The next morning was the complete opposite of the storm the night before. Not a cloud could be seen as the sunrise worked through the mountains. The golden streaks of light bathed the ground in warmth and began to dry up the puddles that still held remnants of the rain. The power came back on at some point in the night. Janney awoke and found she had slept all night in front of the fireplace. George and Jonathan were still sleeping on the makeshift beds in the living room that they made last night from pillows and their sleeping bags. The smell of fresh coffee coming from the kitchen told Janney that at least one of the adults was awake as well.

She tried her best not to disturb the others still sleeping as she got up and made her way out to the porch. She found her aunt Emma sitting and looking at the sunrise over the lake. “Good Morning Janney.” Her aunt said as she sipped her coffee. “Come and have a seat. You are just in time.”

“What for?” Janney asked as she sat down next to her aunt.

“This is a magical time.” Aunt Emma said.

“How so?” said Janney, trying not to sound nervous as she inquired what her aunt meant by magic.

“The hour after sunrise is a very special, magical time. Even more so after a rainstorm like last night. Can’t you feel it? Close your eyes and take a deep breath.” Her aunt told her.

Janney did what she asked. The mountain air was fresh, as if the rain had scrubbed it clean. There was a peace about this morning too, a complete contrast to the night storm. She opened her eyes as the sun moved a bit higher in the sky, and her face could feel the first moments of its warmth. “It does feel nice.” Janney told her aunt.

“This is the golden hour.” Aunt Emma explained. “Everything takes on a magical look. Photographers covet this time as it gives new life with every look.”

Janney could hear a sound of joy in her aunt’s voice as she spoke, and she understood. She could feel it too. Janney reached out slightly with her senses, using just the slightest amount of magic as she was not sure who might be around. She had never used her power around someone other than her brother before. She didn’t want to use too much power for fear that it might alert her aunt that something was more than it seemed. She reached out and felt the morning sun and let out a gasp.

“I told you.” her aunt said, believing that her niece's surprise was from the natural beauty of the morning.

While Janney was overwhelmed by the sight, the same as her aunt, that was not what took her by surprise. What she was not prepared for was the morning light filled with life. Just as the night last night was alive with the Darkness, so too was the sunrise alive with the Light and life. Janney felt a new warmth and power wash over her. It felt as if she were alive for the very first time in her life. She was almost overwhelmed and had to hold back tears from the joy that filled her as she looked out at what her aunt called the golden hour.

The two of them sat there in silence as the sun continued its upward journey into the morning sky. Both of them were engrossed in the moment, not wanting to miss one second of it by the distraction of talking. Then, in what seemed to Janney to come too fast, it was over. The sun climbed high enough into the sky that the light changed its color from golden reds and yellows to the normal white light of the day.

“Thank you, Aunt Emma.” Janney said when the moment passed.

“No, my dear, thank you. I don’t get to share this time with anyone very much. I have always been an early riser, unlike your uncle, who prefers to sleep in.” her aunt said with a smile.

“Is it always like this?” Janney asked.

“Well, not always. The mountains add a certain atmosphere of mysticism and magic to it all their own. But, every place is special at the golden hour, no matter where you are that time of the morning, especially on a clear day like today, helps to show you to inner beauty of where you are at the moment.” Aunt Emma told Janney.

“George is normally the one who gets up early, I don’t know why I did today.” Janney admitted.

“I am just grateful to be able to share the moment with you today.” her aunt replied, taking a deep breath and smelling her coffee with a smile. “And one day you will find that it is absolutely perfect with the right cup of coffee too.”

Janney giggled and made a face.

“That’s okay my dear.” her aunt told her. “One day you might just change your mind about it.” She teased Janney with a wink.

Janney didn’t understand how anyone could like coffee. Her mother let her try some once, and she thought it was just horrible. She knew her aunt meant well, but she highly doubted she would ever like coffee.

“You know it is not that bad if you put enough sugar in it.” came Jonathan’s voice as he stepped out on the porch.

“It stops being coffee at a certain point.” Aunt Emma said with mock disgust. “Well, I guess my time of solitude is over. I’d better get inside and start preparing some breakfast.” She said as she stood up and went inside.

Jonathan came over and sat down near Janney. “What was that last night?” he asked Janney.

“I don’t know. But I do know that was no ordinary storm.” Janney told her cousin.

“And that man outside? Who was he? He is the one you told me about from the aquarium?” Jonathan asked.

Janney felt the warmth she had felt a few moments ago watching the sunrise vanish as a chill came over her as she thought about the man. “Yes.” Janney confirmed. “I am not sure who he is exactly. I know he is an agent for the Darkness.”

“What does Virago think?” her cousin asked her.

“I don’t know. I think he knows who it is, but he hasn’t told us. I know he is afraid of him.” Janney said.

“A dragon is afraid of a man?” Jonathan questioned Janney as the porch door opened.

“Man, you would never know there was a storm last night from the look of things now.” George said as we came outside and went over near them.

“George, who do you think that man outside last night is?” Jonathan asked him.

George stared straight out into the lake rather than at Jonathan as he spoke. “I think he is the Darkness. Or at least some sort of manifestation of it, like a representative.” 

“Why do you think that?” Janney asked him.

“He had the same feel as back in the cave. The exact same. Somehow, they are linked, that thing in the cave and that man.”  George told them.

“You mean like how Pix said a part of the Ich was trapped here while the other part escaped?” Jonathan asked. “You think that man is the other part?  The part that escaped?”

“That is too horrible to even think about.” Janney said.

“Well, maybe not the other part exactly, but they are linked in some way.” George said. “Don’t let his appearance fool you, he is not a man. No man can do what he can do. I only know that he feels the same as the thing in the cave. Maybe that is because they are both agents of the Darkness, maybe there is more. I don’t know.”

“I see.” Jonathan said as he thought about it for a minute. “I think the question we need to ask is, what are we going to do about it?”

“What do you mean?” Janney asked nervously.

“I mean, we find that cave and the creature that should not even be there, then that storm comes up last night out of nowhere. There is no way you can tell me that is a coincidence.” Jonathan explained.

“Well, no. I suppose they probably are not.” Janney answered.

“Of course, they are not.” said Jonathan confidently. “So what are we going to do about it?”

“We can’t do anything about it, Jon.” Janney said. Pix said to wait here until he returned.”

“But he hasn’t returned yet, has he?” Jonathan asked. “No? So the Darkness attacked us last night. They made a major move against us. We need to respond to them.”

“How?” George asked. “We don’t even know what the Darkness was doing last night?”

“That is exactly my point, George.” Jonathan said triumphantly. “We need to scout about and see what it is doing. This way, when Pix returns, we can tell him about.”

“I don’t think so Jon.” Janney said, shaking her head.

“I don’t know Janney.” George told her. “He might be right. At least it would be good to know what the Darkness is planning. Last time we were caught off guard. We won’t let that happen this time.”

“That’s because there won’t be a this time.” Janney said defiantly.

“George is right. We know that thing is there now. We can make sure we are prepared and not just stumble in there. Think of it as a spy mission. We are not trying to fight the thing, just check and see what happened. Gather information until the reinforcements arrive.” Jonathan said.

“Look Janney, we won’t go unless everyone agrees.” George told her.

Janney knew they would not let this go. She absolutely did not want to go back into that cave, especially without Pix or her grandfather with her. However, she also thought it was not a bad idea to just get some more information about what happened last night.

“Please…” George pleaded with his sister uncharacteristically.

“We only go as far as I say. After all, your powers were not enough to stop the creature last time without Pix’s help and he is not here now.” Janney ordered.

“Whatever you say Janney.” George agreed. “You say the word and we won’t go any further. Trust me, I don’t want to fight that thing either.”

“Then we are agreed?” Jonathan asked them all.

“Agreed.” George said.

“Agreed.” Janney said begrudgingly.

“Agreed.” Jonathan said, closing the deal.

“Somehow I just know I am going to regret this.” Janney said.

“Nonsense. Think of it as an adventure, a quest.” Jonathan said.

Janney laughed despite herself. “You are starting to sound more like Uncle Charlie every day, Jon.”

Jonathan smiled big in reply. “That’s not necessarily a bad thing, Janney. But I guess I just can’t help myself since it is genetics, you could say I was born this way.” he joked.

It was around mid-morning when they decided to start heading out to the cave. The torrential rain from the night before had caused the small creeks to rise. The sound of newly formed waterfalls could be heard all throughout the woods, along with the bird songs. Branches that came down in the storm lay scattered about on the still damp ground. They stopped at the entrance of the trail as if attempting to decide if they wanted to go through with the idea of returning to the cave and the possibility of seeing that beast again.

“Well, we all agreed.” Jonathan said as much to himself as to the others.

“I’ll take the lead.” George said as he stepped on the trail.

George was keeping a tight rein on his power as they made their way cautiously along the trail. He could not hear any other park visitors today, like the other day. He couldn’t blame them; the trail was muddy and slippery in places still from the rain. He kept the pace much slower than before too. He was keeping an eye out for whatever they might find. So far, his senses were not warning him about anything, but he did not trust them alone to keep them safe. It was noon by the time they reached the point where the rocks split the trail. They all knew they were getting close once they reached the rocks. They stopped for a brief rest and went over different scenarios they thought they might come across. George and Jonathan thought they would soon find a small army of agents working for the Darkness. That the storm was just a cover to bring them into the park. Janney thought that was a crazy idea. Why would they do that when they could just as easily walk in quietly so no one would be any the wiser to their presence? But since she did not offer up a better alternative, they were prepared to spy on a large enemy camp around any corner.

 They resumed their journey back to the cave after a short rest. George called a stop as soon as they got close enough that they could hear the waterfall. This time, both George and Janney tried to see if they could sense anyone else around them. Janney shook her head, indicating she could not find anything before them.

George motioned them to him and whispered, “There is nothing.” 

“That’s a good thing.” Jonathan said.

“No. I mean nothing. Listen.” George said, looking up and around. “Not even a bird is around us. There is nothing alive around here except us.”

Jonathan and Janney listened and found George was right, the forest was silent except for the sound of the waterfall.

“Do we go on?” Janney asked.

“We have to.” Jonathan said. “We will be very careful from here on out.”

“Agreed, we need to find out what happened here.” George said.

“What if that something is still here and we just can’t tell?  We didn’t feel that creature in the cave either.” Janney told them.

“I wasn’t looking for anything then, and neither were you.” George whispered. “Come on, let’s go. The path down to the entrance of the cave is just ahead.

They continued making their way as quietly as possible and soon found themselves at the edge of the gorge looking down at the waterfall. They peeked out from the tree line and watched the base of the waterfall for any activity. After not seeing anything moving down there, they slowly made their way down the path to the bottom of the gorge. The rain and mud made the path very slippery, and they had to hold onto the branches and bushes to keep from sliding all the way down. The end result did not make for a very stealthy approach to the cave.

Once at the bottom, they waited again. There was no change from before when both George and Janney didn’t feel anyone around, so they passed through the waterfall and stopped at the entrance to the cave. The entrance did not look as inviting as it did before. Now that they knew what lived within, it took every bit of control to just stand in front of the cave and not run away. George closed his eyes and reached out inside the cave. He did not dare to reach out past the main cavern for fear of alerting the creature.

“It’s clear.” George told the others.

“Do we go in?” Jonathan asked.

“We came this far.” Janney said.

George took a deep breath and grabbed hold of his power. He pushed it back so he did not need to have a tight hold on it, but if he needed it, he could grab it much faster. “Let’s go.” He said as he entered the cave first.

George crawled the passageway in darkness and waited until the others joined him before cracking a glow stick. He brought them along this time rather than use their phones for light, thinking it would not alert anyone they were there as easily unless, of course, they happened to be in the same room with them. The green glow of the glowstick cast an eerie light on them all. They could see well enough to navigate the cavern and locate the tunnel that led to the secret chamber where the creature lived.

“I don’t get it.” Jonathan said quietly. “Why is nothing different?  Where are they?”

“Maybe they are waiting for us to go in there.” Janney said, pointing toward the tunnel at the back of the chamber.

George tossed the glowstick near the entrance of the chamber and then waited. After a few minutes with nothing happening and no sound other than their breathing, George made his way slowly into the tunnel, motioning for the others to wait there as he moved on ahead. He flattened himself against the wall of the tunnel and moved slowly to the other end. The bioluminescence that lit the cavern before was not there. He almost didn’t realize he was at the opening of the large cavern when he reached it because it was so dark. George found himself staring into a deep blackness of no light. He closed his eyes and reached out before him. He was trying to feel for anything that might be within the cave. When he could not find anything, he decided to concentrate on the moss that was growing on the walls of the cave previously. Again, he detected nothing. Frustrated and scared, he decided on a rash decision, and this time he focused on his memory of the creature. He slowly reached out in an attempt to track and find the creature. He anticipated a strong reaction since the Ich had been living in the cave for so long, but he was met by nothing. There was no trace of it. It was as if the thing had never existed. Confused by his failure to find the beast, George returned to the others.

“There is nothing there.” He told them. “I mean, nothing is there. No lights, no moss, no mushrooms, no creature. It’s gone.