I’m going in. Remy rolled his eyes as he pulled a flashlight from his pack and placed a headlamp on his forehead. He turned them both on.
I’m going too, I stated as I pulled out my flash light. When Jaxson went to protest, I held up my hands. I can use my force field if something tries to attack us.
Then I’m going too. Drake held out his hand as he dropped his pack. I knew he wanted to amplify our gift, so we could walk and use our force field together.
I took his hand. I concentrated on the thought of protecting us and felt the warmth start in our connected hands and emanate from us. I opened my eyes and we were all within a nice bubble. We walked in and shined our flash lights everywhere.
The cave wasn’t that large, but it was pitch black. The opening barely shed light on us. Remy and Drake had to stoop to get in. The cavern itself was open, with rocks and boulders scattered about. If I had to guess, I would say it was roughly two to three hundred square feet.
Gravel crunched beneath my boot. I was relieved not to hear or see anything. We felt like it was safe to drop the field since there was no imminent threat.
We made our way around the whole perimeter, making sure nothing was hiding. Our flashlights bouncing off the wall. I could see old animal droppings, but nothing seemed fresh.
I had to stifle a startled scream when a mischief of mice scattered behind a boulder I was investigating. Even though there weren’t any large animals present, we didn’t want to be sharing the cave with any other critters. Well, I guess mice wouldn’t be too bad if they left our food alone.
Mice. I laughed self-deprecatingly at myself when they rushed over from my squeak.
They both laughed at me.
My flashlight followed the path of the mice as they scurried into the wall. They had gone through a tunnel-like hole. I knelt on all fours and peered into the hole. I could easily squeeze through there, but it would be a tight fit for Remy, width wise. I could see that it was approximately eight feet deep. It opened to something else. I didn’t think it was the outdoors, though, because I couldn’t see any trees, branches, dead leaves, and other woodland debris. A faint bluish green glow was all I could see.
I didn’t know if it was my imagination, but I also felt a warmth coming from the tunnel. “Can I borrow your head lamp?” I asked Remy.
Remy handed me his head lamp. “What do you see?” he asked as he crouched down.
“Don’t know,” I shrugged. “But do you feel that heat?”
His eyebrows scrunched together. “I do.”
“I’ll go first,” Drake insisted as he turned on his own head lamp.
Their over protectiveness could be grating at times, but I also felt pleased that they wanted to protect me.
I followed close behind Drake. I tried not to wince or complain as little rocks and debris jabbed painfully into my palms and knees. I was thankfully distracted a moment later when Drake let out a sharp breath as he paused on the other side.
“You need to see this,” he breathed in awe. He stood up and moved over.
I gasped. In front of me was another cave with natural pool of sorts in the middle. There was light filtering from a hole above us. The roof in this cave was higher; it had to be at least thirty feet tall. You could walk into the pool much like you could the beach, and it looked like it got deeper the further you got in.
I walked over to the edge and the heat increased. I could see the steam rising from the pool.
“It’s a geothermal hot spring,” Drake explained quietly. “I read about this state being known to having them, but I assumed they were only in resorts or other places tourist might visit.”
“Do you think it’s safe to get in?” I asked excitedly as I knelt and put my hands in it. “It feels like a hot tub.”
He nodded with a smile. “I don’t see why not.” He crouched down next to me to put his hands in it, too.
“We can build a fire and put our sleeping bags right there,” I declared pointing to areas that were along the opposite wall.
“If Remy can fit,” Drake pointed out.
I frowned. “True.”
“Remy barely fits,” Remy said dryly from behind us.
I laughed as he struggled to squeeze his wide shoulders through the opening into the cave.
“I got tired of waiting,” he explained to me as he kissed my forehead.