Renita:

In the split second before the branch gave way, the one thought that went through my head was, Why couldn’t I have been a werejaguar? They get nine lives. Then I was in free fall.

But the branch had swung left as it broke, tossing me away from the rocks—and toward the pool where the waterfall splashed down. A few seconds later, I splashed down, too.

Luckily, the pool was deep enough that I didn’t break my neck. Gasping and spluttering, disoriented by the pool’s turbulence, I struggled back to the surface—and found myself behind the waterfall. It seemed that the waterfall concealed the mouth of a cave that went some distance back into the cliff. “Oh, great,” I muttered. “Another cave. What is it with me and caves?”

Then I noticed some shapes moving along the bank of the stream outside. Dark, four-legged shapes, blurry through the waterfall. I shrank back into the cave, away from the light. At least the water will hide my scent.

But why did this cave have old torches fixed to the wall?