and flew through the ground, seeking the quickest path to the place where I had left Flare and Carnelian. I had to let them and their friends out! They had to go where I chose. They would not escape through all the places they were trying to open up. They'd learn the truth—that out was cold, slow, and not at all exciting. They would be free, even if it wasn't what they had dreamed. Who gets exactly what they dream in life, anyway?
The sea hissed when it felt me reach the ground below it. Silvery rock worm, you are so much bigger now! So much more to seek and grind to sand! You should have stayed in the dry places, where you were safe!
I'm in a hurry, and I have no time for you, Great One. I covered myself with the faces of diamonds.
Where are you? she demanded. You cannot vanish, not in my own realm—where have you gone?
I let the sea cast around, searching blindly for me. Over my head, my reach so much greater with the power of Luvo and diamonds in me, I felt other magics that I knew. The ships were sailing. Rosethorn, Myrrhtide, and Luvo were in them.
Thump.
The earth around me thudded, like someone had struck the giant, loose head of a drum. The fault shook a little, not a lot. I half-hesitated, afraid this small shake might knock the fault loose, but it held. I kept moving. I was flying so quick I soared past Flare, Carnelian, and their friends. Feeling silly, I had to come back around to get them.
Again! Again! Flare yelled.
Flare, it's not working. Look at it, Carnelian ordered.
Carnelian and Flare had hammered the crack in the fault where I'd left them. They had melted away slabs of rock and tons of earth. They had gone just a little crazy. Though they weren't even a mile closer to the surface, they were still at it. The volcano spirits crowded in behind them. I was squeezed between rock and magma. Since I was decked out with so much power, I felt hot and too big for the space that held me.
Do you think you can hide from me down there, silvery worm? whispered the sea. I will come to you in time. I will scour away all this rock that shields you. I will beat it down to helpless specks that float on my tides. I will turn your hot friends to cold stone and treat them the same. And then I will have you. I have everything in the end. You will be cold. Miniscule. Helpless. Mine.
I began to gasp, though I couldn't breathe in this shape. I was too hot. I was trapped. The weight and the heat were making me smaller, making my edges runny. If I didn't stop this, I would melt again!
I gathered the diamond magic into a human shape, so Flare and Carnelian would know me. Then I slammed through the crowd of volcano spirits, cutting my way through. They pulled back. They had never seen anything like me before, not with all the power I had to shield me. I scared them. They didn't know that I would eventually melt if they swamped me again. I didn't wait for them to work it out. Instead I darted into the open space they'd left around Carnelian and Flare.
For some reason Carnelian and Flare still kept the humanlike shapes they had taken after they had met me. That was my good luck. I grabbed each of them by an ear.
Stop that! Flare yanked against my grip. I poured diamond into it to make sure he couldn't get loose. We're trying to get out!
That hurts! Carnelian wriggled and squirmed. I used more diamond on my hold on her, too. Evvy? Is it you? Or the monster with the big voice? You shiver like him!
I glanced down at myself. Now my magical body looked as if it was made of ice—or diamond. What are you on about, shivering? It's me, not Luvo. I'm tired of being reasonable. If you won't mind common sense, then you just have to do what I tell you. This isn't the way. I dragged them out of the hollow they had made, through the crowd of volcano spirits. They got out of our way. Seemingly they feared anything that could tow their precious leaders along like naughty children. If they had children, and if they towed them by whatever passed for ears.