The Volcano's Secret

Some secrets are buried to keep them safe. Others are buried because the world is afraid of what will wake. Beneath Mount Hekla in Iceland, Dr. Mara Ellion's excavation team expects to find evidence of ancient volcanic activity. What they uncover instead is impossible: an obsidian chamber hidden under the mountain, a place where memory behaves like a living force, names can vanish from records and minds, and three ancient protective shells wait in silence. For Kai Vey, the discovery begins with a voice calling his name from below the stone. For Mira Sato, it begins with a map that shows what is missing. For Jace Calder, it begins with fire that warns before it burns. As the mountain awakens, the team realizes the chamber is not empty. Something inside has been waiting, wounded by centuries of forgetting and protected by truths no one fully understands. But they are not the only ones searching beneath Hekla. A secretive containment agency wants control of the site, and when memory itself becomes dangerous, every name, every choice, and every act of witness carries a cost. To survive the mountain, Kai, Mira, and Jace must learn the difference between discovery and possession, between restoration and harm, between a truth that saves and a lie that only looks like safety. Because if the dragon wakes alone, it may break trying to remember everyone the world has tried to erase. The Volcano's Secret is Book One in The Dragon's Epoch, a young adult fantasy adventure about ancient dragons, memory magic, hidden histories, and the courage to protect what should never have been forgotten. Approximate length: 90,000 words.