Carpathian 23 - Dark Storm

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