🇨🇴 Jack and the Secrets Behind the Waterfall

The trek to Cerro Campana had taken hours. Jack and the team were deep in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, surrounded by jungle, towering cliffs, and birds that sang like flutes.

“This feels like the jungle’s holding its breath,” Imogen said, swatting a mosquito.

“It is,” Bernard said. “The marble here has slept for a thousand years, just behind a waterfall where voices are erased.”

They followed an overgrown trail until they reached it — a wide, silvery cascade pouring from the rocks into a sparkling pool below. Ferns dripped with mist, and the roar of the water filled their ears.

But behind the waterfall, partially obscured, was something carved into the cliff — an old symbol of a spiral wrapped in feathers.

Jack stepped beneath the spray, soaking instantly, and ran his fingers over the carving. The sound of the water faded around him. It was as if the world had gone quiet.

And then, glowing in the stone, words appeared:

“Where echoes fall and flow unwinds,
A marble waits where stillness binds.
To find its shape, speak not, nor try —
Just let the water wash your why.”

Jack closed his eyes.

He thought of the reason they were here.

Not just for adventure, or mystery… but to restore something that had been lost.

He let go of the question. Let the answer be enough.

The pouch pulsed.

A marble rose — emerald green and sky blue, patterned like a hummingbird’s wings. Water droplets clung to it and shimmered.

🌿 CATERHOOTS

The marble spun slowly, catching the light like feathers in flight.

Bernard smiled. “Caterhoots is wild wisdom. She doesn’t teach with words. She teaches with movement, with play, with mystery. She’s the jungle’s laughter and her deepest breath.”

Jack cupped the marble in both hands.

Then — Pop!
It disappeared into the pouch.

Behind the waterfall, a single bird called out — long and musical, like a forgotten flute playing once more.

Lenny shivered. “Let’s get dry before I grow moss.”

Bernard shook out his fur. “Next up — the rooftops of Portugal. Tiles, towers, and a marble that only appears when shadows match the sun.”