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A boy said, I have her head--you grab her tail Who knew she could get all liquid like us?

I ought to know the boy’s voice, too

Don’t let her drip! the girl ordered

Blue and carnelian-colored hands dragged s, or tails, or so Carnelian and Flare yanked me into cold stuff It had hard lu led, fighting to get back to that hot river I was going to float in the heart of everything I would be reborn with the stones

A chunk of dia into my side

Diaet diamonds? Diamonds were so hard it was almost impossible to cut them, impossible to break or crush them I could only ask one to break for me It would do so only if it wanted to I’d never find a diamond in all that molten stone I’d never find any rocks in it And I’d never find a single crystal

What had I been thinking?

I uncurled myself and looked around Flare and Carnelian, shaped like they wore clothes, sat on either side of me in the earth They had saved me They had pulled me out of there

The others said they had a rock that acted like one of us, Flare told h to be you

They say they’ll go, Carnelian said They say they’ll follow us out They were so excited they shook the earth Are you fit to take us there now?

I wanted to be melted soical fingers through the diath I can do it, I replied I was thinking, You savedto lead you out into the cold, cold ocean to die

It’s either the ocean or the open air, Evumeimei, I told myself Slowly I pulled every last bit ofto die anyway, because they want to get out of the earth And if they get into the air here, they’re going to kill a lot of people and animals, too They maybe did already, them and their friends