"This is the most dangerous camp you will ever encounter. Are you sure you
want to do this?"
Chris Maneval sat on the last seat of the small bus looking out the window. He held a paper in his hand, running the words over and over again in his head. Dangerous repeated itself. What was so dangerous about a camp? Besides the chance of getting tick bites or something, danger was far from what he expected. His summer was going to be spent at Camp Spartan. He removed his glasses and cleaned what residue had taken refuge there. His white Nike t-shirt looked slightly blurred as he looked down on his glasses. Suddenly, a thought crossed his mind. They might kill his vision and make him do something life-threatening. How would that be? The bus slowed to a stop.
Kae Witchhaste was waiting with extreme patience. For nearly an hour after scheduled time, she'd been waiting in the sweltering heat of the morning for the bus to Spartan to arrive. She felt rather foolish in her lower attire- black and blue plaid long pants, multiple belts. It was making her begin to sweat, so she popped out a water from the cooler she had with her. She remembered one of the phrases in the paper she had received, "This camp will show you the importance of survival by your absolute and most fears." Fears. The only thing she feared was spiders. The big, nasty, hairy ones like in Arachnophobia. She shuddered at the thought. What the hell would they do to her, anyway? Eat her brains out while she slept? She heard the vehicle turn from the corner and stood up, now aggravated at the thought of the spiders.
Anthony Marini waited inside his house, the book bag over his left shoulder, his basketball under his right. He waited with great ease for the sound of the bus, but if felt so long. He looked at the wrinkled paper in his free hand. He mentally highlighted a spot, "Everything you own and love are at stake here. Your reputation is in my hands." His reputation. He felt himself shudder with the thought of losing his good reputation to a lame-ass camp. His career of being a basketball star might be ruined! He knew there was still time to turn back, but he couldn't leave Maneval there by himself. After all, he did go and sign him up behind his back. Marini had yet to get revenge. Just then, the bus came to a stop at his house. He ran out, a plastered smile on his face.
"Hey Maneval!" Kae said, sitting in the seat across from him. "You're gunna go to the camp to?" Was his reply. "You sexist!" "No, no, I just didn't think girl's'd be interested in this." "Yeah, well note I'm not in the 'most girls' category." "True." There was a pause of embarrassment from Kae. "So, how did your summer get before this?" Kae asked, gesturing around the bus. "Ah, pretty good... Katie and I broke up though," he answered, not looking too upset. "Ah, too bad," Kae said, feigning sympathy. "Yeah. How 'bout you?" "I ended up going to Massachusetts, like I said. I spent most of my coursing there, and...lessee... Oh yeah! I got tickets to Japan in the late August. I need someone to go with." Now, Kae was hoping Maneval was catching her drift when she said that she needed someone to go with. Maneval knew pretty damn straight, but he wasn't going to make promises, more less say anything related to the subject in return. The bus came to a stop. Marini got on the bus with a "Hey!". Kae rolled her eyes slightly while Maneval and him high-fived. He sat in front of Kae. She waved to him with the most absolute enthusiasm, and began to window daze. The guys struck up a conversation, and by the time it was ten o'clock am, Kae and the guys had dozed off. They got into Philadelphia, then into New York, at last.
The camp was nothing like Kae, Maneval, or Marini suspected. It was a building! A very BIG building! Kae looked at the guys, who had no idea what to say. They gathered their things and got off the bus. Kae hung onto Maneval's arm to prevent getting lost in the crowds of boys. Everywhere, boys. Kae felt really alone by this point, no girls to talk to about girl stuff that she didn't talk about anyway. "There are like, no girls here," Marini said teasingly, his smile flashing for the world to see, as if saying, "Remember this smile, you'll see it on TV one day." Kae nodded to herself. They were pulled, shoved, bumped into, and moshed into the building at last. Kae's breath stopped to observe: Everything was black marble, or at least this room was. She felt comfortable with the atmosphere now, knowing some color was good. Then she heard some guys behind her whisper some words, "Dude, check her out. She's hot." Just then, she felt someone grab her ass. She grabbed the arm, then flipped the guy over her shoulder, a thud going through the ground. A few crowds stopped to see what would happen next. But those who didn't see missed out on even more, because by the time the guy came back to reality, Kae was gone, dragging Maneval and Marini towards the door. "I can't believe someone would even TRY to grab my ass!" she said. "Kae, wait a second!" "What?" She looked back, hearing a voice call after her. Her eyes widened. "Matt Illum?" she whispered. "Hey Kae! Sup?" he said, grinning like he had something planned. "You grabbed my ass?" "I wouldn't touch your ass. It was one of my friends. So, how've you been?" "Well, after the question about the dildo, and now this, I think I've been pretty pissed off. Are there any girls here? I need to vent." "Didn't see any, sorry. Ok, I'm gunna go hang with my crowd. C'ya later, Kae!" Matt said, then ran off. Kae's blood boiled. How the fuck did ILLUM get here?! Maneval tapped her shoulder, noticing her face gone very red. She snapped out of it and thanked him for it. He led her to the benches where Marini had managed to escape from her grasp. Sitting down felt good. A lot of time passed before silence rushed over the people. A woman, probably in her early twenties, walked through the boys, wearing a militia camouflage outfit. Her hair was tied back, and her eyes resembled that of sideways olives. She had a very pointy nose, too. Kae couldn't help but smile. "I am officer Keller," the woman stated, stopping somewhere in the middle. She seemed very uptight and angry about something...Maybe because she only had one other girl join her camp this year? "I have invited most of you to try and prove yourselves as worthy opponents against me," she continued. A few people stirred and took out their papers, Kae being one of them (Maneval leaned over her shoulder, "You were invited?" he asked). "The others, well, want to prove themselves," (Maneval and Marini grunted) she went on. She started lecturing on how difficult the courses would be. "You will go through series of tests, some containing lethal weapons, traps, scenarios, and animals. You will be asked to retrieve half a teaspoon's worth of spider venom, pass a training course containing multiple life-threatening situations. Some of you may now be thinking this is no sweat, but I assure you, there is more to this than it seems. "You'll be bunked up in the order of your Private Identification Number on top of the envelope. Those who were invited have to choice to bunk accordingly or go to the private rooms. But note that privacy is something invaded here; we cannot assure that you will be alone when you shower. Now, anyone between 1-100, please follow me, and I will return for the next hundred." Officer Keller walked towards the stairwells, a hundred kids following. Kae, Marini, and Maneval looked at each other. "This is going to be quite the summer," Kae said to Maneval, taking out her pocket knife.
"Yeah...Snakes and all?" Marini looked slightly upset. "I doubt it's going to be life threatening," Maneval said, lopsided confidence sitting plainly on his lips. Suddenly, someone from behind said, "You honestly think so?" The group turned around to see a boy, probably sixteen years. He had a crew cut, making it difficult to define whether or not he was a brunette or blonde. He had very angered eyes, and his mouth pursed as if he were about to kiss a frog. "Yeah, I doubt that it's seriously threatening," Maneval repeated. The guy laughed. "You're on the edge of death, then," He said, grunting. Kae stood up to him, feeling rather short against his 5'11" height. "Hey, listen buddy, it's our business whether we're stupid enough to follow that idea or not," she shouted. He grinned down at him. "Oh, you must be Witchhaste." "What? How do you know that?" "You're actually really famous around these parts. You've competed against many of the Martial Arts teams here. You've had your group win about forty times in the Hall of Fame. I bet a few of the guys know who you are," he said, jerking his thumb to his group, "but I bet they'll be disappointed to know how short you really are." He laughed. Kae's eyes narrowed, and felt very angry. She pivoted around, then stopped. She turned around into a side kick in his stomach. He let out a strangled cry for breath, and fell over. Kae clapped her hands together, then went back to sitting down with her pocket knife. From under her breath, she said, "Be lucky I didn't use weaponry on you."
It took about three hours before Kae's group of numbers got called. Lucky her, for she didn't want any fancy shit going on, so she followed Maneval and Marini to room 378. It was very bland, just a bunk bed and a bed on the side. Maneval quickly claimed top bunk, while Marini claimed bottom. Kae sighed, disappointed, and took the bed. They unpacked their stuff-Marini and Kae had been smart to pack posters and little things to remind them of home-, made their beds, and cleaned what little space there was. Kae sat down on her bed for a moment, breathing the stale air. She looked at Maneval for a few moments while he was occupied with Marini's poster hanging. It was very strange, seeing him so...Not so muscular, but not so skinny, either. He grew several inches over the school year; Kae had no classes with him during her Senior. Still had blonde hair, which he profusely denied, and still had glasses. What was different about him now? Kae just stared, feeling her cheeks get hot with embarrassment as Marini asked why she was doing so. She shook her head and ignored his question. Dinner was served to their room: Tacos. All of them soft, filed with the thickest meat and more to be served. The vegetables and drinks were there too. Within a matter of minutes, all of them were gone, the three bunkmates stuffed. Kae yawned, suddenly overcome with a very tired feeling. "Did you notice the food tasted a bit too good?" Kae asked lazily, turning over in her bed. "Yeah...I'm tired," Marini said in reply, and fell over in his bed, asleep before he his the sheets. Chris was up in his bunk, trying to sit up, but he, too, fell asleep. Pretty soon, all were snoozing. It was balmy. She sat on a beach where towers of trees stood over her, and the sound of the waves crashed onto shore. She lay relaxed in the sunlight, sipping an iced tea with a lemon slice in it. Suddenly, the sky clouded over, and it began to rain. "AH!" Kae said as she woke up. "Finally," Chris grumbled. "Can you tell us where we are?" "What the hell are you...Oh my God," Kae said. There were in the temples of some ancient city! She stood up, hardly noticing there were about three other people there with them. It was dark, except for the light streaming in through the holes that covered the ceiling. It almost looked deep purple, and stones, some bigger than Kae, were everywhere. There were carvings on the walls, some of them cracked down to nothing but dust. "Looks like it begins, fellow campers," Someone said behind them. Kae turned to see the boy she had damaged the other day. "Oh no, it's you," Kae said to him. "I never got to tell you my name, Ms. Witchhaste. I'm Brendan Keller," he gloated. "I'm Officer Keller's son." "Well, no wonder you got chosen," someone said from behind. "Chosen? What's going on?!" Chris asked frantically. "You mean you don't get it? My mother seems to have chosen Angkor Wat for the competition. This place is deadly, you know. I guess she decided to put some fun into her games." "You mean...We're seriously in danger?" Marini asked, still not sure to believe. "I'm a little concerned myself," Brendan said thoughtfully. "Mother never sent me on the expeditions." "So, you're pretty much a newbie, too?" Kae asked him. "Oh, no, not at all. I've been in the camp with the others who were left there to do the simple tasks. Don't underestimate three years of waiting. I know how to handle situations like this." "We're in the middle of Angkor Wat, Mr. Keller, and you have no idea how these places can turn about," Kae growled. Kae sighed. They were in the middle of one the of world's most holiest places with no guide, no protection, and no help. She walked along to sides of the entryway. "You see anything important?" Maneval asked. Kae looked around the pillars of the room. "Not really," she shouted back. With this, she realized her attire had changed. Green shorts, green vest, beige t-shirt, and combat boots. She became interested in the vest and pulled out a little Neosporin pack from the left breast pocket. "Hey, check the pockets of your vest, we got nick knacks," she yelled to the group. She continued to look around. She spotted something shiny in the corner. She walked over to it. It was a small golden skull, probably no bigger then her hand. She picked it up, and examined it. It was really shiny. She put it in her breast pocket and went back to the group. The ones she didn't know introduced themselves. The first one, a female, was named Nicole Dent. She was seventeen, and she was Asian. The second one, a male, was named Howard Bogart. His head was shaved, and his eyes were brown. Marini sighed. "Well, what do we do now?" He asked. "I guess we go over there," Kae presented, pointing across the long temple o where it obviously had a turn. They all shrugged and started walking. So, this was the beginning of my adventures, Kae thought angrily. No tacos. They hit the turn, where a bunch of stone steps led down to another roomish like place. There were little pits in the stone ground, and it led to a platform that stopped a few feet from the next ledge. It looked like a one way route for them. Nicole walked in front of them, fearless of what may happen. They walked down, and Nicole stepped on the edge of the holes. Spears launched themselves from the holes, and the one she stood under came right at her jaw and sent itself up into her head. Kae screamed. The spears retracted, and Nicole lay dead on the floor. "Well, that looked like fun," Maneval said cheerfully. Brendan walked over to a shallow hole in the wall next to Nicole's half impaled head. "There was a trigger to be pushed. Foolish, she was," he growled. Kae was shaking quite a bit. "I bet you learned that in camp, right?" Marini asked him. He nodded. They walked past the holes (Kae ran across) and came to the platform. It hung over a shallow pool of water, and if you jumped the right length, you could get to the other side safely. Howard was the first one to jump. He landed on the other side, saying, "It's only about four feet." Maneval jumped next, then Marini, and Brendan. Kae hesitated for a moment, looking down at the water. Something caught her eye. "Another one," she said to herself. She looked up at the boys, who were telling her to jump. She had to get the skull first, and without warning, dropped into the pool. "Ah! Kae, what that hell are you doing?!" Maneval yelled. But Kae was under the water, picking up the little golden skull at the bottom. She surfaced. "I wanted to cool off," she said, and swan to the platform, discovering it had stairs. She climbed them, sopping wet, and jumped over. She wrung out her clothes, and shook her hair off. "That was really smooth, Kae. What did you go down there for?" Marini complained. "There was something I thought I saw," she replied. They climbed the marble stairs, silent, listening for anything unusual. They heard a squeal. They stopped at the top, and saw a boar running at them. Kae blindly reached for Brendan's knife, which was on his belt, and lashed at the creature. Howard let out a yell for her to stop, as the boar was probably rabid and would come and kill them instead of her. Kae found this rather offending, so she continued to challenge the boar. It charged at her, and she stuck the knife into its chest. It died after that. Kae wiped the knife off with her shirt, and gave the knife back to Brendan. "You're welcome," he grunted. They headed up the next flight of steps. There were many carvings along the wall, shadowed by vines that climbed in through the outside. Marini shouted suddenly, "Light!" Running out, they saw they were on another platform, only this one reached the ground below. It was well lit, and mini-water falls streamed for n between the next three pillars across from them. On their left, a big stone-carved head spewed an endless stream of water into a little square pool, that vented out into wherever. The ground was stony, and had moss growing everywhere. The ceiling was gone, letting in profuse sunlight. The mix of beige and green and some yellow from a small patch of flowers made it a nice setting. On the other side, probably six-hundred yard across, was an opening hovering more than six feet from the ground. They all grunted. "How can simple human beings make such beautiful and complicated architecture?" Kae wondered aloud. "You make us seem indecent," Maneval said, laughing. Brendan was looking grim. "We've got to pass these to get to the other side. I don't think the ground below is too stable...It may have hollowed out after the last hundred years," he said uneasily. "What makes you the boss here?" Howard asked, walking down the slope. Kae laughed, seeing someone defy Brendan's suggestion. "I suggest you be careful, Mr. Bogart!" Marini imitated Brendan's tone of voice. Kae laughed again. But Brendan went along with the hard way. He jumped across the first platform to the next, with great ease. He sat and waited for them impatiently at the other end. Meanwhile, the group was down at the bottom, fooling around by splashing each other with the water that spilled into the pool. Kae was busy walking around, looking between the nooks. She saw another golden skull sitting near the last platform. She went over and grabbed it. Brendan had finally had enough of fun for one day, so he started to yell at them to get back to the first platform and start getting over there.
Chris Maneval sat on the last seat of the small bus looking out the window. He held a paper in his hand, running the words over and over again in his head. Dangerous repeated itself. What was so dangerous about a camp? Besides the chance of getting tick bites or something, danger was far from what he expected. His summer was going to be spent at Camp Spartan. He removed his glasses and cleaned what residue had taken refuge there. His white Nike t-shirt looked slightly blurred as he looked down on his glasses. Suddenly, a thought crossed his mind. They might kill his vision and make him do something life-threatening. How would that be? The bus slowed to a stop.
Kae Witchhaste was waiting with extreme patience. For nearly an hour after scheduled time, she'd been waiting in the sweltering heat of the morning for the bus to Spartan to arrive. She felt rather foolish in her lower attire- black and blue plaid long pants, multiple belts. It was making her begin to sweat, so she popped out a water from the cooler she had with her. She remembered one of the phrases in the paper she had received, "This camp will show you the importance of survival by your absolute and most fears." Fears. The only thing she feared was spiders. The big, nasty, hairy ones like in Arachnophobia. She shuddered at the thought. What the hell would they do to her, anyway? Eat her brains out while she slept? She heard the vehicle turn from the corner and stood up, now aggravated at the thought of the spiders.
Anthony Marini waited inside his house, the book bag over his left shoulder, his basketball under his right. He waited with great ease for the sound of the bus, but if felt so long. He looked at the wrinkled paper in his free hand. He mentally highlighted a spot, "Everything you own and love are at stake here. Your reputation is in my hands." His reputation. He felt himself shudder with the thought of losing his good reputation to a lame-ass camp. His career of being a basketball star might be ruined! He knew there was still time to turn back, but he couldn't leave Maneval there by himself. After all, he did go and sign him up behind his back. Marini had yet to get revenge. Just then, the bus came to a stop at his house. He ran out, a plastered smile on his face.
"Hey Maneval!" Kae said, sitting in the seat across from him. "You're gunna go to the camp to?" Was his reply. "You sexist!" "No, no, I just didn't think girl's'd be interested in this." "Yeah, well note I'm not in the 'most girls' category." "True." There was a pause of embarrassment from Kae. "So, how did your summer get before this?" Kae asked, gesturing around the bus. "Ah, pretty good... Katie and I broke up though," he answered, not looking too upset. "Ah, too bad," Kae said, feigning sympathy. "Yeah. How 'bout you?" "I ended up going to Massachusetts, like I said. I spent most of my coursing there, and...lessee... Oh yeah! I got tickets to Japan in the late August. I need someone to go with." Now, Kae was hoping Maneval was catching her drift when she said that she needed someone to go with. Maneval knew pretty damn straight, but he wasn't going to make promises, more less say anything related to the subject in return. The bus came to a stop. Marini got on the bus with a "Hey!". Kae rolled her eyes slightly while Maneval and him high-fived. He sat in front of Kae. She waved to him with the most absolute enthusiasm, and began to window daze. The guys struck up a conversation, and by the time it was ten o'clock am, Kae and the guys had dozed off. They got into Philadelphia, then into New York, at last.
The camp was nothing like Kae, Maneval, or Marini suspected. It was a building! A very BIG building! Kae looked at the guys, who had no idea what to say. They gathered their things and got off the bus. Kae hung onto Maneval's arm to prevent getting lost in the crowds of boys. Everywhere, boys. Kae felt really alone by this point, no girls to talk to about girl stuff that she didn't talk about anyway. "There are like, no girls here," Marini said teasingly, his smile flashing for the world to see, as if saying, "Remember this smile, you'll see it on TV one day." Kae nodded to herself. They were pulled, shoved, bumped into, and moshed into the building at last. Kae's breath stopped to observe: Everything was black marble, or at least this room was. She felt comfortable with the atmosphere now, knowing some color was good. Then she heard some guys behind her whisper some words, "Dude, check her out. She's hot." Just then, she felt someone grab her ass. She grabbed the arm, then flipped the guy over her shoulder, a thud going through the ground. A few crowds stopped to see what would happen next. But those who didn't see missed out on even more, because by the time the guy came back to reality, Kae was gone, dragging Maneval and Marini towards the door. "I can't believe someone would even TRY to grab my ass!" she said. "Kae, wait a second!" "What?" She looked back, hearing a voice call after her. Her eyes widened. "Matt Illum?" she whispered. "Hey Kae! Sup?" he said, grinning like he had something planned. "You grabbed my ass?" "I wouldn't touch your ass. It was one of my friends. So, how've you been?" "Well, after the question about the dildo, and now this, I think I've been pretty pissed off. Are there any girls here? I need to vent." "Didn't see any, sorry. Ok, I'm gunna go hang with my crowd. C'ya later, Kae!" Matt said, then ran off. Kae's blood boiled. How the fuck did ILLUM get here?! Maneval tapped her shoulder, noticing her face gone very red. She snapped out of it and thanked him for it. He led her to the benches where Marini had managed to escape from her grasp. Sitting down felt good. A lot of time passed before silence rushed over the people. A woman, probably in her early twenties, walked through the boys, wearing a militia camouflage outfit. Her hair was tied back, and her eyes resembled that of sideways olives. She had a very pointy nose, too. Kae couldn't help but smile. "I am officer Keller," the woman stated, stopping somewhere in the middle. She seemed very uptight and angry about something...Maybe because she only had one other girl join her camp this year? "I have invited most of you to try and prove yourselves as worthy opponents against me," she continued. A few people stirred and took out their papers, Kae being one of them (Maneval leaned over her shoulder, "You were invited?" he asked). "The others, well, want to prove themselves," (Maneval and Marini grunted) she went on. She started lecturing on how difficult the courses would be. "You will go through series of tests, some containing lethal weapons, traps, scenarios, and animals. You will be asked to retrieve half a teaspoon's worth of spider venom, pass a training course containing multiple life-threatening situations. Some of you may now be thinking this is no sweat, but I assure you, there is more to this than it seems. "You'll be bunked up in the order of your Private Identification Number on top of the envelope. Those who were invited have to choice to bunk accordingly or go to the private rooms. But note that privacy is something invaded here; we cannot assure that you will be alone when you shower. Now, anyone between 1-100, please follow me, and I will return for the next hundred." Officer Keller walked towards the stairwells, a hundred kids following. Kae, Marini, and Maneval looked at each other. "This is going to be quite the summer," Kae said to Maneval, taking out her pocket knife.
"Yeah...Snakes and all?" Marini looked slightly upset. "I doubt it's going to be life threatening," Maneval said, lopsided confidence sitting plainly on his lips. Suddenly, someone from behind said, "You honestly think so?" The group turned around to see a boy, probably sixteen years. He had a crew cut, making it difficult to define whether or not he was a brunette or blonde. He had very angered eyes, and his mouth pursed as if he were about to kiss a frog. "Yeah, I doubt that it's seriously threatening," Maneval repeated. The guy laughed. "You're on the edge of death, then," He said, grunting. Kae stood up to him, feeling rather short against his 5'11" height. "Hey, listen buddy, it's our business whether we're stupid enough to follow that idea or not," she shouted. He grinned down at him. "Oh, you must be Witchhaste." "What? How do you know that?" "You're actually really famous around these parts. You've competed against many of the Martial Arts teams here. You've had your group win about forty times in the Hall of Fame. I bet a few of the guys know who you are," he said, jerking his thumb to his group, "but I bet they'll be disappointed to know how short you really are." He laughed. Kae's eyes narrowed, and felt very angry. She pivoted around, then stopped. She turned around into a side kick in his stomach. He let out a strangled cry for breath, and fell over. Kae clapped her hands together, then went back to sitting down with her pocket knife. From under her breath, she said, "Be lucky I didn't use weaponry on you."
It took about three hours before Kae's group of numbers got called. Lucky her, for she didn't want any fancy shit going on, so she followed Maneval and Marini to room 378. It was very bland, just a bunk bed and a bed on the side. Maneval quickly claimed top bunk, while Marini claimed bottom. Kae sighed, disappointed, and took the bed. They unpacked their stuff-Marini and Kae had been smart to pack posters and little things to remind them of home-, made their beds, and cleaned what little space there was. Kae sat down on her bed for a moment, breathing the stale air. She looked at Maneval for a few moments while he was occupied with Marini's poster hanging. It was very strange, seeing him so...Not so muscular, but not so skinny, either. He grew several inches over the school year; Kae had no classes with him during her Senior. Still had blonde hair, which he profusely denied, and still had glasses. What was different about him now? Kae just stared, feeling her cheeks get hot with embarrassment as Marini asked why she was doing so. She shook her head and ignored his question. Dinner was served to their room: Tacos. All of them soft, filed with the thickest meat and more to be served. The vegetables and drinks were there too. Within a matter of minutes, all of them were gone, the three bunkmates stuffed. Kae yawned, suddenly overcome with a very tired feeling. "Did you notice the food tasted a bit too good?" Kae asked lazily, turning over in her bed. "Yeah...I'm tired," Marini said in reply, and fell over in his bed, asleep before he his the sheets. Chris was up in his bunk, trying to sit up, but he, too, fell asleep. Pretty soon, all were snoozing. It was balmy. She sat on a beach where towers of trees stood over her, and the sound of the waves crashed onto shore. She lay relaxed in the sunlight, sipping an iced tea with a lemon slice in it. Suddenly, the sky clouded over, and it began to rain. "AH!" Kae said as she woke up. "Finally," Chris grumbled. "Can you tell us where we are?" "What the hell are you...Oh my God," Kae said. There were in the temples of some ancient city! She stood up, hardly noticing there were about three other people there with them. It was dark, except for the light streaming in through the holes that covered the ceiling. It almost looked deep purple, and stones, some bigger than Kae, were everywhere. There were carvings on the walls, some of them cracked down to nothing but dust. "Looks like it begins, fellow campers," Someone said behind them. Kae turned to see the boy she had damaged the other day. "Oh no, it's you," Kae said to him. "I never got to tell you my name, Ms. Witchhaste. I'm Brendan Keller," he gloated. "I'm Officer Keller's son." "Well, no wonder you got chosen," someone said from behind. "Chosen? What's going on?!" Chris asked frantically. "You mean you don't get it? My mother seems to have chosen Angkor Wat for the competition. This place is deadly, you know. I guess she decided to put some fun into her games." "You mean...We're seriously in danger?" Marini asked, still not sure to believe. "I'm a little concerned myself," Brendan said thoughtfully. "Mother never sent me on the expeditions." "So, you're pretty much a newbie, too?" Kae asked him. "Oh, no, not at all. I've been in the camp with the others who were left there to do the simple tasks. Don't underestimate three years of waiting. I know how to handle situations like this." "We're in the middle of Angkor Wat, Mr. Keller, and you have no idea how these places can turn about," Kae growled. Kae sighed. They were in the middle of one the of world's most holiest places with no guide, no protection, and no help. She walked along to sides of the entryway. "You see anything important?" Maneval asked. Kae looked around the pillars of the room. "Not really," she shouted back. With this, she realized her attire had changed. Green shorts, green vest, beige t-shirt, and combat boots. She became interested in the vest and pulled out a little Neosporin pack from the left breast pocket. "Hey, check the pockets of your vest, we got nick knacks," she yelled to the group. She continued to look around. She spotted something shiny in the corner. She walked over to it. It was a small golden skull, probably no bigger then her hand. She picked it up, and examined it. It was really shiny. She put it in her breast pocket and went back to the group. The ones she didn't know introduced themselves. The first one, a female, was named Nicole Dent. She was seventeen, and she was Asian. The second one, a male, was named Howard Bogart. His head was shaved, and his eyes were brown. Marini sighed. "Well, what do we do now?" He asked. "I guess we go over there," Kae presented, pointing across the long temple o where it obviously had a turn. They all shrugged and started walking. So, this was the beginning of my adventures, Kae thought angrily. No tacos. They hit the turn, where a bunch of stone steps led down to another roomish like place. There were little pits in the stone ground, and it led to a platform that stopped a few feet from the next ledge. It looked like a one way route for them. Nicole walked in front of them, fearless of what may happen. They walked down, and Nicole stepped on the edge of the holes. Spears launched themselves from the holes, and the one she stood under came right at her jaw and sent itself up into her head. Kae screamed. The spears retracted, and Nicole lay dead on the floor. "Well, that looked like fun," Maneval said cheerfully. Brendan walked over to a shallow hole in the wall next to Nicole's half impaled head. "There was a trigger to be pushed. Foolish, she was," he growled. Kae was shaking quite a bit. "I bet you learned that in camp, right?" Marini asked him. He nodded. They walked past the holes (Kae ran across) and came to the platform. It hung over a shallow pool of water, and if you jumped the right length, you could get to the other side safely. Howard was the first one to jump. He landed on the other side, saying, "It's only about four feet." Maneval jumped next, then Marini, and Brendan. Kae hesitated for a moment, looking down at the water. Something caught her eye. "Another one," she said to herself. She looked up at the boys, who were telling her to jump. She had to get the skull first, and without warning, dropped into the pool. "Ah! Kae, what that hell are you doing?!" Maneval yelled. But Kae was under the water, picking up the little golden skull at the bottom. She surfaced. "I wanted to cool off," she said, and swan to the platform, discovering it had stairs. She climbed them, sopping wet, and jumped over. She wrung out her clothes, and shook her hair off. "That was really smooth, Kae. What did you go down there for?" Marini complained. "There was something I thought I saw," she replied. They climbed the marble stairs, silent, listening for anything unusual. They heard a squeal. They stopped at the top, and saw a boar running at them. Kae blindly reached for Brendan's knife, which was on his belt, and lashed at the creature. Howard let out a yell for her to stop, as the boar was probably rabid and would come and kill them instead of her. Kae found this rather offending, so she continued to challenge the boar. It charged at her, and she stuck the knife into its chest. It died after that. Kae wiped the knife off with her shirt, and gave the knife back to Brendan. "You're welcome," he grunted. They headed up the next flight of steps. There were many carvings along the wall, shadowed by vines that climbed in through the outside. Marini shouted suddenly, "Light!" Running out, they saw they were on another platform, only this one reached the ground below. It was well lit, and mini-water falls streamed for n between the next three pillars across from them. On their left, a big stone-carved head spewed an endless stream of water into a little square pool, that vented out into wherever. The ground was stony, and had moss growing everywhere. The ceiling was gone, letting in profuse sunlight. The mix of beige and green and some yellow from a small patch of flowers made it a nice setting. On the other side, probably six-hundred yard across, was an opening hovering more than six feet from the ground. They all grunted. "How can simple human beings make such beautiful and complicated architecture?" Kae wondered aloud. "You make us seem indecent," Maneval said, laughing. Brendan was looking grim. "We've got to pass these to get to the other side. I don't think the ground below is too stable...It may have hollowed out after the last hundred years," he said uneasily. "What makes you the boss here?" Howard asked, walking down the slope. Kae laughed, seeing someone defy Brendan's suggestion. "I suggest you be careful, Mr. Bogart!" Marini imitated Brendan's tone of voice. Kae laughed again. But Brendan went along with the hard way. He jumped across the first platform to the next, with great ease. He sat and waited for them impatiently at the other end. Meanwhile, the group was down at the bottom, fooling around by splashing each other with the water that spilled into the pool. Kae was busy walking around, looking between the nooks. She saw another golden skull sitting near the last platform. She went over and grabbed it. Brendan had finally had enough of fun for one day, so he started to yell at them to get back to the first platform and start getting over there.