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"The Aztecs were an ancient and powerful civilization that would have been located somewhere in modern-day Mexico-"

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"I MEAN WOW," DAVID COMMENTED, his eyes still entranced by the pendant, raising it into the light more seriously.

I didn't know what kind of reaction I was expecting but it wasn't this one. I looked at him questionably not understanding what gave him that look on his face, which he abruptly snapped out of handing the trinket back to me with a slight shake of the head as he placed it in my hand.

I took it, my fingers feeling its smooth edges, and yet I couldn't drop my arm down as I looked at his uncomfortable and yet seemingly intrigued face.

'What's wrong?" I signed as slowly as I could, not even knowing if he could understand what I was saying.

His eyes didn't move with my movements, still studying the trinket in my hand with the uttermost curiosity before replying,

"It's just, uh- my mom was an archeologist," he began to explain folding his arms, a look of mystery in his eyes, "you know- before she passed away," he added, gulping after the statement,

"Dad had these uh- he kept a few boxes of her belongings down in the basement," he explained with a soft sigh, "I used to sneak down there all the time and just go through her stuff. One time I opened one of her boxes, a pretty medium-sized box, nothing special, but in this particular box were a few books on the Aztecs," he replied eyes trailing up to my face as if I was supposed to piece things together automatically.

I looked at him quizzically still not getting where this was headed, plus, I don't think I even knew what an Aztec was although I believe I had heard the name somewhere before, maybe in a movie or something.

"You never heard of the Aztecs have you?" he asked reading my face with a solemn look.

I gave him one in return and he huffed before proceeding to explain it to me,

"The Aztecs were an ancient and powerful civilization that would have been located somewhere in modern-day Mexico-" he stopped himself shaking his head, "Not relevant- anyway, that trinket looked quite familiar to me. I think I've seen some of the symbols in one of my mother's notebooks," he began trailing off.

My eyes narrowed on him, glancing down at the trinket that lay flat at the palm of my hand, then back to him. He was staring down at it, his hands on his waist.

"The symbol on that-" he began raising an eyebrow at the pendant, "was like a protection charm. It was uh- supposed to protect one from an enemy," he replied slowly with a soft grin that left as quickly as it came,

"However," he added sharply, "though this could technically protect anyone from almost anything what's interesting about it, is the form of the symbol it chose to take-" he looked up at me and our eyes met, "there are many protection symbols of the Aztecs but the sun," he added with a noticeable swallow,

"Well it represented the Aztec god of warmth and war,-his overall deal was to protect the people, but he needed something to survive, energy as nourishment through sacrifices.." he trailed off his tone becoming softer, "Most of them resulting in death."

My hand shook looking down at the pendant before,

"But that's not all," David continued moving closer, he pointed down at the sun's rays that were carved around, "You see all those little dots?" he asked.

I nodded looking at the numerous little dots that sprouted inside the sun's rays,

"Don't you think they look as if they are representing little stars- which by the way is another god of the Aztec mythology, a female goddess who represented birth and fertility? She was said to give birth to the moon and the stars.

She was known for her love of family but she had a dark side to her that made her one of the most feared, powerful, and respected gods in that civilization," he explained.

I looked down at the trinket in my hand now getting the feeling that there was so much more to this pendent than what was meeting the eye.

With too many coincidences, I could feel my curiosity spike.

"To be straight to the point," he began, "I just think that that pendant is a powerful protection charm FROM something powerful FOR something equally as powerful," he shrugged, "that's of course if it's genuinely Aztec," he added with a shrug and an added chuckle,

"Chances of that happening are quite minimal as Aztec artifacts are rare to acquire and hella expensive," he added, emphasizing the cost, leaning back on his heels, with a hoity grin on his face, " and even if you could acquire one, I just don't think it would be worth it, especially given the number of rumored curses that were spoken on Aztec treasure," he added with a mischievous smile, "all kinds of ghost stories."

I playfully rolled my eyes at this, tucking it back safely into my pocket, I would have to pass on that.

Yeah, I wasn't the let's watch or tell scary stories in a half-empty building- kind of girl. gosh, I hated everything scary.

David grinned chuckling to himself before we decided to walk out of that empty gym.

-----

After walking for a while we turned down the hallway freezing in our footsteps as we stared at what was before us. It was another large free opening in the building which looked like the conjunction, but what caught our eyes was the large glass cube that completely cut off the rest of the place almost like a demarcation, one large and most surely locked door right in the center, making it look tiny compared to the glass wall when in reality it was much larger than any of us.

"This must be the cube" David announced, yet he seemed he wasn't talking to me, completely taken by the glass wall at the end of the hallway, seemingly mesmerized by it, "look at that architecture-" he gasped moving forward.

I didn't know if we were allowed that close but he didn't seem to be listening or looking at me to notice my hand gestures.

I sighed in defeat watching as he approached the wall, and I was quite unsure if he realized he was even moving towards it, or maybe it was calling to him.

I could never understand blues it seemed.

"Stainless glass!" he called over his shoulder when he finally reached the glass wall. His hand scraped the glass cupping his hand against the panel, trying to get a good look at what was going on inside.

I felt like it wasn't in my place to tell a blue of his current capacity, that he wasn't going to see anything through that thick glass no matter how reflective it was.

I eventually realized he was quite aware of this and still decided to fangirl over some building, in his defense, it was an exquisite design.

Besides, who was I to condemn a person's hobbies when I had none of my own?

I sighed, placing my hands in my pocket jacket, watching him from the intersection. I wasn't going anywhere near that thing.

The rules clearly stated we weren't allowed in the cube, yes, he wasn't technically inside it, but I had broken too many of Kingsland's rules already to risk breaking another.

Suddenly, I heard a thud coming from the left hall and immediately spun my head in that direction, my heart beating softly.

When I heard it again, I glanced over at David who was still trying to see through the building, tapping on its glass in childish wonder.

When I realized he was not going to be of much help, I took a deep breath bravely moving toward the noise.

I didn't know when I had become horror movie stupid but I kind of had faith I wasn't going to die in the Cube in a random hallway with David no less.

When the steady thump became much more apparent the closer I got, I knew I was heading in the right direction, stopping a few feet away from the door the noise was coming from.

I took a deep breath, taking slower quieter steps toward the glass doors. I timidly peered into it, eyes trailing around an identical court.

I couldn't see much but My eyes froze on the dark coat draped over one of the benches by the side of the court, a chilly feeling overtaking my body when I moved closer to get a better view, the owner standing in the middle of the court, staring straight ahead to the basketball hoop, the steady bounce of the ball beside him.

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David's dished some heavy clues 👀
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