They grabbed my protection-sphere, hauling me back up to the crack I had just left. Hello, hello, look at you! one of them cried, twirling around me. You're new, you're not old, you're not cold and dead, who are you? the other demanded, twirling the other way. You're sparkly and you came from the cold place above, said the first. How did you get in? Show us! Take us out of here! They danced me around like two kids who had found a new playmate. Then they wrapped their hot, snakey bodies around my shell. Now I was really glad for my protections. Even with three layers of magic around me, these two kids felt hot. Quickly I dragged more strength from the melted rock below. I put it into my layers to keep from being eaten. My magical body was all ideas and power, controlled by my mind, but I was certain that if my magical self burned to ashes, my real body would die, too. Who are you? I asked. Where did you come from?
