"Maybe we should get going," Jerry said apprehensively. "Don't want to get attacked by a wild animal or something."

Sam snapped out of his reverie and turned to the others. Tom and Angie were kissing and it sent an unpleasant jolt to his stomach. When would he get used to it? It was so irrelevant he wanted to scream. Jerry was right. They needed to get out of there.

"We should head out," he said. "Unless you guys want to stay longer..." He trailed off as he looked at Kyle.

His brother was the only one still lying down, his forearm over his eyes, his breathing still unstable. "Just give me a minute," he muttered.

Sam just nodded and glanced over his shoulder. A few feet away, the jungle started. Thick trees, veins and bushes, hiding everything from dangerous animals to dangerous people. And Jerry had a point. There were tigers in India. And panthers, wolves, snakes, bears and every other animal in the jungle book. Of course this was a small island, but who knew what could be lurking in there? The rain pelting down on him suddenly felt much colder.

"Let's go," Jimmy said, walking past Sam and towards the vegetation.

"Do we have any direction?" Jerry asked, following his twin.

"No, not this time." Sam had actually relied on light and the island being small to find the temple. But now the flashes of lightning were the only source of light, since he was pretty sure their flashlights were soaked and no longer functional, and he didn't actually know how big the island was. He wished they had tents so they could sleep until the morning.

Through the ever-pouring rain, they made their way between trees and bushes. Sam's rucksack dug into his back, the weight amplified by the water soaking it. With each step, he strained his hearing to pick up on any possible hostile sound. All he could hear was the dripping of raindrops on vegetation. Maybe they were lucky and the rain had driven the animals into their lair.

They walked on for what felt like hours, none of them speaking, probably too tired for it. Sam was grateful because he was sure the first question to come out would be how much further and he had absolutely no idea. Thunder rolled above from time to time, like a too loud lullaby. Why did the sound of storms have to make him sleepy?

Suddenly, a flash of lightning reflected of something shiny. Sam froze and the group followed his lead. With weary steps, Sam inched forward, pushing the fichus leaves in front of him. There seemed to be a clearing a little further ahead, but he needed to get closer to be sure.

Another lightning illuminated the scene. Sam yelped. What the hell? There really was a clearing a few feet away, but what had freaked him out was the enormous statue on the other side of it. He needed to take another look, but if he wasn't mistaken, it was a statue of Shiva sitting cross-legged. The next lightning confirmed his theory as the shadow of Shiva's head loomed above them.

"I think we're here," he whispered to the others.

The group made its way to the statue, their steps careful and calculated. The closer they came, the bigger the statue looked, buried as it was amongst tall trees. It took Sam a while to noticed that it sat on something - a low one story building which was obviously the temple. He'd expected one of those tall brown ones that appeared in commercials. This was... well, not disappointing, seeing the ginormous statue, but a little disconcerting.

Sam was so focused on the unimpressed look on Shiva's golden face that he didn't even notice the group of five monk wearing golden robes until they addressed them. They froze, all eyes turning to Sam, expecting him to take the lead and get the information they needed.

"Um, hello," Sam said.

The monks just tilted their head in curiosity.

"So you don't speak English. Francais? Deutsch? Espagnol?" All his questions were greeted with silence and curious eyes. "Hindi?" he finally asked in hindi.

They answered, of course they did, because they were monks serving in a temple on a remote island. Why would they know any other language? And Sam's knowledge was so basic, it was embarrassing. He couldn't get any useful information with what he knew and his conversation guide was most likely a soaked, unintelligible mess. It was sad and hilarious how he could read Mayan and a few other dead languages, but couldn't understand a language spoken by a billion people. They were doomed.

Until Kyle opened his mouth and started speaking in a language Sam couldn't catch. And to his utter shock, one of the monks stepped forward and answered. They continued to converse while Sam gawked from one to the other. Suddenly, the other-language-speaking monk turned to his colleagues and started speaking hindi, then they all nodded and headed inside.

"Come on," Kyle said, heading out after the monks.

"Um, what?" Sam asked, hurrying to catch up.

"What?" Kyle asked. "You didn't know I can speak Japanese?"

"Um, no?" How could Sam not know that? Now that he stopped to think about it, he had no idea if Tom and Jimmy could speak foreign languages and what languages those might be.

"Seriously?" Kyle raised an eyebrow. "I've been in Japan for six months. Though I already knew how to speak pretty well by then."

"You went to Japan?" Jerry asked, seeming intrigued.

Kyle stopped walking and turned to them, his eyes narrowed. "How old am I?"

"What?" Sam and Jerry both asked surprised.

"No, seriously, how old am I?"

"You just turned twenty-one," Jerry answered warily. "Why?"

"Ignoring that you have no idea where I've been, didn't any of you wonder why I'm just starting my second year of college if I'm twenty-one?"

Sam felt like a complete idiot. He'd found it a little odd that Kyle finished high school at nineteen, but he'd shrugged it off, thinking maybe Max sent him to school later or something. He was never curious enough to ask, especially because talking to Kyle when he first came home had proven difficult.

"I just thought you were held back a year," Jerry whispered.

There was a moment of silence before Kyle burst out. "Held back? I got into freaking Harvard and you think I was held back?" He then turned to Kay who was giggling next to him. "What's so funny?"

"I don't know," she said between laughter. "The idea of you being held back I guess." She bit her lower lip and sombered. "But that's stupid Jerry, honestly. Don't you guys talk? Kyle wasn't held back. He was on tour with the band for a year."

"Yeah, Jerry, even I know that," Tom said.

Any further argument was cut off by the monks calling for them to come inside. Sam complied, grateful for the end of the conversation. Kay was right. They didn't talk. He'd never found it weird because his family had always been like that, but he found he didn't like it. There was so much he didn't know about Kyle, about Jimmy and Tom, and all because he'd always assumed he'd pick it up along the way without having to question them, that they'd automatically share what they were comfortable with.

Speaking of comfortable, it was great to step inside, out of the rain. The place wasn't as impressive on the inside, but then again, it was hard to trump a giant golden statue. The walls were plain grey stone with the slightest brownish tint, and apart from statues of Shiva carved beside doors, and at some point in the wall, there were no decorations.

The monks led them to two simple rooms with low beds and gave them golden robes to change, then the Japanese speaking monk mentioned the others awaited them in the altar room. So they all changed out of their soaking clothes and met the monks in another unimpressive room with an altar in the middle and another statue of Shiva mirroring the one above the temple, save for the expression on his face which was a lot more benevolent.

"They want to know why we're here," Kyle said the moment they sat down in front of the monks.

"Tell them we're cultural tourists and came here to visit the temple," Sam answered. "Also lightly mention some other monks told us about the legend of the Earring and that we want to hear their thoughts on it."

Kyle translated. The Japanese monk smiled, then frowned slightly and turned to their leader, a bearded old man with weather worn dark skin and started talking in hindi. The man nodded and his mouth quirked up the tiniest bit. With the look of an amused grandparent, he started talking, his eyes moving from one to the other.

Even if Sam couldn't understand a word, the tone in the man's voice and the way the words danced out of his mouth fascinated him. He could tell it was a legend the old monk held dear and was glad to share after maybe years of keeping it to himself. By the enraptured way the other monks were listening, Sam guessed that maybe they didn't know the legend either. When the old man was done, everyone was silent, letting his words fizzle into the air. Sam was starting to feel drowsy.

Then Kyle spoke and the Japanese monk answered him, most likely repeating the legend. He didn't have the same pleasant voice as his elder and Sam found it hard to follow along. His eyes stung, too, and he found it increasingly hard to keep them open. His entire body felt as if it were floating.

Finally, the monk was quiet and Kyle turned to translate.

"It is said that thousands of years ago an evil demon took over the known world and sunk it into eternal darkness. What followed were years of despair. Then there was a prophecy, that Shiva himself, the destroyer of evil, will come down from the heavens and choose the hero who would defeat the monster. And so he did. He picked a young prince and told him that if he will gather an army and march to war against the demon before three years had passed, he will manage to defeat it.

"But the people wouldn't listen to the prince and would not join his army. Desperate, the prince prayed to Shiva and asked the god for proof of his destiny. It is said that Shiva then took out one of his earrings and gave it to the prince and that it had the power to blind all none-believers.

"Of course the people believed the prince, formed an army, and defeated the demon. After the battle, the prince gave the earring to monks of Shiva, Shaivites they're called, for safe keeping. It passed down from shaivit to shaivit for thousands of years, and somewhere in history, it ended up here and stayed here because it is said that Shiva appeared to the prince on this very island."

"All very interesting, but is there any ground to it?" Jimmy asked. "Has the old man ever seen the stone?"

Kyle took in a deep breath and asked the question, so another game of lost in translation started. "These monks say the jewel isn't here anymore. They're not even sure it wasn't just a legend in the first place. The eldest monk, however, says he's heard of it during World War Two, when it was apparently hidden so the Nazis wouldn't get their mitts on it. But he's never seen it and has no idea where it could've been hidden. He's also apparently too excited about all this mystic stuff and keeps insinuating there are hidden ceremonial quarters in this temple. The other monks think he's barking mad."

Sam couldn't really blame them. By the way the old man grinned, Sam had a feeling he wanted to make spooky hand gestures while he answered Kyle, but contained himself, which Sam appreciated. Anything dramatic was too much for him at the moment.

"So what are we going to do now?" Jerry whispered.

"Get some sleep," Sam answered with a sigh. "We can look around the temple and the island properly tomorrow." See if there were any ceremonial chambers.

"Finally," Jerry mumbled.

So they sat up, thanked the monks, and headed for their assigned rooms. The girl wished them goodnight and entered their room while the boys went to theirs. Once in, they tried to split properly in the two available beds, too tired to talk.

Kyle and Jimmy both put their pants back on and took off the robes, but Sam couldn't be bothered, the lack of sleep made him dizzy.

"Any chance we'll be attacked tonight?" Tom asked with a yawn.

"Don't think so," Jimmy answered. "It's still raining outside. I doubt anyone would be as crazy as us. Snitch Gravel's goons probably think we're dead."

"I like it when you call them goons," Jerry said, his voice growing quieter with each word. "Makes them sound cartoonish. Like they're not dangerous."

"That's kinda the point."

Sam nodded, his eyes already closed, and pushed himself against Tom. His head had cleared the moment his twin had his memory back and part of him was curious how it worked. Were he and Tom connected at an intellectual level and could only feel each other as long as they remembered each other? But another, much more powerful part of him didn't care. That part wanted to laugh out loud because he was alive and enjoy Tom and the rest of his family and friends.

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So. Close. To. The. End.

Next chapter will be up after I actually write it. Wish me luck!