CHAPTER 9

I'm glad no lava was under me this time. Actually, this time it worked. An entrance next to the signs at the end of the room opened up, and we walked into the NEXT room.

This room, it took me a little while to figure out what it was. Then I realized; it's a parkour puzzle. And it stretches so far up, at the top if you fall off, you were going to die. What's even worse, I suck at parkour.

"Parkour," Chad said, "you ready?"

"Uh... yeah, I'm... I'm ready." Both of us had to do this puzzle, or one of us would be stuck down here if we didn't go up.

"You sure? You don't sound very ready."

"What? I'm fine."

"OK then." He started jumping up the blocks like it was nothing.

OK Emily, just remember this is easier when your game doesn't lag... I hoped on the first block. I then jumped the next two. OK, you're doing it, just keep going. I made the next one. Just breath Emily, breathe. Chad was way ahead, I don't know if he could help me this time if I fall. I jumped to the next block, but the jump was too short. I was just able to grab on with my hands to the block ahead.

"You OK?" Chad yelled from where he was.

"Yeah," I pulled myself back up. "Great." he nodded and continued jumping. I jumped the next 10 blocks without a problem, even though I was nervous the whole time. The next one, got me scared. This one was farther away then all the rest. Run and jump, Emily, run and jump. I took a deep breath and ran, then jumped at the edge of the block I was on. I made it, but barely. I was right on the edge of this next block. You're doing great. It all looked downhill from here, not literally though. Just easier. The blocks were all a normal amount away. I can do this.

Chad was already at the top, making his last jump. OK, just about 20 more jumps Emily. 19, 18, 17, 16, 15.. WOAH! OK, you're good, you're good. 14, 13... I was getting more and more nervous. One miss step and I was a goner and can never adventure again. 12, 11, 10, 9, almost there Emily, 8, 7, 6, a couple more, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, one last jump and it's all over. Chad was up there, looking down at me.

"Come on Emily! One more jump!" I took the biggest breath anyone could ever take and jumped. I landed right next to him. Phew, it was over and I had survived, and it looks like we're at the top of the temple.
***
Yes, we are at the top of the temple. It was a sunny day. Hard to believe when we were just down in dark rooms and completing life threatening challenges. I noticed there was a pressure plate right in front of me. It must be one of the obvious traps. I walked around it, but that didn't help too much. There were pressure plates everywhere. There was signs next to me that said I will give you 3 hints to which way to go. Some of these plates aren't rigged. These hints will help you figure it out. You can have access to the treasure if you complete it. Hint 1: Start off like you're in a maze. Hint 2: You will have to turn 5 times. Hint 3: Just because something looks easy, doesn't mean it is.

"Well," I said, "to start off like a maze, let's start on the very left one." We walked over to that pressure plate and stood on it. Nothing happened. This one's safe.

"Hey look!" Chad said, "We can jump over some of the plates! This isn't that hard after all!" That doesn't seem right. What did the sign say?

"Hold on. Maybe that's what the sign meant by saying even though it looks easy, it's not. I don't think we can jump them. We have to turn when we come to an open block." So, we turned to the pressure plate on our right and stepped on it. Nothing happened.

"Well, you were right."

"Eh, I usually am." So. Now we had two choices to go. Straight ahead, or to the right.

"I say we go straight," Chad said, "we can only turn right 5 times." So we went straight. Again, nothing happened. We were at another open block. But this time we had a left, or right choice. I was about to go right again when Chad put his arm out in front of me.

"No wait," he said. "That plate is in front of an open block. It's probably rigged."

"Oh, you're right."

"I usually am." We both laughed and headed left. Still, nothing happened. We had turned three times, we had to keep going straight. We were able too for two more blocks, then we came to another open one. Another left or right choice, but there was nothing helping us figure out which one it was.

"Now what?" I said.

"I don't know. There's nothing helping us here. We're going to have to guess..."

"I say right. The sign only says to start off like a maze. We shouldn't keep turning left."

"Ok, but I blame you if we die."

"No time for jokes Chad."

"Yeah, yeah." So we head right. It was like time stopped for a moment. We weren't moving, nothing was moving. Until we stepped on the pressure plate. And....

Nothing happened.