Trickster s Girl - By Hilari Bell Page 0,27

ever seen. But by the time she got her tent inflated and camp set up, the sun was going down, and she had no desire to risk those rocks in the dark.

The unearthly landscape still looked strange to her, but her subconscious must have known that there was nothing to hurt or threaten her in this sea of twisted stone. She slept peacefully, until the light of the rising sun on the walls of her tent teased her awake.

Raven rejoined her for another breakfast of peanut-butter crackers, then they went back to the ranger station and picked up a trail map.

"This is a nexus of earth." Raven sounded like he was trying not to seem nervous. "You'll have to be completely surrounded by earth for the magic to work. That's what makes these lava tunnels so perfect."

An older woman coming out of the restroom stared at him, and Kelsa took his arm and dragged him out of the building. "Keep your voice down. I can't believe there are this many people here at nine thirty!"

"They aren't kidding about your needing a flashlight either," Raven went on. "It's going to be dark down there."

Leading him around the building to the charging rack, Kelsa checked to make sure there was no one within earshot before asking, "Don't you think it's time you told me what I'm supposed to be doing?"

"It's simple," said Raven. "All you have to do is go into one of the lava caves till you're completely surrounded by earth, then drop a pinch of dust from the medicine bag and say the words that will activate the interaction between its magic and the ley."

Kelsa blinked. "You couldn't have done that?"

"I told you, a human - "

"I know, I know." She unplugged her bike and punched in the start code. "A human has to fix it. That's the rule, right?"

He swung himself onto the bike behind her. "It's more than that. The dust in that pouch is your magic, not ours. I'm not even sure I could activate it."

"Activate." Kelsa swung them out of the parking lot and started back to her camp. "You sound more like a scientist than a ... what are you, anyway?"

"Raven."

She waited.

"That's the truth, as much as you can understand it. I've never lied to you."

She wondered if he heard the unspoken "yet" as clearly as she did.

By the time she packed up her tent and biked out to the lava field that held the tunnels, there were even more tourists.

"This is crazy." Kelsa stared at the clumps of people wandering around the asphalt paths that covered the ragged dark rock. "A ... a magical ritual should take place in the wilderness. In private."

It was Sunday morning, but three school buses were parked at the far end of the lot. A church group? Kelsa wondered if she was more afraid of being reported to the park police, or of looking like a total idiot.

"Not many of them will go down into the caves," said Raven. "You'll manage."

"The kids will go in the caves," Kelsa told him. But she set off down the trail, anyway.

The black asphalt blended perfectly with the black basalt, and the informative signs weren't obvious. The wind was chilly, but the sun was bright. If Raven hadn't been so tense about the whole thing, she would have enjoyed it.

Shortly after they left the parking lot, the trail split into two branches.

"Which way?" Kelsa asked. "Indian Tunnel's that way, the other two are down there." She gestured to the longer of the two paths that twisted across the lava field.

"I don't know," said Raven. "Whichever way works best for you."

"All three caves are linked to the nexus?"

"In a sense," said Raven, "every cave near this ley is linked. But it has to be a cave that you can use."

"So which way do we go?"

Raven shrugged, which was even more unhelpful than usual. His shoulders were hunched against the cold breeze, though Kelsa had offered to loan him her jacket. His expression was indrawn, and for once, unreadable.

Kelsa, perfectly comfortable in long-sleeved therma knit, looked at the flock of kids scattered along the longer trail and took the path that led to Indian Tunnel.

Most of the tourists they passed were retired couples, but there were a few families with toddlers in tow. Indian Tunnel, when they reached it, was accessed through a rugged break where the rock plate had collapsed into the tunnel beneath. A party of adults was climbing up the combination of