21. Starting Round 2

Babekh—Gold Trim—was his usually amazing self and got us seated right away. The buffet was already packed, as all the lower level teams and their supporters were fueling up for the next round.

“I can’t stay long,” he said quickly, “but I wanted you to know that your interview has been well received.”

“That’s great news,” John rumbled and gave him a big smile.

“It has more views than any of Darius’ other interviews for this tournament, and the number is still climbing,” Babekh said. “The best part is that over half of the responses are positive, or at least curious.”

“That’s certainly a good start,” Sandy replied. “Maybe we’ll change a few minds about what the House is and what it can do for mages.”

Babekh left to continue his hosting duties, and we went up to get our first round of food. That’s when we had our second breakthrough of the morning.

It didn’t start out well, as I needed to describe what was available to Annabeth and she began to realize how difficult some of the food would be to eat. She got back in touch with how limited she was, and I could feel all the bad emotions returning. I wasn’t about to let our spirits drop, though, and that’s when I had an idea.

‘Can I send an image to Annabeth?’ I asked my Bank Crystal.

‘Of course,’ it replied. ‘You can actually do more than that. You can send entire concepts if you need.’

‘I can?’ I was surprised. ‘Do you mean I can convey concepts and feelings like I do when I’m talking with my Marks?’

‘Yes,’ it replied happily. ‘The depth of the message and what can be communicated expands with a mage’s attunement with their Bank Stamp. Since we are fully attuned to each other, I can send whatever you would like. Just keep in mind that the longer the message and the more complex the concept, the higher the cost to send it.’

‘How many pearls are we talking about?’ I asked. ‘I was hoping to send images and battle ideas to Annabeth so she’d know what we were facing. That won’t work if I’m wasting a bunch of pearls every time.’

‘Oh no, young master.’ I felt a hint of amusement from my Bank Crystal. ‘The cost of that type of message would only be a few millipearls. The distance the message needs to travel would be small, and I doubt the message would be very complex. A few emotions and images are not hard to send at all. Depending on how many messages you send, it might only cost a few pearls for a whole round of the tournament.’

‘Good,’ I replied. ‘Let’s give it a shot with this buffet, and you can keep me posted with how much each message costs.’

“Jason?” Annabeth was poking me. “Earth to Jason.”

“I’m here,” I said. “I was just finding out what it would take to send you a message to your Bank Stamp. Hang on a sec.”

She stopped poking me, and I stepped back to get a view of the food at this station.

‘Okay,’ I told my Bank Crystal. ‘I’m ready to send a message. How do I do it?’

‘It’s actually very simple,’ it said. ‘Just concentrate on what you want to send, then push it towards me. I’ll take it from there.’

That didn’t sound too difficult. I concentrated on the food at the station, gathering the sight, the smells, and all the impressions from my magical senses and pushed it to my Bank Crystal.

‘I got it and the message is sent,’ my Bank Crystal said. ‘You packed quite a bit of information in there with your magic sight, so the cost was higher than I expected. It’s still not a lot, though, at ninety-seven millipearls.’

‘Thank you very much,’ I said to my Bank Crystal. That was more than I expected, at about ten images a pearl, but it was still well within what I could afford.

“Ohhh! I just got a message,” Annabeth said excitedly. “Now I just have to figure out how to open it.”

I waited for a minute as she stared off into space. I was about to ask my Crystal if there was some way to help her, when suddenly she nodded.

“I got it,” she said happily. Then she gasped.

“Jason, is this how you see things?” she asked.

“I think so,” I replied. “I had my Bank Crystal send the message, so I don”t know exactly what you received, but I tried to put everything I sensed in there.”

“My goodness,” she breathed. “The level of detail is staggering. I can actually see inside the food!” She paused. “Actually, I can taste it! Jason, this is crazy.”

“My magic sight is pretty powerful,” I said. “That”s why it took me a while to learn how to use it properly. I had to get used to focusing on the general picture and ignoring everything else. Otherwise it becomes too overwhelming.”

“No kidding,” she said. “You”d talked about this before, but it all makes sense now. I”m having to do some filtering myself. Hang on.”

It took her a bit longer, but Annabeth quickly learned how to process my message, and she let me know what she wanted from the display.

We moved on to the next food station and did it again. This time, though, I didn”t hyper focus on sending everything I sensed. Annabeth found it easier to handle, and the message cost went down to thirty-nine millipearls.

I got her food, dropped her off at the table, and went back for a few plates of my own. When I got back to the table, I sent Annabeth images of her plate as she ate, and that helped her a lot with figuring out what she was eating and what she had left. For simple messages like that, I was able to get the cost down to twelve millipearls.

Being able to see anything, even if it was through a message, was a huge relief for Annabeth. She kept asking for more images and then feeling bad about asking all the time. I didn’t want her feeling that way, so I told my Bank Crystal to send her what I was seeing every five minutes. This was in addition to whatever specific messages I sent.

This seemed to work well as Annabeth could finally relax and know a new image containing the world around her would arrive soon. It was good practice too, as I got much better at sending simpler messages and she got better at receiving them. By the time we went up for our second round of food, we were both a lot more confident and the trip went smoothly.

Even the whole piggyback/Annabeth-as-a-backpack was easier. Annabeth hopped up on my back and wrapped her legs around me as the rope tied us snugly together. When we returned to the table, the rope returned to its normal length and coiled around Annabeth’s waist. Easy-peasy.

“Hey, Tock,” Tyler said. “What have you heard about the next quest?”

Tock flew out to the center of the table so he could address everyone.

“The high level apparitions seem to think this quest will be underground,” he stated. “They also think this will be a monster quest.”

“So the goal is to find and kill a monster?” Tyler asked. “That will have to be one tough beast.”

“Oh, no,” Tock waved his hands like he was trying to erase what Tyler’d said. “The goal is to find and kill as many monsters as you can. I guess the quest type should be called monsters quest, but that doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue.”

Tyler nodded like that made a lot more sense as Tock continued.

“You’ll get points for each monster you vanquish, and the points will scale depending on how difficult the monster is to fight. Since there are too many teams still left in the tournament, they are going to expand the time for the quest from eight hours to twelve. That will give the teams more time to go deeper underground and fight the tougher monsters.”

“This is going to last for a half day?” John chimed in. “Jason, you better take some food with you. I’d suggest we make a bunch of sandwiches, as that will give you both carbs and protein as well as being easy to eat on the go.”

We all agreed that would be a good idea, and Sandy and John left the table to get the supplies. They returned with all the fixings, and we made sandwiches while we continued to talk strategy.

“How is central command handling the player versus player aspect of the challenge?” Tyler asked.

“We are speculating that the points for knocking out other players will go up,” Tock replied. “We don’t think it can go up too much or everyone will just ignore the monsters and fight each other. While that would be exciting in its own way, the apparitions are pretty sure the point of this quest is to fight monsters. Of course, we could be completely wrong. This is all guesswork, after all.”

We talked a bit more, but Tock had nothing new to offer. Once the sandwiches were done, I put them one at a time on my hand, and Penny whisked them away to the Throne Room. She was so organized—placing each one in its own little container and stacking them neatly on a shelf.

We thanked Gold Trim, generously tipped our waiter, and headed out. We were running a bit later than the last quest, and we had to wait a little longer as Miss Mountain wasn’t available. When she came back from escorting another team, she seemed both happy to see us and surprised by our new piggyback style. We told her about Annabeth losing her vision, and she nodded sagely.

“Good!” she declared. “Survive. Thrive. Adapt.”

Despite being a woman of few words, she managed to be extremely supportive. The rest of our crew got a firm nod of welcome except for Tyler. He got a nod and a wink. Clearly the offer to spend some quality time in her bedroom was still on the table.

“Like the executioner said, it’s time to head off,” she announced.

John gave her an appreciative nod in honor of her pun as she turned and led us away. Once again, we went through the enormous doors into the luxury area reserved for the premier teams. We were definitely running late, as the first teams were already streaming into the arena. She led us through the fancy waiting rooms into the service corridor.

Last time, we’d gotten nasty looks and dark murmurs, and I thought we’d get more of the same. However, everyone was focused on the line as it started to move, and only a few teams paid any attention to us.

As we got close to the end, we passed the guy who’d been in front of us last time as a team of one. It looked like he was still in the tournament and had moved up a bit.

Once again, we were at the very back of the line. I wanted to ask how the queue was organized this time. Maybe by points? But Miss Mountain seemed to be in a hurry.

“Play hard. Play smart.” Miss Mountain spoke in her usual deadpan voice, but her eyes conveyed confidence and encouragement. “See you next round.”

Annabeth and I bowed together since I was wearing her like a backpack. I’m sure we looked humorous, and Miss Mountain seemed amused as she turned and headed back towards the entrance.

“I haven’t heard from Bermuda,” Annabeth said suddenly. “Is he with us?”

I knew where he was, but I checked my Throne Room anyway.

“Yep,” I replied. “He’s napping and gathering his strength for later.”

“That sounds like a wise thing to do,” Annabeth laughed.

I sent a mental tickle to Bermuda to see if he wanted to come out and play for a few minutes. He yawned, stretched, and then hopped out and started exploring the hallway. The movement in the line reached us sooner than expected, and Bermuda tapped my leg to show that he wanted to be carried.

“I think I’m more of a mule than a horse,” I grumbled, but it was all in good fun. I’m sure I looked interesting, though, with a person on my back and a cat in my arms.

The line moved quickly, and it wasn’t long before we left the service hallway and entered the fancy team rooms again. I could hear the music swelling, and the powerful beat created little bubbles of excitement inside me.

We may not have been at our best, but we could do this!

We followed the line onto the arena floor, and this time there weren”t any big opening ceremonies with floats and introductions. Instead, two portals were already lit up, and the teams were streaming through.

Bermuda decided he didn’t want to be carried in my arms anymore. Instead, he wanted to sit in his back pouch and watch all the sights as they came at him. The only problem was that Annabeth was already there. That didn’t deter him in the slightest as he climbed up my shoulders and wriggled down into the tiny bit of space between my back and Annabeth. I would have sworn there wasn’t enough room, but he used the magic that all cats seem to have to make it happen. After he got settled, he looked very satisfied as only a cat can. Annabeth gave him a kiss, and she looked fairly happy too. She was using her echolocation to ‘look’ around, and I decreased the interval between images to every minute.

I was the mule in this trio, but I was happy they were both happy. The adventure was almost here, and we were starting in much better spirits than I’d thought possible after last night.

The line snaked around the floor of the arena, but we were moving pretty quickly now. I looked for my crew up in the seats, but the crowd was just too big. The music was excellent, however, and I found myself dancing to the beat. It wasn’t much, as I was still getting used to the extra weight of carrying everyone, but it still felt fun to get my groove on.

The line got shorter, and soon a portal was right in front of me. I stepped through, expecting to see some sort of cave or underground staging area. Instead, we arrived on the side of a mountain on the same staging area as the first quest.

“Annabeth!” I heard a joyful shout and saw Ank Jr. racing towards us. It seemed like he”d been waiting over at the second portal.

“Jason, Annabeth, it’s wonderful to see you both again.” Papa Ank had been waiting at our portal, and he quickly pulled us both aside.

“I’ve been thinking about both of you and hoping you were still in the tournament,” he said warmly. “I know time is short, so you can tell us your story while we’re on our way. Follow me.”

He led us towards the back of the staging area where the mountain’s natural terrain began. This time, instead of leading us to the right towards the city, he went left. Ank Jr. quickly caught up, and I almost tipped over when he gave a flying leap to give Annabeth a hug. Clearly, she was still his favorite.

“Ank! Behave!” Papa Ank admonished, but Ank Jr. just laughed and then held Annabeth’s hand as he settled down and walked beside us.

“Why are you riding on Jason’s back?” Ank Jr. asked Annabeth.

“I can’t see at the moment,” she explained and then launched into the story of how we had completed our first quest, landed in last place, and tried to improve her sight. While she did that, I looked around to see what all the rest of the teams were doing.

They were streaming down the mountain towards the village and then taking a road away from the city. The air was clear and the sun was bright, so I could see for what seemed like miles. The road followed the base of the mountain for a couple miles before it started winding back up the slope towards an entrance.

The entryway into the mountain was a lot more ornate than I thought it would be. It had two colossal statues of wise looking warriors standing guard on either side, and there were lots of Celtic knots worked into the stone. I’m sure they weren’t really Celtic knots—we were a long way from Ireland—but that was the only reference I had for what I was seeing. It wasn’t at the level of Lord of the Rings—think Peter Jackson on a budget—but it still looked like a neat fantasy setting.

“Is that where we’re going?” I asked when Annabeth finished catching them up.

“Not exactly,” Papa Ank replied. “That’s the main entrance to the underground. It’s where the guards are located, and once you’re inside, there are shops to get food, supplies, and maps. The prices are jacked up, though, and the maps aren’t worth the parchment they’re drawn on. I know the gateway looks impressive, but you’re much better skipping the whole thing and saving your pearls.”

“So where are we headed?” Annabeth asked.

“We’re going to my entrance,” Ank Jr. said proudly. “Well, I think it’s an entrance. I went searching last night and found it. You can tell it goes somewhere because it has an echo.” He was so excited he hopped up and down as we walked. “It’s through a crack and down a hole, but you guys have a rope, so it shouldn’t be a problem. I showed it to Papa this morning, and he almost got stuck. You guys shouldn’t have a problem, though. You’re pretty skinny—even for old people.”

“Why, thank you!” Annabeth beamed. “I haven’t been called skinny in a very long time.”

I gave her leg a pat to congratulate her on being called skinny, but I was slightly offended at being called old. I would have said something, but I was concentrating on where I was placing my feet. Any semblance to a path had disappeared, and now we were winding through the rocks and scrub. It wasn’t easy, especially since I was top heavy, but I was able to keep up with Ank’s quick pace.

The footwear on my new Super Suit was doing fantastic. My Bank Crystal had taken care of switching it to mountain wear, and the boots felt comfortable and secure. This trip was already so much better than our last trek when I’d been wearing sneakers.

“Ank’s entrance is a bit of a gamble,” Papa Ank admitted as he got us back on track. “We haven’t explored it, so we don’t know for sure that it comes out in a safe place or how it connects to the main cave system. I think it’s a good risk, though, as this mountain is riddled with tunnels, and they all seem to connect in some way. If you”d rather not chance it, there is a bigger entrance, but it’s much closer to the main one. We’ll still save some time on travel, but not a lot. Plus, you’ll be much closer to all the other adventurers, and the lead teams will have already taken out the easy monsters. Your chance of meeting a premier team or a tough monster and getting wiped out will be much higher.”

“It sounds like you’ve really thought about this,” Annabeth said. “I have been concerned with how we’re going to deal with the other teams.”

“Me too,” I agreed. “I’ve been afraid some of the better groups will team up and ambush all the teams at the back of the line. We have to be worth at least as many points as a monster. Especially since Central Command is trying to narrow down the number of teams left in the tournament.”

“I wouldn’t know about that,” Papa Ank said, shaking his head. “I can give you the welcome packet for this quest, however. It’s pretty big, and it might have what you’re looking for in there.”

He stopped and tapped Stamps with both of us before continuing on. I was still concentrating on walking, so I asked my Bank Crystal for a quick summary.

‘It seems like the overall goal for this quest is to kill red-eyed creatures. There’s a lot of story in this packet explaining why, but condensing it down, it seems like some of the native underground creatures are going rabid. They don’t actually use that word, but the idea is the same, and it’s something you’ll understand. It seems like this mad monster disease has been around a long time, but it’s only just now getting out of control. It has upset the natural balance of life in the underground, and the King is concerned that rabid creatures will escape above ground and spread the disease up here as well.’

Annabeth had asked Papa Ank about the packet, and now he was giving her a summary as well. I tried to listen to both conversations, but it was too much, and instead, I just focused on my Bank Crystal. It seemed to summarize the information better.

‘In addition to the background for the quest, the packet also lists the points they’ve assigned to all the monsters we might run into. The list is extensive and runs all the way from a tenth of a point for large insects all the way up to hundreds of points for some particularly dangerous creatures.’

‘That’s good to know,’ I replied. ‘We are probably looking for something in the middle of the range. Crushing a bunch of low-point insects sounds nasty, and high-level monsters have a good chance of injuring us. Depending on what we run into underground, we may not have much of a choice, but keep me posted on potential points as we move along.’

‘Of course,’ my Bank Crystal said smoothly. ‘I’d also like to point out that there is an entire section that isn’t related to creatures. Instead, it looks like we can gain points by gathering rare plants or minerals. I think this could be worth our time, as some of these things give even more points than monsters.’

It started sharing images with me at high speed. There were all the usual things like precious gems and types of ore, but it also included stuff like glowing blue mushrooms, seaweed that waved gently in the air, and all different colors of crystals.

“Did you get that?” Annabeth asked me, tapping me lightly on my head.

“No, sorry,” I replied. “I was reviewing the packet myself. What did I miss?”

“We found out that adventurers are worth as much as ten low-level monsters, so we need to watch out.”

“That’s good to know,” I replied. “We were already planning on being careful. On the other hand, it could be an opportunity. We took out a couple teams before. Maybe we’ll have a chance to do it again.”

“Maybe,” Annabeth agreed, but she didn’t sound enthusiastic. “That reminds me, Mr. Ank, what do we owe you for your help today? I appreciate you getting us on our way immediately, but I know you don’t work for free.”

“You don’t owe me nothing,” Papa Ank said firmly. “I’m actually ashamed I charged you during the last round. It’s just that the healing was so unexpected I didn’t have time to process it yet.”

He stopped and turned around. His eyes were filled with gratitude, and I think he was going to hug me until he remembered I still had Annabeth and Bermuda on my back. Instead, he gave me a deep reverent bow and motioned for Ank Jr. to do the same.

“You have transformed my life,” he said. “Well, both of our lives. You did much more than fix my leg, although I’m grateful for that, too. Somehow, you fixed all of me. My foundation. My meridians. My nodes. Everything!”

He paused, and for a moment I thought he might cry. “I had given up on my magical journey. I was just trying to hang on to what I had left, as I’d already lost so much. I told myself I could still provide for my wife—my family—and we’d get by. We were happy together, and at least my kids would see me making the best of a bad situation. Life isn’t all roses and sunshine after all.

“Now, however, everything has changed. You’ve changed it. My decline has stopped. Instead, I’m actually gathering magic for the first time. I’m cultivating again! I breathed and meditated this morning. I pulled power into my center. Enough that I’m still harvesting it as we speak!”

He bowed again as Ank Jr. jumped with happiness and too much youthful energy.

“I feel whole again, and on top of all that, you did the same thing for my son. He’s at the beginning of his journey, and he hasn’t put in the years of work needed to push his boundaries and ascend. So he will probably never understand the head start you’ve given him.”

He paused again.

“But I know.”

He bowed deeply.

“I know,” he repeated, touching his heart. “And taking care of my son was one of the greatest treasures you could ever give me. So there will be no more talk of payment on this round or any other round.”

“You are more than welcome,” I replied and bowed back.

It was a shallow bow, as anything more and I’d tip over. But it was sincere, and he seemed to accept it as such. I wasn’t sure what to say, as I was feeling a little embarrassed. Fortunately, he made a flat motion in the air to emphasize that any talk of payment was finished. Then he spun around, and we quickly continued.

Ank Jr. wanted to hear the “Good King Wenceslas” song again, so Annabeth sang a couple verses for him. That led to “Jingle Bells,” followed by “Frosty the Snowman”. I joined in where I could and had a wonderful time being the wailer to Annabeth’s melody. Our voices sailed across the mountainside and probably scared the crap out of the wildlife.

We didn’t see any furry critters as we continued, and the mountain changed from mostly flat scrub and boulders to a steeper, rockier terrain. Sticking with the Christmas theme, we were onto “All I Want For Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey when I saw where we were going. There was a long, wide slit in the mountainside that was easy to spot, as there wasn’t any brush around the entrance. It sort of looked like a giant had stuck his sword into the rock and wiggled it around a bit.

I looked back to where we’d started and then towards the official entrance to the underground. The gash in the rocks was only about a quarter the distance all the other teams had to travel. If we were lucky and this led to the red-eyed monsters and lots of points, then we’d get a huge head start.

“I’ll go first,” I said when we arrived. The magic rope released its sling, and Annabeth and Bermuda hopped off my back. “Ank, will you stay with Annabeth?”

“Of course!” Ank Jr. held her hand and actually stood still for a moment. Then he started swinging his arms, and Annabeth laughed and started swinging with him. Ank Jr. was always on the move, and he was so playful it was hard not to join in.

I was happy he was here to keep Annabeth occupied. I’d continued to send Annabeth image messages so she wouldn’t feel disoriented. Now, though, we were going to part ways, and I didn’t want her to just stand there in a dark world feeling lost and alone.

“Come this way,” Papa Ank said, and I gathered the rope and followed him into the cave. It narrowed quickly, and soon there was only room for us to walk single file. I went first, and the walls closed in even more—enough that I had to turn sideways. That”s when the floor dropped and the hole started.

“Tie one end of the rope around your waist,” Papa Ank instructed. “I’ll tie the other end around mine. Like I said, we don’t know where this hole ends, so I’ll lower you down cautiously and we’ll see how it goes. If we run out of rope before you reach the bottom, I’ll pull you back up so we can discuss what we want to do then.”

“That sounds good,” I replied.

Annabeth could have made the rope loop and tie itself, but I didn’t have that sort of connection with the magical artifact. I could tell it had power, but I couldn’t command it like she could. So I did it the old-fashioned way and started tying the rope around my waist. I was surprised to feel my hands shaking. Actually, I was shaking.

“Give me a moment,” I requested.

Papa Ank nodded and stepped back. I pressed my hands against the cool stone and took several deep breaths. Being underground again and in such a tight place was getting to me. Now I was getting ready to go into a dark hole in the ground. The earth would be all around me. I was getting ready to be buried alive.

Just like in Karl’s lair where I’d been buried in stone.

The walls moved in closer, and the stone pressed down on me. I felt the mountain give an evil chuckle as the mouth of the cave closed. In moments, it would chew me up and swallow me whole. I’d slide down its throat into oblivion and never be heard from again.

‘Stop!’ I commanded myself angrily. ‘Just stop!’

I took more deep breaths and grabbed a hold of my imagination.

‘There is no need to panic. This is not Karl’s cave, and I’m not going to be eaten.’

I pushed my hands against the wall in front of me, which pressed my back against the stone behind me. I grounded myself in my sense of touch. I felt the power in my body and the space I had around me. I was not helpless.

‘This space is dark, but I can see,’ I declared as I closed my eyes and let my magic sight take over. That was so much better, as I could see the wider entrance behind me and the hole in front of me. I knew exactly how wide it was and how steep it sloped downward. There was a surprising amount of room in the passage, so I would not get stuck. At least, not at the part I could see.

‘Furthermore,’ I continued my mental pep talk, ‘this mountain is your friend. You’ve sung to this mountain on your last visit, and it sang back. It’s made of stone, part of the Deep Earth, and you bear its Mark. You are part of the Deep Earth. You didn’t plan on being buried in stone before, but you made it your home. You can do it again.’

I touched my Mark of the Deep Earth and then looked again at the stone around me. It took a minute, as the Mark was still digesting the core it had eaten, but soon I felt life in the mountain rock. The minerals spoke in slow tones to their neighbors, and I saw the swirl of their colored energies.

The mountain opened up to my sight, like I was in space. I was a cosmic being, and galaxies and nebulae floated around me. I took in the beauty and finally relaxed. I wasn’t being buried alive. Instead, I was going to be traipsing through a fairytale wonderland.

Well, it wasn’t quite that perfect, but at least I wasn’t scared anymore.

“Ready?” I asked Papa Ank.

“I’m as ready as you are,” he replied cheerfully.

“Here goes,” I replied and braced myself as I stepped into the hole. For the first few feet, I relied on the rope and Papa Ank to keep me from falling. Then I realized the hole was more like a chimney, and it was the perfect size for me to brace myself with my hands and feet and ‘walk’ down it on my own.

I pushed my back against the wall behind me, anchored myself with my hands and feet on the wall in front of me to get some tension, and just started stepping down the chimney. I felt like I was in a Jackie Chan movie, and it was much nicer being in control of my descent.

“Are you doing okay?” I heard Papa Ank call. I started to reply when his words echoed back from below. According to him, an echo was a good sign. Hopefully, we weren’t doing all this for nothing.

“I’m doing good,” I called back. Then my magic sight saw the end of the tunnel. It opened up into empty space, like the hole was ending in a ceiling. I started feeling nervous again, as I had no idea what was below. It could be the top of a massive underground lake. Or it might open up into an immense cavern hundreds of feet tall. We didn’t have anywhere near enough rope for something like that.

I kept climbing down, and my magic sight continued to give me more information. I could see all around me in a twenty-foot radius, which felt like a lot of visibility at the moment. It was certainly better than natural sight, that was for sure.

I realized the ‘ceiling’ below me was rounded on two sides and open on two ends. It seemed more like a tunnel than a cavern. The lower I got, the more certain I became. I was going to come out at the top of a tunnel.

Despite how it seemed, I gave a sigh of relief when I spotted the ground. It was a tunnel, and it seemed fairly dry and safe. It definitely wasn’t natural, though. I”d seen pictures of caves, and they usually had stalactites growing from the ceiling and stalagmites growing up from the floor. This tunnel had none of that. It was mostly smooth and straight, like it had been bored out by a machine.

I hollered up to Papa Ank to let him know what I was seeing and that this entrance was probably a success. I didn’t know where the tunnel went yet, so I didn’t know if it led to the rest of the cave system and red-eyed monsters, but it was looking good so far.

I got to the end of the hole and the top of the tunnel, and I let Papa Ank know he’d have to lower me down the rest of the way on his own. He quickly signaled he was ready. I cautiously put my weight back on the rope and then released my footing on the hole.

It was a good thing I didn’t have that much farther to go, as there couldn’t be that much rope remaining. My feet went through the opening, and then my waist. To my surprise, I realized the tunnel was lit. The light was extremely dim and very green, but it was light!

Papa Ank kept lowering, and my head popped out the tunnel, and I finally laid eyes on where I was going. The tunnel was big, about fifteen feet in diameter, and there was moss, or something that looked similar to it, growing on the walls and the floor. The moss contained these round stems, like a sprinkling of flowers, that were glowing a green color. It felt like the Keebler elves had come through and planted little two-inch-long fluorescent bulbs in the moss.

It was a fantastical setting, and so far, everything appeared peaceful. I didn’t see any monsters, red-eyed or otherwise. I touched the ceiling to rotate my view, when the ceiling came alive and powerful mandibles bit down on my left arm.