Jungle Crossing by Sydney Salter Read Free Book Online Page A

rock wall," Nando said, coming up behind us.
    Soon we came to a clearing, where we waited for the tram with a crowd of people.
    Barb pouted. "This is too much like Disneyland," she said. "How can I find treasure if everything has already been explored?"
    "There are still many treasures to find," Nando said. "Pirates hid gold on this coast, and some ships sank. There's a beach near here where jewels from an old pirate ship still wash up on the shore after storms."
    "Really?" Barb tilted her curly little head. "There was a storm two days ago." She got that look. "Oh, I bet there's some new treasure just waiting for me!"
    "Barb, give it up," I said as we slid into our seats on the tram. While Barb rambled about gold coins, I stared out at the bushes and trees crowding the side of the road like pushy tourists. A salty-scented breeze rattled the palm fronds, and I felt too far from home. I sucked in a breath of humid air, wishing I were back in dry—and, yeah, brown—Utah with my friends.
    The tram stopped, and we walked through a gap in the wall into the ancient city that had been built on a bluff above the Caribbean. Beyond the sun-bleached stone buildings, the aqua-colored water sparkled all the way to the horizon. Pausing by a small stone building at the entrance, the guide explained that the rulers, priests, and craftsmen had lived within the city walls while the lower classes lived without the protection of walls. Sounded a lot like junior high: being one of Fiona's Five was like having a protective wall. The guide pointed out the castles for the elite as we walked over to a platform with a thatched roof, where a craftsman had lived.
    While we stood in the shade, he told us the story of ten shipwrecked Spaniards who were captured when they landed on the coast near the city. Most of the men were killed immediately in a sacrificial ceremony, and the meat of their bodies was served to the people in a cannibalistic feast. C.C. and Jessie squealed in disgust. I knew these people were dangerous. Why didn't Mom believe me? Mental note—add reason number 42: cannibalism.
    "Five of the men were too skinny—like supermodels, eh?" The guide smiled as we laughed. "They were kept in a cage to fatten up."
    I glanced around to see which of us would be served in a feast. My hormone deficiency might have saved me, but Monique would have made a tasty meal. I watched her wiggle her perfectly painted toes. No—she would've been crowned queen.
    "The prisoners escaped and ran to another Lord, who kept them alive as slaves," the guide said. Maybe Fiona would allow me to survive missing mini-camp if I carried her books, did her homework, folded her laundry, or cleaned her room (wait ... I did that once). Grace Williams hadn't thought of that! She once brought cookies to share during lunch, but Fiona called them "oh-so store-bought" and ignored her.
    The guide continued. "One, Gonzalo de Guerrero, pierced his nose, lips, and ears and tattooed his hands. He married a Mayan woman and had many children. When the Spanish arrived, he refused to leave with them."
    That's what Maya-obsessed Barb would do. Or was that what
I
was doing—trying so hard to fit in? I touched my short hair, which Fiona had told me to cut in a layered bob because it would be "oh-so matching" if we all had the same hairstyle. I had liked my long hair, but I cut it anyway to belong to the group.
    "De Guerrero stayed with the Mayans and helped them to fight against the Spaniards. The other man, Gerónimo de Aguilar, helped Cortés conquer the Aztecs and Mayans by acting as an interpreter." The guide stopped and looked around at each of us before Barb broke the silence and asked about pirate treasure.
    Staying with the group was a good thing, right? But then I felt confused. Which guy stayed with his group? The Spanish guy who betrayed the Mayans? Or the guy who betrayed the Spanish and lived Mayan?
    We walked over bumpy limestone to the castle, which was