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They spent the next half hour scrambling over a series of lava cascades and smaller falls. It was fairly easy going. The tour guide companies had left an assortment of ropes, ladders, and handholds to make the trip possible for tourists. Finally, they came to a skylight in the ceiling about fifty feet above them with a rope dangling down.
Emerson looked at the rope. “That’s convenient,” he said.
“I wouldn’t call it convenient,” Alani said. “You’ll have to hand climb four stories to reach the skylight. If you fall, you’ll kill yourself.”
Emerson shrugged. “When faced with situations such as this one I ask myself WWSMD?”
“WWSMD?” Alani asked.
“What would Spider-Man do?” Emerson grabbed the rope. “I’ll be back.” He scurried up and disappeared out the hole.
“That’s impressive,” Alani said. “That takes real strength.”
“Strength shmength,” Vernon said. “I could do that with Little Buddy on my back.”
Alani looked at Vernon with a single raised eyebrow.
“I’d show you,” Vernon said, “but it would leave you down here unprotected if I went up there.”
“Nice to know you care,” Alani said.
“Of course I care,” Vernon said. “I’ve always cared. I’d care even more if you weren’t frickin’ nuts.”
Alani flapped her arms out. “There you go ruining the moment. You always ruined the moment.”
Vernon stuffed his fists on his hips. “Did not.”
“Yes, you did. Remember that time we went to my cousin’s luau wedding and I caught the bouquet?”
“Un-huh.”
“Do you remember what you did with the bouquet?”
“Um, no.”
“You fed it to one of the feral goats.”
“That wasn’t good?”
“Catching the bouquet was significant. It meant I was supposed to be the next one married.”
“So you’re not married because of me?”
Alani narrowed her eyes. “Yes, and for many reasons.”
Emerson appeared at the skylight edge. He was back on the rope and descended hand over hand.
“Did you get a fix on our position?” Alani asked when Emerson got his feet on the tunnel floor.
Emerson nodded. “It’s a wet, muddy rain forest. I couldn’t see anything but ohia trees and massive hapu’u tree ferns. I called your dad, and he says we’re about two miles inside the forest, and he gave me new directions.”
They walked another half mile down the tunnel and came to a dead end. They were facing a forty-foot cliff with a pool of water at its base. Emerson looked at the map.
“This has got to be Skylight Falls. It’s the second highest lava fall in the main tube. The main tunnel continues west from here. Mr. Yakomura says we need to find a side channel going north fairly soon or we’ll be getting colder.”
A series of ladder rungs had been embedded into the three-story cliff. Emerson sloshed through water two feet deep and pulled himself up onto the ladder.
“Be careful, they’re slippery,” Emerson said, climbing the rungs and waiting at the top for Vernon, Alani, and Wayan Bagus.
