The Lost City

by J

  “You can always make more,” said Lola.

  “Absolutely not.”

  “We’ll put on a fantastic show. Plus we won’t sue you for animal cruelty.”

  “Do you understand how long it took to make these stones?”

  “Do you understand how quickly I can spread the word that you shot our monkey?”

  Lady Koo thought about it. “Why do you want our stones? Are you setting up a rival attraction?”

  “I’ll tell you the truth,” said Lola. “We were sent here by Ah Pukuh, the Maya god of violent and unnatural death. He’s jealous of all your followers and he’s holding our parents ransom until we get your stones.”

  “How did Ah Pukuh hear about this place?” Lady Koo sounded flattered.

  “I think he saw you on cable news. Old Cahokia is very famous—even in Xibalba.”

  Lady Koo slapped Landa on the back, possibly harder than she’d meant to. “What did I tell you? It’s a new age of social media. If you want to stay on top, you’ve got to stay online.” She checked her phone. “One thousand new followers in the last hour. Yay, me!”

  “You’ll lose all your followers if they hear about the monkey,” Lola pointed out.

  “Can the monkey dance?” asked Lady Koo.

  “No!” said Lola indignantly.

  “Por favor, mi amor, don’t do this,” begged Landa.

  “Oh, loosen up, Toto. I think this could work for us. We’ll announce that our stones have been stolen and then they will be miraculously returned. It’s a win-win! Think of the publicity! Perhaps we could even get Ah Pukuh to put in an appearance. It’s genius.”

  “So, do we have a deal?” asked Lola.

  “We have a deal,” confirmed Lady Koo.

  “Por favor, mi amor,” Landa begged her. “We should not tangle with the Maya gods.”

  Lady Koo turned on him. “Don’t tell me what to do. I am the brains behind this operation—and don’t you forget it!”

  Lola almost felt sorry for Landa, the way he cowered in the shadow of his wife.

  “You are a little out of sorts today, mi amor. Perhaps you should take a siesta before the Sunset Ceremony?”

  “There is no time for a siesta!” snarled Lady Koo. “I have a show to put on!”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  HERE COME THE HERO TWINS

  When everyone else had left the room, Lola did a little victory dance. “Can you believe how well that went? We just need to do this stupid show, collect our Jaguar Stones, and get out of here. It’s in the bag, Hoop.”

  Max looked at her like she was crazy. “You’re kidding, right? You don’t seriously think that Landa will hand over his stones? And that Ah Pukuh won’t care if they’re fake? And that everybody will live happily ever after?”

  Lola jutted her chin stubbornly. “The deal was to go to Cahokia and bring back the Jaguar Stones. End of story.”

  Max noticed that she couldn’t look him in the eye. She was desperate to believe that their quest was over. He realized how terrifying it must have been for her to face Landa again, the person who had done so much to ruin her life. His tone softened. “Yeah. Why not? Maybe you’re right. Hey, you were right about Tzelek.”

  Lola smiled weakly.

  “Are you okay?” he asked her.

  “It was so creepy seeing him, Hoop.”

  “Landa?”

  Lola nodded. “But he’s not quite as scary as he used to be. I think he’s met his match.”

  Max laughed. “Yeah, Lady Koo’s the scariest one. Did you see her eyes when she got mad at him?”

  “They deserve each other.”

  There was knock at the door and a smiling young woman entered. She was dressed in denim overalls and had a bandanna tied around her magnificently wild hair. “Hi, I’m Fay from wardrobe. I’ve come to get you ready for your big performance. Please follow me.”

  As Max and Lola trotted behind her through the network of underground corridors, they passed offices filled with people piling up coins, counting banknotes, and jabbing numbers into calculators. There was a room piled up with leather goods—purses, wallets, and shoulder bags—arranged by size and color. Another room had tubs of small electronics—cell phones, tablets, laptops—all neatly labeled by brand. In yet another room, the workers were processing jewelry, sorting gold from silver, rings from nose studs, precious gems from fakes.

  “What do they do with all this stuff?” asked Max.

  “Lady Koo sells it online,” said Fay. “Or she has it melted down. It’s so sad. People get carried away and donate their wedding rings and family heirlooms, and they will never be able to get them back.”

  “How can you bear to work here?” asked Lola.

  “It’s a job. I’m an archaeology major in St. Louis and I thought it would be good for my résumé. But no one here is interested in the real facts about Cahokia. They even shut down the visitor center. Now, it’s all about costumes and special effects. No one cares about the truth.”

  They went up in an elevator to a trailer and out into the stockade area behind the pyramid.

  It was late afternoon. All around Cahokia, the trees were turning the color of the setting sun. Fay wove expertly around stagehands carrying pieces of scenery on their heads, actors saying their lines, and dancing girls in macaw feather headdresses practicing their high kicks.

  The great pyramid loomed over them.

  “Nearly there,” said Fay. “The dressing rooms are at the top.”

  Max groaned. “How many steps?”

  “None,” replied Fay. “We’ll take the escalator.”

  And there it was.

  A steep hundred-foot escalator rumbling up the back of the pyramid. And another one, next to it, rumbling down.

  Fay saw the disbelief on his face. “Lady Koo calls it her Taj Mahal,” she said.

  “Isn’t the Taj Mahal a palace in India?” asked Lola.

  “Exactly. It was built by an emperor out of love for his wife. Lady Koo tells everyone that Great Sun built these moving stairways as a tribute to the wife who every day brings him closer to the stars.” Fay dropped her voice. “The truth is she couldn’t walk up the stairs in her high heels.”

  As they neared the top of the pyramid, they looked down on Old Cahokia. The flags around the campsite fluttered in the evening breeze. Campfires sputtered. A faint smell of boiling lentils wafted up to them.

  They stepped off the top of the escalator and Fay guided them into the wardrobe tent. “You’ll have to help me,” she said. “I’m not exactly sure what the Hero Twins wore.”

  “Their Maya names are Xbalanque, which means Jaguar Sun, and Hunahpu, which means One Hunter, if that’s any help,” said Lola, looking through the racks of clothes. “So where do you get all this stuff?”

  “The costumes? All sorts of places. Online, thrift stores, auctions. I’m always on the lookout for unusual pieces. A lot of them I make myself. Great Sun wants an ancient Maya feel, but there isn’t much to go on. No textiles have survived from that period. I study wall paintings and pots and do the best I can.”

  “That black-and-white feather costume that Great Sun wore this morning was amazing. Did you make that?”

  Fay didn’t think twice. “I wish! I love it! It looks so authentic.”

  “So where did you get it?”

  “It was the strangest thing. I just turned up to work one morning and there it was. Like someone had just taken it off and dropped it there.”

  “When was this?”

  “A couple of days ago.”

  “And you have no idea where it came from?”

  “I assumed that the local thrift store dropped it off. They’re always looking out for things for me. It probably came from a movie or a play or something.” She took a notebook out of her pocket. “Would you excuse me for a moment while I sketch a few ideas?”

  Max and Lola went into a huddle at the other end of the tent.

  “Tzelek is here somewhere,” said Max. “But the ques
tion is where? Who’s he picked to occupy this time?”

  “Maybe Lord 6-Dog can sniff him out,” said Lola. She clapped her hand over her mouth. “Lord 6-Dog! If Tzelek’s here, Lord 6-Dog’s in danger. We have to find him!”

  Lady Koo entered the room, a white coat over her evening dress, followed by a retinue of assistants carrying makeup cases, mirrors, and hairstyling tools. “I haven’t lost my old touch,” she said. “I was top of my class at beauty school.”

  “I’ll be back in a moment,” said Lola, heading for the door.

  Lady Koo caught her by the arm. “Where do you think you’re going?”

  Lola tried to wriggle free. “I need to check on the monkey.”

  “No,” said Lady Koo, dragging Lola back to a chair. “You need to sit here while I do your makeup. I’ve got a million things to take care of before the show starts. But I’ll have the monkey brought up for you. In fact, I’m writing a little part for him into the show. Everyone loves a dancing monkey.”

  “He doesn’t dance,” said Lola.

  “The sooner we get you ready, the sooner you can teach him,” said Lady Koo.

  So Lola sat back and watched in the mirror as she and Max were transformed into Xbalanque and Hunahpu, the kids who saved the world from the Lords of Death.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  SUNDOWN

  Lola and Max stood side by side, staring at themselves in the mirror.

  “You look good,” said Lola.

  “So do you,” said Max. “Apart from the beard.”

  Lola stroked the wispy hairs glued to her chin. “You don’t like it?”

  The rest of her hair was tied back, and all her visible skin was painted in jaguar spots. She wore a brown cotton tunic.

  Max’s skin had been painted in a leafy camouflage pattern. He wore a black bandanna tied around his hair and a pair of green baggy shorts.

  Fay stood between them, watching their reactions anxiously. “If you’re happy with your costumes, I’ll take you to the greenroom. They’re bringing your monkey up. I can’t wait to meet him. He’s called The Dawg, right? Everyone’s talking about him.” She looked alarmed. “Will he need a costume? I didn’t think of it. We don’t have much to fit a monkey.…”

  “He has pajamas,” Lola reassured her. “I just want to see him. Come on, Hoop!”

  Max took a deep breath. “I think I’ve got stage fright. I keep getting flashbacks to my Thanksgiving play in first grade.”

  He paused for Lola to make a snarky comment about Thanksgiving not being Thanksgiving for Native Americans, but she said nothing, so he pressed on. “I was a corncob. I had to hold hands with the fish that fertilized me. I didn’t get very good reviews.”

  “It doesn’t matter, Hoop. We go on. We get off. We go home. It will all be over before you know it.”

  “This way,” said Fay. “I’m sure you’ll both be amazing.”

  She took them to another tent, nearer to the stage, where lots of extras in vaguely Maya costumes milled around.

  “Do I smell food?” asked Max.

  “Help yourself to the buffet,” said Fay. “The grilled scallions are delicious.”

  Max didn’t need telling twice.

  “Bring me something back!” Lola called after him as he made a beeline for the table. “I’m waiting for The Dawg.”

  The guards brought him in on a stretcher—“Where do you want it?”—and tipped him and his blanket onto the couch. “He should wake up soon,” they said. “Lady Koo says he has to practice his dancing.”

  “Like that’s going to happen,” muttered Lola. She wanted to hug Lord 6-Dog and tell him how glad she was to see him and how scared she’d been when he was shot, but she knew that a mighty Maya king wouldn’t approve of such an emotional display, so she just sat there, gently rubbing his fur as he slept and willing him to wake up.

  “Here comes a runner with your script,” said Fay, taking a thick stack of pages from a backstage helper. “Still warm from the printer! Lady Koo’s been writing like a demon. She’s very excited about tonight’s production.”

  Max returned with two loaded plates and watched as Lola weighed the script in her hand. “It’s like a book!” he said. “She can’t seriously expect us to learn all that?”

  Lola flicked through the pages. “I hope they have plenty of fake blood. The stage directions are pretty gory. Listen to this, Hoop: Xbalanque chops Hunahpu into little pieces, then puts him back together again.”

  Max put down his plate. He was feeling nervous. “How am I going to act that? This is going to be a disaster. It’s the Thanksgiving corncob all over again.”

  “So what happened?” asked Lola, trying not to smile.

  “I jumped up and down to welcome the fish and all my niblets fell off.”

  Lola and Fay burst out laughing. The noise woke Lord 6-Dog, who opened one eye and commanded sleepily, “Stop torturing that toucan,” before going back to sleep.

  “So, that’s the famous Dawg,” said Fay. “Did you know they’re selling little Dawg Dolls of him in his pajamas?”

  “They are? That was quick!” Lola made a face. “I hate to contribute to the profits of this place, but will you get me one for his mother?”

  “Sure. But isn’t his mother a monkey? Will she even know it’s him?”

  “Howler monkeys are very intelligent,” said Lola.

  “You should wake him,” said Fay. “It’s nearly sundown and—” The rest of her words were drowned out by a fanfare of conch shell horns and wooden trumpets. “Quick! The show is starting!”

  Max and Lola woke Lord 6-Dog enough to be able to half carry, half drag him along between them.

  “I have to check the dancers’ costumes,” said Fay. They were in the wings at the side of the stage, hidden from view of the audience. “Be sure to listen for your cue.”

  This is what they heard:

  —Above everything, the noise of the crowd, clapping and chanting for Great Sun to appear.

  —Some taped background music with drums and wailing.

  —A painful whistle of feedback from the PA system every time a stagehand walked in front of a speaker.

  “There you are!” barked Lady Koo, coming up behind them and making them jump out of their skins. “Do you know your lines?”

  Lola shook her head. “We only just got our script.”

  “Then get to it!” Lady Koo’s forehead was wrinkled with worry under its thick layer of makeup. “Tonight is a very special night. The TV cameras have arrived. This could be huge for us! I don’t want any mistakes!”

  “We’re going to be on TV?” Max looked terrified.

  “Isn’t it amazing? I sent out a press release after our meeting, but I never expected such interest. All I said was that the Hero Twins would be performing, and the media have descended like locusts. For some reason they’ve got it into their heads that the Birdman will land tonight.”

  “Will he?”

  Lady Koo looked at Max like he was mad. “Of course not. But it means that you two need to be spectacular. We have to give them a show to remember.”

  “There’s not enough time to learn all our lines,” Lola pointed out. “Can we take our scripts onstage with us?”

  “And make me look like an amateur in front of the entire world? Give me those!” She grabbed the scripts out of Max’s and Lola’s hands and, with the immense effort of someone trying to rip up a phonebook, tore them into little pieces. “If you want those stones, you better not let me down,” she hissed, before hobbling away on her towering heels. “Someone put that monkey in roller skates for the big finale!”

  Lord 6-Dog, who was slumped under his blanket in a director’s chair, paid no attention. Max and Lola stood there, shocked.

  “I think her shoes are hurting her,” said Lola.

  “That’s no excuse to rip up our scripts.”

  “She’s just nervous. This is like a dream come true for her, to be on TV.”

  “It’s my nightmare.”


  “But it’s great for us, Hoop. If we can put on a good show, she’ll be so grateful, we’ll have our hands on those Jaguar Stones tonight!”

  “How does she expect us to put on a good show with no scripts?”

  “Improvise. She knows we know the story. My guess is that she’d rather we made something up than stumbled around reading off our scripts. Just remember the big finale where I chop you into pieces.”

  “How do I act getting chopped into pieces?”

  “It doesn’t matter. Just scream a lot. Whatever. As soon as this is over, we’re out of here.”

  More trumpets, more drums, then a roar from the crowd as Great Sun was carried out on his litter from the opposite side of the stage. He wore the same black-and-white feathers and black face paint as he had that morning.

  Lady Koo was carried out next on an ornate chair with carrying poles. When her bearers had set her down, they detached the poles and left her seated in throne-like splendor. She looked around for the cameras and smiled a fake smile for the viewers at home.

  As Great Sun stood up and began his incomprehensible chanting (“At least now you know why you can’t understand him; he’s making it all up,” Max whispered to Lola), Lady Koo spoke her “translation” into a microphone.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to the world-famous Sunset Ceremony at Old Cahokia,” she began. “We would especially like to welcome our television viewers from around the world and inform you that a wide range of souvenirs from this evening’s festivities is available on our Web site with free shipping.”

  “I’m fairly sure that’s not what Great Sun said,” muttered Max.

  Now Lady Koo stood up and tossed back her hair dramatically. “As the great fire jaguar of day prepares to dive into the sea of night, we gather here, as children of the stars, to celebrate our special place in the cosmos.”

  From out of nowhere a man’s voice that somehow managed to sound smooth and gravelly at the same time boomed out across the park. “Here we are at the lost city of Old Cahokia in America’s heartland, home of the fabled Jaguar Stones and earthly base of the mysterious Birdman of Cahokia. Join me and millions of viewers around the world as we watch Great Sun, self-proclaimed king of Cahokia, attempt to summon back the Birdman from somewhere out there in the stars.”