“Impressive,” I said, and Jules started ahead, walking toward the mountain. “Someone’s interested in the crystals.” Jules was off-kilter today. She was quieter, more subdued, yet she was joyful; happy to be alive even here, so far from her home and mother. It was almost like she knew something the rest of us didn’t, and it was off-putting.
“I suppose we should follow her.” Karo smiled. I knew today was going to be difficult for him. His father’s essence was in the main portal, and thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of them were inside the crystals around us. The air felt energized here, and I lifted my arm, finding the hairs on it standing straight up. A few of Jules’ dark, erratic curls lifted as we went, but she didn’t seem to notice.
“Do you guys feel that?” I asked, and Ableen nodded.
“It feels wrong,” she said.
The sun was bright behind us, reflecting its voluminous glow across the smooth-surfaced peaks. There were too many similarities here to the Iskios world where we’d lost Mary. Only here, the stones were filled with Theos instead of Iskios, their rivals.
I was mentally prepared for a betrayal, for something bad to happen; only I wasn’t armed, and I cursed under my breath at my stupidity. Karo moved with determination, as if there was nothing strange going on, and he was probably right. I couldn’t deal with another Iskios scenario. Jules stumbled ahead, her tiny legs moving faster as we went. I should have left her at Karo’s house. Maybe I should have stayed there, too.
“Come, Dean,” Karo said, waving me forward. Lost in my thoughts, I was a hundred yards behind the other three. I jogged to catch up and arrived at my daughter’s side. She smiled over at me, her green eyes brighter than ever before.
I’d been so lost in my own thoughts, I hadn’t noticed how close we were to the vast peaks. Our path led us down now. Tall walls of clear crystal rose on either side of us, and as we walked, the stone lit up from a meter or so inside the surface.
“Have you been here before, Karo?” I asked, and his eyes said he had. They were glimmering with tears.
“I have. I was here when they entered. I saw them melt into the essence of this peak, fueling the portals. One last sacrifice for the good of the universe. For the Balance.” His steps slowed, and Ableen was at his side in a second, her slender arm threading through his.
“It’s okay, Karo. We have to do this. This is what they want,” she told him.
“I know. I can feel it too. It’s just… once they’re gone, it truly will be only you and I left of our race.” Karo stopped and laid a hand on the crystal wall, the light growing brighter at his touch.
“We’ll make the Theos proud, Karo. Husband.” Ableen reached for his hand, and he took it in his.
“Very well, wife,” he said, and I didn’t know if that made them a couple, but I supposed it did to them, and that was all that mattered.
“Papa!” Jules called from far ahead. She was at the end of the walled pathway, and she disappeared around the bend. I really needed to watch her better. I was so distracted, and she was like a slippery eel at this age, sticking her nose into everything.
“Jules, stay where you are!” I shouted, my voice echoing down the corridor. The angle of the pathway evened out, and now I could see we were entering the center of the mountain itself. It grew dimmer; even the sunlight was unable to refract through so many layers of clear crystal this deep inside.
I found her at a large arc-shaped doorway, and she peered toward me, her eyes burning green. She pointed into the room beyond, and I came to meet her.
“This is it. The Shandra Source.” Karo stepped past us, and his long white mane rose in the air, the room thick with charged energy.
Ableen’s did the same, and she tentatively stood beside her new husband, placing her hands over her ears as if blocking a sound I couldn’t hear.
The moment I stepped foot into the chamber, I understood. Thousands of voices whispered at once; each of the Theos trapped within the pillars of crystal in the center of the space were vying for our attention, begging to be released. No wonder Ableen had been so upset about it, demanding we help them. They were in pain, tormented by the crystals. Ever since I’d banished the Iskios through the Shifter I’d bartered from Garo Alnod, the Balance had been off.
We had to right this. I attempted to block their voices from my mind, but it was impossible.
“Papa.” Jules’ voice was tiny, and I took her hand as she began to cry. I knelt down and wiped her tears away, pulling her into me.
“It’s time,” Karo told Ableen, and they moved toward the middle of the chamber. There were thirteen pillars forming a circle about twenty meters in diameter. At the center was a series of clear double-ended tourmaline crystals. As the flesh and blood Theos arrived, the crystals shone brightly, until I had to look away, blocking Jules from harming her eyes too. She tried to wiggle away, but I held tight.
“Thank you for your sacrifice Great Ones. You have done our people an honor beyond comprehension. We will continue our race. We will make you proud, as you have made us proud!” Karo was shouting, and I felt myself go weightless. My vision lowered to see my feet lifted off the ground.
The light had dimmed, and Jules poked her head from my chest, curiously watching Karo and Ableen touching the crystals in between the pulsing pillars.
“You are free!” Ableen shouted, and we stared at them from our floating position as thousands of lights emerged from the stones, slowly at first, then in a rush. We kept rising off the floor, and Karo and Ableen were doing the same now. They waved their hands upwards, thrusting their ancestors' energy from their trapped position, freeing them into… I wasn’t sure. The universe, perhaps their afterlife. The whispers turned from fearful and anguished to happiness, relief, joy, and Jules and I smiled and wept as they lifted away from the surface, beyond the peaks of the crystal mountain and into space.
I felt them leaving, and I knew Jules did too. She waved at them, smiling widely and giggling. It seemed to go on forever, but when it was over, we lowered to the surface, and Ableen and Karo lay between the pillars in a heap.
Jules ran to them.
“Karo, Ableen, are you okay?” I asked, and Karo sat up.
“It is done,” he said, smiling.
“It is done.” Ableen was up now. Jules hugged her.
“Thank you for being a part of this, Dean Parker. You are the best friend one could ask for,” Karo said.
“We wouldn’t have missed it for the world, right, Jules?” I wondered if we were meant to come here. Jules running into the portal room at just the wrong time might have really been the right time.
“I’m sorry you have such a long trip home.” Karo was on his feet, and he gripped my shoulder lightly.
“So am I. We still have one more thing to do first, right?” I asked.
Karo grinned. “We do.”
____________
The crystal mountain was dark, no longer glowing or luminous as the sun set. It felt like the end of an era I’d only begun to understand. The portals were dead. Without the Theos inside fueling the Shandra Source in the crystal mountain, we were stuck here. Karo had packed up the ship he was giving us, and Jules and I were ready to leave at first light.
We had one last task to be part of. Karo’s father, Tagu, the same one who talked to me on our way to their home world, remained inside this portal.
“Why didn’t he leave with the rest?” I asked Karo.
“When we took the others from this stone to help you fight the Iskios, we locked him inside as a precaution at the same time,” Karo explained.
“Let’s go say goodbye to your dad,” I told him.
We entered the Theos portal room, a clean-lined space, made from nothing but the same rock as the rest of the world. The clear crystal walls no longer glowed; the table didn’t activate. The symbols weren’t there. It was no longer functional.
Jules was walking toward the table, and I snatched her up. “Let’s give Uncle Karo some time alone
.”
Ableen stayed with us, letting Karo have the last few moments with his dad, even if they couldn’t speak to one another.
Karo laid his hands on the stone beneath the table, and I heard whispered words, unable to understand them. One solitary light emerged from the table, a pure white glow that lifted, circled around Karo, and hovered into the ceiling and beyond. Karo stood, staring at the table that would no longer work.
“He’s gone,” he told us.
Ableen crossed the space over to his side. “They’re all gone. It’s what they wanted. I can no longer hear their cries for help,” she said.
Jules demanded I set her down. She frowned at me, as if I’d been holding her captive. She pursed her lips and moved toward Karo and Ableen.
“What are you doing, honey?” I asked. She wasn’t facing me, and Karo’s eyes went wide in surprise as she neared the table.
She glanced towards me, her eyes glowing brightly. Their color reflected around the crystal room, and she lifted a hand. Green energy coursed from her fingertips now, and she smiled like she was playing a game. “We can help,” she said again, and I finally understood what she’d been going on about for the last few days.
Karo and Ableen were standing in silence, frozen in awe, as I rushed to my daughter’s side.
“What is it, Jules? How can we help?” I asked her.
Her hand was no longer visible as the cackling energy enveloped it. “Shandra poor tails.” She said portals wrong, and it was the sweetest thing I’d ever seen.
“You can help the portals?” I asked from my crouched position.
She nodded. “I can help. See?”
Jules breezed past me to the portal stone and set her hand on it. The crystal exploded in light, and the force knocked me over two feet. I landed on my side, and Karo and Ableen were on the ground as well. Only Jules stood, her hand eagerly pressed to the portal stone, green energy beating from her body. The table glowed now; the symbols on the crystal walls burned hotly.
As quickly as it happened, everything ended, and Jules let go of the stone, her hand no longer a tool. She skipped to my side, and I pulled her in. “What did you do?” I asked. Her eyes were no longer glowing, only deep green, and she kissed my cheek.
“I helped,” she said, as if that was all I needed to know.
Karo was at the portal table, and his voice boomed through the room. “Dean, it works!”
I leaped over to him. “What do you mean? How could she have possibly done this?” I asked.
“I don’t know, but look.” He turned the Crystal Map on, and every last pinprick of light around the universe where there was a stone was activated once again. From the looks of it, there were even more now, perhaps destinations that had once had portals, but where the Theos had failed long ago.
“It’s… amazing,” I said. I picked up Jules and squeezed her. “You did it, honey. I don’t know how, but you did it.” I was elated, but at the same time, terrified that my daughter held power like this. It was clear she’d gained the power from growing inside Mary’s womb while Mary was possessed by the Iskios, and I was scared of what that meant for my little girl. She was so special, but this only meant she would become a target, a unique being that attracted too much attention.
“Dean, it looks like you can go home after all,” Ableen said softly, and I mouthed the word.
Home.
____________
I returned to my house on New Spero, but Mary wasn’t there. Instead of waiting it out, Jules and I went to the lander and headed for Magnus’ place. There were other vehicles there: a couple of SUVs, a police transport, and a lander like the one I was inside.
People emerged from the house, and Jules pointed through the viewer. “Mommy!” She was right. Mary was standing in the front yard. I landed in a hurry, so anxious to see her, for her to know we were okay. When the door opened, revealing who was inside, Mary ran for us.
“Dean! Jules!” Her brown hair fluttered around in the air like a cape, and I met her halfway, enveloping her in a hug, spinning her around.
“We’re home, babe,” I told her, and Mary grabbed Jules, hugging her close.
“What happened?” she asked in my ear.
Magnus and Nat were there, and I noticed Reed beside Loweck, and another figure stood in the shade of the front porch beside the two kids. Maggie, Charlie, and Carey all ran for us, barking their joy at our arrival, and it was all too much.
Slate raised an arm from his seat near the house. “Jules did it. Jules fixed the portals,” I spoke softly as I moved as fast as I could to the house.
“What do you mean, Jules fixed them?” Mary asked quietly, sensing my caution.
Jules was in her mother’s arms, and she proudly said, “I helped. I told Papa I could help. Silly Papa.”
I smirked at Mary as we walked, and shrugged. “It’s true. She did tell me that.”
Magnus and Natalia greeted us along with the others, but they stepped aside so I could see Slate. It felt like it took forever to cross the yard, but there we were, face to face again. His skin was sallow, his eyes sunken, but he was here. He was alive and well.
“Slate. You’re here,” I said, stating the obvious.
“So are you.” He laughed, sticking out his fist. I bumped it and laughed along with him.
“How are you feeling?” I asked.
“Better than the other guy, from what I hear,” Slate said.
“You going to be okay?” I asked quietly.
“Doctors say I’ll be right as rain in a few weeks,” he told me.
“Good.” Everyone here was on the front porch, and they were all looking at me, as if waiting for some intense explanation of how we’d made it here.
“Well? Dean, you have to tell us,” Magnus said.
I didn’t know Loweck or Reed all that well, and couldn’t have Jules’s secret become known to anyone but those closest to my family. Only the few trusted members of our gang would ever know the truth.
“It was the craziest thing,” I said. “The Theos were freed by Ableen and Karo, and…” I lied the rest of the story, and they nodded along, accepting my words as truth. I’d tell Slate, Magnus, and Nat later, but for now, the story I told them on the front deck was going to be the one the Gatekeepers learned, along with the Alliance of Worlds members. No one was going to see my daughter as a tool. Nobody would ever find out she held within her the power of an entire ancient race of beings.
Epilogue
“Welcome to the meeting, Dean Parker of the New Spero Gatekeepers. You all know him, and this weekend’s conference is a good time for you each to pick his brain, to meet the man we’ve all heard so much about,” Sarlun told the intimate gathered group. He spoke in his native Shimmali language, and the words translated into each Gatekeeper’s personal earpiece in their own tongue.
We were inside the Gatekeepers’ Academy on Haven, in the newly finished auditorium, and I stepped up to center stage, taking in the three hundred members of the Gatekeepers. They applauded loudly, coming to their feet. There were so many different races here, representatives from every corner of space. We’d been cataloging the new Crystal Map and were confident there were even more worlds to explore, more races to bring into the fold, and far more trade potential.
“Today, we are here because of this man.” I pointed to Sarlun, who stepped away as the crowd continued to cheer. I raised a hand eventually, hoping to continue speaking. “We are Gatekeepers, and we will always persevere. The portals, the Shandra, were a basis for what we’ve been known for: traveling through them between worlds. We’re explorers, peacekeepers, and warriors.
“Recently, the portals were failing, and we all now know the reason for that. Let’s give thanks to the Theos, whose efforts allowed us to ever have our group, for without them, the portals would never have existed. Now, we not only have access to our old portal symbols, but countless more.
“You will each be able to expand your reach, and Sarlun has already begun
a schedule for each team, which you’ll receive over the next two days.” I paused while they chattered to each other. They’d been grounded for so long, they were anxious to be stationed out there. I understood only too well.
Mary waved at me from the side of the auditorium, and Jules stood beside her, watching with interest. It had been six months since we’d left the Theos world, and so much had changed. Mary and I felt it was all for the best, but we no longer lived at our house on New Spero. We’d given it to Leonard, who had grown close with Reed. We’d planned to visit and see how the house looked now, but Mary and I were having a hard time with going there.
I realized the crowd was waiting for me to keep talking, so I moved on. “You also all know about the two separate attacks on Haven. The target has been our Academy, but we won’t let anyone destroy what is ours. This school will train the next generation of children from all Alliance of Worlds planets, and we will only strengthen our alliance’s foothold as well as the Gatekeepers’ value to the universe.”
An Inlorian stood, speaking loudly in his native tongue. My earpiece translated for me. “Have we determined the invaders’ origin?” he asked.
I glanced over at Sarlun, who shook his head ever-so-slightly from the edge of the stage. “Not yet,” I answered. We did know, but it was yet another secret I couldn’t divulge to the public.
“Will we seek them out when we do?” the Inlorian asked again.
“That is yet to be determined,” I told the crowd.
Others began asking questions, but I stopped them. “We can discuss some of these points later, perhaps in a better setting. This is the introduction to the conference, so please, have a seat, everyone,” I said, and they listened. “As you know, our Alliance of Worlds seeks to barter before attack, but we aren’t fools. We will defend ourselves when needed. That’s all I’ll say on the subject.”
This appeared to appease them, and I kept talking, giving them an agenda for the next couple of days. When it was over, they all applauded again, and I made my way to the edge of the room, where Mary and Jules waited for me.
The Gatekeepers (The Survivors Book Eight) Page 22
