I'm inside a volcano, thought Eoin. I'm actually inside a volcano. He had never thought it would be possible, but then he had always imagined active volcanoes, with their steaming lava floes and explosions.
This volcano, though not extinct, had been inactive for many years. The magma chamber had drained away to leave the centre of the mountain hollow, a vast cone-shaped space unlike any place Eoin had ever imagined. The floor rose in the middle and dropped low at the sides to create a hill inside the cone, and steam rose in bursts from fissures hidden at the bottom of the hill. Just like in the antechamber, the lack of a horizon or any kind of flat ground made it hard for Eoin and Freya to keep their balance, as gravity seemed to be pulling in slightly the wrong direction. The only way to orientate themselves was to crane their heads back and stare straight up to the tiny patch of blue sky that could be seen way off in the distance at the top of the cone. The faint light this let in reflected on a myriad of colours seared into the rocky walls.
The man coughed again. There was no echo; rather, the sound was absorbed as though they were still in the passage.
"You're early," the man said. He looked young, and had long curly hair tied in a bunch and hanging down his back. His voice, despite croaking from all the coughing, sounded friendly and amused. "I didn't think you'd come for another few years, at least."
"Where is..." began Freya tentatively. "We're looking for Father Tim."
The man smiled in her direction. "That's me. Well, you're pronouncing it wrong, but I think you mean me. And which one are you?"
"I'm Freya," began Freya, but Father Tim shook his head.
"No, you're Earth, Wind and Fire. Only Earth, Wind and Fire could move that boulder, blow that smoke away and get through that heat." His smile became broader. "That's what they were there for. My question is, which of you is which?"
"We didn't do those things," said Freya slowly. "They just happened."
Father Tim nodded. "Things like that just happen a lot to you, don't they, Freya? Set anything on fire recently?" When Freya didn't reply, he nodded to himself. "Thought so. And one of you can shape the rocks like putty, am I right? And I'm guessing that one of you isn't even touching the ground right now."
Freya looked at Willow uncertainly, then again at Father Tim, who was still standing several metres away, looking in their direction but not directly at them. "Eoin!" she whispered. "I don't think he can see us!"
Father Tim gave a brief laugh which sounded almost like a bark, and started walking towards them, placing his feet with practised precision on the sloping ground. "My dear, I can't see anything. I'm blind. But I can hear you just fine." He stopped a few paces away from them and gestured around at the huge chamber. "Lava tubes run out in all directions from here. Most of them are too small for a person to fit through. But they carry sound pretty well. That's why I live here. Sound is my world, and from here I can see with my ears better than most people can with their eyes."
"Are you sure you're Father Tim?" said Freya slowly. "Father Tim's old, much older than you."
Father Tim laughed at some private joke. "Old, my dear? I can be. As old as you like. As old as the mountains, as young as the flowers. But I'm sure you don't want to talk about me. You must be here for a reason."
"The Ice," said Freya, nodding. "The Ice is chasing us. It broke our home, separated us from our parents. And then it turned into..."
"Parents?" broke in Father Tim with a laugh. "Do you mean Hope and Frank?"
Freya frowned. "Yes."
"And they told you that they're your parents?" He gave another of his strange short laughs. "And told you your name was Freya? So I'm guessing they didn't tell you about your brother?"
"My brother's right here," began Freya, but Father Tim shook his head.
"Your little brother. The one who's chasing you. Water."
There was stunned silence in the chamber for a few moments.
Father Tim sighed and shook his head. "They should have told you all this years ago. Listen, you're not.... How can I put this? This might come as a bit of a shock." He took a breath and considered his words carefully. "You're not children. You're not people. You don't have any parents. You're elements, the four of you. Earth, Wind, Fire and Water. Two pairs of twins."
Eoin and Freya looked at each other in confusion. Freya raised her hand and made a gesture at the side of her forehead to show Eoin what she thought of Father Tim, but Eoin didn't smile.
"You probably think I'm crazy," said Father Tim, guessing their thoughts. "But only as crazy as water flowing uphill, right? The four of you are supposed to be in balance. Supposed to keep each other in check. But Water, he's pretty unstable. Like a toddler with power. You've let him get out of control."
"Us?" gasped Freya indignantly. "How is this our fault?"
"You're the only ones who can keep Water in check," repeated Father Tim.
"And if we can't?" said Eoin, speaking for the first time since they'd entered the volcano.
Father Tim smiled again. "Solid, down-to-earth comment. If you can't, Earth - or whatever you think your name is - then, well, I assume you all know what an Ice Age is?"
Freya and Eoin struggled to digest all this. "That sounds serious," said Freya at last.
"It might not be too bad," said Father Tim. "Just a few thousand years. Or tens of thousands."
"What can we do?" said Eoin. "I mean, apart from start fires and push rocks, what can we actually do? What powers do we have?"
Father Tim brushed a few wisps of hair out of his face. "You can do as much as you think you can. You, Earth, you will be able to move mountains, but not until you realise that you can move mountains."
Eoin frowned. "But surely, if you tell me I can do something, then I know I can do it, and so I can do it."
"Okay, let's give that a try," said Father Tim, laughing. He drew himself up and said theatrically, "Earth, you can move mountains."
Eoin thought about this. He knew for a fact that he couldn't move a mountain. It sounded ridiculous. "You're right," he said at last. "That's not enough."
"Not much help, I know," said Father Tim. "Sorry about that. Now, I hate to hurry you, but I've been listening to a very interesting argument going on at the other end of that tube, there, and I was rather hoping to hear how it ended."
"Wait," said Freya. "We've got a book. Our parents..." She thought about what she was saying, but was not yet prepared to admit that Frank and Hope might not be her parents. "Our parents," she went on determinedly, "gave us a book. Called Earth, Wind and Fire. Except there's nothing written on the inside, the pages are just blank." She was about to explain about the diagrams on the other side, but Father Tim cut her off.
"I've got books like that," he said. "To tell the truth, all my books are like that. Maybe you just don't know how to read it." He held his hand out. "Let me have a look."
Eoin pulled the book out of his waistband and reluctantly handed it over. He had closed the spine up again and it looked just like a normal book.
Father Tim opened it at the first page and put his fingers down onto the paper. He smiled. "Just as I thought," he said. To Freya's and Eoin's amazement, he passed his index finger over the page in lines, following row after row down the page. As he got further down the page, his expression changed from amusement to horror.
"What is it?" demanded Freya, but he ignored her and kept reading.
"No, no, no," he started saying. "This is all wrong. This is..." He raised his head to Eoin and Freya. "Did Frank and Hope give you this book? And they told you to bring it to me?"
Freya nodded. "Yes."
"This is not good. Not good at all. This means..." He shook his head and began pacing round the chamber. After a few minutes he stopped and marched back over to Eoin, Freya and Willow. "You need to leave," he said. "Now. You need to get out of here. You need to stop Water. By any means necessary."
"But," said Freya, "but we don't know how. We're just supposed to go to the Steam Caves."
Father Tim gave another laugh, but this one was sharp and bitter. "The Steam Caves! Who told you that, Hope and Frank? Think, girl, think. What's steam made of? Water! No, my dear, stay away from the Steam Caves, stay well away. Unless..." He paced on the spot for a few more seconds. "Maybe not. Maybe you should go to the Steam Caves. They won't be expecting you to, not after talking to me. Trust no one. No, wait, you will need help. Go towards the sea caves. You'll meet my daughter on the way, she can help you. Trust her, no one else."
"You're frightening us!" said Freya.
"Good," said Father Tim. "You should be frightened. Water has followed you. That was his plan all along. He can't get in here, normally, but you've moved the boulder and cooled the heat. And now he can get in." He hurried over to the passage they'd come in by and cocked an ear, then nodded to himself. "Thought so. I can hear the sound of running Water. You need to leave, as soon as possible." He beckoned for them to follow him over to the other side of the hill, and pointed down to a dark fissure at the very edge of the chamber. "There's a passage down there which will take you out onto the beach. Follow the beach to your left - no, your right - no, definitely your left, that will take you towards the sea stacks and the sea caves."
"Hang on," Freya broke in. "The sea? You want us to run towards a mass of water?"
"Salt water, my dear," said Father Tim hurriedly. "Your brother isn't fond of it. Won't do you much good either, I'm afraid, sorry about that. On you go now."
"What about you?" asked Eoin. " Aren't you coming with us?"
For a moment Father Tim looked as though he were tempted to say yes. Then he slowly shook his head. "I'm never leaving this volcano. I'm relying on you. You've got to stop Water. Otherwise an Ice Age will be the least of our worries. Go, now. Go on. Shoo." He ushered them down into the fissure.
Eoin climbed down first, then Freya passed down Willow and climbed after him. She looked back up at Father Tim, but he was already climbing up the hill. Without turning, he raised a hand and waved, then passed out of sight.
