Soon, ten minutes passed.

Andrew watched the surface with growing anxiety since nothing stirred, and he worried that Shiloh might be in real trouble after going down alone. He checked the cave again and confirmed there was no exit except the underwater passage.

"If that's the only way out, then I'll have to go down too," he mumbled.

Gritting his teeth, he also plunged into the water. This time, he made a small precaution: he wrapped a length of tough waterweed around his waist.

The cave ceiling and walls hung with long strands of waterweed, and he guessed those plants had been growing for ages; most were about seven meters long, and some stretched over ten.

That gave him a little insurance and steadied his nerves as he sank deeper into the dark water. The depths were pitch-black, and the bottom invisible, yet the water seemed calmer for a moment, which allowed Andrew to breathe easier as long as there were no weird currents or strange forces pulling at him.

As he went deepe