Read Online Words of Love by Hazel Hunter - Free Book Online Page B

left had five petals but the glyph of a jaguar at the center.
    He and Jesse stood between the two, at the center of the staircase. He crouched to see them from eye level. There had been no way for him to know to concentrate here. The entire pyramid was covered with symbols like these. He must have walked past them dozens of times but, without knowing they were important, they were just more architectural detail.
    From the low angle, he realized that both cornices had slots underneath them, deep grooves in the stones on which they sat. And the flowers themselves seemed to have thick, square stems.
    They were levers.
    “A green jaguar is seated over the sun,” he muttered, as he quickly strode to the one on the left, the one with the jaguar glyph, and pushed down on it.
    “No, Brett!” Jesse yelled, reaching for him, but it was too late.
    As the lever went down, a single block in the fourth step simultaneously raised and dirt immediately spewed out–directly at them. Though Jesse got her hands up in time, the mass of dirt knocked her backward. It hit Brett lower and he was able to stay upright.
    “Jesse!” he screamed.
    Even as he reached out to her, the dirt was quickly becoming a stream. He was having a hard time keeping his feet and she was starting to slide away. It was up to his knees now but he surged forward with it. Jesse was barely keeping her head above the surface. He bent low, thrust his hands into the still rising dirt, and grabbed her around the midsection. He pulled up as her stomach jackknifed around his arm but she was clear.
    She landed on her feet next to him but he kept his arm around her waist. Rather than try to fight the flow, he continued to move with it and to the side, toward its edge. In his peripheral vision he saw they were approaching the wall of the cave. If they ended up there, they’d be buried.
    He pushed into the rising tide, closer to the edge, pulling Jesse with him, and finally the depth started to decrease. Then suddenly they were running, able to lift their feet clear of the soil. In moments, they were at the edge of what had become a river of earth and Brett let her go as they both caught their breath.  
    A concussive explosion made them both turn. Jesse hugged him around the waist as he put an arm around her shoulders. In the dark distance, beyond the reach of the floodlights, the dirt had met the wall.
    He looked down at her.
    “Are you okay?” he said, still breathing hard. She was wiping dirt from her mouth but nodded yes. “How did you know?” Brett said. “How did you know I picked the wrong one?”
    “The glyphs,” she said, between breaths. “It said green jaguar but it meant green chili.” He stared down at her. “It’s…” she said. “It’s the same as with the white rattle but the jaguar ends up being a chili. The chili was on the right hand sculpture.”
    Brett scowled, trying to remember.
    Yes , the six petals when there should have been five. The one had been a shape that might have resembled a green chili.
    “Next time,” he said. “Remind me to ask you first.”
    She nodded, still trying to wipe away dirt. A fine dust coated her face and he supposed he must look the same.
    He looked back to the pyramid. It looked as it always had but it had to be hollow inside now. The dirt must have been stored there and his simple lever action had trigged another and another, until greater and greater levers had been able to unleash the torrent.
    “We failed the test,” Jesse said, quietly.
    “No, I failed the test,” he replied. “I’m apparently not cut out to be a Maya king.” He looked down at her. “Unless it’s the king of dirt.”
    And obsession , he thought. Yet again, it had nearly ended in disaster. He realized he was holding her tightly and relaxed his grip but he didn’t let her go. Though she didn’t appear to be shaken, he now knew she tried to hide things. She was still staring at the pyramid.
    “Are you sure you’re okay?” he