Ch6-Heart-of-the-Wind

CHAPTER SIX Heart-of-the-Wind "Well, I wouldn't exactly call this a luxury hotel," said Annie. She shivered. A damp wind was blowing through the open window. Jack was too stunned to speak. He reached into the swim bag and pulled out the travel guide. He walked to the window and studied the cover by moonlight. "Oh…," he whispered, and then pointed to one of the small paintings. "I think I get it now." "Get what?" said Annie.

Jack looked at her. "This isn't a theme park." "I was starting to think that, too," said Annie. "But what is it?" "It's real," said Jack. "Real?" said Annie. "What do you mean, real? "I think we've accidentally come to the actual time of ancient Mayans," said Jack. "Like when?" said Annie. "Like maybe over a thousand years ago, when they wore feathers and fought with spears." "But—how is that possible?" said Annie. "Teddy sent us to Cozumel now, in our time!" "That's what he was supposed to do," said Jack. "But maybe when you pointed at the cover of the book, you pointed at the painting of the ancient pyramid the way it looked, like, over a thousand years ago. Teddy must not have known the pyramid painting would send us back to Cozumel then instead of now." "Oh. Wow. You mean all this time we've been in an ancient world?" said Annie.

"Yep. We didn't land in a modern nature preserve," said Jack. "Oh," said Annie. "That's why we didn't see any tourists or ferries or cruise ships," said Jack. "Right," said Annie, nodding. She looked back at the cover of the guide. "Too bad I didn't point to the luxury hotel." "No kidding," said Jack. "These guys have probably never seen people like us before," said Annie. "Probably?" said Jack. "Definitely. We're from the future—more than a thousand years in the future." "What should we do?" said Annie. "There's only one thing to do—we have to get out of here and back to the tree house," said Jack. "Before the king comes." "Can we escape through the window?" Annie walked over and looked out the open window. "Darn. Guards are patrolling the building." "So we can't get out that way," said Jack.

"Oh, I know what we can do!" said Annie. "We can use our last gold coin to help us!" "Of course! Perfect!" said Jack. He grabbed their swim bag. "Yes, yes, yes. We'll make a wish to escape all the way back to the tree house! With no warriors capturing us or sharks attacking us! I think that would qualify as fun." "Let's make a wish to fly from this window, across the sea!" said Annie. "That would be so fun!" "No kidding!" said Jack. He knelt on the floor and dug inside the bag for the velvet coin purse. "Where is it?" He pulled everything out: flippers, life vests, snorkels, and face masks. "Where is it? Where's that coin purse?" Jack turned the bag upside down and shook it. He and Annie shook the flippers and life vests, too, but no small green velvet purse fell out. "It's not here," said Jack. "Did you put it back in here?" Annie looked confused. "Did I?" "That's what I'm asking," said Jack. "Did you?"

"I don't know," said Annie. "I remember I put the five hundred dollars in the purse…and then we pushed the raft…and then we heard the music and —" "So when did you put the purse back in the bag?" asked Jack. "I—I don't know," said Annie. "Maybe I didn't…. Maybe I put it down on the sand…to push the raft…." "Seriously?" said Jack. "That's what I sort of remember now that I think about it…," whispered Annie. "Oh, no! I lost all our money and the magic coin! I'm so sorry!" "It's okay," said Jack. "It'll be okay. We just need to get out of here and climb back down to the beach before the king comes." "And find our coin purse!" said Annie. "Right," said Jack. He took a deep breath. "Okay, one thing at a time. First, let's—" Before he could say more, the door swung open. Jack quickly crammed everything back into their bag.

The room was suddenly filled with fiery light. Warriors with burning torches entered the room. Several women followed the warriors. The women had large jade ornaments in their ears and wore dresses woven with red, yellow, and purple threads. They placed flowers on the floor, along with bowls filled with corn, beans, chili peppers, and pineapple slices. Two men then stepped into the room—the same two who had sat on the thrones. They must be kings, Jack thought. But why are there two of them? The two kings wore feather headdresses that were at least three feet high. Around their shoulders were jaguar skins. Their arms were covered with bracelets. The older-looking one had long white hair. A girl with black braids stood beside him—the same girl who'd spoken to Annie near the wall. Everyone stared at Jack and Annie. "Hi," said Annie. "We come in peace," said Jack. The younger of the two kings stepped forward.