Dark Storm (Dark #23)(33)
Author: Christine Feehan

Ben gaped at them, and then exploded with fear and outrage. "A shelter? Are you kidding me? That’s a volcano! If we stay here, we’re going to die!"

"She’s not talking about a tent," Gary snapped.

"And if we run, we’re definitely dead," Jubal added calmly. He turned to Riley. "Riley? Can you do it? We really need that shelter, and we really need it now."

Riley sat back on her knees and wiped at the ash falling on her face with a weary hand, trying to find the strength to call on Mother Earth once more. She closed her eyes. She wasn’t certain she could do anything at all to save them. She’d come here to stop evil from entering the world, but so far, all she’d done was fail. She’d failed to save her mother, failed to keep the evil caged, failed to stop the volcano. Odds were she’d fail to save them, too.

Even though she’d suggested it, the idea that she could build shelter that would withstand a volcano did indeed seem as ludicrous as Ben declared. What had she been thinking? She took a deep breath and coughed, her chest tight, lungs burning.

"Riley?" Jubal prodded.

Fiery streaks of molten rock spewed into the air and hurtled down toward them. Purplish-red scoria and fiery stones rained down on them. They covered their heads, the three men trying to shield Riley with their bodies. She heard Gary gasp as a stone hit his back. Another glanced off a rock near Ben’s head.

Jubal was right. They would die if they tried to run, and they would die if they stayed here without one heck of a volcano-proof shelter. If building one was even remotely possible, she had to figure it out immediately.

Riley covered her mouth and nose to try for a clean breath of air and then once more plunged her hands into the soil. There was desperation in her voice as she chanted.

"Square, cornucopia, spindle, scythe, salt and shield, I call upon Auriel’s might." The words came out of their own accord, and they felt right. She felt as if she were tapping into a long-forgotten memory.

To her shock, the ground began to rise, following the circle of salt to form thick walls of rock and dirt, expanding fast, moving above their heads, curving and growing until they were inside a cave.

"Agate, jasper, tourmaline, line this place so none may burn."

Ash was everywhere, in her mouth and nose, clogging her throat. The shower of incandescent stones continued, making deep holes in the ground around them and sending hot shrapnel spraying over them. A small fissure opened up, running right up to the circle of protection, but stopped abruptly.

Riley closed her eyes, sending up a prayer that she would have the strength to do this. She felt the earth responding to her touch, a comfort that was fast becoming familiar. Around the circle of protection the walls continued to grow, lined with solid rock to add to the thickness, giving additional protection against a superheated blast. The walls climbed high, curving to form a ceiling overhead. Only a narrow opening remained.

"Ruby, garnet, diamond strong, seal us safe from fiery harm." As she chanted, all colors of red from fire lined the walls and began to build a door at the entrance.

The roar from outside dimmed, although the tremors continued relentlessly as the last remaining open space closed and sealed. Riley slumped to the ground, there in the darkness while the ground tossed and rolled. She was so exhausted she couldn’t think. She’d done her best. Either they would survive or they wouldn’t. She’d managed to protect them from gases and anything falling from overhead, but if the mountain blew and superheated lava found their cave, it wouldn’t matter if they were inside or not, the heat would melt the rock and they’d probably suffocate before the fiery lava found them.

Darkness was absolute in the cavern Riley had created. Jubal flicked on a light, pushing it into the ground. The roof and walls sparkled with gemstones, giving off a beautiful, almost soothing glow.

Jubal looked around in amazement at the gem-lined cave. "Amazing, Riley. Whether we get out of this alive or not, let me just say thank you now."

Gary handed her a bottle of water he pulled from his pack. "Here, drink this. You have to be exhausted."

Riley found she could barely lift her hand to take the bottle. Her arms felt like lead and shook almost as hard as the ground. "If the mountain really goes up, it won’t matter. You know that, don’t you?"

"You managed to build us shelter from the ash and debris," Jubal pointed out. "I’m going to believe you minimized the explosion and pushed it away from us."

"This is nuts," Ben burst out. "How did you make this cave out of nothing? What are you? If someone told me about this, I’d never believe them."

"There are a lot of things in this world people have a difficult time believing," Gary said. "It’s easier to dismiss the incidents as fantasy or pretend they didn’t happen. Riley’s obviously extremely gifted …"

"That’s not gifted," Ben said. "No one can do what she did. Is this some kind of black magic, not that I know if I believe in that, either, but I’ve seen some freaky things when I’ve traveled, but this …" He trailed off again.

Riley snuck a look at his face. In the shadows from the dim light, his face appeared lined and stressed. She couldn’t blame him. She’d grown up seeing the strange things her mother could do, but even as a child, she’d known others would never accept that plants grew beneath her mother’s feet when she walked and reached out to her whenever she was close. There really wasn’t an explanation she could give Ben that would make sense. The things her family could do were normal to her, but clearly weren’t for others.

"Call her psychic," Jubal said. "She has an affinity for the earth and it responds to her. Hopefully, that connection was strong enough to direct the volcanic blast away from us."

"Affinity for the earth? Directed a volcano blast? That’s bullshit," Ben said. "It’s impossible. I just saw crazy shit with my own eyes, but damn it, it’s impossible."

Gary’s eyebrow went up. "Is it? How do you know what’s possible and what isn’t? In Indonesia the people believe their sultan has tamed and calmed the volcanos for centuries. They are certain he can protect them from the fury of eruption. And we’ve all seen inexplicable happenings on this trip."

Even as he spoke, outside the cave, more stones and debris pummeled the roof, landing with shocking force. Riley resisted the urge to cover her ears. Every jarring blow sent her heart jolting hard in her chest. Fear tasted like copper in her mouth.

An explosion rocked them a second time, the mountain shuddering, sending them reeling from side to side. Riley clung to the earth, digging her fingers deep, trying to get a feel for where the worst of the eruption had taken place and just how big it had been. At the same time, she tried using the soil to anchor herself. As it was, she sprawled hard against Gary, knocking her head against his. His glasses went flying. Ben fell over Annabel’s pack, slamming his shoulder into the gem-studded wall of the cave. Jubal was the only one who maintained a semblance of balance, riding out the swelling ground waves as if he was surfing on his knees.