How to be a Pirate's Dragon (Hiccup) by Cressida Cowell

lights flickered in the dark below him.
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    It was Toothless, swimming up towards them in the nick of time.
    "Okay," said Toothless. "Surface t-t-too far away for h-h-h-h-humans ... hut there's a c-c-c-c-cave thingy.... F-f-follow Toothless...."
    "Just hang on to me, Fishlegs, and kick like crazy," ordered Hiccup, because, of course, Fishlegs could not swim.
    [Image: Fishes.]
    Hiccup took a huge breath, just before the sea swallowed up the last remains of that air pocket, and dived after Toothless.
    He had to swim underneath the rim of the boat, which was resting on some large rocks on the bottom.
    He swam out into total darkness, which was very confusing. A little way above him, he could see
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    that Toothless was swimming towards a small hole in the cliff, with light shining out of it. Trying to ignore the panicky feeing of his breath running out, and hampered by Fishlegs gripping on to one leg, he swam as fast as he could towards the hole. Once he had swum into it, he shot upwards through a short tunnel and surfaced in a huge pool of water at the bottom of a gigantic underground cavern, gasping for air.
    A second or so later, Alvin emerged to lie in the water beside Hiccup and Fishlegs.
    The cavern was huge, and surprisingly light, considering it was so far underground. The eerie green light seemed to be given off by Electricsquirms, a tiny dragon-like creature that glows with phosphorescence. Water rushed down the walls and dripped from the ceiling.
    Hiccup was so relieved to be still alive and in the air again that this tomb of a cavern initially seemed like home. It was a while before his scared brain could focus on the fact that they weren't safe yet.
    "Right," said Fishlegs, trying not to panic and wringing out his breeches and flapping his arms to get dry. "How are we going to get out of HERE?"
    The cavern had some interesting rock
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    formations, if Hiccup had been in the mood for admiring them. The weird shapes of fossilized dragons were caught in the stone. Some of them were very unusual, extinct species. However, even the discovery of an entire skeleton of the Burrowing Slitherfang, so rare that it was often thought never to have existed, failed to excite Hiccup as it might have done in other circumstances.
    They walked round and round in circles for about an hour and a half, looking for a way out, before realizing that there wasn't one. They sat down.
    Without his Tribe around him, and facing Death, Alvin seemed to have returned to his old, pleasant self again. He even apologized for getting them into this mess.
    "I just cannot believe this," moaned Fishlegs, shivering violently. "It's like some sort of NIGHTMARE. I keep thinking we're safe, and then it seems that, NO, we're in some OTHER life-threatening situation even worse than the one we've just got away from."
    "Okay," admitted Hiccup, trying to keep them from despairing, "it doesn't look good, but I'm sure I can think of a way out of here...."
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    Toothless was sniffing away at the back of the cavern, and he interrupted, calling out, "Toothless can smell something m-metal over h-h-here!"
    "Very clever, Toothless," said Hiccup, "but tie Treasure Hunt is over now."
    "I mean," continued Fishlegs, "so far today we have narrowly escaped being 1. Torn to pieces by Skullions. 2. Eaten by Cannibal Outcasts. 3. Burned to death on board ship. 4. Drowned at the bottom of the ocean.... And now here we are, trapped in an inaccessible underground cavern facing DEATH BY
    SLOW STARVATION.... It's just been a REALLY BAD day."
    "N-n-not metal after all," Toothless called back in disappointment. "It's just a d-d-door....."
    "A DOOR??" Alvin, Hiccup and Fishlegs scrambled up and over towards Toothless, with a sudden surge of hope.
    Once they had scrabbled away at all the dust and earth covering it, they found it was a door. It was surprising they hadn't noticed it before.
    "Is it a way out?" gasped Fishlegs.
    "Not necessarily," Hiccup replied slowly.
    A door with a