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The earth bucked around me Each time Flare, Carnelian, and the others rammed the fault, they shook it Stuck as it was, the fault trapped the power of their blows, storing it

I turned so way, the earthquake that folloould make these little ones seem like the shake of a lamb’s tail

It scaredno ht be earthquakes If the volcano broke through too close to Starns, it would bring earthquakes, fire, and ash And a volcano here wouldn’t be a disaster just for the island, but for the nearby Battle Islands, too

How lucky are you, Evuxe’s human war to nature’s war on Starns At least you know it isn’t you This stuff has always begun by the tiht I felt the diaales Luvo had found a bed of them, each one a dull star filled with the earth’s power If I’d trapped Carnelian and Flare here, instead of the bed of quartz, I never could have controlled them

Now I bounced from stone to stone I rippled over faces so hard th from the hearth of the world

But it was Luvo’s power in th called up sparks and flares of power, drinking it in Drop by drop, I was flooded with ic that was harder than that of any stone I’d ever felt It was the strongest in any rock that existed It would guardEach surface in that diah Luvo’s and mine When I was ready to burst, I leaped free

Lines of power showed in my vision I could see the fault lines all around ed with red They vibrated with the strain that the shakes were putting on them In the distance, I saw the hollow chamber under Mount Grace The volcano spirits ere still there boiled and leaped So the path Flare, Carnelian, and I had taken out to sea Others were so excited that they pounded the highest part of the cha into the peak of Mount Grace Some jaroundwater into stea that would burn into ash Both escaped into the air over the et out of the mountain--not yet How many more shakes would it take before those cracks opened and let the the quickest path to the place where I had left Flare and Carnelian I had to let theo where I chose They would not escape through all the places they were trying to open up They’d learn the truth--that out was cold, slow, and not at all exciting They would be free, even if it wasn’t what they had dreaets exactly what they dream in life, anyway?

The sea hissed when it felt round below it Silvery rock worrind to sand! You should have stayed in the dry places, where you were safe!

I’m in a hurry, and I have no time for you, Great One I covered myself with the faces of diamonds

Where are you? she demanded You cannot vanish, not in one?

I let the sea cast around, searching blindly for reater with the power of Luvo and diaics that I knew The ships were sailing Rosethorn, Myrrhtide, and Luvo were in them

Thump

The earth around iant, loose head of a drum The fault shook a little, not a lot I half-hesitated, afraid this sht knock the fault loose, but it held I keptso quick I soared past Flare, Carnelian, and their friends Feeling silly, I had to coain! Flare yelled

Flare, it’s not working Look at it, Carnelian ordered

Carnelian and Flare had hammered the crack in the fault where I’d left them They had one just a little crazy Though they weren’t even a mile closer to the surface, they were still at it The volcano spirits crowded in behind thema Since I was decked out with sofor the space that held me

Do you think you can hide from me down there, silvery worm? whispered the sea I will come to you in time I will scour away all this rock that shields you I will beat it down to helpless specks that float on my tides I will turn your hot friends to cold stone and treat the in the end You will be cold Miniscule Helpless Mine

I began to gasp, though I couldn’t breathe in this shape I was too hot I was trapped The weight and the heat were es runny If I didn’t stop this, I would ic into a human shape, so Flare and Carnelian would know h the crowd of volcano spirits, cuttinglike me before, not with all the power I had to shield me I scared them They didn’t know that I would eventually ain I didn’t wait for them to work it out Instead I darted into the open space they’d left around Carnelian and Flare

For some reason Carnelian and Flare still kept the humanlike shapes they had taken after they had rabbed each of them by an ear