"Go to the cave of deepest depths, find a way out, third in one thousand steps, 

Then find a pearl of smoky light, beware of enemies, make a quick flight, 

Go to a mountain to the top you shall strive, the tallest mountain, divided by five, 

There you will find your..." 

<---------------------------------------> 

Sophie jolted awake and gasped for breath. Sweat covered her body as she sat up, brushing her hair from her forehead. Everything was dark. She squeezed her eyes shut a couple times, trying to see anything, but it was no use. 

She groped around, hoping to find an exit as thoughts swirled through her head. She had no idea who she was, or how she'd gotten there. The name "Sophie" keep popping up again and again, and she eventually figured it was her name. 

Her hand bumped something warmed and she recoiled fast. There was a low groan that sent tingles up her spine. "Hello?" she stammered. There was no response for a second, then an accented voice rasped, "Who's there?" Sophie squeezed her eyes shut as more memories pushed through her brain, but they were just bits and pieces, too small for her to put together. 

"Who are you?" she asked. "Who are you?" was her only response. She could see this was going nowhere. "I think my name's Sophie, what's yours?" she called into the dark. "Sophie?" This voice was different. Sophie scooted back, wondering how many people where in the room with her. 

Suddenly, a bright light popped on. Sophie squinted as her eyes adjusted, then looked around. There were four other people lying on the ground around her. One had blonde hair, one had strawberry-blonde hair, and two had dark brown hair. One was a girl, the other a boy. The other girl and the strawberry-blonde boy were still sleeping. 

Sophie rubbed her eyes and creased her brow, trying to remember something - anything. Two names popped into her head. "You're Keefe," she said, pointing to the blonde boy. "And you're Fitz?" Both boys stared at her, eyes wide. "What?" she asked, although she could guess they were just as worried as her being in the strange place. 

The more she looked around, the worse she felt. There didn't seem to be an exit. Not even one opening was to be seen. And that led to another problem. How were they getting air? She didn't know how long they'd been down - or up - in the cave and that meant they could have hours, or seconds of air. And with five stressed people using it up... 

"How did we get here?" Keefe finally asked, sitting up. Sophie shrugged. "I have no idea." Fitz nodded in agreement and squinted at the girl lying on the ground next to him. "She seems familiar..." he mumbled. Sophie cocked her head. "I think she's your sister. Her name is Biana." Keefe and Fitz stared at her again and she blushed. "I'm probably wrong, I don't -" 

"No," Fitz interrupted. "I - I think that's right." There was a moment of silence, and then the strawberry-blonde boy - Dex? - stirred. He grunted and sat up, ruffling his hair about. "Whoa," he moaned. "My head is dying." Biana was also up now and Sophie was beginning to get short of breath. "Who are you guys?" Biana asked. 

Sophie stood up and started racking her brain. "No time for introductions, we've go to get out of here before the oxygen runs out." Keefe sucked in a breath. "I hadn't thought about that." 

"Yeah, well, you're using up air talking, so shut up," Fitz said. Keefe glared at him and Dex rolled his eyes, standing up unsteadily. He tapped Sophie on the shoulder and then pointed to his temples. "Any ideas?" Sophie held up a finger, trying to remember the poem in her dream. 

Go to a cave of deepest depths. Sophie assumed they were already in a really deep cave, so she skipped that part. Find a way out, third in one thousand steps. She turned to the other people and asked, "Does anyone know what 'third in one thousand steps' means?" No one bothered asking where she'd heard that, instead they narrowed their eyes in thought. 

"I know!" Dex said suddenly. "It's a trick question. Instead of walking one thousand steps, you only have to walk three." Sophie bit her lip. "But which direction?" 

"We could all walk in four different directions and find out," Keefe suggested. No one had a better idea, so Sophie, Fitz, Keefe, and Dex all faced four different walls and walked forward three steps. Sophie dropped to the floor and pressed her ear to the stone. The others did the same, but they all came up with nothing. 

Sophie focused on taking shallow breaths as she ran her fingers along the grooves, hoping to find something. "Wait a minute," Biana said, sucking in a deep breath after each word. Dex gave her a warning look as she continued, taking smaller breaths this time. "What if it means the third letter in 'one thousand'? So that would be -" 

"E! For east!" Sophie smiled, but it quickly faded as she realized, "We have no idea which way is east." There was a moment of silence and Sophie put a hand to her chest, trying to keep her lungs from choking in as much air as they could. "Maybe there's a sign on one of the walls?" she suggested. 

Everyone started looking high and low for a letter, when Fitz finally called out, "E!" not wasting any more air than he had to. Sophie rushed over and put a finger where he was pointing. There indeed was a little E engraved there. She doubted they would have found that if they hadn't been looking. 

She quickly pressed the letter, not liking how little air she was gasping in. Nothing happened for a moment, and Biana's eyes widened with terror. Then a rumbling sound filled the air and the west wall moved away, revealing a long, winding tunnel. 

It wasn't exactly what Sophie was expecting, no satisfying gust of wind, but it would have to do. She sucked in five deep breaths before she could breathe normally again. Keefe pounded his chest and sighed with relief. "I didn't think I was ever going to breathe again." Fitz laughed and looked over at Biana, who was beaming. 

Dex sniffed a couple of times, then turned to Sophie. "Where did you hear the riddle?" he asked. All eyes turned to Sophie and she flushed. "I heard it before I woke up." Keefe looked hopeful. "Could you tell us the rest of it?" 

"Yeah, we could assign parts to each person so we could get out quicker," Fitz suggested. Sophie nodded and closed her eyes, reciting the riddle. "'Go to a cave of deepest depths, find a way out, third in one thousand steps. Then find a pearl of smoky light, beware of enemies, make a quick flight. Go to a mountain, to the top you shall strive, the tallest mountain, divided by five. There you will find your,' and that's where it stops." 

Keefe frowned. "Such a cliff-hanger. I got the third part, 'then find a pearl of smoky light,' since we already got the first two." Sophie nodded. "I'm pretty sure the cave of deepest depths means the Mariana Trench, which we would be in right now." Fitz cocked his head. "How do you know that? I've never heard of the Mariana Trench." 

Sophie shrugged. "The same way I know the riddle, I guess. Plus, you didn't exactly know your own name either, so..." He nodded in agreement, turning to Biana. "So, apparently, you're my sister," he said. Biana raised any eyebrow as Dex nodded. "Yeah, I can see the resemblance. Both good looking..." he trailed off blushing. 

Keefe leaned closer to Sophie and whispered, "Someone's got a crush." Sophie held back a laugh and pointed to Dex. "Could you get the fourth part of the riddle? 'Beware of enemies, make a quick flight'?" Dex nodded and Fitz piped up, "I'll take the fifth then." 

"Then I guess I have the last part. 'Tallest mountain, divided by five...' I wonder what that means." Sophie shrugged and looked down the tunnel. "Shall we start walking?" she asked. Everybody nodded in agreement and they start their journey into the unknown.