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what we’re going to find. Of course she’s excited.”
    “You know it isn’t just that; she’s been different this entire trip. Even before that. She’s quieter. Joie isn’t quiet. Now she seems to be somewhere else half the time. I feel like we’re losing her, Jubal—as if something is pulling her into another world where we can’t follow.”
    Jubal sighed loudly. “I wish I could say I don’t know what you mean, but that’s why I came on this trip. I’ve been worried about her too.” He reached out and pushed at his sister. “Move it. I can’t even hear her now.”
    “I can’t move, Jubal.” Gabrielle sounded scared. “I really can’t.”
    “Are you stuck?” Jubal was very calm, but inside that insidious dark dread was stealing over him.
    “No,” Gabrielle whispered. “I just can’t move. Have you ever heard the term ‘paralyzed with fear’? I think I really am.”
    “Gabby,” Jubal said, his voice very quiet. “What are you afraid of?”
    “I don’t know. Joie’s acting so out of control and . . . can’t you feel it? The cave doesn’t want us in here. Listen to the sound of the water. The cave feels evil, Jubal.”
    “You’re letting your imagination get the better of you, Gabrielle. Just take a breath. You’re not claustrophobic and you’re not superstitious. If Joie’s in trouble, we have to help her. The only way we’re going to do that is to stick with her and get her through this.”
    “I’m trying,” Gabrielle said, pushing with her toes in an effort to break the paralysis.
    Joie pushed forward as the ceiling lifted, allowing her to walk once again. Eventually the hall opened into a large chamber.
    “Hey, you two, it’s much better in here. There’s a large gallery.” She shone her light around the area, noting the fingerlike formations surrounding a large abyss that yawned in the middle of the chamber. “Looks like a cathedral in here. Ice balls have formed everywhere here and the sculpted ice is fantastic below, layered in blues and greens.”
    She peered down into the seemingly bottomless abyss, her heart drumming hard, a breathless anticipation, half for the discovery of a cave no one had walked in and half about a mythical man who refused to go away.
    “Ice stalagmites are in abundance, Gabrielle, they’re everywhere on the floor, but that means the temperature here goes above freezing. We’re going to have to be careful,” she called back over her shoulder, all the while studying the deep hole.
    The allure of the unknown was always on her when she came into a cave. The idea that she might be where no one had ever been was a feeling indescribable and she rarely tried putting it in words. She had to explore the unknown. She was driven to do so. She had acquired a good reputation and many countries allowed her permits to explore and map caves. She often brought out samples for researchers. That was Gabrielle’s department, not hers, but she assisted her whenever she could.
    “There’s a few ice boulders here, scattered around the top. I’m going to dislodge them. We can’t have that kind of threat hanging over us when we descend.” She used her ice pick to clear away as many of the boulders as she could. Occasionally she could hear the cracks and creaks that told her the ice was weighing itself down and the pressure could send a large piece bursting forth like a rocket, to hurl itself across the empty space with enough force to kill one of them.
    “Hurry up, Jubal,” she called. “What’s the hold-up?”
    “Gabby’s having to take a moment. Just relax, Joie. Take a breath while I talk her through it.”
    She couldn’t wait. Every cell in her body screamed at her to hurry. There was little time. The urgency settled deep into the middle of that terrible cloud of dread she couldn’t stop. She climbed into her rigging as she struggled to hold on to reality. He needed her. Something was terribly wrong. She had to get to him fast.
    “Gabrielle!