Raphael hesitated. A raw stagnant odor hung about the mouth of the doorway which sickened him.
‘I shouldn’t go in there if I were you,’ warned the sea horse.
‘But,’ objected Raphael, ‘I must find Cassandra.’
The sea horse quivered. ‘Good-bye, then. I shall have to leave you here. I hope you won’t think me a coward, but I couldn’t live a minute in that water. Good luck.’
‘So long!’ said Raphael. He had become very fond of the sea horse. ‘See you later, and thanks ever so much for showing me about.’
‘See you later,’ echoed the sea horse sadly, and turned away.
I shall never see him again, thought Raphael, and shut his eyes as he stepped within the door.
It was cold and dead black inside. Raphael paddled blindly upward feeling choked and uncomfortable.
Suddenly without warning his head popped above the surface, and he could look around. He was in an immense cave hewn out of the solid rock. At one end of it a cluster of brilliant yellow lights was reflected in the oily black water that licked at the foot of a great pier carved out of the rock wall.
