CHAPTER 8

We have to be close to that temple. We just have to be.... or all of Spawner is probably going to die. Come on temple, come on...

I bet Rachel and Dave have already found the Jungle Temple, even if it would be harder to see. I can't shake the feeling we missed it. It couldn't take this long. I was hungry, my legs were tired, and I was covered in sweat and dirt. Dear Notch, Did you have to make the temple in a Desert? I mean.. come on!

Suddenly, my legs gave way. I was on the sand and too tired to get up.

"Emily, what's wrong?" Chad asked.

"Shoo. Go away." I replied.

"Seriously Emily."

"Too tired..." I mumbled. Then everything was black...

"EMILY! GET UP!" The next thing I know, I'm wide awake and soaking wet.

"What was that for!?"

"You passed out. Must be the heat. Here, drink some water." Apparently, there was a small pool of water next to us. I guess that's how he poured it on me, and with a bucket. Where did he get a bucket? You know what, I honestly don't care where he got the bucket. I just want to keep moving.

"We got... to get going..." I managed to get out.

"No way. You're too weak; you have to stay here for now."

"No, I'm fine. Really." I stood up to prove my point. "I just need some water, and I'll be fine."

"OK, but if you pass out again we're staying where we are until you feel better." A couple minutes later I was hydrated and ready to go. We started walking, but I realized I might not have been better. I was seeing something strange in the distance. It was really big.

"I think I need to lay down again; I'm seeing things."

"Why? What do you see?"

"Just... some big structure." I pointed to where I was seeing it.

"Emily, you don't think...?" he squinted into the distance.

"What?"

"Oh my god, Emily! It is! It's the temple!"
***

Once I knew that I wasn't seeing things, I felt fine. This time, we ran. We ran all the way to the temple. When we finally got there, my mouth dropped. This temple was HUGE. My whole town could fit comfortably inside. And like a normal Desert Temple, it was sandstone. There was an entrance right in front of us. We walked inside. This is it.

Once inside, we saw there was MANY ways to go. Probably 10 different ways. We had to make up our mind.

"The 7th one. That's my lucky number." I said.

"Maybe we should go for the one all the way to the left, since you always follow the left wall in a maze."

"Chad, what makes you think this is a maze? It just one puzzle. There's probably other ones that are nothing like this."

"Yeah, you're probably right. Let's take the 7th one." I'm surprised how easily he gave his argument up, considering mine had no logic to it. But I'm not complaining. We went down the 7th entrance. Once through that corridor, we came up to another room with a bunch of levers in it. On the far side of the wall, there was a sign. I walked up to it.

"It's a lever puzzle. 'First pull the lever with the square root of 144. Then the one that equals 15x40. Next 164+98, then add up all these numbers and pull that lever. This should show the way to your next challenge. Oh, and by the way. If you mess up on one, you will die. I will not say how, but you most certainly will." Well, I'm good at math. I'll do it."

"Be careful."

"No, I'm going to say 4+4=10!" I replied. He laughed. OK let's see. The square root of 144 is 12. I pulled the lever marked 12. Now 15x40. 15x4=60, add a zero at the end, 600. 600+12=612. I have to keep that in mind. I pulled the lever marked 600. Last one. 4+8=12, carry the one. 6+9=15,+1=16, 16 carry the one. 1+1=2, so 262. 612+262= 874. 874. I pulled the lever marked 874. I heard the clicking of pistons.

"This is it!" I shouted, even though I didn't need to. Chad was standing right next to me. Suddenly, the floor under me was taking away by a piston, and I saw a pool of lava. That was wrong? I thought. And now I'm going to pay. By falling to my death in a pool of lava.

A second after the floor vanished, and I was starting my descent, I stopped. Chad had grabbed my hand and was pulling me up. Those things only happened in the movies. Not in real life. He pulled me out onto solid ground again.

"You saved my life." I said.

"It was nothing, really." he said.

"NOTHING!? That was incredible! I could have never done that!"

"Well-"

"But what I don't understand, I'm sure my answer was right. 874."

"874?"

"Yeah."

"You might want to look at the lever you pulled." So I leaned as best as I could over the block in front of the lava to see the sign. 974.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I wasn't solving it. I'm terrible at math."

I almost died because I mistook a 9 for an 8. Go figure. I pulled the 874 lever.