"Pssst!"

I turn around to see the green gem from earlier standing behind a building.

"Hurry up! We've been waiting for you!"

I jog toward her. "What do you mean?"

"Viol, I mean, Purple Spinel wanted to see you again, so I waited for you to come back. You know, unless you got killed. Just follow me, I'll explain more later."

I roll my eyes. This green gem is really bossy and impatient.

We eventually stop at a huge pile of rocks. "Don't just stand there looking stupid, come in," the green gem says, pushing a small boulder away to reveal a crevice between two more rocks.

I crouch down and go through the crack in the rocks to discover a rope ladder leading down.

The green gem follows me in and points to the ladder. "Well, go down already!"

Sighing, I start climbing down the unstable ladder. I'm so shocked of what I see that I lose my grip on the rope. I fall down, trying to grab the ropes, when I'm suddenly being held by the purple gem, Purple Spinel on the ground.

"Thank the stars that you didn't crack your head open!" she exclaims. 

"Wait, how did you-- you weren't-- and now you are?" I stutter, trying to form a sentence while looking around a huge cave with stained glass lining the walls. It has a huge lake of clear water near the center of the cave.  Next to the lake are a few huge boulders stacked on top of each other. In the places that don't have any stained glass on them, there are dug-out tunnels. The ground is littered with rocks of all sizes and shapes.

I want to explore all of those tunnels and inspect all of the rocks on the ground, but that would be showing my weakness to these gems.

The purple gem just smiles. "Tell you later. For now, why don't you let me and Green Spinel show you around our hideout?"

I slowly nod, not sure if gems bother to learn correct grammar.

Now that it's not as dark, I get a closer look at Purple Spinel as she starts walking. She's fairly short, about one hand-length shorter than me. She has very short, light purple hair that looks like it's been cut with a piece of glass. Even though her hair doesn't look very neat, her huge poofy purple dress makes her look very regal. 

"Uh, Girl?" Green Spinel taps my shoulder, pulling my gaze away from the beautiful purple gem. "You even paying attention to what Violet's saying or are you just staring at her?"

Instead of answering her question, I ask my own. At this point, I had stopped paying attention to the scenery. "Do you know that I have a name that isn't 'Girl'?"

"Of course Pine knows you have a name, she's sorry," Purple Spinel smiles at me and pats my shoulder. "By the way, I'm a Purple Spinel, but you can just call me Violet."

Green Spinel, apparently called Pine, rolls her eyes. "I can speak for myself." She mutters, but Violet doesn't seem to notice.

"Violet. That's the little flower that grew all over the place, right?" I ask. There aren't many flowers that still live on Earth, but every human I've met has told me that they wish that they could see one.

Violet nods. "That's right." She exchanges glances with Pine, who just shrugs. "Do you want to see something cool?" She asks. Before I can reply, she takes my hand and takes me to collection of large rocks close to the lake. She pushes one away and a small tunnel is in the ground behind the rock. The purple gem, still clutching my hand, pulls me through the tunnel.

While we wind through the tunnel, I'm trying to figure out how there's water down here. When we reach a clearing, though, my attention is taken away from the lake.

A tiny red gem sits on the ground, shining light from her hands on a single flower with curved purple petals and a bright yellow center. She's hiding behind a small mound of dirt.

The gem is wearing baggy maroon pants that are held up with a pale pink belt and a dark red sports bra. Her hair is short and choppy like Violet's and Pine's, but unlike theirs, it's pulled up into two small pigtails.

"Auburn?" Violet asks, kneeling down to meet the red gem's eyes.

"Stop, I'm trying to concentrate!" She exclaims immediately.

"Auburn, you can stop if you like. You've already done enough."

"No! I don't want your flower to die, Violet! I know how much it means to you!" The gem's eyes are wide as she glances at Violet.

Violet lays a hand on Auburn's shoulder. "It's okay if the plant dies. I won't be too upset."

"Violet, I love you! If you let me do this, then your flower will stay alive! This flower makes you happy and I love seeing you happy! It means the world to me to see you happy."

"Hey."

I turn around to see Pine standing behind me. "Pine? What are you doing here?" I whisper.

"No, only Violet gets to call me Pine. You still get to call me Green Spinel."

I roll my eyes. "Okay. Green Spinel, what's going on? Who's that--"

"Look, I'm not really sure what they're doing either, but that's Auburn, Red Spinel. She's head over heels in love with Violet because she--"

I hold up my hands. "I don't need to know. I'll figure it out on my own. Now let's keep going." I start walking through the tunnel, leaving Violet and Auburn alone.

Pine grasps my shoulder as we enter the stained glass room, stopping abruptly.

I look at her and really notice how different she is compared to Violet. Pine is close to two hand-lengths taller than me and wears quite a simple outfit: light green sweatpants and a dark green tank top. She's wearing a necklace with a cross pendant, which I don't understand, but I guess it means something important to her.

Pine glances down at me, but quickly looks back up. "Girl, whatever your name is. You're important. I know you are. But something terrible is coming."