The Butterfly Girl: A Star is Born

Hiding from the Light

[Sophia]

A plan was set into motion, and the mission was underway. We all grabbed anything of importance to make sure we were all prepared. I mean, it was only gonna be a quick trip, but who knows what's down there? I've only been down there once, Apollo hasn't seen it, and the Twins have lived there for who knows how long? But there still could be something that they haven't seen. Something that might've been hiding. Or waiting.

We didn't actually bring a whole lot. Apollo just brought a flashlight with him because, and I think I've said this before, his eyesight isn't as good in the dark as mine is and he needs something to guide him through. But I assured him that he'd be fine. The Twins didn't bring anything, because they had nothing to bring. Besides their courage.

We all took off, one by one. Apollo taking the lead and I followed behind the Twins because we knew the route.

Apollo's usually the one who takes off first.

My wingspan isn't as large as his. He can jump up into the air from any ground and be up in the air in no time. In my case, I have to beat my wings down hard, toward the ground just to get up in the air. It's faster for me to get in the air if I go at a running start and take off like a plane.

A bigger/wider wingspan makes it easier to get life and you can stay in the air longer, and a smaller wingspan are great for making tight turns and gliding.

With Apollo's wings, he can move really fast through the air and can stay at that constant speed for a long time. But making tight turns and avoiding obstacles can be a bit of a challenge for him, so he tends to stay up high in the air if he wants to.

But with my wings, it's different. My wings increase drag which kinda makes me a little bit slow. But I'm really good at moving through the air. If I'm really, really high up, I can tuck in my wings and dive super fast which gives me more speed so I can glide faster and if I can make my body turn at just the right angle at just the right time, I can avoid almost anything!

Almost anything.....

Hey, I'm not perfect. I gotta learn somehow.

But it's pretty interesting stuff right? The first time I noticed this, I did a little bit of research and that's pretty much all you kinda have to know. The basic stuff at least.

I'm not sure about the Twins' wings though. Their wings are a lot like ordinary bat wings, but I don't know if they have longer sustained flight or drag increase. I should probably look that up later.

Anyway, the Twins were in the lead because they knew where we had to go. Apollo was a little skeptical, but I knew the Twins weren't lying. When we got to the strawberry fields, Apollo took more time to look around and observe the area. After a bit of a rough landing, the Twins guided us through the field to the dark hole in the ground where the entrance of the cave was. We all leaned into it, trying to see if we could see the bottom. I didn't need to, I already got my answer the first time.

As the others were facing what lie ahead of them, my back was facing the hole and I was looking out at the vast number of strawberries. Big and small. I told myself that maybe if we had time, we might be able to try making strawberry shortcake with the large strawberry I hid in the fridge.

" Is this it?" Apollo asked. The Twins nodded.

"Out of all the holes we've seen, this is the only hole that leads all the way down here," they said.

"But are you sure it's this one? There isn't any other entrance?" Apollo asked.

"Nope, this is the only one," they answered. Apollo sighed. I looked back over at them, snapping out of my thoughts. I looked down into the hole. It was just one long stretch of black that almost ran into forever. The Twins were too nervous to go first so I sucked it up and cautiously leaped into the pit, extending my wings out so they would slow my fall. The Twins followed shortly after and Apollo finally did too.

It was a long way down and I was worried that we might crash land and break a bone or something. But when we got closer, I could see the light hitting the bottom and I carefully touched down and waited for the others to land. When we all did, the Twins pointed out the entrance of the cave to the left of us.

We all stared into it. The Twins knew it, I remembered it, and Apollo was just seeing it.

Apollo pulled out his flashlight and turned it on. The light didn't even reach all the way into it. We were all nervous. But once again, I summed up the nerve to go first. Apollo followed behind me, holding the flashlight steady. The Twins finally trotted up to us and stayed close behind.

"Geez, it's really dark in here. I can't really see," Apollo said.

"Yeah, I don't think it was this dark in here before," I added. I thought maybe the flashlight providing light was making the surrounding area darker, but I was unsure.

"Are you sure it's okay in here?" Apollo turned to the Twins.

"We've lived in these caves for a long time and nothing's scared us before," Flyboy told him.

"We've been through many of these tunnels and nothing has ever shown itself to us. We didn't even know if there was anything down here." Fleetfoot added.

I felt a chill run up my spine as a small gust of wind blew in my face. I breathed and tried to calm myself. My vision was starting to get better and my eyes started to glow. The Twins noticed this.

"Wow, your eyes do that too?" they asked.

"Yeah, only when it's really dark," I said.

"What about Apollo?"

"No, my eyes don't do that. I can't see very well in the dark. It sucks." Apollo answered.

Another gust of wind blew and we all shivered in fear. The Twins knew almost every inch of this place and loved the time they spent together, thinking that there was nothing to fear. But now the place felt cold and unwelcoming. Like they had just walked into a total stranger's house. We stepped in further, quietly and cautiously. I suddenly began to feel a quiet yet threatening vibe coming from within the walls. I became aware of my surroundings. Noticed all the little rocks and pebbles I stepped on, the outlines of the cave walls and ceiling. It bent in and out, it jagged in twisty ways. Until we all stopped at a ledge. A familiar ledge. Apollo beamed the flashlight up and we could all see the expansion of the cavern before us.High ceilings and a seemingly bottomless floor.

"You guys really lived here?" Apollo queried.

"Yes, it's the only place we've ever known until we ran into Sophie," the Twins said.

Well, more like you snuck up on me from behind.

"And you never thought of leaving?"

"We didn't want to. We didn't know anything about the upper world and we were afraid of what was up there. We thought we'd be safer down here," the Twins explained.

"Okay Sophie, where did you go from here?" Apollo asked me. I pointed to the right of us.

"Over there." I pointed to the other ledge. I told them that I had carefully stepped my way over there. Apollo pointed his flashlight at the tiny path. I started making my way over, clinging to the wall and carefully shimmying my way over to the other side.

"Wait, Sophie, I can't see that." Apollo hesitated.

"Um..... oh here, give me the flashlight, I'll hold the light so you can see."

"Yeah, okay."

Apollo tossed the flashlight over to me and I almost failed to catch it. I held the light over to the little ledge and held it steady for Apollo so he could see. It took him a moment to get his footing down, but he slowly started to move and when he got close enough, he held out his arm and I pulled him aside and gave the flashlight back to him. The Twins made it over like no big deal and we pressed on.

Apollo waved the flashlight around so he could see and I looked around carefully, keeping aware of our surroundings. To be honest, there wasn't a lot of interesting this to look at, but I stayed aware anyway. There was just a lot of cave and darkness up ahead and I wasn't really sure if we'd find anything.

Well, it wasn't until I heard something. This strange sound that I heard that just set off a very strange vibe. The quiet humming sound. The same sound I heard the first time I visited these caves. I recognized the tune. It was almost as if it was whispering through the walls.

"Hey, do you guys hear that?" I asked. Everyone stopped and looked around.

"What is it?" the Twins asked.

"Shhh, just listen."

And we did. We hushed and listened, looked around anxiously for anything that might be approaching us.

"I don't hear anything," Apollo said. Neither did the Twins. But when they stopped talking, I could still hear it. The quiet, low humming sound that seemed to be all around me. We silently pressed on.

"Wait, I think I do hear something." Fleetfoot spoke.

"Yeah, I think I hear it too." Flyboy added. We all tried to stay as quiet as we could and tried to listen to the inaudible humming. I knew what I was hearing and I knew it was there, like someone, somewhere was humming very softly from very far away.

Suddenly, Apollo waved his flashlight and we all stopped. He was pointing at something. We slowly made our way towards it. As Apollo steadied his hand, it was starting to come into view.

"What's that?"

As we got closer, the Twins recognized it.

"Wait," they said. They walked closer to it and knelt down. They knew what it was and Apollo and I crept up behind them.

"What is it?" Apollo asked. Flyboy looked up.

"This used to be a Moonflower shrub," he said. Fleetfoot looked up too.

"Or at least, that's what it was."

When we got closer to it, it was nothing more than a tiny pile of tiny sticks and dead leaves all over the area. I recognized the dead flowers on the ground. Brown and black and very dead. My face turned stoic upon seeing it. I picked up one of the dead flowers and held it in my palm. As I touched it with my thumb, it crumbled in my hand and the flakes blew out of my palm. But as they left my hand, there was something left behind. Some sort of smudge. Apollo looked over at what I was holding and noticed the smudge on my hand.

"That's weird." he muttered and picked up a flower and watched it crumble as it left more residue on his fingers. The Twins were still mourning their once beautiful Moonflowers that must've once illuminated the caves. I tried to wipe off the smudge, but instead I reached for one of the dead branches and felt something wet. It was more inky residue. I showed it to Apollo.

"It almost looks like black ink," I said. Apollo touched the dead branches and more inky, black substance dripped onto his fingers.

"Maybe... whatever was in Teri's castle might be the same one that was down here." Apollo thought out loud.

"What do you mean?" the Twins asked.

"Like, maybe the thing that snuck into Teri's castle must've also come down here. Whatever it was that was looking for the book in her mother's room must've killed all the Moonflower bushes." Apollo explained. I listened, and understood. But it still didn't make any sense. We don't really know what it was looking for in Teri's castle and why it destroyed all those Moonflowers. For what purpose would it...

"How many of those Moonflower bushes are down here?" Apollo asked.

"They used to be practically everywhere." the Twins told him. "They used to light up the whole cave."

"Did you see what destroyed them?" Apollo questioned.

"No, we didn't see anything. They were just gone."

"Hmmm..."

We all thought for a moment.

"Maybe we should go back." Apollo said. I could tell the fear was starting to sink in. I was feeling it too. Something about this didn't seem right. Didn't feel right.

"We could go in a little further. Let's just see if it left anything behind. Maybe some sort of clue," the Twins added. Apollo sighed.

"Yeah, okay." he complied.

The Twins led the way and Apollo stuck close to me, holding the flashlight towards the ground. Along the way, we found more dead Moonflower bushes and the same inky substance. Dead leaves strewn on the ground and crumbled petals that slightly brushed along the floor with the gentle wind. The quiet, dull humming followed us. I could hear it clearly. Another gust of wind blew through and we all stopped in fear. Wondering if we should keep going. Apollo asked if this was far enough and the Twins agreed, since this tunnel would just keep going until they reached another passage and back to the main cavern. But we went back the way we came instead, wanting to cut our time here short.

Another breeze blew and it made me shiver.

Ugh, this whole cave seems to be radiating this weird vibe and I'm not liking it.

At first, I wasn't aware of another sound following the humming. Not at first. Until my sense of hearing heightened and everything became really loud for a moment and I heard something.

A faint dripping.

Creepy, spooky cave atmosphere?

No... it was coming from behind. I looked back and stared into the dark abyss. I admit, it was scary. I couldn't see straight into it. But I thought I knew there was something there. Nobody else noticed this but me. I stopped and kept staring. Apollo noticed I wasn't following behind him and looked back at me.

"Sophie?"

"I can hear something." I said quietly. Everybody stopped and tried to look at the thing I was staring at. And suddenly the dripping got louder. Apollo aimed his flashlight down around my feet until he spotted the drip and moved the flashlight upwards. And we spotted something. This strange, giant blob on the ceiling. It was moving and dripping onto the floor.

"Sophia, what is that?" the Twins asked me fearfully.

"I don't know," I said as I kept staring at it. I slowly put my hand inside my satchel and pulled out the blue crystal. It glowed in the dark and I grabbed it in my right hand until it turned into my sword. It glowed a bright blue in the dark. I pointed to the strange blob on the ceiling, wondering if it would move any further. The ooze suddenly made a large teardrop shape and plopped onto the floor with a wet splat. Everyone gasped and I gripped my sword with two hands, waiting to see what its next move was. Apollo stood back and we waited. Something moved within it and two beady, black eyes appeared and looked up at me. I began to feel less threatened.

I approached the blob cautiously.

"Sophie, don't," Apollo warned. I held out my sword and poked it. It jiggled before my blade. But it made no movement. I waited.

And then I poked it again and it jiggled for my amusement. I stifled a chuckle, but still didn't move. It just kept staring at me.

"It's actually kinda cute." I said. Apollo carefully walked towards my side and looked at it.

"Yeah, it kinda is." he agreed.

"Maybe this thing isn't dangerous," I said. "Maybe it's just-"

And then the blob launched itself at my head and it rippled dangerously as I dropped my sword and everyone screamed. But the blobs body muffled them as panic began to ensue me. I stumbled back as everyone yelled in fright as flailed my body around, trying to throw the blob off my face. It was trying to suffocate me, my screams muted. Every sound I made was muffled. I waved my head around, my hands trying to pull it off until it finally lost its grip and plopped back onto the floor. I gasped in a lungful of air and lost my balance for a moment. Just before it could re-attach itself, I found my sword and swung it hard just as it threw itself upwards. I swung it again and it jumped backwards. It's body rippled, ready to strike again. And just as it did, I dealt one last, hard blow and it tumbled onto the ground and melted. It's body dripping everywhere until it was nothing more than an ink puddle.

"We need to get out of here!" I said finally. No one said anything, but we all agreed and started running down the tunnel.

We started to hear more plopping sounds behind us and wet dripping. There was more of them and they were coming for us. Apollo quickly pointed his flashlight up and one of them was just about to drop onto his face, but he dodged quickly and leaped out of the way just in time for me to swing my sword at it and it fell to the ground with a splat. My nose was starting to bleed.

When we made it back to the cavern, the Twins didn't hesitate in crossing the gap and waited for us on the other side. Apollo stopped at the edge.

"I can't see!"

"Here, give us the flashlight!" the Twins called. They both held out a hand to grab the flashlight. Apollo looked back at me.

"Just go, I'm right behind you!" I said as I swung my sword in defense. They kept coming, one after another. I held them back as long as I could for Apollo to get across safely.

Apollo tossed his flashlight and Fleetfoot caught it quickly and shone it over the edge. Apollo carefully, but quickly started making his way over.

"Augh, hey!" I yelled as one of the slimeballs hurled itself past me and landed on Apollo's shoe, making him slip and he gripped the wall tightly as the blob fell into the abyss. Suddenly his hand gave way and he slipped further and screamed. Luckily, he was able to hang onto the ridge.

I was slowly being pushed backwards, swinging my sword wildly in every direction. They were coming towards me and I could hardly see them coming, even with my great night vision. Flyboy leaned over the edge and extended his hand towards Apollo to grab. Apollo gripped tightly to the wall and found a foothold, trying to reach Flyboy's hand. He grabbed his wrist and pulled him up. Fleetfoot dropped the flashlight and pulled up her other arm.

"Sophie, hurry!" they yelled at me. I quickly looked back and one of the blobs just barely missed me.

"Jump Sophie!"

"We'll catch you!"

I dodged quickly and my sword retracted and I shoved my gem back in my bag. I kicked a few blobs out of the way and gave it a running start. I leaped as far as I could and I felt Fleetfoot grab my hand and Apollo just barely grabbed my torso. I felt myself slip and almost fall, but Flyboy grabbed my arm and they all pulled me up.

"You okay?" Apollo asked.

"Yeah, I'm good," I said quickly. We didn't hesitate then. We ran as fast as we could down into the tunnel and we could see light up ahead. One by one we unfolded our wings and as soon as we stepped into the spotlight, we lifted ourselves into the air.

The light at the top began to expand and we finally made it back to the surface of the strawberry fields. My nose was still bleeding. Apollo breathed heavily and the Twins had terrified looks on their faces. We didn't speak, but we all knew that we weren't going back there any time soon.