Dr. Peet!
He stood there a moment, as though he’d expected to find her sitting there, as though she was the only reason he’d come. She set her potsherd down and slid off the lab stool.
“Well?”
“I expect a revised draft of your dissertation on my desk first thing next semester.” He smiled.
Lori squealed, a spontaneous response she wished she’d get a better grip on. But it didn’t matter. She bounded across the lab and crashed into Dr. Peet with a big hug.
“You still have your job!” she blurted, though Dr. Peet’s composed happiness said it all.
For a moment he seemed to welcome the hug, offering a squeeze of his own as though he’d been thirsting for the congratulatory gesture. But the embrace was quickly dissolved when he reluctantly pulled away.
“Not so fast,” he said. “We can’t go starting any rumors.”
Lori stepped back, straightening her long white lab coat. “Oh, yeah. You’re right.”
The smile was still stretched across his face. Lori liked it when he smiled. It was like they were partners again.
“Snead’s quite concerned about the whereabouts of that effigy,” he said.
“You didn’t tell him, did you?”
“No. But you’ll have to come clean about it at some point.”
Lori turned back to her lab table. “Yeah, but that can wait. The last thing we need is Mr. Snead harassing the Museum of Anthropology.”
As she gathered her notes she felt the strain of her own smile refusing to release its grip on her face. She was pleased with her decision. Eva had refused to take the artifact, just as she refused to accept her father’s Toltec bloodlines. It was as though she found her own heritage tainted by truths that she’d just as soon keep secret, even if that meant neglecting a priceless cultural artifact.
Failing to return the effigy to its rightful Toltec heir, Lori chose the next best option—loaning it to the Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. It would be safe there, she’d decided. More importantly, a piece of Mexico’s history had been returned.
“Do you think we’re really living in the Age of Quetzalcoatl?” she asked, sorting the potsherds back into their storage case. “I mean, it seems the world wasn’t destroyed with the end of the fifth age.”
She could almost hear Dr. Peet considering the possibility behind her. “Maybe this time it was a peaceful exchange of power. Maybe Tezcatlipoca resigned in peace. Maybe he made a truce with Quetzalcoatl.”
Lori turned back around. “Or maybe it’s just a story.”
Peet smiled, but there was less cheer in it. “You know, the effigy will eventually have to be returned to the states,” he warned.
Lori flashed him an are-you-kidding-me smile. “What do you mean? We found the story behind the find.”
“We found a story behind the effigy. That doesn’t mean we found the complete story.”
Lori scowled. “What are you getting at?”
Peet seemed amused by her confusion. He handed her an envelope. “Snead gave this to me. It appears this summer’s field study is headed back to your father’s ranch. We’re excavating The Trader.”
“What are you talking about?” Lori felt her excitement gaining strength, but it didn’t come without reservations. “There’s no real need to excavate The Trader’s remains. We got all the information we need from the effigy.”
“Not according to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. A committee has been organized with representatives from three different tribes who are all requesting identification of The Trader. It seems there’s an interest in whose ancestor The Trader really is and therefore who should claim filiation to the effigy.”
“But it seems clear now that The Trader is Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl.”
Dr. Peet shrugged. “We’ve only assumed The Trader is Mesoamerican. Before that we assumed he was Anasazi. We won’t know for sure until we meet him face to face.”
* * * *
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Tula Ruins, Hidalgo, Mexico
Tula was particularly busy when the New Ager walked across the central plaza. As expected there were scattered groups of tourists wandering through the colonnade hall and beneath the steel awnings that protected colorful frescoes still adorning some of the ruin walls. And of course, there was interest in the great Atlanteans forever maintaining their watch atop Pyramid B.
He paid no mind to any of this. His focus was on the giant central altar that centered the plaza. There, a large group had congregated, their stark white t-shirts shimmering like froth riding waves of heat. One of them was perched atop the massive block of the altar, his eye pressed into a filtered telescope directed at the sun.
“The transit has come!” the astronomer called, and as if on cue, a white wave of clothing swelled and then receded as the people stripped themselves of their shirts and tossed them to the ground.
He hurried to the altar, tearing his own t-shirt over his head and flinging it among the crowd. The group had contracted and collapsed to the ground, a circular sea of white and brown and bronzed flesh adorned only by a spattering of colorful bras and gold chain necklaces, and he threw himself into the mix, lying spread-eagle, flat on his back.
The New Ager’s flesh tingled with the radiating heat of the sun. He closed his eyes, the words still ringing in his ears.
The transit has come!
He envisioned the bright orb of the sun. He could see it through his eyelids. There was a black speck marring the glowing surface, a small round star crossing the face of the sun. The morning star. Venus.
As the sun’s rays penetrated his skin, the New Ager felt Quetzalcoatl’s energy soaking into his pores—an energy stripped from the surface of Venus and transported to him on the rays of sunshine. He rejoiced in the glow, in the feeling of the Venus Transit.
Quetzalcoatl was bestowing the blessings of the new age.
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Carrasco, Davíd, Lindsay Jones, and Scott sessions, eds. Mesoamerica’s Classic Heritage: From Teotihuacan to the Aztecs. Boulder: UP of Colorado, 2000.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Theresa Danley lives along the hi-line of Montana where she keeps busy raising her family, riding horses and writing to satisfy her interest in history and archaeology.
You are invited to visit her website at:
www.theresadanley.com
For your reading pleasure, we invite you to visit our web bookstore
WHISKEY CREEK PRESS
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Table of Contents
Cover
Title page
Copyright
Historical Note
Prologue: The Enemy On Both Sides
PART I
Moab
University
Library
Mexico City
Utah
Laboratory
Citlalpol
Laboratory
Thief In The Night
Laboratory
Clues
PART II
Mexico City
Zedilla
AFI Headquarters
Salt Lake City
Snowball Effect
Friedman
AFI Headquarters
Salt Lake City
Mexico City
Acatzalan
Teotihuacán
PART III
Mexico City
Acatzalan Returns
Zócalo
Laboratory
Calendar Round
Caught
Year Signs
PART IV
Sacrifices
Among The Reeds
Tezcatlipoca
Gaspar’s Riddle
Sunstone
Tensions
Conjunctions
PART V
New Fire
Teotihuacán
Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl
Pyramids And
Equinox Killer
Smoking Mirrors
The Serpent’s Mouth
AFI Custody
Observatory
Captivity
Betrayal
Teotihuacán
Womb Of Renewal
Portal To The Underworld
Mexico City
Diversion
PART VI
Tula
Blockade
Ballcourt
Place Of Reeds
Ballcourt
The Jaguar
AFI Van
Demons Of Darkness
Eclipse
Reed One
AFI Headquarters
Epilogue: Sometimes He Bestowed Riches
About The Author