A moment later, the crystal vibrated against their hands. And then the door opened.
Chapter Nine: Chiara
Chiara gasped.
Before her, a crystal cave spread. Everywhere she looked, beautiful translucent pillars reached up towards the sky.
They still had to be underground, but the cave was filled by so much light that it felt as if they’d stepped right into a sunlit glade.
Only there were no trees. Or rather, there were trees, but they were made of crystal...
“There, look!”
Jared’s voice was awed as he pointed to a pulsing brightness at the end of the cave.
It almost looked like a fountain of pure light.
When they moved closer, they saw that it was indeed a fountain. Water fell in graceful arches—and it shone brilliantly, illuminated from within just like the crystal.
“It’s gorgeous,” she breathed.
And then she realized where the source of light came from that made the water shine.
At the heart of the fountain, on a slender pillar of mother-of-pearl, a small artifact was resting.
The magic artifact. It’s real. It’s really real, and I’ve found it!
Dazed, she leaned forward, ignoring the water soaking her arms.
Her fingers were trembling as she reached out for it—but it didn’t vanish as soon as she touched it. Instead, it felt solid. It felt real.
I really did it!
Breathless with excitement, she closed her fingers around it. Then she pulled it out of the fountain.
She couldn’t say what she’d been waiting for. It was the magical artifact she’d sacrificed so much for, so surely something magic should have happened.
Instead, the artifact rested in her hand, heavy and cool.
With a frown, she stared at it. It didn’t actually look all that magical, now that she was able to study it.
It looked like a necklace of heavy gold. On a chain, a round disk rested. It reflected the light beautifully—but there was nothing magic about it that she could see.
With a frown, she turned it—and then she gasped.
On the underside of the golden disk, there were more symbols.
At the center, there was the triangle with the three lines pointing up. Surrounding it, she saw further symbols—some looked like mountains, others like star constellations.
Narrowing her eyes, she kept twisting and turning the disk—but nothing else happened.
There was no sudden outburst of magic, no secret revealing itself with a puff of smoke and an explosion of light.
The medallion was reassuringly heavy in her hand. It had to be real gold. But that was all it was.
Just a piece of jewelry.
Desperately, she tried to bite back her tears. Was this what she’d given up her entire life for? Was this what she’d quit her job for, sold her car, spent all of her tiny savings on?