Angela stood up. “Yeah, you’re right. Let’s go.”
She started climbing out of the crater, and I was about to follow her, but something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. It was a sliver of light coming from underneath the pile of black meteorites that Angela had just stepped over. I was in a hurry to leave, but suddenly curious, so I quickly bent down and brushed the black rocks off of the light.
“What the…” I said.
Angela looked down at me from the top of the crater and gasped. “What’s that?”
“It’s a….” The words left me. It looked like a stone that would fit snug within my palm… and it was shining! Not like a shiny crystal or glass. It wasn’t reflecting light, but actually emitting light! A soft, blue light. Not as bright as a flashlight, maybe more like the light from a candle. And the light was pulsing like a small flame would, as if a gentle blue fire were burning within it. I moved my hand over it.
“Don’t!” Angela said.
I paused. “Why not?”
“I don’t know…. maybe it’ll burn your finger or something.”
I couldn’t feel any heat coming from the stone. “I don’t think so.” I inched my hand closer to touch it, my curiosity suddenly peaked. Angela held her breath. So did I.
I brushed it with my finger. It was warm, not hot. I slowly picked it up and stood up. It was heavier than a normal rock its size, its blue light shining between my fingers.
“Cool…” Angela said. “I’ve never seen anything like it!”
“Yeah, here take a look.”
I was about to climb out of the crater, but stopped when I noticed Angela’s face. She didn’t have the giddy, intrigued expression I’d expected. Instead her mouth hung open, horrified, gazing wide-eyed and pointing at the stone in my hand. I looked back at it.
Something had changed. It was brighter than before. And getting brighter! Its blue light was now far brighter than our flashlight. I didn’t feel any change in temperature, though. What was going on?
Suddenly a jolt of pain zapped through my whole body. I opened my mouth to scream, but nothing came out. And then all went black.
Chapter 6
Ray
“Dude! Are you okay?”
I opened my eyes. Doug was standing above me, looking concerned. “What happened?” I asked.
“I think you passed out.” It was Britney. She knelt down next to me at the bottom of the crater. “It looked like you were being electrocuted for a second, and then you just fell.”
“I tried to get you to let go of the rock,” Doug said. “But you were gripping it tight, man. At first we thought you were just foolin’ around, but then you hit the ground pretty hard.”
I sat up, dirt falling off of my shirt. “You okay?” Britney asked.
I noticed that Cody, Tyler, and the other girls were standing on the edge of the crater, looking down at me. I shrugged my shoulders and got to my feet. “I think I feel fine,” I said, looking at the stone in my hand. It wasn’t shining anymore, its mysterious red light completely gone. Now it looked like a rock that’d been plucked off of Mars—brownish red, a little dull. “That was weird…” I said.
I didn’t feel any different, which was strange. I remembered the impact of a meteorite near my truck, finding a glowing red stone in the crater, picking it up, and a sharp jolt of pain just before passing out. I should be feeling aches or bruises, shouldn’t I? I felt fine. No pain anywhere.
“We heard some other explosions out there,” said one of the girls who came with Tyler—I think her name was Amy. “Do you think Michael and the new girl are okay?”
“Yeah, they’re fine,” Doug said.
I climbed out of the crater. “Well, that was fun.” I said, brushing some sand off of me. “Let’s head back to the fire see what happens when I put it in.”
“I don’t know, Ray,” Britney said. “We’ve seen some crazy stuff tonight. Asteroids coming down, a red-glowing rock, and you getting electrocuted by it. I’m calling it a night. Let’s get out of here before another asteroid kills us.”
The other girls agreed and started heading to the truck. Cody and Tyler followed them. “C’mon guys!” I said. “We’ve only been out here for an hour!”
“We can do it again next week,” Britney said as she climbed out of the crater and walked to the truck. I was frustrated. A perfect night ruined. First by Stoner, and then by God’s asteroids…lame.
Doug looked at me and shrugged sympathetically. “Let’s go, Ray.”
I heaved a sigh and started walking to the truck. I took a final look at the red space rock in my hand and shoved it into my pocket.
Michael
“Looks like they’re gone,” Angela said.
I nodded. I couldn’t see Ray or his group anywhere. Their fire still burned; they apparently hadn’t thought to put it out before they left. We got out of the car and smothered the fire with dirt. On our way back to the car, I noticed something. “That looks like a crater,” I said, pointing in the distance.
“Good eyes,” Angela said. We ran over to see the crater. “I’m surprised you could see that in the dark.”
“Me too,” I said. For some reason the night didn’t seem as dark as before. It looked as bright as a night with a full moon, but there was no moon out tonight. Angela shined her flashlight into the bottom of the crater. Black meteorite rocks like the ones we saw in the other crater rested at the bottom. We saw footprints around and inside the crater. Ray and his friends had been there. It seemed unlikely that anyone got hurt from the impact; the crater was half a soccer field away from the fire.
Angela jumped in the crater and looked through the meteorites. “I wonder if there was another glowing meteorite in here like the one you found.”
I pulled the blue stone out of my pocket. It no longer glowed like it did before. It was dark blue. It felt smooth in my hand, a perfect skipping rock. I don’t know why I was still holding onto it. It’d zapped me unconscious a little while ago. I’d woken up a few seconds later, no pain, no more light from the rock, no idea what’d happened. Angela was scared for me and intensely curious about the rock.
She sighed. “I don’t see any glowing stone here. I’d hoped to find another one that still glowed so my dad could study it. Either yours is the only one in the world, or Ray and his friends took one. I’ve never seen a rock like that before.” She stood up. “Wasn’t there a third meteorite that landed out there? Maybe there’s another glowing rock there.” She climbed out of the crater and headed to the car. “Let’s go check it out.”
“No, it’s too late,” I said. “Your dad told me to get you home by midnight. It’s already past that.”
She hung her head to the side. “Oh, it won’t hurt to stay out just a little later…” Her smile faded when she saw that I was serious. She clicked her teeth. “Oh, alright. Let’s go home.”
We got in the car and I drove her to her house. The whole way there, Angela held the mysterious blue stone up to her face, observing its every detail. “I still don’t understand how it was glowing like that,” she said. “And that was so weird how you passed out after you touched it. Sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah,” I said probably for the hundredth time. “I feel absolutely fine.”
“Hmm,” she said, returning her attention to her stone.
Before long, we arrived at Angela’s house. It was a typical stucco house that looked like every other house in the neighborhood. I got out and opened her door. She got out of the car, still looking at the blue stone. “Come inside with me, Michael,” she said. “I want you to explain to my dad what happened when you touched the meteorite.”
“Okay,” I said. “But, isn’t he asleep?”
“Probably. I’ll just wake him up.”
“You’re sure that’s a good idea?”
“Of course it is. Michael, we survived a meteorite impact and brought home a piece of it to study. I’m sure he’ll wake up to hear more about that!”
She unlocked the front door and walked inside. I lingered at the doorstep. I felt a little nervous to meet her dad, especially after bringing her home an hour late and after him being woken up. Angela walked up a staircase and disappeared around the corner. I shuffled into the front room, closing the door behind me. I stood there in the front room in silence, observing their fish tank and grandfather clock. Unpacked boxes littered the floor. Did Angela’s mom live here too? She’d never mentioned anything about her. Did she have any siblings?
Angela walked down the stairs, the blue stone in hand. “My dad said he’ll be down in just a bit,” she said. “Follow me.” She led me to a nearby room that was obviously her dad’s work room. There were two large desks with black and brown rocks all around, meteorites for sure. Angela slid into an office chair, placed the blue stone on the desk, and turned on an overhead lamp. “I wonder if it will glow again if we heat it up,” she said.
I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. I turned to see her dad enter the room. My nerves grew tense. He was not what I’d expect a meteorite hunter to look like. I’d apparently stereotyped not only girls that are into science, but archeoastronomers too. He was massive—buff, that is. Like he’d been working out his whole life instead of studying space rocks. He had short, grayish blonde hair with a carefully trimmed beard. He looked tired…and grumpy. He looked at me. I gulped and waved.
“What’s going on?” he said in a deep voice.
“You’ve got to come see this meteorite we found, dad!” Angela said, gesturing to the stone resting on the desk.
His eyes lit up and he suddenly seemed wide awake. “Oh, let’s take a look here!” He put his glasses on and held the blue stone up to the light.
“Isn’t it amazing?” Angela said. “I’ve never seen any rock that looked so…” She stopped talking because of her dad’s expression. He looked…scared? Alarmed? Amazed?
“Where did you get this?” he asked in a very serious tone.
Angela spoke quickly. “Um… that’s an interesting story. Don’t freak out, but we almost got killed by a meteorite tonight. It landed about twenty feet away from us, but don’t worry, we’re okay. Only a broken window. It was actually awesome to see! So, we went in the crater and that’s where we found this stone. But, the craziest part was that the stone was actually—”
“Glowing?” her dad said.
“—er, yeah,” Angela said. “How did you know…?”
He grabbed her by the shoulders, looking very concerned. “Did you touch it?” She hesitated to answer, clearly surprised with her dad’s reaction. “Did you touch it?” he repeated, louder this time.
“No, dad. Michael did. Why are you so—”
He looked at me. “Did it knock you unconscious?”
“Uh… yeah,” I said. “I feel fine now, but how did you know that?”
He didn’t answer. He looked at the ceiling and took an enormous sigh, as if he were trying to take in all the information. He slumped into his office chair and rubbed his face with his hands. “It’s happening,” he whispered to himself. “I can’t believe it’s happening.”
Angela and I shared a worried look. She knelt down next to him. “Dad, what’s going on? What do you mean ‘it’s happening?’”
He still looked up at the ceiling, apparently deep in thought. He gradually lowered his eyes and looked at his daughter. He smiled at her and touched her hair in a loving way.
“Dad. What’s wrong?” Angela sounded scared.
He looked at me and stood up. “You’re name is Michael?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “Er… yes, sir.
He walked over to me and handed me the blue stone. I could feel its cool, smooth surface between my fingers. Angela’s dad placed his hands on my shoulders and looked me in the eyes. I looked up at him, which was strange because not many people were taller than me. “Michael,” he said in all seriousness. “Keep this stone with you at all times. Don’t let anyone take it from you and don’t let anyone know that you have it. Do you understand?”
I nodded… and then shook my head. “Why?” I said, perplexed. “Why is this stone so special? Who’s going to want to take it from me?”
“I—I can’t tell you.” He rushed to a window and looked between the blinds. “Just take care of the stone and lie low for a while. You’ll need it for what will come next.”
“Dad,” Angela said, a little frustration showing in her voice. “What are you talking about? What will come next? Why won’t you just tell us…?”
“To protect you,” he snapped. “The less you know, the better. I’ve got to fly back to New York first thing tomorrow morning. Michael, I think it best you head home now. I need to talk to Angela about something.”
I was still trying to wrap my mind around what was happening. Angela’s dad knew something about the blue meteorite that we didn’t know, and whatever he knew must’ve been dangerous information. “Sorry,” I said timidly, “but you just told me to take care of this stone without any explanation. I think I deserve to know whatever information you’re going to tell her.”
Angela and her father shared a knowing look and she turned to me. “Actually, Michael,” she said softly. “I think this is about something else. You’d better go. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Okay,” I said, a little hurt. I never was a fan of secrets. Now Angela was hiding something from me too. I put the blue stone in my pocket, walked to their door, and opened it.
“Thanks for the date,” Angela said before I walked out. I looked back at her. Her dad was rummaging around the house, already packing for his unexpected flight. Angela frowned. “Sorry for the crazy ending.”
“It’s okay,” I said. “Thanks for stargazing with me. It was fun.”
She smiled. “Yeah, it was.”
We said goodbye and I walked out of her house, closing the door behind me. As I walked to the car, I pulled the blue stone out of my pocket and observed it carefully. Sure, it was bluer and smoother than most rocks—and it was a meteorite—but nothing else seemed very special about the stone. Except for the fact that it was glowing when we’d first found it.
How did Angela’s dad know so much about it? What was he hiding from us? Or from me? Angela apparently was in on some sort of secret too. All I knew was that I was supposed to keep the stone safe and hidden from others, but I had no idea why.
Chapter 7
Ray
“Ray! Get out of bed already! Sam’s here for lunch!”
My mom had been shouting from downstairs for a while now. I didn’t feel like budging out of my bed. I think I had a mild hangover. I reached for my phone and checked the time. Almost 1:00 p.m. Wasn’t Saturday the day of rest? Or was that Sunday? Don’t know, don’t care.
“Come on, Ray! Or I’m gonna eat all your food!” This time my brother Sam was shouting. He had his own apartment near the university, but he stopped by every other weekend for lunch or dinner.
I finally rolled out of bed and shuffled downstairs, still wearing the same clothes from last night. “Hey Sam,” I mumbled.
“Morning bro!” Sam said from the table. He and mom were already eating. “Heard you barely won the game last night.”
I just nodded and sat down at the table. Sam was dressed well, dark jeans and a long-sleeve shirt. He looked a lot like me, except a couple inches taller, longer hair, and a goatee. We both had the same dark complexion with dark hair and brown eyes. Dad was Samoan; mom, Caucasian. We both took after dad, though.
“How was your party last night?” mom asked.
“Hm? Oh, good.” I said. Mom had made an awesome breakfast—er lunch. Every meal she made was awesome. Before dad died, he’d left us with a small fortune from his football career. Enough to have a nice house and for mom to stay at home.
“Ray, I saw some of the stats from your game last night,” Sam said with a frown. “I can’t believe you almost lost! You should’ve crushed those guys!”
I rolled my eyes. Why was I not sur
prised that Sam would be unimpressed with my performance? “At least we won, right?” I said.
“Barely! And your passing average? 30 attempts, 7 completions? I’m surprised your coach kept you in till the end of the game!”
That stung. I sneered at Sam. “It’s my receivers’ faults,” I said. “I only have one good receiver, the rest of them can’t catch worth crap.”
“Don’t go blaming your receivers! That’s the worst thing a quarterback could do!”
“I can’t help it if it hits their hands and they just drop it!”
“It barely touched their hands! You need to throw the ball right at their chests!
Mom slapped the table. “Boys!” she said, and then took a deep breath. “Can we please have a meal where you two aren’t fighting about something?”
We were all quiet for a moment. Sam and I glared at each other. “I’m not hungry anymore,” I said. I stood up and left the table.
“Well, there’s our solution,” Sam said. “Just have Ray leave. That makes everything better.”
“Sam!” mom snapped at him.
I didn’t hear what else she said. I was already out of the house, jogging through my neighborhood, going nowhere really. I just needed to blow off some steam.
My dad was a football star in the NFL before he died. I wanted so desperately to be like him, and everyone expected me to be just as good as him. And I was good! Just not good enough for Sam!
He always made me so angry! All I wanted was a little respect. Was that too much to ask for? A little respect? No matter how well I did, it was never good enough for him. I was so proud of my winning the game ball last night, and Sam had to go and rub that in my face like it was worth nothing. I wanted to prove to Sam and my oldest brother Garret that I was better than they thought. I wanted to be better than them both! Then they’d respect me!
Orion: A Heroic Novel Page 5