in situations as large and as grave as this one Allison and I, and to a lesser extent, Charlotte-&039;

&039;We&039;ve all been here before,&039; Coer said

Octavian frowned and studied the faces of the soldiers who sat silent and grim

&039;You were there for the Tatterdeive you that one But for the rest of you, unless you were also in that battle, or in Salzburg when Liam Mulkerrin ca into I won&039;t ask you to stay back, because I know that&039;s not what good soldiers do But I will ask you to fight smart, to rely on Allison, Charlotte and myself, to use us well The three of us will be very difficult to kill&039;

He let the second half of that sentence go unsaid, knowing they would all hear it regardless They were fragile Mortal Ordinary

&039;I insisted on finding Cortez before I worried about these breaches,&039; he went on &039;I never figured the two could possibly be connected&039;

&039;Nobody did,&039; Charlotte said, more tenderly than Octavian believed he deserved

He tipped a slight nod toward her in silent thanks, and went on

&039;It&039;s my belief that Cortez is here somewhere He wasn&039;t at Bannerman&039;s Arsenal or in Seattle and we can assume he wasn&039;t in Saint-Denis or Siena or Oriyur, either But if our theories about Maxioing on here has been his purpose all along I don&039;t know him-&039;

&039;I do,&039; Charlotte said, her eyes dull and reptilian &039;He&039;s a cunning, ruthless son of a bitch And he&039;s proud If whatever he&039;s doing is co to a head, he wouldn&039;ton it,&039; Octavian said &039;You keep your eyes open You spot any vaive me a shout out on your coer sat up straighter &039;We talked about this If you kill hi-&039;

&039;Then he can&039;t finish whatever he&039;s starting,&039; Allison put in

Octavian dropped his gaze, logic fighting his hunger for vengeance At last he nodded

&039;The co at Allison and then at Charlotte

&039;Peter-&039; Charlotte began, a warning in her voice He didn&039;t blame her After all Cortez had done to her, she had as much reason to want hi in motion that only he kno to stop, we&039;ll have to hold off killing hier said

&039;And then he dies?&039; Charlotte asked, fixing her gaze on Octavian rather the co,&039; Octavian proaze said that she would hold hier?&039; Allison asked, breaking the eant Galleti asked the same question, this time on her comm

&039;Less than thirty minutes to touch down,&039; she said &039;They&039;re just confirh on the road for us to land&039;

&039;On the road?&039; Allison asked

Octavian felt the plane begin to bank and descend, and as it did - and they rief and fury that he had held in abeyance begin to flow back into his heart

The flesh of his hands prickled with the dark, ic that siht Alht in the current of fate, as if it were a deep river carrying her over rocks and hurtling her downstrea it to shore She knew that was foolishness; at any moment she could step back froe in any further conflict She could leave war and vengeance to Octavian But when the explosion at Bannerman&039;s Arsenal had scattered her ato her consciousness back together again, she had also surrendered herself to destiny She had no experience ar, but she kne to fight and how to reach deep into her heart to o on

Her heart felt like cold black stone in her chest, now And yet the hollowness she felt was an illusion, for she was not entirely devoid of emotion Hate remained, as did - if she allowed herself to admit it - just the tiniest sliver of hope If she survived this crisis and saw Cortez dead by her own hand, or by Octavian&039;s if fate decreed it ht still re in her, and a way to live without the revulsion and rage that now ate at her

&039;You all right?&039; Allison asked

Charlotte flinched, startled frolanced at the other wo

&039;What does that even mean?&039; she asked

Allison frowned &039;What it always ?&039;

Charlotte arched an eyebrow &039;I appreciate the concern Really, I do But are you fucking kidding?&039;

For a h &039;Yeah, I guess it&039;s a pretty stupid question Just do me a favor?&039;

&039;What&039;s that?&039;

&039;Whatever you&039;ve got stewing inside you, keep it reined in,&039; Allison said &039;When the fighting starts, we&039;ve got to be able to rely on you Peter&039;s put his faith in you Try not to be so distracted by whatever&039;s haunting you that you get somebody killed&039;

Charlotte&039;s first instinct was to utter soht better of it Allison&039;s eyes revealed her tenderness and understanding and Charlotte knew her words were genuine

&039;Don&039;t worry, okay?&039; she asked &039;I&039;m focused, that&039;s all&039;

Allison nodded and the two Shadows fell silent Not far off, Octavian and Metzger were talking while Sergeant Galleti see difficulty with her comm unit They were on the tarer had been in touch with the Guateovernment h they had been just over four hours in the air, there had been four co theh terrain vehicles, as well as four army helicopters which stood black and silent on the broken tar the condition of the airport, Charlotte liked the idea of helicopters They could take off and land without having to roll down the rutted runway Metzger&039;s pilot had done his best but their landing in Guate At one point the plane had shaken so badly that Charlotte thought the landing gear e They&039;d e, but she wasn&039;t sure how easy it would be for the plane to take off again

Instead, she was about to have yet another helicopter ride A few days ago she had never been on a helicopter, but suddenly cli into one of the machines felt almost ordinary

&039;Uh-oh,&039; Allison said &039;This doesn&039;t look good&039;

Charlotte glanced up just in ti at each other, practically nose to nose They were arguing about so, but kept their voices low Whatever Octavian had to say, he finished saying it and spun on his heel, et aboard a chopper,&039; he said

&039;What&039;s wrong?&039; Allison asked

At first, Charlotte thought he wouldn&039;t answer He strode grimly toward the nearest of the black, un equally grave expressions But when he had slid open the door in the side of the helicopter and stepped back to let thelanced at theo in alone,&039; he said

Charlotte&039;sopen &039;Why the hell would ant to do that?&039;

&039;We wouldn&039;t want to,&039; Octavian said, gesturing at the soldiers ere even now responding to barked co to their vehicles and to the other three helicopters &039;But these guys are cannon fodder and there are more on the way For the o in by onna happen,&039; Allison snapped

&039;If not for that,&039; Octavian said, his anger abating for the first tio in quickly and quietly, I could cast the spell to erect the sa at the other incursion sites and get whatever&039;s couys wouldn&039;t need to die&039;