“Stop!” ordered 18 year old Henry Smith. His crew came to a stop.
“Grab that rock,” he told one of the men. The man grabbed the heavy rock and gave it to Henry. Henry then threw the rock at what seemed to be only a few leaves on the ground. Just as the rock hit the ground, a dart flew out of a hidden stone statue to the left that no one had noticed. No one but Henry. Henry had learned that from his father. His father had been one of the best explorers in the world until he died. Henry remembered his dad teaching him to always be aware of his surroundings and look for small details. It pained Henry to think about his dad, so he didn’t do it often, and plus he was always too busy trying to be like him. Henry awoke from his deep thoughts as he noticed a reddish brown clay slab in the ground. It was covered with vines and looked as if it had been made to blend in with the rainforest dirt.
“Hand me the knife,” Henry said. He cut the vines away with the knife, then he pried open the clay slab and moved it to the side.
“You’re certain this is it, Mr. Smith?” asked Pedro.
“Yeah, come on,” replied Henry.
“No. We aren’t going in there,” protested the other two men as they backed away.
Henry watched them leave. I don’t need them, he thought as he and Pedro went down into the dark, ancient underground tunnels. They lit a torch and started finding their way through the underground tunnels.
“Wait” Henry said as he spotted a stone pressure plate on the floor. He Took his right shoe off and tossed it on the spot. Just as he suspected, a bunch of sharp metal spikes shot out of the wall.
“Watch your step.” Henry told Pedro as they continued on.
After a while, they came across a giant hole in the ground. It seemed to be never ending as they stared down into the darkness in fear. When Henry looked up, he saw the whole reason that he was there. There stood a beautiful sapphire statue that the Aztecs had worshiped in their time. Henry, determined to get the statue, tore a vine off the wall and swung it around another big vine that hung across the ceiling. Henry took a breath and pushed off of the ground while clutching the vine in his hands. He let go of the vine and he landed on the edge of the other side of the giant pit. A few rocks crumbled away as his heels hung off the edge. Henry regained his balance and carefully made his way over to the idol. The beautiful, slightly transparent, blue statue gave off a luminous glow in the dark underground. Henry, looking around for any other thing that could be protecting the idol, slowly grabbed it. As he looked at the idol that he held, he noticed something strange. There was a scroll of paper in the idol. Henry found a hole at the top of the idol and he carefully pulled the paper out and examined it. It had writing on it, but Henry didn’t have time to read it so he put both things in his backpack and started making his way back. Henry swung back across the deep trench over to his partner. They started walking back, trying to find the exit. Right then, Henry’s foot got stuck in some vines growing out of the floor.
“Argh! Hold on,” Henry said as he tugged at his foot.
“Hand me the idol and I’ll cut the vines,” said Pedro. Henry hesitantly took the idol from his backpack and gave it to Pedro, and, as Pedro said, he cut Henry loose. Together, they finally found the exit and came out of the underground tunnel and back into the humid air of the rainforest.
“It’s nice to be back above ground,” declared Pedro.
“Yeah,” agreed Henry, “Here, I’ll hold the idol.”
“About that,” replied Pedro as he reached for his knife, “It’s been a pleasure assisting you on your journey, Mr. Smith, and I hope that you can understand. I think I’ll keep the Idol.” With that, Pedro left Henry filled with anger and humility.
The next week, Henry went back to his apartment. As Henry opened the door, he saw a horrible mess. His research papers were all over the place, all the drawers had been opened, and the bookshelves were turned. It was a disaster! Henry looked around at his apartment. Every room had been torn apart as if somebody were searching for something. Henry thought. What would anyone want that I could have?
“Weird,” Henry said to himself. “I’ve got to get some sleep. I’ll clean this mess up tomorrow.” Henry went to sleep still thinking about what happened.
The next morning Henry tried to contemplate everything. He started to pick up papers and books when he saw his backpack in the corner of the room. Henry remembered the mysterious old scroll of paper that he had stuffed in there. It was the only part of the idol that Pedro didn’t have. He searched his backpack and pulled it out. He looked closely at the small, weird letters. He then realized that it was written in the Nahuatl language, the language that the Ancient Aztecs spoke. Henry deciphered the letters: If you’re reading this scroll, then you already know the real statue is hidden below. Henry was confused.
“What can that mean?” he asked himself, “The real statue is hidden below…” Henry thought harder about it.
“Wait a minute, hidden below,” Henry repeated. “The real statue is hidden below. So that means the other was a fake!”
“I have to go back!” Henry said with joy as he grabbed his backpack and burst out the door. It looks like he would have yet another exciting and mysterious adventure ahead of him.