Then, as suddenly as it started, it stopped. The sharp, crackling bolts receded into the distance, rolling onward to another town, another victim. When Henry was absolutely certain he was safe, he opened his eyes and was greeted with darkness. He felt his way toward the droplight.

“Ouch!” He nicked his finger on a thin piece of broken glass. One of the bolts had zapped the power box and exploded the light bulb. The thunder had been so loud that he didn’t even hear it happen.

“Henry!”

Oh no! His mom must have checked his room, and now she was looking for him—probably with Brianna in tow. He couldn’t let them find him in the loft. It was his private place, and he was determined to keep it that way.

As quickly as he’d ever moved in his life, Henry pulled the greasy towel from the window. The cloud cover had thinned, brightening the sky to a dull gray—just enough to see by. He began gathering up everything within sight and dropping his possessions into the armoire. He would come back when it was safe to take inventory.

In the far corner, he found the old book. He must have really been scared to knock it so far away. The book was open, and one of the rocks from Coralis’s package was lying on top. He’d had some trouble identifying this particular rock, but eventually found it in one of his reference books. It was called ulexite.

At first it had looked like a plain piece of quartz in the shape of a rectangular block. When he’d accidentally dropped it onto a comic book he was reading, the words on the page were somehow projected onto the upper surface of the rock. It was like being able to read the book in 3-D! At the time, he thought it was pretty cool, but otherwise useless.

What he saw now, however, gave him a chill. All the books he had taken from his father’s office were written in a language Henry had never seen and couldn’t read. But as Henry moved the rock across the page, the words on the rock’s upper surface appeared in English. The rock was some sort of translation device!

“Henry!” His mother’s voice was closer. He had to hurry.

He swept up the remaining items, whipped off his robe, shoved everything into the armoire, and slid down the pole just as she appeared at the side door. “Oh, hi, Mom,” he babbled nervously.

“Henry, why didn’t you answer me?” She hugged him tightly. “Weren’t you scared? Look at you, you’re shaking.”

Henry realized it was true—he was shaking. But not for the reasons his mother assumed.

If the ulexite let him read those ancient books, what secrets might he uncover next?

Chapter Six