"Julianne, listen to me. I'm serious. It was a trick of the light," Aria tried for what felt like the hundredth time. "There's nothing here."

I sighed, still running my hand along the smooth, slippery rock wall. "Seriously, you guys! There's something here. I just feel like…" A cliché sort of shiver ran down my spine. "…Like we were meant to go in there."

"Like you were meant to be chucked into the loony bin?" Laila suggested, raising her eyebrows innocently when I turned to glare at her. "Really, Julianne. Tunnels hidden in random beach rocks? I guess you have a pretty good imagination, but isn't that going a little bit too far?"

I almost screamed with frustration. "You guys!" I said. Yes, I did want to see where the tunnel was headed, but what got me the worst was how they were treating me like a head case. Admittedly, I had raced out to the Department Store and took Laila, Riley, and Aria on a wild run back to a beach rock where I'd sworn I'd seen a passageway hidden inside, which was a definite sign of a headcase.

Still, I'd known what I'd seen.

The rain was even thicker now, and it was practically impossible to see beyond my nose. The high tide was coming in, and the water was up to mid-thigh now. Not that it mattered—the rain had already drenched our entire bodies. I could see why my friends, who hadn't seen the weird tunnel, would want to get out of here and check into a budget motel, or something.

Desperately, I kept tracing my hands over the rock. "It's somewhere!" I pleaded. "I…" I grasped at the rock, feeling a slight change in the texture. "Here! Look!"

It was the dial, all right, and I twisted it the same way I had earlier. Riley was smirking like I was playing some kind of practical joke. "Who wants to just ditch and go eat some"—

A soft grating sound cut him off. Aria squeaked softly as she turned around, yanking on her soggy braid. I almost yelled with delight. Like I expected, one side of the rock was sliding away to reveal a dark path.

"Told you," I whispered, glaring at Laila and Aria. "There's something…" I shivered softly. I felt colder than the damp, chilly weather would usually make me. "There's something there." I took a step forwards. The water was beginning to slosh into the dark passageway I'd found, and it intrigued me.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, and turned around to see Aria glaring at me. Her hazel eyes were firm, but there was a bit of fear in them as well. "Hang on, buddy," she said fiercely. "Are you saying that we're all just going to head into a dark tunnel in the middle of the ocean because…because…" Aria seemed to be at a loss for words, "…appears?"

I clenched my teeth. "But it has to mean something!" I insisted. "I mean, passageways don't just open up out of rocks for no reason."

Aria narrowed her eyes. "Exactly, Julianne," she sighed. "Don't you get it?" She looked down into the dark tunnel; water flowed into the entrance. "Really, Julianne, what d'you think could be in here?"

Riley raised his eyebrows, wiping water off of his face. "I think it's a trap. But it feels like…" he broke off to glare at Aria. "Like we should go in there."

I wrinkled my nose decisively and looked around for Laila. To my surprise, she wasn't standing right next to me. I glanced around, feeling a little bit wild with surprise.

"Julianne!" Aria giggled. "What are you doing?" She didn't notice that Laila wasn't there with us any more.

I stared down into the empty darkness of the tunnel. "She's not here," I said frantically. "She must have gone"—

Laila's bored voice sounded from in front of me, echoing a little off the rock walls of the cave. "I'm right here, y'know," she snipped back. "C'mon in here. It's not gonna hurt us." I could hear the soft ching-ling of a Chimecho, and I noted silently that Laila had her Pokemon out. Maybe not completely harmless, then…

Aria exhaled impatiently. "Are we just going to duck into the dark unknown, then?" She demanded hotly. "I mean, without some light?"

"Do you have a candle, or something?" I could almost feel the condescending, mock-innocence in Laila's voice. "It's not too bad in here once your eyes get used to it. Come on in…"

Riley hurried in, kicking up soft splashes of seawater as he scrambled to find Laila. I followed him a little bit more cautiously, aware that whatever was here, we would be vulnerable to. A minute or so later, Aria followed, holding a long candle in one hand. The dim light flickered on the damp walls of the cavern and flickered in the lapping ocean water filling the little room, giving the whole experience a haunted, ghostly feeling, fresh out of a cliché horror movie.

Laila turned to face us. "I think this is some kind of…entrance room," she said. Chime floated around her head, brushing up a little bit of her damp, golden hair. "What I mean is, there's some kind of steps leading down there. Take a look."

Aria and Laila took a few steps away from the entrance to the cave. I craned my neck forwards, and Riley took a step backwards. Water was rushing down what appeared to be several very steep steps, trickling down into the unknown. Aria's little candle couldn't illuminate the whole staircase—another factor in the whole horror-movie feeling.

I grabbed at the black straps of my backpack, feeling a little bit more adventurous than before. "Think we should go down there?"

Laila, Riley and I all turned excitedly to Aria, who put her non-candle-holding hand on her hip. "Do I really have any choice?" Surprisingly, she pushed past me, shouldering her way between Riley and Laila to stand in the lead, on the second step down. "Come on, you guys." She snorted sarcastically. "Follow the light."

The steps were narrow and very slippery, forcing us to walk single-file: Aria in the front, the candlelight bouncing off of the narrow, water-dripping walls, Laila behind her, with Chime floating above her head like a halo, Riley behind her, and me behind. As we continued down, careful not to slip on the thin slick of water, I think only I heard the distant grating noise, and the dim grey light beginning to be swallowed up. Somehow, I couldn't bring myself to tell the others what had just happened…

…we were trapped.