Crystal Doors #1 (3 page)

In a wavering voice, the announcer tried to cover the mistake. “It looks like Shoru was hungrier than we thought.” He forced a weak laugh.

Nodding that she was okay, Gwen looked back toward the agitated people in the stands. Oddly, she noticed the strange, dark-browed man sitting cool and emotionless while everyone else reacted with great concern. If anything, he seemed disappointed….

Uncle Cap and Vic rushed to her, full of alarmed questions. When she looked up again, the stranger had silently slipped out of the amphitheater.

WHILE THE AUDIENCE CLEARED from the amphitheater, a florid-faced man wearing a tie and an Ocean Kingdoms uniform hurried toward them. “Miss, I am so sorry for any inconvenience Shoru’s poor performance may have caused you. I assure you Shoru has never misbehaved in any way before. Thank goodness it was such a minor incident.” His dark eyes tried too hard to be sincere, while he downplayed the danger Gwen had just faced.

Minor incident? Inconvenience?
The man made it sound as if the killer whale had done little more than splash a bit of water on her. Gwen’s weak knees seemed only now to be comprehending how close she’d come to being chomped.

“You should have seen it from where we were sitting!” Vic broke in, sounding more excited than afraid. “Sheesh, those jaws only missed you by an inch or two!”

“I apologize for your distress,” the administrator said. “Please accept our hospitality while you calm down. I’ll show you to the VIP area, where we serve our finest refreshments.” Gwen’s stomach was already queasy from all the junk food they had eaten. Another round of refreshments didn’t sound very appealing.

Uncle Cap seemed a bit jumpy. “That really won’t be necessary,” he told the administrator. His voice sounded strange and distant. “It wasn’t Shoru’s fault.” He kept glancing around, studying the last few people leaving the stands, as if expecting some new threat to leap out at them. She wondered if he had seen the creepy man, too.

“I’d rather just go home,” Gwen admitted.

“Of course, of course!” said the administrator. “But let us offer you some small tokens of our regard. Nobody should leave Ocean Kingdoms without a pleasant memory of their time here. I can authorize a free annual pass to the park, and any souvenir you would like from the shop near the park entrance.”

He bustled them out of the amphitheater to the nearby Aquatic Emporium. “Now you just look around in here, Miss. And you, too, young man. Find yourself a souvenir — as if this day wasn’t memorable enough!” He gave an unconvincing chuckle. “I’ll just run to my office to get you some releases to sign. No hurry. Take your time.”

Gwen knew the man was trying to make sure she didn’t file a lawsuit against Ocean Kingdoms. Her uncle certainly realized what the administrator was doing, but he seemed more preoccupied and unsettled than she had ever seen
him. Gwen bit her lower lip. “It
was
an accident, wasn’t it, Uncle Cap?”

A one-of-a-kind accident… just like the mysterious car wreck that had killed her mother and father.
Accident.
Even the police had been baffled. Her parents’ car had fallen through a high bridge on a rugged section of the Pacific coast. They hadn’t driven off the highway, but dropped
through
it. Several girders and support plates had been missing — not fallen away, broken off, or cut apart. Just… missing.

Clearly troubled, her uncle shook his head.

“I thought — I thought I sensed something,” Gwen said. “I saw a strange man in a row not far behind you, and his eyes looked wrong somehow. He was watching me as if he
knew
something was going to happen.”

A shadow crossed Cap’s face. “We have to go home, kids. It would be best if we got away from here as soon as possible. There’s no telling …” His voice trailed off.

Vic was pawing through the sweatshirts, stuffed dolphins, plastic Shoru toys, T-shirts, and puzzles. “Just a minute, Dad. That man said we could have anything we want in here. I’ll make it quick.”

“All right, hurry up.” Uncle Cap still seemed distant, and for some reason, his gaze lingered on the five-sided medallion Gwen always wore on a leather cord around her neck. Her mother had given it to Gwen at her birth. Vic’s mother had given him one exactly like it, which he kept as a fob on his keychain.

The pendants were five-sided, paper-thin disks of iridescent metal the size of a penny, etched with a strange design of
loops and angles. Fyera and Kyara had never explained the significance of the medallions, but the unusual symbols had always intrigued Gwen.

After the Lost Spring — Uncle Cap’s name for the three months following the death of Gwen’s parents and Kyara’s disappearance — her uncle had become obsessed with the exotic symbols. Giving up his tenured professorship, Dr. Pierce took a job as a curator for a local museum and spent much of his spare time researching the medallions. He scanned the symbols into his computer and ran worldwide searches for similarities, for any clue that could lead him to his missing wife. He found nothing….

Vic chose his souvenir in less than three minutes, a muscle tee tie-dyed in shades of green and blue that said:

SEA CREATURE.

SEE CREATURE SWIM.

SWIM, CREATURE, SWIM.

Still flustered by what she had been through, Gwen agonized over the selections for a full fifteen minutes, while Vic shifted from foot to foot. “Come
on,
Doc. I could have built a working submarine out of an oil drum and a couple of table fans by now.” He took out his frustration by scratching a mosquito bite on his arm until it bled; he asked the woman behind the counter for a bandage.

Finally, the Ocean Kingdoms administrator came back, still all smiles, with season passes, a bag of “VIP Goodies,” and — almost as an afterthought — release forms for them to sign.
Gwen was astonished at how quickly Uncle Cap signed them. “Don’t worry about it.” He seemed to be brushing the man aside. “Come on, kids. We really need to get out of here.” He looked around again, very wary.

“I still need to pick something.” Gwen narrowed her choices to a baby pink camisole tee with OCEAN PRINCESS spelled out in glittery silver bubbles and a lilac hooded sweatshirt with the same design.

Vic whispered, “The sweatshirt’s more expensive. Get that.”

Hovering nearby, the Ocean Kingdoms man overheard. “Please, take them both. I insist. In fact —” He picked up a pair of zippered jackets in dark green fleece with embroidered logos and gave them to Vic and his father. “Take these, too, with our best wishes.”

After curtly thanking the man, Uncle Cap hurried them past the jostling crowds to the parking area. Vic was already making plans about the next time they could use their season passes. “I wouldn’t worry about that,” his father said. “I don’t know when we’ll be back.” He looked quickly over his shoulder, as if someone might be following them. “I’ve decided we should lay low for a while, keep out of sight. In fact, we may…” His voice caught. From his stricken expression, Gwen wondered if he was suddenly reminded of how his wife had vanished.

“Uncle Cap, what’s wrong? What are you talking about?”

Vic’s eyes were also wide. “Hey, does this have anything to do with those big crates that arrived yesterday?”

Gwen knew her uncle had been excited about the shipment — assorted chunks of exotic and expensive crystal. It
didn’t seem likely he would want to pack up and drive off so soon. She wondered if the creepy man in the audience was involved somehow. A rival researcher, maybe?

“Yes, a big breakthrough … I hope. I’ll be getting you both up at three-thirty in the morning — no complaints, now. This could be the key to … well, let’s just wait and see if it works.”

“If what works?” Vic asked.

Uncle Cap’s voice was agitated. “I need you two where I can protect you. Pack an overnight bag — a change of clothes, a toothbrush, a book — I’ll take care of the rest. We’ll leave early, but I’ve got a lot of work to do before then.” Cap unlocked the car doors for them. “After what happened today, it’s more important than ever that I get everything right.”

HER ALARM WENT OFF at 3:30 the next morning, though “morning” might have been too optimistic a word for the hour. Exhausted from their busy day at Ocean Kingdoms, not to mention almost being eaten by a killer whale, Gwen had gone to bed early. She was still agitated after what had happened, and even more so because of Uncle Cap’s very obvious concern. He wouldn’t explain anything.

Knowing she’d be getting up before dawn, she kissed her uncle goodnight and went upstairs while he continued to bustle around with great determination, hauling crates of crystals into the solarium, a large glassed-in area just off of the living room. Unsettled, she packed a few things in her yellow duffel, put on fresh underwear, set the alarm clock, flopped onto her bed, and immediately dropped off to sleep.

Even though her uncle had promised to wake them, Gwen
set her own alarm. Her parents had always taught her to be self-reliant. She could still hear her mother saying, “If something is important to you, don’t rely on anyone else. Do it yourself.”

Bleary-eyed, she rolled out of bed, wearing her pendant and underclothes. She pulled on a pair of cropped white jeans and the new pink cami, wondering where Uncle Cap would be driving them. The tension in the air told her this wasn’t going to be a surprise “vacation,” though school wouldn’t start for another month yet. She threw on the lilac Ocean Kingdoms hoody just as a tousle-headed Vic appeared in her doorway wearing his Sea Creature shirt, old jeans, the green fleece jacket unzipped, black Vans skater shoes, and a small backpack slung over one shoulder. “Did I sleep through Dad trying to wake me up?”

“He hasn’t come up for us yet.” Gwen slid her feet into a pair of white sandals. “I wonder if he even went to bed last night.”

“Did you see all those crates he was unpacking? They looked like a geologist’s treasure chests,” Vic said. He and Gwen both shared their mothers’ love for crystals and geodes of all sorts. “Sheesh, when Dad gets involved in some project, he could work right through an earthquake and a solar eclipse at the same time.”

Gwen picked up her duffel. “Then he may not realize what time it is. Let’s go put our stuff in the car. Any idea where we’re going?” They kept their voices low and walked quietly in the pre-dawn hush.

“It’s a surprise — an adventure.” Vic was always better at rolling with the changes than she was.

“Do you think he’s outside already?” Gwen asked. “I didn’t hear him.”

“Don’t worry. I’ve got my key,” Vic whispered, tucking the medallion key ring into the front pocket of his jeans along with the tiny LED flashlight Gwen had given him this year on their fourteenth birthday. “Just in case Dad locked himself out.”

“That would be a switch.” Twice in the past month the cousins had decided to go for a midnight swim in a neighbor’s outdoor pool and had accidentally locked themselves out of the house. The first time, they had rescued themselves with the spare key under the terra cotta planter by the door, but Vic forgot to put it back, once again earning his nickname of “Doctor Distracto.” The second time, they’d been forced to wake Uncle Cap to let them in. Tonight, though, they were prepared.

They were creeping down the stairs toward the garage when they heard a low, throbbing hum from the glassed-in solarium. Exchanging surprised glances, they headed toward the sound instead of going outside.

As they approached, Gwen saw her uncle adjusting and repositioning massive clusters of exceptionally clear quartz crystals around the room. Dr. Pierce was spending a lot of time arranging them with absolute precision.

“What’s Dad still doing that for?” In the darkness, Vic squinted at the lighted dial of his watch. “Weren’t we supposed to be going somewhere? There isn’t time for another experiment.”

She dumped her yellow duffel on the floor. “I have a feeling he’s not ready to go yet.” Vic set his backpack next to her duffel, and they went to the solarium doorway.

Through the glass ceiling, stars twinkled in the pre-dawn sky. Dr. Pierce had arranged mirrors, prisms, and lenses all around the floor and mounted them to the glass walls. He fidgeted with the mirror and prism angles, adjusting and readjusting them just so. “A key.” He kept referring to a parchment diagram in his hand. “I still need a key!”

Gwen knew how much her uncle hated to be interrupted when he was concentrating. Vic, though, had no such compunctions. “Hey, I’ve got keys.” Fishing for his keychain in the pocket of his jeans, he walked into the room.

Gwen hurried after him. “Uncle Cap, didn’t you want to —”

As they stepped into the network of crystals arranged all around the solarium, their night-adjusted eyes were suddenly dazzled by a bright light that was refracted and echoed by the prisms and mirrors. The air around Gwen and Vic sparkled like a million glowing shards of glass.

The smells of salt and ozone filled her nostrils. Gwen could see only her uncle’s outline silhouetted against a blaze of light. Vic grabbed her arm.

Dr. Pierce cried in triumph. “It worked!” A brief flash lit his face, and she saw his dismayed expression as he tried to reach out to them. “Wait! Vic, Gwen, we have to go together! My Kyara —”

She could still feel her cousin’s hand on her arm as dazzling facets spun around her, blurring everything: the room, the crystals, her uncle’s outline, even Vic. In slow motion, Gwen felt herself falling, swept along as if the universe itself were rushing down a drain. Like the worst part of the flume ride at Ocean Kingdoms —