Read Online CIRCLES OF STONE (THE MOTHER PEOPLE SERIES) by JOAN DAHR LAMBERT - Free Book Online

passed.  Her mother would have helped her.
    She called to
Screech and headed for the cave.  Night was almost upon them, and there
was nowhere else to go.  Placing her bundle of long-stemmed plants and
tubers on the cave floor, she settled down to feed the infant.  She had
tried to make Screech understand that he, too, should bring as much food as he
could carry back to the cave.  It was all she could think of to do against
the unnamed threat.
    He came almost
immediately. He had understood, for his small hands were full of plants and
fruits. He nestled close to her, as he always did, but this time his face was
uneasy. He seemed to sense her apprehension, and he stroked her arm over and
over again. Even the infant seemed affected, for she had whimpered off and on
all day.
    Darkness came, but
Zena could not sleep.  Low rumblings emerged from the mountain, and
sometimes the sound escalated into a sustained roar.  Twice, the ground
trembled under them as they lay curled up in the cave.  After the second
tremor, Zena picked up the infant and crawled outside, driven by an impulse
stronger than her fear.  The air was warm and still, the night silent except
for the volcano, as if even the insects were too wary to emit their usual
noises.  Moonlight bathed the plains, and Zena could see the outlines of
grazing animals. They seemed even more restless than before.
    One of the heavy
black clouds that littered the sky snaked across the moon's face, and the
animals disappeared.  Now all she could see was the mountain glowing
fiercely in the distance.  The redness near its top had grown.  So
had the smoke; no longer a thin plume, it spewed out in voluminous bulges that
roiled menacingly into the sky.  Behind the smoke came flames.  But
this time, they did not diminish into a scarlet glow, as they always had
before.  Instead, the flames leaped into the night, turning all the area
above the mountain into a blazing inferno.
    Fear slashed
through Zena's body.  Something terrible was about to happen.  She
could feel it in the tingling of her skin, the gaping ache in her belly. 
She must get Screech, get away!
    She turned toward
the cave, but before she could take a step, the mountain exploded.  A
massive pillar of smoke and flame shot straight up into the tumultuous clouds,
and a deafening roar split the air as thousands upon thousands of tons of
molten rock finally escaped the dome of hardened magma that had long held them
captive.  Moving at hundreds of miles an hour, the scalding rock spewed
over the lip of the fractured dome and spilled down the sides of the mountain
to the earth below, burying everything in its path in a scorching embrace.
    Another explosion
rent the air.  Fiery balls of rock catapulted into the night sky, then
streaked toward the earth in long, burning arcs.  Everywhere they landed,
fire followed instantly.  It sped through the grasses, the bushes, the
trees, the animals that sheltered within them, incinerating them in seconds.
    Horrified, too
shocked to react, Zena stood motionless, watching.  Flames covered
everything in the valley below her. They lit up the plains, turned the air
red.  Animals scattered in all directions, trampling each other as they
fled the inferno.  A band of pigs blundered toward her, swerving at the
last moment to charge up the ridge. Not all the animals escaped the fires, and
the screams of those who were trapped and burning mingled sickeningly with the
crackling of flames, the mountain's roar.
    A stronger tremor
shook the earth.  Zena yelled for Screech, but he was already beside her,
his face contorted with fear. Then suddenly he was not there, for the ground
had parted beneath them with a huge, grinding crack. Zena fell hard against the
ledge, knocking the breath from her lungs.  She gasped and tried to call
Screech, but no sound emerged.  Frantic with fear, she tucked the
screaming infant under one arm while she felt for Screech's warm body with the
other.  But