Page 160 of Empire of Shadows

The road continued to unfurl in wide, well-planned curves past structures that grew gradually larger and more complex until Ellie had to crane her neck in order to look up at them.

Here and there, three-story complexes of columns and balconies were more or less intact. Others had fallen into nothing more than vine-draped facades.

Ellie’s skin buzzed with excitement. She’d read about all the major Mayan cities which had been found so far. These ruins were nothing like them. Certainly, there were familiar elements—the shape of an elegant tower, or a colonnaded facade—but the architecture here was both grander and more graceful.

The sheer scale of it was like nothing she had heard of.

The wild, seemingly impossible dream that a lost city lay at the end of Ellie’s map had compelled her to grab it from her desk and race off to corroborate it against the records. Even so, she would never have dared to dream of something likethis. This wasn’t just another ruin. It was an upheaval of everything the world had known about Mesoamerican history—and Ellie was standing in the middle of it.

Every one of the magnificent structures they passed demanded investigation. Ellie’s hands itched for a notebook and pencil—for string, stakes, and measuring tape. They should have been embarking on a thorough survey of the entirety of the ruins, identifying potential sites, digging test pits—and documenting, documenting, documenting.

Instead, Jacobs and Dawson led them past archaeological wonders as if they were merely lumps in the landscape. It took all of Ellie’s willpower not to shout the whole expedition to a halt so that she could start making some measurements… and yet at the same time, the gorgeous question of what might still lie ahead of them tugged at her as hard and sure as a fishing line. Even as her mind spun to organize a responsible approach to examining the ruins, another part of her wanted to race through it all like an overeager puppy.

The rest of the caravan sprawled along the road behind them. The line of men and mules was setting a better pace than usual, aided by the flat surface of the ancient road.

The mules’ ears lay back flat along their necks as the animals hurried along. Ellie wondered whether the animals had sensed the significance of the thick gray clouds which rose over the ridge to the east through breaks in the trees.

The buildings around them had grown even more elaborate—a signal that they must be approaching the center of the city.

Ellie’s attention was arrested by a glimpse of something through the thick-leaved flowers to her right. She veered from the road, pushing through the blooms as Mendez grumbled another complaint behind her.

On the far side lay a verdigris-covered basin measuring at least forty feet long. A staircase descended along the inner wall to a layer of green water which was perhaps six feet down from the surface.

Ellie eyed the periphery, noting the places where small notches had been cut into the top of the walls. They led to stone-lined channels which wound into the overgrowth around her.

The stone head of a feathered serpent protruded from the higher wall to her left. A trickle of water dripped from its gaping jaw, which was easily big enough for Ellie to have crawled inside it.

She leaned forward for a better look. The throat of the sculpture was a black tunnel leading into darkness.

As Adam arrived beside her, Ellie whirled toward him.

“Bates, do you realize what this is?” Ellie demanded.

“A half-empty swimming pool?” he replied, frowning down at the murky water.

“It’s a reservoir!” she countered. “Look—there are aqueducts carrying water to other areas of the city. They wouldn’t be using this for irrigation in the middle of a population center. It can only be some sort of municipal water system.” She gripped his shirt, beaming up at him with excitement. “A municipal water system, Bates!”

Ellie released him to scramble along the edge of the pool to the serpent statue.

“I think the water must be coming through this—but from what source?” Ellie stuck her head inside the sculpture’s mouth and shouted back. Her own voice echoed wildly around her. “I can’t see where it goes. There must be some sort of underground source.”

“Princess…” Adam cut in carefully.

Ellie pulled her head back out into the daylight to glance back at him.

Their guards lingered at his back—Staines looking uncomfortable, Mendez tapping his foot, and Flowers seeming mildly amused.

“Er… right. We should probably keep going,” Ellie reluctantly declared.

She couldn’t entirely hide her disappointment. The discovery of amunicipal water system was revolutionary. It overwhelmed her with the awareness of how very much there was tolearn… but this wasn’t a normal archaeological survey. It was a crime in the making, and she was a prisoner within it.

The truth of that tore at her as she gazed at the murky water of the reservoir.

Adam gave her shoulder a squeeze. “I know,” he said quietly.

He guided her back through the tangles of overgrown flowers to the road—and Ellie realized that it had ended.

The broad path stopped at the bottom of a wide staircase. Bits of white stone showed where the debris had blown aside rather than rotting in place. Voices rang out from above them in tones of greedy excitement.

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