CHAPTER 1
Prologue
*I’m sorry I ran away, Mother. I want to come home now.*
Seething Magma raised her mantle in the dark underground cavity and interrupted her meal of crushed rock. At last, she thought, relief flooding her limbs. It had been almost a thousand years since she’d heard from her youngest child.
*Where have you been?* she scolded, then emended, *Never mind, just come home.*
*I can’t! He won’t let me go.* Granite Cloud’s wail roused her mother’s alarm. Nothing could hold an elemental.
*I’m coming to fetch you,* Seething Magma projected decisively. She shook herself and prepared for travel, pinpointing her daughter’s location from her thoughts.
*No, you can’t. He’ll get you, too.*
Seething Magma settled back down thoughtfully. *Maybe you better tell me all about it. I’m
