By Neev Aradhana Suresh
Prologue
Sewe vir die sewe.
Seven for the seven.
Sewe om die vernietigde te herstel.
Seven to restore the destroyed.
Sewe stukke ritueel.
Seven pieces of ritual.
Wanneer saamgebring ooit, hoogste.
When brought together, supreme.
Daar sal sewe voorwerpe in die sewe kontinente wees.
There shalt be seven objects in the seven continents.
'n Boek in Los Angeles.
A book in Los Angeles.
’n Ster vir Santiago.
A star for Santiago.
'n Armband van die markte van Pune.
A bracelet from the markets of Pune.
'n Kliptablet van Davis-stasie.
A tablet of stone from Davis Station.
'n Bottel wyn uit die stad van die Eiffeltoring.
A bottle of wine from the city of the Eiffel Tower.
Uit die warm woestyne van Kaïro 'n skedel.
From the hot deserts of Cairo, a skull.
Van Adelaide 'n lewendige edelsteen.
From Adelaide, a vibrant gemstone.
Aan die soeker luister en verstaan: die antwoord lê in die bloute.
To the searcher hark and understand: the answer lies in the blue.
Dit sal op al die sewe gegraveer word.
This will be engraved on all the seven.
Sewe vir Terra.
Seven for Terra.
Sewe vir sy herstel.
Seven for its restoration.
Sewe vir die sewe kontinente.
Seven for the seven continents.
Chapter 1: Sinister Sleepovers
If you would have taken a closer look on Drive 231 on June the 24th, you would have seen four heads peeking out a window. The heads belonged to four children who happened to be cousins. Yes, cousins on a sleepover! There was 13-year old Luxia, her little brother, 5-year old Joshua, and their cousins, 15-year old Linda and 12-year old Darian. There was also baby Elsie but strictly speaking, she was not part of the sleepover. She was too young.
“Shush!” Luxia whispered, “Look, there it is again.”
She pointed over to a huge, abandoned bungalow across the street. Most of its windows were boarded up and the ones that weren’t had thick, black curtains hung up. Darian opened his mouth wide and popped in a handful of Cheerios. He munched loudly and then gulped, “Hey, how about we go watch something, huh?”
Luxia pinched him hard. Darian yelped but she quickly clamped her palm tightly over his mouth.
“Shush, look! There’s that light in the attic again. There must be someone in there,” Luxia urgently whispered.
They all looked hard and Darian nodded empathetically. Linda pressed her face into the window pane. The four children watched closely as the light moved from one window to the next. Sometimes it would disappear behind the curtains but it always moved on and on. Then suddenly a face appeared in one of the windows. It seemed to be looking straight at the children. Together they screamed and quickly dove away from the window and behind the curtains. When they got the courage to peep up again, the light and the face were gone.
Chapter 2: Cheese Doritos and A Plan
Luxia turned the door knob and pushed the door, but it wouldn’t move. Behind her, Darian sat on the dusty porch, munching a huge packet of Cheese Doritos.
“Uh, it’s jammed or locked!” Luxia huffed with obvious annoyance, “Darian, we saw that light last night. Linda saw it too. But this house is just so…”
“Ordinary?” Darian asked hopefully through a mouth full of Doritos.
“No, it’s mysterious,” Luxia replied, pacing the porch and now deep in thought, “Darian, we are coming back to this place tonight, 12 o’clock. Will Linda come too?”
“I don’t know. She’s kinda too old for this kind of stuff now,” Darian nodded intensely, “You know, she’s 15 and now she doesn’t quite believe in adventure and you get it, right?”
“No, I actually don’t. How could anybody not be interested in the lights in a mysterious bungalow?” Luxia snapped, “Then it’ll just have to be you and I and hmmmm, who else?”
“Timothy McDuffin?” Darian suggested.
“No, he is a frightened little kid, always afraid of adventure,” she replied.
“You’re right,” he hastily agreed, “Maybe we could bring your little brother, Joshua, along?”
“What?! No, absolutely not,” Luxia shook her head and furrowed her brow, “It’ll have to be Chloe and Pippin.”
Darian didn’t dare protest with Luxia. In the first place, he didn’t think it was such a good idea to go sneaking into somebody else's bungalow. He would rather have eaten Doritos or Cheerios in front of a TV, maybe watching Avengers or Captain America perhaps. He didn’t mind watching others being heroes, but NO adventures for him, thank you. Not today, nor tomorrow, nor ever! But of course these sorts of people are exactly the ones that get sucked up into all sorts of adventure and Darian had too.
Luxia, although she was only a year older than Darian, was his boss. When they were younger, Darian got into tons of trouble because of her. Luxia had always enjoyed using him as her “trial piece” for any experiment she thought up. One time she had convinced him to jump into the frog pond because there was a city of Pizza Pringles at its bottom. Poor Darian had done it and came up all drenched with a single frog on his head. “Croak!”
Luxia had been the boss.
“Darian, Daaaaaarian!!” Luxia was frantically waving her hand in front of Darian’s face and bellowing his name, “Okay?”
“Ya, I’m fine,” he replied, switching to reality.
Luxia face palmed herself and looked back over at her cousin. “I didn’t ask “okay” as in if you were okay. You will be there, okay?”
“Where?” Darian asked.
“Uhhh,” Luxia muttered, frustrated, “I just told you. At the house at midnight. Remember?”
“Oh, yeah. Okay, sure,” Darian nodded.
Luxia waved and smiled. Then she sprinted across to her bike and rode off towards her house.
Back at home, Luxia outlined her plan. At twelve, she would flash her little pocket light three times from her window. This would alert Darian, Chloe, and Pippin and they (if they were awake, like they should be!) would come out along with their bikes. From there it was simple. They would all ride over to the bungalow’s entrance, only a matter of five minutes. Then she would open the door. They would all sneak into the house, investigate further, and then quickly return home. In the morning, they would meet on her front porch to discuss their findings and come up with a real plan. In her excitement and haste, Luxia left out the most important part of any adventure. Backup.
Little did Luxia know that her little adventure was going to nearly cost her life and change the world upside down.
However, twelve o’clock never came. At least not in the sense that Luxia had anticipated.
Chapter 3: A Horrible Disaster
At 7 am, Luxia’s alarm clock blared and she reached over a sleepy hand to silence it. She yawned lazily and stretched her arms over her head. She hopped out from under the covers and drew open the long blue curtains. Sunlight streamed in through her window and she grinned eagerly. Quickly she raced down stairs. It was then that her smile began to slowly dissolve, like ice on a hot day. That’s where things started to go– well, you shall see…
Instead of the familiar smell of sizzling bacon and frying eggs, she smelt smoke. Where her parents, Aldric and Sally, usually sat with the hot cups of coffee, there were only remains of their beautiful blue couch. Luxia’s mind began racing as she surveyed the rest of their living room. Books were face-open on the floor. The stove and the oven were letting out fourth columns and columns of thick black smoke. Nothing was on fire but everything was in a mess.
Luxia dashed up the stairs and into her parents’ bedroom. Their beds were empty and all their drawers had been rummaged around and thrown onto the carpeted floor, as if someone was frantically looking for something. Her parents were gone. Their bed had been stabbed over and over with something sharp and the covers were on the floor.
A wild sensation welled up inside Luxia. Where were her parents? Were they dead? Captured? What was happening? Then her brother flew into her mind, Joshua! Where was he? Had they taken him too? Who were they? There was only one way to find out. She burst into Joshua’s room… It was empty. Panic swallowed the world before her eyes. Everything went black.
Chapter 4: Rescue and Hope…
“Luxia!”
“Joshua!”
“Mr. Silverstone! Mrs. Silverstone!”
“Aldric! Sally!”
Luxia’s eyes fluttered open as she tried to adapt to her surroundings. Somewhere below her, people were yelling her name and her family’s names. Her family. She struggled gingerly to her feet and looked down over the banisters. The floor below her was enveloped in massive clouds of thick black smoke. Her eyes watered fiercely from the smoke and she hastily stepped back to clear her head and get some air. Everything came back to her. Her family was gone. Her house was smoking and she was stuck.
“Luxia,” a faraway voice that sounded like her aunt, Aurelia, called out.
“I’m here,” she shouted and then regretted it. Her mouth filled with smoke and she coughed to clear it out.
“Sweetie, stay right where you are. We’re coming to get you!” she cried.
Luxia stepped away from the banisters and waited. In a little more than two minutes, Linda emerged on the landing. She was wearing a smoke mask and had another one in her hand. Luxia’s mind was hardly working when Linda plugged the mask onto her face. She was dizzy with the smell of smoke. Linda, half-carrying Luxia, and Luxia, half-walking, made their way down the stairs and out the house.
Mr. and Mrs. Duncan were standing below. Mrs. Duncan swept Luxia into her arms in a warm embrace and carried her out the house. Luxia’s eyes blurred from exhaustion, even though it was still late morning. Worries flowed thick into her mind. A sinking weight dropped swiftly onto her heart. Black beads danced in front of her eyes and the world slowly faded away into blackness…
~~~ ⊹⊹⊹ ~~~
When Luxia woke up, she found herself in a comfy bed with large white pillows tucked cozily about her. Her favorite juice, chilled ginger ale, was resting on the table beside her. Her aunt Aura walked into the room and checked her temperature.
“How are you feeling, honey?” she asked gently.
Luxia shook her head. “I’m okay,” she lied.
In truth, her head was throbbing with worry. Why was her house filled with smoke? Where was her little brother? Where were her parents? Her aunt's voice broke her thoughts…
“Luxia, where is Darian?” Aura questioned.
That was not what she had expected. “Darian?”
“We woke up this morning and Darian was gone. We rushed over to your house immediately because we thought he would be there,” she sighed, “but he wasn’t and your house was filled with smoke and you were the only one there. Where is Josh? Where are your parents?”
Luxia covered her face and shook her head. It was all her fault. Why did she always have to go snooping around and trying to solve mysteries? She was just a normal girl, in a normal world. No adventures were going to follow her. Her parents had had adventures. Big ones! They weren’t Earth-ians; they were Terrians. Their planet had been destroyed and Ivan, her uncle, had rescued her parents and Aunt Aura when they were only teens. They had traveled universes!
She wanted to. She had wanted to help. She had wanted to be part of something big. She had wanted to restore her planet, somehow…
Chapter 5: Somber Warnings and More Plans
Throughout the day, police streamed in and out Aura and Ivan’s house. Search parties were sent out across the neighborhood, friends were rung up, and tears were shed. Luxia felt no better when she learnt that Darian had been found at Chloe and Pippin’s house. Chloe, Pippin, and he had fallen asleep while they were waiting for Luxia’s signal. When he had awoken early in the morning, he had gone straight over to Chloe and Pippin’s house to find out what had happened.
“Luxia, what happened?” he asked Luxia, walking into her room.
“What do you mean?” she frowned.
“The plan, you know, sneak into the house, et cetera, et cetera.”
Luxia sighed, “Look, I kept my alarm for midnight. I don't know why it didn’t ring. I’m telling you, someone came into my house, took my parents and my brother, turned off my midnight alarm, but left me. I don’t know why they did that.”
Darian squinted his eyes and rubbed his forehead. The usual sign that indicated he was thinking. “Maybe they didn’t need you?”
“Darian, why would they need Josh and my parents then–”
“Hold up,” Darian said quickly, “I know why.”
“Oh! You know, huh?” Luxia questioned sarcastically.
“Luxia, look. It’s a trap. They want you. Whoever the person is that kidnapped your parents. They see something in you that hinders something they want to do.” Darian blurted out.
“What? That doesn’t make sense. They could just have kidnapped me then. Couldn’t they?”
“No, no, no. I have an uneasy feeling that we shouldn’t have made our plan to break into that house across the street right in front of its door. It’s all connected, Luxia, don’t you see? It isn’t a coincidence that it all happened on the same night.” Darian said excitedly.
“Oh!” said Luxia grumpily, “I always knew that.”
Darian ignored his cousin’s impudent character and continued, “You see, they didn’t want Chloe and Pippin and you and me to go into the house. They wanted you to come alone. They knew you to be a smart girl and knew you’d figure out the puzzle–”
“Hold on, hold on,” Luxia muttered, irritated, “What puzzle?”
“You didn’t see the note stuck to your alarm clock?” You must have been in a hurry then. After I went to Chloe and Pippin’s house, I found out that you hadn’t signaled to them either. So I came over to your house. It was filled with smoke but firemen were shooting great jets of water-”
“Wait, what?” Luxia interrupted, “Why firemen?”
“Something weird happened to all your appliances,” Darian recalled, “They seemed to have been busted inside out. They smoked and smoked as if they were being barbecued!?”
“Oh! Definitely weird!” Luxia agreed.
“I tiptoed up to the stairs which were filled with smoke and dived up onto the landing where the smoke cleared up a good bit. Turning into your room, the first thing that caught my eyes was your clock. It was lying upside down in its usual place near your bedside table! I went closer for a look and saw this note. Here!”
Darian drew a note from his pocket and handed it over to Luxia. This is what she read:
SWEETIE,
UNLESS YOU DON’T MIND
DYING, DON’T COME.
BE GOOD AND DON’T
GO SNOOPING AROUND
AND YOUR PARENTS
AND BROTHER
WILL NOT BE HURT.
☠ MRS. GRAVESCOFFFIN ☠
Luxia’s eyes furrowed deeper and deeper as she read the note. When she finally finished, she pummeled her fist angrily into the bed and growled, “Today we break into that wretched house. Just you and me…”
Darian sighed. He had expected this kind of response. That was why he had been delaying showing the note, as long as possible. He took a deep breath and sighed again. Then he mustered up courage and said, “Luxia, hold on–”
He could get no further. She interrupted him in a stormy retort and a whole lot of waving of her arms.
Darian shook his head. “Luxia, I know this must be super stressful on you, but hold on a minute--”
Luxia suddenly became completely silent and buried her head in the bed covers. A small voice came out from underneath the blankets, “It’s all my fault.”
Darian was taken aback. “W–wha–t?” he stammered.
“It’s all my fault,” Luxia repeated, “I shouldn’t have gone snooping around. I shouldn’t have been so curious–”
Darian nodded. He was just about to say ‘yeah, for sure,’ when he remembered that wouldn’t exactly help comfort his cousin. Instead he said, “Luxia, there’s nothing you can do about the past but you can think about the future. What’s the plan, sis?”
Chapter 6: Mrs. Gravescoffin
The clock ticked twelve. Ivan and Aura were fast asleep. Baby Elsie was fast asleep. Two cloaked figures darted from house to house towards Drive 232 and towards the darkened bungalow. The figures slunk from one house’s shadow to the next, oblivious to the dark figure that watched them from a window on the third floor.
Luxia pressed herself against the door of the house and slid her pocket knife through the door. She wiggled it and the noise of a door lock sliding out of place could faintly be heard.
“Ready?” she mouthed at Darian.
Darian gulped nervously and nodded.
Luxia quickly looked over her shoulder. No one was watching them. She reached over to push the door open but before she could, it swung open of its own accord. She took a step backwards and toppled onto Darian.
“What is it?” Darian whispered, catching her from behind.
A cold, unpleasant voice cut Darian off. “What a pleasant surprise.”
The old woman in the doorway was hideous. She was short and bent over with age. Her face was wrinkled into the fiercest frown. She stared maliciously at the two trembling children on the front porch with eyes that had seen blood and murder and misery. She wore a black hood over her head and thick white hair could just be glimpsed beneath the blackness of her attire. She was dressed all in black. Death black.
“Mrs. Gravescoffin!” Luxia gasped in shock.
Mrs. Gravescoffin smiled cruelly. “I see we’ve been acquainted.”
“How–?” began Luxia, but she was swiftly interrupted.
“No time for chitty-chat. Come in,” she grabbed Luxia’s arm and yanked her through the doorway.
Darian lunged after his cousin and grabbed her other hand. The woman had a strength unlike any human could ever have. Once inside the house, the woman released Luxia’s arm so roughly that Luxia crumpled to the ground in a heap. Darian gingerly helped her up and supported her.
“Come,” Mrs. Gravescoffin barked and motioned towards a doorway filled with bright white light.
Chapter 7: Caught!
The room was filled with blinding light. The walls were covered with thick sheets of metal. The children shielded their eyes and winced from the light’s intensity. It radiated power. Luxia looked around the room and noticed another doorway. She nudged Darian and motioned towards it with her head. Darian subtly nodded. The doorway was shrouded in darkness and nothing could be observed of its inside.
“Come,” Mrs. Gravescoffin repeated. She pointed to a long iron table in the middle room. It had straps on it and a helmet hovered above it towards its top. Mrs. Gravescoffin flicked two switches and the doorway through which the children had come through banged shut. The children flinched. Their only way of escape was gone. They were at the pure mercy of the witch.
“Are you deaf?” the woman demanded, “I said, ‘Come!’”
“Yes–,” Luxia blurted out, hurrying forward, “ma'am.”
Darian quickly followed her, bobbing his head.
When Luxia reached the table, Mrs. Gravescoffin squarely picked her up by her shoulders and lifted her onto the table, pushed her down into a lying position, and in an instant fastened the straps to secure her in place. Luxia yelped and Darian lunged forward to protect his cousin. Instantly, he felt strong arms grab him from behind. He was lifted into the air and held there. He twisted around to look at his captor and gasped with shock. Luxia heard his gasp and turned her head to look. She gaped in shock at the man that was holding Darian.
“Dad,” she gasped, her voice dripping with horror and shock, “Dad, please let Darian go.”
“Mr. Silverstone, please,” Darian begged, “Luxia is going to get hurt.”
Aldric remained expressionless and then he opened his mouth and a voice entirely not like his handsome, strong voice spoke, “I serve HER. The Darkness. The Fire. The Destroyer. Mrs. Gravescoffin. Shape-shifter. Timeless LORD.”
Luxia dissolved into tears and screamed, “What have you done to him?”
Mrs. Gravescoffin’s mouth stretched into a thin-lipped smile. “I told you not to come. Didn’t I? The conditions were simple. Your parents would not be hurt, if you didn’t come here. You broke your side. I broke mine.”
Luxia strained at her bonds but to no avail. They were too strong.
“Aaaaaand it gets better!” Mrs. Gravescoffin practically sang.
Her tone changed and she became stern again. “Come, Sally!”
Luxia looked and saw her mom walk into the room through the black doorway. Her eyes were glazed and she walked as if in a daze. Her long black wavy hair no longer swished over her shoulder and down to her waist; it was tied up into a tight bun. Luxia strained harder at the straps.
“Mom! MOM!” she called.
Sally lifted her eyes and beheld her daughter. Then in a loud, low voice, not at all like her own usual sweet, soft voice, she said, “I serve HER. The great power of the Universes. The Darkness. Incendium. The Destroyer. Shape-shifter. Timeless LORD.”
“Please,” Luxia begged tearfully, “what have you done to my parents and where’s Josh?”
“I have merely installed a chip inside their heads. This gives them undying loyalty to me,” Mrs. Gravescoffin hissed.
She pressed a button on her control panel and the helmet began to descend. Luxia screamed and began to kick and writhe under the straps. But the more she did, the tighter they clung to her. Darian strained against his uncle’s iron-fisted grip but to no avail. Sally came over to Luxia and held her legs fast. The helmet fell fast towards Luxia’s head. In a moment, it would be over her head. It was all over. The chip would be installed. She would become like the rest of her family. A servant to a lunatic witch. Luxia gave up her struggles and clamped her fists tightly. She shut her eyes and hoped it wouldn’t hurt too bad.
Suddenly, the bright lights went off. With a “whizzferrum” sound, the helmet stopped moving and the control panel lights went off. Everything went black. Luxia opened her eyes to find there was no difference if she kept them open or closed. Mrs. Gravescoffin grunted irritatedly with frustration.
She barked out, “Gaan, skakel hulle weer aan.”
Sally bowed and yielded, “Natuurlik.”
“Ek sal saam met haar gaan?” Aldric asked humbly.
“Gaan, dwaas!” Mrs. Gravescoffin scowled, “Wees vinnig terug.”
Aldric dropped Darian roughly and he fell to the ground. Darian lay there with his soul and body throbbing. Mrs. Gravescoffin pressed a button on the control panel and punched a code into it. The door opened and Sally and Aldric departed hurriedly.
Luxia awaited her fate in silence. Darian lay crumpled on the ground, staring at blackness itself.
Chapter 8: The Night Ninja Strikes
Seconds of waiting passed. Those seconds turned to minutes. After precisely fifteen minutes, a thud was heard and a shout. A clear voice yelled out, “Luxia! Darian!”
Without thinking, they both called out, “Here! Here!”
A cloaked figure somersaulted into and across the room and kicked Mrs. Gravescoffin right in the chest. Mrs. Gravescoffin reeled with the force of the kick and fell hard onto the ground. The figure cartwheeled neatly and pressed a button on the control panel. The straps on Luxia’s wrists and feet immediately popped open. The helmet lifted back into the air and Luxia sat up.
“Quick, quick, quick,” the figure rasped. It yanked Luxia off the platform and dragged Darian to his feet. It shoved them through the open doorway. Then the figure waltzed back into the room and grabbed a huge, tattered book. It sprinted back towards the doorway but it was too late. Mrs. Gravescoffin had recovered from the shock of the kick and grabbed the children’s rescuer from behind. The figure writhed at the grip.
Luxia and Darian saw the figure go down. Luxia didn’t have time to even react when she heard a furious howl beside her.
Darian leapt into the room and yelled, “You get your filthy hands off my sister!”
Luxia didn’t have time to think through this statement. She lunged into the room to help Darian. She backed towards the nearest wall and then sprinted full on towards the witch. Just before colliding into her, she kicked up her leg and let it sink into the woman’s side. A crack of bones. A chilling wail split the room.
Luxia yanked the figure up and motioned Darian to run. The three of them ran out towards the doorway and out the front door. Sally and Aldric were nowhere to be seen. They darted out onto the dark street and away east. They were fleeing the only home they had ever known. They couldn’t afford to waste a moment. Not even to bid their parents farewell. Mrs. Gravescoffin wanted them. Already two of the strongest people they knew were under her fist. Everybody they loved was in danger. Potentially, the world was in danger. And so they fled, leaving everything. No looking back.
Chapter 9: Seven for the Seven
Only after running for half a mile could they let themselves stop for a breath and think through the events that had enfolded minutes ago.
“Wh-wh-what was that?” Luxia panted.
The figure threw back her hood and grinned. Darian tackled her down in a hug. It was Linda!
“Linda!” Luxia squealed with delight, “you saved us!”
“Just doing my job as your older sis,” Linda winked and hugged Luxia.
“Linda, how did you follow us?” Luxia asked, laughing.
“She was watching us plan from the doorway of the room back at our home,” Darian blurted out.
Linda raised an eyebrow. “Yes, lil bro. I was watching and hearing you plan out that pathetic plan. But I didn’t know you knew I was eavesdropping on y’all.”
Darian rolled his eyes and Luxia laughed again.
“You were spectacular,” Luxia said, “Those cartwheels and somersaults. You saved us, but with style. We should call her the Night Ninja!”
“Don’t forget the part where she needed our saving,” Darian pointed out matter-of-factly.
“I will give you guys credit for that,” Linda consented, “Night Ninja, huh? I like the ring of it. By the way, that was one fantastic kick, Luxia. Where did you learn that from?”
Luxia shrugged and smiled.
“So what’s that for?” She pointed to the old, tattered book Linda was still holding.
“Well, I slipped in after Mrs. Gravescoffin dragged you into that house. Then I tried peeking in and listening through the doorway of the room but that plan was quickly squashed because that old hag shut the door. I quickly climbed up some stairs and then lifted off the floor–”
“How did you do that?” Darian interrupted.
“With this,” Linda said, pulling a screwdriver out of her pocket.
It was Darina’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “And now she keeps screwdrivers in her pockets?! You seriously never stop surprising me.”
“No, silly, this one’s not an ordinary one,” Linda expostulated, “It’s the same one my dad used to fix up Capsule 327 after he crashed onto Terra and rescued aunt–never mind about that.”
Linda quickly stopped talking about Luxia’s parents when she saw the look of horror on her cousin’s face.
“Never m-m-mind,” she stammered again, “I saw that Mrs. Gravescoffin kept this book close to her and kind of protected it. I knew it would have some significance so I grabbed it along. Let’s read it together.”
Linda sat down on the field they were in and Luxia and Darian plopped down beside her. Linda gently eased the book open and began to read. The words were in a strange tongue but the children found themselves able to understand. It read thus…
Sewe vir die sewe.
Seven for the seven.
Sewe om die vernietigde te herstel.
Seven to restore the destroyed.
Sewe stukke ritueel.
Seven pieces of ritual.
Wanneer saamgebring ooit, hoogste.
When brought together, supreme.
Daar sal sewe voorwerpe in die sewe kontinente wees.
There shalt be seven objects in the seven continents.
'n Boek in Los Angeles.
A book in Los Angeles.
’n Ster vir Santiago.
A star for Santiago.
'n Armband van die markte van Pune.
A bracelet from the markets of Pune.
'n Kliptablet van Davis-stasie.
A tablet of stone from Davis Station.
'n Bottel wyn uit die stad van die Eiffeltoring.
A bottle of wine from the city of the Eiffel Tower.
Uit die warm woestyne van Kaïro 'n skedel.
From the hot deserts of Cairo, a skull.
Van Adelaide 'n lewendige edelsteen.
From Adelaide, a vibrant gemstone.
Aan die soeker luister en verstaan: die antwoord lê in die bloute.
To the searcher hark and understand: the answer lies in the blue.
Dit sal op al die sewe gegraveer word.
This will be engraved on all the seven.
Sewe vir Terra.
Seven for Terra.
Sewe vir sy herstel.
Seven for its restoration.
Sewe vir die sewe kontinente.
Seven for the seven continents.
Linda finished reading and turned over the page. It opened onto a blank page. Linda flipped through the entire book. It was all blank. That was all they needed to know. After a long pause, Luxia took a deep breath and exclaimed, “Hey! What’re we waiting for? The restoration of our planet lies in our hands.”
Epilogue
“Let me get this straight…we’re going to South America ALONE!” Darian yelled.
“You got it!” Linda squealed with excitement.
“What will mum and dad think about that, huh?” Darian grumped.
“I don’t know, bro! But we’re goin’,” Luxia chimed in.
“C’mon, Darian, it’ll be fun!” Linda urged.
“Okay, I hope so.” Darian consented softly.
So they set out to save what once was theirs.
Thus began the adventures of the Terrible Three…Terrific Three…Tantalizing Three…Tenacious Three…whatever you call it. But those adventures belong to another book and another saga of captivating suspense which might still be happening as you read!
By Neev Aradhana Suresh
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