Lost Stars (The Jewel Project #3)

20.2|| High Tide

"Maybe we should get going," Jerry said apprehensively. "Don't want to get attacked by a wild animal or something."

Sam snapped out of his reverie and turned to the others. Tom and Angie were kissing and it sent an unpleasant jolt to his stomach. When would he get used to it? It was so irrelevant he wanted to scream. Jerry was right. They needed to get out of there.

"We should head out," he said. "Unless you guys want to stay longer..." He trailed off as he looked at Kyle.

His brother was the only one still lying down, his forearm over his eyes, his breathing still unstable. "Just give me a minute," he muttered.

Sam just nodded and glanced over his shoulder. A few feet away, the jungle started. Thick trees, veins and bushes, hiding everything from dangerous animals to dangerous people. And Jerry had a point. There were tigers in India. And panthers, wolves, snakes, bears and every other animal in the jungle book. Of course this was a small island, but who knew what could be lurking in there? The rain pelting down on him suddenly felt much colder.

"Let's go," Jimmy said, walking past Sam and towards the vegetation.

"Do we have any direction?" Jerry asked, following his twin.

"No, not this time." Sam had actually relied on light and the island being small to find the temple. But now the flashes of lightning were the only source of light, since he was pretty sure their flashlights were soaked and no longer functional, and he didn't actually know how big the island was. He wished they had tents so they could sleep until the morning.

Through the ever-pouring rain, they made their way between trees and bushes. Sam's rucksack dug into his back, the weight amplified by the water soaking it. With each step, he strained his hearing to pick up on any possible hostile sound. All he could hear was the dripping of raindrops on vegetation. Maybe they were lucky and the rain had driven the animals into their lair.

They walked on for what felt like hours, none of them speaking, probably too tired for it. Sam was grateful because he was sure the first question to come out would be how much further and he had absolutely no idea. Thunder rolled above from time to time, like a too loud lullaby. Why did the sound of storms have to make him sleepy?

Suddenly, a flash of lightning reflected of something shiny. Sam froze and the group followed his lead. With weary steps, Sam inched forward, pushing the fichus leaves in front of him. There seemed to be a clearing a little further ahead, but he needed to get closer to be sure.

Another lightning illuminated the scene. Sam yelped. What the hell? There really was a clearing a few feet away, but what had freaked him out was the enormous statue on the other side of it. He needed to take another look, but if he wasn't mistaken, it was a statue of Shiva sitting cross-legged. The next lightning confirmed his theory as the shadow of Shiva's head loomed above them.

"I think we're here," he whispered to the others.

The group made its way to the statue, their steps careful and calculated. The closer they came, the bigger the statue looked, buried as it was amongst tall trees. It took Sam a while to noticed that it sat on something - a low one story building which was obviously the temple. He'd expected one of those tall brown ones that appeared in commercials. This was... well, not disappointing, seeing the ginormous statue, but a little disconcerting.

Sam was so focused on the unimpressed look on Shiva's golden face that he didn't even notice the group of five monk wearing golden robes until they addressed them. They froze, all eyes turning to Sam, expecting him to take the lead and get the information they needed.

"Um, hello," Sam said.

The monks just tilted their head in curiosity.

"So you don't speak English. Francais? Deutsch? Espagnol?" All his questions were greeted with silence and curious eyes. "Hindi?" he finally asked in hindi.