These words pulled William out of his selfie mode. “What do you mean by pretty and by kill us? Jaguars?”
“Jaguars, snakes, scorpions, frogs, spiders, ants.”
I should have bought pants. A bug landed on my knee, and I smacked it.
William pointed his iPhone at Andrew and took a picture. “Princesses kiss frogs in fairy tales.” I would need to ask him to airdrop it for me later. I hadn’t taken any pictures of Andrew yet, and I wanted one.
“The poison dart frog has enough toxin coating its skin to kill twenty people. You wouldn’t want to kiss that.” Andrew’s hand went over his shoulder to his backpack, and he removed a machete attached to it. “Give me a minute. And don’t go anywhere.”
He stalked in the opposite direction he’d said we would go. I stared at his fine ass before it disappeared in tangled green vegetation.
“Where do you think he’s going?” I swatted at the bugs buzzing around my face. This was going to be annoying.
William shrugged. “Take a leak?”
I’d avoided coffee this morning for just that reason. There was no way I was going to pee in a jungle where apparently everything was lethal. William handed me a can of bug repellent, and I sprayed it around my legs and arms.
Andrew returned, and we started to tread through the striking rainforest, following the equally striking man leading our adventure.
“Do you know where you’re going?” William scratched his neck behind the bandana.
“I’m making it up as I go,” Andrew called over his shoulder, no humor in his voice. After a pause, he chuckled and chopped off a green waxy leaf, the muscles in his arm tensing against his shirt sleeves.
I thought Colombian jungles at higher elevations would be cooler, but I was wrong. Soon, sweat trickled down my forehead in a steady steam, and two hours later my shirt was sticking to my back as if someone had sprayed me with a garden hose.
By the time the roaring sound of the waterfall filtered through the lush greenery, my legs wanted to buckle, and I wanted to strangle William because his constant complaints about bugs didn’t make our trek any easier.
“We’re close.” Andrew took the hat off and wiped his face with his forearm, then put it back on.
Meandering our way around tall bushes, we emerged at a site of pure grandeur. In the core of the untouched rainforest, there were a series of small tier-style waterfalls flowing around rocks and greenery, weaving their way down into a pool and toppling over an edge into a milky-blue lake with a kaleidoscope of white, pink, red, and yellow flowers all around it. A slender rainbow arched above it as if hinting at the path to the pot of gold. A thrill ran through me.
We wound down to the water and dropped our backpacks on the ground.
“What a fantastic view.” I shielded my eyes from the sun with my hand and spied a flock of small white birds rushing from one tree to the other. “No wonder they picked this place to get married.”
With his hands on his hips, Andrew surveyed our surroundings. William sauntered over to Andrew, his shoulders back, chest out like a royal penguin during mating season and took the same stance. “So, mate, what are we going to do next?”
“We go for a swim.”
William looked mildly horrified, and I knew why. “You think the treasure is in the lake?”
“No. It’s behind that.” Andrew nodded at the broad body of water tumbling off the cliff about a hundred feet from us.
The aftershock of the stunning beauty vanished, and I realized that as alluring as this place was, it wasn’t the same waterfall Augustine had sketched. The museum picture had a large, single waterfall, similar to Ruby Falls in northern Georgia.
“Andrew, this isn’t the place,” I said, stretching my back.
“You’re right. But we know he hid things here. To get here wasn’t difficult,” Andrew said. “His crew could easily bring all the cargo and store it here.”
“In his correspondence, the name of the location from where they brought the trunk is different than what they call this place.” I pulled my ponytail off my sweaty neck and secured it into a bun.
“It’s possible they called it by two names,” Andrew said, turning to look at me. “We’re here, and I’m going to see what’s behind.”
William raised his hands in the air in surrender. “I’m staying on the shore.”
“What’s the matter?” Andrew kneeled and began untying his shoes.
“My brother is only afraid of two things.” I bent to undo my boots too. I wasn’t going to stay here. I wanted to see what was behind the waterfall. “Muddy water and halitosis.”
