Chapters 14 through 20 Summary

In chapter fourteen, Alex and Nadia see the Beast. It's a huge "man-ape" with knife-like claws and thick hair all over its body. It moves incredibly slowly and Nadia compares it to a gigantic sloth. The shaman begins to communicate with them and Nadia concentrates on understanding. Alex realizes that he can also understand. They learn that there are more of the creatures, that they are considered gods, and that there's to be a council meeting of their fellow gods. The shaman says that they have "always been here".

The next day Nadia and Alex count eleven of the Beasts, all adults, and the shaman says that births among them is very rare and that he'd never seen a youngster born nor an adult die, though he knew of a grotto where the bones of the Beasts littered the ground. The...