Kailani Moana's Arc

Chapter 2 of 2

Kailani waited for a gap in the waves, then ran. Water pulled at her ankles as she reached the cliff. She ducked through the black opening and stood inside the cave. The storm noise fell away. Ahead, the tunnel swallowed all light. She could see nothing. She reached into her pack and lifted out her lantern. It was shaped like a jellyfish, with soft tendrils that swayed as she moved. Its core glowed pale blue. The light spread a few feet ahead, no more. Rock walls dripped around her. Cold water covered the floor and rose past her ankles. "Slow," she told the parrot on her shoulder. "We go slow." She pulled the coil of rope from her pack and let one end drop. She swung it forward and tapped the ground before each step. Where it struck stone, she stepped. Where it splashed into nothing, she stopped and found another way. The parrot pressed close to her neck and stayed quiet. Inch by inch, she crossed the flooding tunnel. The lantern lit her small circle of wet rock. Twice the rope found empty water, and twice she edged around it. Her heart slowed. The method was working. She reached what felt like the middle of the cave, where the walls opened wider. Then the parrot screeched and lifted off her shoulder. Kailani looked up to follow it. Her foot came down without the rope's warning. The stone was not there. Her leg dropped through a gap in the floor, and the rest of her followed. She grabbed at the rock, but her fingers slid on the wet edge. She fell. The hole took her straight down. Her back scraped the sides. The lantern spun from her hand and tumbled with her, its glow flashing across smooth walls. She hit water hard and went under. Cold closed over her head. Kailani kicked up and broke the surface, gasping. Her feet found a rock ledge below the water. She stood, chest deep, and grabbed the lantern where it floated nearby. It still glowed. She held it high and looked around. She stood in a round chamber far below the tunnel. The hole she fell through was a dark circle high above her, out of reach. No rope hung down. No handhold marked the walls. Water lapped at her ribs and rose as she watched. High above, the parrot's cry echoed down the shaft, small and far. "I'm here," she called up. Her voice bounced off the stone and came back at her. The bird could not pull her out. No one in the village knew where she was. Kailani turned in a slow circle, lantern raised. The blue light touched the far wall. There, half sunk in the rising water, something small caught the glow and shone back at her. She waded toward it.