“The beast is sucking energy from the water,” Kade said. “Although far away, it’s moving fast. But no waves means the real danger will come when the center of the storm passes overhead. The winds will shift toward us, pushing all that seawater into The Cliffs.”

Kade escorted me into the cave where the glassmakers waited. “Which means, I need to be out there before the center hits. And I’ll need orbs.”

Sand and the other glass ingredients littered the floor of the cave. Indra sat at a gaffer’s bench and her two brothers, Varun and Nodin held blowpipes ready to gather slugs for their sister.

“Come get me when they’re ready. I need to conserve my energy.” Kade left.

“Did you test the new batch of lime?” I asked Varun.

“No purple color and we already melted enough sand to make six orbs,” Varun said.

“Our expert’s here,” Indra said with genuine pleasure. “Let’s get to work.” She ordered a slug and Nodin hurried to gather a molten ball of glass on the end of his blowpipe.

He placed the pipe on the bench’s holders and passed tools to Indra as she shaped the slug into an orb.

In the tight cave, I tried to stay out of their way. I checked the ingredients piled on the floor. The soda ash and sands looked free of contaminates, but without testing them in a lab, there would still remain a lingering feeling of doubt. After all, someone had tried to sabotage the orbs before.

Indra made six orbs. Although they were similar in appearance and size, each orb held a distinctive shape. While they cooled, Nodin mixed more sand to melt and Varun regaled me with his adventures with the lime merchant.

“…he couldn’t understand why we needed more lime, and he almost had heart failure when Kade dumped a bucket of water onto his stockpile.” Varun chuckled. “The merchant threatened to cut off our supplies until Kade created a swirling wind. Sand flew everywhere. And the look on the guy’s face when Kade speculated out loud about how much stock could be lost in a hard gale was comical. Our order was filled in record time.”

“We almost lost the load over The Cliffs,” Nodin said. “Where did you find that old rope?”

“Tal brought it up from the stables,” Varun said.

“The boy probably didn’t take the time to check it over. If the rope had broken two seconds sooner, Tal would have been squashed on the beach.” Nodin slapped his palms together.

“Better he’s killed by his own sloppy work, than someone else’s. I, for one, would not miss him.”

“Indra!” Varun scowled at his sister. “That’s not nice.”

“While you were getting the lime, he’s been driving everyone crazy with his whining and moping and pouting. And it’s gotten worse since the other Stormdancers arrived.”

“Other Stormdancers?” I asked Indra, remembering the new people in the storm cave.

“Raiden sent a message to them once Kade returned with the new lime. If these orbs work, they’ll be needed to help harvest the energy from the storms.”

Sour nervousness turned in my stomach. If they work.

Near midnight the orbs had cooled to room temperature. I inspected them in the lantern light. No flaws marred the surface and the glass felt solid in my hands. But there was only one way to test them for brittleness. I flung one to the cave’s floor.

The orb broke into multiple pieces with a blood-chilling crack. It hadn’t shattered. A good sign. I examined the broken sections.

“Better?” Nodin asked. He hovered over my shoulder.

“Yes. Denser than the ones you made before.”

“Strong enough to hold a storm?”

“It better,” Raiden said from the entrance. “If we don’t bleed energy from the monster brewing out there, we’ll be sleeping with the fish tonight.”

Raiden moved inside and Kade followed him, holding a torch.

“How many did you make?” Raiden asked.

Nodin glanced at the broken orb. “Five.”

“Good enough. Kade can fill two and that will leave one each for Heli, Wick and Prin.”

“No,” Kade said.

Raiden frowned. “But we’ll need all the orbs filled.”

“I’m going alone. If the orbs are flawed, then we’ll only lose one Stormdancer.”

“Two orbs’ worth of energy won’t be enough to calm—”

“I’ll bring all five with me.”

“But—”

“I’m not risking the others. Here.” Kade handed Raiden his torch. He pulled a netted bag from his pocket, and placed the orbs inside the sack. “You’d better get down to the storm cave before it hits.” He wrapped the handles of the bag over his shoulders. The weight of the orbs rested on his back.

The glass spheres resembled oversize seashells. They appeared fragile and inadequate to handle the storm’s fury. Anxiety gnawed and chewed up my throat.

“At least stay on the beach,” Raiden said. “With the amount of water being pushed toward us, you’d be ten feet under out on the rocks. You’ll waste your energy keeping the water away from you. And…” The older man looked as if he wanted to say more.

“And if the orb kills me, you’ll be able to recover my body?” Kade finished Raiden’s sentence with a flippant tone.

Raiden pressed his lips together.

The Stormdancer sighed. “Sorry, Ray. But you always see the worst in a situation.”