by P. C. Cast
“Bleck. Camp here? It’s way too cold.” Lori shivered. “It would make something as gross as camping even grosser.”
“Actually, the temperature inside the cave stays at a fairly consistent sixty degrees. It only fluctuates about five degrees either way, and that only in the middle of winter or summer,” Kyle explained.
“Still means cold and creepy to me,” Lori muttered.
Lori’s complaint made Morrigan realize that everyone else had put on jackets or sweatshirts. Even Kyle wore a khaki-colored jacket with the Alabaster Caverns State Park logo on the pocket. She was still holding her sweatshirt. She hadn’t been cold at all. As usual feeling weirdly out of sync with everyone else, Morrigan hastily tied the unneeded sweatshirt around her shoulders.
“Okay, that rock is really pretty,” Gena said. “It almost makes me forget that bats live down here.”
Morrigan followed Gena’s pointing finger to see a huge roundish stone onto which a pink spotlight was shining. The boulder glittered in the gaudy light. Morrigan thought it looked like something that should be decorating Dollywood.
“That is the largest freestanding boulder in the cave made completely of selenite.”
“It’s not supposed to be pink,” Morrigan heard herself say, and then she pressed her lips together. She was probably annoying the hell out of the cute guide.
Kyle gave her a surprised look that lacked any hint of irritation. “You’re right, selenite isn’t pink. That’s just our creative lighting. If you get closer to it, or look around at the rear side, you’ll see that selenite is a clear crystal, like glass. Actually, it’s so clear and easy to cut that settlers used sheets of it as windows in their homesteads.”
Without waiting for permission, Morrigan stepped off the well-marked pathway to look at the unlighted side of the boulder. She could easily see the clear brilliance of the glasslike stone. She touched it. The rock was soft and cool. Morrigan laid her palm flat against the surface. “You really are beautiful. You don’t need that stupid pink light,” she whispered.
The surface of the rock quivered like the skin of an animal.
Welcome, Light Bringer…
The words weren’t in the wind around her, as were the familiar voices she’d been hearing as long as she could remember. The words somehow traveled through her palm, through her skin, soaking into her body. Morrigan let out a little yelp and stepped back so quickly that her foot slid over the damp floor and she had to windmill her arms to keep from falling on her butt.
A strong hand caught her arm, steadying her. “Careful, it’s slick in here, especially if you move off the pathway.”
Thoroughly shaken, Morrigan did little more than nod and mutter a belated thanks as Kyle pulled her back on the path, smiled shyly at her and then motioned for the group to follow him forward.
“Okay, that Kyle cutie is tall and blond and delicious. Excellent job of getting him to notice you by playing damsel in distress,” Gena whispered to her.
Morrigan’s body followed Gena but her mind was buzzing with disbelief. What was going on? She couldn’t have really felt the rock move. The voice couldn’t have been anything except what she’d been hearing since she was a kid. Or had she finally let all the weirdness get to her and gone totally, one hundred percent nuts? Which meant she should be packing for Laureate psycho hospital instead of OSU.
By the time Morrigan caught up with the front of the group Kyle had stopped them in a place where the cave widened out again. He waited until everyone was looking expectantly at him.
The dome…
The words flitted through Morrigan’s mind just before Kyle pointed his flashlight up.
“This is the first of several domes in the cave. Notice that it is easy to see from the grooves and patterns left on the rock that the domes were created by whirlpools. At one time this cave was filled with water. Over the years it carved out the unique shape of the cave. Of course today all that is left of the once raging river is a shallow, glassy lake you’ll see later in the tour and this little stream that trickles parallel to our path.”
Morrigan thought the dome looked as if it had been shaped by a giant ice-cream scoop digging into the selenite-embedded alabaster ceiling. It was beautiful and mysterious, but somehow familiar. How could that be? It was like she’d known it would be there before Kyle had drawn their attention to it. But she’d never been in this cave—any cave—before now.
Staring up, Morrigan wandered to the edge of the pathway where the smooth wall was peppered with selenite crystals. She wanted to run her hand over the glistening surface. Actually, she felt compelled to touch it. But she hesitated, afraid and eager at the same time.
Discover the truth.
Morrigan was immeasurably relieved when she heard the whisper in the air around her; though she did appreciate the irony in feeling relief about something that had haunted her since she was a child. To her it still seemed the voice in the wind was more clearly maternal than usual. And she was relieved that it was in the air and not traveling through the skin of the cave. Or was she? There had been something infinitely compelling about that “other” voice—the one that had come from the selenite rock.
“This is my favorite part of the tour.” The humor in Kyle’s voice tugged at Morrigan’s attention. She turned so that she could see him standing with the rest of the group near one of the metal light-switch boxes. “We are going to experience complete dark. It’ll only last for sixty seconds, but it will be a long minute. The eye needs light to function properly. If you were to live in the dark for six weeks, you would go blind. Let’s get a little taste of that now!” With a click, Kyle flipped off the lights.
The darkness was utter and impenetrable.
Little squeals of semi-pretended fear came from the group. Morrigan definitely recognized Gena’s shriek. And there was the furtive rustling of people grabbing onto whoever stood beside them. Slowly, like she was moving through water, Morrigan turned blindly to the wall.
She felt no fear. In the complete dark her senses seemed to expand. Her body felt liquid, and she imagined she could be absorbed into the cave and merge with the glasslike crystals.
Morrigan realized the thought should have scared her, but it didn’t. Not at all.
She reached out her hand and pressed it against the cool surface of the cave wall. She could feel the crystal selenite where it mixed with the smoother, softer alabaster, and was amazed that even though she could see absolutely nothing she could tell which rock was which. Then against her palm she felt a stirring, the same type of movement she had felt when she’d touched the crystal boulder.
Light Bringer…
The name shivered through the selenite crystals, passing into her body like a current of sound. This time she didn’t pull away. Curiosity held her captive. Morrigan’s hand began to feel warm, and as the lights snapped back on she was staring at her hand where it rested against the cave wall.
The selenite crystals under her palm had begun to glow.
Morrigan pulled her hand from the wall and stuffed it into the front pocket of her jeans. The crystal flickered then went dark again.
“I told you this place was creepy,” Lori said, rushing up to Morrigan. “No freaking way would I ever want to get stuck down here. I cannot believe you didn’t scream your brains out when he shut off the lights and you were standing over here all by yourself.”
Morrigan moved her shoulders. “No big deal. I mean, he said it was only going to last for sixty seconds.” Trying to sound normal, she said, “My bikini wax last week lasted longer and was scarier.”
Lori laughed and Morrigan tried to relax. Gena and Jaime joined them and the four girls followed the group continuing down the path.
“I swear to God I was sure a bat was going to fly into my hair when he turned off the lights,” Gena was saying breathlessly.
“I’m cold,” Jaime said. “I wonder how long this thing is.”
“The path is about a quarter of a mile,” Morrigan said
absently, and then wondered how the hell she knew that. Thankfully, everyone else was used to her knowing stuff about the outdoors, so no one noticed her extrasensory knowledge.
“Good. Then we won’t be down here too much longer,” Lori said.
“Was that a bat?” Gena was squinting up at another dome formation in the ceiling. “I think I just saw a bat.”
Morrigan tuned out their chatter. As often as she could she let her fingertips trail over the smooth, damp side of the cave. Whenever her skin touched selenite she felt a zap of heat. She absolutely, definitely felt something within the rock that she could only describe as sentience. The cave was alive and by some amazing miracle it recognized her. It called her Light Bringer. As she walked the rest of the path, slowly bringing up the rear, she felt as if she had left Oklahoma and entered another world—and this time it was a world in which she belonged.
But how could that be? How could she feel at home in an f-ing cave? It didn’t make any sense, but then neither did hearing voices or making fire sprout from her hand. Morrigan realized it was getting warmer. They must be coming to the exit from the cave. Reluctantly, she moved up with the rest of the group where they had stopped beside Kyle.
“The modern exit from the cave is there.” He pointed to where the cave path turned gently to the left. “But that’s a man-made exit. Before that was built, the exit was through there.” Kyle aimed his flashlight down a small tunnel that branched off from the main pathway. “To exit the old way, people had to duck and squeeze through there. They went most of the way on their hands and knees, and sometimes they even had to crawl.”
“Eew,” Gena said. “Talk about claustrophobia. I’d rather turn around and go out the in than do that.”
Kyle chuckled. “Thanks to modern engineering, you don’t have to do either.”
“Can we take the old exit if we want?” This time Morrigan meant to speak aloud. Everyone turned and stared at her. The looks on her three friends’ faces were predictably horrified. She didn’t bother with them, though. She kept her gaze steady on Kyle’s blue eyes.
“Don’t you think it would be claustrophobic and tomblike in there?” He shined his flashlight down the narrow tunnel again.
“No,” Morrigan said firmly. “I think it’s perfect the way nature made it and I’d like to use the original exit.” A quick thought made her rummage through her purse for the flashlight. “And I have this.”
Kyle smiled. “Sure, go ahead. I usually take that exit when I’m not leading a group. You’re small enough that you shouldn’t even have to crawl—hands and knees should do it for you.” He glanced at the rest of the group. “Anyone want to join Miss Adventurous?”
There were muffled laughs and lots of heads shaking. Lori started to open her mouth to protest, but Morrigan ignored her, flipping on her flashlight and striding past her gawking friends.
“Just keep your flashlight on and keep moving forward. It’s really not very far. You’ll meet us about twenty-five feet from here just before the rear opening.” He grinned, which made him look like a really cute but mischievous twelve-year-old. “Have fun.”
“Thanks, I will.” Morrigan smiled back at him, wondering how old he was. At first he’d seemed way young, but he’d told the potbellied guy that he was finishing his master’s. That made him twenty-something, didn’t it? She hoped he was older. Young guys gave her a headache. The last guy she’d dated had been nineteen—of course, he’d acted like he was thirteen, but that had been no big surprise. If she felt years older than her girlfriends, she felt centuries older than the guys they hung out with.
“Are you changing your mind? It’s okay, you know.”
Morrigan jumped, realizing she’d been standing there holding her flashlight, staring into the tunnel and daydreaming about guys. No wonder she hadn’t had a date in months. She was truly a dork. And an overly mature dork at that.
“Oh, no! No. I’m not changing my mind. I was just waiting for you to tell me I could go ahead.”
“Oh.” He blushed again, and Morrigan thought his pink cheeks made him look adorable. “You can go ahead.”
“Good. Okay. See you on the other side.” Morrigan got on her hands and knees and, flipping the flashlight on, crawled into the tunnel and away from the group’s curious stares.
CHAPTER 4
The tunnel turned abruptly to the right. Crawling, she followed it and the cave swallowed her. Logically, Morrigan knew she was only a few yards away from the rest of the group—that if she backed up she would pop out of the tunnel and would be on the well-marked pathway with its electric lighting system and its oh-so-safe handrails. But logic had little to do with how she’d felt since she entered the cave. The tunnel was small and smooth and pleasantly cool. She crawled on, enjoying the sense of protection the tight space gave her. When the tunnel widened just enough for her to sit on her feet, knees bent, she stopped. Morrigan spread her arms. Both hands rested on either side of the tunnel. She caressed the rock, concentrating and feeling carefully. Yes…only by touch and without looking she knew it when her palms brushed over selenite crystals embedded in the alabaster.
Light Bringer…
The name vibrated through her body and Morrigan felt an indescribable rush of excitement.
“Hello…” she whispered hesitantly.
We hear you, daughter of the Goddess.
Morrigan’s heart thudded heavily. Daughter of the Goddess? The crystals thought she was the daughter of a goddess! The thrill of the thought quickly faded. What would happen when the crystals found out they were mistaken? She wasn’t the daughter of any goddess. She was just an orphan kid whose family was kinda strange. Sure, like her grandparents, her mother, Shannon, had believed that trees and rocks and nature in general had souls, and that a god or goddess couldn’t be confined to a building. But Shannon Parker had definitely been mortal and not a goddess. Her death was all the proof Morrigan needed of that.
Embrace your heritage.
The words didn’t come from the rocks, but drifted to her familiarly through the cool air of the cave. Morrigan sighed and muttered, “It’s hard to embrace my heritage when I’m not really sure what that means.”
It means you are touched by the divine.
The immediate response startled Morrigan. The voices in the wind never answered her. She’d never had a conversation with them. Usually they were just random thoughts that she caught, like an overheard conversation. Sometimes she heard laughter. Sometimes she heard crying. But they’d never, ever responded to her—not even the many times she’d called out for her mother. A finger of worry shivered up her spine, but the sense of belonging and peace the cave gave her outweighed any trepidation she might have felt at the deviation from what she considered normal.
“I’ve been touched by the divine.” Morrigan repeated the words—testing them—tasting them—trying to wrap her mind around them. “And if that’s true, then the crystals really do recognize me,” she reasoned aloud, the walls of the narrow tunnel absorbing the sound of her voice. Morrigan spread her fingers wide against the skin of the cave and concentrated. “Hello,” she said softly. “Thank you for recognizing me.”
Instantly her palms began to warm. The crystals quivered against her skin and then the warmth intensified and the rock began to glow. Morrigan was utterly intrigued, completely absorbed in the light she was creating. It was different from the little flame that sprouted from her hands. That never lasted long and left her feeling breathless and what her grandma described as “out of sorts.”
Lighting the crystals made her feel powerful.
She knew without any doubt she could turn off the flashlight and create enough light by which to guide herself. And she wasn’t just making light—she was also creating warmth. If someone touched her skin it would be warm, maybe even hot. It was like she had found a power source that only she could tap into, and it lived in the crystals of the cave.
“Hey! Are you doing okay in there?”
Kyle’s v
oice made Morrigan jump. She pulled her hands from the tunnel walls. And the crystals remained lit. Awed, she stared at them.
“Yeah! Sorry!” Morrigan yelled down the tunnel. “I just stopped to look at some of the crystals.”
“Well, the group is out. We’re waiting for you,” he yelled back.
The internally lit selenite was incredibly beautiful. It caught the surrounding alabaster, making that section of the tunnel glow with a pure, white light.
“Morrigan?” Kyle’s voice sounded closer, which jerked Morrigan out of the trancelike state in which she’d been gazing at the crystals.
“I’m coming!” She scrambled forward on her hands and knees, clutching the flashlight. Just before the tunnel took another sharp turn and opened to the larger exit, Morrigan glanced over her shoulder. The light of the crystals was fading. As she watched, it flickered…flickered…and then went dark. She hurried the rest of the way.
Kyle took her free hand and steadied her as she emerged from the tunnel. “Wow, you must have worked up a sweat crawling through there, your hand is burning up.” His brow was furrowed and he studied her carefully, as if he expected to see signs that she had had a claustrophobic fit.
Morrigan gave him her best smile. “I guess I’d better hit the gym more often.” She pretended to wipe nonexistent sweat from her face and purposefully breathed heavily. “Sorry it took me so long to get through. I didn’t mean to hold everyone up. It’s just that those crystals caught the beam of my flashlight, and they were so beautiful I guess I got distracted.”
The guide’s handsome face relaxed. “I know exactly what you mean,” he said as he motioned for her to follow him out of the cave. Morrigan forced herself to walk with him, but as she stepped from the mouth of the cave’s exit and stood on normal ground again, with the Oklahoma heat pressing down on her and the aqua blue of the sky spreading unendingly above her, she felt the loss of being within the earth like a physical thing and she blinked her eyes hard, amazed that she felt so much like crying.