Cave Explorers Find a House Deep Inside a Cave — Then They Hear Something Inside

“Lisa?” Mara called, keeping her light on the doorway. Lisa answered from farther along the passage. Then came several footsteps and another cough. Their ranger appeared around the bend with a small tour group behind her. One visitor was covering his mouth with a tissue. Lisa asked whether everything was all right, and Mara understood. The sound had traveled through the adjoining passage and seemed to come from the empty cottage. Ethan looked embarrassed. “I was about to rescue a ghost.” “You were about to climb a barrier,” Mara said.

Afterward, Mara returned to the first cottage. The noise had an ordinary explanation, but the houses still bothered her. Their shape was familiar. She thought of the research folder she had downloaded before the trip and took her tablet from its padded case. The signal was useless down here, but the pictures were saved. She scrolled past an old cave map, a photograph of miners, and several drawings of tourists until she found a small stone building.

She held the screen beside the cottage. The doorway and walls matched. Ethan leaned closer and pointed beneath the drawing. “What does ‘consumptive’ mean?” Mara enlarged the caption and felt her stomach tighten.