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The edges became craggy and sharp.
    And then, without warning, it suddenly stopped. A dead end.
    “Now what?” I called to Shona.
    “We go back. We’ve looked. There’s nothing here. And I’m not exactly surprised, or disappointed. Come on.”
    How could it suddenly end like that? I was sure it was leading somewhere. I felt around on the rock in front of me. It was different from the walls. Smoother. I inched my hands around it. Then I realized why it was different.
    “Shona! It’s a boulder!”
    “What?”
    “There’s something blocking the tunnel. Look, it’s different from the walls. Feel it.”
    Shona squeezed forward to touch the boulder.
    I felt my way around its edges. “There’s a crack all around it.” It was almost the same shape as the crystal at the other end. “Maybe it’ll come loose.”
    Shona looked at me.
    “Let’s just try.”
    “How do I let you talk me into all these things?” she said with another sigh.
    “Because you can feel it, too? Because there’s something down here that’s making you tingle with excitement? Because the last time we went exploring, we ended up finding my dad? Because being my friend means you get to live on a beautiful desert island? Because —”
    “Okay, enough.” Shona half frowned, half smiled. “Don’t get your tail in a tizzy. Let’s just get on with it.”
    Because I couldn’t turn back now if I wanted to, even if I don’t know why. I didn’t say that part out loud, though.

    It didn’t just slip out like the jewel at the other end. We pushed and pushed, but nothing happened. Or nearly nothing. The boulder moved slightly, rocking backward and forward as though it was on a hinge, but we couldn’t shift it.
    “It’s useless,” Shona gasped. “We’ll never get it out.”
    “We need to use the rocking. Get a momentum going. Look, it’s swaying. If we both push it from above, it might topple. Wait till I say. On the count of three. You ready?”
    Shona nodded without looking at me.
    “One.” I felt around for a good hold on the rock.
    “Two.” I stretched out my tail, getting ready to flick it as hard as I could.
    “Three!”
    We swished and pushed, grunting and heaving.
    “Now, let go!” The rock swayed away from us, and then back. “And again.” Another shove against the rock, another slight movement. Again and again, we heaved and pushed until, finally, it started to loosen.
    Then Shona stopped pushing. “I’ve had enough. I’m exhausted.”
    “But we’re nearly there!”
    “I want to go back,” she said. “I don’t want to do this.”
    “What’s the problem?”
    “The problem is that we don’t know what’s on the other side !”
    “Exactly! But there is something, isn’t there? I can almost feel it vibrating in my body.”
    “Me too. And I don’t like it, Em. It doesn’t feel good. I don’t want to know what it is, and I want to go before this place collapses in on us.”
    “It’s just a boulder. It’s not going to collapse!”
    But Shona turned to go back.
    “Just one more push.”
    “You do it if you like. I’m going.”
    “Fine!” I went back to the boulder. It was teetering on the edge of the hole now. I could probably push it on my own. I didn’t even know why I was doing it anymore. I just knew there was something here. I could feel it. Low vibrations hummed rhythmically through the cave, and inside me, growing stronger. What were they?
    Fueled by frustration, I spun my tail as fast as I could, pushed all my weight against the rock, and heaved.
    Very slowly, it teetered, swaying with the rhythm of the water before eventually toppling: a huge, smooth, oval rock slipping down and away from us, almost in slow motion. Water swirled all around. The boulder was still traveling — rolling, hurtling down through the water.
    It felt like when you roll a snowball down a hill and it grows bigger and bigger. Something was building up on the other side of the tunnel, below us, below the island, deep