The Dark Spirits Beneath by Kason Laufenberg (lightweight ebook reader txt) 📕

she would never get used to, and never bother to learn the real names of. She yawned blinked the sleep from her eyes and wondered quietly to herself if her colleagues had also begun to stir yet. If anyone else was even listening to this orchestral gradient transition of Guatemalan jungle life. Layla soon discovered she didn't have to wait long to find out.

"Alright, team! Alejandro should be here any minute to make the drop! Then we gotta cover a lot of ground, so, up, up, up!"

Dr. Ruiz was clearly in a more cheerful mood--well, cheerful for Dr. Ruiz, at least--due in no small part to last night's crucial discovery, and was anxious to get going and confirm his suspicions. Still, she could almost sense the groans that were surely coming from the other tents, at this incessantly enthusiastic wake-up call.

Layla yawned again sleepily and ran a hand through her messy blond hair, more than a little frizzed from the humidity and lack of regular running water. She sighed and began the relatively involved process of making herself decent enough for a sweaty, relentless trek through the tropical jungle, which in and of itself was the easy part, followed by the annoying task of rounding up everything into her hiking pack, to make sure it all fit and nothing got left behind. Though the tiny one-person tent provided little in the way of privacy, still, Layla made the best of what she had to work with. It was as she was pulling on her ripped jeans and simultaneously brushing her teeth, that Layla heard the roaring engine of the school bus yellow Jeep 4x4, as it bounded down the road and up towards the campsite, accompanied by another all to a familiar sound, growing progressively even louder than the engine itself.

"... Oh, baby, baby, how was I supposed to know, that something wasn't right here? Oh, baby, baby, I shouldn't have let you go, and now you're out of sight, yeah..."

The nasal, poppy voice of Britney Spears reverberated through the trees from the oncoming Jeep's tinny speakers. Accompanied by the off-key accompaniment of a heavily Hispanic-accented man, who was enthusiastically hitting at least every word of the song with practiced perfection.

Layla peeked her head out to see Dr. Ruiz, clearly unphased by the boisterous entrance, walking up to greet the vehicle, "Ah, Alejandro! Right on time! Now, we've got a lot of surveying to get to today. Do you need any help unloading, or..."

"... My loneliness is killing me (AND I!), I must confess, I still believe (STILL BELIEVE!)..."

"Alejandro! I don't mean to interrupt, but we really have to get going, so if you could just..."

"... give me a sign!!...."

"ALEJANDRO!!" Clearly having had enough of the impromptu concert, Ruiz had climbed into the passenger seat of the now idling vehicle and removed the keys from the ignition, causing the Jeep and its radio to sputter to silence.

"... HIT ME, BABY, ONE MORE TIME!!"

Dr. Ruiz stroked his forehead in annoyance, as he glowered at the stocky, smiling man with the goatee that was climbing down from the cab to excitedly greet him. "Really, Alejandro... every time? Must we do this every time?"

The man, Alejandro, having realized the vehicle, along with is musical accompaniment were silent, made a motion to respond, his smile never faltering, either failing to notice or choosing to ignore the professor's rising annoyance level. "Senior Ruiz, that woman--Seniorita Britney--she has... come see dice... the voice of an angel! She is a national treasure! For the life of me, I do not know why your country ever let her go!"

"Fads change," Dr. Ruiz's eye roll and curt tone gave the distinct impression that he was not in any mood to get caught up in any sort of debate, clearly similar to one he'd probably been roped into with this man before, "Look, did you at least bring all of the supplies I asked for last time?"

"Senior Ruiz, please... I am a professional! It's all in the back of my baby back there." Alejandro was gesturing with great pride to the muddy yellow Jeep, parked a few meters back behind them.

"That's all you had to say! Now down to business... I trust your rate's the same?" Ruiz pulled a roll of Guatemalan bills from his pocket and handed several off to the man for the delivery.

"Gracias, Senior Ruiz. Yes, that should do just fine," Alejandro greedily grabbed the money, as it vanished in an instant into his front shirt pocket, "I trust you'll be needing a re-supply run in three days again?"

"Yes, but our estimated location for the new campsite will have changed by a few clicks from your previous instructions. Here, let me show you," Dr. Ruiz retrieved a map from his pack and unfolding it, spread it out over the hood of the car. As he circled and drew a series of calculated X's, he didn't even bother looking up before shouting, "Okay, team! Let's load up! Grab what you can carry from the back of the Jeep, and for God's sake, please make sure you fill all the way up on water this time? This has to last us three days, " his tone shifted, yet again, this time in the direction of Layla's tent, causing her stomach to instantly drop, "Miss Marin, if you're well-rested enough and done rudely gawking at the two of us, maybe you'd like to join your team as well?"

Layla recoiled a bit out of embarrassment. True enough, through her panning vantage from the tent flap, it was clear that everyone else was indeed nearly packed and ready to go. She could see the other students were already taking turns heading for Jeep to supply-up. The smug grin of James was the last image Layla was willing to put up with, before she closed the flap with a huff, and hurriedly scrambled to pack-up the remainder of her own belongings.

Sweaty, and feeling a bit frazzled from her unplanned rushed wake-up call, Layla