Holly's POV

Of course it was raining, the very embodiment of Holly's emotions.

If she hadn't been messing around, if she'd been on alert, like a leader should have, maybe her friends would still be with them.
Sundew would know what to do next.
They wouldn't be stuck in damp, gray cave.
Maybe, if the animus had sent someone else, everything would be on track.
The others wouldn't be stuck with a leader who didn't know what to do.

They had reached the mainland of Pantala, but there was no sign of neither Lynx, nor Sundew.

Thunder roared outside, the downpour as loud as glass shattering against steal.
The cave was aggonizingly cold and dark, especially at night. The jagged,teethy rocks scrapped Holly's invisible wings whenever she moved.
Worms wriggled through her talons and squashed themselves inbetween her scales whenever she tried to lay down.

"Maybe they're taking shelter from the rain like we are", Cricket's voice suggested.

"Maybe", Holly said with a sigh.
"Or maybe Sundew's so determined not to live up to her name, that she's not coming out for us."
Cricket laughed wryly.

Holly'd been trying to lift the fog around the other dragons as much as possible.
It like a vacuum cleaner had come to life and stucked up everything holding her up, leaving a hallow space where there used to be confidence.
This reminded her of the time her younger sister, Lilly, had decided to tiddy-up her room, but had accidentally thrown out some of Holly's most complex sketches. All that was left, were a few scrapes of paper and a vague memory of what the original would have looked like.
But this was her team. She couldn't let them know how she really felt, lost and empty inside.

"Cricket", Luna's voice said. "Do you really think there are other good Hivewings out there?"

There was a long pause.

"I hope so", Cricket said.
"There's my mom, Katidid for one. And Lady Scarab and Lady Jewel. And my dad, I think. I've never met him before. I hope I'll get to, once everyone's free. I can't promise what any of them will do when that happens, though. I just know what side I'm on- and it's with you, Blue, and Holly."

"What if you had to chose between saving Blue and saving the Hivewings?", Luna asked.

"I'd choose Blue in a heartbeat", Cricket said.
"Blue is my very favorite dragon. I'm on your side, Luna. If it seems like I'm not missing him enough, it's because I'm trying not to cry all the time. I have to keep going, to make sure this doesn't happen to him too."

A heavy fog fell over Holly's thoughts.

No, you're not going to cry, no, don't.
We have enough problems already, hold it together.
Keep on moving.
Think about Mandrake . . . no, that's not it. Stop.

Human footprints came towards them, indictating Wren's movments across the sandy cave bottom.
"I think I found something that could help us find the humans", she said.
"I haven't seen any yet, but I did find a human-sized torch that was burned at the end. It's in a cave huge cave. I wanted to explore it, but I wanted to let Sky know first."

"I think he's outside, looking for turtles with Umber", Cricket said.

"Oh, Sky!", Wren laughed.

A few minutes later, Sky and Umber swooped into the cave, sending a cascade of water dropplets onto the invisable human, who yelped indiginately.

Wren walked over to the spot where they'd been making fires the past few nights, and a thick stick floated into the air as she picked it up.

"Can one of you light this for me?", she asked.
"I'll do it", Luna answered.
A strand of flamesilk dropped over the branch, setting it on fire.

Holly resisted the urge to shudder.
Since seeing what had happened to the Posion Jungle after the hivewings set it aflame, she'd only been able to see the dark side of fire: the destructive, deadly side.

"Thanks, Luna", Wren said.
"All right. All of you follow me, but if we see any humans, don't scare them. I know they won't see or hear us, but don't set anything on fire, or try to pick them up, or say, drop gallons worth of water on them on accident."

"Do you even know 'On accident' means?", Sky teased.

The torch moved towards the back of the cave, Sky and Wren's voices following.

The way they teased each other reminded Holly of her and Sundew. Over the past couple of weeks (or months, it was hard to tell), she and Sundew had become so close, they were like siamese twins.
Sundew always seemed poised for a chance to tease Holly about something. She'd had to keep her wits about her and her humor close.
Just when Holly thought the two of them were really opening up, it all had to end.

The floating torch led them on, deeper in the labyrinth until it stopped at an archway where the tunnel opened into a bigger cave.

"All right, guys!"

"Shh!", Wren said sharply.

"Why?", Sky demanded at the top of his voice.
"No one can hear or see us when we're invisable! La la la la! I could do this all day, and it wouldn't bother anybody!"

Despite her rollercoaster of emotions, Holly chortled.

"Uh, it would bother ME", Wren said.
And shh, because I'm talking. This is the cave. I'll leave my torch here, just in case there are any humans in there."

The glowing stick floated towards the wall, and Wren stuck it into a corner inbetween the rocks.

"Oh, and don't disturb anything. It might scare them off.", Wren warned.

Her and Sky's voices moved on ahead of the others. Holly cautiously followed.

The cave was enormous, even bigger than a train station.

Sharp rocks peirced through the cave floor, stabbing the ceiling.
The only light in the cavern, were the flew rays of sunlight that trickled though small cracks in the roof of the cave.

Here's the torch I found", Wren said from above them. She waved a charred, black stick in the air.
"And this tunnel leads to another cave. I'm going to go in and see what's in there."

"Not without me!", Sky said.

"You're not an octopus!", Wren laughed.
"There's no way-"

Wren trailed off.

Up on a nearby ledge, something moved.

Holly strained her neck to see what it was.
In a patch of sunlight, something crept out.
Holly stepped back so fast, she nearly twisted her hip.

On the ledge was their first Pantalan human.

A/N: This chapter was a bit of a filler, but hang in there, guys.

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Wordcount: 986

Renx out!