Page 55 of Night and Day
He disappeared for a moment and she heard a screeching sound. It must have been another door. His hands reappeared on her shoulders, guiding her into a space that sounded different. Softer, less echoey. Were they still going down? How was that possible? Was this another basement in the middle of nowhere? New Zealand’s version of Alcatraz? Mia trembled, trying to think of an explanation that didn’t sound homicidal.
“How much longer?” She asked, swallowing a lump of fear. She was letting a man she’d only just met lead her, blindfolded, deep underground. What was his fascination with basements, anyway? It was suspicious, right? Any sensible woman would have called the red flag and ripped off the blindfold. Yet here she was, walking like a lamb to the slaughter. If this turned out badly, no one would pity her. She’d get a Darwin Award for removing her low intelligence from the gene pool, or end up in the local news:Remains of Gullible Tourist Found in Torture Chamber.
“Almost there. You’ll love this. Trust me.”
Mia bristled. Closing her eyes in public had led to disaster. Yet something in Izzy’s voice relaxed her, or held her in a trance. Either way, she kept walking.
After a moment, she detected a faint light, which soon dimmed, and heard a distant rumble of water, growing louder with each step. Finally, Izzy stopped her. “Okay, we’re here.”
In the watery grave where her body would never be found? Mia took a breath, almost too scared to open her eyes as Izzy untied the blindfold.
The first thing she saw was his face, lit by a small torch he held. Behind him, she saw the path they’d walked down – a narrow platform suspended across rocks, leading through a tunnel decorated by the strangest rock formations, like opaque icicles, their pearly glow highlighted by hidden spotlights. Stalactites! She’d never seen them in real life. They stood on a wider platform overlooking a huge cave that seemed to stretch in every direction.
“Look up.” Izzy’s voice rang with excitement.
“Stars? That can’t be...” Mia stared at the tiny pinprick lights dotted in the darkness.
“No. They’re glow worms. Since our stargazing didn’t really work out, I had this idea.”
“I can’t believe it.” The lump rose back into Mia’s throat. “I didn’t even know something like this existed. I couldn’t imagine...”
Izzy laughed softly. “I really scared you, didn’t I?” He brushed his thumb across her cheek, tugging a strand of hair behind her ear. “I thought the blindfold might be a bit much, but I couldn’t resist.”
Mia focused on her breathing, letting his touch melt her fears, enjoying the otherworldly scene. She’d never seen anything like this. “It’s incredible. How did we even get in here?”
“Deke works here as an occasional tour guide and he let us sneak in between the tours. We don’t have heaps of time, but we can walk a bit further and I’ll show you where they recorded the sounds for the Gollum scenes.”
“Gollum? Like in the Lord of the Rings?”
“The very same one.” He pointed at a narrow, pitch dark passage that seemed to lead deeper into the cave. Despite the hammering in her chest, Mia followed him inside the rock. Feeling her way through the dark tunnel, ducking to avoid hitting her head, she accidentally stumbled onto his foot. “Sorry.”
Izzy grabbed her arm to hold her steady. “All good. Just hold on to me and stay close. Don’t touch the rock.”
“Why?” Mia whispered, holding perfectly still, inches from his chest.
“The glow worms are pretty sensitive. We shouldn’t even breathe too close to them.”
Mia could barely breathe at all. When Izzy released her arm and resumed navigating down the path, she quietly filled her lungs, trying to settle her racing pulse. They came to another larger cave with a wall covered in the tiny, glowing blue-green dots, so close to the bridge they could have touched them.
Izzy pointed his flashlight at a cluster closest to them, revealing strings of tiny baubles hanging off the rock’s surface.
“Oh my God!” Mia gasped, leaning in closer. “Those aren’t worms. What are they?”
“Essentially, they’re threads of spit,” Izzy said. “The glow worms use these spit bubbles like a spiderweb, to catch other insects. Including other glow worms in fly form.”
“It eats its own?” Mia grimaced. Nature was so weird.
“Yeah. And when it catches something, it drills a hole in its head and vomits acid into it, to make it easier to digest.”
Mia’s stomach heaved. “Jesus. Just when I thought it was so beautiful.”
“Sorry.” Izzy chuckled. “I probably shouldn’t tell you that when they become flies they have sex for up to 72 hours and literally exhaust themselves to death.” His eyes glinted with delight.
Mia pulled a face. “What a tantric way to go.”
Izzy wiggled his eyebrows and pointed his flashlight down, over the railing, revealing an underground river that ran in the depths of the rock. “That’s where they do the black water rafting.”
“What? The glow worms?”
