“Raptor,” Walker pressed.
“What? Oh, yes. Yes.” Raptor seemed to snap out of a trance. She set the key on the table with the others.
Walker gave her a knowing look.
“The sixth Stone didn’t want to be found. We can’t help that now,” Raptor said.
“I suppose not. Help me open these dimensions.”
“I can handle my own, the Stone of Fire, and the Stone of Daring. Can you handle the rest?”
“I believe so,” Walker said.
Leaning forward, her hands resting on the table, Raptor said in a serious tone, “We have time. We can get Richard in here. She gave us her Stones, and I trust her.”
Walker lifted a hand, her head shaking back and forth. “The longer we delay, the harder this becomes. We’ll give it a try, and if we can’t, then we’ll talk to her.”
Both of them started to work. They lined up all the Stones on the table, in no particular order except for the Stone of Power rested in the middle of all of them.
Andrew leaned forward, curious. He glanced at Christine beside him. A huge grin covered her face, which surprised him.
“Ready?” Raptor said to Walker.
Walker nodded and held her hands out in front of herself. Raptor copied the motion. A small, swirling portal formed above each of the Stones.
They did not open a portal for the Stone of Power, but it glimmered a faint yellow.
Andrew gawked at the sight. He had expected one portal, not eight. They were hardly more than pinpricks in space, twisting the image of the room around them.
“Do it,” Raptor said with a soft growl, her fingers tensed. Walker strained, beads of sweat forming on her temple as her body trembled.
The size of the eight portals increased, until they nearly touched each other. Andrew could see the room through the portals. It was like looking through a piece of rounded glass about the size of a basketball. A distorted ring shape marked the boundary.
The Stone of Power reacted to the portals, glowing brighter in response to the energy surrounding it.
Andrew shielded his eyes from the light. Christine turned her head away, closing hers.
“Raptor, this may be too much for me.” Walker caught herself on the edge of the table as she lost her footing. The portals wavered, and the Stone of Power dimmed.
“Hold steady, almost there.” Raptor did not move.
With a shudder, Walker forced herself to stand. Her portals stabilized again as she regained a firm grasp over them.
“Walker!” Tech shouted out. “Behind you!”
Andrew spun around, expecting an attack. But instead, he saw a portal like the others floating beside Christine. With a gasp, she stumbled away from it.
Tech drew out a gun and directed it at the portal. The other portals winked out of existence as Walker collapsed to the floor. Raptor dropped her portals as well as she bent down to help Walker to her feet. The portal near Andrew and Christine winked out at the same time.
“The hell?” Tech said, confused.
“It’s the sixth Stone. It’s here,” Walker mumbled. She climbed to her feet with help from Raptor and pointed at Christine.
Andrew gaped at Christine. “You’re a Quester?”
“Me?” Christine said, her fingers instinctively touching her neck.
Slipping the gun into its holster, Tech said in a low voice, “Explains a bit.”
Aerion kicked him with her foot and glared at him.
“Fine, fine!” He threw his hands up, turning slightly away from Aerion.
Walker said, “Christine, you’re going to have to help. We need you to open the portal to your dimension.”
“I don’t know how. I didn’t even know I was a Quester. I swear.” She stepped toward the table.
“First, you have to take off whatever that is around your neck,” Raptor said.
A faint yellow light came from under Christine’s shirt. She picked up a necklace she wore and pulled out an old locket. Her hands closed around it, drawing it close to herself as she stared fiercely at Raptor. “You can’t have it.”
Andrew could not believe the harshness in her voice. Even Christine seemed surprised with herself as she turned away, clutching the locket to her heart.
“You don’t trust her because she’s a Quester, like you are,” Walker said.
Christine looked down at the locket again, her forehead furrowing. To Andrew, she seemed scared or worried. He wanted to reach out to her, but Walker took her hand first. “Your Stone connects to another dimension—a dimension you can enter whenever you want. All you need to do is focus.”
“Another dimension … I think I’ve been there.” Christine’s eyes opened wide as she sucked in a breath. “Allison … she was an angel and—”
“That’s probably it.” Walker interrupted her with a soft smile. She squeezed Christine’s hand. “I want you to focus. Hold your Stone and imagine a doorway opening in front of you. On the other side is the place you saw. Keep the doorway visualized in front of you, but don’t move toward it.”
Christine took a deep breath. As she concentrated, a shimmering portal started to open in front of her. Christine grinned and then let go of the locket. The portal vanished with a popping sound.
“That’s perfect. Now, please give it to me,” Walker said in a gentle tone.
Narrowing her eyes, Christine took a step backwards. Walker stood rigid, keeping her face void of any emotion. A long, nerve-racking moment passed as nothing happened. Andrew thought it might become a fight.
Christine took a deep breath and unclasped the necklace, handing it to Walker.
Walker stared at Andrew for a moment. Then, she opened the locket and pulled the picture of Andrew out of it. Christine started to protest, but Walker glared at her. “No, you don’t get to keep Andrew in here. He can’t have you distracting him like that.” She put the picture into her pocket.
“Uh, like what?” Andrew asked, hoping he had not fallen prey to Christine’s powers. Raptor watched with guarded eyes.
Walker said to him, “She’s the Quester of Friendship and not in a healthy way.”
“Also known as the Stone of Manipulation,” Raptor said.
In a defensive tone, Christine said, “I’m not manipulative.”
“Maybe not, but you make friends very easily, don’t you?”
Christine looked down, examining a hangnail on her finger.
Christine’s ability to make friends so effortlessly had always puzzled Andrew. He had assumed she was just an extrovert to the extreme, but now he wondered if the Quester Stone had been responsible all along.
Walker returned to the table and set the locket down next to the other Stones. Christine walked over.
“Again then, together,” Walker said.
The portals began to open once again. Christine struggled with hers, but it soon grew to the size of a basketball like the others.
The Stone of Power became a blinding light. A trail of a pale blue liquid striped with white filtered from each of the portals toward the Stone. The trail rippled through the air, rising and then lowering in slow waves. It reminded Andrew of a plasma ball he had seen in physics class once. The ball used high-voltage electricity to ionize gas and create plasma, a state of matter made of unbound protons and electrons—energy, made visible.
As the Stone of Power drew the energy into itself, the portals shrank. The trail thinned to a narrow ribbon.
Christine flinched as if in pain and cried out. Her portal wavered, like a rock thrown into a pond, sending ripples radiating across it.
She was going to lose it. Trying to think quickly, Andrew stepped toward her and grabbed her hand. “You’ve got to do it. Come on, this is your super power. I get plants, you get … portal, friend things,” he stretched for a word.
Raptor snarled at the commotion behind her. “You must fight the strain Christine. I know what you are going through. Resist the impulse to stop Walker.”
Andrew felt Chri
stine squeeze his hand, but her body was tense. The portal stabilized and the waves disappeared.
Raptor’s arms quivered. “Walker,” she said through gritted teeth. Andrew felt Christine shiver all over, her hand frigid to the touch.
“A little longer,” Walker said, her breath quickening.
The portals shrunk to the size of golf balls. The trails of energy tapered off and faded away.
“That’s it, throw them in,” Raptor said. She and Walker grabbed the Stones off the table and threw them into their respective portals, two at a time.
All of the portals vanished with a popping sound.
Christine cried out, “Bring it back!” She jerked her hand away from Andrew and leapt toward Walker, but did not have the strength to make it. She groaned and held her head.
“Sorry Christine, but that had to be done.” Raptor collapsed into a chair, rubbing her face. “The Stones were just stripped of a lot of power and need some time in their own dimensions to recharge.”
The Stone of Power rested on the table. It pulsed with new strength as it floated into the air.
“Uh, Raptor …” Andrew said. He pointed to the Stone as it hovered above the table.
“Well,” Raptor said, in a sarcastic tone. “This should be fun.” She stood up, her eyes fixed on the Stone. It launched itself toward her. She leapt out of her chair and under the table. The Quester Stone followed right behind her like a tiny, angry bird.
“Walker! Get rid of it!” Raptor shouted, but there was no response. Walker lay on the ground, unconscious. “Crap,” she muttered.
The Keepers came charging forward. Christine stood dumfounded, watching as Raptor scrambled out from the other side of the table.
“No! Everyone out of here!” Raptor yelled. She grabbed one of the chairs, heaving it up, and spun around. As the Stone came into view, she knocked it with the chair. The Stone went spinning under the table.
Aerion and Dynamos did not hesitate and ran out of the room. Only Tech and Godlin continued forward. Godlin scooped Walker up off the ground, carrying her cradled in both arms as he ran for the doorway. Meanwhile, Tech grabbed Christine and shook her awake. “Move those feet!” Setting her arm over his shoulder, he pulled her out of the room.
Andrew climbed onto the table and grabbed the box the Stone of Power had been in. He waited where Raptor had knocked the Stone under the table.
Leaping up onto the table beside him, Raptor said in a firm tone, “Run.” She headed across the top of the table for the exit.
Andrew held his ground. When the Stone came over the table, he lunged at it with the box and slammed the door shut on it before it could escape.
The Stone started to glow again, bright enough to blind him. He turned his head away, shielding his eyes.
“Brave, but stupid,” Raptor said. She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him off the table. “It can melt the box now.”
Andrew let go of the Stone. It remained hovering in the air, the box becoming like a glob of water as it started to melt around it.
“Open a portal!” Andrew yelled. He stumbled away from the Stone.
“I can’t without a connection to the dimension.”
“Send it to its own dimension then,” Andrew suggested.
“Good enough for me.” Raptor stretched out her hands, and a portal formed right on top of the box just as the Stone shot upwards—free of the box. The Stone could not stop itself and went right into the portal. Snapping her fingers, the portal closed. The empty box landed with a wet plop on the floor.
Raptor leaned against the table, breathing hard. “Oh, thank God that’s over.”
“Sorry, I guess I wasn’t thinking,” Andrew said.
Reaching out to pat his shoulder, Raptor chuckled. “No, you were thinking. Maybe not the best idea, but you stayed calm and executed a plan.”
“What about you, are you okay?” Andrew asked. “You seem nervous. I mean, more than a killer rock chasing you nervous.”
“Just tired. I’ll be less jumpy when I get my Stone back in a few days.”
“Christine!” Andrew remembered Tech had carried her out. He rushed for the door.
On the other side was Tech, his finger hovering over the button for the door. “Where’s Rap? We’re going to lock that thing in there and then deal with it.”
“It’s okay. It’s gone. Raptor sent it to its own dimension.”
Tech dropped his hand and peeked into the room. “You didn’t.” He glared at Raptor.
“Tech, don’t start with me.”
“What’s wrong?” Andrew asked.
Tech pointed a finger at Raptor. “The most dangerous Quester Stone in existence, and now it’s free.”
“But it’s not here,” Aerion said. “It was the right choice.” She stood beside Dynamos a few feet down the hallway. Christine rested on the ground nearby, but Godlin and Walker were absent.
Tech gave a reluctant nod. “Maybe, but we may yet regret it.”
Dread that Christine was hurt filled Andrew. He went to her side, leaning down close to her.
“Where is it? Where is it?” Christine stammered. Her eyes darted about frantically, and she reached out, letting her hand hover over the ground. She tried to stand up.
Andrew reached over to Christine to help stabilize her, but she seemed oblivious to him.
Raptor knelt down by her, her right hand twitching at her side. “We sent it to its dimension.”
“But, but … I want it,” Christine said.
“Let your mind drift to it. You know it will come back to you.”
Christine closed her eyes, pressing her eyebrows together as she concentrated.
“You’re right!” She gave a faint cry of relief, and her eyes refocused on the immediate world around her. “I have no idea how, but it will.”
Raptor looked softly at her. “It finds ways. I’m expecting mine by mail.”
Andrew was curious, but decided now was not the time to ask how they got mail on Europa.
Christine spoke in a sober tone. “I’m a Quester. I never knew.”
“You weren’t supposed to. That particular Stone is secretive, even from its own Questers it seems. This is the first time I’ve ever laid eyes on it,” Raptor said.
“Does that mean Christine gets to stay here too?” Andrew asked, a tiny part of him hopeful the answer would change.
It was Christine who replied, “Absolutely not. I’m not a Keeper. I’m just not. Unlike you, I want to go home, back to my family and friends.”
“Christine is correct. Questers have to live their own lives,” Raptor said.
“But you, Bringer, Tech …” Andrew listed off the names.
Tech snorted a laugh and said in a sarcastic tone, “Yeah, I’m a Quester the same way beets are food.”
“Earth doesn’t want her to be a Keeper,” Raptor added. “If we need Christine’s help again, we will call on her. Knowing who has the Stone of Friendship is of great benefit to us.”
“Oh,” Andrew frowned, turning to Christine. “I’m sorry.”
Christine smiled at him. “I’ll be all right.”
Letting out a slow breath, Andrew knew everything had been building toward this. He had already decided to join the Keepers. In fact, there was just one thing left to do.
“I know what I want my name to be.” Andrew glanced between the Keepers, feeling his neck getting warmer as they turned to him. “Willow trees are my favorite, but that wasn’t a good name for me. Then I remembered there’s a relative of the willow tree called an aspen. It’s also known as a shield tree because, according to legend, heroes used it to protect—”
“No botany lectures,” Raptor said, interrupting him.
“I think it’s a great choice,” Dynamos said with a grin, his eyes darting over to Raptor. He turned his attention back to Andrew. “You look like an Aspen.”
Raptor smiled and then said to Christine, “If you’re ready, we should get you home.”
“Actually,” C
hristine said, peering down at her feet. “Where did Walker go? I’ve got questions I’d like to ask.”
“She’s probably resting.”
“Can I talk to her? About the dimensions?”
Raptor pinched her lips. She reached up and touched her ear. “Walker.” A slight pause occurred before she continued. “If you’ve got the energy, Christine would like some answers.” She paused, listening, and then nodded. “We’ll come to you.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Raptor stopped at an unmarked door to her right and knocked.
A muffled, “Come in,” came from the other side.
Christine entered the room first as Raptor waved her in.
The room was similar to Raptor’s, with a bed near the doorway, a desk next to it, and a closet across the way. However, where Raptor had a collection of unusual items, Walker had a bookshelf stuffed with old books, bound in leather, the titles on their spines worn away.
Walker sat on the bed, her feet dangling off the edge. “Have a seat.” She motioned to the chair under the desk.
Christine tore her eyes away from the bookshelf and eased herself into the chair.
“Thanks for handling this, Walker. I’ll come back in a few minutes,” Raptor said.
“That’ll be plenty of time.”
With a nod, Raptor stepped out of the room and closed the door behind her.
“Where do we start?” Christine asked, rubbing her hands on her pants.
“You need to understand what you’re capable of first. That Stone you have is powerful. You’re able to add people to your locket and they become friendlier toward you, do they not?”
“I only add the people I connect with.”
Walker gave a soft humming note. “You’re not a bad person, Christine, but you have to tread carefully. If you use the Stone to become an instant celebrity, you’re going to attract attention to yourself. If you anger the planet, we will have to come after you.”
The color drained from her face as Christine sat back in the chair. She had seen what the Keepers could do. “I wouldn’t hurt anyone though.”
“I know, but if Earth orders us to stop you, then we must.” Walker touched her arm gently. “When you put someone in your locket, they fall under your influence and lose their connection to Earth. Earth will only tolerate so much of that.”
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