Still staring hard, Hemslock takes a step into the caves, and then another. Gries reaches out a hand to stop him. “What are you doing? The team isn’t ready yet.”

“I could have sworn I saw…” Hemslock frowns, but never finishes the thought.

“We’re ready,” someone from the safety team says. “You’re all wired up so anything you say we’ll hear in real time, and you should hear us loud and clear through your earpieces, too. Everyone gets walkie-talkies in case of an emergency. If you run into any kind of trouble or if communication shorts out, use those to reach us. We’re ready whenever you are.”

“We’re ready,” Hemslock says. “Keep a lock on us at all times.” He glances at the rest of us. Goatee nods, as do the scientists.

“You got weapons?” the actor asks me.

“I have a machete, for chopping wood. That’s all I’ll need.”

To his credit, he doesn’t mock me for it. He only inclines his head, looking oddly thoughtful. “I got a feeling we’ll be needing all the protection we can get.” He turns. “Let’s roll.”

Eleven

Elena

The altar looks exactly how we left it when Goatee and Hawaiian Shirt stumbled into the cave with me that first time. I go through the motions, laying my hand on the cave wall close to the stonework, murmuring “Tabi po.” To my surprise, Hemslock does the same. The short clips the crew showed me of him screaming at Taoist priests, being forcibly removed from sacred places, made me think he would be just as discourteous here.

He sees my face, grins. “That’s show business for you. Getting riled up, causing controversy is what gets you the clicks. I can be respectful, if I must.” He looks at the altar, and then up at the open sky above us. It is early enough that the moon is not yet visible; no eye stares down at us yet. “Let’s see what the rest of the cave has to offer. How far in have you been, kid?”

“It’s dangerous to go beyond this altar.”

He only grins. “Talk to me about this place. How did anyone even know about the curse to begin with? Did any of the locals know about Alex Key?”

“Not the details.” We are moving along a smaller passageway, enough for two people to pass, shoulder to shoulder. I find myself beside Gries with Goatee behind us, while Hemslock walks in the lead, tossing questions over his shoulder at me. The bodyguards tail closely behind, the scientists bringing up the rear. “The Diwata’s story has been passed down for generations, longer than even we know.”

“What do they think about Cortes?”

“That he stole gold from the people is known. The Diwata punished him. Legend says that roots grew around Cortes and pulled him screaming into the ground.”

“See, Karl? We didn’t know this about Cortes. There’ll be more stories that people haven’t told us yet.”

“It’s not something you’d find in history books, obviously,” Goatee says shortly. This close, his breath stinks of alcohol. “It’s probably an old wives’ tale that lingered with the locals but never got written down. Who knows, though? Maybe we’ll be the one to find all that missing gold.”