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Marina – with Eight’s body in tow – and Adam follow me through, the both of them squinting to adjust to the lower light. When they’re on the other side, the doorway blinks out of existence. There’s no exit in its place, only a solid limestone wall, although a circle of notches just like the one from the door are carved into it. Our pendants clatter to the floor and I hurriedly pick them up.
‘The Sanctuary,’ Marina breathes.
‘How long ago did your people put this here?’ Adam asks.
‘Hell if I know. We heard they’d been coming to Earth for centuries,’ I reply absently, peering around. ‘I guess this is what they were doing.’
‘They were preparing for this day,’ Marina adds, that eerie certainty back in her voice.
‘What’d they leave us, though?’ I ask, a little disappointed as I look around. ‘An empty room?’
The Sanctuary is one long, rectangular room with high ceilings and absolutely no doors or windows. It’s as if our ancestors teleported into a solid chunk of rock, somehow managed to carve out a room, and then forgot to furnish it. There’s nothing here. Veins of glowing Loralite are threaded through the stone walls and ceiling in chaotic patterns that cast the entire room in a cobalt hue. My eyes glide over the swoops and swirls of Loralite – there’s something vaguely familiar there, something that I’m just not seeing.
‘It’s the universe,’ Adam says. ‘It’s … more than we even know about. The Mogadorian star maps don’t cover this much.’
It takes me a moment to realize what he’s saying. But then I notice the way the Loralite veins pool into circles at some spots and I recognize the other veins as the swirling stars of the cosmos and beyond. It’s just like the Macrocosms, only way bigger and covering way more universe. I find Lorien on one wall, the glowing puddle of Loralite at its heart shining much dimmer than some other spots.
‘Our home,’ I say, and touch Lorien gently with my finger. A chill goes through me as the Loralite seems to pulse in answer, almost as if it recognizes me.
‘My home,’ Adam says dryly. He points to an area that’s notable only for its complete absence of Loralite, like a void existing in the glowing universe. He frowns. ‘At least your ancestors got the whole forbidding-darkness thing right.’
‘Those aren’t our homes, not anymore,’ Marina says, tracing her fingers across the wall, following the exact trajectory our ship took from Lorien to Earth. ‘This is our home now.’
The Loralite outline of Earth glows much stronger than any other section of the wall. Marina presses her fingers against it and the Loralite crackles and vibrates.
Something below us is moving.
Dust and dirt shake loose from the ceiling, the motes sparkling in the suddenly hypercharged light of the Loralite. I know I shouldn’t be scared – this is a Loric place, it won’t hurt us – but I can’t help backing up to the nearest wall, the Sanctuary suddenly feeling very claustrophobic now that it’s shaking around me. Adam stumbles in next to me, his eyes wide.
With an ancient groan and a grinding of stone, a circular section of the floor at the room’s center rises up. It’s like an altar or a pedestal extending up from the floor. The room stops shaking when the thing has risen to about waist high. This new extension is made from pure Loralite. The slab of plain limestone floor sits atop the Loralite cylinder, almost like a seal holding in whatever might be down below. Cautiously, the three of us approach.
‘It looks like this piece comes off,’ I say, touching the limestone seal, but not yet removing it.
‘It almost looks like a well,’ Adam says, musing. ‘What do you think is down there?’
‘No clue,’ I reply.
‘Look,’ Marina says. ‘The drawings.’
I see them. They’re similar to the cave paintings that Eight showed us back in India, except these are carved directly into the well’s Loralite sides. I have to walk a circle around the well to take all the images in.
Nine silhouettes looming over a planet that looks like Earth, with nine smaller silhouettes standing on the planet below them.
A person – I can’t tell if it’s a male or female – standing in front of a hole in the ground and dumping the contents of a box into the opening.
Nine silhouettes again, this time arranged in front of a castle, fending off something that looks like a tidal wave or maybe a three-headed dragon.
‘More prophecies?’ I ask.
‘Maybe,’ Marina replies. She is paused in front of the carving of the person with the box. ‘Or maybe they’re instructions.’
I stand next to her. ‘Do you think this is the place? Where we, uh, commit our Inheritances to the Earth?’
Marina nods. She sets Eight’s body gently down to the ground, then uses her telekinesis to push the slab of limestone that seals the well aside. It crumbles on to the ground with a huge thud, the old stone instantly breaking apart.
A column of pure blue light flows up from the well, so bright that I have to shield my eyes. It’s like a spotlight. I can feel the warmth from the light deep in my bones.
‘This is …’ Adam trails off, unable to complete his thought. There’s profound amazement in his dark Mogadorian eyes.
Marina kneels down in front of her Chest and opens it up. She cups her hands and removes a handful of Loric gemstones, then drops them into the Sanctuary’s well. They glitter and flash as they slip through her fingers, falling into the light. In response, the whole room seems to get a little brighter. The Loralite veins in the walls pulse stronger.
‘Help me, Six,’ Marina says excitedly.
I grab the pouch of soil from the Chest, open it up and dump the contents down the well. A fragrant, greenhouse-like aroma fills the dusty chamber, and the light grows stronger still. Marina follows the soil with the bundle of dried branches and leaves. In that moment before they leave her hand, while they’re bathed in the light, I could swear the branches look green and alive again. As they drop out of sight, a swirling breeze fills the chamber, cooling us down.
‘It’s working,’ I say, even though I’m not sure what exactly we’re doing. I’m only sure that it feels right.
When we’ve emptied out the Chest of everything else, I pick up the can of Henri’s ashes. Carefully, I remove the lid and empty it into the light. Each of the ashes briefly sparks as they swirl downward into the well. I wish John could’ve been here to see this.
I turn back to Marina, inclining my head gently towards where Eight’s body rests on the ground. ‘Should we …?’
Marina shakes her head, looking down at Eight. ‘I
’m not ready yet, Six.’
I take a moment to sweep my gaze over the room, checking to see if anything’s changed. The light from the well is nearly as bright as the sun, but it doesn’t really hurt my eyes anymore. The Loralite veins in the walls pulse with energy. Our Chest is empty and Henri’s ashes have been spread.
‘There’s nothing else to do,’ I say to Marina. ‘It’s time.’
‘The pendants, Six,’ Marina says. ‘We have to give it the pendants.’
‘Hold on,’ Adam says, stepping forward for the first time. He’s been watching all this take place with awe, but Marina’s words snap him back. ‘If you drop those pendants down there, we’ll have no way out of here.’
I’m still holding all of our pendants. I clutch them tightly as I think it over.
‘We have to have faith, right?’ I say, shrugging my shoulders. ‘We have to trust that whatever’s down there, whatever the Elders left for us, that it’ll show us a way out.’
Marina nods. ‘Yes.’
Adam looks at me for a moment, then to the light. Everything he’s seen today must go against his Mogadorian instincts. But he has Garde in him, too.
‘All right,’ Adam says. ‘I trust you.’
I hold on to the pendants for a moment longer. I’ve worn an amulet around my neck for most of my life. There were many times that it reminded me who I was, where I was from, and what I was fighting for. It was heartbreaking to lose two pendants and I’ve never felt right without one. It’s as much a part of who I am – who we all are – as the scars on our ankles. But it’s time to let that go.
I drop the three pendants into the well.
The response is immediate and blinding. The light from within the well goes supernova. I shout and shield my eyes, and I’m pretty sure Marina and Adam do the same. There is a whooshing sound from down below, like thousands of wings taking flight, or a miniature tornado touching down beneath the Earth. There is a loud, baritone thump that sends vibrations through my teeth. A few seconds later, the sound repeats.
