Cave?

How did dad never find this? I wondered as I moved back out a little to wave Jack down. The entrance was big enough for me to dive in easily. Even if Jack and I decided to both go in at once we'd still have plenty of room. Jack made the be careful hand motion, and we both went in together.

The first half hour there wasn't much of anything spectacular to see. Normal sea cave stuff mostly. The tunnel didn't even narrow. It was just a big hallway leading deeper into the ocean floor. We swam another good hour deeper into the cave before hitting the point of no return.

Jack pushed me ahead of him as we started heading back, but the problem was that the big hallway we'd just swam down was gone. I pressed my hand against the rock wall that was now blocking our path. Panic set in immediately. The big obvious easy path that we'd taken to get here was gone. Jack motioned for me to follow him deeper.

Maybe we were hallucinating, and drowning at the bottom of the ocean right now. Shit. Whatever this was it wasn't good. We pushed further into the cave since we couldn't go back. This cave was freaking me out.

I couldn't let my internal panic out. I had to keep my breathing steady to preserve my air. We swam further, and further in the cave. How much air did I have left? I checked my tank.

About 30 minutes left in the tank. I noticed something up ahead. I clicked my light off. Jack noticed, and clicked off his own light. There was a faint light up ahead.

I nodded to Jack, and he nodded back. We headed towards the light. Jack slowed as we got closer, and when I got up next to him I knew why. This light. It wasn't daylight.

I pushed past Jack, and into the cavern. It was a huge cavern almost as big as our entire apartment. I swam up to the ceiling quickly. There was an air pocket up there. My head burst into the small pocket of air.

I spit out my mouthpiece, and inhaled. I looked at Jack as he swam up to the air pocket as well. Jack spit out his mouthpiece as well, and looked at me.

"Where the Fuck did the path go?" Jack yelled at no one in particular.

"I don't know what the hell is going on with this cave," I yelled back, "It was just there, and as soon as we went in there was no way out." I grabbed Jack's shoulder, "You were right Jack. We should have just let dad's search die."

"That doesn't make me feel any better dumbass," Jack gripped the rock about him, "What is that glow?"

I whipped around to look for the source of the glow. It was mostly under the water level right now so I couldn't see it clearly. I pushed myself down into the water. Carved into the stone walls was glowing images of various fish, sharks, dolphins, and mermaids. I popped back into the air pocket, and clicked my light back on.

"They're some sort of carvings," I told Jack, "I didn't get a very good look. I'm going to look again."

"Why?" Jack grabbed me before I could dive again, "We don't have a clue how far we are from the surface."Jack huffed, "We're fucked."

"I'm still going to look," I snapped, "If I find a way out we might still survive this."

"Survive this?" Jack yanked me closer, "Look at the air pocket."

I looked at what little air we had that wasn't in a metal tank strapped to my back. The air pocket we were so desperately clinging to had shrunk.

"I don't want to die like this," I pushed Jack off me, and went back under.

I pointed my light down at the floor of the cavern, and noticed for the first time that the entire floor of the cavern was covered in riches. Gold, and gems everywhere. I pushed back to the air pocket.

"This definitely is the cave dad was looking for," I was talking mostly to myself now.

Jack just sighed as I dove under again. There had to be a way out of here. I swam to the far end of the cavern. There was some sort of circle carved into the far wall. It was the only carving that wasn't glowing.

What was different about this one? I felt the squeeze on my lungs, and shoved my mouthpiece back in my mouth. I breathed in slowly, and carefully. I went back up to Jack. There wasn't much air left now.

I spit out the mouthpiece to talk to Jack.

"There's a carving down here that isn't lit up," I was breathing heavily, "We should check it out."

"Why?" Jack clung to the little bit of air we had left.

"Why not?" I snapped, "We're dying anyways. Why not go look at the strange carving before we die?"

"Fine," Jack put his mouthpiece back in, and ducked under the water.

I followed him under the water. He let me take the lead as I headed towards the carving I'd noticed before. The circular one that wasn't glowing. Jack was a little distracted by all the other stuff I'd already looked at as he headed my way. I didn't really care I was busy looking at the carving that wasn't lit up.

I glanced back at Jack as he came my way. I wanted to touch it for some reason. I reached for the center of the circle, and pressed my hand flat against the smooth stone of the wall. What is this place? I wondered to myself as a faint glow started to spread around the edges of the circle.

What is this? I watched the glow spread to the entire circle. What would happen to the circle when the whole circle glowed? Would it get us out of here? This cave obviously wasn't normal.