Jolene stood where Anna had left her, arms crossed over her chest, haloed with power. McDaran writhed where he stood, bellowing—

And he seemed oddly—shorter.

A moment after that he seemed shorter still.

And that was when Anna saw that Billie McDaran was knees-deep in the stone of the floor, and sinking.

Her hands flew to her lips, holding back a gasp of horror as she watched him flail and sink, his movements and inarticulate, animal-like shrieks growing louder and more frantic with every passing moment. Slowly, the stone engulfed him, giving him plenty of time to understand what was happening, and plenty of time to suffer as it did. Hip-deep. Chest-deep. Shoulder-deep, and his hands scrabbled uselessly at the rock.

Then his howls were cut off as his head was engulfed by stone.

His hands spasmed wildly on the surface of the stone.

Then they, too, were engulfed. The surface of the stone was as smooth as it had been before, with no sign of what had just happened. He was gone.

20

ANNA remained where she was, crouching on the cold stone of the floor, hands crammed up to her mouth, staring at the place where Billie McDaran had been.

Jolene turned and looked down at her.

Anna stared back up at her, but the perfect lips no longer frowned, and the eyes had lightened again to a pure emerald green. The Queen of Copper Mountain gazed at her thoughtfully. Anna decided that discretion was in order, and went to her knees, bowing her head, cuddling lizards against her chest. A moment later, and the lizards slid away from her, returning to their mistress.

Jolene made a slight sound of amusement. “Oh, get to your feet,” she said. “Now you need not concern yourself about McDaran. You can go home and go back to what you were doing before. I’m sure your aunt has plenty for you to do. You can tell her that everything will be fine.”

She thought about telling the Great Elemental that no, she couldn’t, because there was still that Company debt hanging over her, and that she was going to have to flee—

In fact, she had opened her mouth to say just that. But the words that came out were, “Not without Josh.”

Jolene blinked at her and tilted her head to the side, inviting more.

“I’m a-beggin’ y’all, don’t take him from me, Jolene. There ain’t nothin’ under th’ earth or ’bove it that’s purtier than y’all,” she continued, trying desperately to find the right words. “Y’all know thet, I seed it in yore face in Ducktown, when th’ fellers there looked at y’all, an’ y’all knew what y’all was makin’ ’em feel. They ain’t no way I c’n challenge y’all, not even iffen God His Own Self come down an’ made me as purty as an angel.” Now the tears started, not the horrible sobs that had wracked her before, but slow, painful tears that burned their way down her cheeks. “I found Josh, up where y’all left him. He was sleepin’. He called out y’all’s name in his sleep, did y’all know thet?” she continued. “Y’all c’n take him, easy. ’Tween yore looks an’ yore magic, I ain’t got a chance. But y’all don’ know what he means ter me.”