Fire Stones - By Kailin Gow Page 0,7

cove, a cave. My heart began to pound as a circle appeared around the cave. Was this where I was meant to go? My heart was racing – somewhere, in the back of my mind, an image came to me: a cave surrounded by jagged rocks, the memory of placing a stone...

I had to go. I had to find the cave for myself. I rose to my feet and began running, running along the beach, feeling my legs kick into the sand, faster and faster until my skin was pink with exhaustion. I had run track at my old school, but this was different – I was more graceful, more agile, than I had ever been before. Something new was acting within me; I had unlocked some power I didn't know I had. Swim team practice and wrestling had certainly given me more stamina, I knew, but this energy that I felt within myself was different. Stronger. I was running as fast as the breeze on my back, easily crossing the miles that separated me from the cove.

At last I reached the cove, and noted to my surprise that it looked just as it had done in my mind. Was it a memory? The water frothed high and dangerous; a chill came over me as I saw the jagged, sharp rocks – like sharks' teeth – that surrounded the cove. There was no way to run – the only way to get to the cave at the cove's center was to climb over the rocks, avoiding slicing my feet on their acute edges. I hesitated for a moment: this looked far more dangerous than I had expected. But as I looked down at the Book of Vesta in my satchel, I renewed my resolve. If I really was Vesta, then I had to listen to the instructions in this book – they were meant for me. And if Vesta had written this book, then it was my destiny to follow its instructions.

I wrapped my fingers around a set of vines, deftly avoiding the slippery moss on the rocks as I gingerly stepped from rock to rock, making my way towards the cave. I tried not to look down at the whirlpool below, or to think of what creatures might lurk in that primordial deep. From time to time I saw something ripple beneath the surface of the water. Something dark.

Fins.

I swallowed hard. So there were sharks in these waters. I'd been warned that parts of Aeros Island were dangerous; now I knew for sure. I closed my eyes as I inched my way towards the cave, willing myself to overcome that sense of fear that had by now left an ashen taste in my mouth. I heard a voice in my head – an echo from my subconscious. Come. Be brave. Do not fear. This is your path. It was the same voice I had heard weeks earlier in the Aeros woods.

The tide was low – it would be possible for me to enter the cave – but from the way the sun was hanging in the sky I knew it would not be long before a high tide washed me away. I'd have to keep faith, to act fast. My heart pounding, I ran into the cave, embracing the pitch darkness within. There was something in this cave, I felt. Something Vesta had wanted me to find.

My eyes adjusted to the darkness. In the back of the cave I could make out a strange glow, like a purple flame. I could feel its heat even from the mouth of the cave, radiating towards me, enticing me, drawing me in.

“What are you?” I muttered, coming closer.

The flame grew brighter, and I gasped. It was not a fire at all, but rather the glare of a particularly bright amethyst stone, shaped like a moon, its glow so bright that it resembled a burning flame. I flashed back to my dream. Yes, this was one of the stones – the stones of Vesta. The one that would bring courage, the gift of sight.

My hands were shaking as I placed the stone into my pocket.

And then I heard the roar.

“No!”

I had taken too long in the cave; the tide had begun to rise. A rushing wave of water swept into the cave, knocking me breathless with its force. Seaweed and salt filled my nostrils; in vain I clutched at the cave walls, looking for vines, for seaweed, for anything to hold me fast.