Kingdom Keepers VI(36)

“Artist, actually.”

“You draw this?”

“A friend.”

The driver dragged his hand over his face, stretching his skin.

“I might know this place,” the driver said. “Not so popular. A ways from here. Cost you twenty florins.”

Maybeck calculated the conversion. Eleven dollars. It seemed like a lot. “And if you wait for me maybe an hour and take me back to the ship?”

The driver considered the proposal. “Thirty florins to return, then the meter back to the ship.”

“Twenty-five,” Maybeck said to the driver. “Then the meter.”

“I wait one hour,” the driver said. “You have the money?”

“U.S. dollars,” Maybeck said.

“Show me.”

Maybeck didn’t like the idea of showing a taxi driver he was carrying a bunch of cash.

“No problem.” He struggled to pull a single twenty from his pocket. Waved it toward the front seat. The driver nodded and took off so fast Maybeck’s head snapped back.

Five minutes into the ride, Maybeck turned on his charm.

“This cave? You know anything about it?”

“This island got nothing but stories, mister.”

“Any stories about the caves?”

“Guadirikiri, where you’re going, has two parts. Holes in the roof of the cave let in the light by day. Let the bats out by night. Thousands of ’em. It’s said that they’re souls of all them slaves flying each night, trying to find eternity.”

Maybeck felt a chill. He leaned back.

“Slaves?”

“Aruba’s first settlers were Indians—natives, like me—escaping other tribes like the Carib. Then the Europeans came, in the year of our Lord 1499. But unlike on the other islands, the Europeans didn’t try to grow nothing here. Instead, they packed up the natives and sold them, sent some of them poor souls back to the country their ancestors first escaped from. The bats of Guadirikiri…are souls that stayed behind on the island, even though their bodies left.”

Maybeck swallowed back a knot of anger and frustration.

“You okay?” The driver asked.

“My ancestors…they were slaves.” Maybeck’s stomach felt tight, his throat dry.

“That why you look for the Guadirikiri Cave? You look for their souls?”

“Something like that.”

* * *

Seeds carried by the wind and washed ashore by storm tides had found purchase on the island’s shores and randomly rooted in clumps, like a poorly planned obstacle course. Maybeck now lay beneath the shade of one of these bushes. Surrounded by a thicket of stickers, engulfed by the unrelenting heat from a steadily rising sun, he kept his eye on Guadirikiri cave. Its similarity to Jess’s drawing was unmistakable.

He was glad he’d chosen to be dropped off up the road. Another taxi waited in the sand parking lot. Maybeck had already jumped to the conclusion that this taxi had brought the Overtakers—to Guadirikiri, a cave not on the tourist list of the top five sightseeing attractions. But Maybeck was here; his moment had arrived.

Bugs swarmed him, landed on his arms and neck. He fanned them away, but they drove his impatience to a barely controlled restlessness. He could not stay hidden much longer. He was going to have to move.

The cave entrance was concealed within a towering set of rocks, accessed by a concrete staircase that, unfortunately, looked nothing like the painting of the steps in the journal. Other outcroppings of rock rimmed the area, like spaceships that had crashed in a sand-swept desert.

Maybeck swatted away the black bugs, rose, and ran to the next clump of shrubbery and thorn. As he moved, he saw a person, crouched and running toward him. He tightened his fists and fixed his feet squarely, so that even squatting, he’d have a firm base for fighting.

Storey Ming slid in next to him.

“How did you—?”

“It’s a long story,” Maybeck said. “Later.”

“They’re in there!”

“I kinda figured,” he said. “How many?”

“Two women. Two guys,” she said.

“Are those steps the only way in?” Maybeck asked.

“Yes. There are these erosion holes up top, but I don’t recommend them. They’re way too high. We’d make a scene.”

“You’ve been watching?”

“I heard them talking. The women, not the guys.”

“What were they saying?”

“Not sure. It was weird, like old ladies arguing.”

“Can we get in there without being seen?” Maybeck asked.

“We can try.”

With his attention moving between the parking lot, the steps, and the cave entrance, Maybeck shielded his eyes from the sun.