another interpretation.â
She watches us closely, to make sure she has our full attention. âFrom astronomy. The Maya were really crazy forastronomy,â she continues, almost conspiratorially, âand no one really understands why they paid so much attention, or knew so much about what goes on in the sky. The Maya believed that you could see
Xibalba be
in the sky. Astronomers know it as the âGreat Dark Riftâ in our galaxy: the Milky Way.â
Iâm impressed. This is much deeper than weâve gone.
âHow about âHeart of Skyâ?â
âWell,â muses Camila, âthe Mayan creation myth says that the world was created by the Heart of Sky and the Plumed Serpent. But there are scholars who say that itâs also an astronomical thing, that âHeart of Skyâ could mean Polarisâthe Pole Star.â
Two astronomical terms together.
âCould that be some kind of astronomical event?â Ollie suggests. âThe Great Dark Rift meeting Polaris?â
âIn the Calakmul letter,â says Camila, âit says âit will be destroyed.â Doesnât that sound kind of like a prediction of some cataclysmic event?â
I feel a ripple of energy pass through me. The hairs on my arms prickle. What if the 2012 doomsday scenario is real?
âThirteen Baktun,â she continues gravely, âDecember twenty-second, 2012âthe end of the Mayan Long Count Calendar. Even nowadays itâs thought that our galaxy will be aligned in a special way on that date. Maybe the Ix Codex describes what will happen then. And what if itâs not some harmless shift in thecollective consciousness, or whatever these new-age types would like to believe, but a
real end
, some terrible event?
It will be destroyed
. What? The whole world?â
âMaybe not,â I point out. âThe Calakmul letter mentions this âhealer of worlds.ââ
âSure, thatâs also interesting,â Camila muses.
âWhat does it mean?â
âWell ⦠what if itâs a reference to something that could reverse the cataclysm, or protect people, something like that?â
âWhat, like a spell or something?â
Tyler makes a tutting sound of disapproval. âWhatâs wrong with you? Thatâs crazy, man!â
Camila shoots him a withering look.
I compromise: âOr something.â
ââIn the Moon it walks,ââ she quotes. âNow
what
does that mean?â mutters Ollie.
Sheâs got a point.
âOkay,â admits Camila, âI donât have all the answers. Who knowsâmaybe Iâve interpreted everything completely wrong! But I do know this: Andres believed that the Ix Codex is a true document, that it contains a Mayan prophecy about the end of the world. The Calakmul letterâitâs giving only a hint of whatâs in the Ix Codex.â
âI knew it,â Tyler says, half angry, half smug. âThis Mayan prophecyâitâs for real, man!â
âSomeone believes it,â says Camila. âSomeone believesthat codex is worth killing for. Someone with the power to murder Andres and frame my husband.â
âCarlos Montoyo,â I breathe.
Camila seems thrown. Itâs clear that, to her, Montoyo isnât a suspect. âWho, the archaeology teacher from Yucatán University?â
âDad was supposed to be meeting him. He knew all about the Ix Codex. He warned Dad off.â
âAndres did meet himâin Guatemala,â says Camila, shrugging. âHe didnât seem suspicious of Montoyo. In fact, Montoyo gave him some useful information. About a small ruin not far from here, where Dad found some new emblem glyphs.â
âEmblem glyphs?â I ask. âHe found some new city names?â
âYouâd better believe it! He was really excited.â
âAnd thatâs all that happened with Montoyo?â
âYeah. That was
Enid Blyton
Jacquelyn Frank
Lisa Lennox
Larry Brown
Alexander Campion
Miriam Minger
Susan May Warren
David Foster Wallace
Kimberly Fuller
John Schettler