The Time Travelers' Club -- Chapter 114: The Lower Cavern

"Wow!"   Sam's voice echoed throughout the cave as he shouted.  Sam held his bright orb up high breaking the murky darkness.  Mrs. Steers used both hands to hold tight the precious satchel containing the books. Ari couldn’t make orbs so he used a flashlight. Everyone else held up their orbs up.  The walls arched like the outer cave.  On the far side, a high waterfall came from an opening along the top of the wall and splashed into a shallow pool at the bottom.

Sam turned around in a circle to look at the mysterious cavern. Walking to the center of the cave, his pure-white orb sputtered and sent out oversized sparks. At first, Sam jumped and shielded his face with his free hand, but the orb stopped sparking just as quickly as it had started.  Everyone else had backed away from Sam. Sam’s orb then did something no one was expecting causing them to all step back even further.  The orb exploded into hundreds of sparks that shot up and out towards the walls. Sparks landed in the cracks and crevices of the cavern walls. They stayed there still, shining like a sky full of suns.

Everyone was astonished by what they had just witnessed.  Sam's orb had lit the entire cavern, all aglow. The radiance reflected off the sparkling waterfall and churning pool.

"Wow!"  Lowering his hand from his eyes, Sam's mouth hung open as he circled again. His orb went out.  "Did I just do that?"  Everyone began to spread about gawking in awe at the magnificence of the cavern.

 “It’s gorgeous,” said Rose, putting her hand on Sam’s shoulder.  “Just look at it.”  Pale stalagmites and stalactites cascaded up and down one wall, looking like mouth-less teeth.  The cavern was at least fifty feet high.

"It's got to be thousands of years old," said Xavier.  "This formation definitely isn't man-made. Lottie, what's your thoughts on the orb lighting?"

"There's nothing in the book about it," said Mrs. Steers.  "I don't ever recall seeing or reading about any incantation that could do that."  Standing on her tiptoes, she tried to study a nearby orb stuck in a crevice.

"It's just sitting there from what I can see," said Ari.  The orb was still too high for even him to really see.

Mrs. Steers was overwhelmed with excitement.  "I really want to know more about this remarkable incantation.  Just look at this.  There must be over a hundred orbs.  It has to do with Sam's talent, I'm sure of it.  That's the only thing I can think of."

Meanwhile, Darren and Lewis had moved over to the far side of the waterfall, exploring a small grotto.  Its ceiling was so low they could reach up and touch it.

Darren ran his hand over the surface of the time-worn wall.  “Hey, look at this.”  He pointed at a symbol carved in the wall.  “It’s a triangle.  In fact, there’s three of them.  A large one and a small one on each side of the big one.  It reminds me of the Pyramids."

“And look over here.”  Across the cavern, Ari pointed at a carving of a crescent moon and then at one of a sun.  A sharply incised circle with rays shooting out.  He then pointed at something nearby that looked like a bow and arrow nearby.

Everyone started finding carved symbols, feeling the walls.  “And here’s another one” was heard around the cavern several times.  Triangles, circles, letters from the Greek and Latin alphabets as well as Egyptian hieroglyphs.

"Lottie, what do you think these are?" said Uncle Griff.  He reached down to pick up a small stone and put it in his pocket, then stood back up and pointed at the wall. "These symbols were placed here for a reason.  They've got to mean something.   The ones Darren and Lewis found are definitely the Pyramids.  And those look like Aztec symbols."  Uncle Griff pointed to a grouping of animal shapes.  "This one kind of looks like a bird or something."

"I'm not sure," said Mrs. Steers.  "Someone will need to come back and document all of these and try to find the common variable."  She looked at some that resembled the Native American symbols on pottery she had seen.

Uncle Griff rubbed his chin, then reached down, grabbed another small stone and put it in his pocket.  "Sounds like a fun trip.  Maybe when it's a little warmer."  He reached down, picked up a stone and put it in his pocket.

Meanwhile, Sam walked over to peek into another grotto, opposite of the one Darren and Lewis were exploring.  Stalagmites stood on each side of the opening making it look like some kind of little room.  He held up his orb, looking at the enclosed space.  At first, he thought the light from his orb was playing tricks on him, but as he got closer, he could see words etched into the stone.

Making out each one, Sam soon realized it was in a language he didn't know.  He took out his notebook and tried to copy them.  He looked at his scribbling and then the wall.  He had written "la paret es la seva guia."

"Hmmm...  I wonder what it means..."  He looked around for other words, but those were the only ones he saw.  He stepped back out of the grotto to find Mrs. Steers or Rose.  He saw them nearing the waterfall.

With Rose right behind her, Mrs. Steers spotted a pathway.  It went around the back of the pool and behind the waterfall.  She read from her notebook as she followed it as it curved around the backside of the pool.  “According to legend, the protected chamber is supposed to be on the right of the pool and a little behind the waterfall.”  Tucked behind the waterfall was a stone archway.  Rose stepped around first, but Mrs. Steers grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

“This has to be it,” said Mrs. Steers.   “According to legend, the entrance is protected by an invisible shield.  The same stuff that supposedly makes orbs.  Rumor has it that anyone who tries to cross through it gets fried.  Just like when someone gets hit by an orb.”

Rose took several steps back.  “Well, this has to be it.”  She held her hands over her mouth.  “I’m not too sure about this.  I’m not sure I can just stand by and wait to see if anything happens to Sam. What if he..."

Mrs. Steers reached down and picked up a small pebble.  Rolling it between her fingers, she finally tossed it at the wall.  When the pebble hit it, a miniature shower of sparks flared out for a moment like a sparkler on the Fourth of July.

"A shield of energy," said Rose. "Judging by the pebble, it looks like it could kill someone."

"This is it," whispered Mrs. Steers.  "And that's its purpose.  To protect whatever's in there.  We've found it."  Her voice shook as if she had received bad news.

Rose grabbed her arm.  "It will be fine," she said, assuring Mrs. Steers, yet having her own moment of doubt.

Mrs. Steers stared at the wall.  "I've researched this cavern for so many years and now here I am.  I'm standing before one of the greatest mysteries of the Club's history.  What lies behind this shield of energy?  What else is in there that might lead us to other great mysteries?  Could there be clues that will lead us to the location of the lost archives?"

Shouts from behind them broke Mrs. Steers' brief soliloquy.