I heard the thumps of Luvo’s feet on the wooden floor. I turned to look at him and said, “I’m going to find one of the big veins of earth strength that’s on the map, the one that runs under the river. Do you want to come?”

His magic brushed me. He knew I was nearly drained again. “I do not care to explore the greater strength of the earth’s fire, Evumeimei, not unless I must. I tested my own courage this morning in my dealings with Carnelian and Flare.”

I never thought of that. He hadn’t seemed worried at all. I had told him they were broken up into harmless pieces. He had acted as if he believed me. A lump formed in my throat. He had trusted me to make certain that it was safe for him to go near the two volcano spirits.

“And I wish to spend some time in solitude, if we do not plan to travel on right away.”

“We do not.” Rosethorn sighed. “There’s too much to organize yet. Don’t you remember how it went in Gyongxe? People are so much harder to get moving than we plan for.”

“Then I will take my solitude. Evumeimei can find me by the shore of the lake if I am needed.” Luvo turned and walked away.

“Are you all right?” I called after him.

He looked back at me. “Yes. I am also covered in dirt and spilled honey. Nory tells me this is a normal consequence of being near young humans. I do not care for it, and I wish to be clean and quiet.”

Rosethorn put her head in her hands. “We both understand, all too well. Go, with my prayer that no one sees you.”

Before I left I went upstairs to collect my stone alphabet. If I was right, I would be able to stuff each piece of it full of power. I couldn’t pass up that chance. On my way out of the inn I stopped at the stable to collect feed and treats for Spark. She was going to do a lot of work in the next few days. I could thank her, at least.

Burdened like a mule, I left the courtyard. Only when I heard Nory yell, “Meryem! Where’s Meryem!” did I realize I had company.

I looked around. She trotted beside me, clutching the Dreadful Doll. “What do you want?”

“I want to go with you and see magic,” she told me.

“You’re not going to see magic,” I said. “I’m going to ride the horse and sit on the ground.”

“When do you do magic?” asked Meryem.

“Later.”

“Can I watch?”

“You won’t see anything. The kind of magic I do, nobody can see.”

“Then how do you know it’s magic?” Meryem wanted to know.

“How do you know you ate supper?”

“My belly tells me.”

“My magic tells me I’m using it,” I said.

“But I want to see it.”

“The only magic I have that people see is stones.” I held up the cloth roll with my alphabet. “And you see magic like that all the time.” I bent down—I almost dropped the bag of oats—and picked up a stone from the road. “It’s here, too. My magic is in every stone.” It was actually a nice piece of feldspar. I studied it for a moment, and found a bit of power inside me. I drew it through the feldspar. It caught inside the crystal, making it shimmer and glow.

Meryem gasped.

I handed the glowing stone to her. “Now go back to Nory.” I lifted my foot and gave her a push on the bum. Treak was coming for her, a scowl on his face. “Hurry, before Treak catches you.”

Meryem looked up and saw him. She squeaked and ran to the inn, clutching the feldspar I gave her.

Spark was waiting right where I had left her. I gave her a nose bag of oats while I saddled her again. Once I was done, I stopped to look at my hands. They were trembling. I was scared. Telling Rosethorn what I’d done with Flare and Carnelian had made me see how bad it could get. Each bit of their strength would grow as it bounced from facet to facet in the crystals. But what choice did I have? They had been under the pond. Might they have shoved their way out? I had no way to know. What I’d had was all those kids, as well as Nory and Luvo, in the house nearby. Luvo couldn’t even come near the chamber under Mount Grace with me. The power of the volcano spirits was the power that gave birth to him; it could destroy him. He could get near it only after Flare and Carnelian broke themselves up into hundreds of tiny pieces.

I couldn’t risk it. I couldn’t have risked them escaping that pond to kill Luvo and the others.

But Luvo and I had only bought days for Moharrin and the other villages around Mount Grace. If the quartz held out. If Carnelian and Flare didn’t get so strong in it that they melted each crystal, if they didn’t break out, if the volcano spirits didn’t find new leaders to bring them up into the air…

“Ifs just make your head hurt, Evvy,” Briar told me often. “They’re probably bad for your teeth, too. Concentrate on ‘will,’ as in ‘I will do this,’ or ‘I will do that.’ It saves you head- and toothaches, take it from me.”

I wished Briar was here. He made cold-sweat fear seem like a small problem I could kick in the bum. And he always made me laugh as he did it.

14

Oswin

I mounted Spark and guided her onto the road, trotting through Moharrin. I waved at the people who called out to me, but kept going. Not everyone was waiting to get out of there. Spark and I passed a stream of horses, donkeys, and carts already bound for Sustree. There were even some people on foot.

We left them all behind. When we turned off the main road, we followed the trail to the place where the river flowed out of Lake Hobin. Up here, where the river flowed from the lake, it was rapids. Once I got to the rocky bank, I found a place where Spark and me could halt. I watered her and gave her some carrots, then tethered her.