Her name was Tamara (accent on the first syllable) Gallagher. She'd been orphaned at sixteen months when the plane she and her parents were in crashed and they died. How she survived, no one knew. But the crash left her with scars, both on the surface and in her psyche. And growing up among uncaring people didn't help her.

On this particular day, she was walking along a seldom travelled road. She didn't know where she was going, but the pull she felt to go this way was too insistent to be ignored. And wherever it was - whatever it was - was very close now. In fact, just beyond that boulder ahead.

She heard a car behind her and stopped, turning to see it pull off the road a few feet away. A girl about her own age (23) leaned out and asked, "Hey, you looking for the Floating Temple, too?"

"Maybe, maybe not. I just felt the need to come this way."

"Well, get in. We'll take you there."

"No need. It's just beyond that boulder." She pointed.

"You sure? All our research says it would appear much farther along."

Tamara shrugged. "Maybe we're not going to the same place, then."

"Maybe not. But do you mind if we tag along for a bit? I'd like to see where you're going, purely out of curiosity, you understand."

"It's your call." Tamara turned away and started walking toward the boulder. When she got to the other side, she found it wasn't quite as close as she thought. But it still wasn't far. Another quarter of a mile, this time away from the road, and she was there. The only problem was that nothing else was.

"This is where you needed to come? This deserted piece of wasteland? There's nothing worth seeing here."

Tamara turned and saw the girl and two guys walking up toward her. "Wait," she said.

"For what?"

Tamara turned back toward the desert. There was large flat rock, about two feet high, and she walked over to it and sat down. "Just wait."

The others walked over to the rock and sat down near her. After fifteen minutes, one of the guys said, "Nothin's happening, and nothin's gonna. This was a mistake. Let's get outta here, Joanne."

The others started to leave, but just then a large section of the desert started to shimmer. There was a soft glow above them, and they saw columns slowly appear, then walls and finally a whole building, which slowly descended to the ground. It was white, not a white that hurt the eyes to look at, but a soft, living white. Tamara got up and walked inside. One of the guys immediately followed her. The other two looked at each other for a minute, then Joanne shrugged and they went in, too.

Inside there was very little to look at. It was a large room, about twenty by thirty feet. There was a stone altar in the center of the room, seven feet long and four feet wide, raised about three feet off the floor. There were columns inside, and ten niches, nine of which held urns about two feet tall, apparently empty. There was writing etched on the urns in a language none of them recognized, and they had a faint glow, as if lit from within. There were doors on the far side, leading further into the building.

Tamara was walking around, stopping briefly at each niche. She finally walked over to the altar, put her hands on it, and stood there with her eyes closed, head bowed.

Joanne and one of the guys walked through one of the doors, and returned about fifteen minutes later. "C'mon, let's go," she said. "There's nothing to see here. This place is boring to the max." She headed for the exit, but stopped suddenly as if she hit a wall. She tried again, with the same result. "Hey! What's goin' on here?"

Without moving or opening her eyes, Tamara said, "Put it back."

Joanne turned and looked at her. "What are you talking about? Put what back?"

"The statuette you took from one of the rooms down the hall. It belongs here, and nothing leaves this place that belongs here."

"You're crazy. Even if I did take something, who's gonna stop me? You?" She laughed nastily.

"I don't have to. You've already been stopped. You can't get out of here, until you return the statuette."

Joanne's face lost its smile and she lost her temper. She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a gun, pointing it at Tamara. "You did something to this place to keep us in here, and you're gonna undo it. Then we're gonna leave."

"Joanne!" the guy who had stayed behind exclaimed. "What the heck are you doing?"

"Shut up, Rob. When I saw her in the library looking up information on the Floating Temple, something told me she would lead us right to it. And she has. Now, we're gonna take this statuette and whatever Mike found and we're gonna leave. There are plenty of people who'd pay a fortune for what we found. We'll be on easy street."

"But I told you the legend says no one can take anything from the temple they didn't bring with them in the first place. And just now you couldn't get out."

"So I'm supposed to give up? Just like that?"

Tamara opened her eyes and turned to face Joanne. "You might as well. I didn't do anything to stop you, and shooting me won't get you out of here. Only putting that statuette and the book your friend found back where you got them will."

"Yeah? We'll see about that!" Joanne pulled the trigger, shooting Tamara in the chest.