Disclaimer's: |)0|\|t $|_|(- |\/|(- ... aka Don't sue me. A friend taught me leetspeak...Pretty cool, huh? Hey, Disney, don't sue me, either. Think about what I say...

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"Where are we going?" That was the fourth time I had asked Race that question since we left the Embassy. Jonny and Hadji had each asked 3 times. We were taking turns.

"You'll see when we get there," Race was losing his patience with us. Tough luck, we lost our patience about 7 hours ago.

I went back to my seat with the boys, "This is ridiculous!" I said, "It's not like anyone but us is going to hear this."

Jonny and Hadji nodded, "Why don't you see if Dad knows?" Jonny said, "He's easier to get information out of."

"He's your Dad," I said, "You ask."

"You're the 1 who wants to know so bad," Jonny said.

"You want to know, too," I yelled.

"Race, would you just tell them where we're going?" Dr. Quest yelled, "Before they kill each other."

Race whispered something.

"What?" I yelled.

"You would've heard me if you weren't screaming," Race said, "Shut up and I'll tell you again."

We shut.

"We are going to Columbia," he said.

"What's in Columbia?" I asked.

"Jessie," Jonny said.

"Oh."

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To make a long story short, we were going to stay with Jessie and Estella for awhile. According to Race, no one would think to look for us in the middle of a major archaeological excavation. Apparently Estella was supervising some old temple being dug up and she said it would be nice to see everyone again.

She also mentioned that Jessie wanted to meet me. Great.

Now what am I supposed to say, "Hi, I'm the girl who's staying in your room while you're gone."? With Jonny's big mouth and my temper, this was not going to be fun. I mean, it wouldn't have been too fun anyway, since we're trying to avoid death, but it could've been civil, at least.

Please, oh please, oh please let this go OK. Don't let Serd find us and don't let Jessie and me hate each other. That just might snap Race all together...

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Going to Columbia in the middle of the summer is not for the faint hearted. It's hot. Now, I don't just mean hot. I mean HOT. When we landed, it was about 93.3 degrees and we landed at 7:27 in the morning. I didn't even want to think what it would be like around noon. And we were dressed for the chilly weather of the Czech Republic.

When Race said we would go to the dig to see everyone and get unpacked, we did so by landing about 20 feet from the half dug up temple (much to the crew's annoyance).

Much to Estella's annoyance, too, because that meant the crew had to help unload the jet, carry our things to our tents (yes, tents), not to mention direct Hank to a different place to park, therefore losing valuable working time. She hugged Race when he got off the jet... and proceeded to give him a 20 minute long lecture on the fact that she had a dig to do and if he interfered in any way more than he already had, she'd kill him. The funny thing was, I believed her. So did Race.

When she was done chewing Race out, Jonny introduced me, everyone hugged, and we went to our respective rooms. When the guys were done getting settled, they took me over to my tent. There was stuff in it already. Yes, you guessed it. I was rooming with Jessie. The only question was, where was she? I soon found out....

"Hello?" A high voice came floating through the air, "Where is everyone? Dad?" Guess who. (If you can't, you haven't been paying attention in the slightest...)

A tall girl with red hair came into the tent. (By now, I'd realized the hair color was definitely from Estella). Everyone started talking at once.

"Jess, it's great to see you..."

"Hey, Ponchina. How have you been? Taking care of your Mom?"

"Did you get me a cool artifact from the dig?" Jonny...

"You've gotten taller...."

"It's great to see you all! Find your own artifact!"

"OK, I will. Take me to the dig!"

"In your dreams!"

"Cool it, you two. You can see the dig later."

"Hadji, how's your Mom?"

If I snuck out to the jet, do you think they'd notice I was gone? Maybe I could try it...

"Cayla, come meet Jessie."

No such luck. Now they notice me...

I walked over to Jessie. We each gave each other an up and down look and locked eyes. You could've cut the tension with a knife...

At the same time we both smiled. Thank God.

"It's nice to finally meet you," I said, "When I came for the summer, I thought you'd be there, but I got stuck with these 4 all by myself."

"Sorry," she said, "Why do you think I left? I couldn't take them anymore." We both laughed.

"Does this mean you 2 like each other?" Jonny asked.

Jessie and I gave him a look and said, "Yes."

"Sorry," Jonny said, "I was just asking..."

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"So, what was it, exactly?" I asked Estella. Jessie and I were being intelligent about this. Jonny and Hadji were running through the work area asking questions. Boys will be boys...

"Well," Estella said, "It appears to be an Aztec temple, and since there is no solid proof that an Aztec civilization existed in this part of the country, this is a major breakthrough."

"How could a whole temple get buried?" I asked, "Was it a natural disaster, or something else?"

"Yeah, Mom," Jessie said, "The outline dig area isn't nearly deep enough for a whole temple to be buried."

"We've uncovered the roof and what seems to be part of the columns that would hold the roof up," Estella said, "It appears that maybe the roof collapsed under the weight of the rocks and dirt above it. The rest of the temple is thought to be located some feet to the left. Once we've dug up the roof and columns, we'll excavate the rest. It's like a jigsaw puzzle. We do it piece by piece."

A workman came up and started to speak to Estella in the native dialect form of Spanish. I caught a few words: Estella's name and a few swear words. Be proud, I can swear in 5 different languages, 7 if you count pig Latin and Ubbi Dubbi.

"Girls, if you'll excuse me," Estella said, "There are some problems in the digging site."

"Can we come?" Jessie asked.

"I'd rather you didn't this time, sweetie," Estella said, "I don't know how long it will take and you should spend time with your father while he's here." She hurried off with the worker.

"Maybe we should go get Jonny before he annoys the workers into throwing him into the digging pit." I suggested.

"Maybe we should throw him in there ourselves to teach him a lesson." Jessie said, "It might work."

"Knowing him, he'd either manage to climb out, or break a priceless artifact," I said.

"That sounds about right," Jessie said, "Maybe we should tie him up somewhere. Keep him out of their way and out of trouble."

"I don't think it's possible to keep him out of trouble," I said.

"Probably not," Jessie agreed, "Danger seems to follow him wherever he goes. It's a shame you had to get mixed up in it and have your vacation ruined."

"I wouldn't say ruined," I said, "It's a lot more exciting than what I'd be doing at home. At least I get to say I've been to all sorts of places and maybe pick up some souvenirs."

"Speaking of souvenirs," Jessie said, "Maybe we should go make sure Jonny isn't picking up any from the work site."

"Hadji wouldn't let him," I said.

"Jonny's pretty sneaky."

"Hadji knows to pay attention when it comes to Jonny," I said, "Especially if he knows how great the temptation is."

Jessie grinned.

"As a matter of fact," I said, "I wouldn't be surprised if your Dad and Dr. Quest have Jonny on a leash right about now. They know better, too."

"Let's go see the dig," Jessie said.

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We found Jonny and Hadji with Dr. Quest, Race, and Estella, not to mention about a billion half dressed, Spanish speaking workers. I wish I had my camera to get the look on Jonny's face.

"This is... great, Estella," Jonny said, "There's a lot of... dirt dug up already."

"Well, dear," Estella said, "This is a relatively new dig. We've only marked off the expected area for recovery of material and made the outline dig. In another 3, 4 weeks, we might reach the roof and columns of the temple."

"See, Jonny," I said, "Patience is a virtue."

"One you don't have," Jonny muttered.

"That's why I'm not going to be an archeologist," I said.

"You need patience in everything," he said.

"Yes, and I have enough to become a graphic animator," I said, "That's more than enough for me."

"What do you want to design?" Estella asked.

"I want to be an animator for Disney movies," I said.

"Disney?" Jonny said, "That's all?"

"That's what I want," I said, "And Disney happens to have 1 of the highest standards of workers out of any major animating company. You have to be the best of the best. And I'm going to be that good, so yes, that's all."

"Touche," Race said, "I think she's got you there, Jonny."

"I yield," Jonny said.

"Good," I said, "So, what was the problem Estella? I caught a few choice words out of what that guy was saying."

"The press is getting rather anxious and is fairly beating a path to the site," Estella said.

"It's not like they'd see much," Jonny muttered.

"They'd see enough to write a few trashy articles and ruin the dig's publicity," Jessie said.

"That's right," Race said, "The press is known for making wild assumptions about things that no one has seen."

"So there would be no one to prove them wrong," Estella finished. You can tell the whole family was on the same wavelength.

Estella looked at her watch and said, "You all must be starving. Let's go eat."

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I didn't like Russian food, but I liked the Spanish food a lot. I can deal with tacos and burritos. Just maybe a little too spicy. And a word from the now wiser: Never, if you value your taste buds, put a dried hot pepper in your mouth. You will need about 4 glasses of water before you can even breathe again.

We decided to go back to the dig after lunch. They were blasting with dynamite and it was cool to watch all of the dirt go flying. Jonny still wanted to see the temple, but that could take awhile and we got bored quickly. It's neat to see the dirt get blown up once or twice, but then it gets old really fast...

"So, what is there to do for fun around here?" Jonny asked.

"Do you guys have bathing suits?" Jessie asked.

We all said yes and then went to change. Jessie told her Mom we were going swimming and we set off. Water!

It didn't take us too long before we were at the... well, you could call it a lake. Jonny asked if it were a watering hole in previous years and got smacked for it. There was a manmade reservoir about a mile away that was used as the supply of water for the dig. A stream connected where we were to it. At least it was fresh water and there were no large fish or algae of any kind. I thought I saw some little minnows, though...

The water was awesome. It felt great to just float and relax...

SPLASH!

"Jonathan Quest!" I screamed. The evil little fiend had jumped into the water directly were I was floating. He landed about 1 foot to the right of my face and sent up a tidal wave. So much for relaxing...

I went underwater and stayed there for about 30 seconds before I began to move towards him. About 2 more inches and...

"What the..?" Jonny was cut off as he was dragged under water. I used him as a lever and pushed up towards the surface. After taking a deep breath, I swam away quickly.

"What the hell?" Jonny finished his sentence as he broke through to the surface. I was floating where I had been when he nearly drowned me. I didn't look like I had moved at all. None the less... here he comes.

"What did you do that for?" he yelled.

"Do what?" I asked.

"You dunked me!" he yelled.

"No, she didn't," Jessie said.

"It's true, my friend," Hadji said, "She has been floating here the whole time."

I grinned.

"Whatever happened to you," I said, "Was not my fault, even though you deserved a little dunking."

Jonny glared at Jessie and turned to Hadji, "I expected the girls to band together and pull some crazy stunt," he told him, "But not you."

"Truly, my friend," Hadji said, "You did indeed deserve a dunking. As Pasha would say, 'What goes around comes around.'"

Jonny got out of the water and sulked for awhile. Then, when the rest of us were done, we all walked back to camp.

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We were forced to hang around camp by the adults until dinner time. They wanted us where they could see us. After all, we were supposed to be in mortal danger, and if Serd found us somewhere where the adults weren't, we were as food as dead.

Dinner was the same as lunch, except there was more of it. Afterwards, we all went outside and I did some stargazing.

The constellations were all the same, just from different angles. I had my notebook and star book out and was trying to record the sky in halfway decent detail. Jonny sat down next to me.

"I'm sorry," he said.

That surprised me. He doesn't apologize often.

"I'm sorry, too," I said, "I think we're all a little tense."

"A little doesn't describe the look on your face," he said.

I turned towards him, "How do I look?" I asked.

"Besides pretty?" he asked, "Scared, but trying not to show it."

"I am," I said.

"Pretty?" he asked.

"Scared," I said, "I have no opinion on the pretty part."

He put his arm around my shoulder, "Nothing's going to happen to you. We won't let it."

"It's not your choice," I said, "No one wants to die."

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Jessie and I lay in our sleeping bags that were set up on cots in our tent.

"You and Jonny like each other, don't you?" she said.

"Yeah," I said, "Is it that obvious?"

"Yeah," she said "At least with him. I didn't know you liked him until tonight when we were by the fire."

"Does that upset you?" I asked.

"You mean, do I have a crush on Jonny?" she asked, "No, I don't. We're too close. I've always liked Hadji more in a romantic sense. It's nice Jonny has you, at least for the summer."

"Yeah, but do I have him?" I asked, "He's not exactly the cuddly kind of person."

"You have him," she said, "He wouldn't apologize to you unless he had some reason to hope you won't hate him."

"I know," I said. I yawned," Could we continue this in the morning? I'm beat."

"No prob," she said, "Good night."

"Good night." As I went to sleep, I prayed nothing would happen to us tonight. Or ever.

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Well, how was that? I incorporated Jessie in there, like someone asked me to. I pay attention to reviews, so help me out here a little, K? Review! I hope you're enjoying this. Robbie, I'm sorry, but romance is a must, but you know I still love you best!

Ja ne! The Management