Page 14 of Explorer’s Revenge

THIRTEEN

WAY

A s we come upon the building, I realize two things very quickly.

First, there is more than one.

Second, they are very old.

These are made from wood, clearly well-constructed, and small but homey. They are in an encampment of sorts, the jungle reclaiming a few of them and growing over. It’s obviously been years since they were inhabited, but it means more than one person lived here at some point.

Is this where the curse rumor started?

Who knows, but it’s exciting to think people have been here before, maybe even found the city and left it—or protected it.

“Be careful.” I jerk Logan back as he steps onto the entrance of a structure. “The wood might be rotten. We don’t need you falling through and breaking an ankle or something.”

“Yes, Daddy,” he teases, but he heads inside one of the homes anyway. Rolling my eyes, I scan the area. There’s a clear space where they cooked and had fires, the homes circling it. There are even some posts where a fence may have been, and I swear I even see planks up in the trees.

“It’s a village,” Aiy says, appearing from behind a hut.

I nod in amazement. “It is.”

“Not just a village. You guys need to check this out,” Rick calls from somewhere beyond the last home. We follow his voice and come upon a bigger, wider building with a huge awning covering the entrance.

Inside is a wooden table with figurines on it, and as I spin, I take in all the drawings on the wall. “Is this a temple?”

“It looks to be,” Wilder murmurs. “Or at least a place of importance for them.”

“Hey, check out these drawings,” Logan murmurs. We follow him over to the wall. Some of them make no sense, but I get what he means.

They are . . . odd.

There is a depiction of a hole in the ground and somebody being thrown inside, and next to it are large shapes coming from the hole, chasing people. There are more images of the village and shadows surrounding it.

“It almost looks like there’s an animal that haunts them or this place,” he murmurs.

“The curse?” I shrug. “Could be a myth or simply a tale. The shapes are black, so maybe a jaguar?”

“Maybe,” Wilder says as he looks around. “Whatever it is, they believed in it enough to build a temple to ward it off.”

Nodding, I wander around and look at the drawings. There are more of humans running and more shapes than I can count, but never a clear image of what.

“We shouldn’t touch anything,” I warn with a glance around. “I feel their ghosts haunting this place. We don’t want to disrespect or disturb them.”

“I agree,” Rick replies with a shiver. “I can feel them watching us. We shouldn’t be here.”

“Then let’s keep moving,” Wilder orders, and we file out of the temple and back into the jungle, leaving the village to be claimed by nature.

Whatever they feared, it has to be long gone.

Right?