"What?" Silver asked, slamming a hand over Raelynn's mouth before she could get a word out. Her gaze darted to the ceiling, eyes widening when she spotted the swirling lines forming the symbol she was quickly becoming far too familiar with.
"Woah..." Eir stared up at the rocky ceiling. "What the hell are they doing there?"
"I think that's what we'll have to find out, twin."
Beatrice blinked, her fingers weaving through Callum's, her grip tightening on him almost unconsciously as a surge of energy hummed through the room.
"I don't like where this is heading..." he mumbled, watching along with the rest of them as the symbols above their heads lit up with a bright white light. "I don't like it at all..."
"I don't think there's much we can do about that," Sora said, clenching her eyes shut as the light grew brighter for a few moments before vanishing all together – along with the symbols themselves. The floor of the bathtub was also suspiciously absent, murky blue waters staring back up at her as she peered into their depths.
"What's down there...?" Silver mumbled, peering into the dark waters.
Raelynn grinned. "Only one way to find out."
"Wait—"
But it was too late.
Raelynn was already diving into the waters without a care in the world, and Sora envied her in some ways. She'd love to be that carefree... but that was something she'd never be.
"Well." Sora bit her lip. "I guess Raelynn's made the decision for us..."
Silver spun. "We could just leave her to her fate...?"
"We're a team."
Her shoulders sunk. "I should've guessed you'd spout something like that," Silver said, throwing herself into the water, not caring as her bandages got soaked.
Eir grinned. "Seems we're going on an adventure, twin."
"That we are."
And with that the twins vanished too, swiftly followed by Beatrice and Callum, before finally Sora dove underneath the clear waters. She swam through what should've been the base of the little pool of water they'd been in, but whatever those symbols had done had opened up a pathway of sorts. Sora had felt the magic humming through the air so she hazarded a guess she'd just swum through a portal of sorts. Water rippled over her skin, the boundary between the hot water of the baths and the cooler waters of her destination made apparent once she'd passed through. Dark rocks surrounded the rectangular opening, some covered in what appeared to be algae, the faint light shining from what seemed to be above her lighting up the dark waters.
Her lungs burnt slightly, her legs kicking her towards what she hoped was the surface, barely bothering to take into account more of the underwater scenery. She broke the surface, gasping for breath, blinking the water out of her eyes to get a clearer picture of what Raelynn had led them to.
It was an underground cave, judging by the lack of natural light and exits. Whether it was a naturally formed cave or not was another question entirely. Dark grey brickwork lined most of the cave, aside from the hewn black rock surrounding the large pool of water she'd just emerged from.
"Need a hand, Sor?" Raelynn sat by the edge of the pool, offering a hand which Sora gratefully took as she climbed out of the pool.
"Thanks."
"No problem," she said, leading her over to where the others waited.
Sora pulled her wet towel further around herself, grateful the place wasn't freezing as she'd thought it'd be. "I think we'll need to bring some proper clothes next time we come here..." she murmured, stiffening when Raelynn threw an arm around her shoulders.
"Yep. This is gonna be our secret base!" she shouted, seemingly uncaring as her voice echoed around the room. "We've even got a swimming pool!"
Silver just buried her face in her hands.
"It'll be a good meeting place..." Sora said, eyeing up the rest of the room, her eyes lingering on the statues inside the circular walls at the other end of what Raelynn had dubbed to be their 'secret base'. "I just don't know whether we should use it..."
"Aww," Raelynn grumbled. "Why not?"
Silver sighed deeply. "Because, dummy, those statues didn't carve themselves," she said, pointing towards the statues lining the edges of the circular part of the cave. "Someone's been here before us... which means this location isn't as secret as it could be."
"She's right," Sora echoed, having already reached a similar conclusion.
"We can still use it though, right?"
Silver shrugged.
Sora smiled. "We might as well... seeing as it has something to do with our cloaks."
"So it's likely that only we can access this location... even if others know about it..." Eisa spoke up, pulling herself away from her conversation with her twin. "I vote we use this place."
"Might as well," Beatrice said, turning to Callum who nodded silently in agreement. "There's plenty of space for practicing our magic and figuring out what the hell is with our cloaks."
"Twin?" Eisa turned to her sibling.
"You already know my answer."
Sora grinned. "Well, I guess it's been decided then."
"So how about we explore?" Raelynn asked, not bothering to wait for any of their replies before she dragged Sora and a reluctant Silver towards the statues.
There were eight statues still standing, a ninth having succumbed to age and cracked rocks which had ended up in a pile on the ground by the plinth. Sora didn't go to that one though, instead focusing her attention on the plinth which had her symbol on it. The Monster.
The statue was of a woman, that much Sora could work out in a heartbeat, but the name carved underneath it was unfamiliar.
Sophia Beauregard.