Suddenly, I have a desire to leap through the next waterfall. And then the one after that, if there is one. Hesitating for a moment, I come to my senses and feel my way back to the original waterfall. Through the tinkling water, I can hear faint voices yelling. I jump back through.

Slam! I crash into Cole, who is just on the other side. His reflexes are quick and he manages to half catch me in his big arms, dragging me to the ground with him as I bowl him over.

The reaction I expect is, “Wow, what happened, what did you see?” It is stupid of me to expect that.

Cole is on his feet in a second, his face darkening even more than it already is. “Of all the stupid, childish things to do!” he roars, looming over me.

Of course, being me, I am shocked by the reaction and just stare at him, hoping that if I don’t move he won’t be able to see me or something.

I look around slowly and see that Tawni is hugging Elsey, who is crying, tears rolling over her lips. Then it dawns on me. They thought I was dead. I jumped through a mysterious waterfall, let out a scream, and then they didn’t hear anything from me. I hadn’t even thought to—or bothered to—yell back to them that I was okay.

“I was going to fall,” I say dumbly.

“Tawni was about to help me pull you back when you jumped.”

“Oh.”

“You scared your sister half to death. All of us, Adele.”

“Sorry,” I say weakly.

“Not good enough,” Cole says.

“Really sorry?” I say it like a question, which also is not good enough. “Look,” I continue quickly, “I’m so sorry, I wasn’t thinking. It was really, really stupid. Please forgive me. El?”

Elsey pulls herself away from Tawni and runs to me, throwing her arms around me and holding me so tightly I can barely breathe. By the time she releases me she is almost as wet as I am. “Of course I forgive you,” she says. “I thought you were gone.”

“I’ll never leave you,” I say.

“You will if you keep doing stupid things like that,” Cole grumbles.

His forgiveness will take longer to earn.

Tawni comes over and puts an arm around me. “Try to be more careful. We’re like family now.”

A wave of emotion wells up unexpectedly. I get choked up, literally trying to swallow her words down as they seem to get stuck a dozen times in my throat. I am teary-eyed, but not to the point of overflowing. It’s been so long since I’ve had any real friends and now I’ve grown closer to these two in just a couple of days. Wild, thrilling, scary, emotional days, yeah, but still only days.

I realize I love them both. Tawni for her good heart, logical mind, and overflowing compassion for others. Cole for his quiet strength, fierce loyalty, and righteous anger—I don’t even mind his temper.

This might sound cheesy, but all I want is to be close to my new family. I wave Cole over, and after a few seconds’ pause, he joins us in a group hug. I’ve never felt more loved in my life.

It only lasts about a minute—a glorious, beautiful minute—before Cole gets embarrassed. He releases us and says, “Uh, what was behind the water anyway?”

“A landing and then another waterfall,” I say.

“This has the makings of a comedy sketch,” he says, managing a slight grin. His face has returned to its normal dark color.

Note to self: group hugs diffuse tempers, I think.

I grin back. “Why don’t you and I go check it out?” When Cole gives me an I-don’t-think-so look, I quickly add, “No more insane leaps of faith, I promise! I just have a good feeling about where this might lead.” And I do. Something about it just feels right. Or at least more right than going back. Plus this tunnel will be safe for us. No one who actually knows their way around the Lonely Caverns would ever think to go down this particular tunnel.

“Fine,” Cole says grudgingly. “How far is the jump?”

“Maybe five feet,” I say.

Cole nods. “Ladies first. When you get across, move back and I’ll jump five seconds after you.”

Elsey looks worried so I give her an extra hug. “It’ll be okay. We’ll be back in just a couple of minutes.”

“I’ll never forget you,” she says dramatically.

“Yeah, you, too, El.”

I grab two waterproof flashlights, hand one to Cole, and then easily leap through the waterfall onto the landing. I flick on the flashlight and move back. A few seconds later Cole splashes through the liquid wall.

The light doesn’t reveal anything unexpected. We are in a tiny section of nondescript cave that, except for the waterfalls at either end, could have been anywhere in the caverns.

“How are we gonna test the next waterfall?” Cole says.

“Simple—we jump through,” I say.

“You said you were gonna be careful. That doesn’t sound careful.”

“I am going to be careful,” I say, smirking. “You’re going to try it first this time.”

Cole’s reaction confirms that he bought it. His eyes narrow, he looks at the ceiling, and he throws his hands over his head. It’s good to know he is gullible sometimes. “I’m just kidding, Cole. Temper, temper.”

His face softens and he even manages a smile. “Good one,” he admits. “So what’s the real plan?”

“Chuck a rock and listen for the sound.” Maybe it isn’t a much better plan, but it is still better.

Cole shrugs and pokes around along the side of the tunnel with his flashlight until he finds a decent-sized rock. “Should make plenty of noise,” he comments.

“Do it.”

Hefting it over his shoulder like a miner, he gets a running start and launches it into the waterfall. We both put our ears close to the streaming water, and are rewarded a second later when we hear the rock crack against something hard. The sound comes so quickly that it is unlikely the rock fell very far.

“Ladies first,” Cole says.

“Wuss.”

Cole suddenly scoops me up and makes like he’s going to throw me through the fall. Yeah—I scream. “No, no, no!”

He puts me down. “You looked really scared,” he says.

“Good one.”

Turning back to the waterfall, I get a running start and plow through it, leading with the waterproof flashlight. I emerge on the other side amidst a spray of water. Surprise, surprise. It is another mini-tunnel, with yet another waterfall at the end.

“C’mon through!” I yell.

Cole arrives and laughs when he sees the wall of water cascading down from the roof. “How much you wanna bet when we try to go back there’s always another waterfall?” he says.

The thought of being stuck in an endless cycle of waterfalls and sections of cave, coupled with the fact that I’m soaked to the skin, makes me shiver. “No bet, but I hope you’re wrong.”

The rock Cole threw is lying in front of us, slightly chipped but large enough to be effective again. It is heavy, but I manage to heft it with both hands, swinging it from side to side once and releasing it through the waterfall. A second later we hear the same telltale clatter.

“Same time?” Cole says, extending his hand.

Corny? Absolutely. But I’ve always wanted to do something like that, so I nod and grab his hand. We mouth a count to three and then jump through simultaneously. This time we are in for a surprise.

First of all, we don’t need our flashlights anymore. Dull light slides into the tunnel beyond us. There is another waterfall, but not like before. It isn’t a wall of water blocking our path. Instead, the tunnel ends in a small pool of water, which is fed from underground rivers pouring in on either bank. The pool overflows at the far side, dropping off into the cave where the light is coming from.

I glance at Cole and then we walk forward, perfectly synchronized. (No, we aren’t still holding hands at this point, I’m not that corny.) Without talking about it, we wade straight into the water. It rises above my waist to my belly button, whereas for Cole it only gets to his hips.