~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It wasn't until 9 am the next morning before there were any signs of life in the cabin. Jamie was the first up. She ran downstairs, made a pot of coffee, then went back upstairs to get her shower and get dressed. By the time she got down, Jim and Simon were both downstairs and dressed for the trip. Blair was just getting out of the shower as Jamie put breakfast on the table.

Mike and Carol had just shown up at 10:30 when a long limo pulled into the driveway. An older woman stepped out of the larger limo with a man that had `security´ written all over him. When they reached the door, she was introduced as Gloria Robertson, the Governor´s wife.

I just wanted to come by and personally thank you for saving my husband, daughter and her fiance', Gloria explained.

"Well, we're glad that we could help, Mrs Robertson," Jamie answered her, as she moved aside to let them come in. "How are they doing this morning?" Jamie asked after everyone was comfortable on the sofa, and introductions were made all around.

"Call me Gloria, please. When I hear Mrs. Robertson, I look around for Reginal's mother.

"Alright, Gloria it is. How was everyone doing this morning?"

All were awake and hungry when I got there this morning," Gloria replied.

"Well, that's certainly encouraging news," Carol said, then added, "Have they found out Why the Lt. Govenor did this?"

"Well, it seem that the man's wife was a gambler and got in over her head. The only way out was for the Lt. Governor to get rid of Reginal so that he could get into office and buy his way out." Gloria answered.

"That is so sad," Blair replied, "Couldn't they go to the police or anything?"

"Apparently not. It seems that they were threatened, that if they went to the cops, that there would be very serious repercussions."

"And killing the Governor isn't serious enough?" Jim asked.

To him, the Governor was a coworker, not family. They threatened his daughter." Gloria answered, then added. "Well, I better let you get things together, if you want to get out of here on time."

Looking at her watch, Jamie replied, "Yeah, it's getting late. Are you going to the airport with us?"

"No, I have another car coming for me to take me back to the hospital. I hope everything goes well for you on this...`hunt´ I think is the term that Reginal used." Gloria said as she rose from the sofa.

"Thank you or the update Gloria, and I wish your family a speedy recovery." Jamie said as she led Gloria to the door.

"I should be the one thanking you. You gave me back my family, and for that I am truly grateful." Gloria said, then turned to go out the door.

"I'm just glad that we could help." Jamie returned.

Turning around, Gloria said, "When you get back and clear up all of your current case, I'd like it if you all came up for dinner one evening. I'd like to thank you properly."

"That sounds nice, but we will have to get back to you on that one, if that's ok with you?" Jamie answered.

"That'll be fine. Just give me a call," Gloria said as she handed Jamie one of her and her husbands business cards.

"Thank you, I will," Jamie said as she accepted the card.

Jamie watched as she got into a smaller limo and drove off. Turning back inside, she went to get her luggage from upstairs that she had packed earlier that morning.

Five minutes later, everything and everyone was loaded into the limo. the cabin locked up, and they were on their way to the airport.

It was a quiet ride, each of them lost in their own thoughts. That is, until Blair started to get a little antsy. He was starting to bounce in his seat.
Jim, looking over at his said/thought "//Blair, what is wrong with you?//".

Blair looked at his partner and said/thought "//I'm sorry Jim, I was just thinking about all of the possibilities that can happen with these new found gifts. At first I was terrified when Incacha passed on the Way of the Shaman to me, but now…now that I have some idea of what the heck that I'm doing,…what can I say, it's mind boggling.//"

"//Well, if you don't sit still, that's not the only thing that is going to be boggling. If you get my drift.//" Jim replied.

Looking over at Jamie Blair said/thought "//Jamie, help, please!!!//"

"//Well, if I were you, I'd try to get as much rest between now and the time we get to Mayaland, because I have a feeling you are going to need all of the energy that you can possibly get your hands on.//"

"Oh, alright," Blair kinda pouted out as he slumped in his seat and crossed his arms.

Jim just kinda smiled as he put an arm around Blair's shoulders, comforting his suddenly deflated and pouting friend, then added, "Yeah, you'd better save a little more energy, because you're going to need it to get back to the truck."

Blair looked at Jim with this very confused look on his face. "What...are...you...talking...about?"

"Well, once we get Alex and the nerve gas back, we will be going straight back to Washington. And unless you suddenly got rich, we are gonna have to get back to my truck somehow." Jim answered.

"What about this plane?" Blair asked.

"I don't think that the Governor is going to let us keep his personal private jet for a week or more, do you?" Simon threw in.

"I didn't think of that."

"Hey, look at it this way," Jamie began as she shifted in her seat, "think of it as on the job training, and you'll have us to keep you company."

"Camping, Shaman style," Blair said with a comical smile as he wiggled his eyebrows.

The car erupted into laughter.

They were still laughing five minutes later when they
pulled through the gate to the air field in Colorado Springs.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Six and a half hours later, they landed in Mayaland. Catching their hotel's limo, actually it was just an 18 passenger van with a trailer for luggage, they got to their hotel in time to find out that they had made a MAJOR Boo Boo. Instead of two three bed rooms, they only had one two bed room that they could add a roll away to. Seeing's it was the last room within like 50 miles of the temple, they took it.

Getting into their room, and looking at the two tiny beds and the roll away, Simon asked "OK, how are we going to work this?"

"Well, since you three are not all that used to your animal forms as yet, why don't you, Jim and Blair take the beds and the three of us will curl up somewhere soft and warm." Mike answered.

"That sounds good to me," Blair said stretching and yawning, "I could sleep for a week."

"Here here," Carol said adding her own yawn to the pot, "I'm beat."

"Ok," Jamie began, "What's say we all try for a few hours sleep, then we can start exploring and seeing what we can find out. A convention of sunbathers is not the place to have nerve gas lying around."

"I think that we all can agree there," Simon said
With that, they all settled in for a well deserved nap.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jim was the first one up. Looking at his watch, he found out it was 6 am. They must have been tired to have slept around the clock. Looking over, he saw that Jamie, Carol and Mike were still asleep in the corner on the spare pillow as squirrels. While Blair and Simon were still out cold on the other side of the room. Jim returned his attention to the squrrels,as the were starting to wake up ever so slightly.

He was watching the squirrels so intently, that he jumped when Blair sat down on his bed several minutes later.

"Sorry man," Blair whispered ever so quietly, "I didn't mean to sneak up on you."

Jim just reached up and wrapped his arm around Blair, and they resumed their squirrel watching.

"What's so interesting?" came from behind them several minutes later. And both men jumped as Simon came around the end of the bed to join in the squirrel watching.

It was another ten minutes before the three squirrels came back to the land of the living. And when they did, they jumped and ran under the bed when they turned around and found three pairs of eyes staring at them. When the squirrels jumped, the other three jumped. Several minutes the squirrels came out from under the bed and resumed their human form.

"Are you trying to give us a heart attack?" Carol asked after she returned to her human form.

"We're sorry, it wasn't on purpose. It's just not often you come across sleeping squirrels." Blair replied when Carol looked like she was going to kill.
Smiling, she said, "Well, just don't do it again, OK?"

"We'll try," Simon returned.

"Well, what's say we get cleaned up and go to get something to eat?" Jim asked rising off of the bed.

"That sounds good to me," Blair began then added, "If it's ok with you guys, I'd like to get a food look at the plaque in the temple before the crowds start showing up. Because I know that the temple is probablyy the main reason that she came down here in the first place. Well, that and to hock the nerve gas."

"Sounds good to me. We could go now, and then get breakfast after the rush is over," Jim suggested.

Everyone was in agreement, so Blair grabbed his backpack, dumped it out on the bed and grabbed his camera, notebook, pen, and his and flashlight.

Once everybody got cleaned up, they headed out the door.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Shaman School Chapter 6b

They walked the quarter mile to `The Castle´, the main pyramid in Chicken´ Itza in about 10 minutes.

Seeing the actual height of the pyramid and the steepness, not to mention how many steps there were to the top, they all just kinda looked at each other. Then in the same motion, they all morphed into their eagle forms and flew to the top of the giant pyramid.

Once there, they returned to their human form.

Upon entering, they followed the long winding trail into he body of the pyramid. After 15 minutes of walking, they found the wall with the inscription that Blair had in his pack.

"Oh, my God," Blair said beginning to bounce, as he got an up close and personal look at the wall, "I can read this!!!"

Jim moved to stand behind his partner with his hand on Blair's shoulder, "What does it say?" he asked.

"We'd like the answer to that one ourselves," a female voice from behind them asked.

Everyone had been so caught up in finding the plaque that they never heard the arrival of Alex and her `partner´, who both stepped out of the shadows with guns on the group.

"Hands where we can see them," Alex said, then added, "Nice to see you again Blair."

Blair swallowed hard, and Jim could feel the tremors that were running through his partner at the sight of he pair who had `killed´ him less than a week ago. Moving closer to Blair, and keeping contact with him, Jim hoped to ease some of his partners distress, although his own *need* to `kill´ was slowly winning over the need to bring to justice those that hurt his partner.

Giving Blair´s shoulder a slight squeeze, he said/thought to Blair when Blair looked up at him out of the corner of his eye, //"Blair, are you OK?"//

Looking directly at Jim, he said/thought //"Hell no I'm not ok. Where did they come from in the first place?"// Blair asked as he nodded back towards Alex and Carl.

//"I'm sorry Blair, but I did not hear them coming."// Jim said, and then looked over to see Jamie shaking her head and meeting Jim's gaze,

//"I didn't hear anything either, and I was listening for anything other than the noises we were making."// Jamie said to the distraught pair.

//"Don't suppose that I could turn into my bear form and just take them out of action, could I?"// Simon asked from behind Jim and Blair.

//"Actually I'm beginning to think that they are supposed to be here for some reason, if neither of you heard them. Plus, if you try to take them out at this point, someone could get seriously dead."// Blair stated, then added, //"I think that we should just go with the flow as Jamie put it the other day and see where it takes us."// Blair stated with all of the conviction that he could muster.

As they were talking amongst themselves, Carl had made the rounds and collected all of the guns. All three of them. Once that was completed, Carl said, "OK, Alex, let's get this show on the road. We still have to meet the buyers, and I'm tired after spending the whole night waiting these guys out."

"Ok, Blair, what does this thing say?" Alex said as she motioned towards the wall with the inscription on it, then added, "And don't think that you can lie to me. I'm a Sentinel too, remember?"

Blair swallowed the lump in his throat and began to translate the inscription on the wall before him.
"Only Sentinels and Guides may enter the sanctuary of the inner chamber. It is guarded fiercely by spirits who will defend the inner sanctum from any unwanted intrusion. All others beware."

When Blair finished, Alex jumped in and said "Ok, then, get on with it!!!"

Blair was getting sick of her demanding attitude and spun around to face her. He was mad and she knew it. "If you would rather have the pleasure of figuring this thing out, then be my guest." he said motioning to the wall as he stepped back before continuing, "otherwise Shut…The…Hell…Up…And…Let…Us…Work!!!!"

They stood there for several minutes before she motioned to him, gun still in hand, and said, "Just don't go and try anything stupid, OK." And with that she backed up several feet, dragging Carl with her.

Jim and Blair returned to the job of finding the way in.

"OK, Jim, focus in on this area and tell me what you see?" Blair said as he pointed to the upper left side of the wall, while putting his hand in the center of Jim's back to help ground and center him.

Jim did as he was told when he heard a gasp and Blair suddenly backed away breaking contact.

Turning around, he found Blair holding his hand and staring at it like it had been burned, looked up to Jim, and then back to his hand again.

//"What is it Blair. What's wrong?"// Jim asked mentally, suddenly worried that there was some kind of curse or something that was effecting his partner.

Overcoming the shock, Blair returned his hand to his partner's back and said //"Just focus in on the wall again, please."//

Jim wasn't sure of what was going on, but did what was asked of him. As he refocused on the wall he heard //"Oh my God!!!"//

//"What is it Blair!?!?"// Jim asked with concern.

//"Follow my finger, Jim,"// Blair said as he ran his finger across the inscription on the wall.

Jim did as he was asked.

//"Ok, now focus in on this part,"// Blair said as he came to a seemingly blank spot on the wall. As he did so, he could see the micro hiroglyphs on the wall, an Blair started to bounce and giggle, even though Alex and Carl still had their guns trained on the group.

At this point, Jim stopped, turned putting both hands on Blair's shoulders as he was still bouncing and said, "Ok, Mr. Energizer Bunny, you wanna let us in on whatever it is that you have found out here?"

Blair was still giggling when he pointed is finger at the wall and said, "When I am in contact with you, and you are using your senses, I can see what you are seeing. There are hiroglyphs on that wall that no ordinary human can see."

"What!!!" Jim just stared at Blair like he had grown a second head. "You're telling me…that you can see what I'm seeing?" Jim asked to confirm what Blair had just said.

"Apparently, this is just one of the many skills that we can be looking forward to in the future.

Jim, Blair, and Simon all looked to Jamie to see if she could confirm or deny any of this.

Jamie just smiled and nodded.

Everyone jumped when Alex chose that moment to get impatient, "Alright, let's get back to work, shall we?" and waved the gun in their direction for emphasis.

Even with the threat of Alex hanging over their heads, they both returned to the task at hand with a smile on their faces.
~~~~~~~
Shaman School Chapter 6c

//"Ok, Jim,"// Blair began as they returned to the task at hand, //"Let's go back up to the corner here where I had you looking earlier."//

Jim was doing as Blair asked and focusing on the upper left corner of the wall. Blair could see the glyphs and read them to the others mentally as Jim continued to work his way from each of the places Blair directed him.

//"OK Jim, it says here,"// and Blair pointed to the row of glyphs that they needed to find, //"that you need to find these 7 glyphs in the piece below and push them in the correct order to open the door."//
It took them another ten minutes to find the seven glyphs, and then go back and push them in the correct order. The door slid open.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Simon watched as his best team went back to work. Looking at Jamie, he said, //"Jamie, they were the best team in the state before, now they are going to be even better. I have no idea how we are going to be able to explain it away, cause I don't think that Megan's `psychic´ theory is going to cover it?"//

//"Simon,"// Jamie began, //"just do as I said before, `Go…With…The…Flow´, and you will be greatly surprised to find what is waiting for you down river."//

*Well, it seems to have worked so far.* Simon said to himself.

At that moment, the door opened.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Alright, move it!" Alex said as she moved forward to push Jim, Blair and the others into the opening.
Picking up his backpack to retrieve the flashlight that he had put in there earlier, he got as far as picking it up before Alex ripped it out of his hands.
"Hey, what do you think that you're doing? I need my flashlight. Not all of us are sentinels you know." Blair said as he reached for the bag.

"Well, you seem to be doing ok with your partner there, and the rest of you can just hold onto each other."

Turning to Carl, she handed him the flashlight that she had pulled from the bag, and then threw the bag at Blair. "Now get moving, NOW," she demanded.

//"Ok,"// Jamie said, //"Blair, you and Jim take the lead. We'll put Simon with Carol behind you all and then Mike and I will be behind them. Because we are more adept at using parts of our animal spirits abilities, we'll keep an eye on Simon for you. So go ahead, and get moving before this `female´ gets her nose all out of joint again."//

Jim grabbed Blair's arm and said simply, "Let's go Blair."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

They walked for what felt like hours, but was only 45 minutes, before they came to a place where the tunnel they were in opened up into what looked like a giant amphitheater.

Inside, the light was coming from some unknown source. Looking around the room, it looked like a copy of Stonehenge.

As the group got to the center of the monoliths, all of a sudden, the area around them started to glow green. And just as suddenly, they were all paralyzed and lifted off of the ground. As everyone was trying to figure out what was happening, natives began to appear from within the huge monoliths. Then just below and to the right of them, Incacha appeared.

Looking up to Blair, he said, "Relax Young Shaman."

Blair, seeing Incacha, did just that. And as he did, he slowly came back down to settle back on the ground. Looking back up to his companions, he said, //"Relax guys and everything will be ok. We will not be harmed here"//

Looking back to Incacha, he said, "Why are we here, Incacha?" Feeling a hand on his shoulder, he turned to see Jim behind him, and that everyone else but Alex and Carl were back on the ground. He turned back when Incacha began to speak.

"You are enjoying your new gifts, are you not Young One?" Incacha said as he moved to stand in front of the group.

Blair just smiled one of his megawatt smiles, and nodded his head.

As Incacha continued, he felt his Sentinels hand again squeeze his shoulder to give him any and all of the support that he might need.

"I see that your meeting with your teacher has been a success. You have larned much in the last week. And you were brought here so that Sentinel and Guide could make a commitment in the presence of the spirit world to one another.

You have seen first hand what happens if you do not communicate with one another, have you not?" When both Blair and Jim nodded yes, he continued. "Young Shaman, in order for you to be more effective to your Sentinel, he must have your complete attention." At Blair's confused look, he explained, "As your teacher said, you need to finish your studies so that you can be with your Sentinel more often in his protection of his tribe."

Blair started to open his mouth to ask how he could finish his diss without putting Jim in danger, when Incacha beat him to the punch.

"Your Sentinel will not be part of your official work. You will finish it on the study of Sentinels, but another will be provided so that you can keep yours safe."

At the look of fear on Jim's face at the mention of another Sentinel, Incacha said, "Fear not Enquire, this other already has not only a guide, and are bonded, but they may be able to help the two of you to strengthen your own bond."

Jim let out a breath that he didn't realize that he was holding. Seeing his Sentinel relax, Blair too relaxed.

"You should also complete the other study that you were telling everyone that you were doing. It will further help to keep Enquire safe."

"You mean the cover story of doing my diss on Closed Societies?" Blair asked to help clear up the confusion in his mind of everything that was happening.

"Yes, Young One. By doing your studies on both subjects, you will be able to better keep him safe, and still help him as well as others in the long run."

"Where can I find this other Sentinel and Guide?" Blair asked as he started to bounce again at the thought of finally finishing his thesis.

"You must be patient Young Shaman. They will appear in time," Incacha answered him.

Then, looking at Jim, Incacha said, "Enquire, work with your Guide, the two of you can learn far more as a team than either one of you can alone."

"I will," Jim answered him, as he wrapped his arm around his Guide as if to prove the point.

Incacha nodded his approval as he turned to face Simon.

"Captain Banks, you are a good Chief who does his job well. Sentinel and Guide will depend on you a great deal. Please do not let them down."

Simon merely nodded and said, "Yes Sir, I'll do my best."

Turning his attention to Jamie, Incacha said, "Chineapa, the spirits are pleased with the work that you have done, not only with Enquire and his Guide, but also with your partners and your healing work."

Jamie nodded in acknowledgement and Incacha continued.

"Your `official´ studies may be over, but you still have a lot to learn, do you not?"

"Yes Sir, the more I learn, the less I know."

Incacha nodded and said "You will not be bored."

Jamie smiled as she glanced over to Mike and saw the smile in his face as well.

Turning his attention to Alex and Carl, who were still suspended, he waved his hand and they slowly began to descend.

As they descended, Incacha began to speak.

"Alesha Banaster, because you have used your gifts for selfish reasons, and purposely brought harm to others, those gifts will now be permanently removed. Your punishment for perverting your gifts will be to live completely and totally without your senses for an undetermined period of time."

Then looking at Carl, he said, "Carl, because you not only used but helped to pervert her gifts, you will receive the same punishment." And at the same time Incacha finished speaking, they touched down on the ground.

Once their feet hit the ground, they both crumpled to the floor. Feeling the ground beneath her, Alex leaned back and let out this blood curdling scream of a wounded animal before collapsing into unconsciousness. Followed seconds later by Carl.
~~~~~~~
On To Part 10