The Bloodgate Guardian by Joely Sue Burkhart

“From where?”
    Even Efraín was pale, his dark gaze riveted on Jaid’s face. Did he believe too? But why would he? Everyone thought her father obsessed to the point that his career had suffered as a result.
    “Which is the crux of the problem,” she whispered. If Dr. Reyes was a Popol Vuh expert, then perhaps she should test him with some quotes. “‘We are going to the east, where our fathers came from. We are not dying…’”
    He met her challenging gaze, his mouth quirking as though he knew very well what she was doing. “‘We are coming back.’”
    “That passage refers to Tulan Zuyua, right?” Sam leaned forward, kneading the hat on his lap. “Seven Caves, Seven Canyons is the name of the citadel where they received their patron gods.”
    “Yes. People have questioned where Tulan Zuyua was for centuries. There are references to water and across the sea. Some people believe the original Maya truly did live in a lost city across the ocean, perhaps an island that later disappeared. Others place Tulan Zuyua on the shores of the Yucatan.”
    “There are as many possibilities as the stars,” Efraín whispered, his eyes flashing in challenge.
    “Indeed.” Jaid smiled back, relishing the opportunity to spar words with him. “The Maya timed their calendars to the stars. The World Tree, the Great Ceiba, was the Milky Way, connecting earth and sky. Once set, the Sun, then called Jaguar Night Sun, travels through Xibalba, paddling on a canoe that passes through the Milky Way until he rises again in the east. The hearthstones are Orion’s Belt in the sky. The Maya believed they were from the stars , not from some island in the sea. Water was a metaphor for space.”
    Efraín’s gaze shuttered, his shoulders and mouth tight. He gave a little shake of his head. To discourage her from admitting the truth, or did he thoroughly doubt her sanity?
    “So you’re telling me the Maya were aliens.” Mouth downturned,, Madelyn didn’t look amused at all. “We’ve heard those theories about the Egyptians too. I don’t buy it.”
    “Not aliens, not exactly, although the idea certainly made for a great movie and a few good television shows.” Jaid mentally groped around for the right words. If she didn’t believe her father completely, then how could she possibly make a convincing argument? Why even bother? But he might have been right enough to open a portal in Lake Atitlan. “Remember that Seven Caves, Seven Canyons also refers to the passage to Xibalba. Have you seen the Candelaria Caves in the Chisic region?”
    “I know where you’re going with this.” Sam leaned forward until he was barely on his seat. “There are also man-made caves beneath Teotihuacan’s Pyramid of the Sun.”
    “And natural caves in this region. Look at the church in Santiago Atitlan. That was one of our first clues. They still do a rebirth ritual, modified to incorporate Christian elements, but the idea of the watery cave leading to the Underworld is central to the Maya religion. The other key to the puzzle is Chich’en Itza.”
    “The Sacred Cenote,” Madelyn said slowly. Jaid could almost see the wheels turning in the older woman’s head. “They believed it was a portal to the afterlife.”
    Jaid nodded, jumping on the word. “You didn’t say Xibalba, or the Underworld, but the afterlife . The watery caves connected people with their ancestors, even those who’d successfully traversed the Place of Fright and now lived in the Milky Way at the heavenly hearthstone in the sky. The watery caves or cenotes were portals out of this world and time.”
    “Portals to where?” Sam fell back in his chair, eyes wide and hands trembling. “Where did Charlie go?”
    “Ah, now that is the question exactly. Dad thinks that at some point in the Classic period—perhaps even earlier, or multiple times—groups of Maya left this world. They foresaw the coming of the Spaniards, disease, the corruption of their beliefs, and they chose to