The Butterfly Girl: A Star is Born

#109 Three Gems in a Rock

[Sophia]

I woke up suddenly, somehow earlier than usual. My eyes taking in the familiar surroundings of my room as the dream in my mind began to fade. It took me a while to finally accept that I've actually been here this whole time instead of... wherever I just was. And then I remembered what I was going to be doing today. I thought I might as well get up now and get ready. Packing a better flashlight this time because the other one I used was starting to tap out. I knew Apollo wouldn't be up at this hour, but I sent him a quick heads up text to let him know that I was already out and I'd be back before sundown. One bowl of cereal later and I was good to go. The early morning air was chilly and I shivered the whole way down to the tree house. I noticed the Twins weren't here waiting for me to take off with them.
Man, did they already get up? Do these guys even have a sleep schedule?
I guessed they were already at the strawberry fields by now and took off into the sky to see for myself. It was even colder up here, but the morning sky looked pretty nice actually. But I felt like my arms would freeze and become brittle by the time I landed. I hovered gently outside the edge of the forest and decided to walk the rest of the way. I saw the Twins waiting by the hole as I carefully crossed over the strawberry bushes to meet up with them.
"Hey Sophie, didn't think you'd get up so early. You ready to explore the caves?"
I nodded in complete confidence, satchel slung at my side and ready to face the darkness.
"You still think there might be something down there?"
"You mean like... scary monsters or..?"
"Uh... anything I guess. If there's anything down there that tries to get us, I'll handle it. Just keep your eyes open for anything... different."

I took the first step and plummeted into the depths, quickly extending and curling my wings to slow my descent. The Twins followed just behind me, making sure not to crash into one another. Until we finally made it to the bottom and glanced above us. The golf ball-sized hole that left us only a spotlight on the ground to illuminate our surroundings. And before us, the darkness from which no light has ever been seen. I took a deep breath and started forward, while shuffling around in my backpack for the other flashlight I brought. I pulled it out and clicked it on, illuminating the path before us.
"Do you really need that? I thought you could see in the dark like us?"
"I can, but not as well as you. Plus, maybe the creatures are afraid of light?" I replied. We finally made it to the edge of the path where the cavern stretched before us. On our right, the tunnel that we took. And on our left, no tunnel over there. I pointed the flashlight over the edge. It was definitely better than the other one I used, but it still wasn't enough to reach the bottom. If there even was a bottom...
"Okay, so we already went that way. Is there another tunnel that leads further down?" I asked. The Twins thought for a moment. 
"There should be a way down there, but be careful. It's a little tricky."
"Where is it?" I asked.
The Twins pointed to a different tunnel below the ridge and I aimed at it with my flashlight. A dark circle in the rock on the other side of the cavern.
"Alright, so we go over there?"
"Seems like a good place to start."
I took the first step and glided towards the tunnel, hoping I wouldn't mess up and fall into the abyss. I dived head first and slid to a stop, taking a few steps back to let the Twins land safely without crashing. They landed better than I did and took the lead.
"This one leads downwards for a bit, we're not sure how far but we haven't gone down all the way."
"Alright, then let's get looking." I aimed the flashlight forward and we continued on. For some reason I was waiting to hear that sound again, but I didn't sense anything. There was nothing to be heard besides the sound of us walking on stone. Maybe a couple loose pebbles and some dust here and there, but I heard nothing else. I don't know what I expected. Shining my flashlight up on the cave walls every now and then revealed nothing. I'm not much of a rock expert, but I wondered if these tunnels were made naturally, or carved out by something that must've lived here long ago. Besides that, I kept the light pointed towards the ground. I stared at the back of the Twins' heads, wondering if they were nervous to be back here. I admit, even I was a little nervous to be here after what happened last time. I was probably lucky to have run into them before something else did. Until they had no choice but to flee. I wondered what that felt like. To have a home your so familiarized with and to just have it not be your home anymore, not sure what to expect when you come back to see it again. I'm not sure why I would wonder about such a thing.

"Hey, Sophie?"
"Hm?" I lifted my head.
"Do you think that Demon will come back to find us down here?" the Twins wondered.
"Hmmm... I don't think so. I don't know if it knows about this place... but if there's something else down here, I think we can handle it."
"Yeah..."
Every now and then I pointed my flashlight upwards, making sure there weren't any of those blob creatures waiting to drop down on our faces. But the tunnel was relatively small, so I didn't see anything. I really hoped they wouldn't jump out anywhere. I checked my phone every now and then just to see what time it was. We had only been out for an hour, but I hoped this path wouldn't take us down too far and have it take forever just to get back out. The Twins stopped me up ahead as the path took a steep dive and continued going down in an unsteady path.
"Careful. We're going to have to climb down a bit. Can you do that?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine. I can hold the flashlight so you can see."
"That's okay, we can do it. Just be careful when you go down."
I watched as the Twins climbed down carefully. Pushing away any loose rocks and glancing back and forth from their hands to their feet, making sure they didn't slip on anything. I wasn't sure how to hold the flashlight and climb down at the same time. I didn't think I could, but without it I would definitely slip up. There also wasn't enough room to glide down either, so that was an obvious no.
I still sensed nothing as I considered my options for how to descend carefully.