Page 61 (1/1)
I was trying to describe eating and walking--I wasn’t doing very well--e popped into a huge crack in the ground Far above I sensed the wet coldness of the stones at the bottom of the Makray River Just above, far off, I saw and felt the volcano spirits I had never entered the chamber under Mount Grace this way I turned to inspect the heavy rock sides of the fault They opened out down below They shivered from the pressure of the earth and all the shocks that had coh I hoped the fault would hold steady as we traveled, but I was out of choices We had to go this way More people could live through earthquakes than thelava, and falling ash so thick it suffocated And I was truly impressed by how deep down the fault ran into the earth I could keep the spirits well away frolanced at the chae circle Suddenly I realized the circle was getting bigger
Flare raced down the fault toward us Go! Go! They’re coain Show us the way!
I turned and dropped down the side of the fault, plunging into the earth I was thrilled to findthose sides, left over froe of the volcano spirits It fizzed and popped inside ic belonged here, and it didn’t belong I didn’t belong, unless I , I orderedyour meat life for this liquid one!
The lower I dropped, the slower I went I had to draw the volcano spirits doay from the surface andto feel a little…sht on top of th But the water, the soil, and the clay were dull, and sullen I had never had so ic, a thing of power, that could pass through it all The island had its own great substance It rested on me
Come on! Flare shouted inus the way!
I glared at hiht bother you?
What weight? Flare asked
The island, I said The whole island is pressing down on us Doesn’t it hed That tiny bit of pressure? You’ve never been in the core All the world presses on you there It’s why so few of us ht the core
If Evvy meant pressure, she should have said so, Flare announced And I don’t feel any
Flare’s not sensitive to pressure like me, Carnelian explained He’s one of the ones that’s more sensitive to heat Since you o to the core, that’s my advice
Has the ht bother him?
I looked at Flare and sht be watching The core parts and lets hied
Flare sped up until he was beside me He wanted me to protect hi like that, Carnelian said as weplace, isn’t it? You couldn’t see everything at once I tried to sound strong, but the earth was so heavy I pulled ic froather a new granite shell The volcano spirits would catch up and swaain if I did Don’t worry about Luvo Just stick to leading your friends out into the open, and you’ll be fine
She’s right, Flare, Carnelian told hi them out Carnelian and Flare looked back Far behind us came the other volcano spirits in a billow of heat that toasted my toes I didn’t want the us a way past her h the top of thethat et bored and try to find another way out
On we flew, far below Starns Island If I’d had lungs I would have been panting, the island was so crushing The fault was huge, but it felt tiny Worse, I felt like it was getting smaller all the time The walls trembled with all those tons of cliffs, fields, rivers, hills, and lakes on top of theht would they release? Enough to split the island? The fault was the seam This one was set to rip…
Slowly, so slowly I didn’t notice at first, the weight changed It eased The fault was rising I knew I ought to sink deeper into it, but the change felt so good Suddenly a huge ah to feel the shape of the world overhead We were three miles deep, no more We had passed out from under tall cliffs The fault had entered the shallows of the sea
Stop! I heard a volcano spirit cry Where do we go?
We came this way before! someone else called While we searched for you!
Be quiet! Carnelian shouted back to them Are we your leaders or not? We told you, we knoay out! A way that will leave us the strength to fly e have broken through!
More of us will fly free this way! Flare whirled in a circle before the distant spirits, a fiery beacon You said you trusted us, so trust us! He told me softly, And we had better be able to trust you, Evvy If not, ill twine around you until you are nothing but smoke