Chapter 1

“No, let’s go,” Tommy said excitedly and mounted the dais.

Eddie Russo stepped up there with him, so the rest followed. They wiggled around to make sure they were all within the metal ring.

Tommy said, “I always wanted to meet Tinker Bell.”

“What?” Jax got out, as she felt her body shift.

They all felt the weird sensation of being pulled apart and moving as if in a flowing stream and then being put back together again.

Jax blinked several times and groaned, “Bloody hell, where did you send us, Tommy?”

Jax’s team looked around and came to the same conclusion that this cavern wasn’t like the one that Jax had described being on Sigma, her home island. For one thing, it was a lot smaller, being only 20m across, and the crystals were not as developed as they had been in the cave in Timor.

None of the volcanic feeders worked either, so it wouldn’t recharge in a hurry. One thing in their favour was that they did all feel lighter. Jax commented that the gravity was more like her home planet.

She also felt it had taken as long to travel as it had the first time, so they all the feeling that there was a good chance they had made it to Tara. Not that it mattered much as they would remain here until the cavern could transport them again.

In his defence, Tommy said that he had been thinking of going to Tara to meet a creature like a fairy in the Peter Pan and Wendy’s story. The problem was that Jax didn’t know of any Faeries on her islands.

“We do have the Fayle. They are like big Faeries, around 140cm (5’ 5”) tall. But they do have wings like their smaller cousins, the Faeries.”

The men all tried to work out how tall that was. They were more used to the imperial system but knew most of Europe used a metric system. Jax had told them her measurements were also done in a metric system and that it was the same in lengths and weights as the one used in Europe.

She had been teaching the boys so they could adapt to the systems on her planet a lot earlier. They were still learning. Tommy shook his head, put his hands up, so one was over the other, and spread them, so they were about 12cm (4-5”) apart.

Jax frowned, “No, the Faerie race I know of is supposed to be about 45cm (17”) in height. I did read some old tales about the Nix. They were supposed to be very tiny. But they were just children’s stories, and people believed they were just young Faerie children being depicted.”

“I like kids,” Tommy grinned.

The men chuckled. However, this didn’t sort out where the hell they were. This cave was also very cold, and they all found themselves digging into their packs, looking for warmer clothing.

Jax didn’t think this was her island, but until she knew more, she decided to see if they could work out just where they were. It wasn’t as if she had anything or anyone waiting for her on Sigma Island.

Even so, she had felt uncomfortable on the humans’ world. Being surrounded by so many angry and unhappy people had been very hard for her, and she knew that she couldn’t fix the problem.

At least being with these men, she felt shielded from most of the other peoples’ problems.

Jax investigated one of the pits.

She called David over. Tommy and the other four men joined them. Jax had the men link together, and she taught them how to make a tiny tunnel about as wide as a finger down into the earth until they hit magma.

With some effort, they directed the magma up to the pit without letting it escape into side fissures. The boys let it fill the pit while Jax formed a new shield over the pit, so it couldn’t overflow.

The sulphur smell wasn’t very strong, and David commented that the magma seemed to have a very high iron content in it. They all appreciated the warmth from the pit.

They opened up the second pit and decided that would do for now and stopped for a rest. They were all hungry, so they delved into their packs to find something to eat.

Ernie even set up a billy over a hexamine tablet holder so they could have some tea to warm them.

Once rested, the team went exploring to find a way out.

Jax had told them about secret doors that were shielded by magic. The fact this cavern still had crystals meant any spells were likely to still be active. That being said, Bluey and Blair started walking around the walls.

The cave only had one tunnel into it, and Tommy and Eddie had elected to check it out. Jax told them to mark their way with crystals to help light the tunnels so they could find their way back. She also spelled a compass for them, so it pointed back here.

“Hey, David,” Blair called out, “Solve this riddle. You measure my life in hours, and I serve you by expiring. I’m quick when I’m thin and slow when I’m fat. The wind is my enemy. What am I?”

David frowned, and Jax giggled before she said, “You are a candle.”

“Oh! Humm, then solve this one. A girl has as many brothers as sisters, but each brother has only half as many brothers as sisters. How many brothers and sisters are there in the family?”

David grinned as he was rather good at maths and said, “There are three brothers and four sisters.”

Jax hmphed, “I have way more brothers and sisters than that.” She turned to see Blair standing near the wall with his hand on it. “What are you doing over there, Blair?”

“I can’t get in unless I answer the riddles,” he said and grinned at them as they all scuttled over to him.

“So, what is the next riddle?” Ernie asked excitedly.