Introduction:
"Come on, Sam. The party has started."
"Why do I have to go? I don't know any of them," he fidgets.
"Hold still." She adjusts the collar of his ocean blue jacket. Her fingers lightly slide across the gold flower emblem on the pocket. She sniffles, "They are your extended family. This is the first time our whole family has been to one of these. You can tolerate the jacket for a little while." She kisses his cheeks. "Please stay with your sister. Most of your cousins are here and I do not want you to get lost in the crowd."
He wipes the tear from her cheek. "Why are you crying? I will behave. I promise."
She hugs him. "I know you will. Let's go to the party."
Several hours later, he sits on a bench tapping his head against the staircase. Other than school, he has never seen so many people in one room. He slowly shakes his head at the thought, they are supposed to be related to him. Why did they drag him here? This is no fun. He smacks his head harder against the stairs.
The main doors fly open and a gust of cold air sweeps into the room. The candles along the walls flicker. Everyone watches the doors. Do they not see the fog rolling across the floor? He watches the fog touch his shoes. It moves up his legs. A chill encompasses his body. It feels good. He removes his jacket and folds it onto his lap. The fog passes over his hands and slides up his arms. The cool temperature relaxes his body. His eyes fight to stay open, but they soon close and a snow-capped mountain beacons him to play.
"Sam wake up." A fiery hand rubs his arm. "You are very cold."
His eyes open and for a moment, everything has a blue tint. He blinks and the tint disappears. Most of the adults glance in his direction. Across the room his father with his left brow up, stares at him. His mother dabs a handkerchief to the corner of her eyes.
"Great," He sits up and starts to slip his arm into his jacket.
"What are you doing?"
"I must have done something stupid to embarrass our parents. It would have been easier if they had left me at home like last year."
She hugs him. "You did not embarrass them. You did exactly what needed to be done. I will hold your jacket." She runs her fingers through his hair. "Look up."
On the second landing of the stairs above him, his younger blonde cousin waves down at him.
"Liz is just as board as you are. If you will watch her, the two of you can explore upstairs."
He stares up at Liz and a twinkle flashes in her eyes. He hands his sister his jacket and hugs her. "Erika, you are the best." He glances across the room. While everyone continue their conversations, they pay him no attention.
He never did like crowds, so when an opportunity to get away presented itself, he took it. He follows Liz up the stairs. The noise of the festivity continues below. He tiptoes to the corner and slowly peaks around it. She is not in this hallway. He did not see her run across to the other hall. She could not have outrun him. He slides along the wall and stops at the first door. The handle feels cold just like when his sisters hold onto the door knobs without their gloves. He twists the handle and pushes on the door that creaks in protest. The hall lights cast shadows against the back wall of the room. A heavy drape covers a window, but he is able to see a table with two chairs. He steps in and peeks around the door. A fireplace hides in the darkness against the wall. A cold breeze enters the room from the hall and pushes the door wide open. Something moves against the far wall and he sees a second door. Another movement draws his attention to the flag hanging next to the door.
A golden rod with flowers on each end holds a triangular-shaped flag to the wall. The bottom of the flag has two tips. A golden flower with three petals and two leaves, similar to the flowers on the ends of the rod, sits in the center, evenly dividing the flag with purple on the left and green on the right.
Movement catches his attention again. The purple tip flicks up at an odd angle. He stares at it. It flicks up twice. He studies the drapes expecting them to move from an open window. A rapid flapping noise causes him to watch the flag. The purple and green tips point oddly up in the same direction. His eyes sweep up and he spots a tiny blue light above the door. It is not like the lights in his home. It glows brighter. It must have a motion sensor to turn it on, but the light is different. Before he felt the cold, but now, a warmth drapes over him like when his mother wraps him in the warm blanket just taken out of a clothes dryer. The noise from the party fades. A new sound fills his ears, but not just his ears, his whole body feels the sound. The light moves like a flame on a candle. It reminds him of the candles on his birthday cake.
A month ago, his family celebrated his birthday. He remembers it like it happened yesterday. As they had done the last three years, Mom and Dad took him to their bedroom and showed him a small crystal similar to that one over the door. They allow him to hold the crystal for several minutes.
They asked the same question each year. "Do you feel anything different with the crystal?"
Every year he would shake his head, no. Dad would take the crystal and place it in a box. He stuffed it on the top shelf where he could not reach it. He knew it must be important, but no one would tell him what it is or what he was supposed to feel.
On his last birthday when it was just him and Dad, Mom had asked, "Did it happen?"
Dad shook his head and walked past her. Mom cried.
Even his older sisters, Joan and Erika, would not tell him the importance of the crystal. He remembered, they hugged him for a long time. They also cried. He did not feel anything from the crystal, but his sisters made him feel very cold as if their arms were made of ice.
Erika encouraged him to talk to Mom and Dad. He found them in their study room hugging each other. The door was not completely closed. Just as he reached to push it open Dad said, "He may not receive the gift."
Mom sniffled, "I guess we are not going to the castle."
He pushes the door open. He had never seen Dad cry. When they saw him, they both wiped their tears away. Mom invited him to sit next to her, but he stood in front of them.
"What was I supposed to feel? Was somebody supposed to give me a gift? It is my birthday, today."
Dad hugged him and gave him an encrypted answer. Mom was no help. She just cried and smiled and cried more. She said the same thing except she said the time was soon. He did note Mom's arms were cold like his sisters.
He remembered it was the worst birthday yet. His friends from school did not come over that day. He considered cancelling all of his future birthdays if that was the way they were going to treat him. Later that evening, past sunset, he ran up the hill in the back acreage of the family's property. He jumped and ran and fell down and talked to the stars. He stopped and stared at a specific point in the sky. A meteor began to glow where he looked. He watched it streak across the sky and continued to watch it move deeper into the darkness.
He turned his head slightly. "I know you two are hiding behind the tree. What do you want?"
Erika and Joan walked the short distance to stand next to him. Joan pushed her hood back and fluffed her red hair. "I thought we were very quiet. How did you know we were there?"
"I didn't hear you. I just knew."
Erika placed her hand on the back of his neck and shoulders. He stepped away, pushing her hand off his neck.
"Did you carry ice in your hands and drop it behind the tree before touching me. The last time you did that I fell asleep before my bedtime."
Erika pushed her hood back and combed her white hair with her fingers as she grinned. Every time she grins like that, something strange would happen around their house.
Erika pointed her finger at him. "How did you know?"
He motioned to the fox running down the hill. "The fox told me you were behind the tree."
"It spoke to you the way we are speaking to you?"
"No." He taps his head rapidly.
Erika's left brow rose like Dad's does. Joan stared at Erika then her right brow rose like Mom's does. They touched their right hands to the left side of the others face. They both glance at him.
He stepped back as they grinned at each other. "Why do you smile when the blue spark touches your face?"
"Is this the first time you saw the spark?" Erika asked.
He shrugged his shoulder as he kicks at the ground. "I started to see the white light before the last winter. I thought it was the dry humidity causing it, but then you would smile and snicker and laugh without saying anything. I thought you were making fun of me. This time it was a blue light."
Their eyes widened as their lips pulled tight. Erika walked back down the hill as Joan kneeled in front of him. "So the blue light you saw was the first time."
He nodded to her.
"Why do you come out here in the dark?"
He looks up at the stars.
"What do you see up there?" He turned away from her. She grabbed his hand. "Do you think I will laugh?"
He was just thinking that. How did she know? He pointed to a star, four fingers above the horizon. "Do you see that star rising?"
"Yes."
"That is not a star." He glanced back at her. If she began to laugh he would run away, but she was not laughing or smiling. "Do you remember when they launched the shuttle before the New Year?"
She nods.
"That star was a little higher than it is now, but I saw the shuttle connect to it."
"That was in the news. They had video of the docking."
He shook his head vigorously. "No, I saw it here. I saw the mirrors reflecting the sunlight. I saw the shuttle firing its maneuvering rockets to connect to the space station." He points to the star directly overhead. "That one is a satellite. There is another one about to drop in the west."
"When did you start to see the satellites?"
"After my birthday."
"But you did not make the crystal glow."
"Is that what I was supposed to do? Why did they not tell me that before? I'm not a kid anymore. Next year I will be ten and almost a man. It was the third time. I was afraid of disappointing them."
He starts to turn away, but she pulls him back. He wipes the tears off his face. "I saw Mom and Dad crying. I thought they did not want me."
"Why would they not want you?"
"You and Erika are so smart. I know she is talking to the universities. She and Mom talks about going over there to study. End of this year you will be doing the same thing." He shakes his head. "I study and study and study and barely pass."
"Is that why you come out here? To create a separation so it will not hurt when we leave?"
His lower lip quivers and the tears flow down his cheeks. She pulls him to her and hugs him. "I am so sorry we have not been forthcoming to you. We did not wish to push, but we're waiting for you to tell us when you were ready."
"Ready for what?"
She pulls her necklace out from under her shirt and holds it in front of him. "Do you know what this is?"
"It looks like the crystal they placed in my hand on my birthday."
"Watch," she wraps her hand around it and blue light peeks between her fingers. She holds the tip and it oscillates like the beat of a heart. She drops it and the glow disappears. It dangles from the string. "Go ahead and touch it."
His hand reaches for it. It begins to glow before he touches it. When he finally does, the crystal sings to him and feels warm. His body tingles. The crystal mesmerizes him.
Joan places the leather string holding the crystal over his head. "You can wear it until Dad gives you your crystal"
He looks up as a faint blue line sweeps across her eyes. "What is the blue in your eyes? Erika's eyes do the same thing. Will I be able to do that?"
"It means you have my complete attention. Now that you can make the crystal glow, you will be able to do things beyond what you thought was possible."
His eyes focus on the crystal. "Will that include making the many voices in my head stop talking at the same time?"
Her right brow rises. "When did you start to hear the voices?"
"After my birthday. I thought someone was playing their radio too loud."
"That was about the time you were getting your headaches, wasn't it?"
He nods.
With a grin she peeks over her shoulder. "I told them you had matured and you were ready. I think someone owes me a favor." She brushes his short hair behind his ear and a miniscule spark leaps from her finger. "Do you still hear voices?"
He shakes his head, but continues to stare at the crystal.
She rotates him around and encourages him to sit in front of her. A cool northern breeze sweeps up the hill. The crystal emits a brighter undulating light. She slides closer behind him and wraps her arms around him.
"Joan, do you think I can become a starship captain?"
"At the rate technology is progressing, I believe it will be possible in your lifetime. Why do you ask?"
He gazes at the eastern sky. "Do you see the constellation Orion? It looks like someone is shooting an arrow down."
"Yes, I see it."
"I want to go there."
"To Orion?"
"Not Orion, do you see the three stars that make up Orion's belt?"
"Yes?"
"The bottom star, behind it is the Sariphan star. I want to go there." He holds the crystal tight in his fist and its light changes to blue.
"Interesting, why would you want to go there?"
"Sometimes when I'm up here alone, I pretend I command the Starship Aurora with a brave crew of humans and alien beings working together. The Queen of Sariphan contacts me and tells me a neighbor is being mean to her. I fly to the neighbor and make them play nice."
"Do they play nice?"
He shrugs his shoulders. "Sometimes they don't and I have to shoot a couple of laser beams at them then they behave."
"This is very interesting. Can you see the Sariphan star?"
He shakes his head. "No one can. It is too far away. Orion hides it."
"So how do you know it is there?"
The blue light from the crystal stops undulating as he looks to the star. "I don't. I feel it is there and she is waiting for me."
Her arms tighten around him as she whispers into his ear. "Tell me about the Sariphan Queen. Is she pretty?"
He smiles and yawns. "Yes, she is pretty like you and has blonde hair like Erika but not as muscular. When I visit, she gives me their version of chocolate-coffee and coconut cookies."
"Do you like her?"
"When I am with her, I have fun. I want to be with her forever. When you or Erika or Mom calls me to come in for the night, I tell her my commanding officers have given me a new assignment, and I will be back. She blows me a kiss and tells me, she will wait up for me." He lowers his head and yawns.
A frosted hand reaches over Joan shoulder and touches the back of his neck. He yawns and sighs as his body slumps to the side. Erika kneels and scoops him up in her arms. "Well, I guess you were right. I am glad Dad allowed you to use your gifts to encourage little brother. I still think you would make a deadly assassin."
Joan climbs to her feet. "Yeah, and we get to go to the castle. I bet Mom and Dad are happy."
They walk down the hill. "Like two little kids waking up on Christmas morning. And it was a good thing you silenced the voices in his head. It got noisy real quick when he mentioned the Sariphan star."
They walk in silence a short distance. Erika asks, "I don't think I'm that muscular."
Joan snickers, "How big was that boy you threw into the trash container at the mall parking lot?"
"Leverage, my dear sister, leverage."
"Yeah, when pigs sprout wings and fly."
"Well, I don't know about pigs, he sure sounded sweet on you, calling you pretty and me muscular."
"I'm his sister. He is not sweet on me."
"Let him find out he was adopted, then tell me he is not sweet on you."
Whoosh . . . ice rises from the ground and freezes around Erika's boot.
She hobbles on one leg until she regains control and is able to stand. She glares at Joan. "You would not be feeling so cocky if I had dropped him."
Joan flicks her wrist and the ice melts from around Erika's boot. "Sorry, is he awake?'
"When this young man wakes up, we will be in the castle and his adventure will begin."
"Just because he is asleep, he can hear you."
"To him it is a dream."
"Do you think she will be there?"
"We are counting on it?"
"I hear they may have a late winter storm over there."
Erika grins, "Are you challenging me? Snow balls at a hundred meters?"
"You're on."
"Psst, psst, Sam." A small hand, bordering on feeling cold, taps his arm. "What is wrong with you? Are you daydreaming?"
She grabs his arm and pulls. He follows her down the hall and into the next room. He was told not to go into the room, but he did not wish to stop. He wanted to know.
"Liz, you know you are not supposed to be in here. If they find out, we will both get into trouble."
He closes the door.
She pushes a chair against the bookcase. "Hold the chair." She climbs onto it and wiggles to make sure it does not slide.
He glimpses back at the door. "Come on, I think someone is coming up the stairs."
"Who?"
"I don't know. They don't feel like our family."
She stretches her arm, but her small finger barely touches an old book. "It must be one of our cousins looking for the bathroom." The chair wobbles.
Sam pushes the chair against the bookshelf and climbs up onto it. He reaches above her head and pulls on the book Liz was trying to reach. The book shines with different shades of a metallic green. The light reflects across it creating a rainbow. "Wow, did you see that?"
Liz places her hand on the book's cover and both of their hands glows a faint blue tint. "See. See, it did the same thing with Momma's hands."
He stares at the book and slides his hands across the raised symbols. "Momma's hands? How do you know her hands glowed?"
He climbs down and helps Liz to sit in the chair. He sits next to her.
Liz slides her hands across the raised letters, and they begin to glow a reddish color. "I saw Mommy do this. Not only did her hands glow blue, but this book also glowed green and the letter changed to red."
"When did you see your Momma doing this?"
"Before Aunt Anna showed up here before yesterday," She answers. "Do you remember when you said you saw smoke coming out from under the door? Then you said the smoke made your hands very cold."
With a nod, he answers, "Yes, I remember. Your dad came out of the room and told me the smoke was an ice fog. He said I, will know about it soon, that was yesterday evening."
"I did not see Daddy. I saw Mommy sitting in this chair. She was reading this book and she was crying."
"Why was she crying?"
"I don't know. When she saw me she closed the book hard and put it up there on the shelf." She points above her head. "You know what else I saw?"
He shakes his head no.
"When Mommy stand, smoke fell off her hands and feet. The smoke moved across the floor towards me. I ran to my room and hide under the covers. Daddy came in my room and laid on the bed with me. My eyes closed. I opened them. It was dark, so I closed them again until Mommy woke me up." She slides her hand over the book and the smoke rises from her hands."
"How are you doing that?"
"Mommy said to think about a mountain covered in snow and when I am ready I should read this book." She jumps down and closes the door.
Sam stares at the door and glances at the corner of the room near the door. He helps her back into the chair.
"I have been sneaking in here, but I could not get the book. Now you have it. Open it and read it to me."
"We will get into trouble if we get caught."
She holds his hands and both of their hands glow with a light blue tint. "I feel this book is singing to us."
He stares at her but the tension of fear melts, the more he watches her. "Now that you said it. I feel we should read it."
A floorboard creaks. They look towards the door.
"What are you two doing in here?"
His head snaps to his left. His nose is a few centimeters from the nose attached to a face containing a set of tranquil blue eyes. He stares not wanting to look away. She blows a cool, minty-mist into his face. He smiles.
She stands towering over them. "Are you deaf? I asked you a question. Why are you in here?"
He jumps out of the chair. Liz slides off and stands beside him with her head down. He answers, "We meant no harm."
The blonde haired woman places her hands on her waist. "Do your parents know you are in here?"
He shakes his head, but Liz barely whispers, "No."
"Then you should be punished for breaking the rules and being in here."
Liz starts to cry. Sam steps in front and pushes her behind him. She holds his hand.
"If we have to be punished for coming in here, I will take both of our punishments. I could have stopped Liz but I followed her in here." He stares defiantly up at her. "Punish me."
"For not knowing what the punishment is, you sure are brave for a little boy." She leans over them. "What are your names?"
"I'm Sam. This is my little cousin Liz." He looks up at her defiantly.
"Sam and Liz, I am sure they are short for another name." She peeks past him. "Liz, what is your full name?"
She moves to hide behind him. "My name is Elizabeth."
"Elizabeth? Who calls you Elsa?"
"My mom does sometimes."
She stands tall and starts to move towards the door. After a moment she turns back to them. "Does Sam stand for something else? Give your full name."
He tries to stand as tall as possible with his chin lifted. "My name is Samuel Christopher Ryan. Her name is Elizabeth Anna Bjorgman."
She leans close and examines his face. "You do have the facial features of the Admiral and her hair is similar to the Queen Elsa, I knew."
His head slightly shakes. "Who is the Admiral and Queen Elsa?"
She stands up with her hands over her mouth and walks towards the door. She pivots and points her finger at them. "I have decided your punishment."
She flicks her hand and the door closes. Marching past them, she picks up the book and a rainbow of colors float across its cover. She sits. "Sam sit next to me."
He hesitates, but climbs into the chair next to her. She hands him the book.
She points to Liz. "You little miss, sit in my lap."
Liz drags her feet with her head down, then the woman puts her in her lap. "I saw the two of you make this book glow. Do it again." Neither moves. "If you wish, I will march the two of you down stairs and tell your parents what miss behaving children you are."
Sam grabs Liz's hand. "We are already in trouble. Let's show her."
Liz lays her hand on the book. Sam places his hand on top and slides her hand over the cover. The book changes to different shades of metallic green. Their hands pass over the letters and they glow red.
"Is that all you can do? What do the letters spell?"
He glances up at her. "Letters? They don't look like letters."
She watches him. A blue line sweeps across her eyes. "Your alphabet letters are not the only written language. The symbols in this book are an ancient written language called Ruins. Let me help you."
She covers their hands with her hand and they begin to glow. She moves them to the top, then to the bottom. She moves them to the left, then to the right. The red letters transform in the letters he can read.
Liz says, "Emm, Wi, it reads 'my'."
"Very Good, read this one."
Sam and Liz stare intently and the letters change. Liz says, "Cue . . . Uu . . . Eee . . . another Eee . . . Enn."
Sam says, "Queen, My Queen?"
There is more.
Liz says, "Ohh . . . efff. I don't know that one."
"My Queen of?"
Liz reads, "Aaa . . . Arrr . . . Eee . . . Enn . . . Dee . . . Eee . . . Ell . . . Ell . . . Eee."
Sam mouths the words.
"Say it."
"Arendelle," He looks up at her unsure. "My Queen of Arendelle, is that the name of this book?"
"Yes, it is." Another blue line sweeps across her eyes.
He glances away, searching his memories. "Why does that sound familiar?"
She opens the book. "I will not make you suffer so I will read it."
Before she could start, Sam reads the Ruins. "To my beloved wife and friend, Queen Elsa of Arendelle"
"Hey, she has my name, Elsa," Liz says, smiling up at the woman.
Sam points to the signature under the dedication. "Samuel Christopher Ryan, Fleet Admiral, United Star Ship Aurora." His finger traces the letters. "We do not have starships. Is this a Fantasy novel?"
"Some may see it as nothing more than that. If you ever wanted to know where your family came from, this book is a testimony of your family's origins. This book shows the cornerstone laid for the bridge between –"
He interrupts, "Our world and her world."
"Yes, that is correct. How do you know?"
"I don't know. I just do."
The woman smiles when she flips to the first page.
A cold fog rises from the page and produces images. She whispers to them. "Open your minds. You will know who you are and where you came from and which path to travel that will take you to your future."
The page changes to a crimson red. Liz jerks her hands away from the book. Sam asks, "Why did it change?"
"It is a warning. Look." Word float above the page.
Live in the Present
Dream of the Future
And Remember the Past
'For the Past may
Become your Future.
"What does that mean?"
"I think it is warning to us," Liz still holds her hands from the book.
"Yes it is a warming, but all of us." She encourages Liz to place her hands on the book. "I believe the answer is in this book. Let us read." She turns the page.
Sam slides his finger across the numbers and letters below the chapter number. " '423 years 6 months until completion', until what is completed?"
"Do you write reports for your teacher in school?"
"Yes, all the time." Sam frowns.
"Does the teacher insist you write the date on it?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"It is part of the requirement to get a good grade." He looks away as his voice trails off.
She slips her arm around his shoulders and pulls him closer to her. "The date is a reference that allows the teacher to know when you did it and approximately when it was due, if she needs to know at a later date. The Admiral, being a military officer, kept a log of events, so he could reference his notes at a later date, just like your teacher."
He shakes his head, "That does not look like a date. Why does he not write the date the way we do with the day, month, and year?"
"Even in this time, some write as you say, day, month, year, others write month, day, year, and other start the date with the year first. Are they wrong, no? The same information is provided. We interpret it differently." She does not move for a moment and sighs.
Sam holds her hand. "Are you okay?"
She forces a smile. "I have read this book to your cousins many times. It still affects me, thinking about what he, then they had to go through. I guess I'm just being a sentimental old woman." She sniffs back a sniffle. "Let me answer your question. The Admiral's travel covers many lands and people who reference the date differently. He needed a reference that all of his family in the future would understand. The do the words 'until completion' mean to you?"
"Something is to come," answers Liz as she sweeps her hand over the page and it glistens in the rainbow colors.
"It has not happened at this point in the story," Sam comments.
"You are both correct."
"Are you saying the Admiral was alive 423 years and 6 months before the completion date?"
"That would be silly. No one lives that long. He must have jumped through time."
Sam looks up at the blue eyed woman. "Is Liz correct?"
"It is a reference only." Her hands begin to glow as she sweeps it over their heads and the book. "I could tell you what happens in the last chapter, but then you would miss out on a great adventure."
An icy fog rises from the book. Sam and Liz stare intently into the fog. Liz's hands and arm radiate a snow white glow as does her eyes. Sam's eyes glow a blue. His hands and arms radiate a lighter blue. As the images change in the story, his flesh radiates the different shades of a metallic green with streaks of blue.
She begins, "Chapter 1: Aurora . . ."
End of Introduction