"I hope finding this orb isn't as scary as the last one," Opal says, hugging Luna closer to her.

"It was still an adventure," Cassandra says, recalling the event in her mind.

"There was a lot of quick-thinking involved," Varian says. "But, I did finally find a good use for my new invention..."

"Let's do this," Varian says, eager to get inside the mine. He and the others gather around Cassandra as she tilts the canteen and pours the water over the infinity symbol. The symbol glows blue, as well as the outline of the door. There is a resounding click! and then the door opens.

Varian stares into the deep darkness of the mine entrance ahead of them. After almost drowning while retrieving the previous orb, he attempts to mentally prepare for the dangers that may lie before this one.

"Deep breaths everyone," Hugo says, taking one himself. "Here we go."

Varian and Hugo each pull out their own light sources, and Cassandra lights a lantern she brought along with her from the balloon. Abhu trails behind them, and Ruddiger clambers onto Varian's shoulders as they begin their trek into the mine. But as soon as they all step foot into the mineshaft, the door slams shut behind them.

     "What?!" Abhu shouts. Being the last one who entered, he immediately spins around and attempts to open the door. Varian and Hugo join on either side of him, but it's no use. "Why does this keep happening?!"

     "Looks like we're trapped... again," Cassandra says.

     "I'm sure there's another way out," Varian says hopefully.

     "Yeah, the last orb's way out was such a thrill..." Abhu grumbles.

The longer they walk down the dark shaft, the more Varian starts to gravitate towards Cassandra. If anything else unpredictable were to happen, he's pretty sure being closest to her is the safest bet.

     But thankfully, the most dangerous things they come across are a few spiders scurrying along the old walls. Before too long, they enter a wide chamber with a high ceiling and minecart tracks leading into more mysteriously dark tunnels. There is a single minecart, rocks in front of its wheels so that it remains in place.

     As everyone spreads out to explore the chamber, Varian approaches the largest wall to the far-right. While all the other walls are boarded up, this one is open to the dirt around them. He shines his light along the wall, and eventually comes across a large panel. It is similar to the locking mechanism they discovered in the hatch to the first orb, only this one is much larger. The blank dials are separated into three words—fourteen letters altogether.

"Hey guys, check this out," Varian says. Everyone but Cassandra comes to see what he has found.

"Great, another code..." Abhu says.

"Three words, fourteen letters," Hugo says, coming to the same conclusion as Varian.

"Last time we saw one of these, there was a riddle to solve," Varian says. "Is there one somewhere in this chamber?"

"I don't think we have a riddle this time," Cassandra says from the other side of the room. She is standing beside the minecart, her lantern illuminating the wall above it. Etched into the wall is an arrow, pointing in the direction of the tracks. "I think we're supposed to go that way."

"That seems safe," Abhu says sarcastically. "There's no telling how many twists and turns that track would take!"

"Twists and turns..." Varian repeats. "Abhu, let me see that tablet you found."

Abhu hands the stone tablet to Varian, who eagerly glances over it. "My initial speculation may be correct! I-I think these R's and L's mean right and left!"

     "Where did that come from?" Cassandra asks, having missed the hole that Varian and Hugo found Abhu in earlier.

     Hugo inspects the cart closely. "It's pretty small. I think only one person would fit comfortably. Two, really snug."

     "So, what, we take turns riding in it?" Abhu asks.

     "More like someone should scout ahead," Cassandra says. "Since the actual puzzle is here in this room, it may not be necessary for all of us to go wherever the tracks lead."

     "Are you volunteering?" Hugo asks.

     Cassandra shrugs. "Might as well." She hops into the cart, but Varian grabs her arm.

     "Make room, I'm coming too," he says, gesturing for her to scoot over.

     "What? No. I'll be fine," Cassandra says.

     "It wasn't a question," Varian insists. "I'm not letting you go alone."

     Cassandra stares at him for a moment before reluctantly allowing him into the cart. Hugo wasn't kidding when he said two people would be snug. Cass sits on her knees, while Varian sits on his bottom. There is no way for them to shift where they aren't touching. But Varian isn't too distressed about the matter...

     "You know, I'd feel a lot better about this if we had some way to communicate," Abhu says. "Kind of feels like we're getting left behind."

     An idea suddenly strikes Varian. "I might have just the thing!" He reaches into his backpack, accidentally elbowing Cassandra's shoulder as he does so.

     "Watch it!" She shouts, reflexively elbowing him in the ribs in return.

     "Ow! Sorry," he says quickly, still focused on his backpack. He pulls out his Truth Ray for all of them to see.

     Hugo smirks. "Great idea, Freckles!"

     "Since we've already had the displeasure of experiencing what my invention can do," Varian says to Hugo, "I figured we might as well try it out again."

Hugo nods, and Varian pulls the trigger. Just as before, a bright blue cloud encircles them and then disappears after a moment.

     Did it work? Varian hears Hugo's voice in his mind.

     It did for me, Varian thinks, testing to see if his invention works both ways. Can you hear my thoughts?

     But a Hello? from Hugo is all he gets in response.

     "It looks like it only works one way," Varian says aloud. "Unless..."

     "I get to shoot you this time?" Hugo says, enthusiastically swiping the Truth Ray from Varian's hands. "Don't mind if I do!"

     Before Varian can protest, the blue cloud envelops the two of them again. Only most of it surrounds Varian, causing his vision to blur for a moment. Guess it's slightly different when you're the one getting shot...

     But hey, it worked! Hugo thinks. I can hear you in my head just as well as if your whiny voice was screeching in my ear!

     Oh, you think my voice is whiny? Varian thinks. Have you heard yourself?

     "You boys gonna stare at each other all day?" Cassandra asks, tapping her fingers impatiently. "It's getting a little awkward..."

     "Right," Varian says, chuckling as he imagines what they must look like thinking amongst themselves like this. "We should hurry. The effects of the Truth Ray are temporary."

     Hugo leans over and removes the rocks away from the wheels for them. He waves as the cart begins to roll forward slowly into the darkness.