Now I was having fun. Quartz has as many aspects as Rosethorn has medicines, from agates to tiger’s-eye, in shades from darkly smoky to colorless. There were agates at the canyon’s bottom, as well as amethysts and pure white quartz. I shimmered through the white vein, then bounced along hexagonal rods of amethyst. The faces and chunks told me their stories, about the times this bed had moved up as the earth shifted, then down again. I slid through the long sides, seeing my magical shadow ripple along their surfaces.

Evumeimei. Luvo’s voice was thunder in the ground, echoing off of every stone there. I shrieked and shot upward. I opened my body’s eyes and looked for him frantically.

He sat next to me, seemingly just a green and purple and crystal bear worn down by water.

“Why did you do that!” I shouted. “That hurt!”

“We have company,” Luvo said quietly. You would never believe he had made every rock underground within miles bang with the sound of his voice. “You should greet her.”

“I was fine! I was minding my own business! I was just—”

Nory stepped into my view. “What are you screaming about? And where did you find the talking rock?” She stood next to us, her arms folded over her chest.

I glared at her. “Why are you here anyway?” My head hurt badly enough from Luvo’s voice that I didn’t care if I was rude or not. “You’re not a mage or a fixing person or a person who looks after her mage.”

“Treak’s all full of remorse for being bad last night. I am taking advantage and getting free of the house for the day. Not that it’s your business, Person Who Looks After Her Mage. As titles go, that’s not very impressive. Will you answer my question or not?”

I stared at her. How did someone so pretty get so hot-tongued? “Do your parents worship at the Fire temple every day of their lives?”

“My mother worshipped money. Then her ship got hit by lightning and sank while it attacked Winding Circle eight years ago. My father and older brother worshipped Urda and Lakik like sensible people, praying to Lakik’s good-luck side. Pirate chasers mistook them for fierce outlaws and killed them. I’m skeptical on the whole question of gods at the moment.” If saying these things bothered Nory, it didn’t show on her face. “You still haven’t told me where you got the talking rock.”

I took out the juggling stones I had stuck in my pockets. Luvo could handle this snapdragon himself.

He walked toward her, his short legs thumping on the dry grass. “I sensed the coming of Evumeimei and her friends when they approached my home in the Heaven Wind Mountains of southern Yanjing. I had never felt the spirit of any human like Evumeimei before, and so I left the inside of my mountain to meet her.”

“Stone mages are a copper a pair,” Nory told him scornfully. “At least, they are in the real world, not this pile of droppings in the Pebbled Sea.”

“But none like Evumeimei. She is alive. The world is hers, or she will make it hers. She sparkles.”

I spat on the ground. Luvo is a dear, but being a mountain for thousands of years made him a dreamer.

The fizzing in my veins was bothering me even more. I tossed my juggling stones in the air, but my hands shook too much. I dropped one and smacked a finger with the other. That hot, itchlike tingle made me want to scratch my own skin off. Did I bring it back with me from the stones in the dead canyon? Now that I was up here, I knew that I felt the power that Jayat and his master had used. Luvo was right. It was down below the canyon floor.

I picked up my juggling stones. “The earth strength found new paths. If I reach down far enough, I could maybe touch it.” I spoke out loud, forgetting I wasn’t by myself. “I could maybe find out what happened to the old lines, what made them shift.” The rocks I held were puzzling me. One was pumice, littered with long holes. Another was obsidian. One was feldspar. What were volcano rocks doing up here? I brushed the area around me with my power. More volcano rocks. Mount Grace was covered with them.

Never mind those, I told myself. What of all that power far beneath the canyon? That line went someplace, but where? I sent my magic down to touch it. The line passed out of my reach under the mountain. I wondered if I could pick it up on the far side of the peak.

At our present rate of travel, we’d be another couple of hours riding around the top of Mount Grace, even if the grown-ups were done talking. My body’s itch was getting worse, the fizz spreading into my bones. By the time we got down the other side of the mountain, I would be chewing my arms.

I can’t explain what I did then. I just did it. I ran back to the clearing and threw the bridle on my horse’s head. I got the bit on faster than I had ever managed before. I think I had taken the animal by surprise. Once I had done that, I was in too much of a hurry to bother with a saddle. I simply jumped on the horse’s back, grabbed the reins, and kicked it in the sides.

I don’t even remember hearing anyone, though I am very sure Rosethorn and Fusspot had things to say. I rode, galloping madly along the rocky, twisty mountain road. At least I knew enough of what I was doing to stop and rest the horse now and then. I would wipe it down with handfuls of grass. I even remembered to give it water from my bottle, since there might be acid in the streams.

I’m surprised I thought of it. Otherwise, my mind was on the cracks and seams of Mount Grace. I let my magic seep into them, searching for the feeling of power. I wanted that sure sense that greatness had touched these stones. I searched far ahead of me and to either side, letting my magic sink deep into the ground. The fizzing grew into the thunder of waterfalls through my veins and bones. I had to stop guiding the horse and trust it knew the road, because I couldn’t see anymore. My eyes were filled with magic. I saw only stones.