Page 4 of Carmine

“To the clubhouse. Drake, he’s the president and also my dad; he’s going to meet us there and phone Aurora and Klutz too.”

“Why call them?” I questioned suspiciously.

“Because Aurora keeps having the vision, and everyone tells her she’s crazy. That lava can’t flow through the streets of RC. But Aurora is adamant, even though some of the brothers and old ladies think she has lost the plot. It’s hurtful for Aurora to hear,” Carmine replied.

“And you care about her.”

“I care about all of them. They’re my family. And when one hurts, I want to make it better,” Carmine responded.

Silently, I wondered what that was like. My parents weren’t exactly warm and fuzzy. They were volcanologists and highly respected. But for my parents, I’d been completely unexpected and not entirely welcome.

Mother had homeschooled me until I was seven, and then I was sent to boarding school. Father had decided I would walk in their footsteps, and I’d done so until I’d blown my career up. They were disappointed in me and made no bones in making me aware of that fact.

“Okay, I’ll follow you there,” I finally said, realising that Carmine waited for a reply.

“What’s your name?” he asked, and I laughed, embarrassed.

“Doctor Molly Balfour-Cherlyn.”

“A doctor?”

“For what it’s worth, I have my doctorate,” I answered with a bitter smile.

“Guess it didn’t mean shit when people tore shreds off you,” he replied.

“No.”

Those incidents had really hurt me. I was rather sensitive, always the odd one out. And having found my niche and respect, it had destroyed me when the community turned. Even worse, for a few years, I’d had my parent’s approval, and yet they had been some of those who’d led the charge against me.

As I finished packing my stuff, a tremor shook the ground hard enough to make us stumble. Carmine’s eyes went wide as the pond I’d been examining let out a hiss of hot air, and a geyser erupted. Without thinking, I hit Carmine sideways, taking him to the ground, and rolled him away as the water fell around us.

I was in long-sleeved clothing and pants with a padded coat. Carmine wasn’t as protected. We struggled for a few moments as to who got the top as the ground calmed.

“What the fuck was that?” Carmine yelled, looking at the pond.

“That is the sign of volcanic activity, the signs everyone told me I was imagining,” I said, leaping up and grabbing the sample box. I needed immediate samples from the water. The seismograph that I’d set up was also beeping, an indicator it had recorded the quake.

The priority was the samples. Quickly, I dragged out the test tubes, tongs, and the thick gloves I used to protect from spillages or splash back. Deftly filling my last few tubes, I secured and labelled them.

“Why use the gloves?”

“Because I think the water is gaining in acidity, and if I keep shoving my hands in, I’ll get burns,” I replied.

Carmine eyed the pond warily. “Like in Dante’s Peak?”

I snorted. “No. Usually, lakes near a crater are highly acidic, sometimes around a PH level of nought point one compared to normal lake levels of seven. And they could dish out some severe burns. The lakes often contain a mix of hydrochloric and sulfuric acid. But the further away you go from the crater or active volcano, the levels drop, but they can still give out some nasty burns.

“In addition, if the water is being heated, that will also lead to injuries. The pond could be heated by geothermal energy, as the temperature is climbing. I suspect that’s because magma is close to it. The reading I just took showed one hundred and ten degrees. For most, the boiling point of water is a hundred degrees.”

I bent down and picked up the portable seismograph I was using. The data that came back was shocking.

“What is it?” Carmine asked, picking up my concern.

“The last tremor documented here was one point five on the Richter Scale. Which means to most people, you wouldn’t feel it, but it’s high enough to be recorded. It just jumped to two point eight. That’s a huge increase in less than three days.”

Concerned as I looked at the data, I bit my lip. Everything was pointing to an imminent eruption, but I needed time to check all the other points of interest. I’d narrowed the information down to a large area near Rapid City, but it would still take me at least twenty-four hours to grab the data.

“Sorry, I can’t make the meeting. It’s important I check the other areas where I set up equipment. I need to find the focus point,” I said.

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