"Switch your lights off everyone," Neil suggested as he stood beside an unfamiliar body of water inside the cavern directly in front of them.

Fourteen cave explorers stood in at the end of the lava tube, which brought them from the familiar vertical shaft at the bottom of the Abernathy's cave, to this completely unfamiliar place. Greg, Susan, Jessie, Bert, Zack, Kelly, Matt, Ashley, Shelly, Reuben, Rabbi Sloane, John Wilson, and Rosemary all stood with Neil on the ledge separating the passageway they'd just come through, at the mouth of this unusual cavern in their cave. They spent a moment surveying the walls after discovering the moving body of water in front of them. Gentle waves lapped at a dark, rocky shore.

"The water looks funny," Zack said when Neil made his suggestion.

"Yeah, it does," Matt agreed.

"And I think I know why. Turn your lights off," Neil repeated.

This time they did what he said, and to their astonishment here and there, the walls of the cavern began to glow. There was something luminescent growing on the walls, causing them to glow blue. Perhaps more fascinating still was the water. With their flashlights off, they discovered that whatever the substance was that caused the walls to glow, was also in the water, causing it to glow in places too. There was enough of it to make visible shadows of creatures moving through it. With the help of the light created by whatever it was, they could see below the surface of the water far enough to make out shapes of things living there. Eerie forms moved and flitted to and fro, passing in front of various points of light, temporarily blocking them before moving on, and the lights came back. Some were attached to lights of a different color ... pale yellow or white ... while still others were green. Still others remained black as they swam in through the waters of the cave.

"Luminescent algae?" Susan wondered.

"Or perhaps seaweed," Neil suggested. "I don't think algae can grow in a place that doesn't have light."

"Some species grow symbiotically along with strains of bacteria known to luminesce," Susan said. "That could be what we are seeing."

"That could be," Neil said.

"Where is it coming from?" Shelly asked.

"The water in front of us is saltwater, probably from the ocean. My guess is, these creatures probably take refuge here in the dark by day and hunt the coastal waters at night," Susan theorized.

"Okay but how did they get on the walls?" Zack asked.

"It's probably the algae we're seeing on the walls. They may get left there by the rise and fall of the tide," Susan suggested.

"More than likely," Greg said.

"Is this the end of the cave?" Rosemary asked.

"No. But this is as far as we can go," Neil said. "The rest is filled with water ... obviously. And as Susan said, it the lava tube we have been following probably opens to the Pacific Ocean not too far from here. By my estimation, we've walked more than a mile northwest from Greg and Susan's house ..., which means we're probably less than a mile from the coast."

"Couldn't we be past the coast?" Shelly asked.

"Do you really think we've walked that far?" Susan asked. "Our house is quite a ways from the shoreline."

"I suspect the cavern in front of us is slightly inland, but also below sea level," Neil said.

"How certain of that are you, Neil?" Greg asked. "We have been walking for more than an hour, in a relatively straight line. In my opinion, in the dark it is difficult to be certain just how far we've walked."

Neil shrugged. "I suppose it is possible. We're deep enough we could be under the beach and we'd never know it. Also, it's difficult to say where exactly we are relative to the surface, so maybe."

"Wow," Kelly said.

"Yeah, wow," Zack agreed.

"This is really cool," Bert said.

"I think it's scary," Jessie said.

"Can we turn the lights back on, Neil?" Matt asked hearing the uneasiness in Jessie's voice.

"There aren't any boats here," Jessie said nervously as they turned their flashlights back on and several of them shone them over the place where the water met the rocks.

"Why would there be?" Matt asked. "Like Neil said, the cave goes underwater from here. We couldn't go any farther, even if there was."

"We could in a submarine, maybe, but not a boat," Zack agreed.

"But you said there would be. You said, at the end of the long tunnel we would find boats, so we could leave ... we could get away. But if there aren't any boats here ... we can't," Jessie said looking at Zack, her nervousness turning to panic as she spoke.

"I don't think we have to leave this time, Jess. Mom is with us. It will be okay," Zack said.

"And your Papa," Bert said.

"It won't be like it was before," Kelly told her. "They killed your mum before. She's okay this time ... and like Bert said, your papa isn't missing the way he was last time. He's with us."

"I know," Jessie said.

Jessie frowned as she stood beside Bert. "Why isn't there a boat?" she repeated in a low tone. There was something about that fact she couldn't seem to get past.

"Jess, why would there be?" Matt asked her again, looking puzzled by her behavior. It was clear that from Matt's perspective, the things they were saying didn't make sense; nor did he understand Jessie's fixation about the boat.

"Bertie, there should be a boat," Jessie repeated looking at Bert with an anxious expression.

"This isn't that cave, Jessie," Bert told her seriously.

The boy took her shoulders in his hands, forcing Jessie to face him. He looked her directly in the eye, compelling her to look only at him. Greg held his breath. He could remember doing such a thing himself to Susan once upon a time. Once again, the celestial age of this ten-year-old made itself known to anyone watching. Greg glanced out of the corner of his eye at John, and saw an unexpected expression of awe on his face as he watched the two.

"This is another time. It's okay," Bert soothed.

"Why do you think there should be a boat, Jessie?" Greg asked.

"Because, Papa, without a boat, we won't be able to get away!" Jessie exclaiming looking more and more agitated.

"Talk to me, Jessie," Susan said. "Tell me why you need to get away."

"Because of the fires, Mama, like I told you before. Like what I said to you on Friday. I want my baby to be okay. I don't want to get burnt, like what happened to you. The king doesn't like people like Papa and me any more ... we have to get away!" Jessie said more urgently than before.

"What do you mean, people like me and you?" Greg asked her.

"People who are Jewish ... the king doesn't like us anymore. People are burning our houses ... you told me it isn't safe ... Zack said so too. So he brought us here so we could get away, only we can't without a boat," Jessie said and she began to tremble and shake with fear.

"Were you Jewish?" Greg asked her curiously.

Jessie nodded. "Your mama taught me to be. Then I married Egg and he liked me anyway. We lived in a house and I was going to have a baby, but someone burned the house of someone like me in our village. I got scared ... I remembered what happened to Mama and you ... and Zack when he was ours instead of Aunt Margaret's. I talked to him about it and he remembered too ... so he helped us to run away. He came with us."

"Yeah, I did," Zack agreed. "I remember that too. You helped us, Greg. You got us in, past the Master's guards, then led the soldiers away. We never knew what happened to you ... what they did to you. Mary and Cara were so scared."

"When as this?" John asked quietly.

"We think in the 1600s," Susan said softly.

"Where?" John asked.

"England ... most likely," Greg answered.

Meanwhile Susan's attention was focused on Jessie. She reached her hand out to touch her shoulder in what she hoped would be a reassuring gesture, but Jessie pulled away, shuddering at her touch. Susan looked at her in surprise, but it was Bert Jessie responded to.

"Mary, look at me. This is another time. This is not that cave. No one is going to burn our house this time," Bert said as he held both her hands in his. "You are Jessie now instead of Mary."

By this time Jessie was crying. "But they did. They burnt down Papa and Mama's house ...that's why she died!" Jessie was clearly terrified. "We ran away, but they burnt ours down too!"

"You believe our house was burned by people who hated Jews," Greg realized.

Jessie nodded. "You said they didn't like us, Papa. That's why Mama died. I didn't want to die too, when the people with the fire came!"

Greg and Susan exchanged a look between them in the dark. They were beginning to understand why it was so important to Jessie and Bert to have them both there. It was a correction from when things went wrong for them before.

Susan reached out a comforting hand, trying once again to reassured her daughter, but Jessie pulled away, stepping closer to Bert and Zack instead. Clearly the four of them were remembering their own troubling event: a flight to safety perhaps, as the four of them huddled together, taking comfort from one another instead of the adults around them. It was an event out of context, another part of history, which she suspected they should ask Mr. Simms about later.

"Jessie ... I'm sorry. I never meant to mislead you," Greg told her. "Mama and I weren't popular where we lived. The women in our village wouldn't come to our house to help Mama when Zackary was born because I was Jewish. So from that perspective, what I told you at the time was true. Our neighbors didn't like us much because of my religion. But they didn't burn our house."

"It did burn." Jessie stared at him. "I remember it, Papa. Mama and Zack do too! We dream about it ... all of us!"

"I know we do ... and it did burn ... but only because I believed Mama was already dead," he told her. "It was my sin ... my failure. I believed that by going to the synagogue and praying when she went into labor, that our family would be protected. I didn't stay at home to help when Mama needed me most. By the time I returned ... she needed help, and although I tried to find a woman of the village who could come to her aide, none would come. I returned home intending to help her myself, but it was too late. I found her unconscious, not breathing and covered in blood on our bed. The baby lay next to her, silent and unmoving. I believed they both were dead. I didn't touch them for fear of contaminating myself."

"Due to the Laws of Niddah?" Rabbi Sloane guessed.

"Yes. If I had, I would have realized my error. Instead in my distraught state, I tried to cremate them by burning our house. The heat revived Katherine and the baby, but by that time the house was fully engulfed by flames. It was too late to save them." Greg turned to Jessie with a look of horror and misery on his face. "The fire you remember was evidence of my failure," Greg told her sorrowfully. "I put the Laws of Moses above the gift of life from God, religion above faith. I didn't understand ... my greatest calling was to protect the life given to me in your Mama and my son. That should come before everything. I learned the hard way ... nothing ... not even religion should come before faith."

"I don't understand," John said. "How could faith have prevented your error in that situation?"

"When I left the Master's House ... after our first visit there, I devoted myself more fully to the Laws of Moses, study, and my religion than ever before. With the exception of marrying Katherine, I was a model Jew, spending every Sabbath in the company of our congregation, in what I believed was devotion to the Lord. What I didn't realize at the time, was although I prayed and studied the scriptures to the point where I became an expert in certain areas of the kabbalah, I forgot to listen. That happened more and more as the years went on, relatively gradually, until eventually I thought the Lord's messages for me could only be found within the law," Greg described.

"You weren't always like that," Susan recalled.

"No. When we first married, I was much more aware of the role of faith. I believed then, much as I do now in the role of faith in one's relationship to the Lord rather than religion," Greg said. "That changed after our visit to a place like this."

"Your beliefs were challenged," Rabbi Sloane concluded.

"They must have been," Greg agreed. "By the time I faced the crisis surrounding Zackary's delivery, I was no longer in the habit of listening. My relationship with the Lord was by that time all but one way. I wouldn't say I'd lost my faith, but it had become buried in my zealous attempts to follow my religion."

"I see," John said. "Then what happened?"

"When I discovered Katherine and the infant, apparently lifeless upon the bed, I prayed to the Lord to spare her life ... to give me a second chance in that life. I understood immediately I hadn't cared for her the way I should," Greg said. "And so, I pleaded with Him, not to make her and the baby pay for my mistake ... but I didn't have faith enough to believe He heard me or to believe He would. I didn't believe in, what from my perspective at the time, would be a miracle. I was convinced the presence of so much blood and their lack of movement was proof of their death ... I couldn't see either of them breathe. Katherine was so pale, her flesh looked lifeless and cold."

"She was probably in shock," Shelly said reasonably.

"Probably," Greg agreed. "I felt their death was punishment for my sin: of not valuing their gift in my life enough. I was convinced what I saw was His pronouncement of failure in my life. In that moment, I couldn't extract myself from self-pity and doubt long enough to believe it could be otherwise. Again, I didn't listen. In that moment when it would have been critical ... when it could have changed what happened next for close to four hundred years, I failed to do what through my dreams, the Lord had already taught me to do: to listen to Him in everything I do." Greg looked at them all with an expression of misery that was painful to see. Nearly every one of them there turned momentarily away.

"I should have checked. I should have made absolutely certain things were as I believed them to be before going so far as to burn our house," Greg said. "It was in that moment I should have listened to the Lord ... I should have believed He heard my prayers ... instead of relying on my own strict interpretation of the scripture. Because of that, I couldn't bring myself to touch her the way she was."

"It is generally accepted that the laws can be ignored to preserve a life," Rabbi Sloane said. "Cleanliness can be restored, eventually. A life never can be ... at least not in the same form."

"A fact that in my moment of zealous repent, I failed to consider," Greg acknowledged.

Greg paused, studying Jessie by the light of their flashlights as she stared at him, listening to what he and the other men said.

"I had no idea my shame ... my failure ... my sin washed over you to such a degree. It affected you far more seriously than I realized. I'm sorry," he told her. "I knew what happened affected me ... I sincerely had no inkling of how badly it affected you." Greg turned slowly on the ball of his foot, surveying those with him in the cave. "All of you," he said slowly. "I know now that my failure upon leaving the Master's House affected every person in this room, with the possible exception of David and John. I ask forgiveness. You have my word ... I won't do it again."

"What have you learned from that experience, Greg?" David Sloane asked.

"That faith must come first ... always. To never second guess the Lord in our perception of what He can or will do," Greg told them.

"And in this life, have you done that?" Rabbi Sloane prompted.

"To the best of my ability ... I have. When all was lost ... my wife was dead, I was thousands of miles from my family and friends ... when there was only myself to care for the injured and dying ... I fell to my knees and prayed. I helped those who couldn't help themselves, without regard to contamination or cleanliness. Never again have I allowed that commandment to prevent me from taking the necessary steps to protect the life of a living being ... no matter how tenuous it may be. I haven't always been successful, but the fact Susan lived ... in spite of her injuries and my clumsy ministering ... is proof to me that the Lord has heard my prayers. He performed a miracle and her life was preserved. Since that day, I have listened, and prayed, and watched for the lessons the Lord would have me to learn," Greg said.

"What have you learned?" John asked curiously.

"I have learned many things, John ... but not alone. Susan and I have experienced things ... seen the handiwork of the Lord around us on many occasions, and through prayer, study, and the support of several good friends, including you, we have come to know something of how this works," Greg said.

"How what works?" John asked.

"Dreams ... memories ... whatever it is you want to call it. We learned they become stronger and their details clearer if you are able to recreate the setting in which they occurred. The presence of this cave was revealed to us during the process of making this discovery ... and we also discovered that by sharing its presence with others, we were in a position to help them too," Greg shared. "It is our hope that by sharing our cave and what we learned with you, it will help ... eventually."

"It may," Rabbi Sloane said.

"Has it, Jessie?" John asked curiously.

Jessie frowned as she listened to Greg talk, obviously still digesting what he said. "Wait ... Papa ... You burnt down our house? You killed Mama and Zack?" She stared at him in disbelief.

"Yes," Greg said miserably. "I don't expect you to understand ... or to ever forgive me ... but yes, in my life as Harald ... I did. It's the reason I wrote the letters. I wanted us to learn from my failures, the next time."

Jessie nodded, turning away from him.

"You wrote the letters?" Matt asked in confusion. "The letters from Harald?"

"I was Harald ... once ... when all this occurred," Greg told him.

Matthew frowned. "You did all that ... and you got to start over?"

"I must atone for my sins ... I know that," Greg said. "I haven't escaped them, Matthew. They have followed me in every life. However it is time in this life for me to face them ... to take responsibility for what I did. I admit my sins freely in front of all of you."

Matt looked from Greg to his mom. "What about you, Mom? How come you had to come back?"

"I'm not blameless either, Matt. People were passionate about their religion in those days. I suppose many still are, but I have also learned to put faith first ... to accept it is not my place to judge or to try to tell others they are right or they are wrong. I made a judgment or two myself in that life, and while I asked Jesus for forgiveness, I don't think I ever asked that of my husband. I was afraid to broach the subject with him since he made it a point to go to the synagogue every day. I went to church, but I did so covertly. I knew how the villagers felt where we lived ... I could remember our cottage burning and us with it, when we died by fire before that. I was trying to prevent it from happening again ... So I too turned to religion instead of faith. I could accept Harald's religion because I could recognize his faith was there when we married, but I wasn't able to extend that tolerance to others outside our home. I was a hypocrite of the worst kind in that life," Susan said. "I was even worse about that in my next life."

"Wait ... you next life? Was that one in the movie?" Matt asked.

"No," Susan told him. "It wasn't. There were two more after my life as Katherine where I got things wrong to varying degrees. But as Greg said, now after much prayer, soul searching, studying of the scriptures and learning not to judge ... I know faith must come first, no matter what. I believe the Lord has been working in our lives ... and I hope my efforts have pleased Him this time."

"You are looking for His plan for your life," Matt said.

"Yes," Susan said.

Matt nodded, thinking about the things his mother said.

Meanwhile, Jessie was still staring at the rocky shore, the place the gently sloping floor of the cave doubled as a beach. Clearly the fact the beach was empty still disturbed her.

"Without a boat ... we can't get away," she said to herself, not taking in what it was the adults said. "It's not any better, knowing Papa burnt our house instead of the bad people," she told Bert. Jessie shook visibly where she stood, obviously terrified by the scene in her mind. "I want to go back," she said abruptly. "I don't want to think about this any more."

"We can," Susan told her.

"Are you still scared, Jess?" Bert asked her. "After what your Papa said?" He appeared to be fascinated by the story Greg and Susan told.

Jessie nodded. "I don't like dark places, Bertie. Remember what happened."

"I know ... but even then, it was okay. We got away," Bert said in a soothing tone.

"Where did you go?" Shelly asked curiously, speaking for the first time.

"We became Irish," Bert said.

"I had our baby there," Jessie said. "It was a boy," she added, almost as an afterthought and she smiled.

"Yeah. We had kids too," Zack shared.

"We were a family," Kelly agreed. "You, me, and your cousin's family."

Rabbi Sloane watched the four young people closely for a time before he surveyed the rest of the group.

"Does anyone else feel there should be a boat here?" Rabbi Sloane asked them.

"I don't know why there would be," Neil told him. "This cavern is a dead end. Even if there was a boat here, there is no place you could go."

"No, I suppose not," Rabbi Sloane said. Still, Greg couldn't help noticing that when the Rabbi closed his eyes, it was with the air of someone remembering. Something told him, the rabbi's memories weren't much better than his.

He wasn't the only one, Greg realized. Reuben, Shelly, Rosemary and John seemed to be doing the same thing.

"Is there anything more here anyone wants to see?" Greg asked Susan.

"Not here," Susan said. "I think I've remembered all I can from here. How about you, Neil?"

But Neil seemed to be reluctant to answer the question she was asking. Instead he said, "Scientifically, this grotto is fascinating ... though I suppose it might mean more to a biologist than it does to me."

"Is there any evidence of the gas seepage here like what we noticed closer to our shaft?" Greg asked, switching easily to a conversation about the here and now instead of focusing his thoughts on the events from centuries ago.

"Not that I can tell," Neil said as he continued to inspect the walls in a fair amount of detail.

Greg looked around at their group.

"Reuben? Is there something more we can look at that might help you?" Greg wondered.

"I think I've seen all I can here. I may need to spend more time in your Hall ... the space at the bottom of your shaft, but I'm ready to leave here." Reuben said.

"Me too," Shelly agreed. "I think the children all have memories like this ... but for me, I agree with Reuben. I think the Hall where the table is corresponds better to my memories than this part of the cave."

"It is a bit like a Hall of Memories, I suppose," Greg remarked.

"It is for me. I remember mine better when I'm there too," Rosemary said. "I'm ready to go back."

"I'm good," Matt agreed.

"Me too," Ashley said. "Although my mom is never going to believe this ... any of it."

"Some things are difficult to accept," Susan told her. "Even after you've experienced it."

"How about you, Zack?" Greg asked.

"Yeah, I can go back," Zack said. "It was good to come here ... but I'm done. I'm not sure what I've learned from it, but I don't think there is anything more I need to remember."

"I am too ... I'll go back when Mom does," Kelly said.

"I'd like to take a few measurements, if you don't mind, Greg," Neil said.

"I don't mind, but some are ready to go back," Greg said.

Of all of them, Neil was the person most interested in this part of the cave the way it was now, and the most reluctant to talk about his memories. Maybe it was because there were so many of them there, Greg mused. Or perhaps it was John's presence that was inhibiting him; but whatever it was, Neil was carefully confining his remarks to the here and now rather than to the memories everyone else was talking about.

"Go ahead." Neil said. "I'm sure Rosemary will stay with me, won't you Rosie?"

"Okay," Rosemary said.

"I will too, Neil," John said unexpectedly.

"I'll help," Rabbi Sloane said.

And so, those who were ready to begin the journey back, checked their flashlights and prepared to follow the trail of candles along the walls, headed through the lava tube, back the way they came.

c