The War Chamber by B. Roman Read Free Book Online Page B

removes the Singer from the pouch and holds it expectantly in her hand, then places it next to the compass. Instantly, the compass needle spins erratically, round and round, clockwise, counterclockwise.
    “I knew it. I knew it!” Bianca is exuberant.
    “Knew what? That my crystal would move the needle?” David shrugs indifferently. “It's just a magnetic field.”
    “This is a Wind Rose, David. Its needle is not magnetized. It registers only the direction of the wind.”
    “So?”
    “David, where did the Singer come from?”
    “How did you know it was called a Singer?”
    Bianca presses her lips tightly together and raises her eyebrows impatiently.
    “My aunt gave it to me,” David replies, his own impatience showing. “She brought it back from one of her trips, an archeological dig. I can't remember where.”
    “Did she say it was special in any way?”
    “Oh, yeah. She said its vibrations sing all the mysteries of the universe and that if its owner used it right, he could develop powers like clairvoyance, prophecy, and stuff like that. My dad, on the other hand, thinks it's just a rock.”
    “And what do you believe?”
    “I'm not sure. I know unbelievable things happen when I use it, but I don't know how or why.”
    “David, how did you get here without a boat? There is no other way to Coronadus.”
    “I - don't laugh at this, but the last thing I remember was arranging my crystals in a grid pattern on my mother's grave.”
    “Trying to communicate with her?”
    David is incredulous. “Yeah. How did you guess?”
    “Why?” Bianca asks firmly. “Why were you trying to communicate with her?”
    “Because I think she could have lived if she tried harder.”
    “You don't know that.”
    “No, but I wanted to be sure. I wanted to know why she left us. Anyway, I guess I was a little crazy that day. I thought my crystals could get me to my mother. But once again, I screwed up and went to the wrong place.”
    “Once again?”
    “The first time I used the Star of David grid, lightning struck the crystals and I was knocked out cold for a few minutes. When I woke up - I thought I woke up, but maybe I was still unconscious - my sister Sally had disappeared and this fabulous clipper ship, the Moon Singer, appeared, and some gypsy hologram coaxed me to come aboard saying I would find Sally if I did. After that, the
really
unbelievable stuff started happening.” He laughs nervously, thinking that Bianca must think he is really nuts.
    But Bianca absorbs it all matter-of-factly.
    “You say this time you used the same grid pattern, but no ship appeared? It didn't transport you here?”
    “No. It was awful. I felt like I was under the water, drowning, not sailing on top of it.”
    “That explains how you washed up on shore where Maati and Sokar found you.”
    “I wish someone would explain it to me,” David says, feeling like an outsider in his own life.
    “Some things you have to figure out for yourself.”
    “That's what my mother always used to say.”
    “David, I don't mean to be insensitive, but you have a curious habit of watching people's faces intently when they speak, as though you're afraid of missing a word.”
    “I am afraid. The only time I can hear is when I fool around with my crystals and wind up in some strange place, like this. At home, I'm as deaf as a stone.”
    “Then it's no wonder you keep trying to escape from home.”

Nine
    Certain that everyone is asleep, David slips quietly from his room and out of the house. He makes his way stealthily along the streets, hugging the buildings, unaware that someone is following him who also moves in the shadows. Once he is beyond the Coronadus village square, David sprints across the open field to the main harbor, then slows his pace along the strip of dockside warehouses. Looking for an entryway to one of the sheds, he tries one door, then another. No luck. He finds a window that is slightly ajar, forces it open, and crawls inside.
    Right