Several hours later, Cindy and her Band Geek Friends were fast asleep on the Band Mobile, also lovingly called 'the Antichrist' by Marissa. The Band Mobile was a gift to the leaders of Bandthom City from the Band Justice Force. The Band Mobile could work as any mode of transportation ever made. Right now it was a working as an airplane, and was being flown by colorguard member Becky. Throughout the six hour flight from Bandthom City to the island, the friends had changed pilots every forty-five minutes, so one person wouldn't be stuck flying the entire time. They had started the flight by watching the movie Ten Things I Hate About You, a favorite among the friends. Eventually they had fallen asleep, with only one person awake to run the Band Mobile.

Becky sighed as the Band Mobile began to beep, signaling that they were close the island and a decent place to land. Becky reached up and brought the intercom to her mouth. "Good morning everyone! Time to wake up, sorry to say. We are about to land in the jungles of Isla de los Hombres. That means that someone who knows how to land this thing needs to get up here before I crash!"

"Coming," Shelly grumbled as she slowly stood up and began to make her way to the pilot controls.

Becky bounced back into the cabin, her sandy colored pony tail bouncing as she went, and quickly got to work on preparing everyone their daily dose of Grape Fruit Seed Extract. The other Band Geeks slowly got up and settled on a breakfast of ice cream, which was found in the freezer on the Band Mobile. They had picked some food up from Hometown Buffet before leaving, but so far only the ice cream looked edible.

"Everyone ready for their Grape Fruit Seed Extract?" Becky asked as she handed out glasses of the medicine mixed with orange juice to everyone. There was a collective groan from the group, but they all drank it down.

"I left some with Lord Swipkey," Becky said with a sigh. "I just hope he remembers to take it."

"He won't," Marissa said. "The Band Justice Force sent someone to him once every ten minutes, and it still took him three hours to call us.,"

"Still, if Lord Swipkey catches this plague, the only leader Bandthom City will have left is Buchanenator," Kate said with a shudder.

"Or Grouper," Cindy said with a scowl.

"Sit back everyone, we're coming in for a landing," Shelly announced.

The Band Geeks quickly jumped up and belted themselves into the chairs that had just appeared in the cabin. The landing was bumpy, since the Band Mobile wasn't only landing, but transforming into an off road RV.

"And we are fully landed and shifted," Shelly said as she settled back into the drivers seat. "Anyone want to help with the map?"

"Coming," Grace said as she unbuckled herself and made her way up to the front seat.

"I think we have arrived at a good point to have a briefing," Cindy said as she hit a button in the back. The interior of the RV shifted from a bunch of airplane chairs into a couple tables with grounded chairs. A screen and a projector appeared from the screen, and a computer rested on one of the tables. "Who would like to start?"

"Well, we already know that it's called the Temple of the Forbidden Eye." Marissa said as she moved to the seat by the computer. She quickly brought up the picture of the temple. After giving the others a chance to study it, she moved on to a picture of a woman. The woman was quite beautiful, except for her eyes. They had no pupils or iris', they were just white and empty. "The ruling goddess of the temple is known as Mara. Basically, Mara is a two faced god. She's kind and generous to those who come to her for help, but she is easily offended. Now, as you can see, Mara has no pupils or irises, otherwise she is a flawless beauty. Legend states that she was born that way."

Marissa hit a button on the computer, changing the picture from Mara to a three pictures of different rooms. "The three most important rooms of the temple are the Chamber of Earthly Riches, the Fountain of Youth and the Observatory of the Future. These rooms are said to have powers…"

"We know, if you look into the eye of Mara, you're in trouble," Becky interrupted.

"Not just that," Marissa said. "The Chamber of Earthly Riches will give you your hearts desire, the Fountain of Youth keeps a person young and the Observatory of the future allows one to see their future."

"You must be joking,"

"So she becomes offended when you look at that one bit of her that is imperfect?" Jenny asked.

Marissa nodded. "Basically."

"Why didn't the artists who built the temple just draw in pupils?" Beth asked.

"They did," Grace said as she turned back in her chair so she could watch the meeting from the front. "But the pupils of Mara in and around the temple disappeared."

Cindy frowned. "Beth, how are you planning on getting this problem out of our way so we can safely travel through the chambers?"

"Well, see how you can see the eyes in this picture?" Beth asked. "Remember the Basilisk in Harry Potter? If we look at if through something else instead of straight at it, we should be safe."

"So the night vision goggles?" Marissa asked.

Beth nodded. "We also have a big canvas to tie around the eyes. That'll be easy enough."

"Perfect," Cindy said. "Now Grace, tell me about the inscriptions."

"Well, it's all in the temple," Grace said. "Some describe the rooms within the temple. Well, supposedly."

"Supposedly?" Shelly repeated.

"Well, nobody has seen any extra rooms, so they're not sure if the translations they've made are correct. There are a lot of mentions of the Shakuhachi in the anteroom, but since they haven't found any of the extra rooms mentioned with it, they're not sure if the translations are correct."

"You mean to tell me that we're not even sure if this thing exists?" Beth asked.

"Oh no, we're sure," Grace said. "The temple isn't the only place where it's mentioned, and all other sources say that the Shakuhachi existed in the temple. There was also a picture taken of it in the 1940's by a member of the excavation crew."

"So let's ask him where it is," Beth suggested.

"He was found dead with his camera," Marissa said. "They saw the flute when they developed the film."

"Oh."

"Well, if anyone can figure this out, it's you Grace," Cindy said. "Kate, explosives?"

"Most of the outer halls have been excavated in search of the extra rooms that Grace mentioned," Kate said. "Nothing has been found through that so far. The only places that haven't been touched are the three main chambers. The people are afraid that if those rooms are excavated it could interfere with the power of the chambers."

"Suggestions?" Cindy asked.

"We'll see when we get there," Kate said. "We did bring all sorts of explosives, so we should be able to blow the walls with minimal damage to the rest of the temple."

"Well, while we're on the subject… Jenny, tell me about the temple itself."

"It's a design of its own, being closest to the Aztec temples in design," Jenny said as she took over the computer. As she talked, she flipped the screen around to show pictures of what she was talking about. "And definitely over done with the traps. You start off going down a long tunnel, with various runes lining the walls. First room is the anteroom, which Grace already mentioned. After that is the obelisk room, which is also pretty tame. Next is the spike room. If you hit the wrong stone iron spikes come out of the ceiling and floor and the two begin to compress on each other."

"Wonderful," Becky muttered.

"The next room has diamond shaped stones on the floor. If you step on one of those, a column will descend from the ceiling and squash you. The last room is the rotunda. There's nothing bad there, and then you come to the Chamber of Destiny. This room is filled with mirrors. At the end of the Chamber is three doors, each lead to the Observatory of the Future, Chamber of Earthly Riches and the Fountain of Youth respectively."

"I hope that the briefing is almost over," Shelly called. "We're almost there."

"Almost," Cindy said. "Shelly, you're in charge of the camp. Make sure to keep it positive, keep the workers happy and such. And of course Becky, you're the medic. Keep the Grape Fruit Seed Extract ready along with any other drugs that we may need."

"Right," the group agreed as Shelly pulled the RV to a halt and parked it. The door was pulled open revealing a middle aged Mexican man.

"Greetings, greetings my friends!" he said. "Welcome to Isla de los Hombres and Mara's Temple."

"Mara's temple?" Cindy asked as she stepped out of the Band Mobile and shook the man's hand. "I thought that it was called the Temple of the Forbidden Eye?"

"By those who visit," the man said, offering his hand to the other Band Geeks as they stepped out of the Band Mobile. "But to those who live here it is simply called Mara's Temple. It's shorter."

The Band Geeks let out a chuckle at the joke, which caused the man to break out into a smile.

"I am called Miguel, and I am your liaison from the island's government. We couldn't be more excited to have people from Bandthom City here, looking for the Shakuhachi. We are all truly honored."

"Miguel?" Cindy asked as they began to walk through the camp towards the temple. "What are our chances of finding the flute?"

"I truly do not know," Miguel said. "There is much evidence that the Shakuhachi exists, but very few have see it and lived to tell the tale."

Marissa and Grace exchanged a glance. They hadn't known that anyone still living had seen the Shakuhachi.

"We could really use some interviews with those people," Grace said.

"Sadly, most of them have passed on," Miguel said. "And the ones that haven't… They live in los Hombres' Institution for the Mentally Ill."

"Oh," Grace muttered.

"Because no one believed them?" Kate asked.

"Because they had lost their minds to the fear of what they had seen within the temple," Miguel said softly. "Oh my friends, I worry so much about you! You who are brave enough to look for a device that kills men or drives them mad. Is this flute truly so important?"

"Yes," Cindy said.

"And we're not men," Marissa added. "So consider this a whole new statistic."

"Yes, yes, of course my friends," Miguel said as the exited the camp and caught their first view of Mara's Temple. "Welcome, my friends, to the Temple of the Forbidden Eye."

The temple was a marvelous sight on its own, but what stood out the most to the friends was the giant statue before it. It was a statue of Mara, starring down at them with covered eyes.

"Forbidden indeed," Cindy muttered.