Hello, everyone! Here is the next chapter. I had some extra time this past week to work on this, so it is ready to go earlier than I had anticipated.

I have also been able to get Book 9 of the series, "Waverider", and am personally reading it at the time I am posting this chapter. I am expecting to make changes to my initial story plans when I finish it.

In any case, here we go!

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!


"The first time I really met the Hayes family was at their father's funeral."

Caleb read over the sentence he just wrote in the Corvid's book a few times before deciding it got the message across. This was the section of his writings he considered the most important in his current predicament. Huginn and Munnin appeared to have sharp eyes and clever minds, so Caleb figured he would need to be honest with them.

"Karen, the mother, was wearing black. I do not know what sort of clothes she wore, but they were colored black. They looked nice on her. Her children, the siblings Emily and Navin, both wore gray. Navin wore a child-sized suit and black tie, while Emily was wearing a dark dress. The dress made Emily's red hair stand out very strongly."

Caleb's brain chugged backwards two years, remembering that fateful day as best it could. He continued to write, soldiering through the grief he had seen and his own sadness at being there.

"My mother, Miranda, and my father, Steven, forced me to go along. I would not have done so by my own choice. I also did not like the muted clothes I was told to wear. They itched a lot. I remember seeing Navin fidget while standing up. Maybe he did not like what he was wearing too.

"I don't remember who said what during the funeral. But when the Hayes got the chance to approach the coffin containing their father's body, I remember seeing them all tear up. Emily and Navin had held hands as Karen put one of her hands on the coffin's closed lid. Then, they had all stepped to one side and hugged each other very tightly. I remember that moment very strongly because—"

Caleb stopped to blink away a stinging sensation in his eyes. He did not want to be distracted, not now.

"—I had never felt that way with my parents. We loved each other, but I had not lost what the Hayes had. I did not know their pain. I wanted to know their pain, so I could help them get better. I wanted to fix them so they, in turn, could help fix me if my parents died."

Caleb's fingers twitched. He did not like thinking about his parents dying. He especially did not like writing it so someone he had never met on Earth could read it. What would they say about this? Would they claim his feelings were an obsession? Miranda and Steven had said that, even without speaking.

Was everything Caleb had wanted to do for the Hayes connected with obsession? Perhaps, he reasoned with himself, writing about it would give him his final answer. His English teacher had said, "You are your own worst critic". Right now, Caleb felt that Huginn and Munnin would be the most impactful critics of his writing.

Caleb began writing again. "Also, Silas Charnon was not present at the funeral. Karen barely knew him, despite being his granddaughter. From what I have heard from Karen herself, Silas kept to himself and his inventions. He probably would not have enjoyed it if he were there."

Caleb had hesitated before writing that last sentence. It would not do good to insult the "All-Father" in the presence of his devoted followers. But the Corvid wanted honesty, so he would be honest. He continued writing, moving away from the funeral.

"I kept quiet about my feelings for two years. I now think that was probably a mistake, but I did not want to seem creepy or dangerous to the Hayes. Rushing to help them may have made them feel suspicious of me, or worse. But I watched them. I spoke with Karen at a yearly Halloween gathering and enjoyed the brownies she gave out. Karen was also a strong supporter of my school's sports teams. I saw her in the bleachers and stands of many events, including when my teammates and I competed in track and field.

"When the chance came for me to help Karen, Emily, and Navin move to Silas's old home in Norlen, I took it. I felt it could help me solve my feelings. But I did not anticipate what came after that. I never knew I would be brought to Alledia and learning what Silas Charnon had left for his family."

Caleb's eyes began to tear up as the stinging sensations returned. He did not know how much of these feelings were from his "Stonekeeper sensing" power and how much were from his sadness. He shut his eyes and let the tears slowly leak out of him. Turning his head away from the book so the pages would not get wet, he focused his mind of the feelings in his head.

"You always come back, don't you?" Miranda asked him, repeating the question from his nightmares.

"Mom," Caleb whispered aloud, no one else in the room to hear him. "Dad. I'm sorry. I can't leave yet. I just… I can't."

Caleb's eyes burned hot. Hissing, Caleb leaned back in the bolted chair as he felt his mind drop out of his body. It was a feeling he almost recognized; something that had given him a mixture of fear and forced relaxation. Something he remembered being used against him.


Light. Golden light, shining through Caleb's eyelids. The light also brought pressure, slowly raising his eyelids up against his will.

Caleb no longer felt any stinging in his eyes as his vision refocused. He was in a thick fog, colored yellow and red rather than the white mist formed by condensed water vapor. The fog carried a smell, something sweet. He could connect that scent to a specific person, a face—a smile he loved to see.

"You always come back, don't you?"

Caleb winced, his mother's question asked once again. He was still not able to answer it the way she wanted. As he looked around for his mother, wanting to comfort her and be comforted by her, the colors began to swirl and change. A familiar object appeared in the colors, formed in the shape of an amulet. A series of white lines carved themselves into the amulet's glowing pink center.

It was Emily's amulet. The object that had started all these adventures. The object Silas Charnon once used to help change Alledia's fate. Caleb still wanted its power, the desire manifesting as a burning flame the size of a large candle. He willed himself forward, to take the floating object. When he looked down at his hands, they were limp at his sides. They did not obey him.

The amulet, hanging in midair, vanished into dust. The dust quickly turned into a body made of shadows, growing vast and mighty. The marks inside the amulet remained, floating above the hand. The shape of a humanoid head formed from the shadows, the marks replacing eyes and nose and ears.

The shadow sprouted glinting teeth, the action eerily like a human's smile. Caleb recognized this face, too: the Voice of Emily's amulet. It knew he was here, in this space, and had come to greet him from inside the Void. Or maybe he had brought it here by accident?

"Caleb Morris. I remember you."

A squeak came out of Caleb's throat. Fear, pure fear, pulsed through his body. The Voice was speaking to him. It knew him. This was no accident.

"No, I have not forgotten you, Caleb." The Voice's… voice… still gave that rattling clicking sound with every syllable. Its mouth did not move in the slightest as it continued to "speak". "And I am pleased to see you remember me, too. A good servant always remembers their master."

The Voice stretched out a hand, placing it atop Caleb's head. Patting the boy like a dog, the Voice's touch caused Caleb to shiver. As the Voice moved its fingers to grab Caleb's chin and direct his gaze where it wanted, Caleb felt his eyes burning even more. He longed to start running away, but his body felt glued in place. He wanted to cry, but his eyes did not let tears wet them. In the presence of a being made fully out of "Stonekeeper" power, Caleb saw its form all too clearly.

The symbols on the Voice's face glowed a dark shade of pink, tinged with bits of red. "Our last time together was cut short by Max's desires. And I cannot stay with you now, either." A hissing sigh came from the Voice, its body showing nebulae and constellations amidst the greater shadows that made it. "So unfortunate."

Caleb could not scream. He could barely breathe. He was scared of the Voice. He had first felt this fear at Charnon House, when Emily had reprimanded him for daring to take her inherited amulet for himself. Here, now, the fear was strong enough to paralyze him even without the Voice's hand touching him.

A memory, half-formed and gnarled around the edges, manifested in the colors around the Voice and Caleb. A human's arm, a smoking machine, blood and dirt and smoke. A scream came out, wrought from terror and grief.

The vision dissolved, running down to the ground like rain. Caleb saw it happen, the colors running together into puddles of dark rainbows. He did not understand this, or want to understand it.

"Your emotions are very beneficial to me, you see." The Voice showed its teeth again. "You want release from your pain. To do that, you follow the rules from your betters. Max, and I, both recognized that as a useful thing. But then Max discarded you like a broken doll to save himself. You were worthless to him.

"Nothing has changed from before." The Voice raised an elongated finger and tapped it against Caleb's forehead. "You are still toyed with, and then tossed away. Still worthless to the world, but not to me. I will take care of you when no one else will. I am your friend, Caleb. Please, be mine too."

Caleb could not muster the will to shout back at this apparition, this thing made of energy and an insidious mind. He could only watch, frozen, as he heard Max Griffin's orders resound all around him. But the Voice had helped make those orders, as they had agreed. Who was in control of Caleb, then?

Max's orders told Caleb to LISTEN and OBEY, but he resisted. It hurt his body to resist, but he did so. The Voice noticed this and leaned closer to Caleb, tilting its head and taking apparent interest in his struggles. Almost as if it wanted to see Caleb break, give in, and obey.

A deep growl came from the fog. The Voice snapped back, releasing Caleb so that he stood unsupported. Its smile faded back into the dark "face" sporting the symbols of Emily's amulet. "We are done here, I'm afraid," it said dejectedly. "There are other forces at work. They are candles compared to the shadows. When they all snuff out, I will be there to take you home. Just like you wanted."

The shadowy body of the Voice began to rise, climbing up into the fog and out of Caleb's sight. He could not make any motions to stop it; it was too powerful, too dangerous. When it was completely gone, a golden flame floated down from the fog. It was one of the few solid things in this churning space. Then the symbol dissolved, fading into the colors all around it, becoming less than solid. The world shifted, violently so.

Caleb's eyes slammed shut at last.


Caleb's senses returned to the feeling of pain inside his eyes. His hands shifted up there as he felt the burning hotness there again. Refusing to open them, he rubbed his eyelids with swift motions, but this did little to help alleviate his pain. He tried not to redden the area around his eyes with the force of his rubbing, but the itch was getting so strong so fast he felt that might just happen.

"Help… me…"

Caleb recognized the voice from his dreams. It, probably a woman from the pitch, was beginning to vocalize its pain again. Once more, he heard it in his head. He tried to get up and felt his body fail to respond. His limbs did not work right, like when he had been unable to move properly after an intense run. But this time, the fatigue was in his mind, not his body. His thoughts felt like thick soup; murky and hard to sift through. This did not feel like any poison or sickness he knew.

Caleb's head dropped onto the table, tapping against the table's surface. He wanted to sleep again, despite the writing he had to complete. Through sheer force of will, he raised his head to look at the upper wall and ceiling. He saw lights dancing in his vision, the same lights as the last ones that had appeared in the room. Each light flashed the brightest when it became a certain symbol; a flame inside a great circle, both colored bright yellow. One by one, the symbols turned into dust and vanished from view. With each one that left his sight, a piece of Caleb's pain went with it.

As the last symbol disappeared, Caleb managed to ask aloud a single question: "Who are you?"

"I am…" The voice began to give an answer, speaking almost instantly in his mind as if he were in the same room as it. But then it paused. "I… I do not remember," it eventually admitted.

Caleb's eyes closed halfway shut; unbeknownst to him, his irises glowed with golden-yellow light, like when Emily's eyes glowed with her own amulet's energy. "But you are hurt," he whispered to the new voice, sensing and understanding that it could hear him.

"Yes. The pain is always there."

Caleb's mind felt he could relate to that. He was feeling pain, maybe not as much pain but still pain. "Are you a prisoner here?" he asked.

"Yes. The Corvid bind me here."

"Why?"

"They use me to travel across Alledia." Weariness began to grow in the voice's words, the effort to maintain their connection seemingly getting harder the longer it was kept active. "Their machines force me to form paths through the Void."

"The Void?" Caleb drew in a sharp breath. "The dimension Stonekeepers can access?"

"Yes. It is not a safe place. You must be protected when you go there. Or it will destroy you."

"Then, the portal the Corvid made to bring me here…" Caleb was able to put the pieces together even in his half-conscious state. "You made that for them? You protected them in the Void?"

The only answer that Caleb got was a growling moan. A sound that Caleb knew signified grief and long-term suffering. Something he could feel echoed in his own memories.

A crash. A scream. Then, silence.

The conversation was over. The golden-yellow glow in Caleb's eyes went away. Caleb let his thoughts float out of his reach and sight. He fell back into oblivion again, slumping in the chair and slowly breathing.


The familiar tone of bolts sliding back triggered Caleb's body into a rapid awakening. His senses felt clearer than before. He felt more ready to try and leave this place, to figure things out for himself. He stood up from his chair and rubbed a hand through his hair.

Caleb's eyes no longer stung, indicating whatever powers had been used before were gone. He looked back at the desk and the journal lying open on it. He turned back to the door in time to see Revna enter the room. She was carrying the same tray as before. She looked Caleb straight in the eyes and did not say anything about how he looked.

"Your meal, Brother." Revna gestured towards the table, asking him to sit down. Caleb waited a few seconds before doing so and gave a glance to the open door beyond. Could he try and escape? Yes, but Revna would move to block him. Caleb was not a fighter, even against other humans.

Now was not the time to run.

Caleb looked over his provided food and drink. True to Revna's statement, this meal was different than the previous two. The plate held a rectangular bar, brown with bits of red and white inside it. There was a metal cup next to the plate, a dark liquid filling about three-quarters of the cup.

Caleb looked at the new meal suspiciously. "This is it?" he asked Revna. "Just one of these things and a drink?"

"This "thing" contains concentrated nutrients. It is also more digestible for your pallet than our "cursed" ones." Revna nudged the tray forward with a deft motion of her feathered arm. "Eat it."

Caleb did not want to. What if this was another poisoned food item to make him sleep again? His stomach betrayed him by growling out in anticipation. He had no idea how long it had been since he last ate, something he was beginning to believe was a tactic by the Corvid to keep him compliant.

With little other choice, Caleb picked up one end of the bar and mentally judged an appropriate length of it to eat in one bite. The piece he bit off was hard to his teeth, crunching in his mouth and filling his taste buds with a burning flavor. His eyes bugged out at the intensity; this was spicy, incredibly so!

Caleb chewed faster, rushing to get the taste out of his mouth before it became unbearable. Swallowing provided some measure of relief. The spicy flavor translated into a general warmth as Caleb's stomach started digesting the provided food. Caleb reached for the glass and took a quick sip of the liquid inside. The liquid was refreshingly cold in comparison to the food, balancing out what he had just eaten but leaving him gasping for fresh air.

A short clicking sound came from Revna's beak. She sounded amused at what she saw. "This should help you work for a considerable time, Brother," she told him. When Caleb turned to speak to her, she continued speaking with the request, "Please be calm. You have nothing to fear from us."

Caleb swallowed a few more times as the bar's warmth spread through his body. "I'm not afraid," he said. Not yet, he added to himself. "I'm more concerned about what's going to happen once I finish this for Huginn and Munnin. If that's all I am meant to be used for, what's to stop them from discarding me like trash?"

"All knowledge is important, Brother. All knowledge." Revna's insistence on certain words was undeniable.

Caleb looked back at the bar, not wanting to take another bite quickly. "How is that true?" he asked Revna to pass the time. "On my world, people make things that are meant to be used once and then thrown away or recycled into something else. That's going to happen to me, right?"

When Revna did not answer immediately, Caleb straightened his back and looked sideways at Revna. "Right?" he repeated.

Revna placed a hand on Caleb's shoulder. He felt her squeeze against his clothes and muscles with a strong force. "The All-Father showed us how all knowledge is preserved. If something is remembered, it matters." She squeezed even harder, making Caleb wince. "You matter to us, Caleb Morris."

Exactly how Caleb mattered, Revna did not reveal. Her squeezing his shoulder prompted him to not believe her words as genuine. It also confirmed Revna's strength to him; if he tried to break out of here, she would take him down with little problem. Even if he were sprinting, this was a raven-woman used to her "cursed" traits.

There was another message that Caleb felt through Revna's squeeze: "If you try to fight this, we will hurt you". If Caleb went along with what he was told to do, he would not be hurt. The Corvid still did not trust him any more than another "asset" in their collection. How many others had they hurt in their quest for knowledge? What made Caleb any different than those other people?

Caleb's hopes of escaping at this moment shattered under Revna's force. Now, unfortunately, was not the right time. He was not strong enough. He did not know when he would be strong enough. Logically, then, he should wait a little longer.

Caleb leaned forward, picking up the bar and eating the rest of it. The spicy flavor spread across his mouth and tongue again, which he washed down with the drink. After finishing, he wiped his mouth with a hand and said nothing to Revna. He waited for her to let him go so he could get back to work. The sooner he finished his work, the sooner he would be free from this place.

"I will see you later, Brother." Revna let go of Caleb's shoulder and collected the tray again. "I promise," she then said, "we will help you once you help us. We know you have friends elsewhere in Alledia. People you care for."

Caleb huffed, trying to disguise his worry with irritation. If you dare harm them, I'll… Caleb left that thought unfinished. Revna said nothing else before leaving Caleb alone. He only opened his eyes when the door had been closed and the bolts slid into place. His hands curled into fists, the bar's spice fueling his inner anger.

As he had done on Earth, Caleb tried to turn his anger towards his work. There was one more section to complete, that being what Caleb knew about Silas Charnon. He did not anticipate it would take very long.


"Human."

Caleb finished writing the newest sentence in his journal. He instinctively knew it had been some time since Revna had left. His pace of writing had been slower, but his writing did not require any corrections. His eyes tingled as he heard the voice of the bound prisoner whispering in his head. Then his irises turned golden-yellow again, and this time Caleb felt that change happen.

An initial burst of fear—It's taking control of me, it's going to use me—changed into surprised comfort. It was as if a thin coat had been placed over his body; just enough of a change to be recognized and be pleased to have on. The "Voice" of Emily's amulet had not been comforting, despite its wishes to be a "friend". Max Griffin had not been comforting when he used his amulet's hypnotic powers.

This softer touch into his head felt… good. Caleb wanted to keep feeling good.

"What is it?" Caleb whispered back. His eyes looked away from the journal and the desk lamp, rising to stare at the ceiling.

"I remember something. About myself."

"Okay." Caleb paused, waiting for what the "something" was. There were no further words. Eventually he had to ask, "Why are you telling me this?" to try to continue the conversation.

The imprisoned voice gave a heavy exhale. "You are the first to hear my cries and answer them. I have longed for someone who will listen."

"Okay." Another pause followed. Caleb's ears picked up the sound of something vibrating in the walls. Some sort of machine? Something else the Corvid kept hidden from sight?

"What do you remember?" Caleb whispered aloud, wanting answers from this new voice.

"The Corvid. They gave me a name when they bound me."

Caleb frowned. "Bound" was not a nice word. It was too close to "imprisoned" to be good. "What did they name you?" he asked.

"Syn." The voice gave a choking sort of laugh that caused Caleb to twitch in his chair. "They claim it is a "holy" name."

Caleb suddenly felt glad he could not see this creature. Silas Charnon's journal mentioned the name "Syn", he had heard Karen read that part aloud:

"At this time, they are digging out what they believe to be the former chamber of a "God-Beast". This shall become their primary base. They are choosing to call the dwelling's former inhabitant "Syn", after the Earth Norse Goddess of watchfulness, truth and doorways."

"The name is holy, in a way," Caleb spoke as he recalled Silas' writing. "But it's from another world."

The voice with a name, this "Syn" gave another of its laughs. "Ironic. So am I."

"What?" Caleb's heart leaped into his throat, blocking his voice for a few moments. "Are you f-from E-Earth?" he managed to stutter out.

"No. I am from Typhon."

"Tie-fon?" Caleb tried pronouncing it aloud and did not understand the significance of it. "I've never heard of that world."

"Few humans have. It is—Agh!" The unseen voice broke off with a pained cry. Seconds later, Caleb felt his eyes start to burn up again.

"Syn?" It felt strange to say this creature's name, but Caleb did so anyway. "What's wrong, Syn?"

"The pain… the pain!" With that final comment, the voice moaned in suffering. This time, Caleb's body did not give in to sleep so he could escape Syn's pain. He felt a sliver of that pain, mostly in his eyes, a pain strong enough for him to squeeze them shut and mentally tell them to stay closed. Even so, he could not block out something being forced into his brain.

Caleb saw a pathway. Lines of golden-yellow light, stretching out of his room. Invisible to ordinary eyes, it carried the same burning essence as "Stonekeeper" energies. Down the hallway, turning at specific intersections, the lines descended down into the mountain. Caleb saw it clearly; it dragged him along its path, until it reached its terminal point. There, a great light seared his thoughts with energy colored the exact same way but even stronger.

"Follow my voice, human," Syn pleaded, its voice becoming a booming dirge. "Come to me. We must escape!"

Caleb gasped, his senses slamming back into his own body. His hands clenched tight, gripping the desk in front of him. He felt the soft coat rise from his eyes, the irises losing their special colors. Once again, he was left alone. But this time, he had information on what he must do to escape the Corvid. He must follow Syn's voice, its trail, to escape.

New strength cooled Caleb's nerves, washing away the pain of what his mind was experiencing. He felt ready to get up and run long and fast. He felt confident. He knew what he must do.

The first thing he would do was get out of his room. But he could not do that yet. He could wait until he had help, though. When "Syn" recovered, he would go to meet them. He promised himself he would do that. Then he would work to free them both from their "cursed" wardens. He could do these things.

"Every time I fall back in that hole," Caleb recited from when Trellis had helped him out of his misery, "I force myself to climb back out."

Caleb knew the way out. He just had to get there.


All right, that's all for now. What will the connections between Caleb and the Voice, and Caleb and "Syn" mean? They'll be expanded on in future chapters.

As usual, any feedback and constructive criticism you give is appreciated.

Draconos is taking off!