“Alien?” Jasper said, turning away from Kay and walking back up the steps. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m no… is that all the powers the Whites have? You seem to know so much about them. Tell me what else they can do.”

  Another of his tactics when he was caught was changing the subject.

  Kay giggled a bit and walked toward Jasper. “They can make shields around their bodies,” she said.

  This tactic rarely worked, however, so Jasper jumped back in shock.

  “Shields?” he asked.

  “Mmhmm,” Kay said, and nodded as she joined Jasper at the top of the steps. “It’s an invisible barrier that can stop any projectile from hitting them. And do you know where they get this power?”

  “No.”

  Kay tilted her head back toward the staircase. “Down that way, in a big room. That’s where the source is.”

  Jasper’s eyes went wide. He knew where he needed to go, and an urgency filled him. He just needed to get rid of Kay so she wouldn’t follow or try to stop him.

  “Whites can also sense where other people are, and even talk to each other without opening their mouths,” Kay added. She smiled conspiratorially at Jasper.

  Jasper cocked his head to the side. He couldn’t figure out why Kay was telling him this. He noted it as useful and curious information, but it was only a matter of time before another Prophet wandered in on him. He needed to scare Kay off. And there was one thing Jasper knew that would make any girl in his village run back to their mothers. He leaned forward and kissed her.

  Something happened then Jasper hadn’t expected. Kay didn’t run away. Instead, she grabbed him by the arms and pulled him into an embrace. Jasper squealed and tried to pull away, but Kay was very strong. After a few seconds, Kay let him go and he stumbled back.

  “Like I asked before,” Kay said with a smile, “are all aliens as crazy as you?”

  For once, Jasper’s instincts and clear-headed will agreed and he bolted down the stairs, not looking back and thankful when he realized that Kay wasn’t following him.

  The stairs ended at a short hall with many doors on either side, but led to a huge arched doorway. It was made of white stone, with swirling patterns painted alongside images of stars that were picked out in jewels. Jasper walked down the short, tiled hall, passing marble statues and busts of Prophets long dead, and opened the door, taking care to make as little noise as possible.

   Surprisingly, the door was unlocked. When he peered around, Jasper saw that the chamber was empty. He turned and shut the door behind him and sighed with relief, taking a moment to breathe. He didn’t realize that his jaw could drop further than it had already been that day. But when he turned around, Jasper half expected to need to pick it up off the polished black floor.

   In the middle of the room, on a shimmering pedestal made of a swirled red, gold, and white stone, three objects hovered in mid-air, seeming to resonate with a wondrous aura. One was white, one gold, and one red. Jasper had to take a long stare to fully realize exactly what he was looking at.

   There was a thin crown glowing the purest white Jasper had ever seen. It was small, fit for a woman, and had a large diamond in the middle as its only jewel. The whole thing seemed made of nothing but conjoining curves and circles, and spread out from the jewel like swirls of white mist.

   Lying on its side underneath this was one of those long blades that Jasper saw Gorn wearing. It seemed to be made of one solid piece of gold, straightened and sharpened to a deadly edge. A cross-bar and a firm grip added a shimmer to the blade’s imposing strength. Even though gold was a bendable metal, the weapon seemed to emit an aura of invincibility. The shimmering, long blade burned with the golden intensity of the sun.

   Last of all was the dagger. It stood upright, handle down, in the middle of the crown and on top of the blade. The handle was all a coarse metal that was strangely like silver but too liquid-like and dazzling. On the small, curved guard was a large red stone that seemed to hold a fire inside, burning with a crimson glow. Most awe-inspiring of all was the blade itself. It was a deep, deep red. It seemed as though blood itself had been forged into a metal that shone like the red jewel but emitted a terrible beauty more awesome than the fiery passion of all the intense feelings Jasper had ever experienced.

   Leading up from this pedestal, going on and on into the sky, was the hollowed-out spire. Light emitted from the three objects. It traveled up the spire and into the orb, as if transmitting a signal of power. Jasper knew exactly what he was looking at: the power of the Prophets.

   He slowly approached the pedestal. The floor was a deep, night sky-like black marble, speckled with stars. Three doors led into this chamber from each of the three colored chambers. With a shaking hand, Jasper reached toward the three weapons. He could go home.

   Slam!

  Jasper turned his head and saw Nin closing the white door behind her.

  “So you did come here. You’ve been quite a nuisance, Jasper, but I forgive you. I can sense the panic you must being going through,” she said, and calmly walked into the room.

  Jasper nearly shrieked. He didn’t want Nin to take him away again, but felt frozen in fear, the sight of the person who’d caused this chaotic day collapsing all rational thought.

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  “They’re amazing, aren’t they?” Nin said. “Even an inexperienced person can channel their power and become an awesome foe.”

  Jasper clenched his fists, not hesitating, not paying attention to Nin’s voice.

  “They were…” Nin began, then stopped.

   Jasper grabbed the glowing dagger and poured his fear and anger into it, just as Gralin had explained, and a deep red glow burst from the blade. Jasper jumped back at the sight of the crimson glow he unleashed. When he looked up again, he saw Nin lying on her back at the other ­end of the room.

  Jasper dropped the dagger, which made a surprisingly soft clang in the massive room. He waited, panting, for the woman to make a sound. She remained still.

  After a few moments where his mind came into focus, he ran over to check on her. She lay on the ground with her soft dress rumpled against her unmoving body. Jasper’s heart sank as he realized she wasn’t breathing.

  “I, I didn’t mean to hurt you! I didn’t mean it, I wasn’t thinking!” Jasper said, and looked around in desperation, searching for someone to help him and finding he was painfully alone.

   Then he remembered what he’d seen in the Gold chamber. A Gold Prophet had healed the man he’d stabbed. If the red dagger allowed Jasper to fire a blast, he thought maybe the golden blade would allow him to heal.

Jasper wiped away his tears and ran back to the pedestal, and pulled out the long blade.

   It was surprisingly light, but felt incredibly sturdy. Jasper knelt and put his hand on Nin’s chilly forehead. Her skin was even softer than her dress, but was growing pale. As he’d done with the dagger, Jasper poured his energy and feelings into the blade.

  Nothing happened.

   He shook the blade, somehow thinking that might help. Nothing happened. Jasper tried pouring his energy and feelings into Nin, and still nothing happened. Then he remembered how the man in the gold chamber had used his weapon.

  “Clear mind,” Jasper said, and adjusted his grip on the blade’s shimmering hilt.

   All the emotions he had, all the fear over being in Pinnacle and nearly killing someone, all the anger at his foolishness, and all his excitement for the power he now held, he purged these feelings from his mind and, for the first time in his life, Jasper felt empty. He didn’t really like the sensation, and wasn’t sure if it came from him or from the golden weapon. But his thoughts were clear enough that he could concentrate on taking power from the blade, which now seemed accessible to him.

   Jasper felt energy flow through him and into the woman. He was like the banks of a river, directing mighty waters to their destination. He harnessed it, and concentrated on forcing it to heal Nin’s injury. Within seconds, Nin began breathing deep and slow breaths. Jasper lowered the sword and removed his hand. He took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly.

   “That’s good,” Jasper said, his adrenaline blinding him to this massive understatement. He nearly laughed, and looked at the golden sword and red dagger. “These people sure can do amazing things.”

   The golden doors on the other side of the room burst open, and Gorn ran through. He saw Nin lying on the ground and yelled, “What have you done!”

  Jasper’s normal response would be to run. Strangely, he felt fully in control and unafraid while holding the powerful weapons.

   “She’s fine, I—” Jasper tried to say.

   “Chrisholm! He’s in here!” Gorn yelled.

   “Wait, listen to me for a second…” Jasper tried, running to the pedestal to put the weapons back

   Chrisholm ran into the room and, after seeing Nin on the ground, shouted with rage as he pulled out his dagger.

  Jasper ducked behind the pedestal as a blast bounced off the swirled stone, and he realized the gravity of his situation. There was only one way out.

  Jasper grabbed the white crown off the pedestal and quickly put it on his head. He imagined being in the clearing again, back home on Mother.

  As Chrisholm moved to the side and fired a blast, Jasper put his hands up while a white light filled the room.

   Darkness replaced the blinding white light.

  Jasper stood in a clearing, stars over his head and grass at his feet. What he saw in front of him was not the village he knew. It was a dusty path. Men and women, whole families it seemed, walked slowly. They had few belongings, and some cattle walked behind them. But they seemed desperate.

  Am I on Mother, Jasper thought?

  With the crown enhancing his senses, he realized that this didn’t feel like Mother. “There’s no Prophets here. I’m alone,” Jasper said. He giggled, and nearly clapped, but his hands were still full with the dagger and the sword. He was finally in control, and could finally go home. But as he prepared to concentrate on going to Mother, hoping it would work this time, he couldn’t help but wonder who the people below him were.

  With the crown on his head, he reached out to them. The sensation of feeling them from so far away was incredible. Normally, he could sense people’s emotions only if he was near to them or talking to them. But his empathetic ability was nothing compared to what he felt now. Pain, regret, and sadness poured into his mind, and Jasper could hear their voices flooding his thoughts.

   “The tribe will recover,” a man with a beard said. He felt proud, but a strong feeling of sadness penetrated his every thought. “We will find new herds, new hunting grounds.”

   “Why do the Low-Eyes do this to us?” a woman pleaded, her eyes dried from crying till her tears ran out. “Can’t we share the land?”

   “Their tribe is growing strong. And they have put off following the herds and wish to stay in one place,” the bearded man said.

   Jasper couldn’t take any more. Their sorrow was so much, and he could feel it so powerfully that it made him want to cry. But the sword and the dagger glowed ever-so-slightly, and he felt back in control of his splitting mind.

Jasper separated his mind from theirs and took a step back.

   He felt sad for these people walking with nowhere to go, but didn’t know what he could do. He had to get home.

  With a pained heart, Jasper concentrated on teleporting back home.

   White light flashed again, and he stared out at an enormous field. The field seemed to stretch all across the globe in patches of green and brown with scattered crops and small farmhouses. In the center, Jasper squinted at what he saw. This was not Sevens, and it surely wasn’t Mother. What he saw was a large collection of people, all laying stone in the ground for a massive wall. Inside this wall, many other workers labored at putting up a tower on a partially completed home. Both structures were huge in scale, but not near the size and quality of what he’d seen at Pinnacle. Still, to Jasper’s eyes, they were very impressive.

   All around these structures, small houses were being set up. And the people seemed to go about in a very lively way. “The groundwork to a city,” Jasper said, his intuition expanded by the crown. “Maybe it’ll be as great as Pinnacle one day.” Jasper hoped for this. It was day there, but the sun and large fields didn’t appeal to him much.

   There was one sight near the fledling city that was not so pleasant. A mass of men, some on horseback, stood guard around the low structures. Jasper could feel their eyes watching all around through the power of the crown.

   Jasper felt the need to go home, to leave these men with their stern glares. He couldn’t stay or he’d be spotted, and it was only a matter of time before Nin and the others might find him. Kay had said that White Prophets could sense things, and Jasper thought that surely they could sense the source of their own power. He had to return to Mother and then somehow teleport the three weapons back as well.

  He concentrated on a new door opening to Mother, and stepped through into another planet.