Treasure Or Pleasure

chapter 12

"What are those? Where are the relics?" my dad asks, his eyes darting around, clearly desperate.

"The relics were puzzle boxes," I explain. "The treasure map was hidden inside. There are eighteen pieces in total."

My father and I work together, trying to figure out where each piece goes. He tells me he had solved it before but didn't understand what it meant back then.
"I think this piece fits here," I say, pointing to a corner of the map.
"You're right. I remember this now," he replies, fitting the piece into place. "But back then, I couldn't make sense of it."

"You did it," my father says, his eyes lighting up with excitement.
"Where?" I ask, still confused.
"See that tree with an X?" he asks, pointing to a spot on the map.
"X marks the spot. I know, but where?" I say, frustration creeping into my voice.
"No," he replies, shaking his head. "No, it doesn't mark the spot. X is a Mayan symbol for the sky."
I stare at him, the realization dawning on me. "This isn't a map of the ground. That's not a river. This is a map of... the sky," I conclude, the pieces finally falling into place.

"The Daughters of the Plumed Serpent are showing us the locations of the treasure with the constellations," I say, my excitement growing. "The river is the Milky Way, and all these dots are the stars. The Big Dipper, Orion's Belt, Ursa Minor... they're reference points."

"The Aztecs, the Mayans, and the Incas," my father tells me, his eyes alight with realization. "The one thing they had in common was their mastery of the stars."

"What's that?" My father asks.
"It's a star map app," I reply.
"What's an app?" He asks, looking confused.
"It's like a GPS tool that uses the stars in the sky to locate positions on Earth," I explain.
"Oh, right. An app," my father says, still trying to grasp the concept.

"It's saying it needs more reference points," I mutter, frustrated with the app.
"Why is that star so different?" I ask, squinting at the constellation map.

"Because it's not a star, it's Venus," my father explains with excitement. "Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent, was associated with Venus, known as the 'God of the Morning Star.' The Daughters of the Plumed Serpent used Venus to navigate because it's the brightest thing in the sky after the sun and the moon."

"It's pointing to a place called the Devil's Swamp, off the Mississippi River. It's only miles outside of Vicksburg, Mississippi" I point out.

"Of course, the Daughters took it up to Mississippi before the Spanish even knew that the river existed," I realized with a sudden clarity.

My friends, my dad, Billie and I were heading to Devil's Swamp. We'd just navigated the outskirts of Vicksburg, Mississippi, finding ourselves on these winding backroads cutting through thick, swampy terrain.

The air hung heavy with humidity, and the distant calls of wildlife echoed through the stillness around us. Up ahead, Kacey had already gone to get things ready, making sure we had a boat to cross the Devil's Swamp.

"I've never seen fog this thick," Kacey commented as we navigated through the swamp on our boat.
"They call it the fog of death," my father replied quietly.
"This place is freaking me out," Billie said, her voice tinged with unease. "But let's keep going. The sooner we're out of these waters, the better."

"Where did you get that?" Kacey asks.
"When I'm anxious, I often toy with this needle I found—sounds weird, but I just twist it around, nothing else," I admitted.
"That's Manuela's old sewing needle," Kacey told me. "It's supposed to go somewhere in a compass," she added, recalling what Billie had read in a book weeks ago.

"Compass," That word got me thinking. The necklace I've had around my neck for years... What if that has something to do with it? I said, pondering the possibility.