away.
“It’s hot!”
“That would be the aforementioned magma we talked about,” said Elias.
“I don’t like that.” Because honestly, who would willingly burn their hands and think “Oh, this is fun?”
“It’s okay. Imagine your hands are encased in rock, pure quartz crystal. It has a very high melting point.”
Tara put her hands on the ground again and pictured they were covered in crystal. Somehow, it worked. She could still feel the heat, but it was no longer unpleasant.
“Now,” said Elias, “we pull.”
She imagined dragging the magma upward from deep within the earth. The popping and sizzling of the lake intensified. She took a moment to glance over at the surface of the water. The ice was rapidly disappearing.
“Good job, Tara,” said Professor Warren. “This is actually progressing better than I expec—”
Suddenly, the ground began to shake violently, cutting off the professor’s words.
“Elias?” asked Professor Warren, “what are you doing?”
“Not me,” he replied.
“Then what the hell is it?”
Elias closed his eyes and held very still. He cocked his head. “Uh, oh.”
“What uh, oh?” asked Tara. “Why is there an uh, oh? Uh, ohs are not allowed when we’re pulling freaking hot magma from the earth’s core. Uh, ohs are for when we spill milk and crap like that.”
“I’m not sure what it is,” said Elias, “but it’s big and moving this way fast.”
It was then that Tara noticed the rumbling wasn’t continuous. It was actually a pattern of short bursts of shaking coming in rapid succession, almost like … pounding footsteps. Just then the forest exploded behind them, and a moving mountain came sprinting straight toward them. No, it wasn't actually a mountain. It only looked like one. Instead it was a giant humanoid figure that appeared to be carved from solid stone.
“Mountain troll,” Professor Warren yelled.
Of course, Tara was terrified at first. But then she realized this creature probably wasn’t that dangerous. Everyone knew that mountain trolls were slow, lumbering beasts with IQs that barely ranked above banana slugs. All she had to do was stay out of the way of its slow-swinging club and she’d be fine. Except this one didn’t have a club. Why was there no club? Tara was mentally prepared for a club battle, but the troll wasn’t cooperating. Its hands were empty. Strange. Oh, well. One less thing to worry about. But the monster didn’t exactly lumber. In fact, it moved just like a human would, only on a much larger scale, which meant it covered ground considerably faster than a human.
Elias immediately sprang up from the ground and leaped in front of Tara. He thrust his hands forward, and the ground rose up in front of the troll. It only reached his knee, but the beast’s foot hit the rising earth as it ran, causing it to stumble. It righted itself before falling and then stood up straight. It looked at Elias, shook its head, then held up a finger and waggled it at him.
Okay, that’s just funny. Then something happened which Tara found extremely surprising: it spoke.
“Silly little human. You think to trip me up. I wield the power of the Great White North. You are nothing.”
It raised its hands, much like she’d done herself when wielding her magic, and shot a bolt of ice directly at Elias. Tara was too stunned to even cry out. Luckily, Elias was ready for it. Again, the earth sprang up, this time forming a shield in front of him. The ice hit the shield with a deafening crack and exploded in shards all around them. Tara threw her fist in the air. “One point for us!”
“Run, Tara,” Elias yelled, but she was already way ahead of him. A troll was bad enough. But one that threw ice bolts? Yeah, that was too much. The only problem was there was nowhere to go. There was nothing but coastline to her left and right, and a troll stood between her and the safety of the trees. She picked a direction and ran for it, sprinting down the beach. After she’d gone about a hundred yards, she was panting. A figure passed her, a blur of fire moving in the opposite direction. Cara. Did she realize she was running toward the troll? Was she missing some brain cells from one too many ice shots to the head? Tara turned and watched her go. When she came within striking distance of the monster, Cara shot a bolt of fire from her hand that hit the troll squarely in the chest. It didn’t