The Lost City

by J

  Tzelek and Lord 6-Dog stood facing each other in front of the bridge.

  Behind Tzelek stood the Black Pyramid of Ah Pukuh. Behind Lord 6-Dog stood the Green Pyramid of Itzamna. Neither structure was as Max had last seen them; they both looked brand-new, freshly painted, clear of all vegetation. But the rest of the location looked like the setting for a nightmarish music video: the colors were too saturated, the contrast too intense and, around the edges where there should have been green jungle, there was nothing but a burnt purple haze.

  “What is this place?” said Lady Coco.

  “It is the scene of thy little 6-Dog’s death,” Tzelek replied. “You may say good-bye and wipe his nose one last time, if you like.”

  Lady Coco growled. “I will say good-bye to you first, Tzelek.”

  “I think not.”

  “In a fair fight, my 6-Dog could beat you with one arm behind his back,” Lady Coco insisted.

  “Who said anything about a fair fight?”

  On the steps of the black pyramid, thick smoke billowed from hundreds of burning incense pots.

  Tzelek clicked his fingers.

  Out of the smoke, weapons clanking as they descended the steps, marched the most fearsome army that Max had ever seen, a sea of black-painted warriors in white-feather headdresses, a host of mythical Maya beasts (including Eek’ Chapaat, the monstrous centipede, and Kamasootz’, queen of the bats), assorted ogres and giants, and battalions of zombie warriors in their various stages of death and decay. Each and every one of them was armed to the teeth—including, for many of them, a set of fiercely sharpened teeth and flesh-ripping fangs. They raised their weapons as one and, with a thunderous noise, shouted, “Hail Tzelek, King of Xibalba, Lord of the Middleworld.”

  Lord 6-Dog shook his head in disgust. “Thou wert ever a sniveling coward. Canst thou not keep thy word and fight like a man?”

  “You have your supporters,” replied Tzelek, indicating the trio on the bridge. “It is only fair that I should invite my nearest and dearest. Since your family has disowned me, I have been forced to make a new family for myself.” He smiled and indicated the crowd behind him. “Meet the guys.”

  “I’ll show you family!” roared Lady Coco, whirling the scepter above her head and chanting in Mayan.

  “No, Mother!” called Lord 6-Dog, but it was too late.

  Down the central steps of the pyramid of Itzamna came a parade of Jaguar Kings. Max recognized many of them from the bathroom mirror at the inn. But this time, they all wore full battle gear and were accompanied by their bodyguards, warriors, and household retinues. At the very end, carried on a litter by his guards, came Jade Frog, the founder of the dynasty and owner of the leg-bone that had summoned them all here.

  Lord 6-Dog’s father, Punak Ha, peeled off from the rest to come and stand on the bridge with Lady Coco. They looked at each other tenderly, the old king and the howler monkey that used to be his wife.

  “It is good to see thee, my dear,” whispered Punak Ha, not commenting on her new appearance. “I have missed thee.”

  “I have so much to tell you!” Lady Coco’s eyes were shining but she tried to assume a somber expression. “But, of course, I have missed you, too.”

  “If the worst parents in the world are ready,” said Tzelek, “perhaps we can get this massacre started.”

  Both armies stood at attention, facing each other at opposite ends of the field. There was an echoing rattle as they lifted their weapons, ready to charge.

  From his vantage point on the bridge, Max felt like a spectator at a medieval joust.

  He switched his attention to the main players. They were working themselves up to battle, trading insults like the two little brothers they had once been. Suddenly, this whole scene looked ridiculous.

  Childish.

  How many times had this scene played out?

  How many more times would it be played?

  And all the while, the lives of ordinary people were torn apart because these ancient forces of good and evil went on fighting for all eternity.

  There was a split second of silence before the conch shells blew to start the battle.

  “I can’t watch.” Max buried his head in his hands.

  “Here we go again,” said Lola.

  Lord 6-Dog put up his hand to stay the advancing armies.

  He turned to Lola, eyes blazing. “What didst thou say?”

  “I’m sorry,” said Lola, sounding terrified. “I didn’t mean it.”

  “What didst thou say?” he asked again in a gentler voice.

  “I … I just said here we go again because, you know, this is not the first time that you and Tzelek have battled to the, um, death.”

  She bit her lip.

  Lord 6-Dog was still staring at her.

  “What now?” asked Tzelek, irritated.

  “Brother,” said Lord 6-Dog, turning to him, “we need to talk.”

  “Talk? Is this a joke? We need to throttle and maim each other, is what we need to do.”

  “We have already done that and it got us nowhere.”

  “What has happened before will happen again,” said Tzelek. “That’s the whole point of history.”

  “Perhaps we need to move on.”

  “The only thing I need is to see you dead.”

  “I am already dead, and so art thou. We died twelve hundred solar years ago in the battle that destroyed us both.”

  “It may have destroyed you, but it drove me on. My hatred for you is even stronger than death.”

  “Who are we fighting today? We are all just ghosts. How can either of us win?”

  “Not to give away my tactics, but I intend to win by ripping out your heart.”

  “I understand thy hatred. For twelve hundred years, since the day thou didst kill my father, I have lived and breathed my desire for revenge.”

  “That’s more like it,” urged Tzelek. “Bring it on.”

  “No, I will not fight thee. Thou art not my enemy.”

  “What? Yes, I am. What are you saying?”

  “I am saying that my battle is within myself.”

  “You’re scared,” jeered Tzelek.

  “No, fighting is easy. What I am about to do is much harder.”

  “If it’s sorcery you’re thinking about, don’t bother. I am a master of the black arts.”

  Lord 6-Dog smiled. “Thou wert always good at magic, even as a child. Remember the day thou didst teach me to produce a cocoa bean from my ear? I wish I could still do that. Wilt thou teach me again?”

  “What trickery is this?”

  “No trickery. I just want to say that I am sorry, Tzelek. It must have been hard to lose thy mother and feel like an outcast in my family. I am sorry for the part I played in thine unhappiness. Wilt thou forgive me?”

  Tzelek gave Lord 6-Dog a look of incredulity mixed with disgust. “What sick joke is this?”

  “It is no joke, brother. I am serious.”

  Tzelek put up his fists. “Just fight, you coward!”

  “My father—our father—told me that I would not win if I fought thee. Now, I see what he meant. I have been a terrible brother. Instead of welcoming thee into my family, I resented thy presence. I fought with thee when I should have shared with thee. It is my fault thou art cast as a villain.”

  “It’s really not. Can we just get back to fighting? Remember I killed your father. I destroyed your kingdom. I like being a villain!”

  Lord 6-Dog stuck his hand on Tzelek’s shoulder.

  Tzelek winced.

  “I forgive thee,” said Lord 6-Dog softly. “What’s past is past. Let us go forward as friends and brothers.”

  “No! You can’t do this to me!” Tzelek turned very pale; so pale, in fact, that he was becoming transparent. “You hate me and I hate you. That is what nourishes me! I demand that you hate me again! I need your hatred. I feed on it! It is who I am.”

  “It is gone,” said Lord 6-Dog. “I am free of it.”

  With agoniz
ing cries, Tzelek and his armies shriveled up and dissipated like smoke in the wind. And when the smoke was gone, there was a silence, full of peace.

  “Well played, Son,” said Punak Ha.

  “Thank thee, Father. In all honesty, it feels good to be rid of the hatred.”

  “And rid of Tzelek,” added Lady Coco.

  “Just one thing, Son.”

  “Yes, Father?”

  “Now that thou hast vanquished all the foes of Middleworld, I assume thou hast no further need of the scepter?”

  “Dost thou want it, Father? Take it. It is thine.”

  “Return it to Jade Frog. He has difficulty walking without it.”

  Lord 6-Dog borrowed a shield of brined cotton from a nearby warrior to use as a ceremonial platter. Then he laid the leg-bone on it and made his way through the ranks of kings to Jade Frog, looking rather like a chef serving up a Sunday roast.

  “Venerable ancestor, I present the sacred scepter of the Jaguar Kings,” he said, kneeling before the old man.

  “I am proud of thee, 6-Dog,” said Jade Frog. “Thou hast broken the cycle and restored the balance. I am glad to get my leg back after all this time. But now we must take our leave.” Lord 6-Dog nodded. “I am ready to accompany thee.”

  “No,” said Jade Frog, smiling. “Rejoin thy friends. It is not thy time.”

  As Lord 6-Dog made his way slowly back over the glass bridge, Jade Frog waved the leg-bone above his head in farewell and the Jaguar Kings vanished like smoke on the wind.

  “Where did everyone go?” asked Max.

  “Hold tight,” said Lola. “Something’s happening.”

  The towering pyramids crumbled in front of their eyes and, in seconds, the battlefield was entirely camouflaged by jungle. The glass bridge was now floating in the night sky, with planet Earth revolving below it.

  Looking down, Max saw a bobbing, multicolored mass weaving across the land surface of the Earth, swaying and turning in rhythmic circles. “Are we trapped now?” he asked. “Will we ever get down?”

  “They’re dancing us down,” said Lola. “All the Maya around the world. They’re dancing the story of creation and the birth of the stars. They’re dancing us back to Earth.”

  As they came nearer to the ground, the clouds engulfed them, gradually solidifying like frosted glass, until they stood once again inside the great globe of the world that sat hidden beneath the dome of a stately white building on Massachusetts Avenue in central Boston.

  “Will Tzelek come back?” asked Max, trying to process what had just happened.

  Lord 6-Dog shook his head. “No, he is gone for good.” He smiled weakly at Max. “But there will be other enemies to subdue. Be always on thy guard, young lord.”

  “Where will you be?” asked Max.

  “My strength is failing. My time here is done.” Lord 6-Dog put a hand to his injured head.

  “Let us take off that headdress,” said Lady Coco. “The weight of it would give anyone a headache.”

  With the help of his friends, Lord 6-Dog unloaded some of his battle gear and sat down on the walkway of the bridge, leaning back against the glass sidewall.

  “You were amazing out there,” Lola said to him. “You broke the cycle of revenge.”

  “I was inspired by thee,” he said, squeezing Lola’s hand. “Thou wert magnificent at Fenway. What a great king thou wouldst have made.”

  “Thank you.” She bowed her head, so he wouldn’t see that her eyes were full of tears.

  “Son, you’re wounded,” sobbed Lady Coco. “If you can just get back in your monkey body, we could get help.”

  “It is too late, Mother, you know that. When the Day of the Dead is over, I must leave this mortal world.”

  “Don’t say that!”

  “Good-bye, Mother,” said Lord 6-Dog weakly. He lay back and closed his eyes.

  “Noooo!” Lady Coco pulled at him. “You can’t leave me!”

  But he was already dead.

  Lady Coco howled in pain. “He is gone. He was without a body when he passed. This time he cannot return.”

  A white light filled the globe room.

  “Greetings,” said Ixchel, the young moon goddess.

  Lady Coco stared at her mournfully, her eyes red from crying, the fur on her face tearstained. “My son is dead, Ixchel. If only you had come sooner.”

  “He died a hero,” said the goddess, her face shimmering like moonbeams. “I have come to honor him as a champion of our people.” She knelt beside the fallen king and cradled his head. His body, bathed in her light, began to glow. He opened his eyes and looked straight at Ixchel.

  “It is thee,” he said.

  They looked at each other dreamily for a few moments, then Ixchel cleared her throat and assumed a businesslike attitude. “Lord 6-Dog, I come to you from the ancestors. You have done us great service in silencing Tzelek. Now you must choose your reward.”

  “Seeing thee is my reward,” whispered Lord 6-Dog.

  Ixchel tried not to smile. “You have a choice,” she said. “You may stay in Middleworld and live out your life in mortal comfort or …”

  She hesitated.

  “Or …?” Lord 6-Dog was staring at her intently.

  “Or you may rise to the heavens with me tonight.”

  “And if I choose to go with thee …?”

  “You will be a star in the night sky, the closest star to the moon.” She lowered her glance. “We will be together for eternity.”

  “I would like that,” he said.

  “Please, no,” Lady Coco begged him. “Don’t leave me, Son.”

  “Come now, Mother. All my life thou hast nagged me about meeting the right woman. And now, finally, I am in love. Surely even thou must think a goddess good enough for thy son?”

  Lady Coco nodded through her tears. “Look after him for me, Ixchel.”

  “I am the goddess of motherhood, Lady Coco. I know how much you love him.”

  “He has been wounded.”

  “I am also the goddess of healing.”

  Lady Coco sighed. “Good-bye, my little 6-Dog. I will look for you in the sky.”

  “And I will shine down on thee, Mother, every night.”

  “Don’t be sad, Lady Coco. It is a time of change for you, too,” said Ixchel. “You have fulfilled your mission in Middleworld.”

  Lady Coco gasped. “But it’s so sudden. I’ve been so happy here.…”

  “You, too, shall have a choice. You may return to your husband, Punak Ha, in the underworld, or you may live out your days as a howler monkey.”

  “A talking howler monkey?”

  “No, you would lose the power of human speech.”

  “You could express yourself through art!” burst out Lola excitedly. “The ancient Maya always depicted scribes and artists as monkeys! I could teach you to paint!”

  Lady Coco’s little forehead was furrowed with the effort of curbing in her monkey spirit. “It sounds nice, Lady Lola, but I must go to Punak Ha. In my day, a wife’s duty was to her husband.”

  “You were a good wife,” said Ixchel. “You pricked your tongue with thorns for royal rituals. You rose at dawn to knead the tortilla dough. You waited for your husband to return from battle. But times have changed. Now Punak Ha will wait for you. There is time enough to return to him when your adventures are over.”

  Lady Coco’s eyes lit up. “Then I choose to be a howler monkey, wild and free, swinging with my troop through the beautiful forest.”

  “I hope you’ll come and visit us at the Villa Isabella,” said Lola.

  “Every day,” said Lady Coco. “I’ll bring the troop to sample Raul’s cashew crumble.”

  “So be it,” said Ixchel. “I wish you a lifetime of happiness, Lady Coco.”

  “Thank you, my dear. Call me mother-in-law.”

  They all hugged each other, and Ixchel left a sparkle of moondust on everyone’s cheek when she kissed them.

  “Ready?” Ixchel took Lord 6-Dog’s hand.r />
  “Ready,” he replied.

  “Then let us go.”

  Lady Coco clutched her Dawg Doll close as the moon goddess and the handsome Maya king melted into the shaft of moonlight and disappeared.

  The doors of the globe room unlocked themselves.

  Dr. Delgado sat up and groaned. “Where am I?”

  Lola helped her to her feet.

  “How did I get here?” asked Dr. Delgado, looking around at all the broken glass.

  “It’s okay, he’s gone now,” said Lola.

  “Who’s gone?”

  “Tzelek.”

  “Tzelek? That was the name painted on the pot with the lizard handle. I was unpacking it at the museum.…” She held her head. “I opened the lid and something jumped out at me. I … I … I don’t remember anything else.”

  “He took over your body to get him here, so he could fight one last battle with his arch-enemy, Lord 6-Dog,” explained Lola.

  “Lord 6-Dog? The great king of Itzamna?”

  “He was in the body of that monkey who came to the museum with us on Halloween.”

  Dr. Delgado stared at her like she was crazy. “Are you asking me to believe that the ancient Maya have the ability to come back to life?”

  Lola laughed and shook her head. “It was the Day of the Dead, remember?”

  “I don’t remember anything.”

  “Then you’re going to want to hear about the Red Sox game last night.”

  Lola picked up the body of Chulo, the howler monkey who had hosted Lord 6-Dog all this time. She kissed his sleeping head. “You won’t believe what’s been happening,” she whispered to him. “But it’s over now. Everything’s going to be all right. Just sleep and dream about the forest. In the morning I’ll bring you all the mangoes and bananas you can eat.”

  As they left the globe room, the shattered world reassembled itself.

  So if the world didn’t end, what happened next?

  Well, Max Murphy and Nasty Smith-Jones finally went out for a pizza and a movie. They went quite a few times, actually.

  Lola never made her road trip. She was too busy making plans with Lucky Jim for the Maya school they were going to build with Landa’s money, after she graduated from Harvard.

  Hermanjilio spent all his free time guiding tourists around the new Jaguar Stones Museum.