Should I Stay Or Should I Go...
An early morning trip by the sea goes awry with a run in with some inter-dimensional wildlife. Bridget and Cassie meet a few interesting creatures in the Cave of Voices, and Ashkent gets a new resident.
Backdated 27/08/17
For once when Cassie got out of work she saw daylight. At this point the fact that she didn’t burst into flames at the sight of it was almost surprising. What time was it exactly? Sunday sometime. The sky was pretty clear, not quite at its peak, but well past dawn was her guess. She put her vending machine coffee down for a second to rummage in her purse to check her cell. She passed her hand over the zippo lighter and felt the cool metal scrape across her fingers. Crap, she was supposed to have given that back last week. The second thing was the post-it note reminder to do just that and she rolled her eyes at herself. Moving the deodorant out of the way she fished out her cell, checked the time and shoved it into the pocket of her jacket and decided against heading back to the apartment just yet. If she killed a few hours before slinking back maybe she could avoid Mrs Ackerman’s latest attempt at an inquisition over what calls she took with names and places for the latest round of town gossip. With the coffee nursed against her chest she took a walk along the seafront a little away from the station and the hospital to watch the sun creep across the sky and get some air. The breeze coming in from the sea perked her up a little as she ambled along towards the docks.
Beatrice was doing the grocery shopping for the week, and Bridget had decided that she needed to clear her head. Go out to the Cave of Voices and wade throughout the water, even though it was far from warm. But Maine waters rarely were truly warm, and the very end of August provided some of the better ones. Her Converse sneakers were in her backpack, and she carefully made her way into the cave, pulling out her phone briefly to respond to a text from Beatrice - they did need more peppermint tea, Bridget had just used the last bit the other day. The echoing of the water all around the cave still sent a small shiver down her back, but this was one of the best places in town to explore, so she took in a deep breath, running her fingers along the side of the cave, trying to see if anything had changed since her last visit.
Was it always this quiet down here? Apart from the water moving with the tide and the wind bustling around her and through her hair it was silent. Paused even. There were no birds. No seagulls swooping down at the first sign of a human with food in their hands, nothing. If she was smarter she would have taken it as a sign. The further Cassie walked the more everything felt dimmed down. Which was why the flickering in the cave caught her attention so quickly. Like something from a high budget nineties dream sequence it rippled with a pearlescent haze as she drew closer to try and figure out what the hell she was looking at. At the mouth of the cave she watched as it shimmered in place. The walls seemed to echo farther inside where they distorted into what sounded like wails and cries. She put the coffee down outside and ventured inside, it sounded human. It could have been human.
She knew that she should be grateful that she'd never slipped and fallen in the cave. That none of her on-occasion reckless behavior here had gotten her hurt. The town was far from calm, but Bridget had managed to sneak away from work, which had to count for something. She'd fought with Marley, and she'd not seen Veronica in ages, but there was something calm about this cave, though it made her miss Wren terribly. She turned around to glance back toward the entryway - where a figure stood. Bridget startled briefly, almost slipping into the water, but regaining her balance just in time. "Hey?" She called out, in question. She couldn't make out the figure well enough yet as to tell if it was a stranger or someone else.
This place was usually fenced off, at least it had been back home. Venturing a little inside Cassie hadn’t accounted for the water being as high as it was. Even a little into the entrance the ankles of her jeans were submerged as she trudged towards the sound from before. It was definitely human, someone in pain, like they’d-well-like they’d done the exact thing she was doing but couldn’t get back out. She just couldn’t get a read on where it was coming from. Their voice, or voices now, covered everywhere the sound could echo. The pearlescent haze looked thicker now, brighter despite the darkness of the cavern. She took a tentative step towards it to gauge the water level. Her attention was snapped away from it by someone speaking behind her. “Wha-“ she turned to answer and knocked the top of her head against a chunk of rock face and cursed audibly. The noise bounced around the walls like a backup group. Once the pain ebbed she scrunched one eye open then the other to look towards the entrance to see a figure looking towards her. “Were you in here in second ago, I uh,” she pressed a palm to her head to check for damage, “heard someone yelling up by that light.”
"You heard someone yelling?" Bridget moved closer to the other figure. "I - well, it wasn't me. I like to try and be as quiet as possible, but I know the water can sound like screams." Unlike when Wren had shown Bridget her powers, and real screams and voices had echoed through the same cave. The other individual's voice sounded vaguely familiar and she waded through the water again until she could make out the other's face. "Cassie?" She asked, incredulous. "I've been here for a decent bit, but everything seems normal - or as normal as this cave ever is. I probably spend more time in here than I ought to." Bridget bit her bit, offering Cassie a small smile. "I promise I'm a safe person, honest. We just keep meeting in my less-safe moments. I like libraries a lot!" She blushed suddenly, "Which, I mean, you might assume given my profession. Hi again."
“It’s too far in for anybody to get out there that fast,” the throb on the side of Cassie’s head had dulled to an ache as she registered her name being called. She looked properly at her new companion and raised her eyebrows in recognition. “Bridget, Hi,” she gave an incline of her head in greeting and waded back towards the entrance and put her hands up, “I can’t talk,” she gestured towards where her shoes were under inches of water, “I’m-I was, uh, urban exploring…again...sort of.” That sounded even more feeble an excuse than it did in her head. “I didn’t come here on purpose, just wanted to kill a few hours here before I got home, “ she admitted. “Guess I’m a weirdness magnet. I think there’s someone’s in there,” she registered Bridget’s idea that it was the tide causing it but she shook it off. “Doesn’t sound like water, it sounds like a person. It’s different every time. Like they were in pain.” She waded a little farther and tried to ignore the object that brushed against her ankles in the water. Probably driftwood, but her mind was conjuring images of bones, or gnarled fingers and ligaments. “Hey, is anyone down there?” Cassie called out and stopped to listen for a response. The sounds that returned wasn’t an echo but a frightened cry that sounded nothing like her own. Multiplied. Two, no, three people now. “You think that light thing’s from a phone? Maybe the water’s doing it I don’t know,” she squinted at it, trying to make it out. The inside of the cave felt charged, static almost. It happened again. Wails and moans whistled through the empty spaces and bounced from wall to wall. It made her shudder to the base of her spine. “Please tell me you heard that.”
"That's true." She murmured in agreement. She strained to hear whatever noise Cassie had heard, but shook her head when the other woman continued. "I suppose neither of us can, huh?" Bridget brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "Living in Ashkent certainly ups your likelihood to attract weirdness." She moved closer to where Cassie stood, straining to hear the voices she did. "I don't see a light, I'm sorry." Bridget glanced around, heartbeat increasing just so. Cassie had sensed other things in the building, maybe there was something more to see now. "Tell me more about what you see, though. I might just be too adjusted to it already, having been in hear who even knows how long, y'know? You're a fresh view."
“Guess not,” Cassie said in agreement. Maybe at some point she’d get used to it, long time from now, who knew. She could hope. “guessing you get used to it, right?” If Bridget couldn’t hear it did that mean it was all in her head? No, she’d heard right, she was looking right at the ting. “It’s like it’s right in there, you’d have to be further in to see it maybe,” she twisted round again to get a better look at the thing, “hang on.” Cassie tested one of the rocks jagging out from the sand for purchase and moved further inside the cave. “I won’t go in past my knees, l’ll come back out in five,” she called over to Bridget as she pushed against the water to walk towards the source of the light. The water crept up slightly to the bottom of her calves as she moved under an arch. The thing in front of her was like something from a sci-fi. It rippled and shimmered like a nebula in the middle of the arch. “Nope definitely not from a cell phone,” she called back out to Bridget, raising her voice so it would carry back. “It’s uh,” she sifted through her brain to find the right words, “it’s this-I sound crazy, but it’s like this fog almost, like a veil, but it has this shine,” she titled her head and narrowed her eyes to look at it. “Kind of like the inside of a shell”. As she stood he voices had quietened now, he hadn’t noticed until she looked away. It had gone silent again. She couldn’t hear anything. She frowned at it, the hell was going on? She wasn’t looking to hang around in there till high tide to find out. She started to move back out towards the entrance when something behind her moved and the veil shifted.
"You get at least used to your normal being almost any other town's wicked weird experience." Bridget shrugged. She wanted to see whatever it was that Cassie could see, but she couldn't. No matter how hard she strained her eyes, she couldn't see anything at all. She watched Cassie move forward for a brief moment before calling out. "Oh heck no, I learned my lesson back at that building. You are not going anywhere alone." Bridget began to move in the water toward Cassie. "I believe you." She nodded rapidly. "I just can't see it, but I trust that it's there." She chewed on her lower lip, squinting in the low light of the cave before something moved and all of a sudden the light was more clear and swirling, shimmering though without much in the way of fog. "Cassie, watch out!" Bridget called out, grabbing Cassie's arm and pulling her back, water splashing all around their legs. "What on earth is that?!"
Cassie barely registered the fact that Bridget was there until the silence was shattered with the sound of her yelling at her and grabbing her arm as she was pulled away from it. As she did something sparked from the centre of the light and shot out in a white flare. “You saw it, right?” Cassie asked incredulously from where they stood just out of view of the centre of what she now saw was some kind of opening, a portal. “I have no idea.” The water felt higher than it had been just a few minutes ago. The air full of moisture. The wall she leaned her shoulder against felt warm. The rough surface of what she thought was the stone shifted under her touch. She stopped, and stepped away, eyes wide. Since when did cave walls move? “Uh, Bridget,” she kept the panic out of her voice and didn’t raise it past a soft rasp.
"I see it now." Bridget replied, giving a nod. A shaky nod, but a nod nonetheless. There was some sort of opening that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, exactly where Bridget had been exploring before Cassie showed up. She kept one hand on Cassie's shoulder, staring in shock and awe at what had just materialized in front of the two of them. The air was thicker, suddenly, and the water that had splashed up against their legs seemed to remain, pushed to a higher level than it had been before. "That's never happened before." She said, whispering to Cassie. She took another few steps back, doing her best to keep steady so that she didn't fall and injure herself. "Is that the thing you were talking about before?" She gestured toward the portal.
Cassie followed Bridget’s gaze to exactly where the light was coming from, she was looking right at it now. “That’s it,” she gave a brief nod and her face paled. If there was someone in here before then they sure as hell weren’t there now. They probably went through that thing. “I think I’ve seen this before.” This one was different, not like the one that had been at the warehouse, this one was bigger, tangible, but just as dangerous. It sparked off flares of pearlescent light like the specs of an opal and the jagged rocks lit up where the light touched. She’d seen enough. She wasn’t about to let Bridget get sucked into that thing. “Time to go,” and moved to steer Bridget towards the mouth of the cave when something moved to their right, that side of the cave grew dark and the water rushed in a small wave towards them. Cassie concentrated for a moment on keeping her footing steady and tried to pave a way through the water and avoid the sharp edges of the rocks underneath the water.
"I was about to say the same to you." Bridget glanced back over to Cassie. At least this portal didn't entrance her like that awful, miserable, and terrifying poster had last year. The very idea of beauty pageants made her sick to her stomach, but this wasn't that at all, and she had to focus on other things - on staying alive and not having Cassie get sucked into the - whatever exactly the shimmery space was. "Wait," She paused - would have skidded to a stop if they'd been on solid ground. She whipped her head around, trying to squint to see what had just moved. Because something had moved, though it had gone at least partially under the water. "I don't think I can go just yet - I need to see what that is..." Bridget moved a few steps closer to the dark figure.
At least they were on the same page on the ‘lets get the hell out of here’ front. They’d learned their lesson from the first Hammer Horror matinee back in that hell building. Or they were until Bridget stopped where she was. Cassie continued to push her legs through the water but stopped and looked over to where she was standing. “What-no-let’s just get the hel-“ but she knew even by the time it was out of her mouth it was pointless as Bridget waded towards the movement. Glancing towards the entrance and the daylight farther away than she would have liked she opened her mouth to try and get Bridget to drop it and hightail it out of there, but stopped. The sound of water and air puffing out from somewhere in the caverns further back almost sounded like something was breathing. Like some kind of Orca. The cluster or rocks in front and to the left of her lifted from the floor and curved along the water. No, not rocks, the- she wasn’t going to say it. That wasn’t a damn tail.
She ignored Cassie's words. She knew that it was Basic Survival 101 not to ignore something like that, but she couldn't help herself. There was something drawing her over to the movement. Something was breathing, causing ripples in the water and Bridget sucked in a sharp breath. There was no way - was there a tail, there? She turned to Cassie, motioning. "Just - come over here, please." She bit her lip. She was seeing things. Things that she'd wished for day after day, but that couldn't just - unless? Bridget glanced back over to the giant swirling and shimmering space in the cave, ducking as a few pieces of rock fell from the top of the cave and fell into the opening. "Is - do you -" She gestured at the space about twenty feet from where she stood, almost knee-deep in water. If it was what she imagined, it was not too large, though the tail (if it truly were) appeared to be rather long.
“Whatever it is, we need to leave,” Cassie breathed, her tone serious now. There was something in there with them. Something with part of a tail the size of a dinner table. Worse, Bridget was trying to get close to the thing, signalling her over there. The nerves in her limbs were on fire, fighting with her to get her to move, but she couldn’t leave Bridget in there. Fragments of rock from above fell into the opening and Cassie darted her eyes up in alarm and waded towards where she was standing. “There’s something in the water,” she nodded slowly, “I thought the cave was shifting after that…portal,” it sounded insane, “opened, but I think it was this thing.” Cassie held her breath as something brushed against her leg. A segment of driftwood she guessed and snatched it up into her hand for something to throw to get whatever it was to look the other way so they could scramble out of there with as much time as it could give them. “Okay, okay,” she repeated like a mantra, “just stop moving. It’ll feel it in there,” she gestured to the water around them. Like the freaking shark from Jaws.
"We don't." She responded, her voice barely above a whisper. "I - just trust me on this one, please?" Bridget closed her eyes, and in turn, took in a deep breath. She needed to approach this without getting too many of her hopes up. Because dragons were extinct, and almost none lived in the water. But there was still part of her that couldn't help but hope - maybe whatever that - portal, she thought, scrunching her nose - was, maybe it had linked to somewhere where dragons or something similar to them were still alive. Because this wasn't just an alligator or crocodile. That much she was certain of. "Just hear me out. I'm also good at getting out of this cave quickly if need be, I promise." Bridget turned to offer Cassie what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "Plus, it's not guaranteed to do harm." She chirped, trying to keep her tone as light and optimistic. Everything would be totally fine, absolutely no doubt.
Trust her. Kind of a big ask then, which she felt a pang of guilt over, but that was soon overridden again by the need to get the hell out. “I do trust you,” Cassie said with a steady voice that surprised her considering her teeth were chattering and her nerves felt singed, “just not that.” How big was this thing exactly? That tail was only part if it and there were corners and crevices towards the back that nobody could get to. Not if they weren’t looking to make a one way trip. “How big is this cave?” A back wall rippled and curved that she realised was this thing’s torso and held her breath. The wet sand beneath them flattened in one spot and she felt her legs sliding towards it. The side of her shoe hit against something solid and curved. It was joined by four more as they splayed outwards in a stretch of a limb and pushed down and away. Not going to cause harm. Right, it was going to take them on adventures and give them lessons on life to a folksy wholesome soundtrack. “I’m not interested in finding out.”
She clenched her teeth at Cassie's comment, briefly. It was not a slight on her. "That's fair enough." A small murmur. "The cave? It goes a ways back, though I've never tried to go all the way back. That seemed to be pushing it." That did, and this did not? Bridget shook her head, but didn't voice that thought aloud. Instead, going against what she was certain Cassie would wish, she knelt down, soaking her dress in the salty water, and reached out a hand to touch the creature. She ran her fingers across the skin, a small smile crossing her face. "I just need to figure something out, that's all." She used her free hand to brush hair from her face. "Cassie, watch out!" She squeaked, as the portal shimmered and something else seemed to emerge - something long and possibly segmented. "What the hell is that?!" She shot up, splashing more water.
A ways back. This thing was huge. Where parts of it curved itself where the light reached were covered in scales varying in size in a deep teal sheen. In the darkness it had looked black, blended in with the surrounding walls so Cassie kept away from them and stationed herself beside a rock jutting out to a spike and remained still. “This is why there’s usually a fence around this thing.” Cassie started as if to move to stop her, but Bridget was already kneeling down in the water beside the thing and reached out a hand to touch it. No good could come of it. She was about to remind her of the last time she’d decided everywhere was a petting zoo but heard Bridget calling her name to watch out and whipped around to look where Bridget’s gaze was. The portal sparked and shimmered as something much faster coursed through the water along the bottom of the sand. A centipedal form emerged and it’s flank as it rose upwards. The ridges underneath and the bristles lining its body became visible. At the head was a set of pincers stretched out on either side of its mouth. Cassie did an about turn and let out a long string of profanities as she treaded water to grab Bridget, not caring about the noise it was making or the attention it carried. Her legs moved for her and pushed towards the narrowing exit.
"It's not exactly the safest of places in general." Bridget admitted. There was no point in not telling the truth - not that she ever believed in lying, but right now seemed an especially poor choice to claim that this cave normally held a sense of safety and warmth. "But it's not normally like," she gestured around, "like this. Just rocks and crashing waves and the occasional skeleton - animal, that is." Which I don't mind as much as maybe I should. Bridget thought to herself. But her thoughts were momentarily distracted as whatever the heck had just exited the portal slithered into the water, pincers moving in rapid motion. She felt a shudder flow through her body at the sight of the creature. She was not supposed to feel distaste for the unknown but she couldn't help but make a face that likely matched up well with the list of profanities Cassie had decided to start off with. "No," She said at Cassie's movement. "I can't - I - look, this is what I study." She motioned toward the teal-colored creature in the water. "If this is what I think it is, there's no way I'm leaving here, I'm sorry. I can't."
Bridget wasn’t moving. That hideous thing was snaking around the crevices and curves of the cavern like it was feeling around for them and she wasn’t walking on water to see daylight. She didn’t understand it. At the mention of skeletons Cassie looked down involuntarily and thought about the things brushing her legs. Her mind decided to conjure up a gnarled hand and part of an arm reaching out with sinewy fingers. Something bounced from the side of her right leg and she squirmed. Cassie looked up out of the corner of her eyes towards Bridget, everybody had stories about this place. Skulls washing up and collecting in the pockets and pools, the girls in her old homeroom who swore it was a mafia dumping ground. Stupid stories people told to keep kids and teenagers who should know better away from the place. “Which is exactly why we should motor.” A piece of rock crumbled and fell to the ground a few meters from her as she moved closer to Bridget and lost her footing for a moment. “Is it worth not getting out of here over?”
It was dangerous, and both Veronica and Beatrice would tell her to leave, that no matter what, her safety was first priority. But as she'd ignored Cassie's words, she pushed away the ones in her mind. Bridget scrunched up as more rock fell, and looked straight at Cassie. "We're not going to die." Oh, she wished she had Deirdre around, that would be so much more helpful, she'd be able to say that without a glimmer of hesitation. "But - yes, this is worth risking possible injury. At least for me - you can, if you need to, you can leave me behind, or whatever." There was no way she was going to pass up an opportunity like this, not ever. It was once-in-a-lifetime (and previously she'd thought it impossible, at least until time travel was invented). "I think it's a dragon." She breathed, looking up at Cassie. "That's why I can't leave it be."
“I’m not leaving you in here,” Cassie gave Bridget an are you serious? look. “I can see that it’s a…” she didn’t finish but gestured towards where she assumed the head of the dragon would be. “They must be real wherever the hell it came from-“ she ran a shaky hand through her hair, “look, take a selfie or a sketch or something but we need to-”A scraping from the back wall scratched along and more rock pieces felt to the ground with a heavy thump a few meters from them. There was a shriek of pain from the second creature that reverberated around the cave walls. “I can’t go if you don’t go,” she yelled over the din. “That thing,” she gestured back to the portal, “is spitting this stuff out like a conveyor belt. Anything could be in there and I don’t know how long we have till it pulls us into that thing with it, but it will. Please trust me on this.” Cassie took a steadying breath and shut her eyes for a moment to focus before opening them again, “so no, I’m not leaving you behind here.”
"They are real here, too!" She sputtered. "Just extinct. So wherever they are from, they were never driven to extinction." The whole cave vibrated then, and she gave a small huff. Bridget was not about to let this opportunity just slip away. "Okay, but I don't want that -" She gestured at the worm-looking thing. If worms were giant with huge pincers. "To hurt it." She moved closer to the dragon, resting her hand on its back. "So we can get out, but I can't let this die, it's done nothing!" She practically squeaked. She ducked as something spewed rocks towards where the two of them were standing, and Bridget pressed her body against the other creature (dragon still seemed weird to actually say), who shifted suddenly, causing a wave to flow throughout the cave.
“Okay,” Cassie put her hands up, “okay, sorry. Still…-new to this. I know that, it didn’t ask to be here. It’s stuck like the rest of us. Not its fault,” she paused, “I get it.” The last thing she needed was for them to be arguing semantics when the cave felt like it was crumbling away around them. A tail flick from the centipedal mutation sent a shower of rocks towards them. Cassie leapt in the opposite direction with the water wading up past her knees. “So what do we do?” She shrugged, ”I don’t know,” she dropped her hands down by her sides, “clap it on its side to get it to blot like a horse; let it cruise the coast?” There was nowhere for it to go, no way. Not outside with people around walking the seafront by now. Not with that other thing trying to burrow between the crevices of the cave. “Aside from a anchor sized fish hook for that worm thing it has free reign.” As it to prove a point there was a clicking sound and a rush of air as something snapped at the tail end of the dragon. A wave surged from movement in the cave and hit against the rocks and anything around them. The sand underneath felt like it was shifting and the deep teal scales she could make out in the dim light of the cave rippled and contracted as it shifted position. Raising part of its body upwards.
"I'm not -" She began, wanting to say that she wasn't stuck, that she'd moved here. She wasn't whoever her other self was - someone she only knew vague things about. "That's true. It didn't ask." A small smile offered at Cassie. She hadn't tried to intentionally annoy Bridget, and she was at least willing to understand the fact that a dragon was right by the two of them, she wasn't spewing out denial after denial. "That could -" She began again, before whatever the other creature was continued to cause a disturbance. It didn't deserve to die either, but - but it could do harm, clearly. The dragon then moved all of a sudden and Bridget jumped back - almost her entire body was soaked, now. But that didn't matter - it started to move forward, towards the light that was at the edge of the cave, though not all too quickly.
It was making a break for it. As Bridget jumped back and the water rushed towards them in waves again it pushed itself up to stand and waded its way towards the light at the mouth of the cave. To her right Cassie saw an outstretched claw dig into the sand the side of a coffee table. As it twisted its body round the jagged rocks jutting out from the ground the side of part of it hit against her and pushed her towards a rock formation. As it moved towards the exit the cave darkened till she could just about see in front of her and looked towards Bridget as the ground underneath seemed to vibrate. Where did the worm go? She darted her gaze around the rest of the cave and strained her eyes to see. She looked to where the light of the portal was illuminated now in one corner but saw nothing. The ground juddered beneath her as sand shifted and sunk with the movement of something underground. After a few moments of silence something burst free from the water and lunged forwards.
She'd never quite realized just how large some of them could be. Bridget shook her head, half in awe, half in shock. The worm was gone - until, suddenly, it wasn't. It jumped out of the water and Bridget grabbed Cassie's arm, pulling her over to the side as the worm swooped just past where they had been and crashed into the opposite wall, causing a cascade of rocks to come tumbling down, some getting sucked right into the portal. The worm paid no attention, swooping back over as it made an attempt to bite the dragon's tail, which, in turn, swiped across the cave, only narrowly missing the portal's entrance.
Cassie jolted away as Bridget pulled her just as the worm burst out from the water and knocked into the wall they’d fled from sending fragments of rock to tumble free into the water. Cassie’s eyes were wide and looked to Bridget in a silent thanks. A piles of rubble flew through the air and a jagged boulder juddered and lifted from the ground as it was pulled violently in the portal a few feet from them. “It’s starting,” she couldn’t keep the fear out of her voice, “it pulls us in and we’re not coming back out.” Around them the worm struck again if Cassie didn’t know any better she’d have sworn it was in anger, but the dragon simply swatted it away. The tip of its tail slammed into the midsection of the worm and knocked it into the back wall. The portal sputtered and crackled as an almighty crash erupted. A piercing shriek from the worm rang out and reverberated around the cave before chunks of rock fell and buried the worm under them. She couldn’t see the portal anymore. Just the cracks in the rock where the light shone out and flickered in rays.
Bridget nodded back to Cassie. At least they were both in here, because just one of them would likely not do much good. "We're not going to let it get that far." She whispered. "No way am I getting pulled into that." She motioned vaguely back toward where the portal was. "We've survived some sort of living building, I'm not about to not survive in one of my favorite exploration spots!" She shuddered as the worm got knocked against the wall and fell underneath a pile of rocks. "Okay, okay now I'll listen." She looked over at Cassie. "But I don't want that," she nodded at the dragon, "to die or get stuck so, let's hope it decides to explore the great outdoors, okay?" She bit her lip, tasting saltwater, and possible something else - residue from the now-partly buried, partly exploded worm. She spat into the water and brushed her hair out of her face.
The portal was gone and that thing taken with it. The stillness that followed felt jarring, but Cassie shook it off and turned back to Bridget, she was listening to her. Just at the exact moment when she had no clue what to do. Bridget wasn’t leaving without the thing now blocking the exit coming with them. A small crescent shape of light remained at the front of the cave a few meters away as she looked towards the dragon and hesitated. “Uh,” she tried to think, and you know what, if it got them out of here at this point why the hell not. A breath of exasperated laughter escaped her, “we just need something to get it to mo-” No sooner had she spoke when a chunk of rock fell from the top of the cave and landed square on the Dragon’s flank. Its skin shuddered and the ground shifted and it was moving again. Standing full and snaking its way to the mouth of the cave and out to the daylight beyond. Debris rained down in small scatterings as it made its exit knocking against the rocks and rubble in its way in its escape.
Things were still, all of a sudden, and somehow that almost felt stranger than the chaos that had ensued just moments beforehand. Bridget shook her head. It was all fine, everything was fine. She had to keep up the optimistic attitude, lest she find her nerves getting to her too much. She was practically soaked from head-to-toe with sea water and worm goo, but she'd found a dragon. "I-" She began, moving to pull out her cellphone to try and take a photograph of the creature just as more rock broke away from the cave and sent the dragon out into the daylight - she snapped a small photo, though it wasn't as clear as she would have liked it to be. "We can maybe go now, then?" She turned to Cassie as she shoved her phone back into her backpack, so that it didn't get soaked. "I - thanks. Again, you're quite a hero, you know." She grinned over to Cassie briefly. "Plus, hey, two for us, zero for our weird town."
Cassie turned towards the direction of the flash from Bridget’s phone camera and put it away in her bag. “Now, we go,” she nodded and waded through the receding water. Her jeans were weighting her down to knee height but she managed to trudge through towards the entrance where the sea breeze whipped her water soaked hair in all directions. “It’s fine, never doing that again, but it’s fine,” she replied pulling strands of her hair away from her face and to the side. Cassie looked ahead and watched as the dragons body snaked through the sand and swerved further and further away and down towards the water. It slid into the shallow and pushed itself out in a few deft strokes of its limbs and submerged itself underneath. It disappeared out to the depths of the water but reappeared for a few moments before it curved its body and dived down out of sight. They’d released the Kraken. A hysterical giggle of laughter escaped her then. What the hell just happened? Cassie let out a snort of laughter at Bridget’s last sentence one and shook her head with an roll of her eyes and pulled her shirt way from where it was stuck to her skin. She noticed now the grey splatters of worm oose and grimaced. She was however right about one thing, two for two, couldn’t argue with those odds. “Let’s not make it best out of three.”
