Page 22 of Wicked Intention

Her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, and Zo looked around. She spotted a fallen tree, the trunk covered with moss. It looked empty, but she flipped her penlight on and did a closer look. Clear. She sat down, sighing as the wetness of the moss seeped into her jeans.

This sucked. She wasn’t a “camp out in the back of beyond” person. Even the time she’d spent at the ruins as a kid didn’t count. At night, they’d return to town. As an adult, she’d strictly been a creature of urban environments.

Zo shook her head. She’d do whatever she needed to in order to protect the disk.

Huarona Ruins

Near San Isidro, Puerto Jardin

21 Years Earlier

Zofia was torn.Her mom and dad always told her not to venture into the rainforest without an adult, but they’d also made it clear that she needed to listen to Alfonso Ramos, the teenager who was babysitting her at the ruins. He was old, maybe fourteen or fifteen, but she didn’t think her parents would call him an adult.

“Why are we in the rainforest?”

He gave her an impatient look. “I want to see something.”

“What?”

“None of your business.”

“Al, I think we should go back.”

Pushing his curly brown hair out of his eyes, he sneered at her. “You’re such a baby.”

She straightened to her full height. “I’m not a baby. I’m seven.”

He rolled his eyes and resumed walking. Zofia shifted from foot to foot, uncertain which of her parents’ rules to follow. Standing here by herself was scary, so she hurried to catch up with Al. After a couple of minutes, she tried again.

“Let’s go back. It’s midmorning, and your grandpa is going to tell stories.”

“Your parents think his tales are foolish.”

Zofia bit her bottom lip. “I like Señor Ramos’ stories about the sky gods and the fire turtle. I want to hear more of them, but we have to be at the ruins for that. Okay?”

For a moment, Zofia thought he’d ignore the request, but then Al’s frown disappeared, and he took her hand. “I like my grandfather’s stories, too.”

He moved quickly enough that Zofia had to add some skip steps to keep up with him, but she was happy. They were headed back to the site, and she wouldn’t get in trouble. “Do you think he’ll talk about the magic disk again?”

“I don’t know. Ask him.”

“Sí,” Zofia said, “I’ll ask.”

They reached the ruins as Señor Ramos was taking a seat on a foldable camp chair. The handful of children of other workers already sat on the ground near his feet. He smiled as she hurried over to join them. “There you are,mariposa. I thought you wouldn’t show up.”

She didn’t explain, too aware that her parents were nearby. “I’m here, Señor Ramos. Al made sure we were on time.” Zofia looked around, found Al standing behind her, and settled in for the story. “Please, will you tell the one about the key to the world of the gods?”

The old man nodded, his face serious, and leaned back in his chair. “After many years spent teaching the people how to farm, build pyramids, and fashion gold into jewelry and sacred statues, the sky gods said they needed to return to the heavens. The people begged them not to leave, but the sky gods said they had no choice. So they journeyed to the mountains, the Huarona following them.”

Zofia scooted forward. Señor Ramos was getting to the part that she liked best.

“Seeing the despair of the people, the sky gods carved ashallow rectangle into the side of a mountain, and within that, they cut a keyhole big enough for a man to stand inside, and within that, a circle. Above the doorway, they carved images of the fire turtle.”

“And it happened in one night,” Zofia said, unable to stay quiet.

“Sí, and in the morning, the leader of the sky gods called the leader of the Huarona people and their shaman to him. He gave them a gold disk with his face etched into the center, and he said if they had need of him, they should perform the rituals they’d been taught and place the disk in the circle. That a door would open, and they would travel to him.”

“But they should use it only when needed.”