The next morning, as promised, Amanda woke Indi at 7am. The others were already up. She threw her phone on the solar charger then returned inside for breakfast.

“Oats again?” Indi complained.

“You could always get up earlier and cook some pasta,” Cat replied.

“Ugh. I think I’m already sick of pasta too. Where’s the coffee?”

Cat pointed to the small coffee bag sitting on the table next to Kass.

Kass held up a pot. “I made tea.”

Indi made a disgusted face.

Kass laughed.

“There is nowhere near enough caffeine in that stuff,” Indi complained.

“You want some tea, Cat?” Kass offered.

“Sure,” Cat replied.

“Amanda?”

“I’m alright.”

Kass poured the remainder of the tea temporarily into drink bottle so Indi could use the pot for her coffee.

“I don’t think instant really counts as real coffee either,” Amanda commented.

“It’s a poor substitute,” Indi agreed “But these are desperate times.”

They finished eating, got packed up, and were out the door before 8am.

There wasn’t as much uphill today. The hut they had stayed in was very close in elevation to the plateau they were headed to. There would be a little more climbing and some downhill but it would be very similar amounts. Indi disliked it. The downhill just wasn’t as enjoyable when you knew you’d have to climb up it again. From along the track they could catch glimpses of where they were headed. They could see the cliffs that were in the way of the other track as well. They’d had to go so much further just to avoid them but Indi had never rock climbed before, so she figured it was probably for the best.

After a few hours of hiking and a half hour break for lunch they emerged from the bush into a large clearing. It was large enough that Indi couldn’t even see the other side. The clearing was covered in thigh high, thinly spaced, yellow grass. A few trees and large rocks were spread throughout it. They walked for about another hour, along a flat path. To their right and about 300 metres away, large cliffs reached upwards. Kass and Cat walked slower today. They even let Amanda lead for the last little bit. Eventually she stopped and glanced back at the others.

“Here?” she asked.

Cat shrugged.

Kass nodded. “Looks fine.”

They threw their bags down on the ground and started pitching tents. Indi didn’t even feel that tired today so she joined in. Soon everything was up and they all took a step back to admire their campsite. Indi noticed Amanda eying the cliffs to their right. They were perhaps 50m high but much too steep to climb. It turned out climbing wasn’t what was on Amanda’s mind anyway.

“There’s supposed to be some caves over there,” Amanda explained to Indi when she saw her looking her way. “We could explore them later.”

“Aren’t we supposed to be looking for a bird?” Cat asked, one dark eyebrow raised in that characteristic expression of hers.

“Phoenix’s are crepuscular so we’re more likely to see one during the evening or early morning,” Indi replied, giving her glasses a push further back on to her nose.

Cat pursed then licked her lips but didn’t reply. Instead she glanced around the campsite and then the clearing as if she’d suddenly gotten lost in thought.

“So what’s the best way to make sure we find the bird?” Kass asked Indi. “Are we too obvious out here?” She’d seated herself cross-legged on the ground and looked quite comfortable.

Amanda stole another glace sideways towards the cliffs. It’s wasn’t missed by Kass or Indi.

“You want to go caving?” the edges of Kass’s eyes shone with a hint of a smile. Kass’s smiles could be hard to miss. Even if something were hilariously funny, the only response you might get from Kass would often be a small curl at the edge of her lips.

Amanda grinned and shrugged which turned into a frown of puzzlement when she noticed Cat’s focused expression. “What?” Amanda asked.

Cat glanced over, her eyes widened and the inner edges of her eyebrows arched high in an expression of blank innocence. She shook her head. “Nothing.”

Amanda eyed her for no more than a second and then turned back to Indi and Kass. She shrugged again. “Maybe. You don’t want to do any preparation to catch this Phoenix?” She took a seat on the ground opposite Kass.

Indi sat down next to her. She shook her head and gave a smile. “I don’t mind.” After a moment’s thought she then added. “I might just set up a camera first, just in case. I programmed it so it will notify me if anything enters the screen’s view, then I can control it from here as long as we don’t go too far away” she waved her phone in the air.

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Amanda nodded.

Kass and Amanda sat on the ground, and leaned against their packs while Indi set up her equipment. Cat disappeared for a while, either to find a bathroom or to just check the surrounding area, the others weren’t sure.

Eventually Cat returned. Indi was still fiddling with camera equipment so Cat sat down next to Amanda to wait.

“You think we’re sheltered enough here?” Cat asked.

Amanda shrugged. “There’s not many people come up here and if it gets too windy we can move closer to the rocks.” She nodded in the direction of the cliffs. “Or are you worried about the animals?”

Cat shrugged. “Both. People more so, these parks aren’t as well regulated as most people would think,” she replied in a much quieter voice, one obviously intended only for Amanda’s hearing. But it wasn’t low enough for Indi’s good hearing to miss and Kass was sitting even closer. If Kass heard she made no response however. Indi did the same and pretended not to notice Cat’s quick glance in her direction.

Indi finished with the last of her setup and the others all got to their feet.

“Leave the rope here for now,” Cat suggested.

Amanda nodded in agreement and they set off. They travelled light. Kass carried her aluminum, bright pink drink bottle. Indi had a torch. The others carried nothing in their hands. The soft ground of the plateau soon turned very rocky. Grass still grew over everything but the ground became uneven underfoot. Where the grass ended and where each rock lay was difficult to see. Sometimes a foot could be placed on what one thought was solid ground only for the actual rock to be slightly to the left or the right, and half the foot would land on grass supported by nothing more than air. It would be easy to twist an ankle on this stuff. Cat somehow seemed to know intuitively where to place her feet and she graciously leaped quickly from rock to rock. Kass was much the same although she seemed to prefer the slightly smaller rocks. She didn’t have the leg span which Cat did and, as the rocks got bigger, she lagged a little further behind Cat. Indi followed the two of them, trying to keep up but her foot placements were haphazard and more than once she missed the right step and almost stumbled.

“Slow down Indi, you’ll break an ankle,” Amanda called from behind after Indi had a particularly nasty near slip. Amanda was in no hurry and she picked her way forward much more cautiously.

Indi did slow down for a little bit but eventually the excitement of exploring overtook her again and she reverted back to her mini leaps of faith.

The bush got thicker and even Cat and Kass had to slow down, least they lose the other two. Path finding became a tad more difficult. At first Indi was glad as she found herself able to keep up but after the 5th branch to the face she realized it was actually more sensible to leave a little bit of space between her and Kass. She was just starting to think that Cat had no idea where they were going when they burst out of the bush into a small stony clear patch. She didn’t notice it at first, the way the rocks just seemed to fit together, but once she saw it she was surprised she’d ever missed it. A large crack formed the entrance to a deeper tunnel into the rock. The entrance was at least three times her height and it made a triangular sort of shape, wide at the base and narrower near the top.

“Wow!” Indi breathed and stood still just so she could take it all in for a moment. Amanda came up behind her a second later and Indi moved to the side to let her through.

“Pretty cool,” Amanda commented, stopping just behind Indi.

Cat and Kass seemed a little hesitant so Indi walked past them and into the cave.

“You got a torch Indi?” Amanda asked as she followed in behind.

Indi turned her torch on in response. “How deep do you think it goes?”

“Dunno.” Amanda replied, turning her own torch on. The cave floor slanted downwards nearer the end and the roof came down a lot closer to the floor. Indi found herself bending over slightly but Amanda and Kass were able to stand upright.

“Wow,” Kass said as she and Cat followed Amanda in.

Indi scrambled in further and lower and found that there were now multiple directions which opened up. She kept going forwards. The ground tilted enough that she had to use her hands on the rocks for balance. She placed her torch in her mouth so she could use both hands.

Amanda and Kass had brought headlamps rather than hand torches so they didn’t have the same issue.

“Geez what wattage is that Cat?” Amanda asked as Cat lit the whole place up with her high-powered torch.

“3000 Lumens,” Cat replied, “lasts for a few hours.”

“Mine is so shit,” Indi yelled back up. The light from Cat’s torch had dwarfed any light given off from her own.

“How come you don’t just use a flame?” Kass asked Amanda. Amanda could have easily summoned her own mini fireball to light the way.

“That’s a waste of energy.”

“Is it really for you though?” Cat asked. “Thought that’d be an easy ask.”

“Yeah, well . . . I like using a headlamp.” Amanda didn’t give any more reason. Truth was, she didn’t always like showing off and torch light was a little easier to point.

“Yeah, well use it or lose it.” Cat told her.

“That’s ironic coming from you, Cat,” Amanda shot back.

“I use my powers.”

“Probably less often than Amanda does.” Kass replied.

“Which is exactly why I’m wondering why she’s not using them now.”

“Whoa!” Indi yelped as a loose rock moved under her foot and she fell backwards onto the rocks. The loose rock disappeared down into the darkness below.

“Careful Indi,” Amanda warned.

“I’m good” Indi picked herself up, then immediately slipped over again. “Oops,” she replied, getting to her feet a second time. She gave a light laugh.

“Maybe we should head back.” Amanda suggested.

“We could go back and get the rope,” Cat suggested.

“Mmm,” Amanda considered it but it was probably too much of a hike to be worth it.

“This ground’s not too bad,” Kass replied. “There’s not really anything to tie it to anyway.”

“We could do a meat anchor,” Amanda suggested.

Indi groaned. “We should’ve have brought some food with us.”

“You cannot be hungry already?” Cat replied. “We just had lunch a couple hours ago.”

“Exactly, I’m starved.”

“It is almost dinner time,” Amanda noted.

“It’s like 4pm,” Cat replied.

“Yeah, well some of us eat at 5.”

“I eat all the time,” Indi replied. “Food is the life force.”

“So I’ve noticed,” Cat teased.

“Actually, I wouldn’t mind dinner, and a cup of tea,” Kass added.

Cat rolled her eyes but didn’t object. She turned to climb back out and the others followed after her.

Back at camp they put together a meal. Cat collected a bunch of firewood and Indi made them all smores before Cat and Kass even had the main done.

“Life’s short, eat dessert first,” Indi quipped right before she shoved almost an entire smore in her mouth.

They chatted around the fire and Indi made them all agree they wouldn’t get up too early tomorrow, or at least if they did, they wouldn’t make too much noise. She set the camera up to auto-record in the morning if it picked up on anything moving through the sky. Cat and Kass retired early while Amanda stayed up a little later and pointed out the different constellations to Indi. Eventually she retired as well and Indi was left on her own looking up at the stars. She listened to the strange sounds of the forest for awhile. Then she returned to her tent, where Kass was just finishing reading a chapter of her book.