The Final Bend

Polly woke early. Her heart was beating fast. The canyon became darker and narrower, and the walls almost closed above her head.

Then she saw it. At the final bend, a thin line of light stood between the dark walls, like a door standing open.

Polly hopped around the bend, and the wall opened. In front of her rose a great temple, carved into the cliff, rose-red and glowing in the morning light. Tall columns reached up the rock. People call it Al-Khazneh, the Treasury.

No one built this temple with bricks. Workers carved it out of the living cliff, from the top down to the floor. The little water channel ended here too. It had led her all the way. Polly sat down in the sand and looked up for a long, long time.