Ethereal

~Marcie~

I squinted through the darkness, trying to make out the light again. If I looked at it straight on I couldn't see it, and it was only out of the corner of my eye that it appeared.

"What do you think it is?" I said softly, taking a hesitant step towards it. Charlotte followed slowly.

"Do you think it's...getting closer?" she murmured.

I stopped for a second and tilted my head, frustrated at not being able to look at it directly. "It's moving," I said suddenly.

And the cave lit up all at once.

The ceiling towered above our heads, and the walls widened out. Charlotte let go of my hand and we gazed in wonder as the twinkling lights grew.

They were bugs--hundreds of thousands of them. They covered every surface and formed a pulsing, entrancing light. They crawled all around us and Charlotte took a step away from the walls, shivering.

"What are these things?" I said, taking a step closer ad reaching out a hand. One of the small, bright creatures fluttered onto my finger and I giggled.

"How do you stand them?" Charlotte muttered. She wrapped her arms around herself and glanced around the cave warily.

Another one landed in my hair and nestled itself into a curl. A third landed on my shoulder and I stepped away from the wall, observing the one on my finger.

"They're like...Glow bugs," I said softly.

"Glow bugs, Glow bugs!" Mushroom's voice echoed gleefully throughout the room, and Charlotte and I turned around, stunned, trying to find it's source. The Glow bugs flew away in fright.

"Well we must have done something right," Charlotte said, turning to me. "He only repeats things if they're true."

I nodded. One Glow bug remained perched on my finger, and I looked at it thoughtfully as Charlotte looked around the cavern for the goblin.

It had tiny, golden, iridescent wings, bathed in the yellow glow of the others. The light seemed to come from it's whole body, more like an aura than a firefly's light. It fluttered it's wings and I smiled, bringing my hand up to let it sit on my shoulder.

"I shall name you..Deca." I whispered softly. I turned around to see Charlotte peering around the corner of a tunnel.

I opened my mouth to call to her when the lights went out.

All of them extinguished at once, except for the tiny glow of Deca on my shoulder. I put my hands in front of me, feeling my way through the dark.

"Charlotte? Are you there?" I called.

"Yeah. I'm--" some scuffling.

"Charlotte?!" her voice had been muffled. I put a careful finger on Deca and his light faded, as I backed up warily.

"Charlotte?" I whispered. There were footsteps behind me, and then--

There was absolute darkness.