“Let’s go,” Kade replied. They both walked with an air of casual purpose up to the railing that boxed in the rest area from the rest of the mountain’s forest. “I’ll look. Act natural.”
Florian nodded, keeping his eyes on the trees, leaning closer to inspect a large fern. Kade leaned back against the railing next to him, and from the corner of his eye, Florian could see Kade slowly looking back and forth.
“Now,” Kade murmured, and Florian ducked under the rail and hurried into the cover of the forest. He could hear Kade moving just behind him, but he kept going until Kade’s voice came once more. “Okay, we’re good.”
He turned back to face Kade again, grinning with the rush of adrenaline. “No one saw us?”
“No one saw us,” Kade replied, looking amused. “Not that there were many people there to see us, anyway.”
Florian nodded, glancing back the way they came, just in case. But he saw no movement beyond the trees; no one was following after them.
“Let’s go,” he said, and they continued heading north. There was no trail or path here, so they picked their way carefully through the underbrush, their path meandering to find the easiest way forward. Remembering the spider web from earlier, Florian did his best to avoid having to squeeze between any trees or bushes.
“Look,” Kade said, pointing. “I think it’s that way. Looks like it’s starting to head downhill. If it was that spot we saw on the map...”
“Yeah,” Florian agreed. He could see the earth beginning to slope slightly downhill, just as Kade said. They advanced in that direction, still stomping and pushing through the foliage. While they hadn’t gone far from the rest area, already the air seemed much more still and silent around them, and Florian wondered when these woods had last been disturbed.
“Shit,” Kade hissed, and flung his arm out to stop Florian. “Careful.”
Florian stumbled to a stop. What had been a gradual downward slope had suddenly become a steep drop-off, almost hidden with the dense foliage—if Kade hadn’t noticed, they very well may have stepped right out into empty air. Careful to keep his footing, Florian peered down into the crevasse they had found. Shrubs and bushes still grew from the sides of the drop-off, but the more Florian looked at it, the more it seemed like a perfectly circular hole in the ground, dropping down maybe a hundred yards. Though in truth he could not see that far, since even thicker trees and bushes were growing up from within, blocking their view of the bottom.
“Listen,” Kade whispered. “Do you hear water?”
Florian closed his eyes, trying to listen as well as he could—Kade’s hearing was often better than his own, even here on Earth where neither could use their magic. But now that Kade said it, there was a soft rushing noise coming from below. If he hadn’t been focusing on it, it would have faded into the soft rustles of the leaves in the breeze; but when he could pick it out, it was almost certainly running water.
“This has to be it, right?” Florian asked. “A big hole in the ground with a spring at the bottom that’s not on the map? That sounds way too mysterious and weird not to be it.”
Kade smirked, shaking his head. “Yeah, that tracks.”
“How should we get down?”
His amusement faded at that, and he frowned as he craned his neck to peer around the perimeter of the pit.
“I think we’ll just have to climb,” he sighed. “I don’t see any part that seems less steep. Maybe over there where there’s more bushes on the side, might be safer if we, uh... slip.”
“How far down do you think it is?” Florian asked, looking dubious. He couldn’t see beyond the top of the trees blocking the view, so it could be twenty feet, or maybe a hundred.
“Let’s hope it’s not too far,” Kade sighed, pulling a rope from his backpack. “Here, I’ll tie this down to one of these trees up here so we at least have something to hold on to.”
“Man, Ihatedrock climbing in gym class...” Florian muttered, tightening the straps of his own backpack. This was not going to be pleasant.
“This isn’t climbing,” Kade said in the same matter-of-fact monotone, making Florian groan. But the other man hid a smile.
When Kade had secured the rope to one of the sturdier-looking trees nearby, he tied the other end to his waist and told Florian to wait at the top. He started rappelling down, making it look almost effortless—Florian wasn’t sure whether to feel encouraged by that or all the more intimidated.
“How much further down?” he called when Kade reached the tree cover, pushing past the branches. For a moment the other man didn’t reply, then he called back up,
“Not far. I can climb down this tree. I’m untying the rope, so you tie yourself to it next and come down.”
“What about when I’m down here?”
“It’s fine. Leave it. We can get another.”
“You don’t think someone will find it and think it’s suspicious?”
“No one will find it, especially not if there’s someone here guarding the curtain,” Kade answered, his voice becoming more distant. Florian sighed and started pulling the now-loose rope back up; and as he tied it around his waist, Kade’s voice came again, a little more muffled. “You, uh, you better get down here, Florian. It’s definitely here.”
Something in his tone had changed, and Florian froze, uncertain. He sounded nervous, which was unlike him.
