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The wet limestone’s scent assailed them as they shuffled closer. On the group’s fringe, he and Julia stood in knee-deep water as droplets plinked against their helmets.

“This is the Stila Chamber,” Pedro said. “The ceiling is a wondrous stalactite collection.”

Their collective lights bobbed against the alien landscape of the cave’s ceiling, which was full of pointy mineral fangs erupting toward them.

“It takes a thousand years for a stalactite to grow an inch, so you can see these caves have been here since antiquity. Perhaps the beginning of time.”

He caught a drop of water in the eye. Great. Better flush it out later with antibacterial eye drops. He wiped the cave juice away, then glanced at Julia.

The ceiling’s glimmer couldn’t hold a candle to her smile.

“You love this, don’t you?” he asked.

“Yes. See, my dad got trapped in a cave once, so he was claustrophobic and avoided these places. But Alex and I really wanted to go, so he introduced us to one of his buddies who was licensed to do the tour. It was the first time Alex and I went on an adventure without Dad.”

Carson was vaguely disappointed. He wanted to share a first with Julia that would live in her memory forever, too.

“Let us proceed,” Pedro said.

The older guide led them through the water to a wall. Carson tipped his head back. No fucking way were they about to climb a thirty-foot boulder stack.

“It’s not as bad as it looks,” Julia said. “Watch me.”

Oh, he’d watch. Smooth calves, taut ass, and thighs he’d love to feel squeezing his hips.

Nimble as one of the black-handed spider monkeys he’d read about during his prep for this trip, she made climbing look easy.

He wasn’t fooled. This would be difficult, but he had a good six inches of height on her.

If she could do it…

“Your turn,” she called.

…he could, too. It wasn’t like they’d leave his ass behind. He took a deep breath and positioned his foot on the helpful rock bump she’d used. Once he felt steady, he swung his leg around and…immediately slipped. Pain burst in his knee.

“Are you okay?” Julia asked.

“Yeah.” Aside from this fresh bloody scrape. “Be right there.”

This time he made it to the top, then stretched his leg across the gap toward the ledge. It wasn’t as wide as it seemed from the ground, and…he was across. With hands braced on his thighs, he breathed deep to calm his pounding heart.

“See?” Julia said. “That wasn’t so bad.”

Tell that to his bloody knee and aching right hand. He flexed his fingers. Ten years after the accident and the pain echoed dully in his joints anytime he worked it excessively. Probably should’ve told Julia about it, but he didn’t want to appear less than in her eyes, in any way.

“Please, friends,” Pedro called. “Remove your shoes to protect the sacred artifacts we’ll encounter in the remaining chambers.”

“Won’t bugs crawl into them?” he asked Julia.

“Probably.” She shrugged as she unlaced her boots. “Just shake them out.”

Sure. Shake them out. Like spiders and beetles and scorpions were no big deal.

For someone who reapplied her lip gloss routinely throughout the day, she was unexpectedly chill going Indiana Jones style.

How was this the same woman who faithfully recited his Positively Productive’s affirmations to boost self-confidence, encourage goal achievement, and strengthen mental resilience?

He tossed his boots onto the ground next to hers.

After scaling yet another fucking wall, they entered a chapel-sized cave. Scattered across the ground lay ancient ceramic pots, obsidian tools and…fuck, was that a skull?

“This is the ceremonial area,” Pedro said. “A millennia ago, the Maya conducted rituals here—including bloodletting and sacrifices.”

Carson bumped shoulders with Julia. “You seriously want our parents to get married in here?”

“No,” she laughed. “Not in here. Outside. This tour’s a bonus.”

“The Maya,” Pedro continued, “believed they could directly appeal to the gods through this cave. We have counted the sacrificial remains of fourteen persons, including male royals, identified by their flat foreheads and filed teeth. Blunt force trauma was the likely cause of death. Please, look around, but do not touch to preserve the artifacts’ integrity. ”

“I want to check out the monkey pot,” Julia said. “They used to keep the ceremonial hallucinogens in it.”

As the tour group wandered ahead and inspected the scattered artifacts, their headlamps cast spooky shadows on the walls.

Enveloped by rock, deep inside the earth, his chest hummed with…

something otherworldly. If this cave was a hotline to the gods and he’d offered blood, now that he was alone he should shoot his shot and ask for what he wanted most in the world.

“If anyone’s listening…” he murmured.

As much as he wanted a hot night with Julia, there was something else he wanted more.

“Help Julia embrace herself as is and stop denying how great she is. Help her go for what she wants, without apologies.”

An air current brushed his skin. The hair on his nape raised. Whoa, okay. He rubbed his arms to calm the goose bumps. He wasn’t sure exactly what he believed these days, but that was creepy. He legged it to Julia and the monkey pot.

“So, what were the hallucinogens?” he asked. “Frog mucus?”

“Ew, no. Probably peyote.”

“Frog mucus gets an ew , but we’re cool with human sacrifice?”

“Depends on the human,” she muttered.

“The next chamber,” Pedro said, “is called the Crystal Cathedral.”

The group shuffled forward, and…

“Whoa,” Carson breathed. “This is amazing.”

The cavern’s roof soared above them, easily thirty feet tall. Stalactites hung down like the pendant lights in the church his dad preferred. If the last room stirred his spirituality, this room practically yanked it from his chest.

Julia smiled up at him. “The best part’s coming.”

Pedro called to the group, “Gather, friends, and let’s experience the caves’ full darkness. Please, extinguish your head lamps.”

The tourists doused their lights until Pedro’s lone light remained.

“Enjoy,” he said and flicked off his lamp.

Darkness swallowed them. He was in a void.

Like he was floating through space. No, not space, because space had stars.

The air was thick with absence…no. Presence.

Whatever filled the space between him and the caves was a tangible thing, disorienting him, like when his car was upside down after the accident.

“I don’t like this,” Carson murmured.

“It’s okay.” Julia threaded her fingers with his. She was warm, reassuring, and stopped him from spinning out.

Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art , popped into his brain.

Steadfast. He didn’t remember the rest of the poem or who wrote it, but when she’d read that line to him in their first tutoring session and asked him what he thought it meant…

That was when the lightning bolt had hit.

Session by session, the line fit her more.

Whatever turmoil was happening under his surface, Julia seemed to keep it together.

It was still true all these years later.

“I’ve got you,” she said.

She did. She had him.

But she didn’t know it yet.

“Had enough, friends?” Pedro flicked on his headlamp.

As the group laughed with relief, they followed suit.

Carson blinked. At the journey’s start, their collective light seemed dim. Now his eyes could barely tolerate the headlamps’ glare. As he closed his eyes and breathed deeply to clear the fear from his body, Julia squeezed his hand, then let go.

“We have one last stop on our tour.” Pedro wrapped his hand around the ladder’s vertical rail.

“The Crystal Maiden. Experts believe a priest sacrificed this person, now thought to be a he and not a she, over a thousand years ago. Since then, the bones have calcified to produce a sparkling appearance. Only three may visit the cavern at once. I’ll be one of the three.

Jorge, please sort everyone into pairs.”

The aluminum ladder bolted into the cave’s wall wiggled as Pedro climbed fifteen feet to the cavern above.

“Looks safe,” Carson said.

A rangy retiree climbed up after Pedro. As soon as he disappeared, a woman Carson assumed was his wife followed.

“Did you see ET over there?” Julia tugged on the crook of his elbow. “That’s what they call the other intact skeleton.”

“Can you imagine the indignity?” He chuckled. “You’re a kid whose people offer you up to the gods. A thousand years later, some Spielberg-fan spelunker finds your bones and names you after a movie alien. Like, what the fuck? We can’t come up with a respectful nickname?”

“You’re right.” Julia pinched her chin. “The other skeleton gets to be the Crystal Maiden. That’s more poetic.”

“But misgendered. Although we don’t know what they’d prefer.”

“Let’s be the change we want to see. From now on, I’m referring to that skeleton as the Crystal Kid, and we’ll call ET…”

“Kevin?”

Julia backhanded him. “Something in Mayan…” She paused, placing her hand under her chin in thought. “I know! Xmucane. She was the grandmother of day and night. Oh, it’s our turn.”

Jorge gestured to them from his sentry point. Julia disappeared upward. As Carson climbed, his thick, smooth socks slipped on the rungs. Hospital socks with grippy soles would’ve been nice right now.

At the top, he crawled from the ladder, then rose to his full height.

“Wow,” he said. “The Crystal Kid really sparkles.”

The cave’s clammy chill blanketed his skin. There was a presence here, too, like human emotions had seeped into this place. Hard to explain, but he got the same feeling in empty arenas and churches. That hopes and dreams and fears had played out here, often in upsetting ways.

He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “I’m punching out.”

“Fraidy-cat.” Julia teased.

“Yep, like a rational person. Those are bones.”

Descending was more challenging than climbing. He had to blindly trust his feet would find the next rung. After an eternal thirty seconds, he landed on solid rock.