Opening the letter, she quickly glanced over it. Then, she handed the note to Andrew. Tran opened his mouth as if to protest, but a glare from Raptor made him shut it again.
Andrew shuffled the paper in his hand, trying not to worry. Raptor trusted him with the information. Christine read the list over his shoulder. It was written in English.
1 Tanzanite, half-moon shaped. Chile: Stone of Future
2 Garnet, egg shaped. Arctic: Stone of Malice
3 Ruby, elongated: Stone of Fire
4 Diamond, pear shaped. Companion to first: Stone of Ice
5 Opal, embedded in key: Stone of Past
6 Unknown. Unknown: Stone of Friendship
7 Emerald, orb shaped. Presumed in own dimension: Stone of Life
8 Amber, pyramid shaped. Moving pyramid: Stone of Daring
9 Unknown. Within own dimension: Stone of Fear
“These are Quester Stones?” Andrew asked.
“Yes,” Raptor replied.
Andrew stared at the note. He knew the Keepers had the Stone of Fire. The Stone of Ice and Future, the Keepers must have gone to Chile and found. The Stone of Past, all he could tell was that the Keepers had it already. The sixth Stone, the Stone of Friendship, seemed to be a complete mystery.
“Who went to Chile?” Raptor asked Tran, interrupting Andrew’s thoughts.
“Tech. He says Richard says hi, by the way.”
Andrew remembered the Stone of Ice had caused a volcano to go off. “Does he own both the Stone of Ice and Future?”
“She, and yes,” Raptor said. “She’s unusual as far as we can tell. Quester Stones hate each other, but these two have the same Quester.” She turned back to Tran. “I plan to go get the Stones of Life and Fear. I can deal with their Questers. The other two Walker’s sure about?”
“The Stone of Malice hasn’t moved since we stuck it in the Arctic. She tracked the Stone of Daring to the pyramid inside the Labyrinth of Horror.” Tran shuddered, squeezing his eyes shut.
“What’s the Labyrinth?” Andrew asked, since clearly it had upset Tran.
“Terrible dimension, filled with all sorts of things that want to eat you. And you can’t even escape, because the place is a maze,” Tran responded, his eyes bugging out as his face paled.
Andrew considered the list again. “There’s still another—the Stone of Friendship?”
Raptor clasped her hands together for a brief moment and then held them apart. “We don’t know where it is. Last person to see it was Venom. It was a charm bracelet then, but there’s no telling what it looks like now.”
“What do you mean, ‘looks like now’?” Andrew asked.
Christine frowned to herself. “How long do you have to find all of these?”
“Sooner is better, but I don’t know exactly. We’ll need to ask Walker that question. She’s our dimensional expert, and she can tell us more.” Raptor then said to Andrew, “Quester Stones have the ability to change shape. Its Quester was dead when Venom found it. If it has a new Quester, it most likely has a new shape.”
Overwhelmed by the possibilities, Andrew said, “It could be anything. How would you know where to begin?”
“Not anything. They only change shape when they take a new Quester, and the shape often has something to do with what power it possesses. They have a sort of attraction about them too, like they’re glowing. If I hid a Stone in a bunch of junk, you’d be able to pick it out.”
“And what about this one that’s a key? Number five?”
Raptor grinned and grabbed a thin gold chain around her neck. She pulled out a tarnished gold key about three inches long from under her shirt. Set in the middle of the handle was a shimmering opal.
“You’re one?” Andrew asked, reading the paper. “It says ‘of Past’? What does a key have to do with the past?”
“I have a photographic memory of everything that has happened to me. And it’s a key because I can unlock my memories.” Raptor tucked the key away.
“In other words, don’t lie to her,” Tran said. “Or at least, don’t forget a key detail in your story when you’re trying to prove your innocence of whether or not the lava was your fault.” He coughed once.
Grinning, Raptor said to Andrew and Christine, “Tran here shook the Stone of Fire, and it erupted like a miniature volcano with lava, smoke, and everything inside of this base. Took us weeks to get it all out.”
With a sharp sniffle, Tran stood up straighter. “I stand by my original statement: The cat made me do it.”
“I still don’t believe you,” Raptor said in a cheerful tone.
Tran’s ears turned red, and he tugged at the collar of his shirt.
“Are any other Stones being retrieved right now?” Raptor asked.
With a shake of his head, Tran said, “I don’t think so.”
“Do you know where Godlin is?”
“He’s with Walker.” Tran pointed down the hall.
“Okay, then where’s she?”
“She’s with Mouse.”
Raptor breathed in through her nose and then let it out slowly through her mouth. “Where’s Mouse?”
Tran touched his chin as he said, “I don’t know. Probably at the main computer.”
Putting a hand to her forehead, she muttered, “I don’t even know why I bother.” To Andrew and Christine, she said, “But first, you need to get out of those costumes and get something to eat.”
A grumbling gurgle came from Andrew’s stomach, and his mouth started to water at the mention of food. The last thing he had eaten was a hotdog at the fair. He noticed Christine rubbing her stomach as the tip of her tongue poked out of the side of her mouth.
Both he and Christine had lost all of the accessories to their costumes. Christine’s face paint had worn off. Andrew could not remember where he had dropped his hat.
“Er,” Tran started, but Raptor interrupted him.
“Yes, go find something else to do. I’m sure Tech’s around here somewhere.”
With a grin, he darted out of the room and vanished around the corner. A “Thanks!” echoed from down the hallway.
Christine moved to walk beside Raptor as they left the room. “Andrew has been trying to explain to me what’s going on with the shifts. Something about the world pulling apart?”
“That’s the basic idea of it. The universe, as a whole, is made up of many different dimensions. Some of the dimensions are fighting with one another, right on top of Earth.”
“How will the Stones help?”
“Think of the dimensions like a series of pipes and think of the energy as water. Water flows through the pipes, transferring energy from one dimension to another. Our universe is like a big lake and all the pipes pull water out of it or dump water into it. Now, occasionally, the pipes will kink up, becoming blocked.”
Christine listened intently, nodding occasionally to what Raptor said. “The energy they want is from this dimension?”
Andrew pictured water pipes all bent out of shape and then tried to combine it with the book and string analogy that Raptor had used before. Strings were easy; they were long lines after all, just like a pipe would be if you looked at it just right.
“We think so, but the problem isn’t the energy; it’s the kink. Normally, to get rid of it, the dimensions pull on this universe, until they untangle themselves. Most of the time, it’s no big deal. This universe is big, stretching at one end does nothing to the other.”
“Okay, then why not let the dimensions sort themselves out?”
“Because there’s more than one dimension involved, and they are all tangled up together. It’s like trying to undo a bunch of knots by pulling on one string at a time. If the attempt fails, you just make the knot tighter. The only way to stop it is to create new pipes that bypass the knot. We can’t fix them all, but there’s nine we’re going to focus on and the rest should sort themselves out once the major ones are free.”
All of the analogies finally clicked together. Andrew’s ey
ebrows shot up, and he grinned as he said, “Oh! You get the Quester Stones that belong to those nine dimensions and use them to build new pipes around the knot. Sounds easy.”
“Easy is relative,” Raptor said as she strode through the hallway, one hand shoved into a pocket. “This method works if one dimension is causing problems. Just find its Stone, redirect the flow of energy, and poof! Problem solved. But now we’re dealing with nine, and that’s when it starts to get dangerous.”
One thing still did not make sense to him. “Then why do you need the Stone of Power?”
“That Stone can absorb the extra energy and relieve the pressure—give Walker a chance to do what she needs without getting overwhelmed,” Raptor replied. “It’s safer for her and works much faster. Facing down Venom to get the Stone back won’t be easy and possibly just as dangerous as using Walker.”
They stopped in front of a door with a plaque that read “Coffee Room.” Raptor reached over to push the button beside the door, but stopped. Stuck to the button was a yellow sticky note. Andrew managed to read it over her shoulder.
I left some information for you and clothes for our guests. Walker and I are with Mouse.
— Godlin
Raptor touched the button, and the door slid open. They entered the room.
A long counter sat against one wall. On top was a coffee maker, a container of donuts, a box of pizza, and a basket of fruit. A large refrigerator stood next to the bar. Two coffee shop tables occupied the rest of the room, each with four chairs around it. At the back of the room was a closed door.
Raptor moved over to a table and picked up a small stack of papers sitting on it. Underneath the papers laid two T-shirts.
“These are for you,” Raptor said. She handed Christine a light purple shirt and Andrew a blue one. “They should fit. Change and get something to eat, then we’ll talk.” She pointed to the door. “Go out, take a left, then an immediate right. The first door on your left is a bathroom.”
Christine held the shirt up to her body. Seeming to find the fit appropriate, she left, folding the shirt over her arm.
Raptor walked over to the refrigerator. Opening it, she took out three aluminum packets and returned to the table, sitting down. She handed one packet to Andrew, kept one for herself, and set the other on the table.
Liquid sloshed around inside of it when Andrew picked it up. A straw stuck out of the top and reminded Andrew of the Capri Suns he drank as a kid, though the label said “Drinking Water.”
Raptor slurped on the straw as she flipped through papers in her hand, reading.
Andrew watched for a few moments. Then he asked, “What’s on the paper?” He sucked on the straw, refreshed by the water.
“It’s about you,” Raptor responded.
Andrew nearly choked. “Me? What about?”
“Just tidbits about your life and family, like your grandfather emigrated here from Mexico …” She trailed off, stroking her chin. “Do you speak another language by chance?”
“Spanish, but not very well. Why?”
“It’s a pretty common language in the world and a few other Keepers speak it too.”
“Do you know it?”
“Nope. Never could learn other languages.”
Furrowing his eyebrows, Andrew said, “You talked to that Whisperer and you speak Keeper. And hey, don’t you have a perfect memory or something?”
Raptor smirked at Andrew. “I have limits, and the Keeper language comes naturally to us. If you want languages, talk to Tran.” Cupping her hand, she held it beside her ear. “He’s got the ear for them. So you’re sure nothing unusual has happened to you?”
“Not until you showed up.”
“Looks like you’ve lived a pretty uneventful life. Not even a police record. Though I also noticed you’re a junior. Skipped a grade, did we?”
Agreeing with the assessment of his life, Andrew let out a breath, his cheeks puffing out. He had school, friends, and homework, like everyone else, but he had never done anything exciting, not really. “Just the one. Janice, my older sister, skipped two.” Janice was his only sibling. He did not talk much to her because they had little in common. Janice preferred mechanical physics, something Andrew had always had trouble wrapping his head around.
Wondering why Raptor had mentioned a police record and hoping he was not supposed to have one, he asked, “Do Keepers normally get arrested before joining?”
Raptor tried to conceal a smile behind her hand. “When you discover you have incredible powers, it’s hard not to take them out for a test drive.”
“Oh yeah, you turned into a gorilla and then …” He trailed off, hoping she would fill in the details.
“Nope, I will never tell.” Pointing a finger at him, she said, “But Tran has the best story: impersonating a musician and attempting to stage a concert in the middle of the night, which I think is illegal in Germany, but that was minor considering he burned a small hotel to the ground. Found him the next day sitting in a jail cell.”
Andrew imagined Tran standing on a stage with a guitar in hand, a crowd of people below him screaming for an encore. “How do you go from midnight concert to hotel on fire?”
“Fireworks. Lots of fireworks. They all went off at exactly the same moment. He called it the grand finale.” A bright smile crept across her face as she lifted her hands, her fingers splayed, and then she slowly lowered them.
The door slid open, and Christine reentered the room.
Raptor pointed to Andrew’s light blue T-shirt. “Your turn,” she said.
* * * * * *
Christine smiled at Andrew as he left. She went over to the pizza box and found a pepperoni pizza inside. Grabbing a slice, she joined Raptor at the table. She took a quick bite, glad to get some food in her, even if it was cold.
Raptor picked up the remaining packet of water and offered it to Christine. “Here.”
Christine examined it before taking several deep gulps. “Thanks,” she muttered.
Keeping her head down, Raptor read from the stack of papers sitting on the table. The only sound was a faint swish as she turned to the next page.
Christine did not know what to make of Raptor or the other Keepers. A nagging distrust and a conflicting desire to help pulled at her insides. She worried about Andrew. Christine could tell he was slipping away, despite his attempt earlier to tell her how he felt. She frowned, her shoulders sinking. She liked Andrew too, but she was almost positive he would pick the Keepers over her.
Finishing the last page of the papers, Raptor set them aside. “Godlin found out what happened at the fair.”
Raptor’s words pulled Christine from her thoughts as she continued speaking.
“A few people were hurt as everyone tried to run out of the fair. They’re in the hospital. Others are missing, not including you and Andrew. We don’t know if the monster took them or if they’re hiding. Two people died. I was the primary target, so the monster vanished after it grabbed me.” She glanced down and then away, letting out a sigh.
“Do you have their names?” Christine felt a knot forming in her throat.
Raptor pulled a page out of the packet and slid it across the table to Christine. “The last two people on the list are the ones who died.” She tapped the bottom of the page. “Show it to Andrew when he gets back.”
The list contained about two dozen names, but nothing else. Relief seeped into her heart when she did not recognize anyone on it other than herself and Andrew. Christine sank down into the chair, her neck turning red as she realized that she should have felt bad for the people on the list rather than comforted.
“Is there anything you can do to help them?”
Raptor gave a soft click of her tongue. “We can’t. It’ll make things worse for them. I wish we could pass the monster off as something in the water supply, but it’s probably plastered all over the news by now. Until that thing shows back up in a way we can find it, there’s not a lot we can do but wait.”
&nbs
p; “Can I ask you something?” Christine said, lowering her voice as she glanced at the doorway. “Without Andrew here, I mean.”
Raptor inclined her head. “Shoot.”
“Andrew seems to think all of this is Earth’s doing. I thought I liked him, and we went on this date, but if I had said no, I wouldn’t be here. Did Earth make me say yes?” Christine frowned, staring down at the solidified cheese on the top of her pizza.
“Nothing like that. It can’t force you to do something, but it can give you suggestions—that little voice inside your head that says something like, ‘Andrew’s kinda cute and the fair sounds like fun, I should go.’”
“But I got dragged into all of this because I was standing beside him at the time.” She flicked a hand out toward the hallway, feeling like this had been more than mere coincidence.
“Yes, but if it wasn’t you, it would have been someone else. Right now, you’re the only person here who can interact with the Stone of Power, and I will need your help to get it back.” Raptor tapped a finger on the edge of the table, emphasizing her words.
Christine reached up and touched the necklace resting on her collarbone, wondering if she was making the right choice. She believed the world was in danger, but she could not shake the feeling the Keepers were hiding something. “You said that there’s something after me?”
Setting both of her arms down on the table, Raptor said, “Maybe, but it might be something else too. Until then, I want you to stay here.”
“Can’t the planet tell you?” It seemed to Christine that Earth gave suspiciously few clues when it came to her.
“Not specifically, no.”
Christine let out a slow breath, taking it all in. If she could help save the world, then she should try. She decided to keep her doubts to herself. If the Keepers did try something, she would at least be ready. “Andrew seems intent on trusting you. I guess I can too. Besides, I might enjoy saving the world.” She attempted to give Raptor her best smile, extending friendship and trust through it.
“It’s annoying, trust me.”
Christine squinted her eyes in question. “Is the world in danger often?”
“Basically never. Earth got along just fine without any Keepers for a long time, after all. Honestly, most of the problems we deal with are Quester related.”
Stone of Power (Keepers of Earth Book 1) Page 14