Treasure for All

19. The Elephant's Trunk

The ship landed in India within a few hours, but the crew decided not to head out until the wee hours of the morning as to avoid being noticed. San and Celestia spent the entire evening in their bedchambers before going to bed. Everyone else stuck to mapping out the coordinates according to the area surrounding the sacred symbol of the country. It was a bit of a struggle without San's aid, but Hongjoong managed to figure out where to start according to the notes provided in the old map.

"It's heavily populated in the surrounding area," Hongjoong said, "so we'll have to stay out of sight as much as possible."

"I've already made sure the security systems can't detect us sneaking into the tunnels," Phoebe replied.

"I double checked our path. We won't be going anywhere near the walls of the place. Thanks for checking, Phoebe."

"It's not in the Taj Mahal?" Mingi asked.

"No," Hongjoong said. "The maps point to a tunnel starting from across the river. They lead to tunnels underneath that open up to something. We won't be going into the building itself."

"Let's just hope we don't get fried this time," Taeran groaned.

"I don't think we'll have to worry about bombs," Dahae added as she was looking through a large book. "If our path does end up being near the site, there's a chance we'll run into some monkeys."

"Why monkeys?" Yunho asked.

"These aren't cute little Capuchin monkeys. These are much more vicious."

Hongjoong double-checked the map. "Our path doesn't go near it, just underneath. However, we still need to take our precautions as we go."

The crew then finished getting supplies together for the next part of their quest. Dahae checked with San and Celestia to see if they had everything they needed, Dinah took some painkillers to ease her cramps, Hongjoong finalized any notes with Yeosang and Seonghwa, and everyone else strapped on their boots. Grace-Anne wanted to pack a snack, but Dahae stopped her and reminded her about the possibility of attracting the monkeys.

Once Yunho had activated the camouflage shield, the crew headed out into the tropical climate. The weather was hot, but no sign of sunshine. Stone gray clouds blanketed the morning sky. The crew headed straight for a jungle area where a large tree trunk was said to be marked with an elephant's head, according to the maps. Dahae hoped that it meant the head was a drawing and not a huge skull.

Journeying into the jungle was a little troubling beginning with Mingi getting his foot caught in a vine and falling face first, making Taeran stop to cut him free. Yeosang kept wanting to stop and cut pieces of different plants to study for medicines, which earned him hand swats to get him away from them. Dinah started cramping again and nearly lost her temper at Wooyoung for something minor, and then Yunho started his complaints of the weather being too hot and getting tired of carrying the maps (he was only carrying one).

"Would you guys knock it off already?" Hongjoong snapped.

"Sorry, I forgot my painkillers," Dinah sassed back as she tried to stand back up from doubling over.

"I'm not talking about your lady cramps. I mean, just stay focused right now."

His eyes met Dahae's, and the look she gave him was all he needed to chill out. He knew he shouldn't get upset over a small inconvenience happens, but he couldn't help if he was short with his crewmates. He hated that he was such a perfectionist at times, and it caused him to get into arguments with them. Hongjoong liked to keep a schedule, however, he had to constantly remind himself that it's not a homework assignment that needs to be due by a certain day at a certain time.

"Let's...keep going," the captain managed to instruct as he calmed down.

Not even two seconds later, he trips and falls against something hard, causing him to land in a kneeling position. When he stood up, he noticed his blood was dripping onto a cut tree trunk. As he looked closer while checking to find the source of the bleeding, he noticed how oddly shaped the age rings were. They formed weird shapes almost to mimic an animal's head.

"The elephant's trunk," Dahae figured it out as she pulled out a rag. "This is our entrance."

"And all it took was for the captain to pancake face first into it," Dinah chuckled to Grace-Anne. Dahae shot her look, and Dinah shut her mouth.

Yeosang inspected the trunk, his gloved hands detecting any sign of an opening until his foot slipped on something slippery, and he landed on his butt. A cold, stone covering had given out underneath Yeosang and went tumbling down a set of stone steps.