As they climbed over boulders Kass talked a little more. Unusual for her but she was worried and Indi was easy to talk to. Not like Cat who’d snark back. Indi was much kinder and always cheerful. Sometimes a little too cheerful but right now it was a good distraction. “How did you manage to keep a hold of your glasses?”

“I have no idea,” Indi replied in voice that suggested the whole thing amazed her too. “I guess they stay on pretty easily in my shield, but when I hit the water... I don’t know.” Indi turned and gave a shrug and a smile, “Magic I guess. I mean maybe, my dad might have cast a spell on them.”

“A spell?” Kass asked surprised. Spells were usually a higher education thing and not something used by a lot of witches. Kass knew Indi’s dad was smart but she’d thought his work had always been more technological, like Indi’s.

“He’s knows a couple I think, just out of interest. But I may be wrong. It may just be luck and the angle of the water. I can swim in them if I’m not like diving or doing a lot of underwater stuff.”

“But you’re always pushing them up your nose.”

“Oh, that’s more habit than anything. I do it when I’m thinking or,” Indi flashed Kass a cheeky grin,” if I want to appear smart and make people notice them. People often think you’re smarter if you wear glasses.”

“That’s because reading destroys the eyes,” Kass replied.

“Yeah, but not when you’re young, and wear and tear is easier for a healer to fix than genetic conditions. It’s mostly perception. A perception I use to my advantage.” Indi jumped off a rock with both feet together as she said the last word then continued once she was down. “People also see you as less of a threat with glasses on. Cat told me that. It’s like stealth.”

Kass crouched down and slid gently off the rock that Indi had jumped from. She chuckled. “For that to work you’d have to actually be a threat. A physical threat at least and even then they’d probably still see you as a mental threat. And Cat doesn’t wear glasses.”

“Hmm,” Indi thought for a moment. “I wonder what Cat would look like in glasses.”

Kass laughed at that one, a proper laugh all the way from the belly. “She’d still look muscular, she’s got those steel arms.” Kass brought her hands up in fists and clenched her biceps. Indi wasn’t watching though.

But Indi did stop for a moment, tilted her head to one side then nodded. “People still underestimate her though, all the time.”

“That’s cause people underestimate woman,” Kass pointed out.

Indi turned. “And you, you’d be super stealth, apart from the hair. If you grew it long no one would suspect that you can fight. And you have glasses right.”

“Just for reading, I’m far-sighted, and I like my hair. Although if I did want to hide then changing the colour would be better. Everyone assumes that because of the red I’m a powerful witch.”

“You are a powerful witch,” Indi pointed out.

“Heh.” Kass shrugged one shoulder. “I don’t really have the control for it.”

“Could you beat Cat in a fight?” Indi asked. She’d stopped near the edge of the room, by a section of uneven rock that sloped up at an angle.

“A physical fight?” Kass asked. “No, I don’t think so. Not in my experience so far.”

“I mean with magic?” Indi pressed.

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Kass gave a soft laugh and shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know how good Cat is. We’ve only ever sparred physically. If she was half decent she’d just put me to sleep and go from there. Can she do it?”

“Put someone to sleep?”

Kass nodded.

“I don’t know.”

“I know some dreamwalkers can. Most need physical contact to do it though.”

“I’ve never seen Cat do it. But that doesn’t mean she can’t. I always thought it required someone willing though?”

Kass shrugged. “I think the best can drop you whether you wanted to partake or not but now that you’ve mentioned that I doubt Cat’s capable of it. Dreamwalkers are rare enough and we’d have seen her use it if she could.” She thought back to earlier. Yeah if Cat could sleep someone she’d have done it. Kass turned her focus to the layout of the rocks ahead. “This is it?” she asked as Indi slowed her walking.

Indi nodded. “I can’t really see where it goes though. It’s too dark up there. All the mushrooms are down here.”

Kass nodded then added to the conversation, “Amanda would kick both our arses though, if it came down to magic. Never seen a firestarter like her. At least if I’m standing next to her then no one’s looking at my hair colour.”

Indi grinned in agreement and then went silent as they both peered up at the rock face. It was at an angle of about 60 degrees so not impossible to climb. Add in that the rock was undulating and there did seem to be a fair few places to put hands and feet. But the rock also looked slippery and without a rope all it took was one wrong step. Still, Indi did have her shield.

The main problem was that it was too dark too see if there was any way out near the top. There was what looked like a ledge, with mushrooms growing on the wall below it but not above. Kass glanced sideways at Indi to try get a gauge on her feelings about it. Indi didn’t look hopeful. Kass sighed and turned to look back at the waterfall. “Maybe your other idea was better.”

Indi followed her line of sight. “What would you do when you get to the top?”

As they started to walk back Kass explained. “There was a ledge up there. I basically followed a whole path around the edge of the wall. The hard part would be getting back through the underwater tunnel but there’s a rope there and I’ve already done that once.”

Indi scrambled back over rocks beside her. “Then what?” Her voice seemed to waver as if she were nervous. “Would you lift me up or..how else would..?” Indi trailed off leaving her question to be inferred.

It was the second half of that question that made Kass realise what was troubling Indi. She was worried about being left all alone again.

Kass wasn’t sure how much force Indi’s shield could take. She wasn’t convinced that she could lift herself up and while it was one thing to risk yourself, it was quite another to risk someone else. She thought back to her experience with the backpacks. She really wasn’t sure about this but she definitely wasn’t throwing Indi up there, shield or not. Amanda and Cat would both kill her for trying it even if they all survived.

Indi had also brought another point to mind, between their initial abseil down to where Amanda and Cat currently were, combined with the travel through the tunnel, there definitely wasn’t enough rope left over for the waterfall, even if they cut it. But at the moment it didn’t matter, if Kass could get back to the others and update them then they could figure it out from there, even if it meant coming back through the tunnel again with a bunch off food so Indi could last a few days while they went for help. Right now, as they were, they were helpless, and Cat would have a hard time getting Amanda out of here on her own. Kass didn’t doubt Cat could do it but there was also a good chance she’d get Amanda back to the car and promptly pass out from exhaustion. She needed to be on the other side of that waterfall no matter what. There was no other option but for Kass to risk it. She tried not to think about the backpacks again.

“It doesn't matter, once I get up there we’ll figure something out.” Kass tried to say it confidently but given the look of doubt on Indi’s face she knew she hadn’t succeeded. Well hopefully her magical powered leap through the air went better than this. Oh yeeps, what had she gotten herself into?

“I’m, I’m not sure I could do the tunnel,” Indi stammered. “I think, I think I could get up this waterfall alright but, I guess, I mean I guess I could shield and that would keep the water out.” Indi actually finished her sentence sounding more confident then when she’d started.

“No,” Kass turned to her. “No way am I lifting you.”

“I have a shield. You know, you could do me first, except I think it’d be easier to catch you from the bottom.”

Kass sighed and turned to look back up at the falls. They stood almost back at the water’s edge now. Indi was silent for a bit, which Kass was thankful for, yet at the same time a part of her wished for a little more encouragement.

“We could look for another way,” Indi said softly after a bit.

Kass clenched her hands into fists, mad at herself and afraid, and mad that she was afraid.

“What’s that?” Indi said as something very large suddenly burst out of the gap above the falls.