Page 243 of Empire of Shadows

The priest bolted.

Adam raced after him with Ellie at his side. He was vaguely aware of Lessard pulling even. The stocky Quebecois flashed a grin as he managed to outpace them. Charlie stumbled over a rock in the dark and bit out a curse as Kuyoc led them around a skidding turn into an overgrown road between the houses. The old man lost zero ground on them in his sandals.

They skirted the edge of the plaza, where the shouts grew louder. Bones came into sight. The foreman was waving the rest of the expedition on as Velegas shouted out orders from his perch on a boulder.

Aurelio Fajardo slapped a stream of mules into motion. The animals clomped and raced to join them on the road.

Nigel Reneau slid down a short flight of steps. He landed near Adam’s side and took off after the priest. Ram and his Bhojpuri companions raced after the cook. Even a pair of Jacobs’ remaining guards took about two seconds to decide to desert their posts. They hauled after the remainder of the camp as it raced through the trees and ruined stones.

The road twisted higher as it approached the looming black ridge of the mountains. The trees thinned, and another terrible, rending roar sounded from behind them.

Adam risked a glance back. The pyramid was falling.

The tiers of white stone collapsed inward as the temple sank into a fall of crumbling rubble. Adam spotted a cluster of figures stumbling to the bottom of the staircase. They raced across the plaza even as it fractured under their feet.

Dark shapes swooped overhead and screeched into the night. The monstrous bats from the cave veered from the cacophony of the collapse. Disoriented and chaotic, they fled into the west.

Adam took hold of Ellie’s arm and pushed them faster.

The roaring and crumbling noises behind them intensified. The ground trembled beneath Adam’s boots as Kuyoc veered them off the ancient road and onto a game track that wended up a sloping ledge of the mountain. He waved them onto it as he shouted, quickly swapping languages.

“Go, go! Kwika! ¡Apúrate!”

The entire camp scrambled up the winding, narrow ledge. The climb was steep. Aurelio’s mules, clearly comprehending the urgency of the situation, hopped nimbly over the stones and easily passed Adam and Ellie. Aurelio shouted in the midst of them, grabbed the stragglers by their halters, and hauled them up.

Rain pounded down, making the track slippery and soaking them to the bone as they climbed. The priest picked his way with practiced assurance up the mountainside, taking them higher as more buildings collapsed below them. Trees rustled strangely as they tore from the ground.

At last, the mad caravan spilled out onto a high, broad ledge. Kuyoc stopped as the group collected itself.

Still holding Ellie’s hand, Adam made a quick inventory.

Charlie was half collapsed onto one of the stones, where he panted and grumbled more curses. Lessard hocked out a lump of spit and laughed.

Flowers helped pull the last few stragglers up the steep ground to the ledge.

Based on the satisfied look on Aurelio’s face, all of the mules had made it out intact.

Pacheco, Lopez, Ram, and the others—everyone else from the camp was there.

And Ellie, of course.

The relief of that made Adam want to fall over a bit—or maybe that was the altitude.

The rain began to slacken. To the east, the underside of the clouds was softly gilded by the rising light of dawn. The tentative glow of it illuminated what was happening below, even as great, rending rumbles continued to resound across the valley.

Adam forced himself to look out over it.

The place where the temple had stood was already gone, along with the ball court where Ellie and Adam fled earlier that night. The reservoir had cracked. The water spilled out in a quick, frothing current.

Farther away, towers crumbled. Sections of trees rustled wildly and then sank from view.

Adam took it in with gaping shock and sudden comprehension.

“The whole cave system is collapsing,” he said, voice numb. “This entire place is turning into one giant sinkhole.”

“I… Oh dear,” Ellie said as she swayed slightly beside him. “I think I might need to…”

Adam caught her and held her upright. She stared past him, eyes wide, as he gently pushed a fall of messy hair from her face.

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