ஜ۩۞۩ஜChapter 3ஜ۩۞۩ஜ

ஜ۩۞۩ஜ How to survive close to Death encounters ஜ۩۞۩ஜ

Sophia stood alone in the arena at ten O' clock. She had her bag slung over one shoulder full of things she thought they might need tonight. Such as, a spare change of clothes, bed roll, water bottles, some granola bars, 4 flashlights, a box of extra batteries for the flashlights, a candle, book of matches, and a rope. It was all she could think of when she was packing, she had only seen cave explorations in movies, or read of them in books. Nether went into great detail as of what the explorers, or scientist brought with them. She ran the list of what she had over and over in her head. Did she forget anything? Was there anything she should grab before it was too late? Standing out there alone was starting to get to her.

A twig snapped and she jumped with a squeak of fear. She turned around to face the threat only to see more darkness. An owl took flight over head with a screech and Sophia screamed, ducked down and covering her head. A female's giggling alerted the terrified girl to other people around her. The warm glow of a fire was another. Lilly was the one laughing and the fire was a small flame flickering in Justin's hand.

Sophia stood up straight and looked at her companions. They like her dressed in rugged and grubby clothing, their packs seemed a bit bigger than hers though. She glanced over her shoulder at said pack then back at the more experienced packers. She slid the pack off and looked at them "I brought somethings that I thought we might need." She shrugged "I wasn't really sure about what I packed." Austin came forward and opened her pack looking through its content. "Justin can you make it a little brighter?" The silver eyed twin nodded and the fire in his palm grew larger and brighter. "Thanks."

Austin finished by closing up the pack and stood. "Well you did great for someone who's never been spelunking. We just brought more food and water than you. We also brought padding and helmets, but I don't think we'll be needing them." Sophia felt herself blush and hoped that it would be hidden in the poor lighting. In the fire light, his eyes looked like live embers.

Justin closed his fist and the flame, along with its light, evaporated into a dream of warmth and sight. "Lets go." Lilly grabbed Sophia's wrist as Justin took hers, and Austin his. The brown-haired twin snapped his fingers in his free hand and a flame the size of a candles danced on his finger tip. Using this he lead the way through the jungle and to the town's edge. At this point Austin stopped them and concentrated on the flame till it turned a dark purple, it didn't cast as much light, but it was harder for any villagers to glance out their windows and see.

Lilly looked to Justin "Is the tunnel opening inside?" He glanced back at her, his eyes reflected the purple light of his brother's fire. It scared Lilly a bit, but she didn't let it show. "No it's around the back, hidden in the basement." Lilly let out the breath she didn't even know she was holding when he turned away. What was it about that guy that made her skin crawl at times like this.

Just as Justin said the basement doors where around the back of the Town Hall. When Austin tried to open them, putting out the purple flame, they creaked and jingled from the chain locks inside, keeping the quartet from their goal. "All well, I guess it's for the best." Sophia said with a shrug."Maby another time everyone, let's go home." She turned to leave but Lilly grabbed her shoulder and dragged her back. "Hold on a second. Locks have never stopped them before."

Sure enough withing moments the boys pulled open the cellar doors and gestured for the girls to come in. Sophia got a sick felling in her stomach about how they did it. Lilly had to drag the green-eyed Indian down into the underground storage. Justin took the lead from here pulling a candle out of Sophia's pack. With the tips of his fingers he lit it and walked on.

The cellar had wall to wall stacked crates. They were all different sizes, and some different shapes, but Lilly, Austin, and Justin knew what they held from all of their other adventures into the dark storeroom. Books, hundreds and hundreds of books. Justin lead them straight to the hidden door behind the largest crate. The twin set aside the candle and all four moved the box away. The wall and floor were empty. Sophia way confused, "Where is the entrée?" Austin took the candle and held it up as he stepped on one of the off colored stones, it looked like all the others, Lilly had no idea how he remembered which it was.

Just as it did the first time they found the hatch, a small "Click" and some whirling noises, then a small door barely popped open. If they hadn't been looking for it they would have missed it. Justin leaned past his brother and pulled the door all the way open. The opening was so small that they had to drop their packs down first so that they could fit. Justin went first, then Austin, since they could light up the dark tunnel.

Once the four thirteen year olds dropped into the darker mysteries passages. The candle having gone out on the fall was re-lite by Austin and the three others brought out of Sophia's pack. Once everyone had enough lighting, they looked around them. It looked like a stone hallway, not really a tunnel. Austin smiled and said to no one in particular "We were right, it's not really a cave system is it?" Justin shook his head and ran his hand along the wall, "It's man-made. The walls are too smooth."

They started walking down the corridor in till coming to a decision at a three-way split. They took the one heading north, thinking it might let out in the cave on Heavens Island. Not long after that they came across another three-way split in the halls. Going for the original idea they continued straight. Soon enough the tunnel ever so slightly started inclining. This didn't surprise the group, just proved that they were heading in the right direction, and that they might be right about the new entrance into the secret passages.

Once the tunnels ended, its end was a large boulder. They tried pushing on it from different angles but the stone wouldn't budge. Tired Lilly yawned and leaned against a wall and it sunk in ever so slightly under her weight. The squeaking of gears and rattle of movement echoed in the surrounding darkness. Some way or another something pushed the boulder away from the doorway, they walked through and looked back at the stone.

One thick wire cable attached the rock to the arch or the doorway. The button Lilly "found" releases the cord and the rock slides down into a large hole hidden under the object. Putting all this together the friends searched the area for the button to pull the make shift door back up. Austin picked up a rock and felt around the spot it had sat, "I guess we really will have to search under every rock and stone." About that time his finger hit a small spot and sunk in ever so slightly. The cable started pulling the boulder back into place, sealing off the secret tunnels.

They extinguished most of the candles and went up the cave system. The boys knew most of the way from their many explorations here. At the mouth of the cave Lilly saved Sophia's life by grabbing her shoulder before she could stroll off the edge and fall to her death. The boys and Lilly started sliding along the ledge to where the mountain path was that could lead them to the ground. After a moment to marvel at the fact that they hadn't been underground more than an hour, shorter time that it took to get to the same spot normally, then followed the trio to the safety of the soil on the ground.

After descending the cliff face the group sat on the beach admiring the moon and stars, of course they also watched the lightning storm in the distance, the flashes of electricity danced on the distant ocean water. Some times the light was a strange color or would intertwine with another line of lightning and cause an almost firework worthy display. As they watched ice blue and gold became more often intertwined and explosive.

Then for a moment all of it stopped. The group waited and an arch of the ice blue lightning raced over towards them, at the last second it swerved and hit the sand in a nearby spot.