Chapters 13-15

This section starts off with Alex having a vision. He sees his mother in the hospital in Texas and is able to actually touch her. His mother experiences the same type of thing except for the fact that she is not asleep. She sees Alex in the room with her, sitting on her bed, talking to her and holding her hand. As soon as Alex awakens, Alex, Nadia, and Walimai set off on their journey to the realm of the gods to locate the three crystal eggs that are supposed to save the People of the Mist. Upon reaching the tepuis, the ancient mountains and entrance to the realm of the gods where the famed city of El Dorado is supposed to exist, Walimai leads them through a long series of tunnels and secret passageways. Alex pulls out his compass to find out which way they are headed, but the needle gives no sign of a direction, instead it spins around, pointing every which way. After believing to be lost, Walimai leads them into a large clearing inside the mountain with seven separate paths to chose from. Without hesitation, Walimai choses one and. After hours of walking through what seems to be endless darkness, they come upon several chambers with species of animals never before seen by more than a handful of men. Suddenly, out of nowhere, they reach the exit to the labyrinth and come upon an astonishingly bright clearing between the mountains. The clearing is the infamous El Dorado. They begin climbing down a staircase carved into the side of the mountains, astonished at the discovery, but upon descending further down into the opening, they find that the "city of gold" is simply a formation of outcroppings made of substances such as fools gold and and other cheap minerals.
When they reached ground level of the crater, a Beast appeared. Walimai went forward and spoke with the Beast. After an incredibly slow conversation, since the Beasts do everything at a sloth-like pace, Walimai returned and told Alex and Nadia that a council of the gods would take place tomorrow. Apparently, the Beasts are the People of the Mist's gods. At the meeting, after two days of deliberation, it was decided that Alex and Nadia would have to fight the Rahakanariwa. The Beasts are able to speak in the People of the Mist's tongue, they have lived since at least the start of the People of the Mist's existence, and they have a memory that remembers all of the stories told by the Messengers of the Gods. After deciding that Jaguar and Eagle would have to fight the Rahakanariwa, Jaguar and Eagle, against the customs of nature, asked for something in return. Eagle asked for the three crystal eggs, and Jaguar asked for the water of health to cure his mother. The Beasts became enraged upon the request, so Alex whipped out his flute and began to play, while Nadia danced to the music. Had Alex and Nadia not offered the scene they gave the Beasts, they would have most likely been murdered.
The Beasts, having received the gifts of music and dance, informed Alex and Nadia that to acquire the water of health and the three crystal eggs, they would have to go on a journey to the land of the spirits, and they would have to go alone. The next day, Walimai sent each of them their separate ways. Eagle was to climb to the top of the tallest tepui, and Jaguar was to go down into the earth, but neither of them could return to the land of the living empty handed or after nightfall. Eagle climbed up the stairs the way the came down, and once she reached the top of the stairs, she discovered that she would have to climb the face of the mountain. Upon reaching the top, after several hours of climbing, she searched for the nest that contained the three eggs. When she found it, she discovered that she would have to give something to the nest in return for the eggs. The only thing of value that she possessed was Walimai's talisman, which she reluctantly put in the nest. Then she grabbed the three eggs and began her descent.
Over these three chapters, Nadia, or Eagle, undergoes several changes. First of all, she becomes closer and and more dependent on Alex, or Jaguar. They do nearly everything together whenever possible, but now that she has to go on her journey alone, she feels like she will be incapable of accomplishing her goal to retrieve the eggs. But she remembers the words of confidence that Alex gave her, and she gains the strength required to scale the mountain. Secondly, she becomes more mature. She was already more mature than any girl Alex had ever known before, but she now becomes more self confident. With the help of Alex, she is able to overcome obstacles, such as her fear of heights, which has hindered her several times in the past.

Chapters 10-12

Alex and Nadia begin by telling Dr. Omayra Torres about how Karakawe had been searching through the vaccine supplies. Torres seemed uneasy during the telling, but she was relieved when the kids told her that Karakawe had not broken the seals on the vaccines. Following the incident with the attack on the crew member, it was decided that no one could leave the camp alone. Later on, Nadia and Alex went into the forest once again because they suspected the People of the Mist had returned. They were correct in their assumption, and they were carried off by the People of the Mist to be taken to Tapirawa-teri, the village of the People of the Mist. On the way, they were required to climb a sheer cliff behind a waterfall. Nadia, who was afraid of heights, would not have been able to climb the cliff if it had not been for Alex coming up with the idea of tying a rope between the two of them. The cliff had only one path up to the top, and if the route is unknown, the cliff is unclimbable. Mokarita, the chieftain of the People of the Mist, nearly perished on the ascent, but was saved thanks to the rope furnished out of lianas. After scaling the cliff, they, Alex, Nadia, and the group of warriors from the People of the Mist tribe, set out on a long journey to reach Tapirawa-teri. The village came upon them out of nowhere. It seemed invisible to Alex and Nadia until they were right on top of it. After the initial surprise, Alex and Nadia became essentially part of the tribe. They participated in the daily chores of the People of the Mist. Soon after arriving, Mokarita died. The men of the tribe induced visions to discover who was to be the next tribal leader and who had killed Mokarita. In one man's vision, he saw that it was Alex who had killed M0karita. This unwarranted accusation led to Alex being chased for several hours, and him being tied up to a tree. During this time, Nadia had blown her talisman from Walimai to summon him. Upon his arrival, he exerted his leadership and helped chose a new leader. The new leader was Iyomi, the wife of Mokarita. As leader, she decided to name chiefs of certain things, "A chief for war and hunting: Tahama. A chief for soothing the Rahakanariwa: the honey-colored girl called Eagle. A chief for negotiating with the nahab and their birds of noise and wind: the foreigner named Jaguar. A chief for visiting the gods: Walimai. A chief for the chiefs: Iyomi" (230). Following Alex's naming as "chief for negotiating with the nahab and their birds of noise and wind," he underwent a series of rites to become a man, which included sticking his arm in a sieve filled with red ants.
During these three chapters, Alex and Nadia underwent many changes. Alex became almost formally known as "Jaguar," and Nadia found her totemic animal to be the Eagle. Each of these animals is symbolic of certain aspects that each of them possess. The Jaguar symbolizes strength and invincibility, while the Eagle represents freedom and vision. In one of the induced visions, Nadia, or Eagle, viewed three crystal eggs in a nest atop one of the most ancient mountains in the entire rain forest. This vision led to Walimai declaring that Eagle and Jaguar must go on a journey together to locate and return the eggs, or "eggs", to Tapirawa-teri.
Throughout these chapters, more and more native tongue words are added, and an increasing amount of knowledge is discovered on the subject of the People of the Mist.