© Brenna Lyons

"It's coming, Ellie. I can taste it."

She nodded, yawning and stretching her back. "Yeah, Roger. I know it. You know it. Every dog, cat and bird between here and Portland knows it, but until we have the numbers to back it, Edwards isn't going to budge, and those people are going to stay in their homes and in danger."

"You know what that means."

Ellie scowled at him. "And you on crutches," she drawled. "How convenient."

"What happened to 'I live for danger'?"

"That was climbing down a lava tube that had been dormant and cold for five centuries. The worst I'd get there would be scratches and bruises."

"If you don't--"

"Oh, can it. I know what the alternative is. I just don't want to end up like David Johnston did. I'd prefer to enjoy my notoriety, not end up a name on a plaque somewhere on a pile of rocks."

His hand settled on her shoulder. "I know it."

Alia startled, looking back at her older sister in surprise. For a moment, she couldn't seem to recognize her location.

"You were dreaming again?" Chessa whispered, her hand dropping away from Alia's shoulder.

She nodded miserably.

"What is it? The fietro wants to know it. There are rumors that you are a seer, you realize."

"I ... do not know. Oh, please, Chessa. I really do not know. When I come back to myself, I have no memory of the dreams."

"Nothing? Nothing at all?" she demanded.

Alia looked to the jagged mountain. When she woke, she was always facing that mountain. "Only that something has changed. Something is different."

"What? What is different?"

"I do not know," she admitted.

"Well, we had best get to our work. Mother will be angry, if midday must be put back for us again."

She nodded, sighing, turning the winch that drew up the collection pot.

"Look. Skybear is home," Chessa called, pleased that her favorite dog had returned from his hunting.

Alia looked up, noting that Chessa's bowl of fruit was nearly full while she herself hadn't gathered half a carry-pot of water. Her sister had time to set her bowl aside and greet the animal. Alia did not.

Chessa did so, but Skybear growled, baring his teeth, flattening his ears back against his head as if Chessa meant him harm.

"What is it, Skybear?" her sister asked.

He snapped at her, running for the far side of the village as she squealed and backed to Alia's side. Alia released the handle, grimacing at the plop of the collection pot hopping off the hook and landing in the water below. For a moment, they stood with their arms around each other, breathing hard.

Chessa looked at the mountain Skybear had come from, the same mountain Alia stared at while she dreamed.

"You are right. Something is wrong."

"Not wrong," Alia breathed. "Different."

"Chessa!" their mother shouted. "Alia! What is keeping you?"

Chessa ran to her, tripping over her words in an effort to explain how Skybear's attack had put them behind. Alia barely heard them. She stared at the jagged peak, trying to decipher what was different about it.

"Alia! Where are you going?"

She looked around in a daze, locking on her mother's angry expression, furrowing her brow at the fact that she was a body-length closer to the mountain with no memory of traveling the distance.

Ellie slammed the Jeep door, heading for the equipment at a trot. Coming here was stupid. If Edwards was too stubborn to evacuate and the people below were too inobservant to leave while they had a chance, it wasn't her duty to save their sorry asses. She'd done her part; she reported the signs of rising volcanic activity, day after day and week after week.

Edwards said he wasn't going to call for a state of emergency until eruption was imminent. "You're damn sure going to get that wish soon," she grumbled.

There were already buckles on the opposite face and the occasional steam plume. It was coming, and Ellie didn't want to be within a thousand miles of this puppy when it did.

She looked down over the city, shaking her head miserably. "You are stupid, Ellie. You are stupid, stupid, stupid." If it weren't for the innocents down there, the kids, she wouldn't be chancing this; she'd be a hundred miles in the opposite direction by now.

"But, you are here, so get your ass in gear and get the fuck out," she urged herself.

That established, Ellie headed for her gear. She cursed the fact that the shakes kept moving the dish and that the institute hadn't laid out the bucks to outfit them with a cell or wireless system for information delivery. She'd be a hell of a lot happier if she could do this long distance, but she couldn't. Someone had to physically read off the numbers to Roger, and that someone was her by default.

"Lucky me."

She slipped the headset on and put the auto-dialer in motion. In moments, she was talking to him and opening the blast cover over the equipment.

"You set?" he asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be. If this is bad, I'm not covering the units," she warned him.

"I'd kick your ass, if you did."

"Good. Glad we agree."

The pressure readout was moving ... fast. "Oh, shit."

"It's rising," he guessed.

She didn't reply to that. Instead, Ellie pushed one button after another, pulling up the readouts from each of the sensors they'd planted before Roger found the gopher hole. They were all screaming up. This wasn't good.

"Fuck!" she shouted, her heart pounding hard.

"Get out of there. Get out, now."

She was already up and running. "Don't have to tell me twice. Call Edwards. Screw that. It's too late to do anything but watch anyway. Just set off the alarms and tell people to stay inside ... for now."

"Just get out. Let me worry about Edwards."

The sound was unmistakable. Ellie looked anyway. The explosion was on the other side of the mountain, probably one of the buckles. Thankfully, the blast went the opposite direction, and the wind was headed that way, too. Still, the direction in question covered half the town.

The ground started quaking beneath her feet.