Chapter 12

Hello,” said Kyle.

“Nice to meet you,” said Wilson, extending a hand.

“Likewise,” said Dr. Ramsey, shaking it.

“Are all the professors so young?” asked Dr. Isaacs, chuckling good-naturedly. He looked a few years younger than Dr. Ramsey, and he had dark-brown hair and tough, leathery skin that looked sun baked and weather worn.

“Well, we are a newer school. That might make a difference,” said Kyle.

“Kristen, have you heard from Leo, Jeff, or Kevin at all since last night?” asked Dr. Isaacs.

“No. They didn’t come back?” she asked, concerned.

“I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about,” said Dr. Isaacs. “Maybe they just got home late and forgot to check in this morning.”

“They know better than that, especially with Kevin in the group. Did you talk to their families yet?” asked Kristen.

“We wanted to check with you first before we alarmed them. I will go make the calls right now,” said Dr. Isaacs. He turned and walked outside.

“Is everything okay?” asked Wilson.

“I don’t know,” said Kristen. “Some of the writings talk about a cave that is supposed to be the source of Isaac ’s powers. Leo has become pretty obsessed with finding it, but so far, nothing. The terrain around here can be pretty dangerous, so they’re supposed to be checking in every time they go out and get back. Leo can be a bit arrogant, so I can see him not checking in, which is why we made Kevin and Jeff go with him. Kevin is very by the book. It’s really unlike him to not check in.” She looked at the concern in Wilson’s face and said, “Well, Dr. Isaacs is finding out more, so there’s not much we can do about it right now.”

She turned back toward the class. “If you all want to follow me, I’ll show you around the site.”

She approached a man on a laptop.

“Michael’s job here is to survey the temple and create a 3-D blueprint. These blueprints can be very useful in discovering new rooms.”

She made her way to a table where a man and two women were dusting off ancient objects.

“We find all kinds of artifacts when excavating ancient ruins like this one. Researchers like these three are in charge of cleaning and preparing these artifacts for study and display in museums.”

She led the group around to the back of the room where a stone throne sat on a raised platform; a rope divider blocked off access to the stairs leading to the top.

“This is the throne where Isaac sat.”

“I’m sorry, Professor, I know I probably should have known this before coming, but that name you keep saying—I’ve heard it before, but I don’t really know anything about him. Who exactly was he?”

Wilson turned to see the question coming from the pretty girl from the parking lot.

“Isaac was the man for whom this temple was built. He was a nephew of King Montezuma I,” answered Kristen. “Although he is a fairly recent discovery, it is believed by my colleagues and me that Isaac might be the inspiration behind many of the stories surrounding the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl.”

“That’s quite the claim,” the girl said.

“Dr. Ramsey was the first to suggest it, but the more we find, the harder it is to ignore the obvious comparisons. Although the feathered serpent deity predates Isaac , many of Quetzalcoatl’s attributes—even his name—weren’t attributed to him until around the time Isaac was born.”

“Obvious comparisons?” asked the girl.

“There are some detailed descriptions of Isaac in this temple, and they match up almost word for word with a lot of the descriptors of Quetzalcoatl. The first and most obvious is that there are actual references made to Isaac as the serpent god. There is also the physical description—tall, fair skinned, and light haired. When Cortez came to America, the Aztecs initially believed him to be Quetzalcoatl because of his light skin and were pretty upset when he proved them wrong.” Kristen smiled wryly. “According to both legends, he will rise again someday. Isaac was believed to hold powers similar to Quetzalcoatl’s, like bringing the dead back to life by dripping his blood on their bones. They both are believed to possess two forms—man and snake. The difference there is that Quetzalcoatl transforms his whole body, whereas Isaac just transforms his limbs. Also, Quetzalcoatl was the patron god of knowledge and learning, and Isaac was described as being extremely intelligent and able to learn things at an accelerated rate. There is also the reference to Quetzalcoatl’s twin brother, Xolotl, who was basically at war with Quetzalcoatl. Isaac has a similar reference made to a doppelganger, and both Xolotl and the doppelganger were considered gods of lightning. However, the doppelganger didn’t exist during the reign of Isaac . It was foretold that this doppelganger would be born in the future at the time when Isaac returns to conquer and enslave all mankind.”

“This Isaac guy seems pretty fantastical,” the girl cut in. “You actually believe he existed?”

“Well, legends can definitely be exaggerated, but you can usually find hints of truth in them,” Kristen explained. “The people who built this temple and wrote these descriptions believed it to be true. How much of his story is actually accurate, we don’t know, but there is a substantial amount of evidence to suggest that Isaac , as a man, did exist.”

“How come it hasn’t been discovered until now?” the girl asked. “If there really is that much compelling evidence, then someone should have come across it long before now, shouldn’t they?”

“The only real evidence exists right here. Since this civilization was buried by sandstorms, we were lucky to have come across it at all. According to the writings in this temple, no other hard evidence exists because King Montezuma ordered the destruction of anything linked to Isaac . He feared Isaac and wanted to erase any trace of his existence.

“Of course, he couldn’t erase the rumors. That’s where we believe the legend of Quetzalcoatl spawned from. We believe any truth to the rumors died out by the seventeenth century, but we have reason to believe that García López de Cárdena, the first European to discover the Grand Canyon, was sent here in 1540 because his general had heard the stories of the wealth and power Isaac reportedly had hidden here. Unfortunately, the canyon proved to be far more treacherous than they had expected, and they were forced to abort their mission.

“Now I think this is a great time to introduce you to one of the coolest things we have come across.”

At the base of the platform to the right of the stairs was a sculpture. It stood about four feet tall, and it was shaped like an egg about the size of a basketball and was suspended on four metallic arms that twisted around one another and integrated themselves into the stone floor. The egg was a semitranslucent, dark-blue gemstone that caught the light in a way that made it look like it glowed from its core. The arms glittered in the light as if tiny crystals had been mixed in with the metal.

“This is called the oracle stone, and the story behind it is pretty amazing. Like I said before, the legend says that Isaac will return to life someday, and when he does, he will bring a reign of terror unlike any the world has ever seen. The story also says that Isaac can only be stopped by a group of gods led by his doppelganger. This stone is said to have the power to reveal the doppelganger and the chosen ones. See how it has that kind of mystical glow to it? Pretty cool, huh?”

“How is it supposed to reveal the chosen ones?” asked Matt.

“Well . . . we don’t actually know. All it says is they will be revealed upon touching it.”

”Can I—” he began, reaching out his hand.

“Don’t even think about it,” Kristen said flatly. “This stone is made of some of the most precious geological material we have ever seen, and it’s considered to be one of the most valuable artifacts we have ever come across. It’s the whole reason we have this divider up. We don’t want anyone putting their fingerprints on it or risk the oil from your hands damaging it.”

“Have you touched it?” Matt asked.

“No, none of us have—at least not with our bare hands. We always wear gloves when handling it.”

“Aren’t you curious if you are one of the chosen ones?” he asked, grinning.

“Well, aside from the fact that it is the least likely part of the legend to be true, it is an intriguing idea, I have to admit. But not at the expense of potentially damaging the stone.”

“I’ve got a question,” said the red-haired girl. “If it’s so valuable, why isn’t it in a more secure location?”

“Well, I’d hazard a guess that we have more security than you can see, courtesy of our government friends. Besides, it’s pretty much impossible to move. The metallic base is solidly stuck in the stone floor, and it’s made of a metal we can’t seem to cut through.”

“Can’t seem to cut through?” asked Kyle.

“You see how it glitters? It has some sort of crystal dust mixed into the metal that I’m sure makes it even more valuable and, at the same time, does something to strengthen it. We tried to cut through it, but it kept breaking our tools, so we just left it until we can figure out a way to move it. We figure, if we can’t move it, then any potential thief is going to have a difficult time as well.”

“You said ‘our government friends.’ What do you mean?” asked Wilson.

“Yeah, it’s strange. We found a secret room in the temple a few years back that had all kinds of valuable artifacts inside. The archeologists who discovered the room had an unfortunate accident when they found it,” she explained, looking down for a moment in respect. “The government showed up the next day. They hauled away some stuff in crates but never told us what they took. We are also expected to report to them any new discoveries we make.” She rolled her eyes. “That was actually right before I was brought on the project.”