Craeg recalled the pair he’d shadowed, leaned forward, and told his buddy everything.
* * * *
ROUSING SLOWLY, SILASlistened to the rustle of his fellow bats roosting around him.He hung from the ceiling of the cavern, sandwiched between many others, sharing body heat.They twitched and fluttered their wings, jostling him while betraying their agitation.
As a shifter, Silas ran quite a bit hotter than those bats of the regular variety around him.That had ended up helping him, as he wasn’t the same type of bat as those who made up the colony he’d found within the caves years ago.Fortunately, once his fellow tiny creatures had realized his larger frame wasn’t a danger to them, they’d appreciated cuddling with him and absorbing that extra heat.
That also meant that when the colony became riled or woke suddenly, Silas felt it.Their little shoulders and wings tapped against him.Their fur rubbed against his own.
Something had woken the colony.
Silas’s internal clock let him know that the sun wasn’t due to set for several hours, yet.There was no reason for most of the bats around him to have woken.That meant something had disturbed them and held their attention.
Holding still, Silas strained his ears.Even in bat form, he had much better hearing than those around him.It took a moment, but Silas patiently differentiated between the sounds the bats made and the quiet noises and wind changes of the cavern.
Then...Silas heard it.
A soft splash followed by the lap of water on stone.
That’s not the usual underground river sounds...even during a storm.
When it rained, the water collected and flowed along trenches in the rock formations.It would flow together, eventually collecting in a shallow pool some distance to the west.The pool moved into a small, underground lava tube that Silas assumed eventually flowed into the ocean.
There was no reason for the water to splash.Even the quantities from heavy rainfall didn’t make noises like that.Instead, it created rushing or gurgling sounds.
Opening his eyes, Silas blinked slowly.He didn’t know why he bothered, but even after living with the colony in bat form for so many years, it was still instinct to try to clear his vision.Except, no light made it that deep inside the caverns, allowing him to utilize even his sensitive eyesight.
Silas parted his jaws just a little and let out a low sound.The echolocation bounced against the surfaces of the bats and cavern walls around him, letting himseehis surroundings.Releasing his hold on the ceiling, Silas dropped.He snapped out his wings and arced through the air.
After another round of echolocation, Silas flapped hard and fluttered his way toward a narrow exit.The urge to protect his family rode him, although he wasn’t completely certain why.He knew the bats he lived with wouldn’t understand, appreciate, or even reciprocate, but that didn’t matter.
I need to know if whatever’s making those sounds disturbing the colony will cause a problem for us.
Silas swooped through one tunnel and into another.Landing on a wall, he listened for the splashing again.Once he’d determined the direction, he let out a soft trill to confirm the way.
Then Silas continued on.He did that several more times as he traveled through the narrow tunnels.Realizing he was close to the small pool and lava tube surprised him...especially when the tunnel no longer appeared familiar.
The space felt much larger—the ceiling higher and the tunnels wider.As he crawled along a wall, he realized he could even see light filtering ahead.Squinting against the soft illumination, he blinked a few times to get his eyes to adjust.
Creeping forward, Silas clung to a rock ridge and peeked into what used to be a small room with a shallow pool that collected rainwater.It wasn’t small anymore.Instead, it appeared to be a pretty expansive cavern.
Rocks were stacked along the edges of the freshly opened tear, and gray scars on the ceiling betrayed from where they’d fallen.The pool had become much deeper and wider, creating an oblong shape.There was a steady stream of water coming in off the right, even though it wasn’t raining.A bit of rippling to the left betrayed that it had a current and drained in that direction.
What truly shocked Silas, however, was the fact that there were sea animals frolicking in the pool.He thought both were whales, but they weren’t the same kind.They seemed perfectly happy to jump, roll, and play together.
After a moment, their movements slowed, and they circled the pool together, eyeing the walls as if taking it all in.
Then...something...happened.
Their forms changed, skin rippling and flowing, limbs fashioning and bodies shrinking.
To Silas’s complete astonishment, after about half a minute, two men—twonakedmen—floated in the water together.
Silas gaped, even in bat form.
“This place is amazing,” the lithe blond commented, looking around with a grin on his face.
“That it is,” the broader man replied in an accent Silas didn’t recognize, a grin on his bearded face.“Thanks for suggestin’ it.”
