Archie Swimmer was a trusting man. He knew what he had to do, but didn’t know why. He thought back to the man in the restaurant with the briefcase. What was his name? Only now, seventeen hours later, did he realize that he had never asked and the man had never told him. If problems occurred, he had no name, no contact number or address and had no idea what his face looked like behind the dark sunglasses and the navy chequered scarf that covered his nose and mouth.
A building loomed up on his right and he made a beeline towards it, the heat here was clingy, his collar irritated his neck and he was desperate to loosen the red and white striped tie that felt ever tighter with every step.
Archie didn’t know where he was, except he was sure he was in India. The humidity, the golden brown sand and the slight smell of curry lingering on the air gave it away. He was looking for the Necro Building, a large business in India, he had heard. He took a quick glance back. The car had gone, he had been dropped off here – not told where or what time it was, just that he would get his money when he found and brought back the girl. Leah Davis. She was somehow important, he didn’t care. He forced the thought of evil out of his mind and thought of the rewards. Five million pounds for him and his family, he thought of his son, Terry, and his wife, Paula, sitting at home with no idea where he was. Archie thought of what to say to them, he would just turn up after leaving for a week with no explanation and no real reason for leaving in the first place. He would turn up at Dover and catch the ferry to Calais, on the French coast. They would travel across the countries and set up a new life far away from their flat on the dirty streets of Blackpool.
“Hello and welcome to the Necro Corporation, my name is Rocha; can I help you with anything?” The receptionist spoke English but with an Indian accent. She must have been born in India but had a good education. Her long black hair was a bit matted and her dark skin glowed in the morning sun.
“Yes actually, I need to see a Miss L Davis. Do you know where I can find her?” Archie put on a smart voice and tried to look sophisticated through posture.
“Why do you need to see Miss Davis?” Rocha was suddenly very wary, her accent was stronger and her words were sharp. Archie realised that Leah was an important girl to the company, he wondered whether or not to say that it didn’t matter and that he would call her later as an excuse.
“I...” Archie hoped this would work, “Please don’t phone up and tell her because its a surprise but I’m going to propose to her.”
“Ahh, I see! You must be Westley, she talks about you a lot. Good luck.” Rocha’s voice softened straight away, she had fallen for the reason although the smallest thing could have given it away: Rocha could have seen Westley, or she could have asked for his name before asking for his reason to see Leah. His day was going well, he shrugged his shoulders and walked past Rocha to the guest elevators. Floor seventeen. The heat in the elevator wrapped around him and held him tight; he never really had any claustrophobia until now in the cramped metal box. He urged the elevator to move more quickly. The heat was making him more anxious and a lot less comfortable. Floor twelve; an elderly lady clambered into the elevator in the place of a tall Polish man who must have been in his thirties. She coughed and nearly fell onto Archie who moved backwards to allow the lady to fall. The other people in the elevator rushed over to help, that was when Archie saw the small gun in the elderly woman’s belt. Archie leant down but the woman knew straight away, shrieking and saying that he was trying to steal her purse. There was a guard in the elevator who pushed Archie back and glared at him. It reminded Archie of the video his son watched of tigers staring at each other like a method of communication. Only now did he realize that that the guard was trying to tell him to back off. Archie held his arms up and the familiar bell of the arrival at the destination floor chimed. He walked backwards out of the elevator and crashed into a woman in a long red dress. He felt the hot coffee spill down the back of his suit, making him even more warm.
“I’m so… I mean how and… sorry mate, I don’t advise walking backwards in here, sometimes thieves get in.” The woman muttered, blinking her hazel eyes in quick succession.
“It’s fine, seriously. I was going to wash this anyway.” Archie said, breathing deeply and staring at the young woman in front of him, “Do you know where I can find a Miss L Davis?”
“Sure, you’re staring at her. Do you want to talk in my office?” Leah smiled and gestured towards a door seven metres away with a sign saying: “Necro Women: L Davis, Editor and Head Journalist.”
Archie realised that ‘Necro Women’ was one of the most famous magazines in India. It was the typical health, beauty and ‘how to…’ magazine for girls.
Leah opened the door, “Please, take a seat.” She hadn’t picked up an Indian accent at all and Archie was sure that she must have originally come from Leeds or North Yorkshire.
“Thanks,” Archie wasn’t looking forward to the rest of the plan. He had agreed to it the moment the money was mentioned, five million pounds and it would all be his soon. He walked over to the window, pretending to be admiring the sandy view. Really, he was looking for the black car that should pull up soon with an escape and his money, also – one of the men was going undercover as a window cleaner, this would be the way down back to the car. A building this high used electricity powered platforms which went up and down the building. He could see it slowly moving up. He needed to buy some time.
“Excuse me, may I ask what you wanted?” Leah craned her neck to see what Archie was looking at.
“Yes! Sorry, my name is Archie and I wanted to show you a report I have been writing for a while. I think it’s the kind of material that your magazine has been waiting for.” This, of course, was a lie. Archie lifted his briefcase up onto Leah’s desk and opened it so that she couldn’t see what was inside. Under all the paperwork, a gun loaded with a single tranquiliser dart lay. He glanced over at the window and saw the muddy blue window cleaner’s hat appear, slowly rising up from the floor below. The man raised his eyebrows and Archie raised the gun.
“Please, sir!” Leah’s voice was soft and she backed against the wall, shaking.
“I’m sorry, I swear.” Archie pulled the trigger and the dart hit Leah near her collarbone and she stared at it like it was alive. Her eyes widened and she collapsed onto the floor. Archie dragged the body to the window and opened it.
“About time. Seriously, I thought I would have to clean every damn window in this place. Let’s get her down to the car.” The window cleaner was wearing a typical discoloured uniform that all window cleaners wore. The overalls looked out of place in the sandy terrain setting. He had dark glasses on and the collar was tucked up around his neck; Archie couldn’t help wondering how warm the man was.
“Ok, we’re going to have to hide her behind something because lots of people look out of their office windows.” The false window cleaner coughed and pushed forward a few buckets and bags of sponges.
“Good idea, won’t people wonder why I’m on here?” Archie questioned, his voice muffled as he lifted the unconscious woman.
“No. Pull this over your clothes and you will look like my assistant.” The man handed over an equally scruffy blue uniform. He shook it to get a small amount of the sand off before pulling it over his suit. He thought that he would die in the suit, from the immense heat that clung to him. This really was pushing himself to the limit. The floppy hat was far too big for Archie and it fell over his eyes, he went to lift it up and the man stopped him.
“Keep your eyes hidden, you might be recognised!” he hissed the words like spitting venom, Archie felt small compared to the secretive man. They stood so that nobody could see the motionless body of Leah Davis and then pressed a little black button marked with an arrow pointing at the floor. The platform gave an unsteady jolt before groaning and moving down to floor sixteen. Archie’s heart was pounding in his chest, he took a deep breath and realized that he had done it. “It’s mission complete then?” Archie joked to the man next to him. Archie was sure that he didn’t smile.
“No, it’s not. A lot can go wrong on the exit.” His voice was harsh and cut through him like the wind carrying the sand.
“Yes, I just meant...” Archie began.
“Irrelevant!” Snapped the window cleaner, “Be quiet and stay still.”
Archie felt like a child told to leave his toys and not to play; small and insignificant. They stood in silence all the way down to the ground floor, the doors of the black car opened and a man in a black suit and tie got out. He was Indian, dark skinned and had dull green eyes. Archie would never forget what he looked like. His hands were strange, patterns were tattooed into them like ancient drawings.
“I’m Rascan, that’s all you need to know. Get in the car and leave Jay to put the body in the back.” The man said, he was obviously Indian and had dark piercing eyes.
“Hello, I’m Archie...” Archie introduced himself although he knew they already knew everything about him, where he lived, who he lived with, his age, his family and their locations. This made him on-edge and uneasy.
The car set off, Leah was in a heavy black bag in the boot with her wrists tied together and tape across her mouth. They were soon on a deserted road and the man who had called himself Rascan threw a bag to him.
“We have a funeral to go to on the way, a temporary agent went down and we are paying respects for the little help he gave us. If you want to come, put the black stuff on instead of that grey rubbish you’re wearing.”
“Sure, I’ll come.” Archie said. He was feeling a little braver now and he decided to ask as none of the men in the car had mentioned it, “I believe I should be getting some form of payment?”
“Yes of course, Mr Swimmer. We will pick it up after the funeral.” A woman, she was Chinese and had pale skin with dark eyes, was the speaker this time.
“Thanks, the job wasn’t that hard.” Archie said, modestly. He looked soft so he changed his tone: “Well I could of handled a lot worse, guards, security cameras and all that.”
“A quick test then, I’m guessing you won’t mind. Well, can you...?” The woman said, ending sharply as Rascan held up his hand.
“Can you, Mr Swimmer, dodge bullets?” Rascan raised the gun and fired three times; once through the shoulder and twice through the arm. Archie slumped back against the leather seats. He groaned: “Why?”
“Mr Swimmer, you failed to ask who the funeral was for.” Rascan stated. The driver pulled over and a small trench had been dug in the roadside. There was already two people near the hole, waiting for the not-so-professional ceremony.
“Paula...” Archie groaned, seeing the girl dressed in a beautiful little black dress and high heels.
“Sorry Archie, Terry never really knew you... too many buisness trips so it shouldn’t affect him when you don’t come home.” Paula-May Swimmer, Archie’s wife, was stood next to the trench. Rascan walked over to her and handed her his gun.
“My dear, take aim and fire when you are ready.” Rascan put an arm around her waist as she raised the gun.
“Paula...” Archie hissed, “Please don’t do this...”
“My name...” Paula said, “Is Paula-May and I want a divorce!”
Her finger with a silver ring on it and diamonds studded into the small frosted hearts all around it, tightened on the trigger. The blowback was sudden and Archie tumbled into the small rectangular hole that was his grave.
“Through the chest, a trully great shot. My name is Feu.” The Chinese woman said, “And we want you to work for us.”
“The pay is…?” Paula asked.
“Satisfactory,” Feu said, “To extraordinary.”
Paula understood that the pay depended on the mission. She jumped into the grave with the dead man and reached down for the black string that he always wore around his neck, a small crystal hung on it. Archie had handmade it when he found the crystal in the garden one day. He hadn’t taken it off since; this was partly because he hadn’t made a clasp so once he had tied it around his neck, the glue dried on the knot and it was too tight to get off again.
“May I keep this?” Paula held up the tattered string which she had snapped and dangled it so that the crystal didn’t fall off.
“A small blue rock is off no use to us, feel free.” Rascan said, “Now come on, we need to fill in the hole before anyone sees us.”
Far away from India, Leah Davis, and the late Archie Swimmer; a young girl called Mia Evans was talking to her friend on her shiny new iPhone.
“I can’t believe Mrs. Smith gave us another essay!” Mia moaned.
“I know it’s so unfair!” Mia’s friend, Gabrielle, said. Gabrielle and Mia were different in many ways, Gabrielle was tall and Mia was shorter, Gabrielle had shiny blonde hair and green eyes but Mia had black hair with electric blue eyes; despite the differences they were such good friends!
“Anyway Mia, thanks for calling but Mum says I have to go now!” Gabrielle said, picking up the tennis racket at the bottom of the cupboard and starring at the sunny weather outside.
“Ok, see you later – bye!” Mia said; touching the screen on the iPhone and putting it back on its charger. Gabrielle must be going out to play tennis – Mia was sure of it. Oh well, she was planning to go to play dodge ball with Kate at the gym. Kate was the owner of the school dodge ball team and with good reason: her aim was incredible and she had the ability to catch balls, dodge fast throws and organize her team in games.
“Mia, Kate’s at the door for you.” It was Mia’s Mum, Erin.
“Can I go play dodge ball?” Mia asked, following her Mum to the doorway where Kate was standing.
“Sure... be back at half past four for dinner!” Erin said. The pair left for the gym; Kate spoke about her newest tactics for the tournament but Mia wasn’t listening. There was something about today, she felt like she was being watched – but she wasn’t. There was no one around apart from herself and Kate. It was weird.
“Kate, stop for a minute.” Mia whispered.
“Sorry, am I boring you?” Kate asked, confused at Mia’s sudden reaction.
“Sshh,” Mia hissed.
Kate did as she was told and stood, rooted to the spot. They heard a rustle in the bushes, Mia shivered despite the warm sunshine. She walked up to the bush and saw a flash of gold, Mia leapt back.
“What is it?” Kate asked, and she too approached the bush. The rustling continued and Mia stood next to Kate, wondering what would happen next. There was a hiss and a cat pounced on a rock next to Mia; the girls jumped and then laughed, realizing that they had just been scared by Mrs Fig’s cat, Oscar.
“Oscar, you frightened us! Go back home to Mrs Fig and don’t stop in my garden along the way – my Mum’s allergic!” Mia said as though hoping Oscar would understand. He must have understood some of it because he set off in the direction of Mia’s neighbour’s house. Mia walked over to the bush Oscar had been in. A small purple crystal lay in the dirt. A small hole had been made through the top and a black string had been fed through; Mia scooped it up and pocketed it, immediately identifying it as an Amethyst. She had a book on crystals and enjoyed reading about the healing powers that some people believed each crystal had.
“I wonder who lost that, it’s not as though people go around dropping necklaces into bushes, is it?” Kate said, rubbing her fingers through her short brown hair. She had a very stylish cut with a side fringe which made her green eyes stand out.
“Yeah, I know. Oh well, let’s go.” Mia said, still a little puzzled but not really too bothered.
In the tennis courts, about half a mile away from the road Mia and Kate were walking down, Gabrielle had been playing tennis. She was winning forty to fifteen and three games to one so she had stopped for a drink and a cheese sandwich. She never usually left the bench where she ate but this time she got restless and had a walk just round the outside of the courts. The soil was dry and many butterflies were gathering around the brightest flowers, Gabrielle loved watching them – they were so graceful and light. Gabrielle thought of butterflies whilst playing tennis, light but graceful; this is how she tried to play. She saw a small black string in the dust and picked it up; she didn’t like litter and was planning to deposit it in the courts bin as soon as she could.
“Wow, a necklace!” Gabrielle exclaimed. She looked around for anyone in the court garden who could have dropped it; no one was in sight. She wondered where it had come from, such a beautifully carved crystal. It was her favourite colour which was the colour of her eyes: green and she was sure that Mia would identify it for her later.
“Gabrielle, lunch break is over – time to continue.” Called a voice from inside the court, Gabrielle walked back to the court and raised her racket – ready to play.
In a fancy hotel in India, a girl checked in with the name Paula-May, she had a son with her who was called Terry Swimmer and they had just taken the elevator to their suite, number thirty one. Paula had a blue crystal in her hand hanging from a tatty black string. She had just been into town to the shop that sold luck charms, crystals, ancient runes and scented sticks. The old lady behind the counter had identified the stone as a piece of Lapis Lazuli; not very precious but quite pretty. Terry had asked Paula many times the same thing:
“Mummy, when is Daddy coming home?”
Paula had given the same answer every time to the young boy with pleading eyes:
“Daddy isn’t coming home, Terry.”
Terry never asked where his Dad was or why she he wasn’t coming home because he knew he would probably get given another useless answer.
“Mummy,” Terry said.
“Yes, Terry, what’s wrong?” Paula said, secretly wishing that he would just shut up and go to sleep on the lovely warm bed in the corner.
“Can I have a biscuit please?” Terry asked.
“Sure!” Paula went into the little kitchen and opened a packet of biscuits; they were chocolate chip and looked very nice but Terry wasn’t interested. Paula had never cared about crystals and now she was clutching the one that Archie wore as though it was sacred. As she walked into the kitchen, she had put in on the side table. Terry picked it up and put it in his pocket, hiding it from Paula.
“Oh, Terry, we are going home tomorrow – back to England.” Paula said.
“Yay, thank you Mummy, I can’t wait to see Lolly!” Terry said.
“Oh yes, the cat – Lolly is probably waiting for you!” Paula assured.
Gabrielle set off to walk to Mia’s house, she had the crystal in her pocket but she didn’t want it there. For some reason she just wanted to hold it or wear it. She found herself staring at it for long periods of time without thinking anything and this frightened her a little.
Mia heard the doorbell and ran downstairs to see who it was. She opened the door and Gabrielle walked in, nodding at Erin – Mia’s Mum and handing Mia the strange necklace with the crystal on it.
“Whoa! I found one of these today in a bush on the way to the gym.” Mia gasped; she took it to the book and looked for the correct match.
“Green Aventurine, that’s what you have on your necklace; I’m sure when I found mine I identified it correctly as an Amethyst.” Mia said, quickly checking and approving her match.
“Green Aventurine,” Gabrielle said, “Mia, do you always want to be near the crystal?”
Mia nodded and then looked at Gabrielle curiously, “Do you think there’s more; people with the black string and crystals?”
It was plain to see that Gabrielle was deep in thought about her proposal. Eventually she nodded.
“Possible I guess.” Gabrielle shrugged; the crystal slipped through her fingers and fell directly onto Mia’s piece of Amethyst. A strange light came up from them and instinctively Gabrielle seized the black string but was too late. The light engulfed the pair and they were pulled away from the real world into a new one.
“W-w-where... w-where the hell is this?” Gabrielle’s head was spinning and her patience was wearing a bit too thin for Mia’s liking.
“I don’t know, Gabrielle, I think it happened when the crystals touched.” Mia mumbled, not liking the tone Gabrielle was using.
“Oh yeah right, they’re only rocks!” Gabrielle said, standing up and walking around the small area. I couldn’t call it a room because that wasn’t what it was. It was just white light everywhere.
“You should listen to your friend, Gabrielle. She is speaking sense.” A woman had appeared through what was like a ball of purple swirly mist.
“Who are you?” Mia said, running to Gabrielle.
“My name is Roxanne Winters. I own the circle of crystal necklaces but I lost control of the power many years ago when the Crystal Keepers were defeated at the Crystal Gate.” The woman said, gesturing her arms in flowing motions.
“You lost what at the Crystal Gate with the Crystal what?” Gabrielle said, confused.
“I’ll explain...” Roxanne said. She began a story about how many years ago a rainbow formed without the rain or the sun and in the centre, a black string fell with ten crystals hanging from it. They were in ten different colours: red, orange, yellow, green, light blue, dark blue, purple, pink, black and white. Each crystal separated onto an individual string and fell into different parts of the world. Each carrier could activate crystals and become their “keeper” which meant protecting them from what the rainbow opened when it dropped the crystals: The Crystal Gate which was forced open and the Venom Ones came through. The Venom Ones, she had explained, were people who poisoned the minds of species to make them cruel and unhappy. They would set out to tear the world apart but the Crystal Keepers were there to stop them. Crystal Keepers were also known by most species as ‘Gate keepers’ as they built gates to keep evil out of kind species’ homes.
“So can we be Crystal Keepers? I mean, we did find the crystals!” Mia said.
“Sure, but you have to travel through dimensions and lands far from home, far from Earth and then the Crystals will give you powers! What the powers will be are unknown but they will be strong and you will have to control them for the fights with the Venom Ones, they can also be called the Venom Holders so watch out.” Roxanne warned.
“Different worlds... I used to dream of exploring and freedom to go where I wanted to see next!” Gabrielle admitted, passing the Crystal to Roxanne.
“Mia...?” Roxanne said.
“Yes, I will join Gabrielle.” Mia squeaked.
Roxanne took both Crystals and pulled some metal lockets out of her coat. They were circular and looked quite boring but Mia knew something extraordinary was going to occur.
Roxanne raised a metal pole above the piece of Aventurine; she used all of her strength to smash the Crystal in half. She blew on the Crystal and held a half in each hand, she shook them and then opened the locket. She lifted each half of the Crystal individually and tipped them up as though pouring something into the locket. Sure enough, she was pouring something into the locket – a fine powdered Crystal which was green like the Aventurine.
“Powdered Aventurine,” Mia said.
“No, they are small Crystals of Aventurine – they are what give you the power.” Roxanne answered; she handed the locket to Gabrielle who put it on. It sat on top of her jumper and did nothing.
“It needs to touch the skin!” Roxanne said, answering the question that Gabrielle was clearly wondering at the time.
Soon, Mia had her locket and was desperate to place it on her skin and see what would happen, but she and Gabrielle were going to do it at the same time.
“Ready?” Gabrielle asked.
“As ever... come on!” Mia said; both girls held the locket and dropped it down the front of their t-shirts or jumpers. The chains of the lockets were around the girls’ necks already so that it didn’t slide all the way down their jumpers. Both girls fell back onto the floor and clutched at the jumper or t-shirt over the top of the locket. They were trying and failing to pull the lockets away from the skin, it felt like burning to Mia who was now rolling back and forth on her back, shrieking. Gabrielle was crawling, crying out for help but none came. Roxanne left through the strange ball of purple smoky mist; the girls were alone.
“Terry, have you seen my blue stone?” Paula called from the suite bedroom in the Indian hotel.
“No, Mummy!” Terry called, pushing the black string back into his pocket and scrabbling around the floor with a toy fire-engine.
Paula was walking around, unable to find the small blue crystal on a black string that she had put down somewhere before getting Terry some biscuits.
“Are you sure, Terry? If you find it, give it to me or you won’t get any birthday presents next week!” Paula warned harshly. This was more of a test than a threat – Terry wasn’t falling for it.
“Waaaahhh,” Terry cried, punching the floor, “But I don’t have it!” His act was realistic and Paula fell for it, “Ok, sweetie – you’ll get presents. Don’t cry now; ten-year-olds don’t cry so much.”
“Ok... I can’t wait to be eleven...” Terry sobbed, drying his eyes on his sleeves.
“Gabrielle...” Mia cried.
Back in the bizarre world of white light, Mia was sprawled out on the floor. All pain had ceased from the lockets but Gabrielle was still unconscious. Mia had woken up reasonably quickly and she pulled on the locket chain. The locket came up but looked a lot different than the plain metal circles that were there before. Mia’s was a flame with wings sticking out and a small black paw print in the centre.
“Hello, Animorph.” Roxanne had returned - Mia was glad to see her; she felt an itch and this confused her. It wasn’t the itch; it was where the itch was: too far back to be her arm, and too far to the right to be her back. She reached out for it and came into contact with feathers. She spun around to realise that she had beautiful white feather wings, “No, are they permanently sticking out?” Mia panicked, realising how she must look.
“No, you will learn through errors... Animorph,” Roxanne said.
“What is Animorph?” Mia said the word like it was some sort of deadly disease.
“You are the Animorph, morphing and animal combined.” Roxanne bowed her head in some sort of respect to her. Mia was confused.
“Morphing and animal...?”
“She means that you can morph into animals you idiot.” Gabrielle had finally woken up, she didn’t look any different.
“Gab, you’re ok!” Mia cheered, running over to greet her and knocking Roxanne flying with her wings.
“Fine, my locket looks like... a flower.” Gabrielle said, disappointed.
“Nature – one of the strongest forces in existence; you are very fast and strong.” Roxanne interjected.
Mia was desperately trying to morph into an animal but with difficulty, her skin was changing colour but she still looked human. Gabrielle was shooting vines out in front of her and practising tying knots without touching them.
“Also, I must have fire – my locket is mostly flame shaped.” Mia said after finally half changing into a rabbit and getting stuck with long pointed ears.
“That is correct, a hard power to master – you are the only one of your kind in existence. Fire is the one power told in the ancient prophecy to never be given out. You shouldn’t have the power; but you are living proof, this makes you different and strange... how did you get the flame?” Roxanne’s voice had started out soft but had soon become strong and violent.
“I... I... I DON’T KNOW!” Mia was suddenly very angry, she had no idea what could be out there or how her power worked – how would she know if she had been given the apparently non-existent power.
Gabrielle let out a low growl, her locket changed! It moved up by its own accord and hung in the air, in front of her eyes. It changed into a tornado suddenly. Her power of nature had changed its mind and swapped with weather control.
“Your locket changed, Gab!” Mia said.
“Yeah... I’m guessing our powers shouldn’t change when they feel like it either.” Gabrielle said.
“No... Strange to me – but you two are far from ordinary.” Roxanne said. “You will be able to use gateways to travel to different dimensions and worlds. Be sure to use your lockets to open and close the gates though. Leave this, the white light dimension, and start your journey forwards – help species and save all of the dimensions.”
A large green, swirling mist appeared. This was surely the gateway. Mia held up her locket and jumped, as the locket touched the gateway, Mia and Gabrielle were consumed in a mass of swirly green vapour; they were sucked towards the core which was spinning so fast that the girls couldn’t breathe.
“M-M-Mia...” Gabrielle gasped, as they were thrown out of the swirling mass and fell onto a strange terracotta coloured stony ground.
“Gabby, are you ok? Where are we...?” Mia whispered.
Gabrielle had a look around, she didn’t recognise anything.
“I-I’m not sure...” Gabrielle admitted.
“THE GATE KEEPERS ARE HERE!” Shouted a voice, it came from a huge shadow being cast by a swaying tree which was grey and navy blue.
“Who said that?” Mia was suddenly incredibly defensive and she wasn’t sure why.
“Mia Rosalie Evans, a pleasure to see you at last. Gabrielle Thrush – welcome, welcome.” The speaker was very bizarre; it was like a rabbit with a long tail and blue spots on brown fur.
“Umm, well hello, but where are we and what the hell are you?” Gabrielle said.
“Tibsy, Tibsy Zina the Rolocon.” Tibsy said.
“Rolocon...?” Mia asked quickly.
“Our species, the Rolocons, this is our world: Rolo Planet. It is also a welcoming resting place for the gate keepers.” Tibsy answered politely, Gabrielle was staring into the distance to see what else was around.
“So you know what we can do?” Mia said, desperate to understand what was happening.
“But of course not, we are a species, a noble species that specialize in providing a safe environment for the gate keepers to rest whilst protecting the universes.” Tibsy’s voice was suddenly anxious.
“Mia, don’t move at all... I don’t know why but DON’T MOVE!” Mia heard Gabrielle’s voice but Gabrielle hadn’t moved her mouth or made a sound.
“Gabrielle, is this a psychic ability...?” Mia said inside her head, hoping it would work.
“I think so.” Gabrielle said; Tibsy was staring at them – unable to hear the conversation going on between the two of them.
“Why shouldn’t I move?” Mia asked.
“Because...” Gabrielle started and then she looked back into the distance and suddenly reached forward with both hands, a small tornado appeared, she let go and it spun towards the red line on the horizon. Mia heard a crash and wondered what Gabrielle’s tornado had hit.
“Who are the Aronati?” Gabrielle demanded, pushing past Mia and seizing the rabbit-like creature.
“Aronati, they haven’t been here for many years – they were wiped out and shut in the Eagle gate in the Dead Dimension.” Tibsy squeaked, obviously petrified with the speed and precision of Gabrielle.
“Well the Eagle gate isn’t very strong because the Aronati are out and heading for us!” Gabrielle roared.
“But the gate keepers built the Eagle gate! Aronati shouldn’t be here – this is the work of the Venom Ones.” Tibsy cried, suddenly angry; so angry in fact, that he stopped struggling in Gabrielle’s grip.
“How do we defeat the Aronati?” Mia asked, stopping Gabrielle from squeezing the angry Rolocon.
“Rolo Root powder,” Tibsy said, “Which is lucky because the Rolo Root is a thriving plant around here.”
“Great, so what do we do with the Rolo Roots?” Mia said.
“Throw them into the Aronati’s eyes and then wait.” Tibsy said, a smile spreading across his face.
They were all busy collecting the bizarre pink Rolo Roots when a cry came from on the hill. It was a single creature running for Tibsy; it was like a Jack Russell but with no tail and black scaly wings and silver fur.
“Mia!” Gabrielle said, pointing to it.
Mia’s first impression was that it was incredibly ugly and her second was to move out of the way as it took flight and dropped something in front of Tibsy.
“Parchment...” Tibsy said, pulling the black ribbon from it so it unrolled.
“It says: ‘I, Rox of the Aronati, am willing to make a deal with the noble Rolocon Species. If you hand over the Crystal Keepers to us we will not harm your kind. We are here only for the humans and will leave with them without battle – if you agree to our terms, lead the gate keepers to us on Loro Hill or suffer the consequences: We will take them by force.’” Gabrielle was reading it out after snatching the parchment from Tibsy and looked in shock horror at Mia who was copying her, but looking at Tibsy.
“We would never hand over the gate keepers, not to any creature and especially not to these common... common filth!” Tibsy cried, his anger was rising and he was beginning to shake.
“Thank you.” Mia said, smiling at Tibsy and slicing another strange root.
“A pleasure, the gate keepers have saved our kind more times than I can count in the past. We will have to fight this out, which name to you prefer, Gate Keepers or Crystal Keepers?” Tibsy said.
On a first-class aeroplane, Paula-May Swimmer was asleep. Terry was carefully running the string from his crystal through his fingers. The air stewardess walked over to him and watched him.
“Excuse me!” She said, “Sorry to disturb, young sir but where did you get that necklace?”
“It was my dad’s; he found it in the garden.” Terry answered, he didn’t know what else – he only knew that his Dad had glued it around his neck. Only then did he realise that his Dad never ever took it off and despite all the demands his Mum had given, he never cut it off. So why did she have it after she disappeared for two days?
“Found it...?” The woman asked, unbuttoning the collar of her uniform so you could just see the black strings against her pale skin. The tip of the crystal was also visible, it was red and Terry was sure it was Ruby. “Me too; it was in my neighbour’s garden when I went round to collect my ball when I was nine.”
“I’m Terry Swimmer.” Terry said, offering his hand. She shook it and replied: “I’m Cara Lucksworth.”
“Lucksworth...” Terry asked, “Interesting name – I will be sure to remember it.” And with that he passed a slip of paper with his email and address on it.
“Wow, Albert Road in Blackpool! I live nearby on Adelaide Street; I’ll keep in touch...” Cara hissed and walked away, pocketing the slip of paper.
“Gabrielle, whip up a storm if you’d please!” Hazel, a Rolocon who had become good friends with the gate-keepers said.
“Sure thing,” Gabrielle focused and then the sandy red terrain slowly began to stir, the wind picked up and strange clouds appeared. Gabrielle raised her arms and the wind got stronger.
“Mia, can you take the baskets and fly over the storm, scatter the powder and wait.” Tibsy giggled shortly after saying this and everyone looked at him in alarm.
“Don’t worry... I just remembered something comical.” Tibsy said, recovering sharply.
Mia flew up with one basket and saw a group of the advancing Aronati, she flew directly above them and looked down – they were strange creatures. The black scaly wings were their most menacing feature, and the silvery grey fur just made them stand out even more. Mia was carefully avoiding rocks blowing around in the storm as she neared the Aronati, they didn’t hear the gentle flapping of her feathery wings or see her as she reached into the basket and threw the powder into the beasts’ eyes.
“She’s done it, gather around to watch children!” Tibsy said, very gleeful as they sat down on a log.
“Whoa,” Said Hazel, “What happened there, Tibsy?”
Mia who was watching from above saw everything, first the creatures stopped, and then they desperately clawed at their eyes like trying to get all the powder back out. Then they screeched an ear-splitting cry that nearly made Mia fall out of the air. After that, the fur rippled along their back and they all sort of collapsed in on themselves, like an implosion instead of an explosion.
“Haha, go Mia! You’re doing great – don’t give up!” Tibsy cried. Tibsy looked around just in time to see an Aronati hurtle through the air and snarl at them...
“Terry, wake up – I think we are landing now.” Paula-May was sitting bolt upright and staring at her son unhappily. “Terry, are you going to wake up?”
Terry stirred slightly, gave a yawn and then looked out of the window.
“Sorry, Mummy, I’m awake now – are we home?” Terry said; patting his trousers to check the crystal was still there.
“Yes we are, Terry, oh yes we are.” Paula said, she grinned and looked over at Terry who yawned again and pressed his seatbelt into the other latch before the plane landed.
“I’ll be seeing you soon, young sir.” Cara said, smiling at him as he left the plane.
“Bye, miss.” Terry said, waving.
They collected their cases from the airport and left in a taxi for their home. The way home was unfamiliar to Terry who had slept all the way to the airport the first time. He stayed awake in case Paula searched his pockets and found the small piece of Lapis Lazuli.
“Take that, and that, hiiiiii ya!” Hazel and Tibsy looked crazy, leaping around doing Karate poses and throwing a strange powder into the eyes of the attackers. The Aronati were imploding one by one as the powder burned into their eyes.
“Tibsy watch out!” Mia flew overhead and scattered the ground with Rolo Root Powder. The Aronati were good fighters but not good enough for the bizarre powder – Gabrielle was slowly increasing the strength of the storm to take out some of the Aronati and pick up the powder that missed the target. Small twisters and larger tornados shot in between the small fights occurring all over the Rolocon Town. Mia stopped for one second to watch, flapping her wings gently to hover. She was only stationary for three seconds and an Aronati had taken flight and slammed into her in mid-air.
“Whoa!” Mia cried; shouting and struggling to get the Jack-Russell-like creature off her. Suddenly, she knew what to do; she morphed into a Tiger - a large tiger with incredible strength and slammed into the vicious Aronati and shredded it. Tibsy and Gabrielle watched in alarm, Mia morphed back into herself with wings and then took flight with another basket of powder.
“Mia, what was that – your powers worked, all of them!” Gabrielle shouted as Mia threw fire-balls across the ground into passing Aronati.
That was when Gabrielle saw it, it was on the horizon. A lone Aronati, twice the size of the others, it had glimmering fangs and was running and triple the speed.
‘Mia,’ Gabrielle thought anxiously, ‘Mia, you gotta do something about Rox on the horizon.’
‘I’m on it,’ Mia thought back, Tibsy and Hazel and the other Rolocon warriors were unaware of the nearing danger so Mia flew off on her own towards Rox, the leader of the Aronati.
‘Good luck...’ Gabrielle thought, ‘... Animorph, you can do it.”
‘Thank you so much, Gabrielle, you were a great friend.’ Mia thought back, suddenly realising that Gabrielle had called her Animorph. Rox had flown up to join Mia in the air and she couldn’t help noticing how much more control he had than her. She soared down through a rain cloud and he followed her, tailing her every move – swerving left and right. Suddenly she had a brainwave.
‘Stop the storm, Gabrielle! Stop controlling the storm, let it stop!’ Mia thought.
‘That’s suicide; I can’t just stop the storm.’ Gabrielle cried inside her head.
‘I know how to stop Rox, he’s using the storm to control his flight better; please Gabrielle, and I really need you to do this.’ Mia replied, more anxious now of how close Rox was behind her. The storm froze solid, it was strange but suddenly the tornados stopped swirling, the wind stopped and the raindrops just hovered in the air, like they were all being held up but invisible strings.
‘What did you do?’ Mia asked Gabrielle through the psychic ability.
‘I-I-I d-dunno...’ Gabrielle’s thoughts trailed away quietly as she saw what had happened to the storm. Rox had stopped to look around, so had Mia, they turned to face each other and starred straight into each others’ eyes.
“Rox, please stop this fight while you can.” Mia said.
“We came for you and your friend, without you we will not leave.” Rox shouted.
‘Gabrielle, get a single tornado ready.’ Mia said in her brain which was spinning, ‘And make sure you aim it at Rox for me.’
‘Come on Animorph, whatever you are planning – I know you can do it.’ Gabrielle said.
‘Now release it.’ Mia thought back.
“Animorph – we will take you and your friend by force.” Rox warned, “And we will destroy your friends to do it!”
“No you won’t!” Mia cried, plummeting towards the ground, leaving Rox to be spun around inside the tornado. Mia flew by and scattered an entire basket into the tornado – the powder flew all over Rox and he imploded like the rest of his kind.
Terry was sat at his computer, breathing deeply as he read the email from the air stewardess, Cara Annabella Lucksworth. It wasn’t very long but it was strange.
Terry,
it’s Cara – I was wondering if you could wait outside your house so that you can talk to me without your Mum finding out.
Sometimes my crystal is... well... being strange but I think your crystal might help. Please come! I will meet you – if you are there – at 2:30 this afternoon.
Thanks,
Cara x
Terry re-read the email about three times and then thought about going outside at 2:30 that afternoon.
“Mum, at 2:25 can I go to Jimmy’s house?” Terry called.
“But, Terry, you didn’t call me ‘Mummy’.” Paula-May said, astonished.
“Well, Mum, I am eleven now! I can act my age for once.” Terry replied.
“Well, ok then I guess.” Paula sighed and left the room. She wondered what had happened to Terry – ever since he had turned eleven, he had changed and began acting as though he had grown up all at once.
“Are you out here, Cara?” Terry hissed as he walked down the road.
“Terry?” Cara’s voice said; she was crouched behind his garden wall.
“Cara, it’s good to see you – I told Mum I was at Jimmy’s. What’s wrong and what did you want to tell me?” Terry said – he sat down on the pavement with his back to the wall.
“Terry, I found out what happened to your – well your – Dad.” Cara said; she had a folder and she placed it in Terry’s lap, “Open it when you have prepared yourself for the shock.”
Terry took a deep breath and opened the folder, there was a blurry image but Terry recognised it: “Mum...”
She was holding a gun and there was a black car and a hole in the ground. There was an image of a girl in a long gothic black dress that looked Chinese despite the blurriness.
“Why are you showing me this?” Terry roared.
“Turn the page; we have a man – an undercover agent called Michyal Jay who had a camera. Your Mum is part of the Venomia, sort of like the Mafia but we don’t know what they stand for.” Cara’s voice was soft but she was as equally alert.
Terry turned a page of the folder to see his father, Archie Swimmer, being shot in the chest by his Mum and then a few more pictures of her in the hole next to the emotionless pictures.
“But Mum didn’t... she would kill... my Dad is dead?” Terry mumbled - his words were as blurry as the pictures.
“I’m sorry.” Cara said, “But me and my team...”
“You have a team?” Terry gasped.
“Well no... Lucas, Cassandra, Adrian, Riley, Michelle and I are the team.” Cara said grinning.
“And me,” Terry said, “I want to help bring down these tossers who helped kill my Dad!”
“Terry, you are eleven – do not use that language!” Cara said, “But you could join I guess.”
Terry took another look at the photos and then pointed, “Cara – I want to be in your organisation and I want to meet the others.” He was pointing at the gun and Cara didn’t understand.
“I don’t know why you are pointing at the gun.” Cara said, blankly.
“I want my Mum to regret she ever killed my Da-Archie.” Terry said, calmly this time.
“Why didn’t you call him Dad?” Cara said, inquisitively looking at Terry.
“Because... I don’t know – it just didn’t sound right.” Terry answered, still looking at the picture.
“Terry, if you are going to join us – you are going to have to run away with us, is that ok?” Cara said.
“With pleasure, I’d do anything to get away from that – the monster in my house.” Terry exclaimed, taking Cara’s hand and running down the street into the shadows. They rounded the corner and a man stepped in front of them.
“Young Mr Swimmer, where would you be going then?” The speaker had dark skin and spoke with an Indian accent, he wore a black suit and tie, he offered out his hand for Terry to shake and they noticed the ancient drawings that were tattoos on the back of his hand.
“Do I know you?” Terry said, not accepting the man’s offer of a handshake.
“No – but oh, you will soon enough.” Said the man, grinning, his face crumpled up when he did this and his dull grey eyes frightened Terry.
“Who are you?” Cara ordered.
“Now Terry, if you wouldn’t mind coming with me.” The man said, pointing to a black car.
“I asked you a question!” Cara said.
“And I chose not to answer.” The man said lazily.
“Who are you – how do you know who I am?” Terry said.
“I know the truth about your father.” The man licked his lips. “Now are you going to come with me?” The man had unbuttoned his jacket and in his pocket, Cara and Terry could see a gun.
“YOUR LEADER IS DEAD, IT’S OVER! FLEE OR PAY THE PRICE!” Gabrielle shouted. The Aronati scrambled over each other to hide but it was too late, most of them were imploding as the occasional bit of powder drifted through the air. Soon, every escaping Aronati were consumed by the drifting powder.
“The Aronati are gone, you may come out now.” Tibsy shouted into his village.
There was lots of cheering and gleeful shouts coming from the bizarre wooden huts the Rolocons called their homes.
“Hazel, Hazel, HAZEL?” Tibsy shouted, looking out over the empty baskets and broken branches and burnt plants.
“Tib... sy...” Behind a basket, Hazel was groaning – the Aronati had clawed her and blood was spilling out of her chest into the dirt around her.
“Hazel, Hazel, don’t die – not now, not ever!” Tibsy cried, crouching beside her and watching her fade into a lifeless nothingness.
Hazel laughed and said, “Every... one... dies some... time.”
And she was gone; a tear ran down Tibsy’s cheek and Gabrielle looked ashamed as she dug a large hole to bury her in.
“Good bye, Hazel, your spirit will never leave our village.” Tibsy sobbed, flattening the last bit of dirt on top. Sure enough, there was a lot of truth to Tibsy’s words and a blue mist came out of the soil.
“Tibsy, I will never leave your village.” The mist had a voice, the same voice – in fact, to Hazel’s. The mist slowly faded and Mia couldn’t help asking: “How on Earth did she do that?”
“We aren’t on Earth!” Gabrielle reminded her with a cheeky smile on her face.
“Spirits from souls who died doing something brave or noble are allowed to live in the air.” Tibsy said.
“Wow - so we could be breathing in dead Rolocons?” Gabrielle said.
“No, the spirits usually stay with the people that they care about – watching over them and helping out. They don’t get swallowed by people.” Tibsy said, slightly offended at Gabrielle’s comment.
“Get in, Terry Swimmer, and bring your girl with you.” The man ordered, there was no-one to call for who could help.
“Cara, don’t leave me.” Terry muttered.
“I won’t Terry, just get in the car and leave the rest to me.” Cara mumbled back as she slid into the seat. Terry sat next to her, trying not to sit on her skirt.
“Do you have your crystal?” Cara whispered.
“Yes,”
“Tap mine with it then!” Cara said. Terry gently touched his crystal against hers and they both vanished from the car.
“CARA! Where am I, are you ok, what’s going on?” Terry said, clutching his crystal.
Of course Cara and Terry were both in the White Light dimension, Roxanne was waiting for them alike when Mia and Gabrielle turned up.
“Hello, Cara Annabella Lucksworth – and young Terrence Swimmer too, now the prophecy didn’t warn me about this.” Roxanne said in her dreamy voice, “Now you two – its time a told you a story about the Crystal Keepers...”
To Be Continued In My Next Story In The 'Power Lockets' Series...
