poemtry and prose

The place was called, El Loro Loco, and it was a small dive. There were two tiers of seating, all with red seats and brown card tables. Colorful and hand painted parrots hung from the ceiling as they perched on paper mache perches painted white. A young, pretty mexican girl greeted them at the door. She wore an all white cotton dress with a red and orange braided belt. Her long blackish brown hair hung straight down past her shoulders and her eyes were a very light shade of blue.

"Hola! Buenos noches amigos. Welcome to El Loro Loco. Me llama es Celeste. Por favor, come with me," she said in broken english. Andrews allowed Autumn to follow the pretty, young mexican as she weaved in and out of the tables. A few other Americans were eating at some of the more private corners of the resturant. The smell of the food made Autumn's stomach growl a bit more.

"Please, seat here," Celeste said, pulling out a chair for Autumn to sit in.

"Thank you Celeste," Autumn said as she took a slim plastic menu from the girl's hand. As their hands met, Autumn found Celeste's skin to be very cold, which seemed odd considering how hot it was outside. There was no air conditioning in the resturant either.

"When you are ready, I take order," she said, "do you want some water."

"No gracias," Andrews spoke for them. "Can we have two cokes?"

Celeste nodded at Andrews and headed off towards the kitchen.

Andrews leaned close to Autumn over the table, "If they offer you water here. Do not accept it. I presume you have heard of Montezuma's Revenge?" Autumn nodded but kept silent. "Yeah, it is really nasty. You are best left off drinking coke and juice that has been packaged in bottles. Some places will claim their water is safe when it really is not."

She nodded once more and then looked at her menu. It was typeworn and written in that same broken mix of spanish and english, as it attempted to cater to both the locals and American tourists. Autumn took her time as she read over the menu and finally settled on a simple dish of chicken burritos with a side of cheese covered beans.

Celeste returned to take their orders and in fifteen minutes later she returned with two steaming hot plates filled with food. The burrito was huge and Autumn worried that she was not going to be able to eat it all. They thanked their hostess and dug into the bowl of food. Occasionally Celeste returned with fresh glasses of coke.

At one point, Andrews stopped eating and started conversing with Celeste in native spanish. Autumn watched with feigned interest but could not really follow the conversation. Then Celeste smiled and touched Andrews shoulder and walked away.

"I told her the food was fabulous. Then I asked her if she was from here and she said yes. Then I asked her about the ruins off in Uxmal. To which she said that if we were looking for someone to take us there, she had tomorrow off and would be glad to take us, for a price."

"I do not trust her," Autumn said surprising herself. "It is not that she is young and pretty. But there is something off and not quite right about her. She is cold. I mean physically cold. Her hand touched mine and it was cold as ice. How does that happen here in the heat?"

"It was probably cold because of the drink orders," Andrews said. "I think that we should take her up on the offer. It will get us to the Pyramid sooner than later. So what do you say?"

"I guess it does not matter what I say. You are leading this operation. But I will say that you are right, this food is much better than what we get back home. I am so stuffed I will probably sleep for two days now." Autumn pushed her plate back and rubbed her belly.

They left a note to Celeste, telling her where to meet them that next morning, along with the payment for their food and a rather significant check. Then, they headed back to their room where they would get a nice, deep sleep. Autumn snuggled deep in her bed and had a peaceful sleep. She did have a small, strange dream about having to stare at her reflection in a mirror and seeing the truth in the reflection behind it. The glass of the mirror turned to water and behind it, sat a panther who winked at her with its green eyes. Autumn watched as it shifted from the cat form into a human who laughed and disappeared. It left her feeling confused and disoriented the next day but once she pulled on her hiking boots and straightened out her baggy green pants, she was all ready to head out to the ruins.

Celeste wore jeans, a t-shirt and tennis shoes. She was waiting out by the Jeep while they checked out of the motel.

"Buenas dias," Andrews said. He opened the back of the Jeep up and put their two bags inside. Autumn nodded at Celeste and took a perch in the center of the Jeep's back seat.

Celeste seemed taken back by the gesture, "Pero, miss. You do not need to sit there. You can have front seat."

"Naw, you know the land better than either of us. And I am sure my Uncle," Autumn struggled hard to get the words out, "will not mind me sitting back here while you guide us to the ruins. Are they far?"

Celeste nodded and buckled herself into the front seat. She told them that the ruins would take half the day to get to but there was a lot of beauty in the jungle that they could explore if they would rather.
Andrews politely declined her offer, telling her that they really wanted to see the ruins. She nodded and started navigating Andrews through Merida to Uxmal.

During their trip, Celeste played the part of storyteller, giving them a history of the Mayan area and of numerous sights along their tour. It was amazing the amount of knowledge of the forest she knew. Four hours later, they had trecked through a lot of mud and countryside. Autumn saw some small monkies and a panther on the drive to the ruins. When they could go no further on the Jeep, Celeste guided them on a foot path, her machete cutting loose vines and tree branches. It was hot as the sun continued to climb and Autumn breathed heavily on the trail. Andrews had brought a small pack with him that contained a few plastic water bottles for them. Where he got them was anyone's guess because Autumn never saw them purchased.

Just then, the jungled gave way to a clearing of freshly cut forest greens. In the middle of the clearing stood a large, stone pyramid, with hand carved statues of birds, monkies and cats sitting next to each corner of the building. Hieroglyphs were carved into the pyramid's walls and even the stairs had a carving of a snake cut into them. There were no other buildings around it, which seemed a bit odd to Autumn but she thought that it probably made sense to the Mayans.

Autumn gasped, "Wow. This is beautiful. I have never seen anything like it in my life. Do you know what this place was used for?"

Celeste shook her head, "Not sure. We were told stories while growing up of a pyramid that contained the remains of a man who attempted to best the gods by becoming one himself. He never made it and instead was killed for treason. However, as most pyramids built by the great Mayans were used for sacrifices, we presume that this one was built for the same reason."

"Celeste, thank you for bringing us here. Do you mind if me and my neice here, do some exploring on our own?" Andrews said in spanish.

"No, Senior," Celeste said, heading back to the Jeep. "Please, take your time. I cannot go any further than this anyways. To do so would dishonor the past."

They waved to Celeste as they made their way around the pyramind to the giant steps. Andrews took a camera out and started taking pictures. "This is amazing," he said, taking the first step of the steep climb up the pyramid. "I wonder if anyone else knows about this place and whether or not we are the first?"

"I have no idea. However, we better start climbing this and figuring out how we get inside before Celeste gets too bored," Autumn said as she started making her way up to the top.

They stood before two heavy doors made of stone. In the center of the door there was a large carving of a panther's head carved into the door. It was holding a round and smooth stone in its mouth. They pushed on the doors but they did not bulge.

"Great, how are we going to get in," Autumn said, her enthusiasm waning.

Andrews looked around at the puzzle surrounding them. Off to one side there was a depression in the side of the wall that seemed just big enough for the ball inside the panther's mouth. He tugged at the ball and it popped out with little effort. Holding the stone ball in his hands, Andrews slipped it into the depression and pressed. The wall sighed with a click and the stone doors pulled themselves open, kicking up dust from where they once were closed.

"Wow, good job," Autumn said peering down the hallway. "What next?"

"Now we enter. Stay close and do not touch anything. I am sure there are a few traps here," he responded pulling out a heavy duty flashlight from his backpack.

The hallway was dark. The air smelled old and musty and Autumn tried hard not to cough. Cobwebs hung everywhere. Autumn thought that she could hear the echos of small amimals or bugs crawling around. The walls on the inside of the pyramid had deeply carved figures in them. Andrews shined the flashlight all over the corridor. Something about this hallway did not seem right. He took out a small stick from his backpack and pushed at the ground. A whooshing sound came from deep within the hallway and suddenly a sharp wooden object came flying out of one of the figure's mouths.

"I thought so," Andrews said, "this whole hallway is a trap. One wrong step and we are nailed to the walls. Literally. Stay here while I try and figure out what the path is."

Andrews moved away from Autumn. He inched around the floor, occasionally pressing down on the stick. Some of the pressures resulted in daggers flying across the room, and others did not. Autumn winced and ducked every time she heard a whoosh sound. Another five minutes passed and Andrews returned.

"Okay, I think I have this figured out. Every third or fourth stone is bugged. The ones we need to step on are about this size," Andrews held his hands up about two feet apart, "and are square. Basically, all you need to do is follow my footsteps in the dust and you will be fine. I will go first so that if something does happen, you can run back to the Jeep and get Celeste."

Autumn nodded. She took a small rubberband and tied her hair back. She stood behind Andrews and watched his every move. Carefully, the two made it safely across the corridor to the other side. The floor had been made solid here and there were flat, smooth walls on either side. It slooped downwards a bit and turned around a corner. The hallway itself made Autumn feel like she was trapped in vertigo. When Andrews shot the flashlight off the walls, they were surprised when the light reflected back to them as well as down the hall at odd angles.

"Mirrors?" asked Autumn. "Is the whole hallway made of mirrors?"

"It appears we have met the next test," Andrews said. "And yes, I do believe that these are mirrors. It makes it hard to know just how long they extend and how far down this hallway really is, does it?"

"No it does not," Autumn responded nervously. "Do you think Celeste knows where we are? Do you think she has gone looking for us?"

"Right now, I do not care. Autumn, we need to focus and figure out how to solve this puzzle or else we may never get out. The twin's notes did not say anything about these puzzles. At least not this one."

He continued to shine the light down the hallway. Autumn cautiously took a step forward and reached her hands out to their sides. Where the beam of light started bending, Autumn stretched her hand out to see what was reflecting it. "Don't do that," Andrews cried out in an attempt to stop her. But it was too late.

Instead of meeting something solid, Autumn's hand glid past the beam, into the darkness beyond. Realizing what they were really looking at, Autumn stepped forward. "Come on Andrews, stop being such a big sissy. This is not a trap like the last one," she said waiving her other hand behind her. "It is an optical illusion, there are mirrors but where the light bends is an illusion. We just keep heading straight forward. There are no corners and no turns. Come on! You wanted a way down and now I am giving you one."

Andrews smiled and shook his head. "I knew there was a reason why I wanted you to come with me. Okay, you lead me down the way. But I get to take over once we are finished with this. Capice?"

They continued stumbling down the hallway for quite awhile. Autumn kept her hands safely out in front as she searched for corners that were not really there. She wondered how far the maze of mirrors really extended and what happened to those who failed to realize that the best way through it all was a straight path. She shuddered a little bit at the thought and then stopped all together.

"What is up? You stopped," Andrews voice followed closely behind her.

"I think we are there," she said pointing to a slab of stone set in the middle of the next chamber. Light poured down on the slab from a window set high in the ceiling somewhere. The room had two stations for torches, but time and weather wore them down and the stone holders only held metal stems of what once was probably two large torches built to light the whole room. Carvings were set into the wall on their left, depicting what Autumn guessed could only be the last days or day of the priest that Celeste spoke about. It showed him standing over a sacrifice tied to an altar and eating a heart. On the other side of the altar, were three men, two wore large headresses and held long spears. She figured that they were the militia who had come to put an end to what he was trying to do.

And there, sitting on the stone slab, held up by two black hand carved and curved stones, was the item they had been searching for. The golden sceptre shone brightly as the rays of the sun beat down upon it. Small prisms of light skipped and glittered across the ceiling, walls and floor of their chamber room as the amethyst and quartz caught the light emitting high above them. Autumn froze and held her breath, she was in awe of the whole experience and had no idea what to do next.