go back that way?”
“Yes. It’s the only way out.”
She liked that he didn’t fake it or apologize.
“Have some water. It’s important not to get dehydrated. It’s cool enough that you might forget you’re thirsty.” He handed her a metal canteen.
That was like diving. Surrounded by water, rookies always dried up at their first meets. She took the container from him. The lukewarm water tasted metallic, but she was surprised that she didn’t mind.
To her right, all along the wall, were raised formations. Matching ones hung from the ceiling. “These look like teeth.” She ran her hand over them. “We’re in a mouth.”
“That’s because there’s so much water. They’re formed by mineral deposits.” He paused, then asked, “Am I being too geeky? I do that. You can call them teeth.”
“Wait! I remember this. The ones on the ground are stalagmites. They have to grow up with all their might. And the other ones”—she pointed to the ceiling—“they hang tight. So they’re stalactites.” She was glad she couldn’t see his face from here. Cotton already knew all that. Everyone knew that. “They feel solid.”
“They are. They’re rock.”
“So the rock gets dissolved in water, but then reappears and makes new rock? It gets a do-over.”
“A do-over?”
“Yeah,” she said. “A second chance.”
“I never thought of it that way. But yes. The minerals get a do-over.” He paused. Then said it again, “Do-over. Do-over. Do. Over.”
Ria laughed. It was a weird word. Especially the more times he said it. “Do you ever worry about getting lost?”
“We’re careful. That’s why we’re mapping it.”
“How do you do that?”
“We wear pedometers. And do laser calculations to help measure and triangulate.” He pulled a laser pen from his pocket and shone the red light on the rocks across the dark space. “Put it all together with our notes and we get the depth and mileage—both bird’s-eye and actual step-by-step. I have a computer program that converts it all. It’s pretty awesome. In a geeky way.”
She could tell this was something he’d been told. It was probably true, but she had to add her own opinion. “Geeky is good, Cotton. Geeky is smart.”
She stared into the darkness, trying to imagine what hovered beyond the tiny beam.
“Have you gone farther in?”
“Oh yes. From here, there are two ways to go. This way, and—” He swung his light from one corner of the room to the other. “That way. We’ve only started mapping the lower part.”
“Let’s keep going.”
Her hands were gritty and coated in a thin sheen of mud. Under the helmet her hair felt sweaty and mussed. But she was exhilarated, too. A buzz of the challenge hummed along her bones as she scrambled and climbed up and over rocky barricades.
“Look at this.”
Ria couldn’t tell what made this particular collection of bumpy rocks different from any others, but she stopped and leaned against one. She was surprised to realize she was close to panting.
“Here’s what we call the ‘back door to Australia.’” He handed her a small rock and pointed to a narrow opening. “Drop it in.”
She tried to peer inside it, but her light wasn’t aligned with her eyes. It seemed impossibly dark in there. She dropped the rock and waited. A second later she heard a thunk of it hitting rock. The skittering noise continued. And kept going. Even longer, until she couldn’t hear it anymore, but she was sure she’d never heard it hit bottom.
“What’s down there?” She sounded—and felt—breathless, and even more determined to try to see within the rocks.
“My favorite pocketknife, Leo’s compass, and a lot of rocks. There might also be another cave system, but we haven’t found a way down.”
“I . . .” Ria paused. “That’s so deep.”
“Yes.” His light nodded with him.
“Thanks for bringing me here, Cotton. I didn’t know what to do today, now that I’m not diving. I used to have practice every day, but . . .” She stopped. None of this mattered to him. Or, at all. It was over.
“Why did you quit diving? I thought you were going to compete around the world.”
That’s what she’d planned. Hoped for. Now even the wishing was over.
“Just because I asked doesn’t mean you have to answer,” he said. “Sometimes I ask inappropriate questions. It’s because I have poor social skills.”
“It’s fine. You’re fine, Cotton. I’m just not sure of the answer.” She took the canteen from him, sipping more water.
“There was a big meet in California. I was supposed to win. That’s what everyone expected.” There was something about the dark