She landed on the far side a few seconds after Rave deposited Leah onto her feet. The ledge here was at least twice as wide as where they had just come from, giving them a bit more protection from the heat.

  “One down, ten to go,” Rave said cheerfully. He gave Leesa a quick kiss on the cheek before pivoting and racing back across the bridge.

  “This side seems to be as empty as the other,” Kai told Leesa and Leah. He nodded toward the trio of lava tubes behind them. “At least as far into those things as we checked, anyhow.”

  They watched Rave ferry Radar across, running as easily as if the bridge were ten feet wide.

  “That was pretty fun,” Radar said as Rave set her down beside Leah. “Any chance I can have a repeat?”

  Rave grinned, but he didn’t reply. Intent on his task, he turned and headed back across to the other side.

  “Be careful with my boyfriend,” Radar called after him. She turned to Leesa. “You are one lucky girl,” she said, smiling widely.

  Leesa returned Radar’s smile. “Don’t I know it.”

  Rave appeared tireless as he carried the members of the party across the bridge. He had a bit of trouble getting a good grip on Dolph because of the shield Leesa had wrapped the gnome in, but he managed to figure it out. To no one’s surprise, when Rave brought Doc across, Raj ran along behind them.

  Rave was carrying Lights, with only Sneak and Sergeant Moss still to go, when disaster struck.

  Without any warning, a huge slab of rock undoubtedly loosened by an earlier quake broke loose from the cavern’s ceiling and plummeted downward, striking the bridge just behind Rave with the force of a small bomb. The entire center portion of the span broke away, taking Rave and Lights with it.

  Rave reacted instantly, trying to leap to safety, but even his supernatural physical abilities were useless. The crumbled rock beneath his feet was free falling, providing little leverage when he pushed against it with his legs to propel himself upward and forward. His aborted leap fell far short of his mark, and with Lights still in his arms, he tumbled helplessly downward. Neither he nor Lights uttered a sound as they plunged to their doom.

  Caught by total surprise, a few critical seconds passed before Leesa could react. By the time she activated her telekinesis, it was too late. Rave and Lights were too far away—at that distance, their combined weight and the momentum of their fall were too much for her magic to overcome. She managed to slow their descent just a bit, but that was all.

  The members of the company gasped in horror as Rave and Lights splashed into the molten lava below and vanished beneath the surface. Plush’s scream echoed through the cavern.

  CHAPTER 32

  LEESA STARED IN MUTE HORROR at the spot where the love of her life had just disappeared. Her entire body felt limp, empty, drained of all life, all vitality. This simply could not have happened. She and Rave were supposed to have hundreds of years together, blissful centuries to enjoy their love. She knew not even Rave could survive the fiery heat of the molten lava. Somehow, she should have been able to save him. What good was her magic if it failed her when she needed it most? The guilt and the heavy weight of her failure added to her sorrow.

  Tears streamed unnoticed down her cheeks. All her dreams for their future had just vanished in one terrible, horrifying moment. She continued to stare blankly down at the lava, waiting for what, she didn’t know.

  Suddenly, Rave and Lights burst up through the bubbling surface of the lava, flying upward in a twisting, tumbling manner so awkward it appeared unreal. The motion was so impossible she thought she must be imagining it, that her grief-stricken brain had created a visual of survival she so desperately needed.

  She risked a quick sideways glance to see if anyone else was seeing what she was seeing. Rerun stood next to her, perched at the very edge of the ledge, staring intently downward.

  Leesa’s heart soared as everything clicked into place. Rerun was turning back time, undoing the terrible moments! As surprised as everyone else by the span’s collapse, it had taken him a few moments to bring his Power to bear, but now he was doing it. She thanked God it hadn’t been too late.

  She turned her head back, holding her breath as she watched Rave continue to tumble upward with Lights held tight in his grasp. The awkwardness of their movements was now explained—everything was running backwards. She didn’t know how far back Rerun could rewind time, especially from this distance. She forced herself to breathe and to concentrate—she needed to be ready to do whatever was necessary to save them in case Rerun’s Power ran out.

  Thankfully, the scene reversed until Rave was standing once more atop the bridge. Leesa watched the huge slab of rock that had caused the collapse fly upward. It rose almost all the way to the chamber ceiling before it seemed to freeze for an instant, then began hurtling downward again. Rerun’s Power had reached its limit.

  “Rave, get off that bridge now!” Leesa shouted.

  Rave didn’t hesitate. Nor did he waste time looking around or wondering why he needed to get off the bridge. The urgency in Leesa’s voice was all the motivation he needed.

  He raced across the bridge, reaching Leesa and the others just as a loud crash sounded behind him. He put Lights down and Leesa threw her arms around him, squeezing him as tightly as she had ever done. Plush did the same to Lights.

  Rave tightened his arms around Leesa, returning her embrace. He twisted his head around and watched as the center of the bridge collapsed.

  “What the…?” he asked, totally shocked as the middle of the span tumbled downward toward the lava far below. “How did you…?”

  “You fell,” Leesa sobbed into his ear. “Into the lava. It was horrible. I thought I’d lost you.” She took a moment to gather herself, continuing to hold him tight while she did. “Thank God for Rerun. He reversed time until you were back on the bridge.”

  Now Rave understood Leesa’s reaction. He glanced down toward the boiling lava.

  “We fell into that?” he said wondrously, more to himself than to anyone in particular. “And yet here we are. It’s hard to believe.” He turned his head toward Rerun. “Thank you.”

  Rerun smiled. “My pleasure. I didn’t know if I could do it from this far away. It was right at the limits of my Power. I’m glad it worked.”

  Plush finally let go of Lights. She wrapped her arms around Rerun and gave him a big kiss on the cheek.

  “Thank you,” she said, her voice thick with relief and gratitude. “Thank you so much.”

  Rerun seemed a bit uncomfortable with all the attention. “Like I said, I’m just happy I could do it.” He smiled. “All for one and one for all, and all that crap.”

  “Speaking of all for one,” Leah said, looking back across the cavern to where Sneak and Sergeant Moss stood watching. “What are we going to do about them?”

  Everyone looked at their comrades across the way, and then to the wrecked bridge. The gap in the middle was at least forty or fifty feet wide.

  Rave measured the distance with his eyes. “With a running start, I can jump that. I’ll go get them.”

  Leesa was having none of that. “You are NOT going back onto that bridge,” she said, her voice brooking no argument. “Your weight could send that whole thing crashing down, especially when you land from that long a jump.”

  Even though Sergeant Moss couldn’t hear them from so far away, he knew what his comrades were probably discussing, and he knew what he had to do about it.

  “Leave us,” he shouted. “The mission is what’s important. Sneak and I will be fine.”

  The members of the company all glanced at one another. It was clear nobody wanted to leave their comrades behind, but they didn’t see much choice.

  “Sergeant Moss is right,” Colonel Gallway said. “As much as I hate to say it, the mission has to come first.”

  Faces turned grim. Sneak was like a little brother to the Miracles, and both Colonel Gallway and Jordy were fond of their Marine comrade.

  “Wait a minute,” Leesa said. “I have an idea.”

  She turned back toward Sneak and Sergeant Moss. “Stand still, Sneak,” she called. “Don’t move at all.”

  Leesa concentrated hard, focusing her telekinetic power on Sneak. She knew her magic could reach that far, but she wasn’t sure how strong it would be across such a distance.

  Sneak rose a few inches up into the air, a surprised expression on his face. Leesa held him there for a few seconds, but she could feel the strain on her magic. Trying to bring him across from so far would be very dangerous, she knew. And Sergeant Moss was much heavier. No way would she be able to lift him from here. She lowered Sneak back to the ground.

  “I can just barely lift him from this far,” she told her friends. “It’s too big a risk.”

  “What if I helped?” Plush asked. “Together, maybe we could do it.”

  Leesa didn’t know what might happen if they attempted to combine their powers, but it was certainly worth a try. She nodded. “Let’s give it a go.”

  Each of them focused her power on Sneak. He floated up a full foot above the rock ledge. Leesa could feel the difference in the effort it took to lift him.

  “Any strain?” she asked Plush.

  “Just a little bit,” Plush replied. “Not enough to be a problem, I don’t think. What about you?”

  “I’m good. Let’s bring him across.”

  Sneak held his breath as he floated out into empty space. He looked down once at the fiery lava, but that was enough. For the rest of the trip he kept his eyes focused on Leesa and Plush.

  When he landed, he pasted a smile on his face. “That was fun.”

  “That’s not what the look on your face said,” Radar teased. “But it’s good to have you back with us.”

  Leesa and Plush repeated the process with Sergeant Moss, once again testing their power by lifting him before actually transporting him across. It took a bit more effort and a bit more time, but they brought him safely to their side. Jordy clapped him across the shoulder when he landed.

  “Now that we’re all together again,” Kai said. “We have a decision to make. Which of these three tubes do we choose?”

  Everyone stared at the openings. They saw nothing about any of them that might guide them in their choice.

  Fiona twittered to Kai.

  “She says she bets that the gnome knows which one is best,” Kai translated. He turned to Dolph. “What about it? Which one should we follow?” Since Dolph couldn’t hear him, he pointed to each of the tubes as he mouthed the words.

  Dolph immediately assumed his stubborn pose, arms folded across his chest, his bearded face a blank mask.

  For a few seconds, no one spoke. It was clear the gnome was not going to volunteer the information they needed.

  “I’ve had enough of this,” Leesa said angrily. “I just almost lost my husband.”

  She focused her telekinesis on Dolph and lifted him out over the abyss. “I’m not in the mood for any games. If he’s not going to tell us what we need to know, then there’s no reason to keep him around. I’d just as soon drop him and be done with it.”

  A panicked look replaced the blank expression on Dolph’s face. He might not have heard Leesa’s words, but there was no mistaking the anger on her face. He began waving his arms wildly, afraid she was going to drop him into the lava.

  Rave knew Leesa would never hurt anyone who was not directly threatening them, but the gnome had no way of knowing that.

  “I agree,” he said. “Let him fall. Good riddance to him, I say.” He hoped the gnome was reading his lips.

  Dolph began pointing toward the left tunnel, poking his finger back and forth for emphasis.

  “That one,” he mouthed desperately. “That one.”

  As Leesa brought the gnome back onto the ledge, her comrades were all staring at her. They didn’t know her well enough to know whether she would have actually let the gnome die.

  “I think we can probably believe him,” she said with a smile.

  CHAPTER 33

  THEY SET OFF INTO THE TUNNEL Dolph had indicated, with Rave and Kai once again leading the way and Fiona flying between them. As usual, Leesa and Leah followed close behind the two men.

  The trek through this new passage was far shorter than the previous one. The lava-filled chamber they had just crossed told them they must be getting near to the center of the mountain, and in less than fifteen minutes they reached it.

  As before, they stopped a few paces from the end of the lava tube, remaining sheltered within its dim confines. Ahead of them the air was awash with the flickering, bright red and orange light of reflected lava. Leesa noticed that Fiona’s glow had dimmed considerably in the last few minutes and wondered why.

  The faerie twittered quietly to Rave and Kai.

  “Fiona can sense the presence of Ariandre’s horn,” Kai explained to the others. “It’s not far away.”

  Fiona chirped again.

  “She also says that Haeli is somewhere nearby as well, so she must be careful not to give herself away.”

  “I’ll go out first again and take a look,” Rave said.

  Before he could move, Fiona buzzed close to his ear. Rave nodded.

  “Go ahead,” he told her.

  With her red glow nearly extinguished, Fiona slipped her tiny body into Rave’s long hair, hiding herself as well as she could. When she was ready, only her head peeked out from Rave’s thick coppery locks. Thus concealed, she planned to do some surveying of her own when Rave stepped out to the end of the tunnel.

  Leesa couldn’t help smiling. She suspected that the faerie was quite pleased with the new arrangement.

  Rave edged forward to the very end of the passage, keeping his back against the stone while he surveyed the scene in front of him. This new chamber was gigantic, dwarfing the first one many times over. Far below, an ocean of molten lava churned and bubbled much more violently than the pool from which Rerun had rescued him. From where he stood a few steps back from the edge of the ledge, Rave could only see part of molten lake, but it was still enormous. Glancing upward, he saw a small circle of hazy sky far above. They had indeed reached the center of the mighty volcano.

  Once he had taken in the general lay of the place, he began scanning the huge cavern more closely. Before he got very far, Fiona tugged on his hair and chirped quietly in his ear. She guided his eyes up and to the left.

  The first thing he saw was a rough stairway carved into the stone. The stairs slanted steeply upward on the chamber wall. He followed them up with his eyes and saw what had drawn Fiona’s attention. At the top of the stairway, perhaps a hundred feet above the level where he stood, a shiny white object rested in a small niche cut into the wall. Despite the distance, his keen volkaane eyes recognized the thing instantly—Ariandre’s horn, the object of their quest. Now all they had to do was figure out a way to get it.

  Rave traced the stairway downward to its bottom. It ended atop what had appeared in his first quick survey of the cavern to be a large rock promontory jutting out into the sea of lava. Closer inspection revealed it was much more than that, however. Lying coiled atop the rock and guarding the base of the stairs was the dark, scaly body of a giant dragon. The immense size of the monster left little doubt in Rave’s mind that he was looking at Baalgur, lord of the lava dragons. Worse, one of Baalgur’s huge eyes was open—and it seemed to be staring directly at Rave!

  “Dragons sleep with their eyes open,” Fiona twittered quietly into Rave’s ear. “Don’t worry, this one is sleeping. For now, anyhow.”

  Rave looked more closely. From the dragon’s slow, even breathing, it appeared that Fiona was right. Rave’s closer look revealed two additional surprises. On the rock beneath the monster’s partially open jaw, he saw the bearded figure of a sleeping gnome and the tiny, pale red glow of a faerie.

  Fiona saw them, too. She instantly understood what had happened. Somehow, the gnomes had gotten to Haeli. She had not betrayed Ariandre—under the spell of the gnomes’ voices, she’d had no choice but to obey their commands.

  Rave had seen enough. He crept silently back into the tunnel to where his comrades awaited him, their faces drawn tight with anxiety.

  “The horn is there,” he told them quietly. “And so is Baalgur.” He led them a little farther back into the lava tube and then described in precise detail everything he had seen.

  “Baalgur must use the stairway in his human form to gain access to Ariandre’s horn,” Kai said. “But with the dragon guarding the stairs, that way up is of no use to us.”

  “Maybe I can levitate across to the horn,” Leesa suggested. “I could pluck it from its perch and fly right back here.” She turned to Rave. “Do you think it’s within my range?”

  “It’s pretty far, but maybe.” Rave frowned. “I don’t like it, though. If Baalgur woke up, you’d be a sitting duck.”

  “If I keep a hand on her,” Leah said, “I should be able to protect her from Baalgur’s fire. Plush, do you think you could lift me alongside Leesa?”

  Plush nodded. “If it’s close enough for Leesa to reach, then I think my Power will reach it as well. I won’t know for sure until I see it.”

  “Well, unless someone has a better idea,” Leesa said determinedly, “Leah and I will go get the horn together.”

  “Wait,” Sneak said, so quietly the others almost didn’t hear him. “If Baalgur sees you, we all could be cooked…no pun intended. I should be the one to go. Plush and Leesa can lift me like they did before. I’ll turn myself invisible as soon as they float me out of the tunnel.”

  “What if the dragon smells you?” Doc asked worriedly. “You’d have no protection against its fire. You’d be toast.”