We’ll see you this time tomorrow, walking through this gate.”
It seemed that each of them felt the same tremor of expectation urging them along the trail. Flutie was a chirper, singsong talking the whole way. Besides their height and a general kind of unruliness to their curls, it was hard to see where she and Cotton were related.
As far as talking, and pace, Ria and Cotton matched up more evenly. “How’s your leg?”
“Okay.” She wished he could know about Benny’s visit without her telling him.
“Okay,” he answered. She wasn’t sure if it was simply an echo. Then he added, “I know yesterday made you feel.”
It was a funny, Cotton-esque way to put it, but it sounded right. Damn if she knew what to call this feeling either.
By the time they reached the entrance, her back felt damp and sweaty beneath the extra weight of her backpack. The heaviness of her helmet felt reassuring, instead of annoying.
It had been decided that Leo would lead the first part with Flutie, then Ria and Cotton at the back. The extra gear and people made the cave sound more muffled, and felt tighter, more crowded. When they reached the tunnel—still her least favorite part—they stopped to rearrange the extra gear.
“Move your backpack to the front,” said Cotton.
“So my backpack is now a frontpack?”
“Yes. Backpack, frontpack. Backpack, frontpack.”
“Just do it,” said Flutie.
Ria waited at the tunnel’s entrance, letting Flutie make progress ahead of her. She wanted to be sure she had some extra space before she started through. She reached her hand behind her, found Cotton’s. She squeezed, then let go.
Caving had filled her empty days. And along the way, she’d fallen for him. Or maybe it had been more of a climb. Either way, she liked the view. “How are you feeling, Cotton? Where are you on the chart?”
“I’m excited. Anticipating. Curious. Oh, and happy.”
“About making more maps?”
“Yes. I think this is going to be a very satisfying challenge to incorporate all the new data.”
“I love it when you talk maps.”
“Which part? The creation or the interpretation?” He paused. “Are you teasing me?”
“A little bit. But not completely.”
“Where are you guys?” Leo’s voice came through the dark.
It was an odd feeling to crawl with her backpack strapped to her chest, drooping down toward the floor, but better than having the extra weight on her back where she wouldn’t be able to control it. Her leg hurt more in this position, but the sharp ache was a distraction. She waited as long as she possibly could before she started counting. That trick still worked.
By the time they made the long trek and climb down into the pool room, they were all ready for a break. She needed to pace her water intake, but the mix of being thirsty and knowing it was the heaviest part of her load made it hard to sip slowly.
Flutie sat by the edge of the pond and peered in. “You seriously went swimming in here?”
“Yeah, I couldn’t resist. Not an entirely great idea.” But it hadn’t been awful, either. It was the kind of risky impulse she could be proud of now. Like the quarry. Even if she’d been wrong to do it, she was glad she did.
“I didn’t bring a swimsuit,” said Flutie. “But we could skinny-dip.”
“No,” said Cotton. “We can’t.”
Ria nodded in agreement. She loved the way her helmet light added emphasis. It wasn’t only that she had to keep her bandages dry. The idea of swimming naked with Cotton was one thing, but with his best friend and sister, well, that was entirely something else.
“It would be physically impossible for me to skinny-dip,” said Cotton. “I would have to chunky-dunk.”
Their laughter echoed around them. A few minutes later, when Leo and Flutie had moved to the other side, she squeezed his hand. She liked his dunkability.
“This is where we head into uncharted territory,” said Leo.
“Good,” said Cotton. “I thought you and Flutie might have gone past this point.”
“You’re so annoying,” Flutie groaned.
“This is a great place to camp,” said Leo. “We could leave our extra gear here and plan to come back for the night.”
“No,” said Ria. “We want to go as far as we can. There will be another good place. We’ll keep going until we find it.”
“I’m not sure that’s smart,” said Leo.
“That’s what we’re doing,” Cotton said loudly. “The whole reason we planned this trip was to make progress. You’re losing sight of the goal, Leo.”
“And you’re being bossy. As usual,” said Flutie.
“You don’t