The world was cast in a strange orange glow as sunlight filtered through the ash; it was the final sign. Evans’s books had gotten him this far, but knowledge was a cold companion in the face of such destruction.
Another tremor shook the earth and Raina slipped. He caught her as she fell, taking the full weight of her body by dropping to one knee. The joint slipped out of the socket, ligaments tearing, and he screamed. Raina scrambled back, apologizing, and he waved her away, motioning for Amari. They were ascending the intact side of the volcano, away from the lava and the acrid cloud that threatened suffocation, but they’d be swept away by the rising water if they didn’t climb higher. He knew this just as he knew that he could walk no further.
“Amari—help me.”
She squeezed past Raina o
