Return To Primordial Island, Rick Poldark [top non fiction books of all time .TXT] 📗

better. When she saw I wasn’t taking the bait, she became enraged…and that’s the last thing I remember.”

“Three guesses where she’s taken them.”

Jason nodded. “Well, now we know she really wants us to go to the temple.”

“The both of us,” added Peter. “We have to go now.”

“Agreed,” said Jason. “She’ll have two advantages: she’ll be ready for us, and she has our friends.”

“We’ll have to be careful,” said Peter.

“Come on,” said Jason. “We’ll come up with a plan as we go.”

*

Peter pointed ahead. “We have to go this way.”

“I know,” said Jason. Peter looked at him, surprised. Jason pointed to his head. “She put the map in my brain, too. Just in case.”

They traipsed through the jungle, careful not to stray too far from the river. They had to cut further into the jungle as the riverbank gave way to a rocky cliff that rose up between seventy-five and a hundred feet into the air, but neither was worried. They had an internal, cognitive navigation directing them.

“How did you resist her?” asked Peter.

“Nazimaa?”

Peter nodded.

Jason huffed. “You know, I’m not as weak-brained as everyone thinks I am.”

Peter shot him a sideways look. “Oh, come on. I never said you were.”

“You used to think I was a moron,” said Jason. “When we first met.”

Peter smirked back. “And you thought I was a geek.”

“Still do,” said Jason.

They both shared a chuckle.

“I know the difference between fantasy and reality,” said Jason.

Peter raised both eyebrows. “She can be pretty convincing. She got me.”

“Pretending to be Tracey?”

“Yup. It felt so…”

“Good?” offered Jason, finishing his thought.

Peter blushed. “I was going to say real, but yeah. It felt good.”

“She really does care about you, you know. And I mean as more than a friend.”

“I know,” said Peter. “I’ve always felt the same way about her. It was just never reciprocated.”

Jason pondered this idea as he swept hanging vines away with his right hand. “Did it ever occur to you that she wasn’t in a good position to reciprocate?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, the two of you worked together, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Does the university have a no fraternizing rule?”

Peter shrugged his shoulders. “Between faculty and students. Not really between professors, although it’s discouraged.”

“You also have to think of it this way,” said Jason. “What if it didn’t work out? Then the two of you would be stuck working together. It would be awkward, to say the least.”

Peter nodded. “That’s exactly what she said. I guess there could be some truth to that.”

Jason waved his hand in front of him, as if he was clearing an imaginary chalkboard. “Okay, let’s look at it from an animalistic point of view.”

“Okay…” Peter was unsure of where his friend was going with this.

“You know that animals have mating rituals, some very elaborate.”

“Okay. Sure.”

“Well, you know what happens if one little detail is off.”

“The mating doesn’t happen.”

“Right. People aren’t so different. We’re all animals. There are certain requirements or conditions that have to be met before mating occurs.”

“Okay…” Peter was sure Jason knew what these conditions were, and he was sure the hunter exploited them whenever possible.

“Timing is important. She likes you, but before now the timing wasn’t right.”

“It still might not be right,” said Peter. “Now I’m with Mary.”

“That is a complication,” agreed Jason. “You have a big decision to make, assuming we all make it out of this alive.”

“That’s a big assumption.”

The two men traded smiles. Peter had grown to like Jason. It was true, when they’d first met, he didn’t like the man. The hunter reminded him of the jock douchebags that had always tormented him when he was younger. But there was more to Jason than met the eye, and they had become close friends. They’d saved each other’s skins a few times whilst on the island.

“Why do you think Nazimaa separated the two orbs?” asked Peter. “Wouldn’t the death orb be harmless with me?”

“I don’t think she fears the death orb,” said Jason. “I think she needs someone to access its power. She wouldn’t have that if it remained with you.”

“That makes sense,” said Peter. “The question is, how is she going to make us use the orbs to free her?”

Jason’s grin faded quickly from his face. He stopped dead in his tracks and extended his left arm out in front of Peter.

Peter stopped short. “What? What is it?” he whispered, his eyes searching all around them. Was it a dinosaur? Something else?”

Before Jason could respond, a hunting party of Zehhaki burst out of the vegetation, surrounding them. They flared their dewlaps, hissing at the two humans and jabbing at them with sharp spear tips.

“Stay close,” said Jason, jabbing back at them with his own spear to create distance.

Peter went back-to-back with the hunter as the Zehhaki formed a semi-circle around them. “Use the death orb.”

“Okay.” Jason reached deep within himself, but that sensation he’d experienced when Susan was being mauled wasn’t there. He even closed his eyes, focusing intently, but it was as if his focus had no target. He opened his eyes again. “Problem.”

“What? What’s wrong?”

“I can’t feel it.”

“What do you mean, you can’t feel it? You felt it before.”

“That was different.”

“How was it different?”

“I have no idea.”

The Zehhaki tightened the circle, pushing Peter and Jason to the cliff’s edge. Peter heard the river flowing down below. “We’re out of wiggle room.”

Jason looked over his shoulder and saw the drop. “We’re going to have to fight our way out.”

“We could jump,” offered Peter.

Jason looked back over his shoulder. “That’s a big drop, man. I think we can fight our way out.”

“Only you’re armed,” said Peter. He counted in his mind. “There’s