The earth moaned. The others were calling, Carnelian and Flare’s people.

We can’t just stop. Flare sounded shaky. They want us to do something for them. I can feel it.

He may be a mountain, but he isn’t this mountain, Carnelian said. He can’t stop us. We’re going to go out. She didn’t sound much more confident than Flare did, but I had the feeling that didn’t matter with Carnelian. If she wanted to do something, she would try it even if she wasn’t certain she could succeed.

He can talk to the other mountains around here. I was still thinking as fast as I could. If they all get together, they can do something. Trust me. I know mountains. They don’t want you to blow them into gravel. Now me, I’ve been trapped. I know what it’s like to want out. And I know a way—an easier way. There’s a crack in the world. You won’t have to break through anything. The door’s already open.

They drifted in the fault where we’d come to a stop, looking at each other. I shut up. There’s a time to talk, and a time to keep still. Sometimes I even know which is which.

Finally they seemed to agree.

Flare asked, And where might we find this crack?

19

Melting

Once I explained about the crack in the world some miles beyond the hollow chamber, Flare and Carnelian rushed off to tell the others. Luvo had terrified them. They wanted to get away from him, now.

Me, I took hardly a moment to feel smug. For one thing, they might yet wake up and guess I could be lying like an emperor. They weren’t stupid, after all, only not very experienced.

For another, I wanted to have a word with Luvo. I sensed him in the earth hundreds of yards above me. He must have reached down as close to the volcano kids as he dared. As quick as mercury on a warm dish, I rose through stone and packed clay. I stopped, drifting, when I felt Luvo’s power around me.

LUVO! I shrieked. He wasn’t the only one who could bellow.

Evumeimei? He was confused and worried. Why have you left Carnelian and Flare? Are you hurt? Did they escape you?

They’re convincing their idiot friends to come with us. You said you couldn’t do anything down there! Thanks for saving my life, but you lied to me!

He was quiet for a moment. When he answered, he sounded even more puzzled, though less worried. I cannot do anything so far from myself.

Then what was that? You nearly blew us all apart! You—you almost made us into fish paste, only we weren’t fish!

Now he waited even longer. This time, when he spoke, he spoke as he’d heard Lark talk when she handled the very stupid, or the crazy. I was talking.

Talking! You pounded with your voice! They were cowering! Flare was ready to turn to drops again! Who else do you talk to like that? I asked.

Other mountains. Glaciers. Faults in the earth. Things that vex me.

I shook my head. Possibly Luvo didn’t know the voice he uses with the great, ancient parts of the world might overpower younger ones. Finally, I said, It was something. Maybe it was talk to you, but it had weight. You helped me out of a very bad spot. Um. Thank you, again. You convinced Carnelian and Flare they want to try the underwater volcano. They’ll do anything to get away from you.

You are welcome, Evumeimei. That is good news.

The earth beneath us slammed upward, as if a giant punched it. Stone, clay, and water shot through us. I sent part of my magic out. Way down I felt a huge fist of melted stone push up. Flare and Carnelian’s friends jammed in the thousands into the huge chamber under Mount Grace. The walls were melting, making the thing expand. Far over my head stones cried out as they split. Chunks broke away to fall and shatter after rolling for hundreds of feet.

I’d better go! I shouted to Luvo. I flew through the ground. I collected strength and fashioned spells as I went, adding pieces of granite for good measure. Then I pulled power and granite alike around me into a thick, tight ball.

WHAM! The slam happened again. It shoved my ball into a pancake. I was mixed in with the magic, spells, and granite. I yanked myself together into one central ball. Quickly I dragged my protection spells into a thick shell around that. Finally I added the granite shell once more. While I worked, the world shook. I felt cracks open in stone and dirt up where open air touched the ground. Bits of stone shot into that air, thrown from new chimneys in the mountainside. A few more jumps like that and the volcano spirits would spill through cracks in Mount Grace.

Let’s go, I thought. I put a lot of magic behind it.

My granite ball slammed through the earth, into a tunnel that led down. It dropped, and so did I. I clung to every particle of the stone. If I’d had a real mouth, a real throat, and real lungs, I’d have been screaming as I dropped straight into a chimney full of magma.

Volcano spirits grabbed my stone sphere. They passed me down the pipe. Even granite has limits. My shell began to melt. The heat from the volcano spirits sizzled along my magical skin. It burned.

I was spreading out. My granite shield dissolved. My muscles felt like warm honey, my bones like melting butter. I fought to stay whole, but it was so hard.

I drifted in the heat. I thought I smelled power burning. That was silly, because magic doesn’t burn. Slowly I descended into the birth chamber of stones. Evumeimei Dingzai was turning to smoke. My life was sizzling out. Any memory of what I did there melted. I wanted to hang on to the memories of my life as they dissolved, but I couldn’t think why. Instead I gave them up, happiness by happiness. I floated in the great power of the earth…

She’s flowing into the river! That sounded like a girl. I ought to know her voice, I thought in a dreamy way.