Chapter 3

I had never told anyone, but deep down, I was still really afraid of the dark. That's why I loved stars so much. They reminded me that even in the deepest darkness, there's always a little light.

"Well, except in here," I grumbled to myself. I couldn't see a thing. I had to feel along the rock wall to make sure I didn't topple over. Why had I ever gotten curious about this darn cave? I asked myself in my head. I would be much safer out in the sun on the island with Sora and Roxas and everyone else.

Then, I found myself on level ground again. I was at the bottom of the stairs. And in front of me, I felt a large wooden board. It felt just like the other door. Only this time, it had a thick handle on one side. I yanked it open.

I was confused. Before me was another cave, but this one was well-lit with candles. I shut the "door" behind me, which from this side was a large rock wall with a mural of the moon and some stars painted on it. At least there was some light. But I realized that unfortunately, there was no handle on this side of the cave. I was trapped. Again.

"I've got to be the unluckiest person alive," I grumbled. I decided to explore and see if there was any other way out. I trudged through the knee-deep water in front of me and saw some stairs. These led up and I decided that was better than going down farther.

"Is this some cruel joke?" I wondered, as I reached the top of the stairs. It was an empty room. I took a step forward, ready to look around for more hidden trap doors or tunnels. Suddenly, a floating slab of floorboard descended from above. I was surprised at first, but then just in shock as it hovered there in front of me. It's as if it were waiting for me.

I shrugged and climbed on. As it floated up, all I was thinking was, This is a dream. All a dream. Any minute now I'll wake up and it will be Saturday morning and I'll go outside to see Riku and Kairi and Roxas and Sora and we'll hang out on the island and I won't be riding a floor board.

In a minute, I still hadn't woken up. Instead, the floor had risen all the way up to an odd little hut. "What now?" I groaned as I stepped into the open space. Then I heard voices outside the window.

"Something's in there!" one said quietly.

"Shh, it will hear you!" another whispered.

I inched toward the window. "Um, hello?" I called out. "Is someone there? Because I'm really lost and I need some help!"

"Don't say anything," I heard one voice whisper. "It could be one of them!"

This made me freeze. One of who? Who were these people? What did they want? Could I trust them? I paused to listen. They fell silent too. Finally, I took a deep breath and spoke.

"Hello? Anyone there? I'm lost, I just wanna find my friends…"

"OK!" one of the voices yelled enthusiastically. Then a young girl with black hair and boots up to her knees popped in. "Aaah!" I jumped back, startled.

"It's OK, Merlin! It's just a girl! Everything's safe!" she announced. An old man with a long white beard stumbled in.

"Oh, I suppose it is, but still, one can't be too careful…" he said as he carried a bag to the middle of the room. "Hi!" the other girl said, waving. "I'm the Great Ninja Yuffie! And you are?"

"Um, I'm Katie," I replied. As Merlin started magically pulling furniture from his bag and setting it up in the room, Yuffie asked me, "So…what brings you to Traverse Town?"

Traverse Town? Sora had told me about this world once. It was the first world he had been to outside Destiny Islands. Sora. For the first time it occurred to me that everyone still had no idea where I was. They would still be looking for me, wondering where I was. Then my parents would find out I was gone. They'd be so worried…

My eyes started to get watery as I fought back tears. Yuffie looked surprised. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to offend you…"

"No," I sniffed, rubbing tears from my eyes, "It's not you. I just…I wanna go home." At that moment, all the lights in the room went out. An eerie chill started to seep through my body. I shivered and asked, "What's happening?"

"Shhh!" Yuffie whispered hoarsely, "Hide behind me and stay down!" I did as she said and hid behind a dresser, but as I peered around the edge, I saw mist seep in through the entrance. Then it swirled around a large puddle of darkness that had appeared on the floor and the darkness mixed with the fog.

The resulting creature was unlike anything I had ever seen.