Page 28 of Blame It on the Bikini
"It's incredible," Lexie breathed, immediately pulling out her camera and adjusting the settings for the low light.
"And a little spooky," he muttered.
"That's true, but that's part of the experience. Look at how the rocks have been shaped and carved by the water that goes in and out." She started snapping photos while he turned on the flashlight on his phone as she moved deeper into the chamber.
"Don't go too far," he said.
"We have time," she said, continuing forward.
He knew they had time, but he felt reluctant to leave the entranceway. He'd never had a problem with claustrophobia, but he'd never been in a cave before. As he took a few more steps in her direction, he flashed his light off the walls, pausing when he saw a heart scratched into the rocks. "Look at this," he said.
She came back, snapping her camera at the heart, the initials that appeared to be a J and maybe an A or an E, but he couldn't quite tell.
"I wonder who they were," she said, tracing the initials with her finger. "And how long ago they were here. I wished they'd scratched out a date. It could be an interesting love story."
He smiled as her imagination took flight. "You're already making one up in your head, aren't you? It was probably just a couple of bored teenagers."
"Maybe."
"We'll never know." He checked his watch. "And we have got thirty-five minutes now. Let's keep going."
They moved down a narrow path, which suddenly widened into a chamber, perhaps fifteen feet wide and twenty feet deep. The floor was a mix of sand and stones, with occasional pools of seawater swirling in deeper depressions. The light grew brighter, too, and as they looked up, he saw cracks in the rocks where the morning sun was beaming through, adding a different kind of mysterious beauty to the location.
"Oh my God," Lexie whispered, her voice echoing slightly in the enclosed space. "This is amazing. There are so many details to see, all of them created by nature, by the sea."
She was right. In some places, the rock had been worn so smooth it looked like polished marble. In others, it maintained a rough, organic texture that spoke of violent storms and crashing waves.
"Look at this," Lexie said, pointing to a section of wall where the rock had been worn into what looked almost like a spiral staircase, though one meant for giants rather than humans.
The light from above created an almost cathedral-like atmosphere, and Lexie immediately began shooting photo after photo, adjusting her settings, her light, moving around to find the perfect angle, switching between digital and film.
As she lost herself in her passionate quest to find the right shot, the best detail, he checked his watch again. Another ten minutes had flown by. They had twenty-five minutes to go. He wanted to shout out the time, but her focus and concentration were on what she'd come to do, and he didn't want to get in the way. He poked around a side path, wondering if it led into another cave, and saw that it ended with a smaller chamber.
Lexie caught up with him as he pressed forward, passing him by to see what was ahead. This smaller area was cooler and slightly darker, but something shiny caught his gaze, and he swung his light in that direction.
"Lexie," he said. "Look. Is that gold?"
"Seriously? You found a gold coin?"
"I don't think it's a coin." He pointed his light at a gold chain caught in a crevice in the rocky wall.
Lexie moved forward. "It's a necklace," she said, pausing to snap a few more photos before pulling the chain off a sharp, jagged piece of stone. "A locket," she said, holding it up to him. "Maybe it belonged to whoever carved their initials in the rocks."
"Or someone else," he said. "I'm sure many people have explored this cave over the years."
"It looks old." She struggled to open the gold locket, finally managing to flip it open. "There's a picture, but it has faded from the water and the air."
She handed it to him, and he took a look at the picture, not able to make out the features of the woman's face, but the locket still felt like a tangible connection to another time, another person who had been in this cave. "I hope this didn't belong to the person who died here."
Lexie frowned. "That's a morbid thought."
"You're the one who told me the story."
"Yes, but now I don't want to think about that. And I don't want to believe whoever owned this locket died here. I prefer to believe the locket fell off, and she lost it."
"It does look like the clasp is broken," he said, handing it back to her.
She slipped it into her pocket. "We'll take another look when we have better light."
