Run, whispered a voice in Shinji’s head. He was unsure if it was the Storm Boar, the Coatl, or his own instincts, but he didn’t question it. Leaping back, barely dodging a rock as it smashed into the floor, he spun and saw Lucy still on the ground, staring up at the boar as it squealed and thrashed about. Rushing over, Shinji grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet.

  “We’ve got to get out of here!”

  “Oh, you think?” Roux snapped, staggering up beside them. His eyes were wide, his hair standing on end as lightning flickered and sizzled around them. “What was your first clue: the rising lava or the giant rampaging lightning boar?”

  “Come on!” Lucy cried, and they fled the chamber, through the jaws of the boar statue, as the real Storm Boar’s furious squeals and bellows rang out behind them.

  I caused this, Shinji thought as they burst out of the room

  and began running. Rocks and bits of the ceiling rained down around them, plinking off the stones and stinging his skin. If the Storm Boar destroys the island or hurts anyone else, it’ll be my fault.

  The mountain continued to shake. Lucy tripped and fell once, crying out as she struck the bottom of the stairs. Both Shinji and Roux immediately whirled, caught her by the arms, and pulled her upright.

  “Tinker!” she gasped, looking around wildly. “Where’s Tinker? I lost him.”

  A squeak caught their attention. Tinker was racing toward them over the rocks, his body a metallic blur against the dark stones. Pebbles pelted down around him, and he dodged from side to side as he scampered.

  “Come on, Tinker!” Lucy cried, holding out her hand.

  A shadow fell over the mouse as he lunged forward, and a huge chunk of rock dropped from the ceiling. It was too big and too fast for Tinker to dodge, and Lucy gasped as it plummeted toward him.

  Shinji acted without thinking. He raised an arm, and a gust of wind rushed across the floor, catching Tinker and blowing him out of the way just as the rock smashed into the stones. The mouse reached Lucy and raced up her arm. She clutched him to her in relief.

  Roux caught Shinji’s eye as they started running. Lucy had been too concerned with Tinker’s safety to notice, but Roux had seen Shinji use his magic again. But there was

  no time to question it. Massive chunks of rock dropped from the ceiling and crashed to the ground, causing tremors beneath their feet. The noise was deafening. Shinji, Lucy, and Roux wove through the cavern, breathless, and ducked into the tunnel.

  With a roar, the ceiling behind them collapsed, filling the entrance with stones and blocking the way back to the cavern.

  “Man, this Storm Boar isn’t playing around.” Roux gasped as they staggered away from the blocked exit. “What’s got him so riled up?”

  Lucy looked at Shinji, who flushed. He still couldn’t believe he had been so easily manipulated. He thought he’d been doing something right, something only a guardian could do, and now the whole island, and everyone on it, was in danger because of it. Lucy’s eyes narrowed. “You know something,” she said. “You said something about men and artifacts. What happened, Shinji?”

  A muffled roar sounded through the mountain behind them. Shinji gritted his teeth. “The soldiers who came to the island stole something when they left,” he answered shortly. “They took a bunch of ancient artifacts that were sacred to the village and sailed away with them. One of them was the idol that represented the pact between the Storm Boar and the Natia people. And now he wants it back.”

  “So, I was right,” Lucy said, and Shinji clenched his jaw. He couldn’t argue or say anything in his defense. This whole

  mess was his fault, because he had been too stubborn, too convinced that he was doing guardian things, to listen.

  “Yeah,” Shinji growled. “You were right, and I was a moron. Go ahead and say it.”

  But Lucy sighed and did not say I told you so, like he expected. “So, what do we do now?” she asked instead.

  A massive rumble went through the ground under their feet, and the tunnel walls began to crack. A stone came loose from the ceiling and nearly crushed Shinji’s foot when it fell.

  “Talk later,” Roux said. “Run now!”

  They broke into a sprint, aiming for the end of the tunnel, as the cracks in the walls got wider and the floor began to split apart. Bursting from the passageway, they stared in horror at the chamber before them. The floor was now riddled with lava pools, gaping red pits where the ground had fallen away to reveal the magma below. As they stared around in dismay, one of the obsidian spikes on the ceiling came free, plunging to the ground and sending chips of flinty rock flying in every direction.

  “What now?” Lucy asked, looking at Shinji. “The floor could give way if we try to walk on it, or one of those spikes could hit us if they come loose.”

  “Well, we can’t stand here,” Shinji replied. “We have to find a way across.”

  “Okay.” Roux took a deep breath and stepped forward. “Follow me,” he said. “I’ll try to find the safest way across. It’ll be fine, just like sneaking around the harbor warehouse at night and avoiding all the cameras and security guards.”

  “Roux, wait.” Lucy held out her hand, a worried frown on her face. “What if you fall in?”

  He gave a crooked little smile. “Then you’ll know not to step in that spot.”

  Before Shinji could reply, Roux darted into the cavern, giving them no choice but to follow. He moved quickly, skipping over cracks, skirting the edges of magma pools, his gaze constantly sweeping the ground in search of the best paths. Several times, he stopped, shaking his head, and headed off in another direction. Shinji could only guess that it was too dangerous or the floor was too unstable to keep going.

  But Roux was so focused on watching the ground, he forgot about the dangers overhead. With a crack, an enormous obsidian spike suddenly broke from the ceiling and fell, aiming right for the top of his head.

  “Roux, look out!” Shinji cried, and lunged, tackling the other boy around the waist and shoving them both out of the way. The stone barely missed them, crashing to the ground and punching through the floor to the lava beneath. Shinji and Roux hit the ground at the same time, and Shinji felt the stones beneath him crumble. He tried to scramble to his feet, but the ground under his shoes gave way, dropping him and Roux into the hole.

  As Lucy screamed, Shinji lashed out wildly and felt his hand connect with the stone wall. At the same time, his

  shoes hit solid ground, and he pressed himself back against the rock. Somehow, he had landed on a narrow outcropping several feet down. Maybe ten feet below him, lava steamed and bubbled, blasting his face with heat. A portion of the ledge he stood on crumbled, dropping into the bubbling magma below. Looking up, he saw the bottom of Roux’s feet, legs swinging wildly as the other boy dangled from the edge.

  “Roux! Shinji!”

  Lucy’s face appeared, peering anxiously down at them. Reaching over the edge, she grabbed the back of Roux’s shirt and pulled. Grunting, Roux kicked his legs, scrabbling and clawing at the ground, and managed to drag himself out of the hole.

  Panting, both Lucy and Roux gazed down at Shinji, their faces pale. Shinji peered back, flattening himself against the narrow ledge as hard as he could. “Can you climb?” Roux called down to him.

  “Are you crazy?” Shinji responded. The outcropping barely offered enough room for his feet, and beyond it was a sheer drop into molten-hot magma. “I can’t climb a straight wall. Is there a rope or a branch you can toss down?”

  Roux gazed around the cavern and shook his head. “No, there’s nothing here,” he said. “You’re going to either have to climb or jump.”

  “Shinji!” Lucy cried, pointing down wildly. “The lava is rising!”

  Heart in his throat, Shinji peered down and saw she was right. The magma was rising, creeping steadily closer to the ledge, swallowing rocks as it came.

  “Shinji!” Roux yelled, and lay on his stomach, holding his hand out to him as far as it would go. “You’re gonna have to jump!” he called as Lucy did the same, lying down and reaching out a hand. “Jump, grab hold, and we’ll pull you out.”

  Shinji’s heart crashed in his ears, but there was no other choice, and no time for anything else. The lava was only a few feet from the bottom of the ledge and climbing ever closer. As quickly as he could without losing balance, he turned around so that he was facing the rock wall, with Lucy and Roux directly above him. Gazing up at their pale faces, Shinji shook his head.

  “I can’t jump that high,” he called, making Roux’s jaw tighten.

  “Well, it’s either jump or go for a magma swim,” he called back.

  “Shinji, come on,” Lucy urged, looking like she was almost in tears. “The lava is almost there.”

  Shinji’s back blazed with heat. He didn’t want to look down to see how close the magma was. Instead, he crouched on the ledge and jumped as high as he could, holding out both arms to the hands reaching for him.

  The tips of his fingers brushed theirs, and both grabbed for him. But then his fingers slipped through their grasp,

  and Shinji dropped back onto the ledge, nearly losing his balance as he did. For a second, he teetered on the narrow outcropping, flailing his arms wildly, as Lucy screamed.

  Pressing himself into the rock, Shinji closed his eyes. His heart pounded, but he reached inside himself, calming his mind as Phoebe had once told him to do, and searched for the power within.

  Opening his eyes, he jumped.

  There was a rush of wind through the cavern, and a strong gust caught Shinji just as he leaped into the air. He felt his clothes snap as the gust lifted him up, and for a split second, he felt like he was floating.

  Then hands gripped his wrists tightly, fingers clamping over his skin, and the wind died away. Gasping, Shinji glanced up to see Roux and Lucy holding his arms as they all dangled over the edge of the pit. Looking down past his feet, Shinji watched the red-hot magma spill over the ledge he’d been standing on and swallow it completely. A magma bubble popped, lava droplets landing inches from his shoes.

  “Pull me up!” Shinji yelped, swinging his feet wildly. “Guys, pull me up!”

  “Hang on,” Roux gritted out as he and Lucy pulled. Rocks scraped Shinji’s knees and chest, tearing a hole in his shirt, but the other two dragged him over the edge and onto solid ground again.

  “Too close,” Lucy panted as Shinji finally got his feet under him, staggering away from the hole. His legs shook,

  and he nearly collapsed to the rough stone beneath him. “Are you all right, Shinji?”

  “Yeah,” Shinji rasped. Looking up, he met their pale, worried faces and suddenly realized that the two of them had just saved his life. Another few seconds, and he might have been half submerged in molten lava. “Thanks.”

  Before either of them could answer, a red glow blossomed in the air behind them. With an ominous burbling sound, the lava reached the edge of the hole and spilled out of it, crawling slowly toward the three like a giant ooze.

  “We can hug it out later—let’s get out of here!” Roux said, and they sprinted across the cavern, which was quickly spilling over with lava. Magma bubbled up from cracks and crevices and spread across the floor, following Roux, Lucy, and Shinji as they raced toward the exit. Rocks continued to rain from the ceiling and crash around them, and they had to leap over streams and pools of lava that flowed into their path.

  “There’s the tunnel!” Lucy gasped, pointing across the floor to the passage that had led them in. “We’re almost out!”

  As she spoke, the cavern shook, and another huge spike dropped from the ceiling right above the exit. It crashed to the ground, blocking their way, and a rain of smaller rocks followed, piling up in the tunnel. Shinji and the others skidded to a stop in front of the huge stone, and Roux let out a curse.

  “Oh, come on! You gotta be kidding me!”

  “Help me move it,” Shinji said, stepping to the side of the stone and putting his shoulder against it. The other two followed, and he took a deep breath. “Push!”

  They pushed, grunting and straining against the rock, but it barely moved. Rocks and chunks of ceiling pelted down around them, and the lava oozed ever closer, but the stubborn boulder refused to budge more than a few inches.

  “This isn’t working,” Lucy panted as they finally slumped in defeat. “We’re not strong enough.”

  “Is there another way out?” Roux wondered, looking desperately around the collapsing cavern. But the only other tunnel Shinji could see was the one back through the lava. Unless they could swim through molten rock, there was no escape.

  The slowly rising carpet of magma crept closer. Now it was just a few yards away, and the half circle of rock they were standing on was shrinking by the second.

  Suddenly the boulder moved. They spun, wide-eyed, as the enormous rock shook, rocked from side to side, then with a slow grinding sound, rolled out of the way, revealing a familiar face on the other side.

  Lucy gasped. “Mano!”

  Shinji sighed in relief as Mano peered in at them. Then Oliver’s face suddenly appeared as well, his expression relieved and exasperated at the same time.

  “You know, I admit I’ve done some crazy things,” he said, stepping aside so they could all dart through the doorway. “But this…this might top them all. What in the name of Poseidon’s beard were you doing at the bottom of the volcano?”

  “Um…”

  “Ocean,” Mano snapped, taking a step away from the door. “The lava is still flowing while you stand there and

  gab,” he pointed out. “This thing is going to blow any second now!”

  They hurried down the passageway, feeling the tremors of the volcano ripple through the ground. “Where’s Phoebe?” Lucy wondered, Tinker clinging wildly to her shoulder as she kept up with Mano. “And how did you guys even find us?” The big man gave her a split-second glance.

  “Ocean is an expert tracker,” Mano replied, looking faintly puzzled that she didn’t know. “He was able to find your prints at the edge of camp and follow them until we found the path up the volcano.”

  “I’m no Maya,” Oliver added behind him, “but I’ve been on enough expeditions with her, trekking through jungles and rain forests. After a while, you pick up a few things.”

  “As for Miss Mystic, we left her studying some ‘important documents’ at the base camp when we went looking for you. She seemed very intent and focused on her work, so we thought we wouldn’t bother her. Of course, this was before the whole island started shaking and the volcano started to smoke.”

  “Let’s hope she’s still at camp,” Oliver muttered. “And didn’t decide to come looking for us.”

  “I’ve already radioed Dr. Grant and the rest of the team,” Mano said, tapping a walkie-talkie strapped to his belt. “They’re evacuating now. We just need to get these kids to the Seas the Day before the volcano explodes.”

  Bursting out of the tunnel, they reached the caldera

  and the winding path up the mountain. As he gazed down, Shinji’s heart leaped to his throat. The lake of magma was much closer, bubbling and steaming like a pot on the stove. Below them, the volcano shook and continued to rumble, and clouds of white smoke billowed into the air.

  “Everyone!” cried Lucy, and pointed above them. “Look!”

  Shinji looked up. In the skies directly above the volcano, a massive swirling cloud was forming, like a miniature hurricane. Slowly but surely, it grew bigger and bigger, darkening the sky. Flickers of blue-white lightning danced through the clouds, and thunder rumbled ominously overhead.

  With an answering rumble below, the volcano trembled.

  “That’s not good,” said Shinji.

  “You have such a gift for understatement,” Oliver said. “Let’s go.”

  Oliver took the lead, and they hurried up the narrow, winding trail as quickly as they could. The volcano continued to shake, and rocks tumbled down the sides to plunge into the sea of magma at the bottom. Once, the path in front of Lucy abruptly gave way, a good chunk of rock sliding down the side of the volcano into the waiting lava. Lucy almost went with it, and Shinji’s heart nearly stopped, but Mano grabbed her arm before she could fall and pulled her back from the edge.

  A vicious blast of wind tore at Shinji’s hair and clothes as he reached the top of the volcano. Lightning flashed, and a boom of thunder made him flinch. Glancing up at the sky,

  he could almost see the Storm Boar’s face in the swirling clouds.

  “There’s the ship!” Oliver called, pointing out to sea, where Shinji could just make out the Seas the Day floating in the water. “And there’s the camp. Let’s get down there before they change their minds and leave without us.”

  They sprinted back to the village. The camp was in a state of organized panic when they arrived. Scientists scurried to and fro carrying expensive equipment, frantically packing everything away. Mano and Oliver strode forward, shouting instructions, pausing to help those in need. Overhead, the swirling storm clouds grew until they covered the whole island. Gusts of wind tore at the tents, sent smaller items tumbling over the ground, and caused everyone to stumble, fighting the winds.

  “This storm certainly isn’t making things easy,” Oliver said, bracing himself against the gusts whipping around him. His coat flapped wildly as he held on to a tree trunk, observing the nearly empty camp with Shinji, Mano, and the others. “I think we’re just about done here, don’t you?” he said. “I’m all for leaving things exactly as we found it, but I’m also a fan of not getting covered in lava.”

  “Shinji! Oliver!” a familiar voice rang out, and a moment later, Phoebe came flying down the path toward them. Her arm was raised, and her hair streamed behind her as she ran.

  “Oh, thank goodness you found them!” she gasped, skidding to a halt in front of Shinji. Doubling over, she pressed