"Exactly. They represent the levels of sentience, as we discussed earlier. The crystals and glyphs represent the elements of each level. For example, the sunstone in the center represents Free Will, the element of thought that can be manipulated by a prompter. Do you follow?"

"I think so. In the second circle, there are four small azurite crystals and four symbols made out of parallel lines. What are those?" Mara held up the Chronicle and pointed.

"Those are the four elements of perception, the second level of sentience. They are the elements that can be manipulated by a pretender. The top symbol represents Earth. The one on the right represents Wind. At the bottom is Fire, and to the left is Water. They are the four elements of perception. Earth, Wind, Fire and Water. Again pretenders can manipulate these elements. Understand?"

"Got it. What about these?" She pointed to the circular symbols that bracketed the larger crystals in the outer circle.

"Those are the elements of reality. These can be manipulated only by a progenitor."

"What are the elements?" Mara held out the Chronicle toward Ping.

He pointed to the circular symbols on each side of the large azurite crystal at the top.

"Notice how the circular symbols on each side of the large crystals are identical. This top one represents Consciousness. Everything that exists is made of consciousness. To the right is the symbol for Time. To the left is s.p.a.ce."

"What about the bottom one? Those symbols look like blank circles and the crystal is black tourmaline, not blue azurite like the others. What do those represent?"

"Those symbols represent Consequence. Changing reality always comes with consequence."

"That sounds ominous." Mara locked eyes with Ping.

"I suppose it can be. Remember, consequences can be good as well."

"Somehow I don't think good consequences are what that black crystal symbolizes."

"Anyway, the four elements of reality are Consciousness, s.p.a.ce, Time and Consequence. These things a progenitor can manipulate."

"You mean me, that I can manipulate these elements."

"I do," he said.

CHAPTER 35.

"BULL-PUCKY. I CAN manipulate time and s.p.a.ce? Hardly. I can barely keep a calendar. And, if everything is made out of consciousness, then that pretty much means I can manipulate anything, right?" She snorted. "This would send Mom into a higher plane of existence. Imagine, her gadget monkey of a daughter turns out to have more metaphysical mojo than a boatload of healing crystals in sea of chakras."

"Remember, I asked you to concentrate on the concepts and not be so concerned with believing everything right now," Ping said.

"Yeah, turn down the snarkiness. We're just trying to help you," Sam said.

"Maybe we have covered enough of the concepts for now," Ping said. "Perhaps we should do some practical exercises to see if that helps you understand things better."

"Like what?" Mara asked.

"Since you have activated it once already, the simplest thing might be to work with the Chronicle."

Mara pressed her lips together and then shook her head.

"There's nothing to be scared of. I'll be here the whole time."

"Yeah, until the fireworks start and then, poof, Ping dust."

"That is simply a physical reaction like an adrenaline rush. I promise I did not intentionally abandon you when that winged creature attacked."

"Winged what?" Sam asked.

"If you want to know what is going on, you need to attend meetings," Mara said to Sam. She gave Ping a sideways look. "I suppose it's true you didn't chicken out, but what can you do if things go bad with the Chronicle?"

"To be honest, I'm not sure. But I do know that we have no hope of dealing with our problems if you don't try."

"Don't worry. I'll be here," Sam said.

"That makes me feel much better," she said, standing up. She bent over to pick up the medallion. "Come on. Let's go over here where there is some open s.p.a.ce." She walked to the middle of the empty warehouse. Sam and Ping followed. "You want to be inside or outside of the bubble?"

"I don't know what that means," Ping said.

"It doesn't matter," Sam said. "If you are in the room, you will be in the bubble."

Mara held out her right palm that held the Chronicle and said, "Do your thing."

The medallion floated above her palm, spinning, reaching a height of six inches. She could feel the cloud of static electricity surround her hand.

"Look, it's working!" Sam said.

Ping lifted a finger to his lips. "Let's just watch."

Mara leaned forward to look at the face of the medallion. As before, it spun so fast it was impossible to make out any detail other than the blurred blue streak of light emitted from the azurite crystals. After a minute, the flipping and gyrating started, accelerating until the medallion blurred into a ball and ignited into a spinning orb of blue mercury shining above Mara's hand. Once fully formed, the ball of light descended into her palm.

"Okay, show me creation."

The translucent egg-shaped bubble blossomed from the Chronicle, this time much larger, filling thousands of square feet of warehouse s.p.a.ce, more like a transparent blimp than a bubble. Both Ping and Sam brought up their hands and crouched the same way Mara did the first time she had used the Chronicle, but the bubble simply pa.s.sed through them on its way to filling the s.p.a.ce.

"Whoa, man!" Sam said, looking around the room, gazing at the warehouse walls and the fixtures in the ceiling. The whiteboard and mats appeared to be undisturbed but engulfed in the bubble.

Disoriented, Mara looked down and saw the edge of the bubble-blimp cut through her lower shins.

"Look, here come the lines," Sam said.

The lines and nodes quickly filled the periphery of the blimp and began their inward march toward Mara. At least Mara felt she was the target of the progression. One thing she did notice, the nodes were the size of beach b.a.l.l.s, much larger than the small spheres that had appeared back in Mr. Mason's shop.

Again the lines formed much like a genealogical chart with single parent lines going into nodes and multiple lines coming out. That is, until a node appeared in front of Mara with many lines going into it. She turned to her left as another node appeared in front of Sam. It too had several lines going into it, but not as many as the one in front of Mara. A node appeared in front of Ping as well, but it had only one line entering and several exiting.

"Absolutely amazing." Ping ogled, slowing turning to take in the entire display. "This appears to be a graphical representation of the progress of creation. How things have gone up to this point. I believe the nodes represent the realms. It truly is a chronicle of creation." His brow furrowed. "I wonder why the nodes in front you two have so many parent lines. I suspect all of the crossing over from other realms may have gnarled things up."

"Okay, what do we do with it?" Mara asked. "How do we use it to send people back to where they belong?"

"I'm not sure. What happens when you touch one of those nodes?"

"No, that's a bad idea. It opens up and tries to suck you in. I lost a bunch of office supplies doing that."

"That's how you open a portal to a realm," Sam said, looking at Mara. "If you want to send someone back, you touch the node and it will pull them back."

"How do I keep it from sucking me in?" Mara asked.

"It pulls hardest on someone from its own realm. See how these nodes are in front of Ping and me? Those are our realms. If you touch them, they will open, and we'll be pulled back."

"How do you know all of this?"

"I used to hide and watch my sister do this."

"Did you ever hear one of these nodes talking to her?"

"What? A node was talking?"

"Yeah, I heard a voice. It said something about an altar, like 'bring it to the Altar of Hyas-something.'"

"Altar?" Fear swept across his face. "Which node did the voice come from?"

"I think it was the one in front of you. That one there." Mara pointed to the node in front of Sam. "It's starting to glow."

Sam turned and backpedaled. The node floated after him, keeping its position relative as he staggered away. "Turn it off. Shut it down!" he yelled, a tremor cracking his voice. The node shone brighter as it pursued him.

Mara froze.

A voice reverberated throughout the warehouse.

"You killed your sister," it said.

A burst of jagged blue light shot out of the node and struck Sam in the chest, flipping him head over heels backward in the air. A sneaker flew off his foot and hit the ceiling. A scorched, smoldering starburst burned away Wiley Coyote on the front of his T-shirt. He was unconscious before landing on his shoulder in front of the whiteboard more than a hundred feet away.

"Bring it to the Altar of Hyas Tyee Tu-"

"Enough!" Mara yelled.

The bubble collapsed. The ball of light winked out. The medallion fell from the air, rolled on its circ.u.mference for several seconds in ever-tightening circles and fell onto its back. Light from a distant high window refracted through the blue crystals, creating small blue smears on the floor, but the Chronicle was no longer active.

CHAPTER 36.

A WISP OF smoke rose from Sam's chest. Ping raised the shirt and determined the blast had not burned through to the boy's skin. He sat down on the floor, lifted Sam's head and patted him on the cheek.

"Sam, can you hear me? Sam!"

The boy moaned and rocked his head back and forth. Soon he opened his eyes and sat up with a start. "Whoa, what happened?"

"Hold on. Let's make sure nothing's broken. How do you feel?"

"Like I just got struck by lightning," he said, looking down at the scorch mark on his chest, rubbing it with his hands. He rolled his shoulders. "I think I'm going to be sore, but I don't think there's anything broken."

He made a move to stand up and fell back, dizzy.

"Just sit there for a few minutes and catch your breath. We're not going anywhere," Ping said.

"What was that all about?" Mara asked, tossing the shoe that had flown off Sam's foot to him. "Do either of you know who that voice is?"

Ping and Sam looked at each other, and then back at Mara.

"It was my mother," Sam said.

"Your mother? Your mother did that with the lightning, intentionally? Was she trying to kill you or what?"

"I think if she had wanted to kill me, I wouldn't be talking to you right now."

"I don't understand. If she wasn't trying to kill you, then what?"

"She was punishing me. I guess Mara was killed in the accident on the plane," he said. "She sounds upset."

Mara turned and looked at Ping. "Why do I get the feeling there is more going on here than you guys have told me?"

"We're not trying to hide anything from you. The reason we are here is to help you understand everything that is going on. We would have done it sooner, but you weren't exactly receptive until recently," Ping said.

"Okay, explain to me how his mother can talk to us and shoot lightning bolts through that thing from a completely different realm."

"I didn't know she could do that until just now. Did you?" Ping asked, looking at Sam.

"No. Nothing like this."

"I think it's time you told Mara how all this got started, a.s.suming you are up to it."

Sam nodded and took a deep breath. He stood up and brushed off his pants, taking a few seconds to make sure his balance had returned. He walked over to his place in the makeshift cla.s.sroom and pointed at the two other mats, inviting Mara and Ping to sit. They sat.

"My mother is the matriarch of a Basiliscan cult," he said, holding up his hand when Mara attempted to ask a question. "They revere basilisks-lizards, serpents and dragons. It is an old and powerful religion that uses these creatures as part of their worship."

Mara pointed to the tattoo on Sam's forearm. "Thus, the snake tattoo on your arm," Mara said.

He extended his arm and nodded, rubbing his fingers over it. "One of the rituals, called an extraction rite, involves using a two-headed serpent to draw power from a person and give it to the matriarch. One of the creature's heads bites the neck of the victim, the other the neck of the matriarch. During the ritual, the serpent strips the power from the victim and gives it to the matriarch."

"Charming. What happens to the victim?" Mara asked.