My Life Of Evasion

15. A Little Bit Of Nothin'...Like That Will Help!

Chapter 15

A Little Bit Of Nothin'...Like That Will Help!

The Ravana Phadi temple was built in the sixth century and dedicated to the god Shiva. The cave faced the southwest with a broken column in front of it and two free standing temples on either side. It was absolutely gorgeous, especially since there weren't any people around to block the view.

"We're supposed to go inside, right?" Max asked as the two of us, plus Ben, Drew, and Sophie, stood right in front of the steps that led up inside. "The seal isn't out here, is it?"

I shrugged, looking down at the steps in front of us. No, no seal to be seen. "I don't think so. Let's just wait for my dad before we do anything."

Dad and Brielle was talking with one of the archeologists that was on site. It was just our group and a few of his colleagues since they'd cleared out the tourists that had been here only a half an hour before. I looked over where they were and saw Dad trying to persuade the man about something, more or less about leaving us alone in the temple. The man looked a little starstruck as he looked at Dad, so he obviously knew who we were, but he still looked a little hesitant as to what Dad was asking.

Nonetheless, the man started nodding after what seemed like a sigh of defeat.

"Looks like we get to go in without supervision," I said.

Max chuckled from beside me, grabbing my hand. "Your dad's always been a little too persuasive."

I cracked a smile and rolled my eyes as Dad and Brielle, who had Addy strapped to her chest in her carrier.

"Are all of you ready?" Dad asked, looking at the five of us. "We've only been given twenty minutes, but I think that we'll be able to find whatever it is we're looking for. We don't have a very big space to search after all."

As we walked up the steps into the temple, I could start to see the carvings in the stone since the sunlight was streaming inside. I looked behind us just as we made it to the last step at the top and saw the archeologist watching like we were about to blow the place up or something. That was hardly the case.

"Alright," Dad said when we were all inside. My eyes were scanning over the carvings on the wall and on the ceiling. "The seal was carved into the stone steps in the picture. There aren't that many steps inside here, so let's start searching." He started toward the steps that led up to the carving of what looked like Shiva dancing and knelt down. "The stone might be worn down now since that photo was taking a few decades ago, so just be..."

"Well, that was easy," Sophie said from only a few feet away from where he was knelt down. She was brushing off a part of the stone on the bottom step as a smile started forming on her lips.

"Already?" Dad asked, moving toward her.

She nodded, her smile growing. "I didn't think that they would make it so obvious, but there it is."

"I guess these guys really didn't care if someone saw their seal," Ben said when we all gathered around to look at it. "But then again, maybe they wanted people to see it, just so that no one would come and mess with it. They would know that, since this temple would have been well protected, it would have lasted."

I looked at Ben with my eyebrows raised. He was actually sounding...smart for a change. Not that I didn't know that he was, it was just that he rarely showed it.

"That's right," Dad said, smiling slightly as his eyes stayed on the seal. It was like he was trying to look for something.

He started brushing his fingers over the seal and around the area it was carved in the stone step. Brushing off any of the dust that was on it, it was like he was trying to find a crack in the stone or something. And when he paused at the spot a few inches to the left of the seal, I knew he'd found something.