But it was so dark inside, she couldn't see anything at all. Not even her own hands.
Until Ren used his fireballs to light the torches, which were spaced out every few feet on the earthen walls decorated with thousands of prehistoric glyphs. They were beautiful. Fernando would be in his glory to explore something this pristine.
"The thunderbird is over here." Ren led her to the other side of the cave, to the flattest wall there.
The whole expanse of it had been painted with a colorful mural, which told the entire story of how the world had been saved by the first Ixkib when she'd faced down an angry god.
It showed Ahau kin gifting the Kinichi to her.
But Kateri didn't see what she was looking for. And time was ticking way too fast. They had a mere handful of seconds before the gates unlocked. "Where does the Kinichi go?"
Ren pointed up toward the ceiling where a giant thunderbird rose above the scenes below. Over the thunderbird's head was a tiny hummingbird. You couldn't tell if the thunderbird was following or pursuing the hummingbird. Were they friend or foe? It was impossible to tell. But it was positioned right between the thunderbird's open beak.
Kateri wanted to weep in frustration. "Well ain't this a bitch? How long did they think my arms would be for me to reach into the mouth of that hummingbird? I don't suppose you have a vat of radioactive isotopes I can throw myself into and quickly mutate, do you?" It always worked in the movies.
And of course, there was one other obvious problem. "Where exactly am I supposed to put the stone?" The wall was completely flat without a single crevice in it.
"We'll find it, don't worry."
Now look who had found his optimism. Great timing, bud.
As Ren moved toward her, out of nowhere, a blast struck him hard enough to send him straight to the ground.
Reacting on instinct, she nocked an arrow, and turned to fire. But the moment she sighted her target, she froze.
No ... It was impossible.
WTF?
Kateri couldn't believe her eyes. It had to be a dream. Major hallucination.
Something.
She lowered the bow. "Enrique?"
"Si, Dr. Avani."
Gaping, she tried to make sense of this as he moved closer to her. "What are you doing here?"
He smiled coldly. "I'm here to see you, of course."
Of course?
"I don't understand. How did you know I was here?"
"Veneno," he said simply. "I captured him when he attacked Chacu in your lab ... I wasn't as frozen as you and Cabeza thought. And I spit down the necks of all those so-called experts who tell people torture doesn't work. To that, I say they don't know how to do it right. I, personally, have never had it fail me"
It took her a second to register the name of his victim.
Ren started for her, but Enrique blasted him into the opposite direction. "If you want her to keep breathing, stay back."
Kateri's watch started beeping to let her know they were in the final countdown. She had to get past Enrique. Now!
"What do you want?" she asked him.
"Hand me your time stone, or I will hand you your boytoy's stones."
She looked at Ren, still unsure whether or not this was a dream.
"Don't do it, Kateri," Ren said adamantly. "He's not human. Whatever you do, don't let him have the stone."
She shook her head. "He's my grad assistant."
Enrique laughed. "Yes and no. Enrique was your grad assistant. But I was actually your prisoner, Dr. Avani. Until Chacu unknowingly freed me."
None of that made sense to her. She scowled at Ren. "What do you mean he's not human?"
Enrique hissed. "Stupid puta. I told you ... I'm el peuchen. You brought back my carcel from your first excavation with Fernando so that you could test it. Because of those tests you ran, I was able to break free of my carcel. But I couldn't escape that damn campus. Not even after I took over your assistant's body. His great-grandmother was indeed powerful. And I've enjoyed devouring his soul. But now, I'm done. I want what I came for.
He reached for her.
Ren blasted him back. "Don't you dare touch her!"
Enrique turned on Ren, and shot something that went straight into his chest and splintered into fragments.
Ren cried out in pain as Kateri shrieked in anger. By the sound of Ren's voice alone, she knew how bad it was.
He would never, ever cry out like that.
She tried to get to him, but Enrique wouldn't let her.
"Give me el piedra! Now!
For Ren's life, she was willing to give him anything. But she wasn't dumb enough to think for one minute this demon would allow them to leave here alive.
Think, Kateri, think ...
He started for Ren to finish him off.