spooky howling sound and it echoed throughout the cave Grace shivered but only because it was cold and damp inside the cave She was not scared even if it was dark and creepy There’s no such thing as ghosts or monsters Hold on let me get the flashlight Jaden stay with us Dad rummaged in his backpack He pulled out a light and a beam speared through the darkness Dad shone the flashlight up and around the cave The small entrance had opened into a large chamber and the flashlight beam barely reached the ceiling The cave was much more interesting inside than it had looked from the outside Monsters Jaden said Or ghosts Listen He made a Dad’s voice rumbled strangely in the large space This was a shrine long ago a place where they worshipped the god Pan
Pan was the one who had goat legs right Grace said They’d been reading Greek legends to prepare for the trip One of the gods had the upper body of a man and the lower body of a goat He was a faun like Mr Tumnus from The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe Right Dad said They picked their way around knee-high boulders covered in green moss To the ancient Greeks Pan was the god of the wilderness shepherds and hunting Grace glanced back The small entrance was a bright slash of light Otherwise the cave was dark except where Dad’s flashlight hit Why would they want to worship here when it’s so dark They probably would have used candles or lanterns Dad said I like it in here Jaden said It’s dark and spooky He yelled the last word and it echoed around the room Dad chuckled You aren’t the only one who appreciates it Caves were considered holy places You can see how mysterious and special they seem This cave was used for thousands of years Archaeologists dug here some years back They found statues flutes made out of bone rings and clay figures Also thousands of knucklebones Long ago people used bones for prophecy telling the future Jaden laughed How did the bones talk The prophet would toss the bones on the ground Then he or she would look at the pattern the bones made and decide what it meant That’s crazy Jaden said Dad shrugged People always want to know what the future holds There’s no science behind fortune-telling Still people
love fortune cookies and reading their horoscopes I guess it’s comforting to think you know what’s going to happen They walked across the cave floor which was shiny with water in places Large lumpy columns of stone rose up from the cave floor Stalagmites Dad said They’re made when the water drips down over thousands of years Each drop leaves a tiny bit of mineral behind Over time those mineral deposits build up into a column Don’t touch he warned as Jaden reached out a hand You could damage the column Jaden sighed and moved away Dad turned the flashlight to the ceiling The ones that hang down are called stalactites You can remember that because they have a C for ceiling and they hold on tight stalac-tite Stalagmites have a G for ground He handed the flashlight to Grace Let me get my camera and I’ll take a picture You two stand on either side of that column Grace stood next to a tower of rock that was more than twice her height She wouldn’t have been able to wrap her arms around it even if she’d been allowed to touch it Dad got out his camera and looked up Where’s Jaden Grace shone the flashlight all around No sign of her brother Dad took the flashlight and made his own search That kid he sighed I can’t turn my back for one second I’ll be glad when we get on the boat so he can’t go far He hesitated On the other hand we’ll be out in the Aegean Sea so if he does go anywhere oh boy Jaden His yell echoed around the cave like many Dads calling at once As the echoes faded Grace thought she heard a whisper of laughter But where had it come from He must have gone back outside Dad started for the entrance I hope he didn’t get far No wait Grace said I don’t think Jaden would leave
