Deep beneath the city, the four young Guardian Council recruits stood on the edge of a short cliff overlooking an immense field of hundreds of hexagonal tiles. Half were bright aqua, half were dark blue, and on all of them was a strange symbol that looked like characters from another language. At the far end of the field was a set of massive double doors, each one inlaid with six tiles that matched the color of its corresponding side of the field.

"What is this, Griffin?" asked Pierce, sounding suspicious.

"It's an old Cielan children's game," Max told him. "Two players follow the same path simultaneously: One player takes the light path while the other takes the dark path. It must be the key to opening that door."

"What happens if you step on the wrong tile?" asked Emily.

Pierce picked up a sizeable rock and tossed it out into the field with a grunt. The tile that the rock landed on turned red and vaporized the stone. "You lose, apparently," he answered.

"And how do we know the proper order?" Emily looked at Max, who was studying the field intently. Lately she'd been feeling less and less comfortable around him; he was too mysterious for her liking and always seemed to dodge the questions whose answers might mean success or failure. He was leaving her with more problems than solutions.

Ronin knelt at the edge of the cliff and also studied the field. "The markings on the tiles are from the old Cielan number system," she said. "This doesn't look like a puzzle at all. It's simply telling us the correct sequence."

"Then the challenge," Max concluded, "must be to see if we can work together."

Emily looked at him. "I feel like I just showed up for an exam I didn't study for."

"Don't worry, Emily," he assured her. "We'll be here to guide you though."

"They don't believe we can work together," Ronin said, her reference to the Council full of disdain. "They think we would rather destroy each other for a spot on the Council. I don't know about the rest of you, but I just want to go home."

"Max goes first," declared Pierce.

"What?" Max squeaked.

"You want to regain our trust, you can start right here. You owe this to us."

Max glowered. "I don't owe you anything." He jumped off the cliff and used his stone's magic to safely descend onto one of the dark tiles, which instantly became the color of the tiles on the other side. "All clear," he called.

"Pierce," Ronin said, "follow Max. Emily, you're with me." She jumped down and Emily followed. "Stay with me," Ronin told her. She took off and Emily followed two tiles behind. They were almost across when Emily noticed something and stopped. "What are you waiting for?" Ronin asked.

"The tile you're standing on. It's not lighting up."

"Emily, listen," said Max. "This isn't the time to hesitate. All our lives hang in the balance!"

"But something's wrong here, Max. I can sense it."

"If you make one false move, we all die! We need to trust each other and stay focused."

"Yeah, so says the serpent's tongue!" snapped Pierce.

Emily looked back at Ronin, whose face was desperate and frightened. "Please, Emily," she pleaded. "Let's go home."

Emily's resolve was bolstered by that plea, and she continued on determinedly. She made it to the last tile Ronin had stood on and it lit up. The sound of immense locks disengaging resounded through the chamber and the big door opened. They all looked through the opening and down a long passage, and on either side were four huge statues of regal men with bowed heads. Suddenly, she recalled what her stone's spirit had said about it. "Max," she said, "this isn't the exit."

The others stopped and looked at her. "What do you mean?" Max asked.

"Before I arrived in the city, my stone told me about this hallway. It warned me about walking through it."

Max looked back toward the light pouring in through the unobstructed portal at the end of the hall. "Did it tell you what you might find at the end?"

"No."

He looked back at her, his expression hurt. "And you trust the voice more than us?" he said. "There aren't many people who can really understand what it's like to be a Stonekeeper; that's why we've had to stick together. Come on. We're almost out."

Air rushed into the passage and Emily raised her arm for shield her face from the sudden gale. They stepped out of the hallway into a massive chamber, and in the center, suspended between the broken halves of an enormous column, there was a crystal shard. It was the size of her arm, the color of sky and radiated a brilliant light. But for all its impressiveness and beauty, Emily knew something was wrong. "Max! This isn't the exit! We need to turn around!"

But Max wasn't listening. He kept moving toward the shard.

"Ronin! Pierce! We need to—" She stopped in mid-sentence when she turned and saw what had happened while she wasn't looking. "Ronin? Pierce?" Their companions had turned to stone!

Max took the crystal in his hand and considered it thoroughly before turning to look at her. "Do you have any idea what this is, Emily? It's where you and I were truly born." Emily stared at him incomprehensibly. "This is what remains of the Motherstone! And it contains enough energy to create a new Guardian Council. The future of Alledia now rests in our hands!"

Emily looked back to see the stone figures that had been Ronin and Pierce crumble to pieces. "What have you done, Max?" she shout-ed. "What have you done to the others!?"

"Don't you see?" Max asked. The four men on the disc she'd seen in the garden appeared, but then Max hit it with his stone's energy, and they all shattered as well. "There are no others," he told her. "It's just you and I."

"It was all a lie," she said, venomous realization spreading over her face.

"I needed your help to get inside this vault. It takes two stones from the Guardian Council to gain access."

"Why did you need my help? What do you want the Motherstone for?"

"I already told you: To make a new Guardian Council. The old one is dead and new blood must be found."

"And that blood I'm guessing is yours and mine?" Max nodded. "And if that blood isn't willing?"

"Then it's drained and replaced. And there are lots of donors."

"That's not donation, Max, that's harvesting. A donor requires a willing sacrifice, but what you're talking about is forcing others into a situation they might not want to be in."

"Oh, they'll be willing, I assure you."

"Put the stone back or I'll have no choice but to hurt you!"

Max smirked. "You always have a choice, Emily."

"Em!" She turned around to see her brother and mother being held by the silver-haired man she'd seen with Max when they'd first met and another armored man she didn't recognize. The silver-haired man—Duncan, that was his name—held her mother with a sword to her neck while the armored one held tightly to her brother, who was struggling and demanding to be set free.

"The greatest Stonekeepers in history," Max went on in a lecturer's tone, "were able to turn off their emotions. This allowed them to make the best possible decisions under great pressure. It was the mark of an iron will, something required in all our greatest leaders. The guards have been ordered to kill your family if you try to attack me. So here's your choice: You can try to stop me while your family is killed, or you can let me walk out of here and I'll spare their lives."

Emily glared poison daggers at him. "Why are you doing this, Max?" Her voice was calm, but her tone was full of rage. He tipped his head to one side. "If Alledia's future security is really your chief concern, why threaten those who want the same thing? What do you hope to gain by threatening my family? You'll be gaining an enemy."

"But I'll also be gaining a powerful ally."

Realization suddenly dawned on her. "The elf king! Max, don't you realize who he is? What he is? He's pursued me relentlessly ever since I came to this place just because of some stupid prophecy. We're only here because a giant bug ate my mom and we followed it to get her back! Besides, how do I know you'll keep your word?"

"You'll just have to trust me," Max told her simply. "Something you've had no trouble doing until now."

"Why betray us, Max? What made you throw your lot in with the bad guys?"

"I think you know that answer, and you're wasting my time. What's your choice?"

Emily's glare turned even more deadly, but she said, "Get out of here, Max."

He walked past her. "I'm very disappointed, Emily. It seems you don't have what it takes to be on the new Council." He looked back at her and smirked. "Someday, you'll learn to make sacrifices for the greater good."

"And you'll learn the consequences of betrayal. I'm going to find you, Max, and I'm going to take you down."

Max laughed. "I'll be looking forward to it." He motioned to Duncan and the armored man and they released Karen and Navin, who ran over to Emily and embraced her. Max was utterly unconcerned with the reunion as he tapped a button on the device on his wrist and then he and his compatriots disappeared.

"They brought you down here without Max," Emily observed. "How?"

"They used a thing called a transpore, just beyond the hexagon field." Navin told her. "I'll show you."

He took off and Emily started to follow, but Karen caught her shoulder. "Emily. I should have listened to you about this place. I was wrong."

"That's in the past now, Mom. We need to stay focused on how to set things right."

Max and his followers emerged in the Garden of the Keepers with no effort or time lost on their part. Teleportation was one of the privileges of knowing the right people, and Maximilian Griffin certainly knew the right people. He'd made many friends in high places and numerous enemies among the common people, who harbored a deep disdain for him but were powerless to act on it. And that was just how he liked it. "Tell Len we're in the garden," he told Duncan as they walked toward the door. "Tell them to meet us in front of the academy."

Then the door opened, revealing an old man and an elf teenager. The elf was unarmed, but the old man wielded a wooden staff. Both their stones were active. Max only had time to start wondering who they were before the old man suddenly struck, lashing out with his stone's power and reducing Duncan and the guard to so much crushed powder. Max raised his arms to shield his face and give himself time to charge his own stone and strike back. And he did, his attack fueled by fear and rage at being discovered, which he directed at the old man, who raised his staff and used it to absorb the force. "You'll have to do better than that, old man!" Max said.

At that moment, an airship appeared overhead and lowered a rope ladder, which Max immediately grabbed hold of. The elf let loose with his own magic, but Max dispersed it effortlessly. "Who was that?" Trellis asked as the ship flew away.

"The ghost of an old friend," Vigo told him.

Aboard the airship, a gravely voice asked, "Did you get the stone?"

Max held it up with a triumphant smirk. "It was almost too easy."

A squat elf-eyed, elf-eared smiled. "The king will be very pleased."

Emily led her brother and mother through the seemingly endless labyrinth beneath Cielis, following Navin's directions. After all, he and their mother knew where they'd come through. The passageways were utterly devoid of light but for the glow of the stone in her collar. There was no sound at all in the still air except for the soft pats of their footsteps. On the long trek through the seemingly endless tunnels, she remembered the warning her stone had given her. What will I find at the end? she'd asked.

Navin pointed to a bright blue light that appeared to be some sort of flame. "That's the way out," he said.

It's better that you don't know, the stone had told her.

Karen made for the light, but Emily held out her arm. "Mom, wait." Crawling down the wall was one of the grouls she'd seen earlier, but her mom and Navin wouldn't have any clue what they were. Why keep secrets from me? I'm young, but that doesn't mean I don't know what I'm doing.

You're not ready, not yet. But you will be soon. Suddenly dozens of grouls crowded around the three, all snarling and eyeing them like a pack of starving wolves. Emily charged her stone. When you begin to realize the true weight of your actions… Then she let loose with a wave of magic fire. …you will awaken to become the person this world needs you to be. The horde of deep-dwelling monsters shattered like the stone statues Ronin and Pierce had become.

Navin gently prodded her forward. "Em," he said, "let's go." They stepped into the transpore and were instantly taken to the Garden of the Keepers, where they met Trellis and an old man they'd never seen before.

"You must be Emily," said the old man with a friendly smile.

Leon, Miskit and Cogsley were approaching the garden gate with the intent of rushing headlong after whoever had done whatever to Emily, but then the one they sought emerged in the midst of company. Heading the group was Emily, with her brother and Trellis to her right and her mother and Vigo to her left. "Hey, look!" exclaimed Miskit, pointing. "Here they come!"

Navin rushed forward with an ecstatic smile. "Miskit, you're alive!" Then he remembered the pink rabbit was a robot and amended, "Though, technically, you never were." He gave her one last squeeze and retreated a step to look at her. "But what happened? Where'd you go? After that wyvern made off with you and Cogsley, we were sure you'd met your end."

"It's a long story," Miskit told him simply. "One that will have to wait."

"Cogsley!" Navin nodded respectfully and turned toward the grouchy robot, then saw the grinning wide-eyed baby creature perched on his shoulder. "And who's this little guy?"

"Dagno!" the infant wyvern blurted, and all three of them looked at him in disbelief. Then they began to laugh.

Emily approached her fox friend. "Leon," she said gravely, "the Motherstone—it's gone."

"I know," he said with a heavy nod. She noticed that he wasn't angry or upset, but simply acknowledging an unfortunate fact.

"It was Max the whole time. He played me for a fool."

"Emily."

"I sensed there was something funny about him, but I ignored my instincts."

"Stop it."

"Max was playing me like a harp and I let him. I let my sense of duty override my judgment."

"You can't blame yourself."

"Why not? I let it happen. I let him charm me into a sense of security when everyone around me wanted to beat him to a bloody pulp. They said he wasn't trustworthy. I should have listened to their intuition and my gut, but I didn't. And now I've failed everyone."

Then Leon did something he'd never done before: He stepped forward and took her into a hug. "Emily, your condition is not unique," he said softly. "Nobody's perfect. Anyone can be duped, even Stonekeepers who are mentioned in ancient prophecies. Max deceived us all. We weren't ready for an illusion so extensive. And you won't know the meaning of success without knowing first what it's like to fail. How you recover from these trials is what really matters." He stepped back and looked her straight in the eye. "The Elf King has become more powerful than ever before. We'll need to prepare for the longest and hardest battle in our history."

"Hey, Em." She turned toward her brother. "Remember, you're not alone."

Enzo, Rico and Alyson stood on the bridge that led to the main gate of Yarboro Prison, their eyes fixed on the gaping maw that seemed ready to swallow anything that entered. They'd heard a commotion deep inside that awful fortress, and were now waiting to see the results of it. Before very much longer, a small group of people walked out into the waning sunlight. Aly recognized two of them and broke into a run. "Mom! Dad!"

"Aly!" Arell ran to meet her daughter and wrapper her in a tight embrace, weeping for sheer joy and relief. Enzo and Norman stood on either side, and the tough airship captain surprised himself when he started to cry.

As they stood there watching the happy reunion, more and more former prisoners streamed out of the darkness.