Darkness Comes before the Dawn
Book Four of the Karina Series
by
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“Wake up!” Jessica’s voice penetrated the darkness around her. “Something’s wrong.”
Karina opened her eyes and saw the tent walls shaking in the dim beam from Jessica’s flashlight. The ground beneath her shuddered and worked against her every move. She managed to crawl from her sleeping bag, but the ground shook violently. Jessica tried to kneel, lost her balance, and fell back against Karina, forcing both of them to the ground and against Karina’s side of the tent. The tent suddenly shifted downhill.
“Hang on.” Devon’s voice reached into the collapsed tent. “I’ll get you out.”
Karina and Jessica struggled to free themselves as the welcome sound of a zipper in action vented cool air. Bright moonlight revealed the most devilish scene Karina had ever witnessed. Fewer than a hundred yards away, trees burned brightly and the landscape glowed red, as if a huge electric stove had been set on high and left unattended. It took only seconds to realize that the stove was, in reality, a stream of lava.
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About the Book
Fifteen-year-old Karina’s life has changed dramatically in the last year. After losing both her parents in an airplane accident, she is now living in a facility known for using adventure education to turn troubled adolescents into responsible adults. As Karina and other students enter Devil’s Icebox, a mazelike cave with a bad reputation for taking the lives of early explorers, they hope to experience a day of challenging spelunking. Instead, they soon are summoned by local authorities to rescue other spelunkers trapped inside—before it is too late.
As the thrill and excitement of cave exploration transforms into a living nightmare, Karina makes a fateful decision that results in the death of a child. In the aftermath, she seeks escape from the emotional trauma and nightmares that plague her by traveling to Hawaii, where she hopes to heal while studying volcanoes. But when Karina connects with a terminally ill child whose last wish is to see a volcanic eruption, she has no idea her world is about to tumble toward disaster.
In this captivating tale, a teenager puts her own life on the line in a perilous race against time—and flowing lava—in a desperate attempt to change a course of tragic events.
About the Author
Terry Umphenour is a middle school educator at Concordia International School Shanghai in Shanghai, China, where he leads students on environmental research projects and leadership programs that have included building ultralight airplanes and several expeditions focused on marine ecology, soil research, and wilderness survival. This is the fourth book in the Karina series.