MystikQuest by Jeff Schanz (websites to read books for free txt) 📕

need to keep the rock secret was overridden by the need to stop the burning. As Wes dug his fingers into his pocket, they were met by searing heat. “Ahhh!” He yanked his hand back, shaking off the pain. Almost immediately, the pain priority switched back to his leg. Unable to touch the burning thing, or get it out of his pocket, Wes started dancing on his tiptoes, fumbling with his zipper.

“What the…?” said Marc.

“Something smells bad,” said Schroeder.

A moment later, a flash of flame and wisp of smoke came from Wes’s pocket. Abandoning the stuck zipper, he tried to yank the pocket away from his skin. A smoldering hole appeared in his jeans, revealing that the rock had become a glowing ember, heat waves rippling from its surface. The ember tumbled from the hole in Wes’s pocket and bounced off a bookshelf onto the carpeted floor. It abruptly came to rest, sizzling through the carpet fibers and sending up grey smoke.

Ignoring the significance of the rock becoming red-hot on its own, AJ cried out, “Shit! It’s burning the carpet! My dad’ll kill me.”

Tyler appeared from seemingly nowhere and dumped a glass of water on the rock. Considering that the glowing rock hadn’t caught on fire by conventional means, Wes wasn’t anticipating water would douse the magical burning thing. However, it did precisely that, turning the rock almost instantly back to grey, and shooting a puff of thick steam into the air.

“What the hell?” said Marc.

Everyone except Katie and Schroeder began to gather around the steaming rock. No longer glowing, the rock should’ve looked the way it had before, but it seemed to have morphed into a new shape with lumps, crevices, and bubbles that resembled a cooled lava rock. It had scorched an area of the carpet around its perimeter.

“Wow,” murmured Wes, rubbing the sore skin of his hip through the hole in his pants.

AJ shook his head. “You think it’ll catch on fire again?”

No one knew what in the world happened, much less what still might. But the rock wasn’t currently on fire, so perhaps whatever it was doing, it was done. Wes bent down to get a closer look.

A crackling sound came from the rock and everyone jumped a little. Katie had joined the group and leaned her head in. “What is that thing?”

AJ spread out his arms to press people back. “It might be hatching!”

“Come on, it’s not an…” started Wes, then stopped himself. He was going to say “egg” until he considered that he had no idea whether it was or wasn’t.

A moment later, his confusion grew. The rock exterior split again, then splintered into a spider web of smaller cracks. Oh, my god, it is hatching! A small spray of dust shot out of the new crevices, and an unknown force within caused the rock to wobble. Like some supernatural thing bursting from a cocoon, shards of rock hull shot off and made a rubble circle around the exposed object. A wave of air whooshed through the room, ruffling everyone’s clothes and hair.

“Whoa!” said Marc, stumbling backward a step.

Free from the crust that had encased it, a glowing green gem, bound in a metal design, beamed brightly up, bathing the kids’ faces in pale light.

CHAPTER 6

 

 

Sneakers scrambled backward, leaving Wes the closest person to the glowing artifact.

“Wes! Get back,” called Marc.

Wes was caught between panic and amazement. Both feelings canceled each other out and he stood numb and still.

“What the hell is that!?” said Tyler.

“It looks like jewelry,” said Schroeder.

“Did you see what thing did?” asked Marc. “It’s, like, alive or something.”

“Don’t touch it, dude!” yelled AJ.

Wes was wondering who AJ was addressing when he suddenly noticed himself, as if it was an out of body experience, bent over, in process of reaching for the glowing object. Jeez! He jerked his hand back and stood straight up.

“Come on, man, get back,” said Marc, spreading his arms wide to move everyone else as well. “Give it some space.”

AJ had scrambled off and returned with something that looked like giant tongs. His hands were covered in oversized gloves. “Clear out. Let’s go. Jesus, Wes, back off.” Wes finally took several steps back and AJ aimed the giant tongs down at the bright object on the floor. “I got nowhere to put this thing. Somebody get me a container.”

Marc ran to the cabinets in the corner of the room.

The tips of AJ’s tongs approached the object, resembling a slow-motion video of a crocodile lunging at a bird.

“Careful, AJ,” said Wes.

“Gee, really?” said AJ.

One tong shoveled its way under the object, rolling it a few degrees. The kids all gasped simultaneously. When nothing else happened, there was a collective breath.

“Ok, here goes,” said AJ.

The tong tips came together with the glowing object pinched in between. Nothing flamed or exploded.

“Container!” called AJ.

“Got it!” answered Marc.

Marc was standing near the table they had been using for MystikQuest. In the center was a steel cylinder. The crowd surged back quickly as AJ wheeled around, tongs in hand, then everyone followed him as he walked stiffly to the table and positioned the tongs above the cylinder. Opening the tips just a little, the object wobbled, then dropped, clinking inside the cylinder. Only then did Wes notice what special container had been chosen to carry the monumentally amazing artifact.

“A Thermos?” said Wes, reading the name brand aloud.

“There wasn’t anything else,” said Marc, both defensive and nervous. “We need like a lead box on poles, or something, but we don’t have anything like that.”

Nothing else had happened, despite the manhandling of the artifact. AJ leaned his face over the Thermos opening.

“Careful, man!” said Tyler. “It might be, I don’t know, radioactive.”

Marc and Schroeder said simultaneously, “It’s not.”

Schroeder offered further explanation. “A radioactive isotope would’ve already affected our bodies, and subsequently this container wouldn’t…”

“They get it, Schroeder,” interrupted AJ. He pulled back from examining the object inside the Thermos. “It’s fine guys. This’ll do.”

All the boys took turns peeking over the Thermos’s top. Though Wes had been closest to the stone after it had exposed itself, he still hadn’t examined it. It was a conical, faceted gem, emitting a bright green light between the bonds of some kind of copper-colored metal that wound around the stone in a slanted, geometric pattern. The design culminated at ornate caps on both ends. It was like a tiny lantern. Despite its recent weird behavior, it looked serene and kind of pretty. Wes leaned back to consider what all this meant.

Marc cautiously placed the Thermos lid on top, getting braver as he twisted the lid.

“Seriously, guys,” said Tyler. “Whatever that is, you should get it outta here.”

“It appears to be a magic stone that belongs to a wizard,” said Schroeder.

“Shhh,” said Marc.

Schroeder ignored the plea. “Since it was found in the possession of a wizard goblin familiar, it likely has valuable magic properties.”

“Dude!” said AJ. “Shu’up.”

“Excuse me?” said Tyler. He was smiling, but the smile looked like it was borrowed from a sneer. “Look, you guys, this isn’t some goofy fantasy movie. This is something dangerous, probably radioactive or…”

“It’s not!” shouted Wes, AJ, Marc, and Schroeder.

“You might be killing all of us right now,” said Tyler, undeterred. “A freakin’ Thermos isn’t going to do anything. You need to get that thing to a lab, somewhere.”

“No one can know it’s here,” said Wes, without realizing he had verbalized his thought.

“Why?” asked Tyler, not looking like he expected a legitimate answer.

“The, uh – the person that, uh… Well, I took it from a, uh…” Wes had no answer that sounded remotely rational. How could he tell Tyler that a goblin tried to steal it for some unknown master, who may or may not be an evil wizard? Actually, Schroeder kinda did, already. “I, uh, kinda had it for a while,” said Wes, feeling it was the easiest answer, and also the truth. “I found it when I dug out the fire pit in my camp. It kinda looked like an old arrowhead, so I kept it.” The more Wes talked about it, the sillier he felt. Until today, Wes had lived under the same assumption as 99.9% of the population that magic and goblins were just fiction. But right in his own backyard, he had stumbled on a significant discovery that a mythical creature was willing to expose itself and die in order to… what? What did it need to do? Give it to his master? For what purpose? What did this glowing stone do? All Wes knew was that it needed to be protected from those who might seek it for evil purposes. And from those who would accidentally, albeit innocently, give away its location.

“Look, guys,” said Tyler. “I’m sorry, but you don’t know what you’ve got. It looks really dangerous.” Tyler started to ascend the staircase.

“Wait!” cried Wes.

Tyler shook his head. “No playing around. Our parents need to know. They might know what to do.”

“No!” Wes ran after Tyler. “No one can know. It could – could…”

Wes clutched Tyler’s arm who shrugged it off easily. Tyler had a glaring physical advantage over Wes, especially since he was older, bigger, and played sports. Wes contorted, trying to regain purchase, but Tyler had already moved away too quickly and Wes lost balance, toppling into the banister. His back foot reached back to arrest his fall, only succeeding in slipping off the edge of another step. Wes tumbled down the stairs. He never lost consciousness, but he did see stars. As he lay on the basement floor, he wasn’t sure precisely what he was looking at until he saw a face.

“You ok?” said the face.

Wes’s vision was swimming, taking several moments to focus enough for him to recognize who was staring down at him.

Katie? “Uh huh,” said Wes groggily.

She looked up angrily at her brother. “Jesus, Ty!”

“I didn’t do anything! He fell.” Tyler slumped and shook his head. “I’m really sorry, Wes. Didn’t mean to…” He sighed and turned back to the upper stairs. “Just need to tell our parents, that’s all. For everyone’s safety.”

AJ and Marc made motions like they were going to intervene, but neither looked confident that they would fare any better than Wes. Tyler reached the top stair and opened the door.

“Congratulations, Ty, you just won douchebag of the year!” AJ taunted. “You weren’t even invited here, ya nark!”

For once, Wes was in agreement with one of AJ’s put-downs, and would’ve smiled if he wasn’t so concerned about the bigger picture. And if his head didn’t hurt so much.

“Ow,” he said softly.

“Seriously, are you ok?” asked Katie.

Instead of nodding, which might make him wince from the pain in his head, and discredit his brave façade, it felt safer to say, “Yeah,” in a whisper. Despite the sore circumstances, looking into Katie’s concerned eyes for that brief moment was really nice, and he was wishing she would look at him again. She was staring up the stairs, assumedly at Tyler, when her jaw suddenly dropped and she stopped blinking. Now what?

“Katie?” he asked.

No response. She was statue still. What the heck? Wes wrenched his aching head to see what had captivated her. What he saw captivated him too.

“I – I, don’t…” Tyler was backing up from the open door, supporting his weight against the wall of the landing. “It’s… Guys, I don’t…” Tyler was visibly shaking.

Katie hadn’t done much more than straighten up, still looking at the open stairwell door. AJ, Marc, and Schroeder were now at the bottom of the stairs, all equally speechless.

There were no adequate words that could explain what they all saw.

Outside the stairwell door should be AJ’s kitchen, and at the angle Wes at looking, he should see ceiling tiles and light fixtures. Instead, he was staring at blue skies and drifting clouds, as if the kitchen didn’t exist at all.

**End of sample**

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