Crystal Doors #1 (7 page)

Gwen did not let him rile her. “A city can’t just sprout wings, so how does it fly?” Of course, a few moments ago she wouldn’t have believed in a flying carpet, much less a flying city.

Sharif’s voice was even, almost bored, as if he had told the story many times before. “Irrakesh is a place of great marvels, with paved streets and tall buildings, minarets and domes. Long ago, to protect its people, powerful magic was used to uproot the city. Irrakesh drifts across the open skies, riding the desert winds. We glide far above the arid, trackless dunes and harvest our water directly from the clouds.” As he painted pictures with his words, Gwen could see that Sharif enjoyed telling stories, even bragging a little about his world. “If you wish, I might consider arranging a visit for you. Someday.”

“If we stay that long.” Gwen looked at her cousin. “We’re
still trying to figure out how we got
here,
and how we can get back. Your dad’s got to be really worried by now, Taz —”

Sharif laughed in disbelief. “You do not know how to open the crystal door to your home again?” Then his olive eyes narrowed knowingly. “Ah, you must be one of the fortunate accidents for which Sage Rubicas is so well known?”

Lyssandra nodded. “Yes, another one.”

“Not so fortunate for us, if we’re stuck in Elantya,” Gwen muttered.

“Sheesh, Doc, we just got here,” Vic said. “Enjoy the moment. My dad’s probably in the solarium right now trying to figure out what happened. This couldn’t have been a complete accident, you know — he must have realized what he was doing. Have a little confidence.”

After everything she had seen in the past hour, Gwen realized she didn’t want to go home just yet, though she would have felt much better to know they
could
go back. She fingered the pendant at her neck. Why had Sage Rubicas been so interested in these medallions their mothers gave them? She really did want to find some answers… .

Lyssandra led her companions down the steep street and stone steps, past multicolored sculptures of blown glass and wind chimes made of flat-cut gems that created a beautiful high-pitched music. As they walked, Sharif reached into a mesh pouch around his neck and withdrew an object the size of a grapefruit wrapped in scarlet cloth. He removed the cloth to reveal a lovely crystal sphere, which began to glow. Inside the ball, Gwen could see the silhouette of a tiny female form.

“There, now you can shine, Piri,” Sharif said. “I hope you had a nice nap.”

The female figure stretched her tiny arms. Sharif tossed the crystal sphere into the air, and it drifted back down into his hand as gently as a soap bubble. He extended the clear globe toward the two newcomers. The miniature girl leaned closer to the glass, glowing aqua, and looking just as curious about the cousins as they were about her. The young man rolled the shimmering ball back and forth in front of a delighted Vic and Gwen, showing off.

“Looks like somebody put Tinkerbell inside a snow globe,” Vic said. “Beam me up, Scotty, my brain is about to explode.”

“And I thought Ocean Kingdoms had too much stuff to absorb in one day.” Gwen peered into the crystal ball. “That’s beautiful, Sharif. What is it?”

“A nymph djinni. Piri cannot yet survive outside of her protective eggsphere, so I carry her everywhere with me in a pouch.”

Vic’s eyebrows arched. “That doesn’t look like an egg. It’s not egg-shaped.”

“You mean just because it’s round?” Gwen asked. “Fish eggs are round. So are frog eggs and —”

“Okay, I get it. Anyway, that’s the coolest pet I’ve ever seen.”

“Piri is much more than a pet.” Sharif’s voice held a reproachful tone. “I am her master and protector. Very few people have a djinni, you know.” He carefully polished the curved surface with the scarlet cloth, then rolled the sphere from the tips of his fingers up his arm to the shoulder and back again. “Piri is my companion and confidant. In my
position, it is refreshing to have someone I can trust who wants nothing from me but security and affection.”

The globe twinkled in variegated shades of pink, and the djinni danced inside, giggling silently while Sharif juggled her sphere. “Piri is quite helpful in the dark. Look how bright and rich her light is.” He spun the ball on his fingertips, then let it roll down his arm again to his elbow.

Gwen could tell Sharif was just as proud of Piri as he was of his fancy flying carpet. “How do you make it change colors? The ball was turquoise at first, but now it’s pink.”

Sharif regarded her with annoyance. “Not ‘it.’
She.
Piri’s color changes with her mood. For example, pink is evidence of happiness, red represents anger, and so on. In a year she will become capable of small feats of magic — nothing extravagant at first, but eventually she will be powerful. Won’t you, Piri?” Holding the ball close to his eyes, Sharif rubbed his nose against the glass. The sphere responded with a warm yellow glow, brighter than before.

Lyssandra took them to Elantya’s main harbor. The docks stretched out into the sheltered water like tongues of slatted wood. Exotic ships with colorful sails came in and out of the port, dancing like butterflies on the waves.

Harbor workers unloaded crates from trireme ships tied up to the sun-washed docks. Lyssandra explained, “Each vessel arrives through a specific crystal door far out in the ocean, sailing from their world to this central hub.”

“In other words, Elantya is like Grand Central Station,” Gwen mused. “People come from far away and everybody meets here.”

“Each crystal door requires a Key,” Lyssandra said.

“Huh. My dad said he needed a key when he was arranging the crystals.” Vic held up his keychain. “I tried to offer him this one, but —”

“A Key is a
person”
Sharif interrupted, as if they should already have known that.

Lyssandra said calmly, “A Key is tuned to a particular crystal door. Every ship carries at least one Key, so the captains can go back and forth on their regular route.” She pointed out many people who wore garments, ribbons, or armbands bearing a symbol to indicate they were Keys.

Piri’s crystal sphere flashed in the sunlight. Sharif inspected it for smudges before balancing it on the backs of his fingers and deftly rolling it back and forth. “I have been tested, and I have the potential to become a Key myself.”

Gwen didn’t ask the million questions that sprang to mind. Her brain was already so full of new sights and ideas that she was afraid she wouldn’t have room to absorb one more fact.

Fortunately, Lyssandra took the opportunity to ask Vic and Gwen about themselves. When she learned that Vic and Gwen were “twin” cousins, the telepathic girl caught her breath. “A few nights ago, I had a dream about one of the ancient prophecies. It tells of champions who will rise up to defeat the dark tyrants and free the sealed worlds. It is strange how you almost fit the old legends.” She sang a haunting tune:

“Born beneath the selfsame moon,

Only they may bind the rune,

And create the Ring of Might,

Right the wrongs, reverse the rite.

Sharing blood, yet not the womb,

Two shall seal the tyrant’s doom.

Darkest Sage, in darkest day,

With his blood the price shall pay.”

“That’s, uh, strange all right,” Vic admitted, “… whatever it means.”

Gwen shaded her eyes and spotted another ship approaching Elantya’s main harbor. All the sails were stretched tight, as if to squeeze out every last bit of push from the wind. It came in more swiftly than the breezes could possibly be pushing it, as if some magic had given it a burst of speed. Red banners flapped from the masts, and a bright flag flew from the tallest point. She wished she had some binoculars. “That ship certainly is in a hurry.”

A flash of light and a plume of bright purple smoke shot into the air from the main deck of the racing ship, followed a few seconds later by the distance-muffled
thump
of an explosion. Everyone on the docks began to scramble to mount a response.

Sharif said, “Ships fly those banners only in the direst emergency.”

Lyssandra motioned for them to follow her as she broke into a run. “The captain is sounding an alarm!”

ELANTYAN WAR GALLEYS SPROUTED oars as soldiers dipped long wooden blades into the water. A bell rang from a high tower, and dock workers hurried to prepare a slip where the captain could tie up at the main dock. Other ships dropped their sails and raised anchor, ready to respond to the news, whatever it might be.

Gwen and Vic crowded with Lyssandra and Sharif on the edge of the dock, listening to the dip of oars in the water, the rhythmic chanting of the soldiers as they drove their war galley across the harbor. Even in a frantic rush, though, sailing ships moved at a sedate pace compared to racing ambulances and police cars. They watched the intricate slow-motion drama as the galleys approached the larger vessel, tied up alongside it, and added the power of their oars to escort the ship to the Elantyan docks. Sages in colorful robes climbed
aboard the sailing ship and stood at the bow, reading from spell scrolls to add momentum. The red alarm pennants fluttered in the breeze. More purple smoke rose up.

The whole process took almost an hour, during which time Gwen felt the sense of urgency grow. Vic, on the other hand, was bored and knelt on the dock boards to watch fish flit around the weed-grown posts beneath the pier. He trailed his fingers in the clear water. Laughing, he waved his cousin over. “Hey, Doc, look at this — a sea monkey the size of a Barbie doll!”

She saw a doll-sized figure that looked like a man with a fish tail, swimming and waving his little hands, desperate to get somebody’s attention.

Lyssandra caught her breath when she saw the creature. “An aquit! They are the messengers of the sea.” When the telepathic girl reached into the water, the aquit eagerly swam to her, allowing itself to be cupped in her palms. She drew it up, dripping, and set it on the warm boards of the wharf.

“Elantya!” it squeaked. “A message for Elantya.”

“Did you just come from that ship out there?” Sharif demanded. “The one with the emergency?

“No. I swam here all the way from the reefs.”

“We can accept your message,” Lyssandra said in a quiet, encouraging tone. “Go ahead.”

The amphibious creature straightened, shimmered, and suddenly took the form of a small human. Gone was the mermaidlike fish tail. Gwen couldn’t tell if this was an illusion or actual shape-shifting. The aquit now looked like a man dressed in captain’s robes, wearing the mark of an assigned Key for one of the crystal doors.

Lyssandra blanched. Noticing, Sharif said, “What is wrong?”

“That captain. I recognize him — from my dream.”

The tiny man’s face was distraught, his voice hoarse. “This is Captain Argo, en route from Afirik. We are under attack! Merlons have stranded us on the reefs of Ophir. They cut the anchor chain and drove my ship onto the rocks. The merlons are surrounding us, closing in!

“I am heavily loaded with a hold full of star aja crystals. I have twelve able-bodied sailors aboard, as well as a sage from Afirik and his apprentice, both on their way to Elantya. I am arming everyone, but I doubt we will survive this night.” The figure of the captain bent over and spoke toward the floor. “Go now! Take this message to someone from Elantya. Swim as fast as you can!”

“Cool,” Vic said. “The aquit must be kinda like a living recording device — a chameleon that can absorb the words and image of whoever is talking.”

Finished with its message, the creature shifted back to its normal form, balanced on his merman tail. Lyssandra splashed it with water from beneath the dock to refresh it. “Would you like to go back into the sea? Or would you prefer a tank where we will feed you?”

“Tank, please,” the aquit said in a piping voice. “Too dangerous out there. Sharks, merlons, sea serpents.… I was chased by predators all the way.”

Without explaining his actions, Sharif hurried to one of the ships tied to the dock, spoke to a concerned-looking first mate, and soon returned with a borrowed ceramic basin, which he filled with sea water. Once placed in the basin, the
aquit happily swam in circles like a tiny person in a miniature swimming pool.

Finally, the inbound ship arrived at the docks. The guardian galleys rowed away, leaving the sages and sailors to guide the ship in. Working together, harbor crewmen rushed forward to catch ropes and tie them to big rings on the pilings.

Sailors on the ship’s deck bellowed orders, and sweating men and women turned a winch that raised a sturdy fishnet into the air and swung it on a block and tackle over to an unloading platform on the wharf. “This is all we found floating out in the open water,” one of the seamen called down.

When the net was emptied of its contents, Gwen could see splintered wood planking from the hull of a large ship. Attached to one piece of scrolled deck rail was a xyridium plaque inscribed with identification symbols. Lyssandra recognized the markings. “That was Captain Argo’s ship.”

“There seems to be very little left of it,” Sharif said.

Seamen spoke in superstitious whispers. Embedded in one of the planks was a burnished reptilian scale the size of Gwen’s hand. The scale shimmered with rainbow ridges, and she tried to calculate the size of the creature that had shed it.