Chapter 1
(Orlando)
My name is Orlando Ragno. I’m an average guy, sort of… By fate, my family got rich from the textile industry a long time ago and, well, a portion of our riches was given to me. Now, my mother, a super model, and my father, the CEO of a big clothing company, expect me to follow in their footsteps as a pioneer of the fashion world. There’s just one big problem…I’m a klutz.
Right now? I’m stuck rolling fresh fabrics out. The last batch kinda…kinda got ruined. Let me explain what happened…
“Lan! Grab me that spool of red fabric!” my mother called out.
“Got it, momma,” I said, hurrying to grab the spool.
I jumped up and got it down from the top shelf. However, the fabric was heavier than I expected and I fell down on my butt. Then, the spool of red fabric began to roll across the workshop floor! I gave chase, but immediately tripped over my feet.
I fell, but caught myself on one of the work tables. The force of my weight falling into the table caused it to collapse. Then, the heavy table fell on my foot! As I yelped in pain, I kicked a lamp.
The lamp then fell and hit an unseen clothing wire that was strung across the workshop. On the line, some freshly stitched suits. The jostling of the clothing line causes the suits to detach from their hooks and fall onto the ground. Just when I though things couldn’t get any worse, the spool of red fabric came rolling down the work area and crashed into my father who was just reentering the room.
“AHHHH!” my dad yelped as he fell.
The red fabric continued rolling and struck the trash can, spewing dirt and debris all over it. I got to my feet, wobbling. My mom turned and glared at me with the motherly death glare that all children fear. Yeeeeahhhh, I’m in BIG trouble…
That’s why I’m here, rolling some new red fabric… If I mess this one up, I just know I’m dead meat… I wish my life were different. I wish I were like the other guys, going out to town with their girlfriends, having the time of their life. No. I’m stuck sweating here on a job I hate.
To make matters worse, I know, it doesn’t seem like it could be worse… I’m secretly a Furry. My parents haven’t found out, but my closest friends know about it. I crafted my very own wolf suit, too.
“Lan, have you finished with that fabric yet?!” my mom calls.
“Almost!” I call back.
“You best hurry, Signore Acquila is going to be wanting his suit soon!” my mom warns. “Andiamo!”
She’s got the black fabric ready. Ugh… If only I didn’t ruin the red fabric! Signore Acquila is one of our biggest buyers and the main source of our income right now. Oh! I forgot! I promised my friends I would go spelunking!
“Momma, I made a promise to my friends I would help them with a project! Is it okay if I take my leave now?!” I ask.
“Finish pressing that fabric and then you can go! Perhaps next time you will think twice about making promises you can’t keep!” my mom exclaims.
Dang, well, they’ll just have to deal with me being late. I’m lucky I’m still allowed out after that mishap. I am, after all, an adult. Quickly, I get my fabrics pressed and ready for assembly. These suits cost well over $1,000 each so it’s important that I don’t mess up and crease any bits.
Finally! Free! I hop on my moped and ride down to the shore. There’s a bunch of caves down here that, long ago, were completely flooded. As I pull up, I see my friends standing there waiting and I wave to them.
Two of my friends have blonde hair which is the opposite of mine. My best friend, however, he has auburn hair. I try to park my moped and SOMEHOW it ends up falling over and sputtering. My friends laugh.
“Sooooo, what took you so long, Ory?” my third friend, Sindri, asks, grinning. “Did you break your clock again?”
“Ooooohhhhh!” my second friend, Wolfgang, cries out, slapping his knees.
“Right, well, we better get spelunking now if we wanna throughly enjoy our session. High tide will be coming back soon,” Sindri warns.
I lead the way into the cave. The waves are still low right now; not even close to the cave entrance. It’s about 78 degrees out, so the mouth of the cave feels kind of cold and dank. There’s something so thrilling about exploring an area that hardly anyone dares step foot.
“Think of it like we are entering the maw of a large beast…” Sindri says. “These stalactites and stalagmites are the beast’s teeth, but it won’t be crunching down on us.”
“Yeah, I can see that,” I reply, my fingers grazing the mineral deposits.
“Wait, does that mean if we walk further, we’ll be going down it’s throat?” Wolfgang inquires.
“Sounds about right! Let’s light a fire! That’ll teach it to swallow us!” my best friend, Rangi, cries out, whipping out a convenient torch.
I lost track of time. It feels that, the deeper we go into the cave, the less that time matters. It’s as though time is at a stand still, except that it isn’t. Each tide height lasts 6 hours, but it’s kind of a waste when you jump in late.
That means, if we were to have started exactly when low tide began, we would have had 6 hours to search the cave. Though, honestly, I’d probably still have been asleep when low tide began. This beach seems a bit odd, but low tide begins at 4 AM here lasting until 10 AM, then high tide is 10 AM to 3 PM, then back to low tide for 3 PM to 9 PM, then the cycle continues. I left the house at…oh, probably too close to 10 AM…
“OWO, what’s this?” Sindri asks suddenly.
I feel a bit of moisture lapping at my feet. Uh oh, high tide is beginning! Rangi holds out his torch, the flames illuminating the rising water. We can’t stay in here any longer, we’ll all drown! Next low tide isn’t for another 6 hours and I’m not spending 6 hours clinging to a mineral deposit to keep my head out of the water!
“RUN!” I cry out.
We slosh our way out of the cave, getting met with a blast of water that extinguishes our torch. I end up slipping and falling into the water stream, but I quickly right myself up again…and nearly fall again. Only me and Wolfgang can swim so we each grab one of the other guys and pull them out. THAT is why this cave is usually off limits! We’re utterly soaked…
“That was…terrible…but epic…” Wolfgang exclaims, shaking the water off of himself like a dog.
“We should come back earlier into the low tide cycle next time…” I say.
“And get caught deeper into the cavern when high tide starts, yep!” Rangi says and laughs.
“I do wonder what is deep in the bowels of our stony beast friend…” I comment.
