The afternoon was slowly changing into evening, when Max heard Liz call out to him from a few feet away.

“Hey Max, come check this out! There’s a cave back here!”

Together they carefully ventured towards the opening. The cave was long and deep…and very dark. Liz was beginning to rethink exploring it, when Max piped up.

“Looks pretty dark.” Max commented. “Lucky for us I brought a flashlight.”

“You just happened to bring a flashlight?” Liz asked with an amused grin on her face.

“There’s a lot of old caves out here like this one. They’re fun to explore. I always bring one when I come out here.”

They slowly started through the opening, ducking below the hanging stalagmites. They ventured through the tunnel as far as they could go, until they found that it opened into a large cavern in the back.

Max shined his light around the cavern, it’s bright beams reflecting off of the occasional crystals embedded in the stony walls.

“That’s so cool!” Liz gasped.

“Yeah! And it’s pretty amazing that no one’s destroyed…” Max was commenting when he stopped suddenly, staring at the wall that his light was directed at. The wall was covered with strange drawings and symbols, which seemed strangely familiar to Max.

“Whoa…” Liz breathed out in amazement as she stared at the symbols. “I’ve never seen any cave paintings like those before. In fact, it doesn’t look Native American at all. It must be, though. What else could it be? We are on the Reservation after all… But this is just strange…usually Native Americans paint symbols about the earth, or nature and weather, but these…they have nothing to do with nature…they seem like squiggles to me…completely meaningless. They look cool, but I can’t see what they could mean.”

“No, it means something.” Max breathed out insistently.

He couldn’t pull his eyes away from the symbols on the wall. Liz watched as he took a hesitant step forward, and started tracing a symbol with his finger. It was a strange looking one, somewhat resembling a whirlwind shaped galaxy, with long legs twisting around a central circle.

“Yeah, it must mean something, Max. I doubt they were put here for fun, but I can’t imagine what they mean.”

“I don’t know either.” Max responded in frustration. “I feel like I should know…but it’s like I can’t remember.”

“They look kind of like star symbols…maybe it is Native American. Maybe this tribe studied the stars. Although I’ve never heard of them doing things like this.”

Max nodded in response, but he was barely acknowledging her presence anymore, his entire attention completely glued to the symbols on the wall. Liz stared at Max, shocked by his reaction to the cave paintings. It seemed like he was more than intrigued by them…more like an obsession, or a NEED to figure them out. He had been lost in a daze since he first lay his eyes on them. It was as if they had taken control of his mind or something.

Liz shivered, suddenly feeling very out of place and alone.

“Max…are you okay?” She ventured softly.

“What are you kids doing here!?!” A voice suddenly cried out, breaking Max from his daze.

“We were just exploring.” Liz exclaimed, shocked by the sudden entrance of the aging Indian man.

“You shouldn’t be here!” The man repeated angrily.

“We’ll leave!” Liz swore, she took Max’s hand and started tugging him towards the exit. “Come on, Max.”

“No wait!” Max called out, pulling away from Liz. “Can you tell me about these symbols? How did they get here? Who put them here? What do they mean? Please? I need to know!” Max begged desperately.

The man turned and studied Max for a moment, before slowly responding.

“I’m sorry, but you have not passed the test.”

“Test? What test?” Max asked. “You haven’t given me any test. Let me take the test…please? I know I’ll pass it, whatever it is.”