“Uh… guys?” Hawk’s voice cracked, thin with panic.
I glanced over to see the dirt beneath his boots liquify, turning slick and sucking him in.
The tunnel behind us slammed shut with a groan of stone, sealing black.
“Guess there’s no going back,” Aura muttered.
The cavern pulsed; walls bulged, and the ceiling contracted. The entire chamber re-arranged itself in slow, deliberate heartbeats.
Each throb dragged Hawk deeper. Quicksand swallowed him to his knees.
“Hawk!” I lunged for our squadmate, but the floor convulsed, and a ripple of stone jutted from the ground, blocking my path and destroying the stone terminal Slater was playing with.
Hawk screamed. “I can’t!”
I jumped onto the rock that had blocked me to see. His waist was gone now, and the earth moved up and down as if trying to knock me off.
“Hurry!” Lorian bellowed, shifting, and dove. His massive claws grabbed Hawk’s shoulders, and he pulled. The sound was wet and suffocating, like the earth itself was eating Hawk, refusing to let him go.
“Lorian!” Eleanor screamed.
I lost my balance and was thrown to the side just as I thought the mountain would take them both. I flipped, kicking the wall and twisting until I landed on the shaking ground before stumbling again.
Koa’s arms banded around me to keep me upright. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, thanks.” I grabbed his arms for extra balance as the quake got worse. “Tired of the moving nature, though!”
Lorian roared, and with one brutal heave, he tore Hawk free. Mud and earth magic sloughed off them in thick streams.
The cavern shuddered one last time before stilling, and I swore it was pouting.
“Thanks, Koa.” I grabbed his forearms and faced him to give him a smile.
His cheeks turned a shade of red as he nodded. “Happy to help.”
A boulder slammed down from the ceiling, flattening him and knocking me to the ground.
“Koa!” I screamed in frustration.
“Did he just die?” Zuko was behind me, helping me to my feet in a few seconds.
“He’ll be back.” I groaned.
“How does he die so often?”
“Who knows?”
The boulder cracked in half as Koa’s phoenix form broke through it. Blazing heat filled the cavern.
He shifted, landing in front of me, rubbing his neck. “I’m so sorry.”
I held a hand up. “Don’t apologize for dying. It sounds wrong.”
“Watch out!” Lorian caught Eleanor by the waist as another sinkhole formed underneath her, where Hawk was.
Aura looked at Hawk with a weird expression as it swallowed his ankles.
“Dude, watch your surroundings!” Raze grabbed him by the neck and threw him across the cavern before he sank more than ankle deep.
