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as ready as I’ll ever be.” She stood up. “Which way?”
       He could see their footprints coming out of the cave tunnel into the cavern. “We came in over there. That leaves the branch going to the left and the one straight ahead. We went straight last time. Want to try going left or stick with going straight?”
       “We can try left this time and see where it leads.” Walking over she picked up a loose piece of limestone. “I have an idea. Would you mind putting one more page on the fire?”
       Zaac did as she asked and she walked over to the cave wall. Taking the rock, she scratched it against the wall. It left a mark.
       “That is a brilliant idea,” Zaac said. “We can mark the passages that we travel and the ones that we enter just in case we get turned around.”
       Ramira was glad that she’d had an idea that had won his approval. “With all of these different passages, it would be easy to get lost.”
       As the trig page settled into ash, Zaac turned on the flashlight.
       “Let’s go.” The branch on the left was so narrow at the beginning that they could walk only in single file. After sixty feet, it widened, and they walked side by side. Another couple of hundred feet brought them to another set of options.
       “This can get confusing. Which way should we go?” Ramira asked.
       “Let’s try left again,” Zaac said, pointing to the left. “See where it takes us.”
       “Okay. Let me mark these first.”
       It wasn’t long before they came to another cavern that had even more branches. This one had formations like the one where they’d spent the night. It also had some new types that appeared to be growing sideways, with thorny spines on them that formed strange shapes.
       “These are different. Look at this one. It looks like a snake.” Ramira walked over to one. It did, indeed, resemble a snake.
       “That one is like an octopus.” Zaac pointed to another configuration.
       “These are so cool. It would be nice if people were able to tour down here. This is definitely worth seeing.”
       Wanting to linger, but knowing they needed to continue, Zaac said, “Let’s see which branch we ought to take. Let’s mark the one we came from.”
       Ramira walked over and scratched the wall of the one they emerged from. That left a choice between the branch going straight and the one going left.
       “What do you think?” she asked, looking toward Zaac as if he would know.
       “Want to try the one to the left again?” Zaac asked without much confidence.
       “Sure. Let’s give it a try.” Ramira figured one was probably as good as the other.
      Ramira stopped long enough to place a mark on the cave wall. The tunnel required them to walk single file again. It had a small bend to the right, which they went around. Soon they came to another crossing of branches.
       “I’m beginning to think we’re walking in circles.” Zaac said.
       Pointing to the floor of the branch that led to the left, Ramira said, “Unless there are two other people walking around down here, we are walking around in circles. Aren’t those our footprints from the crossing we encountered yesterday?”
       Looking down, Zaac began to laugh. “I’ve been leading us in circles.” He handed her the flashlight, “Maybe you should lead for a while. You can’t do worse than me.”
       Before long, they reached the cavern where they spent the night.
       “I think here would be a good spot to take a break.” She sat down at the spot they slept last night. “You want to build another fire while we rest?”
       Soon Zaac had a fire going. “Building all of these fires, it won’t be long before we go through your trig book.”
       “No worries,” Ramira said. “The year’s about done. I can borrow one or study with my friends for finals. After that I won’t need it anymore.”
      Zaac sat beside her, rummaged through his pack and brought out a