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“We were exploring.” Kynan’s voice shook.

“We were exploring the caves.”

“We wanted to see if we?—”

“—Could find a way to you,” Katrina finished.

“We miss you.”

He let their twinspeak pour through him. “Did you tell anybody where you went?”

“No, everybody was busy.”

“We were?—”

“—bored. We wanted?—”

“—to play. Everybody else?—”

“—is doing things all the?—”

“—time. So we were?—”

“—wanting to do things, so?—”

“—we came. And?—”

“—we were exploring.”

Cosmo tilted his head. “Why didn’t you call your parents for help?”

“They didn’t hear us.” Katrina’s eyes wheeled.

“You heard us.”

“We knew you’d hear us.”

He sighed softly. “Well, that is the truth. I did hear you. So. Do you know which way you came? Did you come from that way?”

He pointed back down the tunnel.

He wasn’t sure whether to stay here with the kids and hope that someone found them, or to try and move. He hadn’t done a lot of spelunking. He really wasn’t the spelunking kind of guy. Neither were his brothers.

They explored houses a lot and periodically popped into caves, but this wascaving.

It wasn’t just like a hole in the mountain.

“Did you see anything wonderful while you walked?”Did you see anything that could be a landmark, he thought, but he didn’t want to ask because he didn’t want the kids to worry any more than they already were.

There was.

A pool that was filled with light.Kynan bounced.

A light pool.

A light pool?Well, how fascinating was that? “Well, could you—do you think you could find it again?”

Because Cosmo felt that, if there was a light pool, he could conserve battery. Possibly there was water that was potable. He had an apple. If there was water, there might be fish. They could make a fire maybe. Out of what, he had no idea, but this? That sounded better than Dark Hole, which is where they were currently.