Hello, everyone! I have the final chapter of this story ready her for you all earlier than usual because I wanted to get it done before I get too busy with outside work. I will put some details for the future of this series after the main content.

DISCLAIMER: The 'Amulet' series is created and illustrated by Kazu Kibuishi, and published by 'Scholastic'. The author owns any original characters and custom elements included into the story.

Onward!

When Caleb saw Emily, Navin and Miskit walk into the glowing tree-room together, faces dirtied and bodies worn out, he felt glad they had returned safely. When he saw Karen Hayes's unconscious body held on Emily's back, he couldn't hold back a few tears. After Caleb tried, and failed, to touch Karen's face in assurance that she was actually there before Miskit directed the other robots to take her away, the rabbit-like robot silently guided Karen's children to separate bedrooms as Theodore was sent to gather dry towels and clean clothes for them to use and change into, respectively. When they came to the kitchen, looking cleaner but not any happier, a recovered Caleb helped them sit down to eat the food he and the cooking robots had made.

The children sat on small wooden chairs around a foldable metal table, all of which had been quickly gathered by Morrie from somewhere in the house's storage rooms while the others had been preparing to eat. The first serving for both kids was one sandwich on a plate, and a small bowl of soup. The kids ate the food up with hunger born from a long night, and what felt to Caleb like most of a long day, of stress and anguish and tragedy. When they had finished their first servings, Caleb gave them another while Morrie provided small glasses of water. After devouring their second servings, the siblings pushed themselves to their feet and shuffled back to their impromptu bedrooms in silence. At Morrie's urging, Caleb was told to not help clean up, and instead go to bed as well.

"We will take care of this," Morrie had said as Miskit began washing dishes in the kitchen's sink. "As your current doctor, I insist you rest." Caleb had lost the energy to argue as Emily and Navin had eaten their meal, so he gave Morrie a sincere "Thank you," and went back to the room he had previously been locked in on the same floor. He managed to get his shoes off before he sat on the bed, lay back and closed his eyes.

When Caleb woke up, it took him a few moments to realize he was not dreaming. He felt like he had slept for a year. Having no clocks in his room to tell the time of day underground, he didn't know how long it had been since he had lain down. Stretching his arms up caused him to feel a weight in his pocket; his cell phone, still broken. His parents must have received his last message, before he had left the Charnon House on Earth. Had they started looking for him? Had search parties already investigated the Charnon family home on Earth and come out empty-handed? Had Steve and Miranda given up hope of seeing Caleb again?

Caleb's eyes grew wet again as he put a finger to his neck to check his pulse. The beat he felt wasn't erratic, so he wasn't any sicker than before. He just felt sad, a sticky sad that clung to his thoughts and tried to weigh him down and never let him be happy again. Caleb lethargically slid out of the bed and rubbed his eyes, and then he rubbed his wrists and the wrappings on them. The action did not produce any throbs of pain, which was a good sign. Another sign was a pile of clothes Caleb discovered perched on the edge of the bed. There was a note attached to the clothes. Caleb picked the note up and found large letters written on the paper with black ink.

"Let someone know if the clothes are not your size. Thank you for helping provide for the children.

-Miskit"

The clothes were a long-sleeved collared shirt colored a faded blue, khaki pants with deep pockets, worn hiking boots with thick laces, and even gray boxer briefs. They all did fit Caleb's body; surprisingly well, in fact. The shirt itched a bit when Caleb put it on, but he figured he would get used to the sensation. How many other clothes did Silas Charnon have to spare, especially with two children and their mother to keep clothed as well?

The thought of how those two children and their mother were doing motivated Caleb to go out of the room. The metal door opened when he turned the knob this time, and Caleb quickly made to find someone who could tell him where Karen had been put. The first place he checked was the kitchen, and he saw Navin sitting at the small table, head resting on his arms as if asleep. The plates and bowls Miskit had started washing were gone out of sight. Navin still wore the same clothes he had been given from Silas's collection; a plaid shirt colored like sunlit sand with sleeves too long for his arms, blue pants, and a blue undershirt. The sneakers Caleb saw on his feet when he peeked beneath the table were the boy's own, though, but they had been thoroughly scrubbed clean of any muck the caverns had given them.

Caleb gingerly put his hand on Navin's shoulder and shook it slightly. "How are you feeling, Navin?" he asked the boy after he had raised his head up. "Tired?"

"Nope." Navin popped his head up and gave Caleb a pleased smile, not looking sleepy at all. "I slept for a week in that bed. I was just thinking about stuff." After a moment his smile grew a bit wider. "Thanks for the food, it was really good."

Caleb smiled back at him. "My mother taught me how to make sandwiches like that in primary school. Haven't forgotten since." His smile wilted as he moved on to more sensitive topics. "Is your mother okay?" he carefully asked.

"She's sleeping in Silas's old room." The boy did not sound distraught over this fact, as if it weren't a life-or-death situation for his mother. "Oh," he then blurted out as his smile changed to concern, "after you left, Silas h—"

Caleb put a finger to his lips before Navin finished. "Morrie told me Silas is dead," he solemnly commented. "And I'm sorry you were in the room when it happened. It must hurt to see someone die."

Navin paused, blinked, and then looked away from Caleb to the table. "Yeah, it wasn't fun." That was an understatement and Caleb knew it. He was a little amazed Navin didn't sound any worse for wear from everything that had happened; some of the people on the high school track team would have buckled under the weight of it all had they been in his shoes. How old was Navin again, ten? And he was dealing with people dying and his mother being kidnapped?

This whole adventure had been crazy, and it wasn't over yet.

"Um, Navin?" Caleb cleared his throat. "Can I go see your mother? Morrie's probably there as well, right?"

"Sure. I'll go with you." Navin slid his chair back and got to his feet. "Emily ate a bit before she went up there. She carried Mom most of the way back, you know. I wanted to help, but she wouldn't give her up."

Caleb smiled as his heart fluttered a little bit from the image of Emily working hard for her family. "That proves how much you two love her," he said. He let Navin take the lead out of the kitchen, passing by the metal doors and open doorways without looking inside them, not getting distracted.

"Hey, Em," Navin greeted his sister as he entered Silas's former bedroom. The equipment Caleb saw before was still there except the IV drip and that strange skull-cap apparatus. Miskit, Morrie, and Cogsley were holding a quiet conversation by the heart rate monitor. Emily wore a hooded cloak colored like sand, and blue pants like Navin's. kept her own shoes on. As Caleb came around to get a closer look at Emily and her mother, he saw Emily was wearing a gray shirt beneath the cloak. Her hair hung down to her back, the natural red seeming bright and vibrant against her clothes. She turned towards Navin as he came over and gave him a simple "Hey." Caleb saw Emily's eyes were a little bloodshot, and… were those dried tears on her cheeks?

"Has Morrie checked your mom over?" Caleb quietly asked while looking at Karen resting beneath those thick covers. They held her as snugly as they had Silas, enveloping everything below her head. She looked asleep; her expression was stuck in a depressed state. Caleb hoped she was still breathing, even though he was sure that was the case with nothing giving her oxygen.

"Mom's been stung by that Arachnopod that swallowed her." Emily's shoulders tightened as she depressingly told Caleb what she had experienced. "It's like what you had," she finished, "but worse. She won't wake up without an antidote."

The stinger. Morrie's words about Arachnopod venom had come true. How lucky Caleb hadn't suffered the same fate! How the kids would have dealt with two bodies instead of one, Caleb didn't want to try and hypothesize. "But she's alright, yes?" he finally, hesitatingly, asked Emily.

"For now," Emily replied, still sounding depressed. "She told me she couldn't move when I tried to pull her out, and now I know why."

Caleb's wrists tingled as he looked at Karen's face again. "How soon can we get the antidote?"

"The robots are talking about that now." Emily raised one of her hands and pointed at the three mechanical constructs still discussing with each other, not appearing to notice or react to the other discussion taking place a few meters from them.

"Emily, I…" Caleb took a breath, phrased his words into what he hoped was a good way: "I saw what you did with your amulet out there. You were amazing."

Emily flinched in surprise, an odd emotion to display in the face of praise. "You saw that? Miskit said the map's scanners didn't extend beyond the mountain."

Confused, Caleb explained that he, in fact, had not seen anything beyond the mountain, and was relieved to see some of her concern go away. "But I did see you fly like a superhero and cut through those bugs with ease," he praised. "You have an incredible power with that amulet, Emily."

Emily brought one of her hands up to the mentioned object, still wrapped around her neck, and fingered it. She didn't look impressed by what she had done as she brought her eyes down to look on the strange symbol carved into the central gemstone. "I couldn't stop Mom from being poisoned." Emily's grip tightened, her fingers enveloping the amulet like a trap closing shut. "I could have done more to help her, I know it."

"How could you have known that would happen? The amulet isn't showing you the future, right?" Emily shook her head. "Well then, don't put the blame on it, or that 'voice' you say it has. Maybe it needs time to get used to you."

"You sound really weird right now, you know?" Caleb jumped upon hearing Navin's voice right by him; he had forgotten Navin was there at all.

"I'm trying to help her, okay? Here," Caleb snapped as he reached for the amulet, "maybe the voice will stop talking if you take it off." Emily's eyes widened as Caleb's fingers drew close to her neck, and then her eyes blazed pink as the trinket came to life again. Her fingers snapped onto Caleb's wrists like a lion's jaws, squeezing right where his wrappings were.

"Don't touch it!" Emily hissed in anger, or maybe warning. "Don't take it off!" She looked upset, but the ulterior motive was lost to Caleb. In the face of Emily's defiance, he still reached for the bauble with his fingers. He wanted to take it off her so she could feel better, to not be burdened by it, or at least share that burden with him so he could understand how she felt—

The amulet flashed pink. Black spots grew in Emily's eyes. Her grip became colder, but Caleb couldn't look down to see if she had pierced the wrappings or not. His vision was locked on the appearance of a pair of miniature abysses inside Emily's pupils, ready to swallow him whole. Something was in those endless tunnels, projecting anger towards him that grew every second he peered into the depths.

Caleb broke away, moving to the far end of the bed, his free hand clutching his wrist like the attached hand would fall off without proper care. Navin darted to his sister's side as she came down from whatever sensations the amulet had given her, and then quietly sobbed into her sleeve. Caleb didn't hear Emily's cries as he looked at the wrappings, hand shaking. There were no cuts, and no blood seeped through the fabric. Slowly, warmth returned to that hand and wrist until it felt the same as its matching set.

'Why did I do that?' Caleb asked himself over and over as he stood there, not looking at Karen or her children. He had no answer for his question, no matter how many times he hunted through his thoughts. The more times he tried, the more he felt he had just made a terrible mistake. 'They hate me now, I'm sure of it. I just wanted the amulet. That's all I…' It was then Caleb realized that no, he had wanted the power inside the amulet, the thing he could use and control; killing monsters and rescuing people in need would be so easy with that power. He had reached for the chance to fix everything for the Hayes, but especially for himself. He had put his own needs above a family wanting to be together, again.

Emily and Navin said things to each other that went into one of Caleb's ears, and then went right out the other. Lost in his own little world, he felt like an idiot for making Emily angry at him again. How many times had that been now, two? Four? Far too many, really. He couldn't keep acting like this with them if he was going to go back home! But when would that happen? He had to know at some point.

"Caleb?" A pair of pink feet approached the high schooler. He looked up to see Miskit approaching, and he lowered his hands to his sides. "It's time we got moving. Please come with me."

Emily and Navin came close to Caleb as they all left the medical room and out into the hallway, where a retractable ladder was lowered to a room above them. "Ruby! Theodore!" Miskit called, and the summoned robots appeared from farther down the hall. Caleb now saw the three tiny wheels Ruby used to move along the floor, like how Theodore used its one larger wheel.

"Secure and store all loose items and furniture in the house," Miskit ordered the two smaller automatons. "And make sure all passengers are accounted for."

"Yes, Sir." Theodore saluted Miskit before racing off, arms trailing slightly behind him as Ruby trailed along behind like a pup. Miskit continued towards the ladder, and the humans followed him. "Where are you going?" Emily asked for all of them when Miskit started climbing up the ladder.

The rabbit paused midway up his ascent. "We need to get this house on its feet," he told Emily while looking back down at her. "It's the only way we'll leave the mountain in time to help your mother." He turned back to his climb without another word, leaving them all in the dark as to what he meant.

"Houses don't get on their feet…" Navin commented as he looked to Emily and Caleb for an explanation. Caleb suddenly smiled while looking at the ladder, which threw the kids for a loop.

"You're right, Navin, houses don't move. Not unless they're built that way."

Caleb was the first one up the ladder, and he quickly moved aside so Emily and Navin could come up with him. They all stood at the back end of a room with several windows in the front, designed similarly to what would be the attic of the Charnon House. Miskit, Cogsley, and Bottle were all working on various parts of a long series of monitors, or maybe just one giant control unit, stretching along two of the walls and below the windows. Caleb clutched the railings around where he had climbed up and stared at a collection of technology straight out of science fiction; the Albatross looked like a child's toy compared to this.

As blips and beeps rang from far too many instruments for Caleb to count, and several computer screens hanging down from the ceiling flashed graphs and changing percentages, Caleb Miskit read off a list of actions to Cogsley and Bottle, darting around the room and between the other robots like an actual rabbit as he did so: "Furniture secured, check. Patient secured, check. Sleep chamber, in storage. Backup generators, online." He kept going as Cogsley left his station by one of the computers and came over to the stunned guests.

"Good to see ye, kids," the orange-colored robot greeted matter-of-factly. "Have a seat over there. We'll be leaving in a few minutes." Cogsley gestured to a series of yellow leather seats lined up like a row of seats in a rollercoaster. There was even a seat brace connected to the seats as a rollercoaster would use to protect riders from falling out of the ride. Caleb sat beside Navin by choice, not willing to be next to Emily after so recently hurting her feelings. She did not comment on this, though she did give Caleb a brief look.

Cogsley returned to his station as Miskit continued to go through the list: "Engine power, eighty percent and rising. Steam valves, operational. Navigation systems, online." He turned around to the back of the room as he read, "Communications, active," and noticed the passengers sitting down and looking at him. "Finish the checkup, Cogsley," Miskit quickly ordered as he ran to Cogsley's station and passed what looked like a long sheet of paper over.

"Got it." Cogsley went right to the next item in line as Miskit ran over to the seats. "Miskit, what's going on?" Emily asked as the rabbit climbed into one of the seats, his smaller size making it harder for him to sit properly.

"We have to get to a city to find an antidote for your mother," Miskit told Emily once he was facing the right way around. "The nearest city to Gondoa Mountain is about three hundred miles away. Without the Albatross, we have only one other option."

Miskit reached up and yanked the seat brace down, nearly bonking Caleb on the head as it came down. It clicked into place with a K-CHUNK, and Caleb instantly felt squished like a fish in a tin can. "Masters and Guest secured!" Miskit shouted. "Check!"

"Roger that, Miskit!" Cogsley called back with a thumbs-up. He and Bottle were now seated in two of the larger chairs at the room's front, facing the arched windows and in reach of several large levers. "Ready, Bottle?" he asked the larger robot, and Caleb did not hear the answer before Cogsley jerked one of the levers by him. Nothing happened at first save for a deep vrooming sound that came from deeper in the house. The sound grew louder and louder as Cogsley pressed a few buttons, announcing things to Bottle that Caleb or the children did not clearly hear. They soon had other things to worry about when the room started to shake around them.

"Engines at full power!" Cogsley shouted back to the passengers as the vibrations became one continuous thrumming. "Let's… go!" One final lever was pushed by Cogsley, and then the room rumbled as the house strained against a tremendous force. With a loud "BKOOM", something broke apart and tumbled away from the house outside. The view in the window suddenly rose as everyone in the seats was pressed down by gravity; Caleb felt his stomach drop from the force.

"Hang on!" Cogsely shouted to the passengers, not that they needed to hear it. Caleb kept his eyes open but did not look out the window to avoid feeling sick from how the house kept moving around. He rose and fell in his seat, the brace keeping him safe from sliding all around and injuring himself. His ears rang with several loud booming noises from outside the house, the "VRRRM" of the house's engine, and then a loud "BOOSH" as the house went into a large body of water. Things fell quiet after that as the house began moving across the lake, Cogsley pulling two levers toward and away from him in a repetitive sequence.

Caleb's suspicion was confirmed when the house had crossed the lake and stopped at the bottom of a sheer cliff. Two giant metal hands, replicas of human hands fit for an actual giant, came up in front of the window and grabbed onto the stone; water dripped off of the fingers and thumbs as the hands pulled the rest of the house up out of the water. It was clear now that the 'vehicle' was the entire house. The robots were the house's pilots; the humans, passengers. Such a simple solution, but something straight out of fantasy on Earth.

The attic 'head' tilted back to a nearly vertical level, but no one fell out of their seats or bracings. Caleb gripped the railings of the brace around him as he felt his feet slide off the floor. He kept his eyes on Cogsley as the robot alternated between stomping a pair of pedals by his feet and pulling the two levers in front of him. Each movement tied to one of the house's four limbs, each movement pulling the house farther up the cliff. Step by step, the Charnon House left its old home behind and came closer to a light far above them. No one spoke, either because they were working hard or looking at someone else working hard and hoping they were doing it correctly. One mistake could mean a brutal end.

"We're almost out!" Cogsley informed everyone as the light grew bright enough to fill the entire window. It was natural sunlight, something that blinded the humans at first glance after not seeing it for so long. Then the windows revealed the lip of a large hole leading down into the mountain, a clean hole probably cut ages ago when Silas and his crew had first chosen this place. The arms reached over the hole as Cogsley and Bottle both twisted levers in front of them, working together to complete the more complex motions. The house pushed up once, held still for a heart-stopping moment, then pushed up again and managed to bring itself up above the trees. From there, a few careful movements got its legs out of the hole like a human would do. The house stood up straight as a new landscape was shown to everyone inside it.

A forest lay out before the house at the bottom of the mountain's sloping surface. A large flowing river lay beyond that, and beyond that were other mountains that had their tops hidden behind low-hanging clouds. The golden rays of sunlight confirmed, beyond a doubt, there was a world outside of Gondoa Mountain. A distant cawing indicated the presence of birds in the sky, and one of them flew close by the windows. Caleb took his first look at the natural landscape of Alledia and could not help being amazed. He hadn't seen anything like this on Earth except on pictures or in books.

Cogsley jerked the levers in his hands, and the robot's feet began to stomp forward, step by rhythmic step, into the forest. Beyond that they may have to ford the river, and then perhaps cross the mountains in the distance. And beyond all of that would be something else to encounter, something new to discover, until they reached the city where Karen would be cured and reunited with her children and everyone could live happily ever after.

Caleb hoped the happy ending would come sooner rather than later.

[END OF BOOK A1]

Alright, that's all for Book 1 of this series!

To all of you who have read through this, thank you and I hope you enjoyed it. Any feedback you give will be good to see going forward into the rest of the series, starting with Book 2, "The Stonekeeper's Curse".

I have no schedule for when Book 2 will be started at this point; like I have said, I will be getting much busier, so I will have less time to make plans and write the story. Book 2 also has a lot of worldbuilding for Alledia that I want to include, which will take even more time. For now, thank you again for reading this story.

Draconos is taking off!