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He woke to a pounding head and a sharp pain in his wrist The pounding was h his rattled brain, it was the sound of a steela steel spike into the stone beside his head Chips of rock shattered and flew, and he covered his head with his free ar in the dark Teeth ripped his flesh as he pulled free A roar sounded, a blow landed, and soes with each breath; cold and pain traveled through his body with each heartbeat Terror wound around hiround Gabriel&039;s tears He was underground

So rattled like metal and pulled unroaned The thing near him stopped at the sound It lifted his hand and he heard it sniff as it scented his blood Acold and wet slithered around his wrist, burning He heard a sigh, as of pleasure And then his hand was dropped It landed with a boneless flop, but the pain was, seeed itself away, the sound of itsindistinct

Aelse touch his hand, and he flinched

"It&039;s all right I brought water," it whispered Lucas felt so heavy hit the stone floor by his head Iron, a shaped instrument, as cold as death, was placed in his open palm With his other hand he discovered its shape A dipper attached by a rope to a stoneware jug By feel, Lucas dropped the dipper into the jug and brought the cup to his lips Half expecting so horrible, he touched it to his mouth and tasted water Sulfur tainted, but water Desperately thirsty, he drained the dipper and then another

"I&039;ll bring more tomorrow," it whispered

"Wait What are you?"

The pause was fraught with indecision Then it answered "I call one

Audric&039;s biceps bulged From the sawdust came a cloth-wrapped packet that blazed, blistered, burned, in ht so extraordinary, I wondered the humans couldn&039;t see it He placed it on the workbench; the wrapping fell away

A lustrous lavender stone pulsed Cried out Shock surged through me, a jolt of power from the first creation But, no, not quite that Not quite The thought see clouded The stone summoned My flesh ached, my skin, blood, muscles, the beat of my heart, every cell in my body, wanted to join with this stone, loith power Instinctively, that safe part of me, the part set aside onlyon a black-and-green-jade bear ath, keyed to low Simply could not The need to embrace the lavender stone and claim it as my own, the need to bond with it, eased

"What is it?" Jacey asked

"It&039;s ahtly nuuess" Incomplete answer, but the safe one Of their own volition, my hands reached out and enfolded the stone Power sine, the flare of a rocket lifting into outer space I shuddered

"Be careful It&039;s heavy," Rupert said, ed stone to the lights overhead, letting the crystalline center of the rock capture illumination and throw it back It was dirty on one side, ses, buried in contact with the ground But the other sides were crystal spires or cragged and irregular where it had broken fro the se shape, like the curve of a closed eyelid A larger stone with this power is out there And I want it A shiver of ware-heat, like sex, chocolate, whiskey, and wood smoke

"Thorn?"

I snapped back, aware that I had slipped away fro the heavy a with it as if the stone had eyes in its heart, eyes that stared back with longing The weakness caused by snow falling and collecting had vanished In its place was this incredible bliss Desire Hunger

"Bond with"I ahts away and set the hunk of rough with three other stones on the table Each had been cleaved froh the others showed darker, oval shadings on one side Their power held a fragrance, an incredible flavor, like lilac bloo I could ale-heat

Suddenly Lolo was inme awake She hadn&039;t been in es in Enclave had been there as well "What you got, gurl?" she cried "I feelin&039; power C&039;est trop Ca c&039;est de trop Deels, dey hear! Ge&039; away from there Run!" Instead I caressed the double-fist-sized hunks of stone, lifting each for inspection, seeing less with url!" I blocked out Lolo&039;s warning She wasn&039;t here She didn&039;t see, didn&039;t feel this ecstasy, this rapture She wasn&039;t a stone uely, I knew I hadn&039;t been able to block voices when I was fourteen No e should be able to hear another a thousand ht too slid away

"There are more boxes in the hallway outside the stockrooht want to check them out"

In what seemed only a second, twoas they were opened Power flowed fro with her?"

"Looks like she&039;s having an intiel awed by a boulder"

I didn&039;t knoho had spoken, but the words brought me back froer Lolo spoke of, that I could be swept away and consuht for a sensible reply And then that still, small part of me, safe in the back of my mind, unfolded ords, clear and concise, as if planted in enerated by years of faic Business

"Just trying to figure out how et out of this if it was cut free-form, and how much more profit we could make if we sent it off to be faceted" I stroked the stone, warain value if we sent it off"

"If it&039;s geem quality I know it" I held a rock froies had achieved a harain They whispered and sang I held the stone to rance wasn&039;t physical, not so humans could detect

"Here&039;s a letter," Audric said, "in with these papers" His voice was theHe handed a slim packet to Rupert My best friend brushed off the sawdust, and theHis grace lea I watched as Rupert tore an envelope, his fingers strong, dirty with the ser than the ed loith heat and vivacity, as if I saw the cadence of his lifeblood beneath His , and I fastened on it as his sculpted lips shifted, poetry made flesh "Thorn?" The as drawn out, the last note in a plaintive song As it fell ona nursery rhyme, her voice a cross cadence to the beat of the life force in Rupert The dru rhyth dat bell and right dat wrong Blood and bone and seraph fire, drag her back froerous ain and again, the sound of stone being split, broken, battered into dust Suddenly I was free The world spun and I swayed, catchingon the workbench Crack the Stone of Ages! What happened? I placed the rock on the table and ju hard My bones rattled, my joints stiff My face burned

Words bubbled out froical, protected, liberated part of me "It&039;ll cost us more than fifteen thousand dollars to have theuarantee the resultant stones will have a value commensurate with the expenditure And while on&039;tthe stone&039;s natural contours, we&039;ll retain a larger total carat value froets and free-for an upscale, high-end product that I think will sell well in today&039;s ns" My babble clipped off abruptly "What?"

"That&039;s where you&039;ve been?" Jacey asked, her tone incredulous "Doing h-end line?"

I looked at her,stones, buried in Lolo&039;s sweet har "What?" What have I been doing? How long? Between the- " She spluttered, starting again "For five round to a stop I was certain I had never seen anyone gnash her teeth "I slapped your face," she said "Hard" I touched one," Rupert said, his face norain, without the otherworldly life it had possessed earlier But he orried Over his shoulder Audric watchedfor the innocent expression I forced onto my face I didn&039;t knohat had happened, but noasn&039;t the tiuard, and protect them from what I was I knew my comments about the value of the stones were dead-on

Audric handed me a letterWhile I couldn&039;t read it all, I did make out a few lines and read the I can&039;t make out &039;It was marked with a plat-map of the Trine Ask Thorn what it is I think it&039;s" so &039;valuable Two lines of gibberish are followed by &039;If I disappear and e are the words, &039;Don&039;t go so &039;police and elders There&039;s a neer in the hills soibberish, then &039;and I think soer Keep so &039;safe " L followed by a slash was Lucas&039; hurried signature

"The Trine That&039;s where Ciana saw her daywalker," Audric said

"Daywalker?" Jacey said, alarmed

"Tell you later," Audric said

"Cops I can see, but elders involved with a Minor Power?" Rupert said "No way"

"You saw the video," I said "So happened to him, just like this letter warns"

I set the sheet down and wiped ers as if it had left an oily residue Audric lifted the page "Does this say he&039;s called for a seraphic investigation?" he pointed to a line

I couldn&039;t see words in the squiggled text, except for a single s "Maybe"

"Why would the Stanhopes be in danger?" Jacey asked, tucking a strand of sweat-da ue state I&039;d hear about it later My face smarted where she had struck it

"The Mole Man," Rupert said, taking back the letter and tracing tords "So here about the Mole Man"

"And?"

"The Mole Man was our great-grandfather, Benaiah"

"For real? You got a warrior in your fa conclusions I didn&039;t understand