What Lies Beneath the Fog

》17《

I would never have found the entrance without Emma showing it to me. The hole, seen from the beach, half-hidden by the surrounding rocks, looked like a mere shadow on the unevenly coloured cliff.

We entered. The place was filled with tenebrosity, large and wide, resembling more an open stone room than a cave. There was a strange, muffled echo all around us-- the walls were reflecting and multiplying the sound of the waves crashing over the salt covered pebbles of the beach. It felt like stepping inside of an empty shell. The floor under our feet was gently sloping upwards, reaching a damp wall in the obscure distance.

I felt tempted to walk towards the left side of the room, but Emma led me to the right, where the cave finished in another rock wall. There was a hole there, much smaller than the one forming the entrance, a narrow crack, maybe as tall as Emma, leading to another room. A cave a lot darker and probably smaller than the one we were in. It was too dark to see it properly.

"What's in there?" I asked, checking my pockets for my phone, to use it as a torch. However, when I switched it on, I realised that its light wasn't strong enough to make me see the other room well. "Have you ever been inside?"

"Yes, it's the only one I was ever allowed to see. There is more than one of these rooms. Most likely, they continue under the whole cliff. They are not rare or important from the scientific point of view, and they are supposed to be under water all winter, or anytime when it rains too much. They are considered dangerous because they get flooded easily. I suppose that they have never been explored and mapped properly."

Even as she said that, the temperature inside the cave seemed to have dropped by a few degrees. I shivered, feeling that we were not alone anymore, as if there was someone watching our every move, waiting in the shadows.

Turning around in search of the White Lady, I saw something shiny at the other side of the cave in the direction where I wanted to go before. Emma noticed it, too. She slipped her little, cold hand in mine, looking frightened as we walked towards the object. She picked it up when we reached it; it was just a bright piece of sea glass. Strange. Sea glass seemed to be even rarer on this island than driftwood.

"This way," I told her, noticing one more piece, quite close to the left wall of the cave.

Picking it up, I felt a cold draft coming from somewhere behind that wall, caressing my hand. It was a creepy sensation, making my skin crawl. It felt like a touch of someone long dead, reaching out for me...

Just the thought made me lose all of my remaining courage, but I couldn't leave the place. I was supposed to find something in here, I knew it. Looking at Emma, I noticed that her normally brave and mischievous eyes were wide with fear. Whatever it was that I was feeling, she was feeling it too, but she would not run away either. She squeezed my hand tighter, suggesting we walked on.

When we reached the dark corner, the cold draft got stronger. It was bringing a scent of moss and heather with it, a smell quite different to the one of the sea and salt that was filling the room we were in now.

I knelt at the spot where I felt the draft coming through. Emma followed my example, and soon, we were shoving pebbles and larger pieces of rock away from the damp wall. After a while, I heard the sound of the smaller stones falling through and landing in water with a low, echoing splash, somewhere deeper underneath us. We had uncovered an uneven crack, a hidden passage, in the floor of the cave.

Soon, it was big enough to peek through. There was a short tunnel or a shaft, leading diagonally to yet another room, situated much lower than the one we were in. From the sound of the pebbles that had fallen through, its floor was covered in water. It wasn't completely dark; there must have been a skylight, a hole in the rock ceiling somewhere high above. A stray beam of sunshine that found its way inside landed on yet  another shiny object, turning it momentarily into a weak, eerie source of light, making the place shine in unnatural light.

Unexpectedly, I felt a touch at the small of my back, and it scared me. A cold, freezing hand was trying to make me go in there, pushing me insistently, sending a thrill up my spine. I shivered and looked around, but there was no one to be seen, except me and Emma at my side. She gave me an inquiring look.

"I think we should go in," I told her.

She nodded. "I just don't think that now..." she started to say but was interrupted by Dean's voice, calling us from the entrance.

"We are leaving. It's late. Come on!" He sounded impatient, ready to go.

"...is the right moment. We should come back alone," Emma finished her sentence.

She was right.

I stood up, looking around one last time. All felt normal again, the presence and the cold touch were both gone. Whatever spell or influence I had been under just moments ago was broken by Dean's voice. Emma and I would have to come back another time. There was something we were supposed to discover in this cave.

I didn't know how long we had stayed inside, but the shadows outside were even longer now, the sky tinted in reds and pinks. Dean was ready to take us back home before it would get dark.

The wind was picking up, getting stronger, disturbing the surface of the sea. The weather was about to change. Yet more rain clouds were emerging from the white-capped waves on the distant horizon. But they were still too far away to worry me. The day had been perfect, and there might be a few more like this one to come.

When we reached Cala, the sun was entirely behind the tall cliffs of the island, edging them with gold, making the shadows around things look long and deep purple. Dean docked the boat skilfully in its place in the little harbour. I picked up my and Emma's backpacks from the bottom of the boat and helped her to step out.

All together, we followed the little lane leading to Emma's house and left her at home. I wanted to ask her when we could go to search the cave, but I couldn't do it now, with Dean and Claire listening. It would have to wait.

"Don't plan anything for Tuesday, I'll take you to the library," Emma promised before we said our goodbyes.

"Great, thanks." I was glad she remembered because with all the new events, the old book nearly slipped my mind.

Then, the three of us walked up the road towards the pub, leaving Emma behind. I turned to see if she had walked in already and saw her standing on the doorstep, looking at us. She smiled and waved, then entered.

A warm feeling of expectation spread through my body. Emma, the fairy of this island, was like its mystery. The more I knew about her, the more spellbound and bewildered I was...

It felt like I could never get enough of her.