Standing before the camouflaged door, I listen to the rushing of the waterfall at our backs, even feeling a few splashes flicking at the back of my neck.

"Waiting for an invitation?" Chasan asks impatiently.

It's so tempting to push him off this ledge right now, but there are witnesses down below so it's not a good idea (yet).

Instead, I ignore him (even though my very nature screams for a smartass retort) and push open the door, leading us into a dark space.

As my eyes adjust to the darkness- the light coming in from the outside helping- I can see that we've just entered a tunnel. Naturally curious as to where it leads, I start venturing down into the dark hall, not too concerned if a masked murderer might be lurking around the corner.

"We won't be able to see anything," Chasan says, pausing once he enters the tunnel.

"I can see good enough," I reply, peering down as far as I could. "Come on, we're wasting time."

Sighing at me, he begins following as I press on. The farther we get from the entrance, the darker and harder it becomes to see what's in front of us, but it's mainly a straight run so I'm not overly worried.

It's in this dark silence that Chasan speaks up.

"I hope whatever is down here is worth it."

"You and me both."

The silence returns, but not for long. Like upchuck that's been resting in my chest and threatening to spew out since forever, I can't stop myself from asking-

"Why'd you bring up my dad earlier?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

I know I should probably stop, but the words keep vomiting up.

"When you were asking about my dad yesterday after we got through that mess. Why'd you ask about him?"

He doesn't respond right away and I'm sure it's because this is completely out of left field and he's confused by this sudden topic. Eventually, he recovers and begins.

"I was just curious."

"Kinda felt like more than that, I dunno," I reply, squinting harder as if that'll help me see any better through this darkness.

Another lull passes before he responds to that.

"Well, it kind of felt like you were being secretive about it."

"Well, I mean...and? That's nothing new for me," I try playing it off.

"As I've stated before, you're an open book- a very loud, obnoxious, open book- so for you to be so secretive and nearly die over the fact that you didn't want to tell anyone about your father just made me curious."

Hate to admit it- even to myself- but he has a point, and if the shoe were on the other foot then I would be digging just as hard, if not harder to find out the truth.

Sighing, I feel my way along the wall, slowing down a bit as I feel a slight dip in the ground.

"You want to know why I was acting so shifty and shady about it?" I ask.

"Whatever the answer on my end you'll explain anyway."

"I didn't want Dhisnaek to hear any of it. Like, if it was just the three of you guys then I probably wouldn't have acted so desperately to keep it a secret, you know."

I can hear the slight, tinge of sarcasm that's forever embedded in his voice.

"So you nearly killed yourself because you didn't want Dhisnaek to know? Dhisnaek who hasn't lived in Edalirwen in years."

Gee, it only took slightly longer than normal for me to become annoyed with him- it's a new record, ladies and gentlemen.

Pausing to cross my arms and turn around to face him, even though we can't see each other, I feel him bump into me before recovering.

"Why did you just stopped in the middle like that?" He growls in annoyance.

"Because you're as thick as horse shit," I reply rolling my eyes. Before he can start throwing a hissy fit, I explain. "In case you missed the memo, Dhisnaek is my grandfather, which means he's my dad's dad. He's never met my dad and has been drilling me this entire journey to know all about him, and me, being the awesome daughter that I am, has been building him up to be this amazing guy- which he is- only for the 'truth' to come out that my dad might have been the worst person in Edalirwen. You wanted me to tell Dhisnaek, who's never met my dad- hell, didn't even know he existed all his life- and feels guilty as sin about that fact, all of that mess? Yeah, let's trade places because I would bet money your troubles aren't anywhere near as complex as mine."

Man, that felt good to get off my chest. I never realized how tense I could get holding all that in.

Silence drifts between us for several seconds before he sighs.

"Okay, fine, you're right, that's a lot, but don't you think all that was bound to come out anyway? They're both eventually going to meet and it might be better to hear all that unpleasant stuff now rather than later."

God, I hate when he has a valid point.

"Look, don't go poking holes in my reasoning, 'kay? I just hate sounding like a dumbass, building someone up to be something then having the truth come out that might contradict that."

"For someone who hates sounding like a dumbass, you sure do sound and act like one a lot."

He's close enough where I can reach out and jab him sharply with my elbow. Knocking the wind out of him by surprise, I turn back forward and continue on.

"Come on," I call out to him, an impish grin on my face. "We got ground to cover."

He swears at me under his breath but says no more as we press on. It's not long before I notice something faintly glowing up ahead, providing a dim light to guide us.

"We must be getting close," I breathe, eager to see what lies at the end.

The closer we get to the glowing destination, the easier it is to see again with everything bathed in a golden light.

Eventually, we find ourselves stepping into an open space where stalactites and stalagmites litter the floor and ceiling. In the center of the space, though, a column of stalactite and stalagmite meets, creating one uniformed column where the source of the glowing originates from inside.

Though this is a pretty sight, we don't have time to stand around and gawk. Jumping into action, I head straight for the center to retrieve the glowy object. But before I can reach my hand through the cracks to grab what looks to be a glowing crystal, Chasan calls out to me.

"Wait."

Pausing, I glance back at him in annoyance. "What?"

He frowns, his eyes darting around the space suspiciously. "Don't you think this is a little too easy? Think about everything we've encountered so far. Has it ever been this easy before?"

He's really trying to put a damper on my parade, isn't he? Trying to act like Nimu all of a sudden, with her common sense and natural suspicion and whatnot.

"Look, we came in just to swipe this then get out," I sigh. "What's the deal?"

"I know it's hard for someone as challenged as you, but can you try to think? Can't you at least feel uneasy about this?"

"I'd rather not be paranoid, no thanks."

"But didn't he say whatever was in here was going to help us against Tymos? How is that going to help? And why is it so out in the open?"

Sighing even louder, I rub my face with both hands. "Chasan, look, he never described what exactly this thing was going to be. Secondly, now you seem to be trusting his word all of a sudden? Thirdly, how would you know whether or not this is it? Did you create this place?"

Scowling at me, he crosses his arms. "Fine, do whatever, I don't care, Joan. Just don't kill us with your stupidity."

Rolling my eyes and muttering "Whatever" I turn back to the gem to reach for it, my hand extended out to grab it and pull it out when I pause. I hate listening to Chasan and hearing his voice, but taking a quick second to at least reference his words of warning, he's starting to make some sense.

This has been easy, too easy. Plus, this gem seems so perfect, so ready yet without guard for being so helpful, it gives me pause. I'm not one to stop and think too hard about things, but something about this isn't sitting right anymore.

Behind me, Chasan clears his throat. "Well?"

Staring at the gem and my outstretched hand, I finally clench my fist and pull back from the object, listening to the words of advice from my grandmother.

If it sounds too good to be true then it probably is.

Sighing in defeat, I face Chasan again and utter the words that feel as though they might send me into cardiac arrest.

"You might be right."

Surprised by this admission, Chasan doesn't know how to respond at first. He soon recovers though and replies-

"What do we do now?"

Glancing around, looking for any other objects lying around, I shrug.

"Beats me."

I didn't want to leave here empty-handed, especially since I'm taking time out of my day for this.

Studying the place, Chasan begins exploring, searching for any sign of another possible object- I soon join in as well.

"If we don't find anything else then I'm taking that gem," I tell him.

"You're dying to get us killed, aren't you?"

I can't help but chuckle at that. "Nice pun there."

Even with him in the corner of my eye, I still see him roll his eyes at me, making me grin even more.

My amusement dies, though, as we continue to search without any luck for the object which we were sent in here for. After what feels like an entire day wasted- which in all retrospect is probably about ten minutes- I growl in frustration and throw in the towel.

"I don't have time for this."

Without input from him, I go back to the center of the room to retrieve gem and just be done with this. Without hesitation, I snatch the gem from the center, clutching the clear crystal teardrop in my hand.

For several tense seconds, we both hold our breath, waiting to see if something horrid happens to us. But nothing does. No stalagmites rain down on us like missiles, no giant creature comes out of nowhere to devour us, nothing.

"Last time I'm listening to you," I mutter as I march past him back out to the hall.

"Sorry, okay," He growls. "I just thought things were a little suspicious and thought we should be-"

"Yeah, yeah yeah."

Seriously, what was I thinking to trust Chasan over my own intuition? An intuition which didn't alert me to any possible threat beforehand. Welp, now there's proof for me not to trust Chasan and to chuck anything he says out the window.

Before I can exit the room, though, the exit shrinks, preventing me from leaving.

"What the!?"

The words aren't even fully out my mouth before the ground and walls around us begin to shift, and in the blink of an eye, everything crunches closer together. Taking a startled step back, I look around in bewilderment then meet Chasan's equally confused eyes.

"What's happening?" He asks as if I know.

"Not a fucking clue on my end," I reply, looking at walls again.

"How are we supposed to get out of here now?" He questions further, sounding a bit worried now.

"Um..."

Out of nowhere, the space shifts again, the sound of rocks moving along with the quaking of the ground, startling us. Like the first time, I'm forced back by the enclosing wall, stalactites, and stalagmites.

"Okay," I breathe, catching my breath. "What's going on?"

Unlike me, Chasan seems to have the answer to this mystery.

"I think the walls are moving in."

"Huh?"

"The room is getting smaller."

Although that theory does seem to make sense considering how the room is shifting so much, I don't want to believe it and shake my head.

But as if to prove his point, the walls shift again, crunching together, pointing their bare teeth at us as we're forced further back.

I simply blink. "Uh...oh."

"Yeah. And you know what the reason for this is," He says pointedly.

"Whatever the answer on my end, you'll explain anyway," I flatly reply, fighting back an eye roll so hard I'm 100 percent sure my eyes would get stuck in the back of my head if I did it.

"Taking that damn gem out of place."

"Well, what do you want me to do? Put it back?"

He gives me the same "a-duh" face Brent usually gives me.

"Fine," I huff.

Marching back over to the center where I nabbed it- meanwhile as the room crunches in again- I place it right back where I found it. But even with the gem back in place, the walls continue to close in on us, making my heart start to pump a little faster than normal.

"Did you do it?" He asks me as he steps further back.

"Um, yeah, it's in exactly how I found it."

"Are you sure?" He questions dubiously.

"Yes, I swear."

Still not believing me, he comes over to inspect it. Taking it out, he places it back, trying to adjust it how he sees fit. But again, the room continues to shrink.

"See," I say. "It's not working. We must be doing this wrong."

I can see the nervousness coming over him too, a light sheen of sweat forming on his forehead as the realization hits us that we're in some deep shit now.

Giving up on putting it in the "right" way, he throws his hands in the air as the room crowds closer.

"What now?" I ask, wondering about the undesirable effects of being slowly crushed to death and impaled.

His eyes dart around the room nervously, but he eventually responds, "I don't know."

Not what I wanted to hear, but he's being honest.

I'd really hate to call on Tymos as my last resort, but as the room continues to shrink I'm seriously considering it- call it a moment of weakness.

Just as I'm about to summon him via mind control, Chasan's suddenness startles me.

"What's that?"

I frown, giving him a crazy look, "What's what?"

Sighing, he takes the gem from my hand and points to it, holding it closer to my face as if I'm blind. And hell, I might be considering what I missed. In the center of the gem is what looks to be a thin metal reed (kinda like that mosquito frozen in the amber). Shocked, I pull it even closer, my breath practically fogging up the gem.

"That, my friend, is the answer to our prayers."

I know I need to get the reed or whatever out of the gem and so the first thing I think to do is snatch it from his hand then slam it to the ground. As juvenile as it sounds, I'm surprised to see the thing shatter into a thousand shards.

Victoriously, I pick up the reed and grin as we inspect it.

"Bingo. Good eye."

Can't believe I complimented Chasan, but it just came out like projectile vomit. Still, he's quick to gloss over that by stating the obvious.

"Yeah, but can we maybe escape the room that's trying to swallow us," He points out as our backs are now against the center column.

"Um..."

We solved one problem, but it wasn't the problem.

With stalagmites pointed directly at us and only inches away from spearing us like human shish kebabs, I have to think quick. But surprisingly, Chasan thinks quicker and before I can even protest, he snatches the reed from my hand, puts it in his mouth, then blows on it like a whistle.

The shrill that comes from it is light and sharp, piercing the air louder than one would expect from a little reed like that. Just as the room closes in around us, everything finally stops as if the pause button was just pressed. Then, like a click of the rewind button, everything begins to unfurl back into its original state until the hole in the wall leading back out is exposed again.

For a second, we just stand there, trying to steady our breathing as we glance uneasily at each other.

"Let's get out of here," Chasan sighs, running his hand through his hair.

"Don't have to tell me twice."

We both make a beeline for the hole in the wall, moving a little faster through the tunnel than we did coming in.

"How'd you know that would work?" I ask him as we hustle along the damp halls.

"I didn't, it was a lucky guess."

"Pretty lucky indeed."

We arrive back at the entrance where we first came in, the handle still there thankfully, making escaping out of this place a snap.

Aside from nearly being crushed alive, I'd say that was a rather easy mission, and to top it all off, now I have something that'll help me against Tymos.

It feels good having the sun on my skin again and being able to see what's in front of me. But as I enjoy this new warmth and light, Chasan starts up with concern in his voice.

"Where is everyone?"

Still allowing my eyes to adjust to the natural light, I squint at him. "What?"

"Where are the others and that giant?"

Now I'm confused. "They should be waiting for us out here..."

But as I step from around the waterfall, I look around and see no sign of them. My mind immediately flies through all the wonky possibilities that could have occurred. Maybe they've wandered off, thinking we would be in there a while, maybe they were attacked, hell, I don't know, maybe we've stepped into a parallel universe, but all I know is they're not out here anymore.

"They might have wandered off somewhere close by," I suggest. "We should go find them, tell them we got the whistle thing or whatever."

"How are we supposed to get down?" Chasan asks, looking down off the ledge into the water below.

"I dunno, jump maybe?"

"You're mad, there's no way we can jump from here all the way down there."

I shrug, peering down at the height myself and grinning mischievously. "I dunno, looks kinda fun."

"No way."

As we wonder about how to get off this thing, our attention is disrupted by the ground shaking. But this time, I don't panic, instead perking up.

"Look, they're coming back," I tell him.

Soon, I see Kaos coming towards us, but as Chasan soon points out, he's swinging his arms.

"Where are the others?" He questions, a frown still on his face.

"They might have gotten too scared of the height and wanted off," I say, brushing off his worry.

As Kaos stands before us, I call up to him.

"Hey, we got the thing."

"Good," He bellows down at us as he offers his hand for us to climb abroad.

"Where are our friends?" Chasan asks as we start to get on.

"I will take you to them, now come."

So we both get on board and he lifts us up to take us where the others are. But as we walk on, he suddenly stops in his tracks- not a trace of the rest of our group nearby.

"Hey, Kaos, what's up?" I ask, clearly confused.

He sighs briefly then lifts us up to meet his eyes.

"I do not want to cause you or your companions any trouble so just give over the object and I will take you to them."

"Huh?" I blink.

Though I'm taken back, Chasan grips my arm and hisses in my ear.

"See, I told you we shouldn't trust him."

"Drop the object now," He commands, the power of his voice making my hair rustle a bit.

From one sticky situation to the next, it's nonstop here.

I don't know where our friends are, but I also have seen how useful this object is so now I'm in a predicament. Keep the object that ensures victory or save our friends.

"Maybe we can come to some sort of agreement."

"Unfortunately," He says, starting to cup his hand, closing us in tighter. "That will not work. Drop the object."

Yeah...maybe in retrospect, trusting a giant wasn't such a great idea...

Chasan and I exchange a brief look before I calmly reach over and quickly whisper in his ear-

"Chuck it to the ground."

It's a knee-jerk response- the kind I'm known for- I'm just worried he won't understand and try to figure out a different way. But to my surprise, without delay or hesitation, he tosses it over the cusp of the giant's hand, not even glancing at me or looking to make sure it goes over. It's as though he had the same thought and my prompting was the only push he needed to go through with it.

Shocked by our reaction, Kaos tries to scramble to catch the reed before it becomes lost on the dense jungle floor. In the process of trying to catch the small object, he drops the hand he's holding us in, and before I can even catch myself, I feel myself free-falling.