Chapter twenty nine

Temple 101

Sam read the document, a smile spreading on his face. He'd missed doing this. It was easier to search for holes when he'd taken a break. Everything seemed to be fine. He stuffed the document in his survival kit and took out the map.

He felt great, clean and properly bandaged. Jerry had insisted on treating every minor wound and for the first time, Sam hadn't minded the fussing. He'd missed Jerry. He'd missed everyone.

Including Harry who had to stay out of the temple. But, as expected, his friend had given him hell for ordering him around, and Sam wasn't sure he'd listen.

Sam took out his research files and browsed through them, searching for the Xerox copies of the pages containing the legend of the temples. He knew the folder containing them, but couldn't find it. After fruitlessly searching for ten minutes, he admitted it must be through Alice's stuff.

Sam exited his tent and shaded his eyes from the light. Alice chatted to Tina nearby.

"Hey, Alice," he called, striding towards them. "I'm missing one of my folders. Do you have it?"

Alice rolled her eyes. "Why would I have it?"

Sam stopped in mid-step. "Is it just me, or were you supposed to be my assistant?"

"I was your assistant." Alice shook her head as though Sam should catch up already. "Jimmy and I've been together for a while. I'm your brother's girlfriend, not your lap dog."

Sam clenched his fists, biting back a string of obscenities. How did he ever think Alice was nice? "You know what you are? Fired, that's what," he said in a forcedly calm voice.

Alice's eyes widened. She swelled and put her hands on her hips. "You can't fire me. I work for your father, not for you."

Sam let out a humorless laugh. "As soon as he finds out about you and Jimmy, Dad will surely fire you. I was going to stick up for you, but I've changed my mind." He turned his back on her and walked towards the temple.

"Come on, everybody," he called. "Grab your stuff. It's time to go."

"Hey, Sam, look what I found." Harry rushed towards him, holding a laptop under one arm and a bag full of batteries.

Sam stared at him and a light bulb turned on inside his head. He couldn't believe Steve had left these behind, but he was grateful. "Didn't you find a little satellite dish?"

"Yeah, though I have no idea what that one's for," Harrison's words poured out in an ecstatic avalanche. He loved computers.

Sam tried to keep his face straight. "Internet, silly. Get that dish and connect to the agency's satellite."

Harry's eyes were as big as saucers. "They have a satellite?"

"They apparently do." Sam fumbled with the zipper of his backpack. "I want you to hack into it and send them our status. Maybe even ask if they can come get us."

"Yes, of course. But..." Harry's face fell. "That could take a couple of hours. Are you willing to wait?"

"I won't be waiting. I'll be in there." Sam pointed to the temple, holding his breath.

Harry's face turned beet red. "You want to keep me out."

Yes, captain obvious. "Come on, Harry, I really need you to do this. I'd have someone else do it, but no one's any good at this stuff." Sam put his hands together in mock prayer. He hoped Harry's obsession with computers and his subtle buttering up would do the trick.

Harry scowled then looked at the laptop in his hand. "Fine. But you're lucky I know how much you suck at this, or I'd make you stay out. I want out of here, too." He wheeled around and walked back to his tent.

Sam hurried towards the temple before his friend changed his mind. The only ones there were Jessie and Jimmy. Jimmy leaned against one of the snake statues while Jessie sat on a moss covered step, frowning.

"She walked away from you? Just like that?"

"Yes." Jimmy folded his hands behind his head. "She spoke in that annoying, cooing voice and told me not to worry my pretty, little head. Literally, she said that. I don't have a pretty, little head."

Jessie giggled. "I wouldn't say it's little."

Jimmy raised his eyebrows. "So you're saying I have a pretty big head." He shook his head as Jessie choked with laughter. "Honestly, it's like she knows."

"If you're talking about Alice, I just fired her," Sam said, reaching them. "I'm sorry Jimmy, I know she's your girlfriend, but..." He trailed off, looking from his brother to Jessie. Jimmy had raised one eyebrow while Jessie stared at the ground, picking at the moss on the step. "What's going on?"

Jimmy sighed and pushed himself away from the statue. "I broke up with Alice."

"Really?" Sam clasped his hand over his mouth. He'd sounded indecently excited. "I mean, how come?" he asked on a much graver tone.

Jimmy didn't answer, but looked at Jessie who was still doing her best to tare the moss off the stone. Still, the expression on Jimmy's face was a dead giveaway. It was the exact one Kyle had when looking at Kay.

"Since when has this been going on?" Sam pointed from one to the other, feeling like a drama-queen in a teen flick.

Jessie and Jimmy both stared at him with wide eyes. Finally, Jessie lowered her eyes again and Jimmy answered, "Since last night."

Sam fought the impulse to yell hallelujah to the skies. "Awesome!"

"Let's try not to make a big fuss," Jessie pleaded. "Especially now."

"You're right, we'll celebrate when we get out. Right now, we have a ruby to find. Jessie, are you sure you want to come in?"

Jessie frowned. "What's that supposed to mean? Of course I want inside."

Sam shrugged. "I just thought it would be safer for you girls to stay out."

"Oh, no, you don't," Angie said as the rest of the group joined them. "Stop being sexist."

"I'm not sexist." Sam scratched his head. Was he? Always wanting to keep the girls from harm, not realizing that they had a say in camp matters... Oh, God, he was! "Okay, okay, I am, sorry. I promise I'll work on it. So, if anyone, of any gender, wants to stay out, just say so."

Christine titled her head. "If it wasn't for the whole you almost dying thing, I'd have stayed out. But I couldn't face losing you again. So I'm turning into your shadow."

Sam gave her a one-arm hug and looked at Tina and Alice. Tina sighed, but stepped forward while Alice bounced over to Jimmy and hugged his arm. Jimmy pulled out of her grasp, but she grabbed him again. Sam wished Jessie would sock her, but she acted as if nothing was wrong. Oh, well, he wasn't going to butt in.

"Let's just do this," Tom said, already halfway up the stairs.

Sam flicked his wrist to indicate that the others should follow. He scanned the area, getting a weird feeling – as if he was taking the outside world in for the last time. He shook his head and followed the rest of the gang to the door.

"So," Jerry said, as soon as Sam reached the top. "Do we randomly push bricks again?"

"Actually, no. I figured out the brick combination." Sam couldn't keep the smug smile off his face. "It's in the document. The man mentions that the middle sun will grant entrance."

"Please don't tell me we'll have to wait until noon for the door to magically open," Angie said, rolling her eyes.

Sam chuckled. "I'm glad you don't know Spanish. You would've seriously messed up my thought process."

He counted the stone blocks composing the door then pressed four blocks in the middle. They sunk in, forming a square. Sam pressed two more bricks leading away from each corner of the square, prolonging the diagonals. These went in as well and the general effect was that of a crude sun. The door rumbled and began rising, making the floor shake slightly.

"Wicked," Tom said. "I bet it's the code to every door inside."

They all nodded and stepped inside. Sam shone the light around the room. There was a huge wall a couple of feet away and a tunnel on either side of it. In the first temple, the entrance hall had been bigger.

He led the group through the left corridor.

"There's a slightly raised stone slab here. Try to jump it," he said.

"Oops," Alice said. With a loud rumble, the entrance descended, leaving them with the flashlight as the only source of light.

"Great," Sam mumbled. Why hadn't he ordered her out? If she hadn't just closed the door, he'd have thrown her out right now.

"This is your fault!" Alice snapped at him. "'Try to jump it'. Grow a spine and warn us right."

"Knock it off," Jimmy said and Alice whimpered something Sam couldn't hear, but neither did he care.

"Just follow me from now on. I'll tell you what's ahead and how to avoid it."

Following Sam's instructions, the group descended further into the bowls of the temple. After a half an hour of walking, the stone on the floor became more polished, the walls smoother and from time to time, they ran across intricately engraved columns. Sam stopped before each trap and scanned the floor and walls for the trigger before moving on.

They managed to go on without setting up as much as one trap until they reached the halfway point described on the map. From that point further, they resorted to controlled trap set off, avoiding flying sharp objects, trapdoors filled with spears, lowering ceilings and rolling rocks. This process took time, and by the time Sam checked his watch, they had changed the battery pack twice and it was late in the afternoon.

"How much longer?" Christine asked, brushing a sweaty lock out of her face. The lower they walked, the more humid the air had become.

"Not too long now. I think we have a quarter of the distance left to go," Sam answered, looking over her shoulder, towards the others. "I think we can take a break." He double-checked the map to make sure they were in a safe place. There was no indication of a trap anywhere, but he wasn't convinced. "Be sure to check where you sit."

"This is scary," Christine whispered.

"We could use a break." Tina stretched on Sam's other side. "That dim light hurts our eyes."

It did. Sam's eyes stung and he was glad they didn't have much longer. He breathed deeply, trying to clear his head. It would have been impossible to get this far without the map. They were lucky someone had bothered to make it. And he was proud that they hadn't misinterpreted anything so far. He stroked Christine hair, leaning his head back, wondering if Harry had managed to send his message. He wanted to go home.

"Should we go?" Kay asked.

Sam snapped out of. Obviously, he wasn't the only one who wanted to get this over with. "Yeah, sure." He stood and turned on the flashlight. Everyone was on their feet, back in the middle of the corridor.

Sam studied the map briefly before setting off again. To his surprise, the rest of the path they had to follow sported nothing worse than two trap doors which were easy to avoid. Yet, the map accurately described the inclination of the floor. They were walking straight towards the door that led them to the ruby...

Sam stopped in mid path so abruptly that Tom and Billy slammed into him.

"What's wrong?" Tom asked.

"There was supposed to be a door here," Sam said blankly. His heart struggled to escape his chest and run to a much safer place.

There was no door there. The tunnel went on for what looked like miles.

"No, it can't be." Jerry took the map from Sam. He threw a glance on it, then looked at Sam with wide eyes. "We can't go on without knowing where traps are."

Sam bit his lip. Jerry had a point. It was much too dangerous to continue. But a part of him couldn't abandon the search, not when they were so close. There couldn't be much of the temple left unexplored.

For a second, Sam agreed with his twin. He'd managed to spot a trap without being forewarned. The thought was knocked around his skull almost immediately. As soon as Tom landed, the floor opened up under him and he crashed through it.

"Tom!" Angie yelled, running towards the trapdoor.

Sam rushed after her and grabbed her shoulder. "Don't run!"

Angie yanked her shoulder away and leaned over the edge of the hole. Kyle and Jimmy pushed past Sam and pointed their flashlights towards the depths below. Sam scurried to the other side of the trapdoor and leaned downwards. Tom sat some eight feet below, rubbing his knees.

"Man, that hurt," he moaned.

Sam felt squished from all sides as the rest of the group made their way around the hole.

"Are you okay?" Jerry asked. "Did you break anything?"

Angie wrenched the flashlight from Sam's hand and threw it to Tom.

He caught it and pointed it around. "There's a tunnel down here too, starting from this point. Right under yours."

Kyle took a roll of rope out. "Let's get you out of there."

"If you don't mind, I'd rather walk through here." Tom took a few steps, exiting their line of sight.

"Of course not," Jerry said, outraged. "You could die down there."

"I doubt it." Tom's voice was a distant echo.

"Me too," Sam mumbled, taking a flashlight from Jimmy and pointing it down their tunnel. He got up, checked the floor carefully then set out. Jerry screamed at him to get back, but Sam ignored him. The one way tunnel under them made him doubt there was anything dangerous left up there.

After a few more steps, the light shone on a dead end. Sam scanned the floor then jogged to the wall. He groped it, but it was just a solid, stone wall. Sam knocked on it. It sounded full.

"What are you doing?" Christine stood right behind him, her hands on her hips. "You could've gotten killed."

Sam gave the wall one last glance then faced Christine. "We have to get to Tom. It's the only way left to go."

"That's a good thing, right?" she asked, following him back.

"Yes. We're going down," he said to everyone. "This tunnel ends in a wall."

Angie clapped her hands. "Perfect."

Kyle lowered the rope and all of them climbed down. He then rolled it back, put it in his backpack, lowered into the trapdoor and dropped the remaining foot.

Sam handed the flashlight to Tom. "Lead the way. I'll fill the map."

They advanced slowly. Tom double and triple checked before taking more than a few steps, but the corridor appeared trapless. After about a half an hour of walking, they reached another dead end. The only way forward was up some dingy looking stone steps.

"What do you think are the chances one of those steps sets off a trap?" Tom asked.

Refusing to think about that, Sam took the flashlight from Tom and hurried to the top. Nothing killed him. He pushed the ceiling with his shoulder, but It didn't budge. Cobwebs stuck to his hand, as he searched for some sort of lever. He finally found a loose brick and pushed it down. The trap door sprung open.

Sam climbed out. They had reached a new corridor. To the right it went on while to the left it ended after a few feet. Sam went to the left and leaned against the wall, waiting for the others to get out.

"Oh, no, I've had it with this!" Alice screeched as soon as she came out. "Tunnels after tunnels. I'm sick of dull rock." She stepped in the other direction, walking backwards and pointing at Sam. "I didn't sign up for this."

Sam bit his tongue, trying to be civil. "No one forced you to come in. Now, stop moving."

Alice threw him an ugly look. "Of course. You can move all you want, but I have to follow your stupid orders." She took a defying step backwards and the slab she stepped on sunk into the floor.

Kyle grabbed the scruff of Sam's shirt and shoved him towards the trapdoor. "Everybody get back!"

Sam skidded down the steps, his heart beating wildly. Kyle shouldn't have pushed him back so fast. He had no idea what was going on and it killed him.