There followed a half-dozen waves altogether, but the last ones got progressively smaller. The underground sea calmed and Deathwalker yelled at Crusher to turn toward the castle as quickly as possible. “The ash and steam are almost upon us!”

Chris stood and separated again from Silverstain who looked suddenly innocent and demure and returned to her seat. Chris brushed himself off while the others began to rise, except Watcher who appeared content to hide under his hood.

“Incoming!” They all heard the word, but it took a second to realize Heathfire had abandoned the furnace, and Broomwick was with her. They struck Chris, still in fire form, and Chris became covered in flame. He was on fire, but curiously not burnt, and as soon as Heathfire and Broomwick retreated to the furnace, the fire began to go out. Heathfire spoke again out of the furnace, and it had the metallic echo Chris expected.

“Volcanic ash burns. Now Chris will be able to make his own fire,” she did not explain as the ash slowly settled into the sea and began to sizzle all around them. A number of flakes hit the boat and Redeyes, Crusher and Silverstain received a few burns, but none seemed severe. Chris felt some on his head and arms and put his hand out to catch one. It felt plenty warm, but no worse than a warm rain, and even his hair resisted the flames. The boat, however, caught fire in a few places and they had to douse the flames while Deathwalker, Redeyes, and a reluctant Watcher joined in some magic that put something like an invisible umbrella over the top of the ship.

Crusher kept them pointed toward the castle island while the fire sprites turned up the steam.

“More faggots!” Broomwick echoed from inside the furnace. Stalker made to reach for Watcher, but Watcher jumped back.

“Not funny!”

The goblin laughed, a truly evil sounding laugh, even as Deathwalker hit him in the shoulder, and they turned to feed the furnace with more coal.

Chris reached for Silverstain’s hand. “Let me see it,” he said, but she turned her arm away from him.

“It doesn’t hurt.”

“Come on,” he insisted.

Redeyes butted up with a bit of sarcasm. “He just wants to hold your hand.”

“Oh,” Silverstain breathed and gave her brother an evil look, like only a true goblin can give, and held out her arm. Chris examined the small blister and thought to kiss it, but his tongue got ahead of him, so he ended up licking the burn. The blister immediately shrank and disappeared, and the redness went away. “Oh,” Silverstain breathed again, but this time it sounded like surprise. Deathwalker spoke to Redeyes.

“He is the son of the Kairos. The attraction can’t be helped.”

Redeyes nodded. No doubt he felt it too, but his mouth shouted something else. “Kraken!”

A long strand of seaweed came up over the rail of the ship, but it slithered like a snake. It wrapped around Silverstain, and she screamed—a chilling, earsplitting sound. A second strand grabbed Crusher around the leg. A third and fourth strand flopped on to the deck, but Heathfire and Broomwick were right there to flame the seaweed tentacles, and they quickly withdrew, not liking the fire at all.

Chris grabbed the weed around Silverstain while Redeyes grabbed his sister to keep her from being dragged overboard. Chris felt the flame, having caught Heathfire out of the corner of his eye. In a moment, his hands were on fire and something at sea let out a low moan that rapidly rose to a high-pitched squeal. The strand of seaweed uncoiled from Silverstain, but it was damaged, and the fire did not go out until it struck the water.

Crusher snapped the weed around his leg and tossed the dead end back into the sea. Deathwalker shouted at the sprites. “Get those paddles moving. It is far off, but it will get closer.” He had a sword in his hand. Who knew where he got it from, but as Chris looked, he saw the whole crew was armed. There were two axes along with the sword, and several wicked looking knives.

“How do you know how far away it is?” Chris asked as Silverstain pulled a stiletto from some unseen pocket. Chris imagined she did not have enough clothes on to carry such a weapon, but Redeyes distracted him with an answer.

“Very small, leading-edge tentacles. The closer it gets, the bigger the tentacles will get.”

“Great,” Chris said in his best sarcastic voice, and he began to look around for a weapon of his own. The next ten minutes were spent hacking, chopping, and burning Kraken tentacles which were indeed getting larger, but then Watcher shouted into the dark.

“Firedrake!”

Chris’ first thought was, great, with an extra dose of sarcasm. He imagined they had their hands full already. But when he looked, he saw some bird-like animal that glowed a deep red. It seemed hard to tell at that distance, like it was hard to tell what the Kraken in the distance might look like, until the bird, or whatever it was, spewed a great burst of flame. Something caught fire that appeared to be five stories high and as wide as a city block. The tentacles withdrew from the ship and Chris saw waterspouts shoot up into the sky and douse the flames that had to be on the Kraken’s head. The firedrake had to thread carefully between the spouts. It swooped over the ship and headed back out to flame the Kraken again from above.

“That’s Uncle Burns drake riding,” Heathfire shouted and clapped.

“Get this tub moving,” Deathwalker shouted back. “A single drake might startle the beast, but the Kraken will be back. It has touched soft flesh.”

“Can’t be talking about me,” Crusher said with a tusky grin, as he turned the ship back toward the castle island.

“They usually stay in the deep.” Deathwalker said to Chris. “The earthquake must have shaken it to the surface.”

“Earthquake?” Chris pointed at what he finally realized was lava pouring out of a crack in the wall.

“Volcanic result,” Deathwalker said. “That is how the firedrake got loose, but it has to go back now to refuel, you might say.”

Something bumped the bottom of the ship. “Get ready,” Redeyes said, though Chris wondered how ready they could get. That bump felt and sounded like a very big tentacle. Several smaller tentacles crept up the side of the ship and the ship stopped moving altogether.

“Over the side,” Crusher yelled.

“No wait!” Deathwalker shouted above the noise of creaking, cracking planks. Something blue, some electrical charge ran down the sides of the ship and the Kraken let go. They all heard the low moan again and saw when the moan rose to the shrill shriek. The Kraken in the distance became covered in blue sparkles, and Chris understood that something or someone was electrocuting the beast. He watched it submerge even as he lost his footing and collapsed to the deck. The boat got picked right out of the water and started flying toward the castle. Watcher lost his footing. Silverstain spread her legs and fell to her hands. Stalker, Redeyes and Deathwalker held themselves upright by gripping with their toes. Crusher, of course, had the tiller, and Broomwick and Heathfire still burned in the furnace until the ship steadied. They came out and took solid form which Chris then understood was not their natural form.

“Lady Alice?” Chris asked.

Deathwalker shook his head. “My guess would be Crystal, the oread of the mountain.”

They got deposited at the castle dock. It looked soaked from the tidal waves that went through, as was most of the hill, but they saw a woman on the dock, and she looked to be pacing despite the dock being slippery when wet. She also held one hand to her side like a person who might have a bad muscle cramp.

“Let me see him.” The woman did not shout, but she was heard by all. Stalker and Watcher got busy making the boat fast to the dock.  Redeyes, Silverstain and Crusher kept back. A demigoddess was not someone they wanted to mess with. Fortunately, Chris did not really understand the dynamics, so he was not put off when Deathwalker took him by the arm and moved him forward.

Crystal, the oread, walked all the way around Chris and complimented Deathwalker. “The disguise is good. He looks very average. And I see you made his lungs able to withstand the toxic fumes you sometimes encounter underground.”

“That was Stalker who came up with that,” Deathwalker admitted. “Lady Alice picked him.”

“And no doubt for good reason,” Crystal said, and she let out the hint of a smile. All this time, her hand remained on her side. Chris felt curious but held his tongue. This woman had skin the color of fine marble and hair that doubled for her clothes, but it was her eyes that intrigued Chris the most. The pupils were as clear and colorless as a mountain spring, but like prisms, they showed a kaleidoscope of every color, like little rainbows every time her eyes moved. Chris hardly paid attention when the woman said, “One more thing is needed.” He felt startled, briefly, when she raised her hand and placed it on his head.

“A gift?” Mister Walker asked.

“Insubstantial, but not invisible at Lady Alice’s insistence. She said she did not want her son’s molecules scattered all over creation.”

“Lady!” Redeyes gasped and spoke. They all noticed the bleeding gash on the Lady’s side where her hand had been.

“He will now be able to walk through the earth and stone, and castle walls.” She did smile while Chris looked quickly at her cut and then shot his eyes to the crack in the cavern wall where the lava continued to seep out and flow into the sea. “I am the mountain,” the Lady said, and vanished. The goblins and Crusher all bowed their heads, but Chris looked around and caught Silverstain’s eye.

“You have a mirror?” Deathwalker spoke quickly. Of course, she did.

“Now, don’t panic. You can take off the frightening aspect with a bit of concentration and look like your old, normal self whenever you please.”

“And put it back on again, whenever,” Redeyes added.

“But it will stay on without having to think about it until you deliberately take it off,” Deathwalker finished.

Chris examined himself as well as he could in the little pocket mirror. He had teeth to make a vampire proud, little horns of bone above his pointed ears, orange eyes with cat pupils that ran up and down, and a long, snake-like forked tongue to match Silverstain. His hands had something of a claw look to them as well.

“I like it,” Chris said, and practiced his trademark grin. Silverstain stepped up and hugged him, and Chris almost dropped the mirror.

“Seven years’ bad luck,” he said, but Silverstain shook her head.

“For us, that is seven years’ good luck.”