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Desperation flared inside him, excess energy pinballing throughout his body. What could he do?
“There must be one last clue to decipher,” Santiago said, willing it to be true. “We’re just missing something; this has to be the site.”
His intuition told him that much. Or maybe it was his Guardian blood.
“Then I suggest you figure it out quickly, Sr. Rios,” Torres said. His voice was calm and pleasant, but there was no denying the undercurrent of threat that laced his words.
Santiago scanned the walls, looking for anything that might provide him clarity.
“Go on,” Torres encouraged him, lingering with Ali and his men by the entrance. “We will stay here until you figure out the nature of this room.” He smiled without warmth. “I’ve already lost two of my men, so do be careful.”
The space was wide open, the door to the next room clearly within view. It was too easy. There had to be something amiss.
Tentatively, Santiago stepped forward. One foot in front of the other. Periodically, rays of sunlight skittered across the floor in front of him as he passed one of the high windows. The air was clear and crisp, not the musty dank he associated with ancient tombs.
About a quarter of the way into the chamber, he reached the first set of steps. Gingerly, he moved down them, placing his weight carefully before advancing. Santi was beginning to wonder if it really was going to be that simple when he reached the final step. It sank into the floor with an audible click.
The only thing Santiago could think was, Fuck.
And, Land mine.
Which was ludicrous, of course. But no matter how ridiculous a modern explosive device in an ancient ruin would be, what happened next was far more astonishing.
With shocking speed, the recessed center of the room split open, the stone floor cracking down its middle and falling inward like a trapdoor on hinges.
Rumbling vibrations made Santiago teeter, and he sat backward on the stairs to avoid pitching headfirst into the bottomless cavern that had opened beneath him.
“Santi!” Ali cried out.
Well, likely not bottomless. But if there was an end, Santiago couldn’t make it out. All he could see was the yawning, gaping mouth of earth. The sight of it made him dizzy.
The moment the floor fell away, five enormous spheres of stone and metal dropped from somewhere high above them, ricocheting on heavy, clamoring chains.
Dozens of narrow ropes fell beside those, each supporting a small platform. Hardly large enough to step on.
And then, all of it rotated.
The spheres and roped platforms turned about the room, moving in all different directions. Their rotation wasn’t too fast, but if Santiago was meant to jump from one platform to another across the chasm—as he feared might be the case—that movement would certainly make it deadly.
“I think it’s like an obstacle course?” Santiago guessed uncertainly. “Maybe a test of physical strength and dexterity?”
“Maybe?” Torres repeated, stepping microscopically closer. The rest of the group followed.
“I’m not sure,” Santiago cried. “I’ve seen as much as you!”
“Garcia, find us a way across,” Torres said, and the woman—too loyal for her own good—stepped forward to obey.
“No, wait!” Santiago screamed. He needed more time to analyze the apparatus. But she had already forged ahead, dashing down the steps.
She aimed for one of the dangling stone platforms and leaped.
Time stood still.
Garcia hit her mark, landing on a stone step.
As soon as her weight was fully atop it, the outer edges folded downward toward the rope, snapping shut like a book. She had nowhere left to stand.
Garcia tried clinging to the rope as her foothold disappeared. Her nails dug into the braided fibers, but they began to slip from her grasp. Agonizingly slow. And then she plummeted into the abyss.
