Jack Canyon and The Curse of The Spider Queen | CHAPTER FIVE

Words: 1739

Jack Canyon had poured his heart out to Sophia Stone, his assistant for four years and ex-girlfriend. They didn't even last two months after their return from Mount Sinai. Were things different now? Were things different again after all the heart-felt emotion? Jack had made sure not to let her get too close, but yet, the sandy blonde woman still loved him. It must have been his ruggedness, his confident, adventurous air.

The plane ride had been an awkwardly quiet one for the duo. It was a first. It didn't involve any sleep between either of them. Sophia simply didn't know what to talk about, which was another first. She always had something interesting to say, which was one thing Jack loved about her. She also had a quick wit about her, which made working with her fun. Then again, her retorts and jokes put Jack on edge and kept him on his feet. It also confused him about her feelings.

Jack sighed heavily as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He had spent the last eighteen hours or so reading up on his lost friend's diary. It was a long and drawn out riddle. It made absolutely no sense to Jack at all. He hoped being on location would help solve the mystery. He was glad he had brought Sophia along. She was his linguist. She could interpret anything he needed, whether it was spoken or written.

Standing on a grassy patch of land inside the city that had been built in or around 1450 BC, Jack looked around and at the diary page of Machu Picchu. He could see the Temple of the Three Windows to his left, the Temple of the Sun behind him, and the Temple of the Condor to his right. He remembered that and examined the map that John Baxter had drawn.

"Well," Sophia said breaking the silence.

"The Inca Rope Bridge is over that way," Jack said. "It crosses the Urubamba River. The Inca Trunk Bridge is to my left." He motioned with his finger, pointing at the map. Then he pointed out, trying to find the hidden exit John Baxter had illustrated.

"Jack, this place is huge," Sophia stated. "We'll never find it."

"I can do this," Jack argued. "It's not rocket science!"

"Good thing," Sophia replied. "You can barely do basic science."

Jack pointed his finger at her as if he was warning her. "This way," he said as he headed off to the right and up the staircase. Once he was on top he searched for the sacred pools. "Alright, beyond this is the Industrial Mortar District. Come on."

"I'm coming," she said sternly.

Once he reached the edge of that area, he saw nothing. "What the. . .?" He looked off the edge and down at the long distance between him and the mountainous terrain below. "There's nothing here."

"So much for our little rocket scientist," Sophia said sarcastically. "You must be reading it all wrong."

"I'm not reading it wrong," he urged as he shoved the leather-bound diary into her chest. "Look!"

Sophia rolled her eyes and shook her head as she opened up the journal and began examining it. "Jack? What is this?"

"Huh?" Jack asked as he got up from the edge and moved back to her. He looked down at where her finger pointed. "It's the map's compass."

"I don't think so," she told him. "Those are generally at the bottom. This one is drawn at eleven o'clock on this page."

Jack examined it closer for a moment, noting that the sun-like drawing was indeed in that position in accordance to the drawing of Machu Picchu and all the bridges.

"There are no cardinal points," she pointed out. "I don't think this is a compass. I think this is telling us a time."

"Why?" Jack asked, confused.

"Come on, genius," Sophia gave in answer. "You know more about John Baxter than anyone else."

"Why don't we just have some kind of seance and ask him what the hell he meant?" Jack asked, growing angry at the riddles left behind by his friend.

"Jack!"

"What?!" He yelled out as he turned and looked at her with a fury in his eyes that would scare a child into crying. He received the usual look from Sophia. It was a look she gave when he was angry. She was calm and pretty. Jack looked away for a moment.

"Jack," she spoke softly. "Just relax and think."

Jack sat down for a moment and closed his eyes. "I don't know what I'm doing, Soph."

"Sure you do," she replied as she sat down beside him. She handed him the diary. "What's important about the sun? What does it mean to the Incas?"

Jack sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose. "The Incas worshiped nature. Ithi was their sun god, and perhaps the most important god, as the sun is the most important aspect of life. Though, Viracocha was the most worshiped god."

"Jack, we're not back at the university," Sophia reminded. "No Inca religion lectures."

Jack nodded as he realized now wasn't the time for teaching her about the Inca religion. "Okay," he said as he started to think clearly. Then he looked at his watch. "It's ten o'clock in the morning. We wait."

"Wait for what?" Sophia asked, confused.

"Eleven o'clock," he replied simply. "Then we'll know what to do." He had figured it out. The Incas believe highly in the sun. So, whatever John Baxter had to show them would appear at the eleventh hour.

Sophia sat with Jack through the whole hour. It was horrible for her. She was annoyed with the silence, but annoyed with Jack's sighs too. He was the most impatient person she had ever met. He was never good at just sitting and waiting. Sophia did her best to refrain from shouting out at him. So far, she had done all that in her mind. Then Jack sighed once more. "If you don't stop that, I'm going to throw you off the edge of the cliff."

"Sor-ry," Jack said angrily. "You'd think with all the time you have put in on the job with me, you would be used to this."

"Well, some things you can't quite get used to," she stated. "And those things annoy the hell out of me."

"What time is it?" He asked.

"We have a few minutes," she replied as she looked at her watch.

Jack looked down at the journal page on Machu Picchu and its bridges. Then he looked around at the city ruins one last time before turning his attention out to the area where the bridge was supposed to be. There was nothing there. Why did Baxter draw a bridge where none existed?

As the sun shifted into place, it became visible. Somehow, the sun's beams brought the bridge into light.

Jack and Sophia were both in awe at what they saw. No advanced technology could do this, but the Incas had somehow done it. A wooden rope bridge appeared a few feet below. Jack mentally noted that the mirrors could have been used to do this. After all, magicians used mirrors to make things disappear.

"Alright, let's go," Jack said as he put the journal into his back pocket.

"How on earth did Baxter find this?" Sophia asked, still in awe of the display of ingenuity.

"He had an entire team up here scouring around to find clues about the Spider Queen," Jack explained. "I'm sure one of them discovered this thing while examining this place."

Sophia walked along the bridge, noticing little bits of silver in the wood, which must have acted like a mirror to hide the bridge from intruders.

Jack smiled as they were halfway across. He glanced back at Sophia, but noticed that the bridge was slowly collapsing. "That's not good."

"What?" Sophia asked as she turned to see what he was looking at. As the sun was moving out of position, the bridge was vanishing from sight. If they didn't hurry, they would not make it to the other side.

Jack grabbed Sophia's arm and pushed out front. "Go. GO!" He urged her.

Sophia began to run toward the end of the bridge, which led down to the peak of the next mountain. It was a long bridge.

Jack glanced back once in a while to check the progress of the vanishing bridge. It was a few planks behind him, and still moving fast. The sun would be out of position and the bridge completely gone within minutes.

Sophia glanced back, only to have Jack shove her off the bridge and onto the mountain peak. She stumbled and fell, rotating around and landing her back against a tree.

Beneath his feet, the bridge vanished and Jack fell. It was baffling that it would just dematerialize.

"Jack?" Sophia called out. "JACK!"

His hands arose from the side of the cliff and grasped the ground. Sophia rushed to him and grabbed his hands. They both grunted as she pulled him up. When she pulled him up, he fell on top of her.

"Thanks," he said as he kissed her cheek.

"Oh, God," she said in disgust. "I'm going to be sick."

"Hey, you saved me," Jack reminded her.

"And the worst you could do is kiss me?" Sophia asked. "You could wait until we're back home and just give me a simple raise in pay, but you had to kiss me?"

"Relax, you won't die," Jack told her. "I promise."

"Well, I can't guarantee that you won't," Sophia said angrily. "Kiss me again, and you'll find out."

Jack shook his head and laughed out loud. "Who has your panties in a bunch anyway?"

"My panties are none of your concern, Jack Canyon."

"Could I at least try to get them un-wadded?" He asked with a devil may care grin.

"If I thought I could follow this journal without your help, I'd toss you off this mountain," she told him coldly.

"Oh, come on, we both know that you find me irresistible," Jack stated.

"Well, since you mentioned it," Sophia began, "I do kind of need you."

"See?" Jack said with a big smile on his face.

"You still owe money on my car," she said before heading down the mountain.

"That woman. . ." Jack told himself as he began to follow her.