The Violet Keystone

by Garth Nix

Beyond that door his family was together again. His father, Rerem, who had been rescued from the Orange Keystone, was regaining both his sanity and his strength. His mother, Graile, had almost totally recovered from the water-spider poison. His brother, Gref, had been cured so rapidly by the Crones that he had already gotten into several sorts of minor trouble. And Tal's little sister, Kusi, seemed to have forgotten that anything had happened at all.

  Tal smiled again, a smile tinged with the weight of memory and responsibility. So much had happened, and so much lay ahead.

  But everything could wait, thought Tal, as he made his way through the crowd.

  For Tal Graile-Rerem was finally going home, and he had a Sunstone.