Chapter 15

Christmas morning found Kiana and me, along with my entire family, leaving San Diego, bound for Hawaii. My family had suggested that we celebrate and exchange gifts Christmas Eve, so we could take the earliest flight we could catch to Hawaii. My family had looked at us oddly when we arrived in San Diego because we didn’t bring any luggage except my laptop and Kiana’s purse.

They were goggle-eyed when I pulled our suitcases from the pocket. Look Ma, no baggage fees or lost luggage!

I’d been surprised when I bought the tickets nearly a month ago to learn that the flight to Hawaii was already two-thirds booked. It was FULL this morning.

Our welcoming committee in Hawaii was even bigger this time. Aside from even more family members, the Parkers were all there. They’d left for Hawaii two days after Kiana and I left for San Diego.

Aside from the Parkers, I had invited Tim, my dive buddy from the NGS. Unfortunately, he was still in Greece, busy exploring and documenting the myriad of shipwrecks around the Fourni Archipelago.

The next morning, the priest who would perform the weddings arrived with a second man, one closer to my age. The second man seemed to be quite angry. “It is unconscionable to allow two princesses to marry this ... this Haole!” he exclaimed angrily.

“Regardless, both girls wish to marry him, and their parents and I have given them our blessing,” their Grandmother, the family Matriarch, replied.

“Since these marriages are to be performed in the old tradition, I demand the right to a challenge,” the man blustered.

“What sort of challenge?” their Grandmother asked.

“Lua combat. Surely, one worthy of marrying the Princesses would be knowledgeable in the art of Lua,” he said, smirking. He knew that the art of Lua was taught only to native Hawaiians.

I’d been warned that this would happen today.

The Grandmother started to protest, but I replied, “I accept your challenge. Hand-to-hand, or with weapons?”

As I asked, I reached to my right. From the pocket I withdrew a shark-tooth club. The name is misleading as the weapon was shaped more like a flat question mark, meant to be gripped by the handle on the narrow end. Aside from the grip, the edges were covered in shark’s teeth.

The guy blanched and gawked, mouth agape.

“I don’t remember drooling being taught as a form of Lua combat,” I goaded, receiving a smirk from the Priest.

“Hand-to-hand,” the challenger finally replied, still looking rather pale for a native. When I held my hand out to the right again, the weapon disappeared.

He stared even more when I stripped. Kiana and Mele held large beach towels around me as I put on the loincloth I’d stashed in the pocket, one of the ones worn by present-day students of Lua, not the ancient-style butt-crack hugger. Then I handed Kiana the bottle of coconut oil tanning lotion I’d had her bring from the house and she applied it generously.

The challenger wasn’t as prepared, and just stripped down to his jeans.

The ‘fight’ was over in seconds with no real damage to the challenger--aside from a couple of bruises and a crushed ego. Well, he would have trouble using his arms for a couple of hours thanks to the pressure points I’d used.

“If I might ask, where did you learn Lua?” the Priest asked.

“My teacher was a man named Kaleo,” I replied, also telling him the name of the village.

“Johnny is the Priest who healed Nalani, your great-great-grandmother,” Kiana exclaimed excitedly to her grandmother. Then it was her grandmother’s turn to gawk.

“It seems that there is much more to you than meets the eye,” she commented to me as she looked at me appraisingly.

“That was incredible,” Kai said as he came over and shook my hand.

Kiana used the towel we’d brought to wipe me down and remove most of the coconut oil. Still, putting my clothes back on was a chore.

With the challenge over, we made our way to the bluff.

“You and the girls will take this path,” the Priest told us, motioning to what might have been a goat path.

It was more of a climbing trail than a footpath, and we had to help each other several times before we reached the top and the level, grassy area overlooking the Pacific.

Everyone else took the concrete steps.

“Marriage is like the path you took to reach this spot. There will be challenges and trials. As long as you continue to support each other and help each other overcome the challenges, your marriage will be strong,” the Priest explained.

Fifteen minutes later, we were husband and wives.

At least we were allowed to use the concrete steps to climb back down to the parking area.

We spent the first night of our honeymoon in a five-star hotel in Honolulu. Early the next morning we bid the Parkers farewell. They were headed to the big island to play tourist for a few days.

Kiana’s family wanted more details about when I’d learned Lua. One of Kai’s cousins belonged to a group that was learning the art and had his teacher come over to watch me. He was excited when I knew things that he didn’t and had me show him. He even took videos.

By the early 1900s, as Hawaii came under the control of the United States, Lua was forced underground and had nearly been forgotten. Those who continued practicing it did so in secret. Today, it was making a comeback, but some elements had been forgotten, hence his eagerness to learn more of the discipline from me.

Mid-afternoon, the girls and I packed our suitcases. Mele just gawked when I put them into the pocket. The rest of Mele’s belongings would be shipped to us. I didn’t push the issue by telling them I could have taken everything in the pocket.

We made our way to the airport and ate a fast-food dinner while we waited for our flight. When I’d asked Kiana where she wanted to go for our honeymoon, she consulted with her sister. They decided that they wanted to honeymoon in Yucatan. They wanted to see Montabala, and dive in the Dos Ojos cenote. On the off chance that we were lucky and there was a storm in the Caribbean, we could also go surfing. Otherwise, the normal winter waves would be boring.

We actually slept for much of the seven-and-a-half-hour flight to Houston. That made a huge difference when we landed at eight o’clock the next morning--what would have been three in the morning in Hawaii.

Once we located the gate for our flight to Cancun, we found a fast-food place and ate breakfast. We’d barely finished when our flight to Cancun began boarding.

Just before 11:30, we walked off the plane and down the ramp. The weather was a carbon copy of what we’d just left in Hawaii. Given that both are near the same latitude, I guess that I shouldn’t have been surprised.

The van and driver I had arranged met us at the exit to the baggage claim area. He held a sign that said, “Johnny Campbell party.”

Our first stop was a restaurant where we ate a lunch that would have been our breakfast in Hawaii. Two hours after we finished, we arrived at the Montabala site and checked into our hotel room. When I answered the knock on our hotel room door several minutes later, I found Drs. Gonzalez and Cooper standing in the hallway, grinning.

“Trying to sneak in?” Dr. Cooper teased.

“Nah, I just got married and the girls wanted to see Montabala.”

“Girls?” Dr. Cooper asked.

“My wives,” I replied with a grin.

“Are you trying to catch Dr. Parker?” he asked, laughing.

“Oh, no, two is my limit,” I replied with a chuckle.

“How’d you know I was here?” I asked.

“Are you kidding?” Dr. Gonzalez laughed. “You’re a legend among the local workers for what you did when you were here and one of the barracks many of them live in is named after you.

“The clerk who took your reservation recognized the name. Most people use John instead of Johnny. She let us know and told us where you lived, so we found out when your flight was due to arrive. We made sure we weren’t busy this afternoon and the girl at the desk let us know when you checked in.”

Dr. Gonzalez took individual photos of the girls and me, explaining, “We’ll have an ID made for each of you that will allow you to go anywhere at this site. With tourists running around now, the workers and archaeologists all wear an ID badge so we know who shouldn’t be where work is going on.”

We headed out after that, only to find one of the golf carts used by the workers and archaeologists waiting for us.

“We’ll have your IDs ready in about half an hour,” Dr. Gonzalez said as they headed off towards the office in a second golf cart.

“They really like you,” Mele commented.

We drove past the barracks for the workers on our way into the city of Montabala. Sure enough, a big sign over the entrance proclaimed, “Johnny Campbell Barracks.”

“Did you know about that?” Kiana asked.

“Yeah, it was either that or the hotel,” I groused.

“You don’t want everyone to know what you discovered?” Mele asked.

“If I had actually discovered it, that would be different. All I did was lead them to places I’d been shown by the spirits of the ancient people who used to live here. I don’t mind the archaeological world knowing what I can do to help, but I don’t want everyone else thinking that I discovered these things.”

“I guess that makes sense,” she replied, still thinking about what I said.

The first place we stopped was the cave temple where the cenote was. People were allowed inside, but there was a floor-to-ceiling chain link fence that kept everyone back three meters from the edge of the cliff.

I smiled when I saw a table like the one I’d seen in my dream. Two mannikins dressed in the garb of a Mayan priest sat at the table. Several funerary statuettes were on the table as if they were for sale, although I could tell that they weren’t the ones we’d recovered. Another mannikin dressed like a peasant was paying for one of the statuettes with a handful of acrylic maize kernels.

I noticed several video screens with short videos repeating on them. The videos showed the four scenes I’d witnessed in my dreams. The priest I’d seen was played by the old priest from the village. The first video showed him saying the prayers for the just-deceased high priest and tossing the statue over the cliff.

When the priest sent the boy to put the statuette in one of the crevices during the second video, I didn’t recognize the boy.

The merchant in the third video was the father of Hector, the baby I’d healed.

The last video sent chills down my spine. They evidently learned what the cooks had said about the pregnant woman in my drawing looking like Zahra and had her play the part of the pregnant woman.

The prayers had been identical to what I’d heard in the dreams since the two Doctors had me record what I’d heard in both the prayers and the interactions.

“Those videos seemed so realistic,” Kiana commented as we left the cave.

“They were as close as humanly possible to what I saw and heard in my dreams of what happened. The pregnant woman looks exactly like the woman I saw in my dream.”

We drove to the office to see if our ID badges were ready yet. They were, and there were several people there that I knew, including the old priest and the cooks. Even baby Hector and his parents were there. I was surprised when Hector’s mother set him down and he toddled over to me, jabbering happily as he took each unsteady step.

I made the introductions, and everyone was excited to meet my wives. No one questioned my having two wives.

When we left--with our ID badges--the girls wanted to see Calle Jaguar and the video of me walking along the street with the jaguar following me. They’d already seen the video clip I’d sent to Kai.

Several other people were there, too, and we watched the video together.

“Even with a trained jaguar, that was a dangerous stunt. They wouldn’t have let it happen in the States,” one of the male tourists commented.

“It wasn’t a trained jaguar,” I replied.

“A pet?” he asked.

“Nope, it was completely wild,” I replied, showing him the unedited video I had on my cell phone that showed the jaguar running in from the jungle.

He gawked and then stared at me. “Are you suicidal?” he asked.

“No, but despite the assurances I had, I was scared shitless.”

“Assurances?”

I explained about the Tribunal and how they had asked me to do it.

“So, it was a religious thing?”

“Not that I’m aware of. They’ve never suggested that I follow a specific religion or set of beliefs, and while I’m religious, I can’t really say that I believe in one specific religion.”

“So you had faith that this ‘Tribunal’ was able to send a wild jaguar to follow you all the way into the temple?”

“No, I knew they could do it. I’ll tell you what, while I can’t prove anything today, I can do something that will give you something to think about after you return home,” I offered.

“And?”

“Don’t tell me what, but does either of you have a health issue?” I asked.

“YES!” his wife practically shouted.

“May I?” I asked as I reached for her hands. I saw Kiana smirk while Mele was watching with great interest.

She let me take her hands and I immediately felt the energy flowing. I could see from her expression that she did, too.

The flow continued for several minutes. I had my eyes closed, but Kiana told me later that the husband looked questioningly at his wife, and she nodded to reassure him. Mele told me that the transfer took twenty minutes.

“What did you do?” the man demanded when I finally let go of his wife’s hands.

“I healed her. Given how long it took, it must have been something major,” I replied.

“I have cancer. The doctors have given me less than three months to live so we’re on a sort of final honeymoon,” she explained with tears in her eyes.

“You should see your doctors as soon as you get home. I’ll let you figure out how to explain your sudden recovery,” I told her.

“And how much will this miracle cost us?” her husband asked acerbically.

“Nothing. I couldn’t accept payment for using a gift given me by the spirits.”

“How much of a donation do you expect?”

“Again, nothing. I won’t accept any sort of payment for helping.”

He studied my face critically for several seconds before taking his wife’s hand and walking away.

“Thank you,” she hollered to me over her shoulder as he led her away.

“That guy was an asshole,” Mele hissed.

“The poor guy is probably stressed to his limit. His wife has been given three months to live. They’re on a final honeymoon and each day of that honeymoon reminds him that she’ll die soon. Her medical treatment probably cost them quite a bit, as well as the honeymoon. That, and he’s probably pissed off at the world because he thinks it’s so unfair that she’ll die.”

Mele was gawking at me. “I wanted to slap that guy for insulting you and you’re defending him. That’s incredible,” she explained.

“Aside from trying to understand where he was coming from, I really don’t care what he thinks about me. If he’d insulted one of you two, I might have unleashed my inner koa warrior on him,” I teased.

After our dream sex that night, we spent a dream week in ancient Montabala.

We spent another day exploring current Montabala, visiting the places we’d been in our dreams. Then we spent a day at Chichen Itza before heading for Dos Ojos. Several employees there recognized me, and we were treated like royalty.

We were tired, but happy when we made it home. While I was sorting the mail that had piled up, Kiana took Mele on a tour of the house.

For the next year, we learned to live as a husband and wives. I finally acceded to Kiana’s request to allow them to bring other girls to join us at night--physically. Word quickly got around, and they had an easy time finding volunteers. The one thing I insisted was that none of the volunteers join us more often than once a month. I was serious about not wanting to catch up with the Parkers.

Ray laughed at me a few months later. Evidently, Kiana and Mele had complained to his wives that I wasn’t allowing them the opportunity to add more wives. “A word of warning,” he whispered conspiratorially after looking around to make sure nobody else could hear. “Itzel told them that you’d end up with a third wife.”

“What!” I exclaimed.

Holding up his hands, he said, “I’m just the messenger,” as he tried to reassure me.

I was surprised when I received a wedding invitation shortly after Ray’s warning. The invitation was from Temel. He was getting married. The letter included with the invitation explained that he felt I was ultimately responsible for his good luck since I’d given them the diving gear and shown them the location of the cache of ancient coins. Both had been used to help the village, although the six boys had also profited individually.

When the girls and I went to the Turkish Consulate in Atlanta to get visas, the consulate official checked each of us on the computer. He did a double take when he checked my name.

“You have greatly impressed my government,” he commented as he processed my visa. He looked surprised again when I introduced the girls as my wives. Having two wives required an explanation, although he didn’t seem concerned about it.

A week after getting back from the consulate, Dave Howard contacted me. “Johnny, any chance we can borrow you to help with a new find? You may have heard about the Chinese junk they found in the Philippines a few months ago. The wood from the ship has been dated to 1123 and writing on several metal items that have been recovered is Chinese. We can use all the help we can get for the summer. Most of the available divers are still busy at the Fourni Archipelago.”