I’m too young to die
. Casey held her breath and prayed for a miracle.
Dizziness washed over Casey as she struggled to free herself from the spiraling water. Lungs burning, she opened her mouth to scream, but salt water rushed in. An explosion of bubbles surrounded her, brushing across her skin. A tremendous force pushed her upward, faster and faster. Bursting through the surface, she was catapulted high in a spout of water and spray. She landed with a splash and sucked in desperate gulps of air—wonderful, glorious, awesome air.
Spluttering and coughing, Casey pushed the tangled hair out of her face. The air hung heavy with the smell of damp earth. When she caught her breath, she kicked her legs around in the water and wondered how deep it was. As she clung to her tattered life jacket, she squinted as her eyes adjusted to the dim light. Anxiously, she looked across the enormous underground chamber for a ledge, or for some way out. Nothing but glimmering stalagmites rose out of the sapphire water and loomed high above her, as though the room around her had been completely flooded.
“
Wow, it’s so beautiful,” she whispered, awestruck by the millions of crystals shimmering like diamonds along the walls. Carlsbad Caverns needed to take a seat, because it’d just been upstaged by whatever the name of this place was.
“
Casey! Over here!”
Her heart leapt in response to the familiar voice. “Jack! Thank God you’re alive.” Spotting two yellow life jackets in the distance, she sighed with relief. “Mike!” Her best friends bobbed in the water, and she couldn’t have been happier to see them.
Casey exhaled and wiped the tears away, overwhelmed with relief. Smiling, she forced her burning muscles to push her way through the water.
“
I can’t believe that whirlpool sucked you up too,” said Mike, meeting her halfway and throwing his arms around her. “Against all odds, we survived, man. Any idea how we could even end up down here? ’Cause me and Jack are completely clueless.”
Melting into his embrace, she said, “I dunno.”
Mike’s grip tightened around her. “You’re one tough chick!”
Struggling to keep the tears from falling, she met his gaze and smiled. “You better believe it.”
His voice wavered and he stroked the hair from her face. “I was so worried about you, girl.”
“
Casey.” Jack’s face lit up when his eyes connected with hers, exactly the same way as when he’d sunk that last-second basket to win the national championship. She eased from Mike’s arms and gave Jack a fierce hug. He held her close and cupped her cheek. “When I lost you—”
The cavern became silent except for the rhythmic sound of dripping water. Casey opened her mouth to speak, but the words wouldn’t come out. Squeezing her eyes shut, she locked her arms around Jack and burrowed into the curve of his shoulder. They’d survived against all odds. When she opened her eyes, she felt the first sobs tear through her chest. “Do you think my mom and dad are okay?”
Jack held her at arms’ length. “They were rescued. I saw them being pulled up into the air.”
She swiveled her head in Mike’s direction. “Are you sure? You saw it? Both of you? They’re…they’re really safe?”
Mike nodded. “Yep. I saw it too.”
Casey let out a deep breath, but the tears wouldn’t stop flowing. She wiped at them, suddenly laughing through even more tears. It was the best news…ever. “They’re probably dry, warm, and worried sick about us.” She fingered the silver locket around her neck; it held her favorite family portrait.
Mike squeezed her hand. “You know it.”
She shot him a smile.
“
So where’s the dim light coming from? The moon?” Mike spun in a circle through the water, gazing up at the high vaulted cave.
“
I have no idea, but it’s definitely coming from somewhere.” Her hand wandered across the ragged limestone. “There has to be a gap or opening in these walls.” At least she hoped so, grasping at any glimmer of hope. She swam around, searching for a way out, when her life jacket scraped against the jagged edge of a stalagmite. She knew then that she’d have to be more careful, as one of those things could probably tear right through her skin.
“
Whoa!” Mike’s voiced echoed in the cave. “Check out the icicles.”
She stared up at the massive stalactites jutting from the ceiling. Her jaw dropped at their stunning beauty.
Jack pushed off the wall, staring at the sight too. “Wow! They gotta be thousands of years old.”
“
Oh yeah?” Mike nudged Casey and playfully rolled his eyes. “How do you know that, Jack?”
“
Well, because, they only grow an inch every thousand years.”
Mike smirked. “Is there anything you don’t know? Since you’re such an Einstein, why’s everything glowing down here? Is the place radioactive or something?”
Twinkling pinpoints of lights dotted the roof like turquoise-green stars in the night sky. It was beautiful, but Casey knew appearances could be deceiving. Her eyebrows shot up in recognition. “Wait! I’ve seen this before…on a trip to Waitomo Cave.”
Mike lay back and floated, his arms and legs stretched out. “I can’t believe we’re actually stargazing.”
“
Stargazing? You seem to forget we’re in a giant cave,” she said.
“
I know. So how’s this possible? Although I don’t mind spending a romantic moment with a pretty girl.” He winked at her.
Stuck in a cave and he still manages to flirt,
she jested. “If you had one clue about what those “stars” really were, you’d know the romance had just been sucked dry.”
Jack leaned in, his arm brushing Casey’s. “Aren’t those New Zealand’s “living lights”?”
“
Looks like it. Do you think that’s where we are?”
He shook his head. “Could be, but it’s over a thousand miles away.”
“
Living lights?” asked Mike. “Dude, are you saying those lights are
alive
?”
“
Yep.” Jack nodded and motioned with his hand. “Millions of little, glowing worms, courtesy of the fungus gnat.”
And with Casey’s luck, a big fat one would fall off and land on her head, a new friend dropping in to say hello.
Eww, gross
! The thought made her stomach squeamish, and now she might hurl.
“
Glowing maggots, huh?” asked Mike, who didn’t seem fazed in the slightest. “They’re pretty cool. Got to admit, nature puts on one heck of a light show.”
Casey clung to Jack, watching the shadows dance and flicker on the dark limestone. She tried to swallow the sudden knot in her throat. “No, they’re
not
cool. It means they’re what’s causing the dim light, not moonlight.” She took a deep breath, her heart racing. “What if we’re stuck here?”
Jack gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. “There has to be a way out…and we’re going to find it. Besides, glowworms have to eat insects like moths and mayflies to survive, so they have to be able to come and go. So don’t look so sad. This
is
good news. All we need to do now is find their point of entry.”
She glided forward, using long strokes. “Okay, then let’s go find ourselves an exit out of this giant bug hotel.”
“
Wait a sec. What’s wrong with the water?” Jack frowned, his eyes darting to and fro, as he jerked his hand back. “It’s changed colors three times.”
Casey scooped up the brown water and watched it trickle through her fingers. There was nothing wrong with it as far as she could see. She wouldn’t be drinking it anytime soon since it looked somewhat like rusty Kool-aid, but apart from that, it seemed as good as any other.
“
A little mud never hurt anyone,” said Mike.
She focused her gaze on the brown water when it suddenly turned purple. Her hand flew to her mouth. “Look! Are you guys seeing this? I swear it changed right before my eyes.”
“
Dude!” Mike’s jaw dropped as his eyes flew wide open.
Jack laughed and slapped him on the back. “I told you! We didn’t notice it before because we were so occupied with each other and the ceiling, and the colors really weren’t that noticeable.”
“
There it goes again!” Mike couldn’t stop staring at the strange phenomenon. “Whoa. Now it’s green. Weird, huh?”
When the surface turned orange, Jack let out a gasp. “No way! The colors are switching like every twenty or thirty seconds. What kind of place is this?”
The words remained frozen in Casey’s throat. She could only shake her head in shared disbelief.
Mike swirled his hands back and forth through the multicolored sea. “This is crazy stuff, man.”
“
There’s got to be a logical explanation.” Jack struggled for words. Casey knew he was never comfortable with things he couldn’t easily explain. He fidgeted with the buckles of the life jacket. “Maybe it’s the bioluminescent glow of algae reflecting through the water.”
“
Like the blue algae I swam with in Puerto Rico?” she asked.
“
Exactly,” answered Jack.
She cocked an eyebrow. “That doesn’t make any sense. The water there didn’t change colors.”
Mike nodded. “Yeah, she’s right. I saw the vacation pics. Maybe it’s best not to be so obsessed with cause and effect, Jack. You sound just like that chick Pam I dated last month. She had to have an explanation for everything.”
“
Pam? Hmm. Name doesn’t ring a bell.” Jack paused for a moment. “But then again, there’re so many of them that I can’t keep up.”
Jack was right. Mike had a beautiful girl hanging on his arm practically every week. Casey wondered how she could ever compete with that.
“
C’mon! Let’s find a way out of here.” She took the lead and swam through the large limestone room, followed by Mike and Jack.
Mike cocked his head to the left. “Hey, I think I see an opening. See that, Jack?”
He craned his neck and looked. “Nah. That’s only a shadow, man.”
Casey rounded a corner and stopped, gazing across the vast space, past clusters of towering stalagmites. Through a jagged opening high in the rock wall, she noticed something peculiar. Not one but
two
suns glowed in the sky. The rays pushed through the dark clouds.
Did I swallow too much salt water, causing me to hallucinate?
She gripped a rough rock formation until her knuckles turned white. The hairs on the back of her neck rose. “Jack! Mike! Come quick!”
Jack was the first to appear from around the bend. With powerful strokes, he swam toward her. “What is it? Did you find a way out?”
“
Maybe. Look, there’s an opening!” Casey pointed straight ahead, across the giant room, at the long, narrow gap hundreds of feet above her. “I think I just found the
bug door
in this joint.”
His eyes widened. “Awesome!”
“
Look closer,” said Casey.
Jack sucked in a deep breath. “What the—”
Mike started forward, and then swung back. “Twin suns? No freakin’ way!”
“
I think it’s safe to say this isn’t New Zealand.” Casey’s stomach fluttered, but her gaze didn’t waver from the two suns across the horizon.
Jack paused for a moment before he continued. “This is just a phenomenon that makes it
seem
like there are two suns in the sky. You’re actually looking at two luminous spots caused by the bending of light, that’s all.”
She rubbed her eyes. “Are you sure? It’s just an optical illusion?”
“
Yep. It’s called a “sundog” or “mock sun”. Incoming sunlight is bent at just the right angle and passes through a thin layer of ice crystals in our atmosphere. It’s best seen at dawn or dusk when the sun’s near the horizon.”
“
Glowing algae and mock suns?” asked Mike. “Well, I think both of your theories are lame, especially the second one. Ice crystals would mean snow, and we’re not in Alaska. I know you’re a genius, but this time you’re wrong, Einstein.”
Jack’s gaze narrowed. “Got a better way to explain the freaky water and
two
suns?”
“
Easy, dude,” he said. “Don’t you get it? None of this can be explained.”
Casey had to agree with Mike. Jack was the smartest person she’d ever met, but his explanations didn’t make any sense…especially the mock sun. They were in the boiling hot tropics, not at the North Pole.
“
Never mind.” Jack’s forehead wrinkled, and his dark eyebrows bunched. “We’ve got more important things to worry about, like how we’re going to scale that wall like James Bond. Mission impossible.”