The Mahogany Ship by Christopher Cartwright

Author:Christopher Cartwright [Cartwright, Christopher]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-12-06T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Billie’s fingers, unable to reach the top of the enormous sarcophagus, slipped as she tried to climb up its sharp walls.

Tom shuffled down, and asked, “Want a lift?”

“Yeah,” she replied, wishing she didn’t need his help.

“Not a problem,” Tom said, lifting her onto his shoulders.

His hand, she noticed, slipped, catching her butt for support – remaining there a moment longer than it should have. And then he quickly removed it before she said anything. Billie reached further, and caught the top of the stone block, allowing her to climb up.

For a second, she wondered if Tom had meant to place his hand there. The minor indiscretion was soon lost in her desire to see the looking glass.

She stepped up onto her tippy toes, so that she could place her eye right up to the optical lens. On the other side, Billie could see a room. It was similar to the one that she was already in, and at its center, another sarcophagus – only this one didn’t appear Mayan at all.

Forgetting about Tom’s actions, she said, “Do you think that whoever’s been watching us is in the room directly above us?”

“No, I think they’re farther away than that,” Tom replied.

“Farther away? What are you talking about? Now that I’m up here, I can see that this thing is only a few inches long, and clearly shows the room above.”

“That’s not possible. I’ve already done the basic arithmetic, and a few feet above us is the entrance to the pyramid. There’s no way there’s another room. Besides, didn’t you notice that wherever that looking glass seems to end up, it too, looks down upon a room, not up?”

“You’re right,” she said, chiding herself for letting her nerves affect her usual circumspection. “Before, when I was climbing, you said that I did something to change the image here, is that right?”

“Yes, I don’t know what you did, but whatever it was, the ball went from a dark, impenetrable blue, to this clear, window into what appears to me to be another tomb.”

“That’s what I was thinking. Okay, help me down, I’m going to retrace my steps and see if I can change it again.”

“You’re the boss,” he said, without wiping the grin off his face.

Ordinarily, she would have sworn at him for his behavior, but she was too enamored with their discovery to even think about him. He had an attractive face, and was mostly harmless.

She climbed down and then up the base of the sarcophagus a number of times. “Any changes?”

“Nothing,” he replied.

“There must have been something,” she said, and then saw it. Along the base of the cradle for the missing scepter, stood a small wheel, with a number of jagged edges, giving it the appearance of the cog on a bicycle. She counted the edges. There were thirteen in total. She gave it the slightest of turns, and the largest of the twelve stone spikes now pointed in another direction. “Anything?”

“Yes, what the hell did you do?”

“Not much. I just rotated this stone dial.

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