Chapter 36—The Truth

Ranger barked, reminding them of their mission to identify the crystals. The team made their way, more slowly this time, to the area of fallen stones Ranger had been nosing around.

Christina stared down. "Are you guys seeing what I'm seeing? Look real close."

"I don't think so," Jake said, not seeing anything in particular.

"Don't you see a kind of shimmer over some stones and not others? Like hazy waves over desert sand? I think it's called a heat shimmer."

"Wow, yeah." Jake squatted down to look closer. "I do see shimmers, but not on all of them."

The longer they stared, the more apparent the tremulous waves seemed.

"Let's each pick one up," Christina suggested, not knowing where her ideas were coming from, but realizing she was streaming some kind of intuitive know-how.

One shiny stone caught Jake's eye. "I'm getting hot." He worried he might be more injured than he realized.

"Is it in your chest?" Nikki asked.

Jake closed his eyes and touched his chest. "Yeah, this whole area is warming up."

"I think this might be another clue," Nikki said. "Jesse told me everyone's hearts warmed up when they identified their crystals."

"Their crystals?" Devin sounded suspicious. "Jesse's looking for crystals too? You said he was in France, right?" Nikki's face flushed beet red.

All along Devin had been dubious about the premise of the search—crystals illuminating with UV light—teenagers doing work for NASA? It didn't make sense.

"What's going on, Nikki?" Devin leaned on his good leg with the help of Jake's pole.

"Yeah, Nikki," Jake said, taking off his hat and finger brushing his hair. "What's really going on here?"

Nikki had hoped she wouldn't have to tell the truth until after at least one crystal lit up. Then her story would make sense. The supernatural was outside her vocabulary and she had no idea where to begin. Her teammates glared at her while waiting for an explanation—the true explanation—of why they were in these caves. Nikki's eyes widened and her mouth moved, yet no words came to her.

"Come on, Nikki," Devin prodded. "We have a right to know. We're all pretty invested in this expedition. Three days in the tunnels, and for what? You have to tell us."

For the first time in her life Nikki was speechless. She put her hands over her face and thought she might faint. Panic fueled a jumble of words inside her head, but they would not form a complete sentence. They won't believe me, she thought, over and over again.

Then she felt a large, warm body against hers and peeked through her fingers to see Ranger looking up. He barked once, twice, and then unleashed an endless round that echoed back and forth in the cavernous room. Nikki held up both hands and the barking stopped. He sat back patiently.

The others remained silent to give her time. Nikki took a deep breath and pointed to a flat ledge. "Let's go sit. I don't know if you'll believe me, but I'll tell you everything."

The four walked to the ledge and sat down. Devin stretched his leg out with a grimace. Ranger curled up next to Nikki and put his head on her lap. Christina rubbed her necklace and Jake rubbed his head. When everyone was settled, Nikki began her story.

"Last month Jesse, Chaz, and I were inside this crater base. We were told a certain cave had a vein of unique crystals. That much is true. We wanted to sell the gems and make a little money for computer games. Then..." She gazed into the distance, visualizing what came next.

"Go on," Jake said quietly.

"Then there was this sudden wind and we...we saw something...unusual. A concentration of light particles appeared out of nowhere. After a while they coalesced into a kind of light halo that hovered over us. Ranger saw it too." Nikki stopped to gauge their reactions. They looked interested. No one laughed. She continued.

"After a while the light halo shifted into something different. We watched a form take shape inside. It looked like an angel." She had never breathed a word of this to anyone.

No one spoke. Christina nodded, urging her on. Devin's face was neutral, but his eyes held a trace of suspicion. Nikki understood his skepticism and would have felt the same way had someone told her such a far out story.

"Was it really an angel?" Christina asked, rubbing her tourmaline.

"Yes...it was," Nikki whispered.

"How can you know that for sure?" Devin asked, and moved his leg, wincing.

"We know because she spoke inside our heads and called it a telepathic link. Of course I was skeptical. I thought it was a hoax. But it was impossible to explain the campfire she created by throwing a ball of fire from her hand to the ground. And equally hard to explain her voice speaking as we are right now, only inside my head—inside all our heads."

"What did she say?" Christina looked radiant. Jake leaned in, craving more. Devin sat stone still, his lips tight.

"She asked us to go on a quest—to find a group of unique crystals, twenty to be exact. She said that we three were chosen to lead expeditions here, in France, and in New Zealand, and these crystals, once found and connected, would form a chain of light in the atmosphere surrounding the planet. She called it a crystal chain. And the connection—the illumination—had to occur on this June full moon. Once the crystal chain was activated, the planet would change for the better."

Then Nikki stopped speaking. Ranger made a whining sound as Nikki's teammates contemplated the implications.

Devin shook his head back and forth ever so slightly while rubbing his leg above the bandages. Then he spoke. "Nikki, do you really expect me to believe this? I think you and your pals had been doing too much climbing at oxygen-deprivation levels."

"Well, I for one believe her," Christina said, putting her arm around Nikki's shoulder. "I think anything's possible when it comes to this fantastic universe we live in."

Nikki sniffed and nodded appreciatively. Then she looked at Jake.

"I have to believe you, Nikki," he said. "You're the only person I know who would never fall for something like this unless it was true. And you've always been honest, sometimes uncomfortably so, if you don't mind my saying it. And another thing: even if you are lying, I don't think you, of all people, could come up with such a fairy tale." Then he laughed. "I mean, really," he said, now dropping into near mania. "Nikki, our own little Einstein, talking about angels and celestial beings? Never in a million years."

Nikki giggled. Then Christina laughed. Even Devin had to chuckle at the thought of his nerdy pal regaling them with fables of supernatural powers and magic.

"Okay, you've got me there," Nikki said. "Are you ready for the rest of the story now?"

"Well, yeah," Jake said, and he and Christina moved closer.

Devin held back, still not totally in. He wasn't about to let a bunch of eighth graders draw him into some fantasy world.