After Zoey followed the triplets into the portal, she found herself with her knees bent, sitting atop her feet, a cold floor beneath her. She could hear the trickling and ripping of water, Though even her vampire eyes couldn’t see through the darkness around her. It was suffocating, disparaging. It made her feel hopeless. As the weight of the dark bore down on her, she worried. Though, her preoccupation was more for the triplets than for herself. If she felt scared, how did they feel?

“Hello,” She called out. “Hope, Skye, Tornado…are you here? Are you okay?”

Silence was her answer. If the triplets were nearby, they didn’t answer her. She groaned as she stood. Still unable to see her surroundings, she moved with purposeful slowness. She was careful not to hit her head, arms, or legs against anything. The last thing she needed to do was to stand too fast and bump her head against something. If she gave herself a concussion, Pete would never let her hear the end of it.

She opened her mouth, preparing to call to the triplets a second time. Before she could make a sound, she heard Hope’s voice call back to her. “Zoey, is that you?”

“It’s me,” Zoey answered. “Where are you?”

“One second,” Hope said. A few seconds later, a flash of greenish-white light filled the room. As the light dissipated, Zoey found herself in a circular tunnel. The diameter of the space was ten feet in any given direction. The walls, ceiling, and roof were gray stone. The edges were smooth but boasted uneven dips and mounds. Water trickled through cracks in the ceiling and walls, pooling into puddles in the dips on the floor.

Twenty paces ahead, Zoey saw the triplets. Tornado hovered, looking up and down the long passageway, eyes wide. Zoey wasn’t sure if he felt scared, excited, curious, or all three.

Skye sat with his back against the right wall, head unmoving, scanning his eyes back and forth. He wore a neutral expression on his face.

Hope stood in the center of the tunnel facing Zoey. Hope had one hand on her hip, one in the air with greenish-white light flowing from her palm. As the light faded, the room remained lit.

Zoey’s eyes met Hope’s, and Zoey asked. “Did you do that?”

“Yes,” Hope flashed a smile. “It’s a spell called Light the Way. It’s one of the spells I get as a healing pixie.”

“That’s a handy spell,” Zoey said, “lifesaving. There’s no way we’d find our way out of here in the dark. How long does the light last?”

“Two hours. Then I’ll have to recast it.”

Skye remained sitting as he asked. “I want to get out of here. Which way should we go to get out?”

“I want to go both ways,” Tornado said.

“We can’t go both ways,” Skye told him. “We need to pick one way.”

“There can be treasures in both ways.” Tornado looked at Zoey. “Right? We can get treasures both ways?”

Hope interrupted her brothers. “We should try to go one way. If it is a dead end, we go the other way.”

“Ah, man,” Tornado looked at his sister. “Wait…are you being serious? For real?”

“When you’re older,” Zoey told Tornado. “You can explore as many dungeons as you want. For now, we must get you three back to your parents before they worry about you.”

“Ummm…” Tornado landed in front of Zoey, looking up at her. “If we find treasure on the way out, can we keep it?”

“I don’t see the harm in that.” Zoey agreed.

“Yay!” Tornado spun as he took flight. Zoey worried he would slam against the ceiling, but he stopped a few centimeters short.

“Well,” Zoey said. “We should get going. Skye, which way do you think.”

“That way.” Skye pointed. “I hear running water in that direction. I read that if you get lost, you should follow running water.”

“That makes sense.” Zoey agreed, not sure if the fact he’d told her was true or not, but she chose to believe it was. “Let’s get going.”

As Zoey began down the tunnel, Skye stood and hovered, landing on her right shoulder and sitting. Tornado landed on her left shoulder and sat. Hope hovered overhead.

During the next five minutes, the walls, puddles, ceiling, cracks leaking water, drips of water, and floor began to blend. To Zoey, it all looked the same. Even so, the triplets seemed to notice differences. She listened to them play a game where they came up with different shapes for the puddles. One looked like a dog. One looked like a cat. Once looked like a cordle. She didn’t know what a cordle was, but one of the puddles looked like a cordle.

“What’s that?” Zoey asked, noticing the tunnel widen up ahead.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“I’m not sure,” Hope said.

“I’ll go check.” Tornado leaped from Zoey’s shoulder and sped ahead before she could stop him.

Skye rolled his eyes. “He always does that. Dad says he should slow down and make safe choices.”

“We should hurry and catch up,” Zoey said as she began to jog.

When Tornado reached the wider portion of the passageway, he scanned the area, nodded once, and hurried back to Zoey.

“Don’t move away from the…” Zoey began.

“It is a huge chamber full of water stuff.” Tornado interrupted her.

“Don’t interrupt, Tornado,” Hope advised.

“Oh, sorry,” Tornado said, looking at Zoey. “I’m sorry for interrupting you. I’m very sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Zoey smiled. “I wanted to remind you not to go too far away from the group. It isn’t safe.”

“I’m so sorry I interrupted.” Tornado's voice broke like he was about to cry, tears forming in his eyes. “I didn’t mean to interrupt you.”

“It’s okay,” Zoey told him. “I’m not mad at you. Thank you for saying you’re sorry.”

“Okay,” Tornado wiped as a tear began to fall. “You aren’t mad that I interrupted you?”

“No,” Zoey told him. “We aren’t mad at you. Thank you for being brave. Can you tell us what you saw?”

“Yeah,” Tornado smiled. “I saw a big room. It had water stuff. I saw some crabs. There were three guys there too.”

“Let’s go see it,” Zoey said. “Tornado, can I ask a favor?”

“What you need?” Tornado asked.

“Next time we come to an opening or something like that, can you stay with the rest of us? It will help keep us all safe.”

Tornado landed on Zoey’s shoulder again. “I can do that.”

“Thank you.” Zoey turned her eyes to the passageway up ahead. “Let’s go see this chamber you found.”

When Zoey and the triplets reached where the tunnel opened to the chamber, they stopped. Zoey leaned her head toward where Tornado sat on her shoulder. “When you said it is full of water, you weren’t kidding.”

The ceiling rose hundreds of feet. The walls extended even further than that in each direction. The floor became a swampy field. Small rivulets crisscrossed through tall grass and around full trees and bushes. Quaint, wooden bridges stretched over the small waterways. A pond held place at the chamber’s center. Waterspout spun at random intervals, stretching from floor to ceiling. The watery tornadoes died out in time for new ones to take their place.

Giant crabs crawled through the water, pinchers snapping at one another. The pinchers also snapped at anything into which they bumped. A few smaller bushes fell victim before the crab’s ferocity.

To the right—about twenty paces into the chamber—stood three men. Zoey recognized them as the same three adventurers who had knocked on the pizzeria’s door the other night: the man in the white tuxedo, the pirate, and the mime. The three men stared at Zoey and the triplets. Zoey waved at the men, and they whispered something among themselves. Then they approached Zoey.

As they walked, Zoey realized the water that filled the chamber was at least a foot deep. The men splashed as they tromped through it.

“Introvice,” Zoey stopped waving as the men drew close. “Flowerbeard, Fred…I’m happy to see you three.”

“You said you didn’t know where the portal was.” Flowerbeard glared.

“I didn’t when I talked to you,” Zoey answered.

“Likely story.” Flowerbeard crossed his arms over his chest.

“I’m sorry about Flowerbeard.” Introvice offered a respectful bow of the head for a second before he resumed. “Though, we didn’t expect to see you. We didn’t know you were an adventurer.”

“I’m not,” Zoey said. “I’m…a vampire…”

“A vampire?” Introvice squinted his eyes together. “And you live in a bakery?”

“That is accurate,” Zoey said.

“I bet she’s one of the dungeon monsters.” Flowerbeard adjusted his pirate hat. “She didn’t tell us about the dungeon because it’s her home. The bakery was a cover. She didn’t want us to find the dungeon.”

“I don’t care that you are in the dungeon,” Zoey explained. “In fact, I’m happy to see you here. We wandered in by accident and don’t know the way out.”

Fred facepalmed and fell backward, splashing in the water and sinking until he submerged. Zoey saw bubbles coming up from Fred’s mouth. “Is he going to be okay?”

“Why wouldn’t he be?” Flowerbeard asked. “That was a rude question. Don’t be rude. Like serious. Whatever. Stop talking.”

“Why do you like to tell people to stop talking?” Tornado asked.

“I don’t do that,” Flowerbeard said. “I’ve never said for people to stop talking, so be quiet. Like…whatever.”

“The pirate has a broken brain,” Skye whispered to Zoey.

“You’re lost?” Introvice repeated.

“We’d appreciate any help getting out,” Zoey repeated.

“We can help, but I have a few questions.” Introvice interlocked his hands and let them hang behind him.

“What questions?” Zoey sighed, trying not to feel frustrated.

“I get you are here because you are a vampire, and dungeons allow the undead to enter.” Introvice looked at the triplets. “But how are they here?”

“They have adventurer’s passes. We came into the portal to escape a soul eater attack.” Zoey told him.

“I see,” Introvice hung his head. “As you know, we are adventurers, and it seems your friends are too. Because you are adventurers, there is a problem.”

“It’s a big problem.” Flowerbeard nodded his head once in agreement.

“What problem?” Zoey tried to keep a calm voice. She knew it was essential to stay calm for the triplets, so they wouldn’t panic.

Introvice let his hands drop to his side. “Once an adventurer enters a dungeon, they must defeat the dungeon boss before they can leave. No one has defeated the boss yet. The dungeon is too new for that. If you want, you can join our party, and we can try to find the boss together?”

Zoey considered the proposal. If they were stuck in the dungeon, it would make sense to team up with seasoned adventurers. That way, they could learn how dungeons work. Not to mention, they’d have extra help facing some of the monsters they’d come across.

“We should join them,” Hope said. “We can get loot, kill a monster, and be home in time for dinner.”

“I’m hungry,” Tornado said. “Dinner sounds good. Zoey, do you have pepperoni?”

“I do.” Zoey materialized a few slices of pepperoni from her inventory and handed them to Tornado.”

“Thanks,” Tornado said.

“I don’t trust the pirate,” Skye said.

“I heard that,” Flowerbeard said.

“I don’t care if you heard,” Skye said. “I don’t trust you.”

“Stop talking.” The pirate answered.

Tornado looked at Zoey. “What’s wrong with the pirate.”

“He’s hungry,” Zoey said, turning back to Flowerbeard. “Do you want some pepperoni?” She materialized another handful and held it out to him.

“Yes,” he grabbed it. “Thank you.

Zoey turned back to Introvice. “We’ll take you up on the offer to join you. Thank you for your help.”

As she finished speaking, a still-submerged Fred sat up. Where his upper body was above the water, his legs remained submerged. He spat out water in an arcing stream, and a prompt appeared in front of Zoey:

Fred invites you to join his party. Accept invitation? Yes or no?