CHAPTER 2

Lili helped Raz up slowly, clear that he was still disoriented and rather unsure of his surroundings. "Maybe we should leave the beach eh?" she asked.

Raz nodded, slowly getting control of himself. "Y-yeah. Good idea."

Holding hands, they both crossed the sandy beach and traversed the spiraling walkway, until they were in front of the main lodge. The both walked through the soft, slightly overgrown grass and sat down on one of the picnic benches, across from each other.

"Not a day went by that I didn't think of you," Raz said suddenly, causing Lili to jerk her head up and look at him. "It's good to be back together. I only wish this would last… but my father is coming to pick me up in a week."

"Mine too," Lili said, "Then it's back to the family that 'doesn't exist'."

Both teens released simultaneous sighs.

"Well," Lili piped up again, more out of the need to break the silence than anything, "No sense in just sitting around. We might as well get up and do something."

In a burst of energy, Raz displayed a practiced vault over the table and landed behind her, seemingly with little effort. He gently took her hands and helped her out.

"You've got some muscle on you," she observed as he lifted her effortlessly, then smiled at his slight embarrassment.

"Uh, yeah, you know, Circus training and everything," he said.

She accepted the answer, much to Raz's relief—after all, it was the truth.

Lili looked at him, her eyes containing the tiniest trace of concern. "You know, I think it's good that you got this time away… you seem tense. This will be a good chance for you to relax."

He smiled at her. "I think so too. Why don't we walk down to the Kid's Cabins and see if there have been any changes."

Arms linked, they both followed the simple dirt path, stepping onto the rickety bridge that would lead them to the Kids Cabins area. As Raz looked down, he marveled at the welcome, nostalgia-inducing vista. Far below, the wilderness and forests branched out, the ground completely covered by a lush canopy of assorted trees.

As they stepped off the bridge, their feet crunched into a thick layer of fallen leaves. Another fresh wave of nostalgia hit both of them as they looked around the small area. Trees that were once young saplings now towered over them, their dying branches swaying softly in the wintry breeze.

Just like Raz and Lili, nothing much had changed. They relished it, not wanting the memories they had been a part of to be erased…

"Oh," Raz said suddenly. "You said in the letter you had something to show me."

Lili looked confused, but the expression did not linger. "That's right… follow me…"

Levitating up off the ground and up to the roof of the cabins, Lili then proceeded to bounce to a rocky outcropping jutting out of the cliff face. There was a small tunnel leading deeper underground, and Raz followed her through it.

Struggling to remember the exact features of the tunnel, Lili said, "There should be a long drop somewhere arou—whaa-aaaat?"

It was obvious by the sudden rushing of air and the increase in speed that Lili had misjudged the difference, and the slight drop turned out to be a great deal longer than they expected. Raz growled as his head struck the low ceiling above, but before he could do anything the tunnel ended and they crashed out into a dark, sparsely lit cave in a crumpled heap.

Both teens were still too disoriented and bruised to recover right away. Instead, Lili said rather confusedly, "I… I think my hand is on your groin."

It took a moment for that to sinks in as both of them laid there, trying to regain their senses. When it did…

"Aaah, sorry!" she yelped, springing up.

Raz withdrew quickly as well, and equally embarrassed look on his face. He covered it up and changed the subject. "So, whatever you want to show me is in this cavern?"

A small drip of water punctuated the still-awkward silence.

"Yeah," Lili said, motioning to the wall with her hand.

Both of them turned to look at the cave wall. Carved into its hard, rocky surface were hundred of glowing, intricate symbols. Raz stared at it, dumbfounded, before turning to Lili.

"Any idea what it means?" he asked her.

"I was only able to decipher a fragment of it," she responded, shaking her head. "It says something along the lines of, 'Six cycles after The Entanglement and new power shall emerge' but that's all I could get."

Raz rubbed his chin, staring at the runes. "This part here… says something about a 'gathering place' for psychic energy…"

Lili looked at him. "Ford Cruller's Sanctuary. The deposits there keep his mind in check."

"And it's not summer any more, so he won't be around," Raz finished for her. "Maybe we should go check out old Cruller's, eh?"

Lili nodded. "The weird thing is that the underground cart he uses to travel around is still operational, and sometime while we were gone, a new track was built leading to this cavern."

She walked over to a fairly large rock and concentrate, beginning to use telekinesis. Raz helped her, and soon two glowing hands lifted the rock and threw it against the cavern.

"What would Agent Cruller want with a bunch of runes?" Raz wondered aloud.

Lili leapt down the shaft, landing neatly in the seat of the talking cart. "Welcome, Agent Cruller," it said in its monotonous voice.

Raz landed behind her and reclined slightly, grasping the back of the seat. "Take us… err, me to my sanctuary," he informed it.

"Right away, sir!"

As the cart began to push off, Raz said to Lili half-jokingly, "Hopefully this won't take too long—I was planning on stargazing tonight."