Black Sun and I carefully climbed down the rotting ladder. A stench of musty walls flew up our noses and we coughed. A few minutes passed before we reached the bottom of the hole, and we stepped onto the muddy ground.

"It's so dark in here," Black Sun said, squinting his eyes.

"Hang on," I said, taking out a pocket flashlight. I turned it on, and the hole was illuminated with a bright light that showed a tunnel. "That's better."

"What is that?" Black Sun asked, curiously.

"It's a flashlight," I simply replied, checking my surroundings. "I wonder where this tunnel leads."

"Let's find out," Black Sun said, beginning to walk forward.

I caught up with him, and we were soon walking down the tunnel in silence.

***

"How much longer is this tunnel?" I asked, breaking the silence.

We had been walking for at least an hour, and it looked like there was no end in sight to the tunnel. Black Sun shook his head, and frowned.

"I don't know," he replied. "It feels like whoever built this tunnel must have wanted to get far away from Roanoke."

"Is it just me, or did it get brighter in here?" I asked suddenly.

Black Sun looked at me, confused. I turned of the pocket flashlight, and put it back in my pocket. As our eyes adjusted to the darkness around us, a dimmer light began to form down the tunnel in front of us. 

"Let's go check it out," Black Sun suggested, then began to run towards the light, with me in tow.

As we ran towards the light, it became bigger and brighter until we reached a cave. As our eyes adjusted to the brightness of the cave, we checked our surroundings. 

There were many torches that lined the walls of the cave, and they were somehow still lit. On the floor lay a decaying journal and a blanket. A table was by one of the walls filled with cracked and decaying plates and cups. A chair was on it's back, one the legs completely missing. I walked over to the bed to get a closer look and saw a decaying doll, one of the eyes missing.

Black Sun walked next to me, and picked up the journal. He carefully flipped through the pages, not wanting to accidentally rip the pages in half. 

"'It's my little girl's fifth birthday today, and just we found out terrible news,'" Black Sun read out loud, grabbing my attention. "'From the disease that struck us two years ago, she still has part of the disease in her. I did not want this disease to spread again, so I asked the chief for help. The Croatans brought us to a hidden cave where we would be safe from giving the tribe the sickness. Each day I will leave my daughter here, get supplies, then come back to help try to cure her.'" He flipped the pages a few times until something caught his eye. "'Something terrible has happened. In the middle of the night, my little girl escaped. I searched everywhere in this cave, even flipping over my chair hoping that she was just hiding from me for fun. However, my worst fears have been realized. She has escaped this place on her own. I just hope that she doesn't spread the disease.'" Black Sun turned to the next page. "'I feel sick. Very sick.'" Black Sun flipped one more page, and a piece of paper slipped out of the journal. "'Ever since my little girl left, I stayed here and hoped that she would come back. Come back, my little Virginia Dare.'" Black Sun flipped to the last page with one word messily scrawled on the paper. "'Mother'" The "r" in "Mother" scrawled off the page, showing that the mother had collapsed from either weakness of her sickness, or because of death.

Bending down, I picked up the paper that had slipped out from the journal. On it was a portrait of Virginia, her mother, her stepfather, and her stepbrother. Below were the words "A Brand New Family."

"She said that she had nothing to do with this," I muttered, frowning.

"What was that?" Black Sun asked me, closing the journal.

Without replying, I dropped the portrait I was holding, and ran back through the tunnel. 

"White Star, wait!" Black Sun cried out, placing the journal in his bag, and running after me.

I have to find her!