Secret in the Circle

“Just think,” Cavan said, striding around the room, touching everything reverently as if he’d just stumbled into Aladdin’s Cave. “This place lay undiscovered for nearly 1300 years. They only found it in 1952.” Eva ran her hand caressingly over the carvings on the tomb’s lid. “Who was this Pacal? He must have been important to deserve a resting place like this.” “He was king of Palenque in 7th century,” Anna-Rosa replied. “But very special king. He was like Aztec god, Quetzalcoatl. He was leader of people who came from the Atlantic.” “When you say they came from the Atlantic,” asked Cavan, “do you mean from across the other side of the Atlantic Ocean?” “Yes, this is what old book says by Quiché Mayan people. But it not say where. Maybe Egypt, and this is why we have pyramids here and in Egypt; they are built by same people.” “Could be,” said Cavan thoughtfully. “Could be.” “Old Mayan book it also say Pacal hide secret treasure here in dark place below earth. Maybe this was crystal skull? There is temple here at Palenque where excavation is begun but not finished. It has stone skull carved in entrance.” Kirrily became excited. “In Henry’s crossword, he said Bak is the word for skull, and you told us Bak is also the Mayan name for Palenque. Henry said it was the hiding place for the skull as well. Could it be that Henry meant Palenque is where we’ll find the treasure?” “Or perhaps it’s where he found it originally,” chipped in Cavan. “He might then have hidden it in a different place.” Kirrily nodded, conceding he had a good point. “It’s a strange coincidence though, isn’t it, that Palenque is the very first place we’ve got to after the clues on the map run out? Everything fits so perfectly.” “Except we haven’t solved the clues of the triangles on the map, and the letters ‘G, T and X’. The letters don’t include ‘P’ for Palenque.” Kirrily gave a deep sigh of frustration. She looked around the tomb as if searching for something. “Do you think there could have been a crystal skull in here once upon a time?” “Maybe not so long ago as that,” remarked Eva, “if the tomb was only discovered in 1952.” “Actually, it was 1956,” Cavan contradicted her. “The archaeologist found the stairway in 1952, but it was filled up with rubble. Took him and his workers another four years to find the tomb.” Eva suddenly stumbled against the sarcophagus and Cavan sprinted to her side. Kirrily offered her backpack for her grandmother to sit on. “It’s all those steps. You’ve been overdoing it.” “I’m fine, I’m fine. It’s just that I had a little bit of a shock.” Kirrily glanced at her with concern. “Why, what’s happened?” “1956, Cavan said.” “Yes, why, what’s wrong?” Cavan crouched down in a squatting position to face her. “It’s when Henry went on his last adventure.” “Grandma?” Eva sighed. “He wanted to do something special before his 40th birthday in 1957. He said he was getting old and needed to settle down with his family.” She attempted a smile. “I don’t think he ever really got over the excitement of being a pilot in the war. Everything was so tame after that. I think that’s why you and he got on so well, Cavan. You’re very alike in wanting constant adventure.” Cavan patted her hand and shifted his position a little, as much from his emotional discomfit as from a physical one. He missed the old man, too. Eva continued. “Well, Henry’s father, who was still alive at that time, told him this madcap story about a friend of his who’d had a bit of an adventure in Central America in the 1920s. He was some kind of famous archaeologist and apparently had found a crystal skull in some jungle ruins there. Henry went with his father to meet this friend, and I remember when he came back he was bubbling with enthusiasm about this skull he’d seen. He said it had special powers and could talk to you.” Eva laughed at the memory. “Well, I thought they’d just had too much to drink and didn’t really take much notice, but Henry did go off for two or three months in 1956 to Central America in search of any more of these skulls.” “Did he come to Palenque?” Cavan asked. “I’m not sure. He did come to Mexico, I’m certain of that, and he also went to Guatemala, and British Honduras as well, I think.” “British Honduras?” queried Anna-Rosa. “Where is this?” “Nowadays, it’s called Belize,” replied Cavan. “Ah, yes,” she said. “I remember my brother, Carlos, he tell me story of famous skull found in Belize in 1925. In Lubaantun, I think, in jungle.” Eva inclined her head. “That name rings a bell, Lubaantun.” She looked up at Anna-Rosa. “Do you remember who found the skull?” “It was young girl. She there with her papá. I remember this girl because her name is same as mine—Anna. I think her last name is long one with two names. Something like Michelle-Hejez.” Eva scratched her head. “I can’t remember. It was a long time ago, over forty years.” “Hedges,” said Kirrily suddenly. “Mitchell-Hedges.” Eva beamed at her. “Yes, that’s right. I do believe that was his name, Henry’s father’s friend. Frederick Mitchell-Hedges. And he did have a daughter, yes.” Cavan was still staring in astonishment at Kirrily. “How did you know that? Are you psychic or something?” “Just a brilliant brain,” she teased. It was more light-hearted than she truly felt, but she couldn’t resist the gentle joke between them. It made her feel close to him and, best of all, excluded Anna-Rosa. He smiled, remembering well the evening on the boat in Sydney Harbour and the magical night thereafter. What had happened between them that they hadn’t wanted it to last forever? What had they been so scared of?