Chapter 2 - The Turning Point

I'm sorry, everyone, for not having updated sooner. I started writing this one the date below- and just never really got around to finishing it. ^^;; Don't worry, I'll try to update more now- it's just that it's hard to find time and inspiration. I haven't exactly been writing much lately. ^^;; You'll find that this chapter is quite different from the original, but I hope that's okay. This whole Reincarnated is going to be quite a bit different.

Anyways, thanks for everyone who keeps reading, and I look forward to comments and feedback from all of you. :) I've started Ch. 3 and I'll try to get it finished as soon as possible for you. Alright, enjoy!






"A camping trip?! Of all the cool places we could go this summer, you chose to go on a camping trip?!"

Milena wished her brother would stop yelling in her ear. They'd been repeating this same conversation over and over for the past few days. Jake just wasn't getting it. Well, that was a guy for you; they could be slow, so sometimes you had to explain things to them slowly.

Lena, however, wasn't in the mood to do so. "Yes, I did! We've already gone through this a million times, and why are you even coming with us if you aren't camping?" she snapped.

At the moment, they were driving up a steeply sloping hill in her parent's van. Bits of light that weren't blocked by the thick foliage of the surrounding trees would flash into their eyes every now and then, and the sky (what little they could see of it through said trees) was a brilliant blue. It showed no sign of the thunderstorm that had struck a few days ago.

All the kids were in the back seat, with her father driving and her mother in the passenger side. Since Jake was incompatible with either Jewel or Trixie (if seated next to them, he would purposely irritate them to the point of insanity), they were in the furthermost back seat. Meaning that Lena was stuck next to her loud, irritating older brother.

By all rights, Jake shouldn't even have been in the car. When told that the girls were going camping (instead of to some amusement park where he could tag along and go on rides), Jake had sulked for days and refused to come. Which meant that he'd been completely useless during the entire planning and packing process. As usual.

And yet, here he was; sitting, glaring at her, and basically just irritating everyone in the entire vehicle. It was like having a particularly obnoxious snake coiled up in the next seat, ready to strike at any given time. Except, this snake didn't attack with fangs and venom. No, this one's weapon was a lot slower and more painful: the sheer annoyance of having a male teenager in the same car with his sister and her friends. She'd rather get bitten by a rattlesnake and have it over with.

"I needed to make sure you don't do something dumb while setting up camp. We all know how stupid you are." Jake sneered.

There! It strikes! Milena thought, rolling her eyes. Being cooped up in a car with Jake wasn't something that was high on her list of fun activities. She'd learned by now to just ignore him when he started acting like an idiot.

Her friend, however, didn't much care. "Translation: your friends abandoned you and you have nothing else to do." Trixie drawled.

"For your information, no, they didn't." he scowled. "I'm going somewhere near this after we drop you losers off, so I needed a ride."

"Sure you are." Trixie said, giving a conspiratorly wink, and turned back to her Gameboy DS. Jake gave her an extremely rude hand gesture and, when she didn't respond, growled and turned around to look out the window. Jewel, meanwhile, had her nose stuffed in a book and hadn't so much as twitched during this whole exchange. She was an expert at ignoring idiots.

Milena, freed at least temporarily from dealing with her brother, also looked out the window. There were a lot more bits of rock and boulders protruding from beneath the moss and undergrowth then it did where she lived; this place was known in their area for having a huge amount of natural caves. That was what had drawn her to it in the first place.

She let her mind drift, daydreaming as she so often did these days. Doing that seemed to make time pass a lot faster then just sitting and twiddling her thumbs did. It also gave her time to think, and stretch her imagination, which was good- she'd found that people who didn't allow themselves to daydream or use their minds were often dull and generally had a lot less fun then people who did. Those were the sort of person you'd find illegally drinking and smoking in friend's houses just to take the edge off their boredom.

How you could be bored when you weren't in school Milena didn't know. She hardly ever was. There was too much going on in her life- friends to talk to, books to read, places to see, activities to do- that she didn't have any time to waste in idle idiocy, unlike many of the kids at her school. This was another reason she didn't really hang out with anyone other then Trixie or Jewel. All those other people just seemed so . . . bland. Okay, maybe she was being judgmental, but she really didn't care at the moment. Those thoughts were boring; she'd rather just watch the scenery fly by.

A few more minutes passed without incident as they continued driving. Milena started noticing that more and more blue patches were visible through the treetops until, finally, they came out into a clearing. The trees on the right side of it were sparse enough to allow view of the land below, a vast green and brown landscape topped by the sloping mountains miles away. Living in the North Country, Milena couldn't remember ever waking up and not being able to see at least some parts of those mountains- they were like a constant guardian, steady and ancient.

The van came to a stop in the center of the clearing; they'd finally come to their destination. There was a large mound of rock in front of them, wide and a foot taller then Ken's six feet. Sunlight shined in but disappeared within few feet of the entrance as if it were being swallowed by the shadows lurking inside.

"Crystal Cave! C'mon, let's go"! Trixie crowed, flinging off her seatbelt and jumping out the door as soon as Milena had opened it. The other two girls followed at more sedate rates, while Jake just sat back, crossed his arms, and remained planted in his seat. Again, typical of him.

Her father had already unlocked the trunk and was handing a large cooler to Trixie, who went over to the cave. They'd already decided to store their things just inside the cave's entrance and camp right outside it- they couldn't exactly have a campfire inside it, now could they? To protect their things from wild animals, everything inside would be covered in waterproof tarps. Milena caught a glimpse of a bright blue one right before Ken placed the box containing the unassembled tent in her arms. Not having expected the weight, she almost dropped it; but she refused to knowing that Jake was watching and would mock her if she showed any such weakness.

So she grabbed the tent and two of the fold-up chairs and marched over to the cave entrance. Trixie passed her as she raced back to the car. Lena just shook her head at the other's energy- she hoped it'd last, because setting up camp was probably going to be a tiring business. There were some remnants of a picnic table on the other side of the clearing that had long since succumbed to rot and disrepair. That was a shame; now theyd have to eat their meals on their laps. Ah, well, they could probably use the splinters for tinder in any case.

Milena leaned the box and chairs against the wall alongside the cooler- theyd organize things in a little while. As she walked back to the car she noticed that her father had ordered Jake out of the car at one point and was now making him carry things. Not that Lena actually trusted her brother with carrying anything of hers, but it was still funny to see him working. She grinned at him as he passed, earning herself a scowl.

They all busied themselves with carrying things to and fro, delivering the cooking gear, Coleman stove and lantern, and numerous other essential things to the cave mouth. It was a relief to hear the trunk finally close as they carried their final load, spelunking gear, to the cave mouth.

Her father folded his arms and looked at the spread, frowning. "I guess it's too late now to ask if this is really what you want to do, right?"He was joking, but Milena could see worry the worry in his face. "If something happens to you guys up here, there's not we can do."

"No worries, I have a cell phone!" Trixie said, flipping out of her pocket. "So, we're all good! A bear attacks, we phone 911." She rubbed her neck sheepishly. "Of course, that's providing it works up here . . ."

"The odds of a bear attacking are moderately low- there haven't been bears around here for a few years- but we'll keep that in mine, Mr. Caloreic." Jewel said, shooting a glare at Trixie. "The only worrying factor is the fact that the last few people who came up here to camp disappeared for no good reason. Like, this one case in the 1980's-"

"Oh, we don't need to hear about that, Jewel." Trixie said loudly, clamping a hand over the teen's mouth and dragging her off to the cave. "C'mon, let's go get this stuff put in place, shall we?"

Unfortunately, she hadn't done it quickly enough. Ken turned and looked at Milena, raising an eyebrow. "You three didn't say anything about that when you asked to camp here." he said sternly.

"I'm not sure this is such a good idea, Lena." Her mother said, frowning. "This place doesn't sound safe."

"Mom, Dad, we can take care of ourselves!" Milena said, exasperated. Sometimes Jewel just didn't understand when to keep her mouth shut. "And besides, we have that phone if something comes wrong or we want to come home."

"What about those missing people? What if something happens and you can't get to the phone?" Now her father was angry, both at her seeming indifference to their situation and the fact that they hadn't told him these certain details.

"C'mon, Dad. Those people were probably druggies or something who came up here to smoke and got lost in the woods." Jake said, rolling his eyes. "These guys aren't that stupid . . . Are you?"

"No, were not." Milena snapped. "Dad, please? We'll be fine! I promise, we won't even go very far from the campsite, and we'll be extra careful."

It took a few more moments of convincing from all the kids there for her parents to allow them to stay. It had been bad enough convincing them the first time but, due to Jewel's outburst, now they were set against it. Eventually, though, her father just got tired of talking and agreed. He did want to have a look around the cave, though, before they left.

Milena hung back for a few moments to speak with Jake. "Why were you helping out back there?" she asked suspiciously. "Usually, you're the one telling them my secrets." Over to the side, Jewel flinched- though they'd forgiven her readily, she still felt guilty about causing trouble.

"I just want you the heck out of the house for a while. You're a pain in the butt." Jake said, smirking in a way that made Milena want to smack him. He abruptly sobered up and looked away, however. "Anyways, there's been kids up here all the time from school that are a lot dumber then you guys and they don't disappear. You'll be fine." He said quietly.

Well, it was nice to know that Jake thought they could take care of themselves, at least. Now that her parents were close to leaving, she realized shed feel a lot safer if Jake would stay- he'd taken a lot of courses in Boy Scouts that would help in situations out here- but knew that if she asked him to shed be arguing with him before the day was out. And that would spoil their whole trip, so they'd just have to tough it out on their own.

Jake obviously wanted to leave them as soon as possible because he snatched a flashlight from the pile of objects at the cave's entrance and dashed inside, following his parents. The girls stayed outside for a few moments, planning where to put things. Curious as to what her family was doing, Milena picked up a flashlight of her own and all three stepped into the cave.

The moment she stepped over onto the stone, a deep shiver went through her entire body, accompanied by dizziness. It was similar to the sensation when someone walks over your grave, but deeper and more inexplicable. Despite the heat of the day goosebumps broke out everywhere on her body and the hand holding the flashlight shook, causing the beam of light to waver. From the look of Jewel and Trixie the same thing had happened to them as well.

"Woah, that was weird." Trixie said, laughing a bit nervously and rubbing her bare arms.

"Must've been the change in temperature." Jewel countered as they walked further in. She pushed her glasses further up on her nose, frowning. "The only problem with that is that there isn't much of a temperature difference. That's strange."

"It's probably nothing. Let's just go catch up to my parents." Milena said, but she didn't believe her own words. Jewel was right- the cave was only a little cooler then outside, though the temperature dropped slightly as they continued on. So, what had that been? And why had she gotten light-headed? Maybe there was bad air in the cave somewhere. It was something to consider if they were going to be camping and exploring here. Then again, figuring these things out was Jewel's thing, so she'd leave it alone. Still, Lena couldn't help but wonder about it.

Little flecks of mica in the granite walls sparkled as she swept her light across it, which made Jewel go off into thinking aloud about the number and type of minerals that could be in the cave itself. Milena actually listened this time, as she liked that sort of thing, but still walked a little faster for Trixie's sake- even in the darkness, she could see that her eyes had glazed over. Trixie didn't exactly care about science and especially not about rocks, unless they were gemstones.

The passage soon opened up into a small cavern about the size of Milena's room at home. Fantastic stalagmite and stalactite formations graced the walls, floor, and ceiling, creamy white with some other pastel colors occasionally mixed in. Light from all three of the flashlights was caught and reflected back by minerals, which made the room shine like a huge disco ball. Her parents were looking around, while Jake was trying to break the tip off of one of the stalagmites. Jewel immediately rushed over and started lecturing him about why he shouldn't do that, while Milena and Trixie went over to Lenas parents.

"Pretty cool, right? You don't get to see this every day". She said, raising her eyebrow at her father.

Ken nodded, looking around. "It is pretty interesting, but you need to be careful in here. I don't want any of those things falling down on you." He pointed at the stalactites, whose points seemed unusually sharp.

"Yeah, good idea." Lena could just imagine one of those crashing down on them, and it wouldn't be pretty. If the point didn't kill one of them, its weight might. Not a happy thought. "We'll be really careful around these things." she assured.

"And that means you, Jake!" Her mother turned around and looked at the boy in question, who was, despite Jewel's warnings, still fiddling around with a stalagmite. He rolled his eyes and looked at them, impatient to leave.

Her father saw this and, deciding that he'd seen enough as well, walked back out. After picking up a few pretty rocks, Violet led everyone else to the cave mouth. Nothing happened this time, which was a relief. Lena hadn't liked that sensation they'd felt before one bit.

After going over things again with the girls, her family got ready to leave. Lena hugged her parents and they all said good-bye for the time being. To her surprise, Jake even came up to her instead of yelling his farewells from the car, like she'd expected.

"Just be careful, alright"? he growled and crossed his arms. " If you guys get hurt, it'll be on my head for helping persuade them to let you stay."

"You got it, Jake. I'll see you in a week or so." She grinned and held out her arms and, after a few moments of hesitation, Jake gave her a quick hug. He waved good-bye to Trixie and Jewel and climbed into the van. They took off down the road and, within moments, had disappeared from sight into the forest.
Right. Lena said, feeling a little intimidated now that her family was gone. "So, are we gonna get camp set up or what?"

"We'll put up the tent if you organize the rest of the stuff." Trixie said, tossing the bag with the tent's frame in it to Jewel as she took the tent itself from the box. She looked back at Lena and raised her eyebrows. "Or is that too much for you?" she asked, grinning.

"Oh, just get the tent, dummy". Milena said, shaking her head, as she went to their things and started arranging things. Food and the Coleman stove went in one spot, the lantern in another, and the spelunking gear she covered with a tarp a few yards into the cave. She'd probably store the food somewhere else later- maybe that cavern further in. By the time she was finished hauling the stuff around, the tent had been pitched and her friends were in the process of fastening it into the ground.

"Beat ya." she teased, holding the bag of stakes and handing them to Trixie and Jewel as needed. "Just for that, you get to make dinner tonight, Trix."

The other girl stuck out her tongue at her and took another stake. "And just for that, I'm gonna make sure that your food's cold."

"As you're probably going to make all of our suppers at the same time, they'd all be cold." Jewel said, pounding a stake into the ground on the other side of the tent. "And I don't feel like cold food."

"Traitor!" Trixie exclaimed, giving Jewel her best mock-angry glare. She then got up and looked at their work, hands on her hips. "It should be okay. Provided it doesn't hurricane or something." She said, nodding. Lena agreed- the tent actually looked good and Jewel had made sure to put on the rain tarp just in case.

"Oh, I don't think there's much chance of that." Lena said, looking at the sky. Only a few clouds were drifting lazily across the sky, testimony to the perfect weather.

"Maybe not of a hurricane, but what about rabid bears?" Trixie asked, grinning. "I doubt a tent, even one so pretty as this, is going to do much of anything against a rabid bear."

"Need I remind you the odds of that happening"? Jewel said sternly as they headed to the cave mouth to collect their sleeping bags.

"No, I'm pretty better off not knowing what percentage there is of a bear ripping me to shreds." Trixie said cheerfully, hoisting a bag with her blankets onto her back. "That way, when I do die, I can have unfinished business and come back as a ghost! And haunt any of you who happen to survive." She gave her blankets to Jewel, who was spreading them out in the tent.

"Ghosts don't exist. "Jewel replied simply, smoothing down the base blankets.

Milena sighed and handed over her sleeping bag. "Yeah, we know. And neither does the Bermuda Triangle, reincarnation, magic, or anything else cool and supernatural."

"Magic?" Jewel snorted derisively from inside the tent. "Yeah, right. And pigs can fly."

"Well, with the research the're doing nowadays, you never know". Trixie said brightly. "C'mon out, Jewel, let's go look around!"

The rest of that day was spent exploring the area and making plans for the tomorrow. Trixie discovered a good-sized stream nearby and spent a good amount of her time trying to get both of her friends wet, which led to a water fight on both sides. This resulted in getting them all completely drenched, but it was sure fun while it lasted. Luckily, the day was warm enough so that they dried off before the sun went down.

The sunset over the mountains was beautiful, the first one of the summer they'd really had a chance to enjoy. Jewel took no time at all to start snapping pictures of it with her digital camera (which she hadn't actually been allowed to bring by her parents, as it was new, but she'd been determined enough to sneak it into her backpack.) Lighting the fire was another adventure altogether- they'd gathered tinder and wood long before twilight, but it was fully dark outside before they got it going. Mainly because they'd forgotten to bring along anything that would help jumpstart the fire besides some newspaper and sticks as tinder.

After the fire was fully going they roasted hot dogs over the flames. This turned out to be an interesting experiment in itself, as none of them had cooked anything over an open fire in ages- which meant several half-cooked or completely charred and blackened hotdogs before they figured out the right length of time to hold them in the coals for.

Trixie couldn't stop cracking jokes the entire time, especially after they made s'mores. Well, she had an excuse- chocolate is proven to have the same effect on people as marijuana. So that entire night of ghost stories and jokes was powered by the fact that they were high off of chocolate.

They didn't end up going to sleep until after midnight as they stayed up for a while longer to look at the stars. Jewel pointed out several constellations, while Trixie made up different and ruder names for them that had Milena laughing and Jewel indignant. When they finally did manage to sleep, though, Lenas dreams were uneasy and plagued by the feeling of being watched, as they had been for the past week since school had let out. It was only when the reoccurring dream of her time in Boston came up that she stopped tossing and turning, and then she slept peacefully until morning.



The next morning found them standing in front of the tunnels leading further into the cave. "Are you sure this is a good idea"? Jewel asked nervously, shifting her feet as she looked into the darkness. "It's dangerous, and what if we get stuck in there or something?"

"That's what these are for, Jewel!" Trixie said, tapping the bag on her back. Identical to the ones the other girls were wearing, it was loaded with food, flashlights, batteries, ropes, and other equipment that might come in handy as they explored. "C'mon, what other time are we going to have to flirt with death in an underground deathtrap? Relax!"

"Thanks, that just makes me feel loads better."Jewel said dryly, rolling her eyes.

Lena flicked on her flashlight and took a step toward the opening. When no one followed she looked back at them and raised an eyebrow. "Coming? Don't worry, guys, if it gets dangerous or we get tired, we'll just turn back. Got the phone, Trix?"

"Aye aye, captain." The teen replied cheerfully, saluting and dragging Jewel in by the arm as she hesitated again. "Forward march!"

Crystal Cave was known for its internal structures being very stable and seeming almost man-made'this was one of the reasons Lena had chosen to camp here, apart from sheer curiosity. This turned out to be only partially true; the tunnels started out normal, but become very curvy and sometimes cramped enough that they had to crouch or crawl to make their way through. There were a few near disasters when they nearly walked into holes that plunged deep into the depths of the ground. Lena doubted she would be able to do this alone but with her friends, exploring these caves was reduced from a daunting challenge to an eerie experience. The stone was cool to the touch and slightly damp, which was refreshing at times when, sweaty from toil, they stopped for breaks.

"Y'know we're all crazy, right?" Jewel said conversationally on one of these stops as they drank from their water bottles, stretching out in one of the wide ledges they'd found. "Here we are, going deeper and deeper into an unexplored cave where, if we should happen to get trapped or fall to our miserable deaths, no one would find us for weeks or months? Or maybe never at all?"

"Ah, don't be a spoilsport, woman!" Trixie said, swishing her mouthful of water around in her mouth like a five-year-old with Jello. "That's half the fun! And you have to admit, this has been pretty cool. I don't think we could stop right now if we wanted to, anyways."

"I know. Weird, huh?" Lena agreed. And it really was- especially considering that her fear of the dark and slight claustrophobia would normally have sent her running for the exit. And yet, for some reason, she didn't want to go back. Strongly didn't want to turn back. It defied common sense, but it was almost as if something was pulling them onward, aided by the spurring effect of youthful recklessness.

They'd occasionally come across part of the tunnel that had partially caved in or was mostly blocked by rocks and boulders, which meant that they had to scramble over them as best they could. Trixie almost got stuck for good once when her backpack snagged on a huge stone and they had a very hard time getting it undone. When they stopped again, an hour or so later, everyone's elbows and knees were scraped and stinging from constant contact with rock. Jewel (who was the only one with the First Aid kit) tended to the deepest ones, mumbling angrily about the sheer stupidity of the situation.

The girls finally reached a corridor that they could walk upright in, and wide enough to stretch one of their arms out fully. Trixie was making the best of it, walking happily back and forth as Lena and Jewel came up the rear. "See guys? Told ya it'd get better, Jewel. What could possibly go wrong?"

Typically, at the exact same second she said that, a deep rumbling started up from below them. Stones began falling from the trembling walls like a solid rainstorm as the ground lurched sickly back and forth. The three immediately rushed to each other, crouching in the center of the tunnel as the earth shook around them. There was really no point running- if this was a real earthquake, the tunnel was as apt to cave in at any point as another. That didn't stop any of them from wanting to- Lena could feel the tenseness in her friend's bodies as they huddled near each other.

However, the quake stopped almost as soon as it started. The roaring noise stopped and the movement gradually lessened until it stopped entirely. It was still some moments before they moved, though. Jewel pushed up her glasses shakily- she hadn't stopped trembling when the ground had. "What was that?!"

"Um . . . earthquake, looked like."Trixie said, falling on her back and looking blankly at the ceiling. "Except, I didn't think we had them all that much up here . . ."

Milena leaned against the wall, brushing her bangs out of her eyes. "I swear to God, you jinxed us. You said, 'what could go wrong?' Trix, you never, ever say that in a situation like this! It's bound to get you killed!" She was joking, but still wierded out by the episode. It was just . . . bizarre. Earthquakes hardly ever happened in the North Country, it not being near the edge of any tectonic plate boundaries. They got vibrations from strong ones down south occasionally but those were barely even noticeable. So, what the heck had that been? Some freak event of nature?

"Let's turn back." she said, climbing to her feet and helping Trixie up. "This is too weird." She just hoped they'd be able to find their way back- she'd left markers at every turn, but, considering the circumstances, who knew if they'd still be there? Not her, that was for certain. And what if the tunnels had been damaged?

Jewel looked utterly relieved. "Finally, you listen to reason"! she exclaimed, leading the way. "Let's get out of here!"

When they'd backtracked a good ways, however, they discovered that they couldn't go any farther. It was as Lena had feared- part of the tunnel had caved in completely, leaving an impenetrable wall of rock and soil. They just stared at it dumbly for a few moments, not wanting to believe their eyes.

"I warned you guys!" Jewel moaned, putting her face in her hands and shaking her head violently. "But no, you had to be adventurous! Now we-re trapped down here!"

"Relax, there's gotta be another way out somewhere." Lena reassured, thinking hard about the route they'd taken. It was possible that they might backtrack to another tunnel nearby- but the only one she'd remembered seeing dropped out completely in the bottom, making too wide a hole to cross by any means. And who knew what the quake had done to the other tunnels?

"Wait, wait, I still have my cell phone!" Trixie exclaimed, fishing it out of her pocket and holding it up triumphantly. The others waited expectantly as she switched it open and stared at the screen. Within a few moments, however, her expression went dark and she thrust it back into her pocket. "There's no signal whatsoever- the walls are blocking it." She said, exasperated. "So, unless we get to another area where we can get a signal, we're screwed."

Jewel looked like she was going to cry at any moment, so Milena decided it was time to do something. "Alright, let's just . . . keep going, okay? Maybe there's an exit up ahead." She took a deep breath and kept going, thinking aloud as they started walking. "Besides, my parents will be back to get us in a few days, maybe sooner if they felt the earthquake. We're got food and light- we'll be fine." She said, trying to convince herself and them at the same time.

"For now." Trixie said darkly, looking at the flashlight in Lena's hand. "But what about when it runs out?"

For once, none of them had an answer to that.



By a few hours they still had no answers and things looked worse then ever. They'd had to replace the batteries in Lenas flashlight after it had abruptly quit, leaving them to scramble blindly in their packs. Not a pleasant situation. They'd run into a dead end once and nearly fallen into a gigantic hole in another tunnel- from the roaring sounds of a river deep below, they wouldn't have survived even if they'd lived through the fall.

For the first few minutes after the earthquake, they'd tried to keep their spirits up as much as possible, singing marching songs and getting their minds off things. This soon faded as they became more and more tired and their moods dropped straight down. By this point, even Lena, the most optimistic of the bunch, doubted their ever finding an exit. It was with a weary fatalism that she led the way, cursing herself every step for even suggesting they camp in the Crystal Cave. If her friends got hurt because of her stupid decision . . . well, she sure as hell hoped they wouldn't. Because she doubted she could deal with it.

Because of their doomed attitude, none of them could quite believe their eye when light started shining from further up in the tunnel. They just stared, dumbstruck, and then raced forward. The fresh breeze that was also coming from before them was just a different from the stale, crypt-like air that lingered in the tunnels that they could've cried with sheer relief.

When they finally stumbled into the source of the light, they had to blink and rub their eyes like mad just to be able to see. When their eyes finally did adjust, the sight was a welcome one- a large, spacious cavern, with a hole at the top that showed a blue sky, just dark enough to be late afternoon. There was an odd ring of discolored rock just below this hole, with a strange clear crystal jutting up in the center. Lena took all this in with one glance, then moved on to try and look for an exit. Unfortunately, there was none- the walls just stopped short, lined with sparkling bands of minerals as well as the normal stalactites and stalagmites.

This, however, was enough for Trixie. She immediately started jumping up and down with joy, pumping her fist in the air. "Yes! We live!" she cried triumphantly, thrusting the hand clenching her cell phone up toward the ceiling. "Mother Nature's not gonna keep us down!" She then turned it on, waiting for the screen to light up. When it didn't, she frowned and then slapped herself upside the head. "Oh, for heaven's sake, I forgot to charge it!"

Jewel just stared at her blankly, too tired to react the way she would've earlier. "You what?" she said wearily, then groaned and sank to the ground in despair.

Trixie slung down her backpack and started digging in it wildly, frowning. "I know I've got extra batteries in here somewhere! I made sure before I packed my bag!"

Lena just started laughing wildly. It was quiet at first- a few giggles, but that quickly escalated to full-blown guffawing until tears started running down her cheeks. Her friends were looking at her like she was crazy, and she just waved them off until she could get the breath back to speak. "I'm sorry . . ." she gasped, ". . . but I can't help it! You forgot to charge the batteries!" They stared blankly for a few minutes, then joined in themselves. Anyone hearing the sound they made would've listed them as officially crazy or hysterical, but this was just a way of getting off stress.

When she could actually breathe again without hurting her sides, Milena felt much better. She could tell everyone else did. Jewel had actually gotten to her feet and was looking around- now this was the Jewel she knew, interested in anything in the world of science that was even slightly out of the ordinary. This meant digging out her notepad and jotting down notes on the strips of minerals in the walls, getting so close to study them that her nose almost touched the rock. Yup, she was her old self, that was for sure. And Trixie's frantic search had slowed down- she was taking her time, laying things out and making sure not to break them. Now that she was taking a more reasonable approach, she might actually find those dang batteries of hers.

As for Lena herself, she wasn't sure what to do. Resting felt like a good plan at the moment, so she took off the backpack and sat on the floor. It felt oddly flat for a cave, as if the movement of many people on its surface had worn the stone smooth. That, of course, wasn't possible, because these caves were unmapped and extremely difficult to navigate- hadn't they already found that out themselves? Maybe they'd discover the reason for that later.

For the moment, she drew a packet of crackers from a side pocket of the bag and started munching, using only small sips of her water. Even if Trixie could find those batteries, there was no guarantee the thing would actually work, so they'd still have to be careful with their supplies. Said teen had stopped and was looking at her crackers with a longing expression when her own stomach rumbled, followed closely by Jewel's. This made them all giggle, and her friends joined her in the snack.

"So, what'd you find out about that rock, woman? You seemed to be looking at it hard enough." Trixie said, still fishing half-heartedly for the batteries as she ate.

The girl in question frowned as she studied her notes, pushing her glasses back up her nose. Here in the sunlight, the smudges, bruises, and scrapes they'd all gotten were more apparent, and Milena was surprised that her glasses hadn't fallen off or gotten scratched at some point. "Well, these types of stone aren't usual existent with the granite that forms the bedrock of this area." She explained, pointing out various stripes with vastly different coloring then their neighbors.

"Ah . . . meaning?" Trixie said, smiling sheepishly.

"Meaning, that this cave's a lot weirder then we thought it was." Lena answered for her, leaning back against the wall. "But I don't think right now's time for an earth science lesson, Jewel."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." She said regretfully, tucking the pad back into one of her bag's pockets. "Besides, I'm probably wrong. I'm not exactly the smartest person . . ."

Trixie and Lena both leaned over and cuffed her lightly across the head at the same time. "Dummy! You're smarter then we are!" Lena exclaimed, at the same time that Trixie said, "Yeah? Then who made it so we could pass this year, hmm? If I hadn't copied half your homework, I would've failed miserably!"

This sent them all off into another laughing fit. As Trixie scooted back to her seat and her hand was absent-mindedly roaming over her pack's surface, she looked at it in surprise and zipped open a small compartment none of them had noticed before. The things she pulled out were undoubtedly batteries. She looked at them sheepishly, rubbing her neck. "Well, I hadn't expected them to be there."

"Well, no, stuff like that's always in the last place you look." Jewel said, but a fresh surge of hope sparkled in her amber eyes as she saw the batteries.

Trixie just rolled her eyes and used the tiny screwdriver in her tool kit to open the back of the phone. "Well, duh, silly! Of course it'd be in the last place you look! Who'd keep looking after they found something?"

"She's got a point." Lena said, smiling with relief. They were fed (at least partially), they were all much better moods, and Trixie'd finally found those damn batteries. Maybe there was a hope in this, after all.

After she inserted the batteries, Trixie turned it on and stared at the screen. A few seconds later she whooped in joy and jumped to her feet. "All right! We're got a signal! Boo-ya! It's not much of one, but if I move around a little . . ." She then immediately started circling the cave, keeping her gaze locked on the tiny screen.

Jewel looked at her, grinning. Lena gave her thumbs up and climbed to her feet, helping her up. She immediately rushed over to Trixie and looked over her shoulder at the cell phone, as if by just being there she could raise the signal.

Milena smiled and decided to have a look around for herself. She wandered slowly around the cavern's walls, scanning them as she listened to the amusing sounds of false alarms and exclamations behind her. She trailed one vein of mineral with a finger as she passed- the flecks of gold in it reminded her of her river rock. She took it out and rubbed it absently as she walked along. It almost seemed to be . . . thrumming at her. She frowned, wondering what had set it off.

When she reached the place just in front of that strange circle on the floor, she noticed a dark stain on the rock. When she touched her hand to it, she had to snatch it away quickly- there was something creepy and somewhat chilling about that stain. It almost looked like dried blood.

If she looked close enough, she could see seven tiny flecks of color around it in a ring around it. What in the world is this? She thought, frowning. It's just . . . weird.

Just when she was considering getting a closer look, she heard Trixie speak behind her. "Lena, come over here! We got a signal, and a good one!" When she turned around, she saw that they were standing in the center of that ring of discolored rock, right below the opening in the rock above.

She smiled and started walking over. "Well, what are you waiting for? Call!" she said, raising an eyebrow at them. "Surely you don't need my permission." She teased.

Trixie just rolled her eyes and grinned but started dialing what looked like the number to her house. Just as she dialed the last number, Lena took a step into the circle. She immediately felt inexplicably dizzy and tripped, falling hard on her stomach. The hand holding the stone stretched out to stop her fall and instead hit the crystal.

A spark leaped from the collision of crystal with her stone and sank into the prism, which abruptly began to shimmer with an array of dazzling colors. Jewel, who'd knelt down to see if Lena was okay, cried out and shielded her eyes. Somehow, though, the light didn't bother Milena- in fact, she couldnt look away. Her eyes were locked on the center of the crystal- she could almost see two figures inside it. One wasn't just dark; it was the utter absence of light and matter itself, like a tiny black hole, while the other was made of all light and warmth. It was only when this second being's gaze met hers that she had to look away, blinded by a radiance she couldn't comprehend.

The light enveloped the area in and around the circle. When it finally faded, the only sign that anyone had been there at all was the packs abandoned near the doorway and a few objects randomly scattered everywhere. The screams and loud humming of before were totally gone, replaced by the slow, crystalline sound of water dripping somewhere and the faint noises of birds outside. The natural light of a day approaching its end slanted in. All was peaceful.

All except for the cell phone abandoned in the center of the circle. A faint ringing could be heard until someone picked up on the other side. "Hello? Trixie?" a woman's voice asked, confused. ". . . Is that you?"
Unfortunately, there wasn't anyone there to answer Mrs. Avails. Nor would there be for a good long while.

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