Linda moaned wearily. She looked behind her and saw Corey lying prostrate on the ground. His arms were contorted. He seemed lifeless.
She crawled over to him.
“Corey, wake up. Corey … ”
He didn’t move. She turned him over onto his back. He coughed, gasping for air. He could barely open his eyes.
“Corey, can you hear me?”
He nodded slightly. “I’m here, Linda. I’m just really weak. I can’t move.”
“I’ll get you to the hospital,” she said.
She reached into her pocket for the cellphone. She dialed 911. She got the operator on the line. Relief swept through her body as the operator asked her what her emergency was. She laughed hysterically. The operator thought this might’ve been a joke, almost hung up when Linda changed her tone.
“I need help,” Linda said. “My boyfriend’s been bitten by a snake. Please come help us … ”
Chapter 32
Linda paced down the hallway. She heard Dr. Stanley Birnbaum typing on his keyboard. When Linda crept up to his door, his eyes were glued to the computer monitor. He typed furiously.
His office was covered in posters of Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, Isaac Newton, Richard Feynman, and many other scientists.
Linda knocked on the door.
“Just a minute,” Stanley said.
She knocked again.
“I said just a … hey Linda Dorene!”
He practically jumped out of his chair when he went over to shake her hand. “Gosh. It’s been so long. I haven’t seen you since you were in my physics course four years ago.”
“Three,” she corrected.
“Wow! Linda Dorene,” Stanley gushed. “You were my best student. You knew everything like it was on the back of your hand. Aced every test. Are you still studying chemistry, Linda?
She nodded with a smile. “I’m in the graduate program now.”
“Wow! Graduate program. Here at Glebe University, right? Soon you’ll be teaching with Dr. Selena Cato-Sanchez, huh?”
Linda nodded politely. “Mind if I talk with you for a minute?”
“Sure, sure, come in—have a seat.”
He sat in his leather chair behind his desk and she sat across from him. She noticed a sheath on his desk with a dagger in it.
“Is that an antique?” Linda said.
“Oh, no, just something I’ve been analyzing,” he said. “A visiting friend loaned it to me. He and my sister are engaged.”
He quickly grabbed the dagger and stuffed it in the drawer of his desk.
“I see,” she said suspiciously.
“It has some unique properties,” Stanley said. “It can degrade any substance, break it down to its constituent particles.” He gesticulated with his hands in a twisty motion like he was nervous talking about it. He quickly changed the subject.
“So what can I do for you Linda?”
“A lot has happened this past week,” she said thoughtfully.
“Oh?” he said.
“I missed my sister’s wedding, my boyfriend was bitten by a snake, and I can’t get back to Kitewell.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” he said dubiously. He clearly didn’t know what to make of all that she had said. It showed in the way he creased his face. “Is your boyfriend all right?”
“Yes. He’s almost back to health. He’s just resting in the dorm right now. Of course, he’s bummed because he can’t go to the beach this weekend. We were supposed to go together. And on top of that, his track coach cut him from the team, but when he saw the nasty bite marks, he changed his mind instantly.”
“I bet,” Stanley said. “You said something about Kitewell?”
“Yes. Have you ever been there?”
“No, but it was all over the news last year. It’s where a massive tornado hit. No. A supercell. It came through right after the flood. The area’s completely devastated. It was a one of a kind storm. Search and rescue couldn’t find the bodies anywhere. They believe the bodies got washed away in the debris. About four or five hundred people vanished last year. Can you believe that?” He shook his head in disbelief.
“They’re not gone. They’re just on the other side,” Linda said.
“Right.” He nodded like he understood.
“On Wednesday, I drove to Kitewell,” Linda said, “I tried to make contact with Mark and Hemlock, but I couldn’t get to them.”
“Are they family?”
“No. They’re the family I stayed with.”
“Oh, I see. I didn’t realize you lost people close to you. I’m sorry, Linda.”
“I just need a way to get back to them.”
She took off the sapphire pendant. A lightning-shaped crack flowed down the middle of it. She set it on his desk and said, “This was supposed to be my way in.”
He inspected the sapphire pendant, noticed the crack down the center. “Does this belong to someone in Kitewell?”
“Yes. But she gave it to me—told me I would save Kitewell, but I can’t now. Besides, I’m no one special. I’m just … book smart.”
“You can’t blame yourself for the flood, Linda,” he said, sliding the sapphire pendant back to her. “You can’t blame yourself for an act of God.”
“God didn’t do it. Malik did.”
“Malik?” he said curiously.
She shook her head. “I’m supposed to go back and help them.”
He took in a deep breath. “I’m really sorry you lost people down there, Linda. If there’s anything I could do—”
“I know about your machine, Dr. Birnbaum. It’s the talk on campus within the science department. Ever since Dr. Kenson passed away, they say you could be next in line to win the National Science Achievement Award. I heard it’s the most revolutionary innovation that’s ever been designed at Glebe University. Your machine turns matter into other types of material, right? Like glass into metal and vice versa.”
His tone changed from sympathy to serious in a flash. The lines in his face tightened like a clenched glove. “Yes,” he said, though it sounded more like a question.
“I want your help. I was wondering if you could use your machine to fix my sapphire.”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “I’m not a jeweler, Linda. Go take it to—”
“I’ve already been to the jewelers, Dr. Birnbaum. They can’t fix it. I came here because I need your help.”
Stanley leaned back in his chair. “What makes you think I can fix your jewelry?” he said in a derisive tone.
“You wouldn’t believe me,” she said.
“Try me.”
“This sapphire can open a portal to another dimension. I just need to get it fixed so I can use it. I need it so that I can get back to the people of Kitewell.”
He leaned forward in his chair and clasped his hands together. “I know you’re hurting from the loss of people close to you, but this isn’t the way. This won’t bring them back.”
“You have to trust me on this,” Linda said with watery eyes. “Will you do this for me?”
“Do you have any proof or evidence that this sapphire opens a portal?” he asked open-mindedly.
“No.”
“Linda. Do you know how many people have come into my office to ask me to use my machine? Asking me to turn silver into gold, plastic into metal, rocks into diamonds? Do you know how many?”
“A lot,” she guessed.
“I get requests every day. I’m not taking any more requests. I’m thinking about scrapping the machine. I went through hell because of it.”
She knew he was referring to what happened a couple of years ago. He didn’t really talk about it with people, except to say that he was in a protection program. She knew it was a sore subject—something she shouldn’t bring up.
“Please, Dr. Bir
nbaum.”
“I’m sorry.”
A tear ran down her cheek. She felt helpless. How would she ever help the people of Kitewell now?
“Ariel told me two days.”
“Ariel?” he said.
“She’s the girl that gave me this spirit-gem.”
Stanley narrowed his eyes at her when she said that. It was the first time he had heard that term, and it piqued his interest.
“So it’s called a spirit-gem, huh?”
“Yes. And it’s been well past two days since I left. Malik might’ve destroyed them all by now. I know because when I woke up this morning, the spirit-gem began to fade as if it was losing its color. It barely lights up anymore. It’s all my fault.”
“Linda, you can’t—”
“I’m responsible, Dr. Birnbaum. Don’t you see? I’m failing them. Their lives hang in the balance, and I’m the only one that can save them.
“I could easily walk away and never think about them again. How easy would that be? But imagine the burden I would live with. The self-loathing and regret of my decision to turn the other way. It would kill me, Dr. Birnbaum. I couldn’t live with myself if I let them die.”
“But Linda. It’s—”
She looked up at him with watery eyes. “There’s no time left. I need to get back to them now. They’re counting on me. I know that they’re dying as this spirit-gem loses its color. It’s tearing me apart. I’ve been having nightmares since I got back … nightmares that won’t stop. I hear their screams, their desperate cries for help. I can’t bear it anymore. I need to save them, Dr. Birnbaum. I can’t wait here and do nothing while they die!”
“Take it easy, Linda. I … I c-can get you some help.”
He reached for the phone on his desk.
She grabbed the sapphire pendant from the desk, and then rose from the chair. “Why did I even come here? It’s pointless now!” she cried.
Linda chucked the sapphire pendant at the wall near the window. The sapphire exploded into streaks of blue light. They zapped in every direction, ricocheting off the walls like fireworks.
Linda crouched behind the chair while Stanley hid under his desk. Blue lasers swirled like rockets, burning holes into the walls. Papers flew up into the air in chaos. Smoke sizzled from all parts of the room.
When it was over, they stood up slowly. Stanley’s gaped his mouth in astonishment and looked at Linda. She returned an awestruck expression like she had witnessed a miracle. She had no idea that that would happen. She was just as surprised as him.
“Do you believe me now?” she said.
Chapter 33
Stanley opened the glass box behind the telescopic machine and placed the cracked sapphire inside of it. He closed the lid, then said to Linda, “Set the rock on the table. There … in the middle.”
The small rock was about the same size as the sapphire. Linda stepped away and watched as Stanley operated the machine in the laboratory. He flipped a switched. The machine hummed and the gears whirred to life. A thin beam of laser shined on the rock. Inside of the glass box, red sensors began analyzing the sapphire.
“So what do you call your invention?” Linda asked.
“LB5,” Stanley said.
“What does it stand for?”
“Laser Bifocal 5—my fifth prototype. It’s a work in progress. I can’t get it to reverse the transformation yet.”
She didn’t know what that meant but nodded anyway. He gave her a pair of safety goggles and he wore one himself.
Stanley trained the laser on the rock until the beam fixed squarely on it. The machine calculated the size, mass, and density of the sapphire inside the glass box. The panel screen spat out numbers while a sinusoidal graph fluctuated rapidly.
Stanley turned some dials and flipped a switch. A surge of particles struck the rock. The rock slowly turned blue and luminous, its inner form crystallizing into a sapphire. Its surface was no longer smooth as the rock was, but prism-like. It glimmered under the fluorescent light, now a replica of the sapphire in the glass box—minus the crack.
Stanley turned the machine off and the laser slowly faded. All the whirring gears died down and the red light in the glass box disappeared as well.
Stanley and Linda removed their safety goggles. She strode over to the sapphire on the table and observed the result.
“That’s incredible,” Linda gasped.
Stanley went over to the sapphire and picked it up. He held it close to his eyes, turning it over in his hand. He smiled approvingly, and then handed it to Linda. She held it to her eyes. The sapphire sparkled with glittering stars as she turned it over.
“Looks exactly the same,” she said.
“Think you can use it now?”
“I’ll try.”
She put the sapphire into a spiral wire cage, then slipped the pendant through the loop. She wore it around her neck once she finished.
“Does it feel different?” Stanley asked.
Linda shook her head. “Feels the same.”
Stanley scratched his chin. “How about telling it to light up?”
Linda concentrated on the sapphire, applying what Stanley had just said. Nothing happened.
“I don’t know how to make it work,” Linda said.
“You saw what it did in my office. There has to be a way to activate it.”
Linda paced around the laboratory, holding the sapphire every which way, but it didn’t glow or shoot out lasers. It seemed to have no function at all.
Stanley snapped his fingers. “I have an idea! Wait here.”
Before she could ask him what his idea was, he darted out of the laboratory. As she waited there, she looked around at the shelves. She saw countless flasks resting on them—some with liquids, some without. She grabbed three empty flasks and set them on the table where Stanley had zapped the rock.
She stood back about fifteen feet in the hopes of using them for target practice. She trained her thoughts on blasting the flasks with her sapphire. She concentrated long and hard, but nothing happened. Frustrated, she groaned and kicked the leg of the table.
When Stanley returned, he looked at her in befuddlement before he realized what she was doing.
“Trying to zap those flasks?” he said.
“Yes. But I can’t get it to work.”
“It’s called a spirit-gem, right?”
“Right.”
“Hmmm. Perhaps it’s not a matter of willing the spirit-gem to do what you want, but a matter of feeling what you want it to do.”
“Do you mean it senses what I’m feeling?”
“Yes. When you threw the spirit-gem down in my office, it burst into light not because you willed it to, but it was because you were frustrated and upset. You have to get into that state again.”
Linda nodded as if he might be onto something. “I see. Where did you go earlier?”
He took out the dagger from the sheath. She recognized it from his office when he quickly put it away in his desk. The dagger had a pommel handle, and it was made of carbon steel. The blade glistened under the light like a sword. He turned it over and sideways, observing it.
“A friend of mine loaned it to me to analyze it. Heck, it just took him two long years before he agreed. But this blade is one of a kind. It saved me, actually. The resin on this blade can destroy any material. It rusts metal, crumbles rock, and rots wood. It’s absolutely amazing.”
She still didn’t get why he brought it. “Why did you grab the dagger?”
“It’s the only thing I know that can reverse the process of my machine. Whenever I transform a material into, say, metal or stone, it’s permanent. But with this dagger, I can undo the effect.”
She felt like she had to see it with her own eyes to believe it. “Right,” she said.
“Watch.”
He used the blade and sliced one of the flasks on the table. It instantly cracked into cobwebs and then broke to pieces. She gawked in surprise.
“I bet you’ve never seen anything like that before,” he said.
“No, I haven’t.” She was thoroughly convinced. Her mind had finally wrapped around its power. “There’s been a lot of things that have surprised me lately,” she remarked.
“So here’s my idea,” Stanley said. “I bet you can control the spirit-gem even if you’re not wearing it—just like what happened in my office. Can you remove the spirit-gem, please?”
“What are you going to do?”
“Trust me,” Stanley said.
She took off the sapphire pendant and handed it to him. He set it down on a different table so that it was away from the broken glass.
He stood beside the sapphire pendant, and then looked her squarely in the eye.
“You saw what this dagger can do,” Stanley said. “It’ll crack and rupture the spirit-gem to pieces. I want you to stop me from destroying it. I want you to draw on your fears, hopes, and dreams, and channel them into the spirit-gem.”
He held the dagger over the sapphire pendant. The tip of the dagger was vertical with it.
“How?” she gasped. Her tone was frightful. She took a step forward as if to plead with him.
“You told me you don’t have much time, right? Want to wait all week or month until you get the spirit-gem to work? Just think about how much you want to save Kitewell—how badly you need to get back there.”
Linda bit her lip. “If this doesn’t work, you’re making me another spirit-gem.”
“Hopefully, I won’t have to. Ready?”
“Ready.”
“On the count of three, I’ll let go, okay?”
“Okay.”
“One … two … three!”
He let go of the dagger and it fell straight down. It almost struck the sapphire when a bright blue sphere blasted forth from it. The sphere deflected the dagger, sending it hurling across the laboratory. It landed in the opposite wall with the hilt sticking out. A small area of the wall crumbled. The dagger fell from the wall and it dinged the floor with grains of dust covering it.
Kitewell Page 16
