It was weird how Kara had changed my whole point of view in few days - A week ago, I still thought she was a freak, but now, things had changed. What she thought and said made sense. Do not treat animals different than humans, there is no big difference between them. It was logical. And yes, I admit it, she was hot. And not just that, something about her personality was fascinating. The way in which she cared about the animals, but was still so cold-hearted when talking to me. Even though the ice around her heart seemed to be melting, just like the ice of the earth had.

I was sitting underneath a tree near the tent, thinking about Sarah. And Coralee and Michael. Do rabbits even feel sad when their partners die? I once heard something else, but when I saw Coralee a few days ago, she seemed kind of... broken. Coralee was a beautiful, completely black rabbit who was missing a piece of her left ear and had a few scratches in her face. Kara told me that these were from when she had been attacked by a marten two years ago and Kara had saved her.

"Nic? Stop hanging around here and being useless. Help me with the food!" That was her.
"Coming!" I got up and entered the tent.
"So, what should I do?"
"Cook the mushrooms. And when you're done, put them into this bowl." She pointed at a porcelain bowl which seemed like it had once been yellow. "I'll make the spaghetti afterwards. And next time I'm going to... get something form the village, you're coming with me. I need to show you how to steal." I grinned while putting the mushrooms into the pot on the camping stove. Yes! Finally! I had been waiting for this. I lit the fire and started stirring the food.
"I was thinking... Maybe it would be a good time to take a bath in the lake after lunch. We're sweating a lot at these temperatures - humans were the most stupid idea Earth ever had - and this doesn't smell or feel very good.", Kara said.

I almost choked on my spaghetti. First of all, what lake? As far as I had seen, there was almost no water around the place - as usual nowadays. But something else actually worried me even more.
"So, how... what... how is this going to happen? Are we just going to undress and jump into this lake... naked?!" I felt the heat creep into my face just thinking about it.
"Ha! You wish. I'm gonna keep my underwear on and dry in the sun afterwards."
I blushed even harder. "No, I didn't mean it like that..."
Kara laughed. "Well, believe it or not, but I've got humor, too. I can actually make jokes." She smiled a little bit and there was such a cute wrinkle around her eye that I blushed even more.
"...Oh. Okay." This girl sure knew how to make me curious.

A few minutes later, Kara led the way to - well, I didn't know.
"See this?" She pointed at the floor right in front of some rock.
"See wha- Oh!" There was a hole, almost invisible between all the dry plants. Kara grinned.
"This is the entrance to the most beautiful lake ever. Come with me!" She sat down and crept through the hole first, which took about 2 seconds. "Come!", I heard her voice from down there.
"Um... Okay..." I tried to get through the hole just like her, but it wasn't as easy as she had made it look like, I almost got stuck! Well, I wiggled my way through it, and when I was done, I looked around and... Wow. It was beautiful! We were inside a large cave. There was only a little bit of sunlight coming in through the hole we had just crept through, and some more from the other side and the ceiling, and this made it look breathtakingly beautiful and creepy at the same time. I heard water gurgling very softly, but couldn't make out where it was coming from. Kara knew what I was thinking and pointed to the other side: Between the rocks, there was a hole with water running out of it - A spring with fresh water which was running right into the deep blue water! This was incredible! Did Kara even know how precious this place was? Did anyone else know about this? When I turned around to ask her, I saw that Kara was taking off her T-Shirt, shoes and pants. Immediately, I forgot what I was going to ask. For her, it didn't seem to be a problem that I was going to see her in her underwear. And I couldn't help but stare.

"Dude. What are you staring at?" Oh crap. I looked away quickly and felt my face turn red hot. AGAIN! Will this ever stop?
"Uh... N- Nothing..." She rolled her eyes.
"Holy Aphne, it's just like I wore a freaking swimsuit! Calm down!"
"I told you it was nothing!", I growled. Kara sighed.
"Okay then. I'm going in.", she said and jumped without hesitating. "Come on!"
"Okay, okay!" I quickly  took off my shirt and shorts and dipped my toe in the water. "Holy shit, this is cold!"
"Not at all! And apart from that, it's way easier to just jump."
"Um... O-Okay..." I backed away a little to then run and jump into the lake. COLD!!! "'Not cold at all'! Yes, of course!", I hysterically shouted as soon as I had gotten back to the surface. Kara started laughing very hard.
"What the hell, man! It's not! Are you that sensitive? You'll get used to it. You have to!" She suddenly dove down without a warning. And didn't come back. Twenty seconds. She was still gone. Twenty seconds quickly turned into forty, which turned into a minute. Where the hell is she? Should I look for her? Yes, I think I shou- Kara's head broke through the surface of the water and she took a deep breath.

"Kara! Don't you ever dare scare me like that again!"
"Sorry!", she panted. "I always do that."
"You could've warned me!"
"Okay, okay. I'll warn you next time. And, by the way, you should learn that, too."
"What would I need it for?"
"You'll never know. Maybe one day, you're going to lose something very important in here..." She shot a glance at my necklace with the amulet hat held a picture of my mother and me - I hadn't taken it off, I never would. "And you'll have to look for it, but can't find it right away. Or you'll have to hide. Or simply hold your breath for a very, very long time to stay alive. You never know." She said with a worried look on her face, but then quickly looked away.
"If you say so..." I almost whispered, hoping never to need what I was going to learn.

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A/N: Word count: 1153! *inhale* MEEP.

Again, special thanks to my mother, she really gave lots of feedback and corrections for this chapter! By the way, this is what the lake looks like(kind of):

Pic link: https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/beam-light-shines-through-opening-underground-785342077?irgwc=1&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=Pixabay+GmbH&utm_source=44814&utm_term=https%3A%2F%2Fpixabay.com%2Fimages%2Fsearch%2Fcave%2520spring%2520water%2F

And thank you all for reading!

-Lilia