found quite alluring.
“Really? Because I was thinking he was more along the lines of a mosquito that buzzes in your ear when you’re trying to sleep,” replied Daniel as he gazed at Ixchel.
For Daniel, the attraction was mutual. Ixchel was a total package, with flawless olive skin, brilliant white teeth, dark sultry eyes, and long, straight, silky black hair. Daniel often found himself imagining holding her voluptuous body in his arms and feeling her luscious breasts pressed against his chest. What made Ixchel even more attractive to Daniel was that she was by far the preeminent undergrad in the entire Anthropology Department. She was a fabulous archaeologist, and her insights into ancient Maya civilizations were unmatched by anyone he had ever encountered.
Ixchel was a direct descendant of the Maya and she felt an inexplicable connection to her Maya heritage. Her ancestors might have been the people who carved the Maya calendar themselves. With all the hoopla surrounding the impending “end of the world” predictions associated with the Maya calendar, she avoided the cosmic nonsense that was running rampant through Hollywood, television, and poorly written novels. There were no comets, no black holes, and no phantom planets on a collision course with Earth. NASA had long ago proven that absolutely nothing was going to happen when the Earth passed through the Milky Way’s galactic plane. That event would be about as sensational as Y2K.
Even the calendar’s predicted end date of December 21, 2012, was just an arbitrary date that scientists studying Maya archaeology came up with to impress others in the scientific community. They found the Maya calendar to be consistently precise, however, it was the Gregorian calendar that had so many lapses and gaps over the years that it was impossible to synch the two. In reality, no one knew an exact date. The best estimate that scientists had ever developed had the calendar ending some time during a span of over several months before or several months after the twenty-first of December.
She was certain that there would be no world-ending calamity from the stars. For as long as she could remember, she had possessed an indescribable feeling that the prophecy’s true meaning was beyond comprehension. She could still remember as a child, intently listening to the stories of the ancient Maya civilization as told by her great-grandmother, Ixazaluoh. Ixazaluoh had lived to be 107. Her stories had nothing to do with cosmic catastrophes. Her stories warned of evil. Ixazaluoh was one of the chosen few who understood that the ancient Maya prophecies foretold of a monstrous evil more powerful than the world had ever seen, an evil that came from the depths of humanity itself.
Chapter 25
The next morning Daniel walked into the lab with a noticeable spring in his step. “What’s up, Dan-o?” Ixchel asked, looking up from an impressed sheet of Maya pictographs she was translating.
“I just got some interesting news. Great news. Once-in-a-lifetime news,” he said, grinning from ear to ear. He was enjoying teasing her.
“Well? Give it up already,” Ixchel said with a mock impatient tone. She scowled, crossed her arms over her chest, and began tapping her foot. She was holding back the urge to flip her hair.
“I was just on the webcam with Professor Sean Jameson. The team conducting the dig at Chacchoben found something old, really, really old.” Chacchoben is the site of a well-known Maya temple on the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico.
She saw in his eyes that this was something big. “What is it?”
“Pack your bags. We’re heading to Chacchoben to find out!”
Ixchel and Daniel discussed their plans to travel to Chacchoben , playfully flirting the entire time. Finally, they left the lab. Patrick, who had been standing just inside the lab’s equipment storage room the whole time, walked into the lab towards the phone. “Those two lovebirds make me want to
“Really? Because I was thinking he was more along the lines of a mosquito that buzzes in your ear when you’re trying to sleep,” replied Daniel as he gazed at Ixchel.
For Daniel, the attraction was mutual. Ixchel was a total package, with flawless olive skin, brilliant white teeth, dark sultry eyes, and long, straight, silky black hair. Daniel often found himself imagining holding her voluptuous body in his arms and feeling her luscious breasts pressed against his chest. What made Ixchel even more attractive to Daniel was that she was by far the preeminent undergrad in the entire Anthropology Department. She was a fabulous archaeologist, and her insights into ancient Maya civilizations were unmatched by anyone he had ever encountered.
Ixchel was a direct descendant of the Maya and she felt an inexplicable connection to her Maya heritage. Her ancestors might have been the people who carved the Maya calendar themselves. With all the hoopla surrounding the impending “end of the world” predictions associated with the Maya calendar, she avoided the cosmic nonsense that was running rampant through Hollywood, television, and poorly written novels. There were no comets, no black holes, and no phantom planets on a collision course with Earth. NASA had long ago proven that absolutely nothing was going to happen when the Earth passed through the Milky Way’s galactic plane. That event would be about as sensational as Y2K.
Even the calendar’s predicted end date of December 21, 2012, was just an arbitrary date that scientists studying Maya archaeology came up with to impress others in the scientific community. They found the Maya calendar to be consistently precise, however, it was the Gregorian calendar that had so many lapses and gaps over the years that it was impossible to synch the two. In reality, no one knew an exact date. The best estimate that scientists had ever developed had the calendar ending some time during a span of over several months before or several months after the twenty-first of December.
She was certain that there would be no world-ending calamity from the stars. For as long as she could remember, she had possessed an indescribable feeling that the prophecy’s true meaning was beyond comprehension. She could still remember as a child, intently listening to the stories of the ancient Maya civilization as told by her great-grandmother, Ixazaluoh. Ixazaluoh had lived to be 107. Her stories had nothing to do with cosmic catastrophes. Her stories warned of evil. Ixazaluoh was one of the chosen few who understood that the ancient Maya prophecies foretold of a monstrous evil more powerful than the world had ever seen, an evil that came from the depths of humanity itself.
Chapter 25
The next morning Daniel walked into the lab with a noticeable spring in his step. “What’s up, Dan-o?” Ixchel asked, looking up from an impressed sheet of Maya pictographs she was translating.
“I just got some interesting news. Great news. Once-in-a-lifetime news,” he said, grinning from ear to ear. He was enjoying teasing her.
“Well? Give it up already,” Ixchel said with a mock impatient tone. She scowled, crossed her arms over her chest, and began tapping her foot. She was holding back the urge to flip her hair.
“I was just on the webcam with Professor Sean Jameson. The team conducting the dig at Chacchoben found something old, really, really old.” Chacchoben is the site of a well-known Maya temple on the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico.
She saw in his eyes that this was something big. “What is it?”
“Pack your bags. We’re heading to Chacchoben to find out!”
Ixchel and Daniel discussed their plans to travel to Chacchoben , playfully flirting the entire time. Finally, they left the lab. Patrick, who had been standing just inside the lab’s equipment storage room the whole time, walked into the lab towards the phone. “Those two lovebirds make me want to
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