The children awoke to the smell of Aunt Emma’s homemade biscuits and bacon the next morning. After devouring their aunt’s breakfast they decided to spend the morning hiking.

“Why don’t we go all the way to the big waterfall?  I read that you can hike down to the bottom of it.” Jonathan suggested as they headed out the door.

Janney had to fight down a panic at the thought of going so close to the place without Pix. Just being close to it the other day was bad enough that she didn’t think she could manage actually going down into the falls. She didn’t know any way to explain to her cousin why they shouldn’t go there. She knew she couldn’t just say ‘We can’t go there!’ she thought to herself. ‘There is an ancient evil trapped there that is trying to get out!’

George saw her sister tense up and offered up an alternative plan for the day. “Why don’t we go to one of the other falls?” George asked. “There is a trail leading off to one on this side of the park that starts right here at the lake.”

“Alright.” Jonathan agreed. “That sounds like a plan. You lead today, George.”

Janney let out a huge sigh of relief that she did not even know she was holding in. She hoped Jonathan did not notice her unease, but if her cousin did, he didn’t mention it. “Right, George. You lead today, and Jon, you can lead tomorrow.” Janney added. They all liked the idea of every day, a different one of them chose where they were going. But somehow it just felt right to Janney that George led today. It was strange that Jonathan wanted George to lead. Normally, he liked to be in charge of things. Not in a bossy kind of way, more like a director or adult who expected the children to follow him. She supposed it was because Jonathan had never been to this park before, and he knew George had, so he was more familiar with the park than he was. Or maybe it was something more. Maybe George’s newfound magic was influencing Jonathan without George even trying to.

“This way!” George called out to them as he took off running to the trailhead.

The trail started more like a wide walking highway than a normal hiking trail. It went around the lake and had paths that branched off to the small general store and gift shop as well as to other parts of the park. There were other people out walking on the trail, some with children, others walking their dogs. Most of the people they passed by were very friendly offering a smile or the occasional hello.

After a while, the trail narrowed and entered the surrounding forest. They noticed the further they went into the trees, the fewer people they would see. They could sometimes hear someone laughing or calling out to one another off in the distance, but for the most part, they did not see anyone. As the trail continued, it began to meander like a snake while it also steadily began to climb uphill. They came to a point where the trail narrowed to a path with several large boulders flanking it, and Jonathan jumped up on one of the rocks.

“Let’s take a break.” Jonathan said. They all climbed up on one of the rocks, letting their feet hang over the sides. “How far is it George?” 

“We shouldn’t be far now, Jon. I think this is the last section of the trail.” George answered.

“There is nobody out this far.” Janney said.

“That’s because they all mostly stick to the main attractions. You know the ones you can drive to.” Jonathan said.

“That is silly.” said Janney. “Why come way out here to this park if you are not going to walk around in nature?  It is like they want it to be a drive-thru park.” Janney joked.

“It is the same way back home.” Jonathan told them. “You should see the tourists pack for the beach. You would think they were getting ready to build a house there and move it.”

“Do you go to the beach often?” Janney asked him.

“As often as I can get a ride there. Mom and Dad got me surfing lessons a while ago. I am good enough that they trust me to go without them now.” Jonathan answered.

George let out a laugh. “You? Surfing?  I just can’t see that.”

“Yeah, I know, right?” their cousin replied. “But it is not at all like the stereotype shown with the far-out hippy surfer. I just love being out there in nature by myself, you know. You guys need to come visit. You would like it. I can teach you the basics.”

George closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He concentrated on the woods around him and found the stillness. He could feel the path and the waterfall nearby. George also felt the familiar presence. It made him happy to know that Pix was following them, but he also worried about the possibility of him being seen. He wanted to hold his connection longer, but was afraid of his cousin noticing.

“We might as well get moving, the waterfall is not far away now.” George announced as he jumped down from his perch atop the rock. The air became notably fresher with each step as the three of them started walking further into the woods..

“So what have you two been up to lately?” Jonathan asked his cousins.

“Oh, not much, you know the usual.” Janney said somewhat nervously. She had never been a good liar, which normally would be a good thing. In this case, not so much that she wanted to keep their new abilities and heritage a secret.

“There’s this.”  George said, holding up his slingshot in an attempt to rescue Janney from bumbling the conversation down the unwanted path of dragons.

“That looks cool.” Jonathan said excitedly. “Where did you get that?

“Our neighbor gave it to me for helping him with some yard work.” George answered matter-of-factly. He knew that it was best to tell the truth as much as possible. He didn’t want to lie to his cousin either. However, George also knew that he could leave some obvious parts out and try to distract his cousin so he would not need to explain any more than was necessary.

Jonathan let out a laugh at the thought of George volunteering to do work. “You! Doing yard work?  Now that I need to see.” He laughed.

“Okay, surfer man.” George laughed with a big smile.  He reached down and picked up a small pebble, placing it in the leather pouch on the slingshot. His eyes scanned the area until he found a suitable target. “Do you see that big pine tree with the patch of ferns around it?” George asked.

Jonathan looked to where George was pointing. On the far end of what could be seen of the path, he found the tree George was talking about. “Yes, I see it. You are going to hit a target the size of a tree?” Jonathan teased.

“Do you see the hollowed-out knot just above the fourth branch on the right?” George replied, not taking the bait from his cousin. As much as George wanted to show off his new skills to Jonathan, he also knew that he shouldn’t make it too incredible of a shot. It needed to be a good aim, but not one that was unexplainable.

“What knot? Wait. Yes, I see it.” Jonathan said, squinting to make out the knot. “You can you see that?  You have some great eyesight.” Jonathan exclaimed.

George responded by clearing his mind and concentrating on his target. He briefly thought of letting the stone fly while his eyes were still closed, but then thought better of it and opened his eyes before releasing the tension on the slingshot. The pebble hit the knot squarely, causing a piece of the shattered bark to fly off and crack from the impact echoed out.

Jonathan stood with his mouth open in awe for a brief moment before he realized what he was doing and recovered. “Nice shot, little cuz.” he said in admiration.

“Thanks.” George smiled.

“Can I try?” Jonathan asked.

“Sure, but not here. Wait until we get to the falls. There are so many trees around here that if you don’t hit what you are aiming at, it might ricochet back and hurt one of us.” George said as they started walking again. In reality, he was more concerned about Jonathan hitting Pix the way George did back when he first started to practice with the weapon.

“That sounds like the voice of experience.” Jonathan said with a smile.

“Maybe.” George replied, happy that his cousin was satisfied not to press to let him try shooting it now.

“Listen.” Janney said as they all stopped.

The sound of the waterfall could be heard through the trees, and they knew their destination was close. As they followed the path ahead and cleared the sharp turn, the waterfall came into view. The path opened up near the end of the gorge.  A wide creek bed poured down 50 feet over the sandstone and shale rock sediments, creating the waterfall. The base of the falls was bowl-shaped and concaved with all kinds of hollows and caves running behind the curtain of water falling before it. The water continued to fall with a second falls that was wider and more like a staircase, a few yards out from the base, before the creek turned into a small river and continued down through the Cumberland Plateau.

“Wow.” Jonathan said as the three stood there admiring the view of the waterfall.

“Let’s go down to the bottom.” George said.

“Race you.” Jonathan said as he pushed past George and began running down the trail. The path down was steep at places and did not lend itself to making for an easy race, yet somehow Jonathan and George both managed to make it down in one piece, with the elder getting to the bottom first. Janney walked down the path in a more dignified manner rather than trying to keep up with the boys. They spent the afternoon playing in the water, skipping rocks across the surface of the river below. Jonathan eventually started investigating the rock formations behind the falls.

“Hey check this out!” Jonathan called out to the others. They found him crouched down with his head inside one of the small hollows in the rock.

“What is it?” Janney asked. The hallows in the rock were just large enough that if they crawled on their hands and knees, they could just fit inside. She was seriously hoping her cousin was not going to try and do just that.

“It opens up inside after a few feet. It looks large enough to stand up.” Jonathan said.

“No way.” Janney said. “We are not going in there.”

“Ah, come on Janney. Where is your sense of adventure?” her cousin said as he flashed a charming and mischievous smile.

“What if you're wrong?  You can get stuck inside there. Or worse, what if something lives in there?” Janney said, trying to change his mind, but she had known him too long to think that he was going to listen to her.

“Listen, if I can fit both of you can too. No bear would make a home with an entrance this small. Anything inside of here will be more afraid of us than we are of it.” Jonathan said with such confidence that he almost convinced her he was right.

“I’ll go with you.” George spoke up.

“It looks pretty dark in there. How are you going to see?” Janney asked.

“Simple,” Jonathan said as he held up his phone. “I can turn use the flashlight on my phone.”

Janney forgot about that feature on the phone. Knowing she had been defeated, she decided to go with them, but only to keep an eye on them in case they went too far.

Jonathan crawled in slowly and held his phone out ahead of him while Janney and George stayed behind, watching as he slowly disappeared into the shadows, and all they could see was the light from his phone. Just about when he reached the point that Janney was going to ask him to come back, he stopped and his light vanished.

“Jon!” Janney called out. Silence answered her. “Jon! She called out with a bit of panic rising up to her throat. More silence.

George started to reach out to find the stillness, when suddenly Jonathan’s light came back and waved back and forth. “You have to come and see this!” Jonathan's voice cried out from the cave.

Janney let out a sigh of relief and made a mental note to hit her cousin when she caught up to him for scarring her like that. Both George and Janney followed their cousin inside the cave with his assurances that it was safe inside and large enough for everyone to fit in. What they found on the other end of the small crawlspace was a large cavern. Large enough to fit at least 20 people comfortably inside. The light on Jonathan’s phone was not bright enough to truly illuminate the space to be able to make out all of the features, but Janney noticed that the back wall was wet where the water above them was seeping through the sandstone.

“This is incredible.” George said as he looked around. “Listen, I can barely even hear the waterfall just outside.”

Janney realized George was right, the surrounding rock walls and ceiling insulated the noise, and the deafening roar that was outside was only a slight soft buzz in the cave.

“Hello!” Jonathan yelled out. His voice echoed off the walls and called into the Darkness.

“Do you hear that?” George said.

“Yeah, it echoes. This place must be bigger than I first thought.” Jonathan said.

“No, not that.” George said. He stood still and reached out, listening. He soon found what he thought he heard. Running water. He could feel it. It felt like a raging torrent of water. When he opened his eyes, the passageway became clear to him. The entire cave looked alive to him, almost like a negative image of a photograph. Just outside their light was a passageway deeper into the cave. The sound of the water was coming from the other end of that passageway.

“Janney, turn your light on, on your phone.” George instructed.

Janney had completely forgotten that she had a phone. After a moment, the passageway revealed itself from Janney’s light.

“Look.” Janney said as she shined her light down the passageway.

“Let’s check it out.” Jonathan said. He turned his light in the same direction.

They ventured out down the passage, and the sound of the running water grew louder with each step. The passage opened up, and what it revealed left all three of them speechless. They stepped out into an enormous underground cavern. The cavern walls were illuminated with a glowing blue and green color light that slowly twinkled in a magical and hypnotic pattern. The luminescent cavern by itself was a marvel, but the pinnacle of the spectacle was that there was a waterfall twice the size of the one outside of the cave. The water was running out of a small hole up in the roof of the cave as if from a large spicket. George could tell that the water was coming from the river above the ground. Some of the water was slowly making its way through the porous rock above rather than down the falls outside. The roof of the cavern was a solid slab of granite that the water could not penetrate. The granite made for an excellent subterranean river bed.  It helped collect the water, causing it to flow towards the hole in the cavern ceiling and down into the cavern. The water collected in a large pool before it continued its journey as an underground river off into the Darkness.

“I bet we are the first people to ever see this.”  Jonathan said.

“How so?” George said in return.

“If the park service knew this was here, they would have tours to come and see it.” Jonathan said.

George nodded his head in agreement, not wanting to speak anymore in the place. The cavern had an almost sacred feel about it. The lights from the phones had no effect in the cavern, as it was so large that there was no way the tiny lights could help you to see anything other than your own feet. He could sense the life in the cavern and remembered being told in school that there were some places in the world where no sunlight could shine. Yet there was still light. Somehow, he knew the light was being made but the creatures living on the walls. “Bioluminescence,” he said to himself but out loud.

  “I thought it was only deep in the ocean. But apparently it can happen in caves as well.” Janney said. Her face was alive with the joy of the place. She could not help herself in the presence of such an amazing place she slowly reached out to see what kind of life was giving off the blue and green glow.

She slowly reached out into herself and then to the cavern. She felt a wave of life come over her. It felt like the innocence of a newborn. Absolutely no malice, nor sickness, like when she practiced in the garden. Just pure innocent life. She could feel a warmth wash over her of complete happiness. She continued to reach out more. Trying to draw in more of her surroundings and feeling was so wonderful, she wanted to pull more and more of that happiness. Everything was right and perfect in the world at that moment. Everything was just the way it should be. And then she noticed an area that was not illuminated.

Curious and caught up in the moment, she reached out to this darkened spot in the cave without any caution. Instantly, she felt overwhelmed. This place was the complete opposite of the joy from the cave. Despair. She felt overwhelming despair and pain. More than just that, she felt Darkness. Not just because it was out of range from the strange light glowing in the rest of the cave. It was the presence of pure Darkness. The Darkness. Her breath caught in her chest as the realization slammed into her.

George could tell something was wrong. He could not tell what it was, but he knew it the same way he knew the earth was round. Every part of him was screaming to be alert, to take care. He looked around and could not see anything. Jonathan was looking around next to him in awe. They were bathed in a blue glow, and George could not see any danger around him. George turned to look at Janney. She was on his other side, and he saw she was staring toward the other end of the cave. The hairs on the hack of his neck stood straight up when he looked in the direction Janney was looking. Danger!  Danger! His senses were screaming at him now.

“I think we should start heading back.” George said softly.

“What? You have to be kidding!” Jonathan said in complete surprise that George would even suggest such a thing.

“Seriously. We need to get out of here.” George said without explaining. He knew that he must have sounded like a fool to his cousin, but every inch of him was on fire with the danger that was out there in the dark. George grabbed Janney’s shoulder, which broke the hold the Darkness had on her. “Come on Janney.” George said with authority.

Janney latched on to George’s voice as she tried to focus on breathing and not on the Darkness. “George?” she said, looking at him in fear.

“I know.” George said as he understood that Janney felt the Darkness in the place, too.

It was then that they heard the sound. It was a low-pitched and raspy, slow hiss. Much like a cat might make when cornered. At first, the sound was very soft, but soon it grew and echoed throughout the cave.

“What on earth is that?” Jonathan said as his eyes began to dart back and forth. “That doesn’t sound like a bear to me?”

The hissing sound started to pick up a slight growl with it as it continued. The cave acted like a natural amplifier, making the hiss sound louder and more terrifying.

“We really need to leave now!” George said to Jonathan.

“I think you may be right, George.” Jonathan said with a hint of worry in his voice.

“Geeeorrgeeee….” The hiss said slowly in reply.

Now they were all terrified. It was bad enough when they thought it might be a bear or some other kind of animal, but this thing could talk.

Suddenly, George could remember Virago telling him that he needed to protect his sister. George felt the same anger from the aquarium. This time, instead of holding it back, he reached for it. He grabbed hold of it and held it. He knew the longer he held it, the more force it would have when he let it out. Then he pulled the slingshot and a rock out of his pocket and held it up as if he would shoot whatever the thing in the Darkness was. He could feel his fist that was pulling back on the leather pouch with the rock heating up from the rage inside of him. “Take Janney out of here.” George said quietly.

“Janneyyyyy….” The hiss growled louder.

Jonathan told George he would get Janney out of the cave safely. If George was not out right behind him, Jonathan would go back in and help. He said all that with only a look between them and without ever uttering a word. He took Janney by the hand and slowly led her toward the passageway they had first come from.

They had just made it to the mouth of the passageway when the thing attacked. George acted on pure instinct. He let the rock fly out of the slingshot and with it all of the rage he was holding back. A glowing violet streak exploded out from his hands and into the creature as it sprang from the Darkness. It happened so fast that George never even saw what it was. He could only feel the hate from it as it pounced out of the Darkness. It was a large ferret-like creature that was the size of an elephant. Its movement was way too fast for something of its size. George knew that this must be the Ichneumon. He didn’t know how he knew or how it was possible, but he knew it was so. Virago said he defeated the Ich. Yet somehow here it was before them.

The rock that fused with George’s power knocked the creature back into the Darkness. George could hear Janney screaming behind him. “Get her out of here!” he yelled to Jonathan as he let another volley of purple fire shoot from his fists.

He could hear the creature screaming in rage and pain as the flames tore into it. George let out a primal scream, and he put every ounce of energy he had into the third attack. He was gathering the strength to attempt another attack when the cave erupted in a bright yellow flash of light. George threw his hands over his eyes as the sudden light blinded him.

“This way!” came the familiar voice of Pix.

Squinting and half blind, George stumbled in the dark.

“Remember your training and find the way.” Pix ordered, causing George to focus once again.

George had to try hard to let go of the rage and reach for the softer and more subdued power that allowed him to track things. Once he managed to do so, the way back to the mouth of the cave was plain to him as if it were broad daylight. He soon found himself crawling on his hands and knees as he made his way out of the cave and back outside under the falls.

“Keep moving!” Pix yelled in his ear. As George’s eyes began to adjust to the daylight. He could see that Jonathan was leading Janney back up the path to the top of the falls. He allowed himself to feel a bit of relief knowing that his sister was safe for the moment. They continued running until they reached the rocks they stopped at on their way there earlier in the morning. Tired and unable to continue without resting first they slumped against the rocks.