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Don’t threaten lared atheat clean through me It felt…nasty I pulled away from him

Carnelian rammed him from the side Steamhead! Do you want her friend to co where they waited a hundred yards back They were getting restless Co way to go still Your friends will co on if you don’tto a hatsit like h to cal fault We were away from the river, after all My friends were out of the way if steam or even ash and stone escaped the ocean floor And I was free of the weight of Starns

It never occurred to ht be even worse

20

The Sea

Overhead I felt her weight groe flowed under the waves, a ht the island was bad At least ere under it, everything on top of us was filled with stones This was soe to Starns I was burdened with miles of stoneless water

Don’t be silly, I told myself You’re wrapped in stone You’re miles under stone Well--only three miles down, now But still, that’s plenty of stone A little while ago you were burdened with stone

But now the power of the sea lay on ic in water touched me not at all Stone and water were too different in the usual way of things Maybe I was changed, after ical body Perhaps it was because I was in stone that had carried the sea for time out of mind

Possibly it was because this sea kneas there

What are you, hiding far beloith those other hot worms? Not rock, but rock in your veins, the sea hissed, its voice slithering down into the fault I looked at Flare and Carnelian They didn’t seem to hear that creepy, cold voice Rock in the power that runs through you The voice dripped down through the tiny cracks that ran to the salty water I’ll draw you up, small silvery rock worm I’ll draw you into my aqua embrace and float you between tides You will never touch so ? Cohts et there? That was Flare, and he whined I hate whiners We’ve been traveling forever, he went on

It’s not forever, I snapped Be quiet and keepI shouldn’t have silenced hi to the wall of the fault, drinking up its er

Do you kno many rocks I have worn down, little silvery worm? the sea asked I have rolled over specks of stone that lie ontheainst the boulders underneath, scouring the boulders until they are smaller and smaller and smaller Piece by piece, limestone, obsidian, marble, it rinding In ti