Hey guys! Just so y'all know, I've looked at my plot and I've estimated about 16-18 chapters left after this one so this will probably finish a month to a month and a half from now so I just wanted to give y'all a heads up!

Anyways, enjoy!

Sophie's P.O.V

"Here, you'll guys need these," Pheonix said, handing over these weird looking goggles to Sophie and Carter.

"What are they for?" Sophie asked, putting them on. She noticed Carter rubbing his eyes like he always did before he put his on.

"I made them. They're to protect you from those crystals. You can't look at them without them so keep these on the whole time," Pheonix instructed.

Sophie and Carter looked at each other and shrugged. They also had these special suits on that Jay had made for them, along with small bags with some survival materials.

"Okay, it's time to go," Zach said, annoyed as usual. He was instructed to drive Sophie and Carter to the cave, but not to go in with them of course.

As Zach led them out, Sophie looked back and noticed Ace watching from a dark corner. When he saw that Sophie had looked his way, he disappeared.

Strange.

They then hopped into Zach's car and sped off. It was a long and silent car ride. Sophie looked out the window the whole time, only thinking about what she had to do.

Remember, this was for freedom.

Even though it was a long ride, it had felt pretty quick once they had arrived in a nature area far from any city in Tennessee.

Zach got out and had Sophie and Carter follow him on the small hike it took to get there.

Sophie kept looking over at Carter to see if he looked ready. She felt bad for him because he was usually dragged into Sophie's business.

She was about to say something to him but then Zach announced, "alright, we're here. I'll be waiting out here for when you two get back. Be as quick as you can."

Sophie rolled her eyes. "Yeah, of course. No biggie, we'll be out in no time," she said sarcastically.

Zach glared at her. "Shut it and go."

Sophie moved away from him and towards the entrance of the cave with Carter trailing behind.

"You ready for this?" Carter asked, looking at her.

Sophie took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah, you?"

Carter nodded. "It'll be just like robbing the bank."

"Right," Sophie replied, linking arms with him as they slowly walked in.

Immediately after a few hundred feet of walking, it was pitch black.

Sophie and Carter turned on their flashlights, looking to see that the area that they were at was a dark and narrow tunnel going downwards.

Sophie got the chills. "What if we get lost?" She asked, looking around.

"It's okay, we'll manage," Carter said, smirking.

Sophie rolled her eyes. "I'm serious."

"Well...we'll figure that out if the time comes," Carter replied, continuing to walk.

Sophie quickly trailed behind him, trying not to panic.

They trudged in the eery and wet cave in silence for a while.

Every once in a while, Sophie would here noises and jump, causing a snicker from Carter.

At one point, there was loud shrieking in the cave, and before they knew it, a huge group of bats started flying past them.

Sophie shrieked and ran and gripped Carter's arm in fear.

Once they passed, Sophie found Carter dying in laughter. "THAT WAS PRICELESS!"

"OH SHUT IT!" Sophie yelled, smacking him on the head. A low rumble then lightly shook the cave.

Sophie gasped and looked around. "You have to be more careful!" She hissed.

"Me?! You're the one who's shrieking!" Carter defended.

Sophie then glared at him, feeling her cheeks heat in embarrassment.

She then looked down and noticed an old scrap of paper on the ground. "What's this?" She mumbled, picking it up and seeing there was a label that read: Webber's Research Facility of Science and Conducted Experiments.

"Oh my gosh! This was the company my parents worked for. This must have been from when they searched this same cave and discovered these crystals," Sophie realized.

"We must be close then," Carter said, taking a look at the paper too.

"Yeah," Sophie agreed, taking a step forward. "We should— AHHHHHHHHHHHH"

Sophie yelled at the top of her lungs as she suddenly fell through the ground and plummeted deep underground.

"CARTERRRR!" Sophie screamed, falling down, her life flashing before her eyes.

Within seconds, she plummeted right into water.

Sophie was in shock for a second as she looked up and hurriedly tried to swim up to the surface. Once she hit the air she started gasping and coughing up water as she treaded water.

"SOPHIE! DON'T WORRY, I'M COMING!" She heard Carter's voice echo from way up above.

A few seconds later, Carter came flying down and into the water. Hacking up some water too once he reached the surface.

"Here!" Sophie called, coughing.

He then quickly swam over to her. "Are you okay?!"

"Yeah, the ground wasn't stable up there," Sophie said, looking up.

"No duh," Carter replied.

Sophie then swam in a circle, looking around. "Where are we?"

"Some underground lake in this cave. We're really deep now," Carter noted, his voice echoing.

Sophie looked to see the water was a clear deep blue. There were many clear crystals hanging above them that were dripping droplets onto them.

"What do we do now?" Sophie asked, seeing no way back up.

"Keep searching, I guess," Carter said, starting to swim towards where the lake lead to.

Sophie slowly followed behind him in the cold water.

She was absolutely freezing, having some regrets about this whole thing.

After a while of endless swimming, Sophie was feelings very tired. "Stop," she called to Carter who was way ahead.

He stopped and was surprised when he saw how far back she was. He quickly swam to where she was.

"I need a break," she gasped. Carter nodded.

"Look, I don't see anything. All these crystals above us are normal ones," Sophie said.

"You're right," Carter agreed. "Maybe we aren't looking right."

"How so?" Sophie asked.

Carter was quiet for a moment and then said, "hold on."

He then looked down into the water and swam under.

After a few long seconds, he came back up and said, "I think you should take a look down here."

Confused, Sophie stuck her head underwater to see what he was talking about and then her eyes widened when she saw that at the bottom of the lake were these strange glowing blue crystals.

Sophie couldn't explain it, but she was getting a weird sensation.

She quickly swam over to them and started to grab them, handing some to Carter who was behind her.

They then swam back up to the surface. "These have to be it," Sophie exclaimed, not being able to look away from the few she had in her hands.

"Yeah, let's put them away," Carter said, quickly stuffing them in his waterproof bag.

Sophie had to admit there was a strange pull her body had to the crystals and it was hard to put them away.

"Now it's time to get out," Sophie said, looking around.

"Wait look over there," Carter said, pointing to an opening a little bit above them.

"Yes!" Sophie exclaimed, swimming over to it as fast as she could.

Once she got out of the water, she realized the opening was over her head so she needed Carter's help to get into it.

Once he helped her over, she reached out a hand to help Carter get up with her.

They stood up and were relieved when they realized the tunnel they were in went upwards.

"This has to be an exit!" Sophie exclaimed, grabbing Carter's hand and yanking him forward. They then quickly jogged up the tunnel.

After about half an hour of jogging, they were able to take a break when Sophie saw light up ahead. "WE'RE RIGHT HERE!" She exclaimed, jumping up.

However, that was probably a mistake because suddenly, there was a huge rumbling in the cave, causing Sophie to stumble right into Carter's arms.

She spun around and her face was right next to his. Sophie felt his breath on her face and would have laughed at how ridiculous he looked with his goggles.

However, the moment wasn't quite humorous to Carter. She could see his strange brown eyes staring right into hers through his goggles.

She then saw his eyes move down to her lips as he started to lean forward.

WAIT WHAT—

Sophie started to freak and right when his lips were about to touch hers, she shoved him away, causing him to stumble back.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Sophie shrieked in shock, backing away.

"I was uhhhh—" Carter mumbled, looking thrown off.

"Dude, you realize how messed up that is!" Sophie exclaimed, Keefe instantly appearing in her head.

"Sorry, I'm sorry, I— sorry," Carter started to apologize.

"Stop! I can't deal with this right now," Sophie exclaimed, putting a hand up.

"Look, I—"

Suddenly, the cave started to rumble again, cutting Carter off.

This time, it was bigger and debris started to come down. Chunks of rock and crystal then started to come falling down.

"WE HAVE TO GO!" Sophie shrieked, running as fast as she could towards the exit.

She felt hard pieces fall down and hit her but she kept running for her life, putting all her energy into it.

With only a few seconds left, she leaped out of the exit and onto the outside ground, the debris falling behind her.

Lots of dust and smoke came, clouding her vision. She had a coughing attack as her body ached in pain.

Once things started to clear up, she slowly got up and looked to see the exit of the cave had collapsed.

She then looked around and it took her a second to realize what was wrong.

Carter was nowhere in sight.