"I still don't see why you get to drive," Kaylee grumbled.
Cerys kept her eyes on the road, and to her credit she was definitely focused way more on driving than on the conversation. Even so, she replied with a smirk "Because I'm the oldest and most senior member of Club Luna who also has a drivers license... and can reach the pedals and see over the steering wheel."
"Hey!" my girlfriend glared, not that our driver could see her.
The debate about who'd get to drive started Friday night, pretty much as soon as I agreed to buy a vehicle for the club. Out of the seven of us, only Kaylee Cerys and Willow had drivers licenses. And Willow admitted she didn't actually have much experience behind the wheel, but then neither did the other two. Although Cerys might have been the most experienced driver, considering how many times she 'borrowed' her dad's car back when she still lived with her parents.
On the other hand neither Sasha or I knew how to drive, neither of us had any experience behind the wheel. My cousin had seen cars back before she got exiled, they were around since the late eighteen-hundreds, but she'd never seen the need for them. I was sort of similar in that respect, I never really wanted or needed a car so I didn't bother with driving lessons or a license.
Melanie and Nina were sort of in the middle, they both knew how to drive but neither had a license. The wolfgirl said her dad started teaching her to drive back before she was turned, but becoming a werewolf and having to move across the country and everything kind of put an end to all that. As for my sister, none of us were surprised to find out she knew how to drive, or that she had the most experience by far. She didn't have a license though, at least nothing that would be valid in this country. Or this decade.
Apparently my little sister taught herself how to drive back in the nineteen-forties, when she started stealing army vehicles during the war. She wasn't doing anything in particular with them, she just did it for fun apparently. The part that actually did surprise us was she didn't just learn how to drive cars or trucks, she also knew how to drive motorcycles and tanks.
The image of my cute little sister taking off on a joy-ride in a stolen World War Two tank was something that would stay with me for quite some time.
Anyways that discussion ended with Nina and Melanie both talking about taking the test and getting their licenses, while Sasha and I were going to think about getting lessons. Neither of us were entirely sold on the idea yet, but at least in my case I had an alternative. My cousin's magic wasn't strong enough to teleport, so learning to drive was more relevant for her.
As for who got to drive today, despite Cerys's teasing that really was the reason she was behind the wheel. The drivers seat was adjustable but between my girlfriend's small stature and her three tails she was either too uncomfortable, or she had trouble seeing the road and the instrument panel and reaching the pedals all at the same time.
Those were problems we could fix later on, either with magic or like Cerys suggested we could probably get a booster seat for Kaylee. Just getting the vehicle took up most of our time on Saturday, between doing the research, making calls, and going out to see stuff in person.
The one we ended up buying was about seven years old, but it still ran really good and it had relatively low mileage for its age. It was a dark grey colour, with seating for up to eight people which was perfect. Cerys was already calling it the Lunamobile, but so far nobody else had joined her. And Melanie complained every time that name came up.
Now it was just past eleven, Sunday morning. Cerys was behind the wheel of our new club mini-van, with Melanie navigating in the passenger seat. My girlfriend and I were sitting together in the second row, while Nina Sasha and Willow sat behind us in the back row. And we were finally heading back to that strange cave to try and find out what happened to Melody's friend.
"This is our turn coming up ahead," Melanie spoke up, breaking a couple minutes of silence. "You're turning left there."
"Yeah I know," Cerys replied as she put on her turn signal and started to slow down. She added, "Let me know when we're getting close to the bendy bit, so I can figure out where to park."
We made the turn onto Third Line, then it wasn't that far before Melanie told her "It's just up ahead here, two hundred meters."
"Thanks," the blonde wolfgirl signalled again as she started to slow, and we finally pulled off onto the shoulder when we got to the right place.
With the van parked we all climbed out, and Nina sighed "It's too bad about the weather."
"Indeed," Sasha frowned. "I expect this isn't going to be a great deal of fun."
"Not that I anticipated it would be much fun regardless," she added a moment later.
It rained on and off overnight and into the morning. It wasn't raining now, but the sky was overcast and there was still a lot of moisture in the air. All seven of us were dressed for hiking, with boots and jeans. And jackets incase it started raining again. Some of us were even wearing hats, and both Sasha and Willow had their long hair pulled back and secured with hair ties.
We also had a couple flashlights with us, for when we got to the cave. That was about it though, nobody had any actual cave-exploring gear like rope or whatever.
Cerys and Melanie took the lead, they were using the GPS in the older wolfgirl's phone to get us to the coordinates. And as soon as we were away from the road and into the woods both of them shifted to their wolfgirl forms as usual. The rest of us followed along, and as we made our way through the hilly terrain we started speculating about what we'd find.
"We know the cave's not that deep," Cerys commented. "At least not anymore, since we found the cave-in when we were there in April. I figure it's about fifty meters, maybe sixty?"
Melanie shook her head, "I don't think it's even that deep. Forty at most. It just feels further because of the way it curves, so you can't see the entrance from back there."
Sasha commented, "My understanding is Rick was there to see markings at the cave entrance? So there wouldn't be any reason for him to go deeper, would there?"
"He might have been curious?" Kaylee suggested. "Melody said he was studying geology, right? So he probably wanted to get a better look at the rest of the cave."
Cerys nodded, "Right. Geology and geomorphology, whatever that is? And yeah, I doubt the guy would come all this way just to look at the front of the cave but not go inside."
I asked, "So what do we think happened? We know the police already searched these woods, I guess we're assuming they didn't find the cave. It's been six days since Rick went missing, we know he couldn't have gotten lost right? Whether it's forty or sixty or a hundred meters, the cave was just a straight tunnel in as far as the cave-in then back out again. There's nowhere else to go."
The others were all quiet for a few seconds, then my girlfriend sighed. "The most obvious mundane answer is he went in as far as the cave-in you saw in April, and while he was back there a second collapse happened and he got caught in it. Odds are we're going to find there's been another cave-in somewhere between the other one and the entrance."
She shook her head as she added, "This probably isn't going to have a happy ending either way. Not after him being missing for six days."
"Yeah," Cerys sighed. "I was trying not to think about that, but you're right Kaylee."
Willow asked, "So why are we hiking through the mud and muck to look at it ourselves? Why not let the cops know about the cave? They can send in experienced cave-divers or something."
Our club leader responded, "Because even if that's the most likely scenario, it's not the only possibility. We know the cave has some ties to the supernatural, and the first time we were here back in March something strange happened. Basically there's a chance that something supernatural happened to this guy, and the cops aren't equipped to deal with that."
"If we find evidence of another cave-in and it looks like that's what happened to Rick then we'll notify the authorities," she added. "Until then, we have to treat it like it might be a Club Luna incident."
We were all quiet again for a while after that, as we continued making our way through the woods. The ground was muddy and going up and down the ravines were slippery again, and we had to cross a stream at the bottom of one of them before heading back up the other side.
"Willow, how did you find the cave?" my girlfriend asked suddenly. "According to Paige none of the local spelunking groups are aware of it, and she said it wasn't on any maps or other references. But you told us you found it through some sort of supernatural reference?"
The cute sorceress replied, "You've heard of the 'dark web' right? Stuff that you won't find in any search engine, stuff that there aren't any public links to? Last summer when I started searching for real magic I was asking around online and stuff, and eventually got myself into some private forums and chat groups. There were people I met that way who claimed to know stuff, and eventually one of them got me an invitation to a 'dark web' occult forum."
"Most of the stuff on there was stuff I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole inside a salt circle," she added with a scowl. "Nasty stuff, curses and whatever. And a lot of it was like, cringy edgelord nonsense."
She continued, "I guess it was around October or November I met someone on there who seemed ok, and we ended up messaging and stuff. Eventually they trusted me enough to start telling me some secrets. And that's how I learned about the cave. They told me where to find it, and said it was a place of power. They said if I was looking for somewhere to do ritual magic, that cave was a prime location."
"Do you still talk to this person?" Kaylee asked. "Do you know who they are, or where to find them?"
Willow shook her head, "Nope. They disappeared off the forum not long after they told me about the cave. I never found out who they were in real life, or where they're from. Or how they found out about the cave."
Sasha asked, "Did they tell you anything else about the cave? Such as what made it a place of power, or why it was ideal for ritual magic?"
"They said it was a convergence of ley lines," the sorceress replied with a shrug. "I know some folks say ley lines don't exist, others claim they're real, so I'm not sure how legit that is? But it worked for me, so I guess that's some kind of proof?"
My cousin had a thoughtful frown on her face, and after a few moments she asked "You were trying to invoke the ancient Greek goddess Hecate, were you not?"
Will nodded, "Yeah. It took me four tries, four full moons, but the last one actually worked. Hecate answered my call in April, and she granted my wish."
"Let's focus on the task at hand ok?" Cerys interrupted. "We're here."
Melanie frowned, "I can smell that scent again, the rotting-fruit thing? It's stronger now, like it was back in March."
The seven of us were coming down the side of another ravine, and the entrance to the cave was just up ahead.
We all gathered around outside the mouth of the cave, and I couldn't help glancing around at all the nearby trees. I was looking for any evidence of cameras, not that I knew what to look for. But I figured if there was something man-made it would stand out, like a box strapped to the side of a tree.
Meanwhile Cerys Melanie and Willow got their flashlights ready. And Kaylee got a bit smug as she bragged about being able to see in the dark.
"Maybe you should take the lead then?" the blonde wolfgirl asked with a grin. "Considering you're tiny, you can see in the dark, and you're almost indestructible now?"
Melanie looked like she was holding back a smile as she joked, "Could be dangerous, you go first?"
My girlfriend rolled her eyes but she took my hand in hers and said "I don't mind going first, as long as I've got my goddess girlfriend by my side."
"So the goddess and the demonic kitsune up front," Willow said, "Then two werewolves in the second rank? Me and Sasha should take the third rank, and our other indestructible demon can take the rear. That way all us squishy mortals are safe in between the tougher supernaturals."
"It's important to establish the party's marching order before entering the dungeon," she added with a grin.
Cerys rolled her eyes and teased, "Nerd."
"Y'all haven't forgotten we're looking for a missing person right?" Melanie asked, reminding us all this was supposed to be serious business.
Her girlfriend nodded as her smile faded, "Right. Ok, Kaylee and Cass lead the way."
"Let's all make sure to stick together alright?" I suggested.
Willow agreed, "Two or three paces between each pair should be good? So we're all close enough to help if something comes up, but not all bunched up so we all get in trouble at once if something goes wrong."
Everyone agreed with that, then Kaylee and I entered the cave. I had to crouch a bit, but my girlfriend didn't have to duck at all. Which she was smug about again. On the other hand everyone in the club was kind of short since Paige and Brooke left us.
Melanie was actually the tallest now, and she was barely average height. Actually Cerys was the second-tallest in the group which was kind of wild, considering she'd been one of the shortest this time last year. Then I was third-tallest which was just as hard to believe. Sasha was about my height, then Willow and Nina were both a bit shorter than me. And of course Kaylee was by far the smallest.
Like before, we only got a couple meters into the cave before we stopped next to those old runes carved in the wall. And despite agreeing not to bunch up like fifteen seconds earlier we all bunched up around the runes as everyone had another look at them. Or in Sasha's case, it was her first time seeing them.
My cousin frowned as she stared at those strange old runes, she reached out and lightly ran a finger over the markings.
"They're not enchanted or anything," I told her. "I don't see any magic in them, or on them. I haven't seen any magic in the cave at all, not today and not the two other times I've been here either."
Sasha nodded slowly as she frowned at the runes. Then she turned towards our sorceress and asked, "Willow, are you sure that the entity you encountered in April was actually Hecate? Did she identify herself? Or ask anything in return? Did she ask for prayer, or sacrifice, or that you perform any of her rites of worship?"
All of us turned to look at the cute ravenette, who's eyes had widened slightly while her face grew a little more pale than usual.
Willow slowly shook her head as she gulped, "Um, no? She didn't do any of those things. I did my ritual and invocation, then suddenly I received the power. There was no contact or anything though, she didn't communicate with me at all. Why?"
My cousin looked back at the markings carved into the stone and sighed, "I'm not sure what exactly answered your call Willow, but I don't believe it was an ancient Greek goddess."
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"I still don't see why you get to drive," Kaylee grumbled.
Cerys kept her eyes on the road, and to her credit she was definitely focused way more on driving than on the conversation. Even so, she replied with a smirk "Because I'm the oldest and most senior member of Club Luna who also has a drivers license... and can reach the pedals and see over the steering wheel."
"Hey!" my girlfriend glared, not that our driver could see her.
The debate about who'd get to drive started Friday night, pretty much as soon as I agreed to buy a vehicle for the club. Out of the seven of us, only Kaylee Cerys and Willow had drivers licenses. And Willow admitted she didn't actually have much experience behind the wheel, but then neither did the other two. Although Cerys might have been the most experienced driver, considering how many times she 'borrowed' her dad's car back when she still lived with her parents.
On the other hand neither Sasha or I knew how to drive, neither of us had any experience behind the wheel. My cousin had seen cars back before she got exiled, they were around since the late eighteen-hundreds, but she'd never seen the need for them. I was sort of similar in that respect, I never really wanted or needed a car so I didn't bother with driving lessons or a license.
Melanie and Nina were sort of in the middle, they both knew how to drive but neither had a license. The wolfgirl said her dad started teaching her to drive back before she was turned, but becoming a werewolf and having to move across the country and everything kind of put an end to all that. As for my sister, none of us were surprised to find out she knew how to drive, or that she had the most experience by far. She didn't have a license though, at least nothing that would be valid in this country. Or this decade.
Apparently my little sister taught herself how to drive back in the nineteen-forties, when she started stealing army vehicles during the war. She wasn't doing anything in particular with them, she just did it for fun apparently. The part that actually did surprise us was she didn't just learn how to drive cars or trucks, she also knew how to drive motorcycles and tanks.
The image of my cute little sister taking off on a joy-ride in a stolen World War Two tank was something that would stay with me for quite some time.
Anyways that discussion ended with Nina and Melanie both talking about taking the test and getting their licenses, while Sasha and I were going to think about getting lessons. Neither of us were entirely sold on the idea yet, but at least in my case I had an alternative. My cousin's magic wasn't strong enough to teleport, so learning to drive was more relevant for her.
As for who got to drive today, despite Cerys's teasing that really was the reason she was behind the wheel. The drivers seat was adjustable but between my girlfriend's small stature and her three tails she was either too uncomfortable, or she had trouble seeing the road and the instrument panel and reaching the pedals all at the same time.
Those were problems we could fix later on, either with magic or like Cerys suggested we could probably get a booster seat for Kaylee. Just getting the vehicle took up most of our time on Saturday, between doing the research, making calls, and going out to see stuff in person.
The one we ended up buying was about seven years old, but it still ran really good and it had relatively low mileage for its age. It was a dark grey colour, with seating for up to eight people which was perfect. Cerys was already calling it the Lunamobile, but so far nobody else had joined her. And Melanie complained every time that name came up.
Now it was just past eleven, Sunday morning. Cerys was behind the wheel of our new club mini-van, with Melanie navigating in the passenger seat. My girlfriend and I were sitting together in the second row, while Nina Sasha and Willow sat behind us in the back row. And we were finally heading back to that strange cave to try and find out what happened to Melody's friend.
"This is our turn coming up ahead," Melanie spoke up, breaking a couple minutes of silence. "You're turning left there."
"Yeah I know," Cerys replied as she put on her turn signal and started to slow down. She added, "Let me know when we're getting close to the bendy bit, so I can figure out where to park."
We made the turn onto Third Line, then it wasn't that far before Melanie told her "It's just up ahead here, two hundred meters."
"Thanks," the blonde wolfgirl signalled again as she started to slow, and we finally pulled off onto the shoulder when we got to the right place.
With the van parked we all climbed out, and Nina sighed "It's too bad about the weather."
"Indeed," Sasha frowned. "I expect this isn't going to be a great deal of fun."
"Not that I anticipated it would be much fun regardless," she added a moment later.
It rained on and off overnight and into the morning. It wasn't raining now, but the sky was overcast and there was still a lot of moisture in the air. All seven of us were dressed for hiking, with boots and jeans. And jackets incase it started raining again. Some of us were even wearing hats, and both Sasha and Willow had their long hair pulled back and secured with hair ties.
We also had a couple flashlights with us, for when we got to the cave. That was about it though, nobody had any actual cave-exploring gear like rope or whatever.
Cerys and Melanie took the lead, they were using the GPS in the older wolfgirl's phone to get us to the coordinates. And as soon as we were away from the road and into the woods both of them shifted to their wolfgirl forms as usual. The rest of us followed along, and as we made our way through the hilly terrain we started speculating about what we'd find.
"We know the cave's not that deep," Cerys commented. "At least not anymore, since we found the cave-in when we were there in April. I figure it's about fifty meters, maybe sixty?"
Melanie shook her head, "I don't think it's even that deep. Forty at most. It just feels further because of the way it curves, so you can't see the entrance from back there."
Sasha commented, "My understanding is Rick was there to see markings at the cave entrance? So there wouldn't be any reason for him to go deeper, would there?"
"He might have been curious?" Kaylee suggested. "Melody said he was studying geology, right? So he probably wanted to get a better look at the rest of the cave."
Cerys nodded, "Right. Geology and geomorphology, whatever that is? And yeah, I doubt the guy would come all this way just to look at the front of the cave but not go inside."
I asked, "So what do we think happened? We know the police already searched these woods, I guess we're assuming they didn't find the cave. It's been six days since Rick went missing, we know he couldn't have gotten lost right? Whether it's forty or sixty or a hundred meters, the cave was just a straight tunnel in as far as the cave-in then back out again. There's nowhere else to go."
The others were all quiet for a few seconds, then my girlfriend sighed. "The most obvious mundane answer is he went in as far as the cave-in you saw in April, and while he was back there a second collapse happened and he got caught in it. Odds are we're going to find there's been another cave-in somewhere between the other one and the entrance."
She shook her head as she added, "This probably isn't going to have a happy ending either way. Not after him being missing for six days."
"Yeah," Cerys sighed. "I was trying not to think about that, but you're right Kaylee."
Willow asked, "So why are we hiking through the mud and muck to look at it ourselves? Why not let the cops know about the cave? They can send in experienced cave-divers or something."
Our club leader responded, "Because even if that's the most likely scenario, it's not the only possibility. We know the cave has some ties to the supernatural, and the first time we were here back in March something strange happened. Basically there's a chance that something supernatural happened to this guy, and the cops aren't equipped to deal with that."
"If we find evidence of another cave-in and it looks like that's what happened to Rick then we'll notify the authorities," she added. "Until then, we have to treat it like it might be a Club Luna incident."
We were all quiet again for a while after that, as we continued making our way through the woods. The ground was muddy and going up and down the ravines were slippery again, and we had to cross a stream at the bottom of one of them before heading back up the other side.
"Willow, how did you find the cave?" my girlfriend asked suddenly. "According to Paige none of the local spelunking groups are aware of it, and she said it wasn't on any maps or other references. But you told us you found it through some sort of supernatural reference?"
The cute sorceress replied, "You've heard of the 'dark web' right? Stuff that you won't find in any search engine, stuff that there aren't any public links to? Last summer when I started searching for real magic I was asking around online and stuff, and eventually got myself into some private forums and chat groups. There were people I met that way who claimed to know stuff, and eventually one of them got me an invitation to a 'dark web' occult forum."
"Most of the stuff on there was stuff I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole inside a salt circle," she added with a scowl. "Nasty stuff, curses and whatever. And a lot of it was like, cringy edgelord nonsense."
She continued, "I guess it was around October or November I met someone on there who seemed ok, and we ended up messaging and stuff. Eventually they trusted me enough to start telling me some secrets. And that's how I learned about the cave. They told me where to find it, and said it was a place of power. They said if I was looking for somewhere to do ritual magic, that cave was a prime location."
"Do you still talk to this person?" Kaylee asked. "Do you know who they are, or where to find them?"
Willow shook her head, "Nope. They disappeared off the forum not long after they told me about the cave. I never found out who they were in real life, or where they're from. Or how they found out about the cave."
Sasha asked, "Did they tell you anything else about the cave? Such as what made it a place of power, or why it was ideal for ritual magic?"
"They said it was a convergence of ley lines," the sorceress replied with a shrug. "I know some folks say ley lines don't exist, others claim they're real, so I'm not sure how legit that is? But it worked for me, so I guess that's some kind of proof?"
My cousin had a thoughtful frown on her face, and after a few moments she asked "You were trying to invoke the ancient Greek goddess Hecate, were you not?"
Will nodded, "Yeah. It took me four tries, four full moons, but the last one actually worked. Hecate answered my call in April, and she granted my wish."
"Let's focus on the task at hand ok?" Cerys interrupted. "We're here."
Melanie frowned, "I can smell that scent again, the rotting-fruit thing? It's stronger now, like it was back in March."
The seven of us were coming down the side of another ravine, and the entrance to the cave was just up ahead.
We all gathered around outside the mouth of the cave, and I couldn't help glancing around at all the nearby trees. I was looking for any evidence of cameras, not that I knew what to look for. But I figured if there was something man-made it would stand out, like a box strapped to the side of a tree.
Meanwhile Cerys Melanie and Willow got their flashlights ready. And Kaylee got a bit smug as she bragged about being able to see in the dark.
"Maybe you should take the lead then?" the blonde wolfgirl asked with a grin. "Considering you're tiny, you can see in the dark, and you're almost indestructible now?"
Melanie looked like she was holding back a smile as she joked, "Could be dangerous, you go first?"
My girlfriend rolled her eyes but she took my hand in hers and said "I don't mind going first, as long as I've got my goddess girlfriend by my side."
"So the goddess and the demonic kitsune up front," Willow said, "Then two werewolves in the second rank? Me and Sasha should take the third rank, and our other indestructible demon can take the rear. That way all us squishy mortals are safe in between the tougher supernaturals."
"It's important to establish the party's marching order before entering the dungeon," she added with a grin.
Cerys rolled her eyes and teased, "Nerd."
"Y'all haven't forgotten we're looking for a missing person right?" Melanie asked, reminding us all this was supposed to be serious business.
Her girlfriend nodded as her smile faded, "Right. Ok, Kaylee and Cass lead the way."
"Let's all make sure to stick together alright?" I suggested.
Willow agreed, "Two or three paces between each pair should be good? So we're all close enough to help if something comes up, but not all bunched up so we all get in trouble at once if something goes wrong."
Everyone agreed with that, then Kaylee and I entered the cave. I had to crouch a bit, but my girlfriend didn't have to duck at all. Which she was smug about again. On the other hand everyone in the club was kind of short since Paige and Brooke left us.
Melanie was actually the tallest now, and she was barely average height. Actually Cerys was the second-tallest in the group which was kind of wild, considering she'd been one of the shortest this time last year. Then I was third-tallest which was just as hard to believe. Sasha was about my height, then Willow and Nina were both a bit shorter than me. And of course Kaylee was by far the smallest.
Like before, we only got a couple meters into the cave before we stopped next to those old runes carved in the wall. And despite agreeing not to bunch up like fifteen seconds earlier we all bunched up around the runes as everyone had another look at them. Or in Sasha's case, it was her first time seeing them.
My cousin frowned as she stared at those strange old runes, she reached out and lightly ran a finger over the markings.
"They're not enchanted or anything," I told her. "I don't see any magic in them, or on them. I haven't seen any magic in the cave at all, not today and not the two other times I've been here either."
Sasha nodded slowly as she frowned at the runes. Then she turned towards our sorceress and asked, "Willow, are you sure that the entity you encountered in April was actually Hecate? Did she identify herself? Or ask anything in return? Did she ask for prayer, or sacrifice, or that you perform any of her rites of worship?"
All of us turned to look at the cute ravenette, who's eyes had widened slightly while her face grew a little more pale than usual.
Willow slowly shook her head as she gulped, "Um, no? She didn't do any of those things. I did my ritual and invocation, then suddenly I received the power. There was no contact or anything though, she didn't communicate with me at all. Why?"
My cousin looked back at the markings carved into the stone and sighed, "I'm not sure what exactly answered your call Willow, but I don't believe it was an ancient Greek goddess."
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