A bolt of green lightning tore across the night sky splintering off sporadically, 
casting a crackling web over the horizon.  Howling winds swept across the barren hills 
sending the cold rain spiraling about the area.  Ahead, an arrangement of megaliths hung 
ominously on a plateau, daring the landscape to approach it.
	An old man limped his way toward the massive stone monument, hurriedly, 
keeping a sharp eye over his shoulder as the darkness threatened to swallow him whole.  
A thin wooden cane aided each step and he fingered a small metallic container on his hip.  
Another eruption of lightning bathed the area in a faint green for a moment, exposing a 
dull engraving of a pyramid with a single dot in the center.
	Moving quickly to the center of the collection of stones, he stopped at a small 
alter and pried the container open.  Behind him, a fearsome growl rumbled across the 
expanse.  The old man knew if he didn’t ignite a pinch of monoatomic gold quickly 
enough, he wouldn’t make it back to Earth.
	He worked diligently, his fingers remarkably nimble for a man his age.  Plucking 
a tiny amount of powder from the container he sprinkled it on the alter, bathing it in 
shimmering specks of light.  He stuffed his supplies back into the container before 
striking a match.  As it flared before him, the silhouette of a massive creature appeared at 
the edge of the monument.
	It was now or never.


	The late afternoon sun hung defiantly over the tree tops on the western edge of 
Clifford Park.  Young children played kick ball on the baseball diamond, some high 
school seniors were hanging out in the parking lot by their cars, and a few hopeful kids 
eyed the empty pool through a chain link fence.  Nathan Webb walked along a paved 
path with his best friend of fourteen years, Illyria Madison.  His lanky frame moved 
clumsily, having the awkwardness of a boy still growing into his own body.  Thick curls 
of dark brown hair bounced atop his head with each step and his bony cheeks and tight 
jaw were tinted with the promise of a midsummer tan.
	They had been coming to this park since they were old enough to walk, often 
playing in the grass or defying gravity on the swings while their mothers sat together 
talking and laughing.  These days they liked to walk around the park, watching the other 
kids play.  Neither Nathan nor Illyria were especially popular at school, but that suited 
them both just fine.  They had each other, which was more than enough.
	“So you’d really rather sit through Tolbert’s geometry class than Bergman’s 
science?” he asked her with the hint of a chuckle.
	She shot him an annoyed yet playful look.  “For the third time, yes!  I just don’t 
like science.  At least the rules of geometry don’t keep changing as new things are 
discovered.  Plus, I like solving problems.”
	“I don’t understand how we’ve lasted so long as friends.  I can’t stand math.”  The 
two shared a giggle before a trio of middle school misfits ran by with the kickball, 
followed by a swarm of kids who were just moments ago on the baseball field.
	They watched them pass for and he turned back to Lyr.  “Looks like the benches 
are empty.  Wanna sit down?”  She nodded and they made their way through right field 
and into the first base dugout.  Nathan stretched out a bit before slumping down on the 
bench while Illyria stood facing the field.  He looked up at her from his seat, at her wispy 
light brown hair, freckled but lightly tanned skin and lanky but no longer tomboyish 
frame.  He wasn’t sure when it had happened, but she had started to grow up and no 
longer looked like a little girl.
	His skin grew warm and he felt his face flush.  It caught him totally by surprise.  
He’d never looked at Lyr that way before, and he simply wasn’t prepared for it.  There 
were other girls at school, the ones he never talked to, who were pretty, but Illyria?  She 
was his best friend.  “I can’t wait for summer to start.  I’m looking forward to the town 
opening the pool.  Aren’t you?” she asked, watching the kids still hanging off the fence as 
if to protest the utter lack of water before them.
	“Huh?” he asked, being shaken from his thoughts.  She looked back at him and he 
blushed further.  He jumped out of his seat and walked to the far end of the dugout, 
hoping she hadn’t seen.
	“What’s got you all jumpy?  Something wrong?”  She took a few steps toward 
him.
	“It’s nothing.” He said, crossing his arms and leaning against the edge of the 
entrance, pretending it was the reason he’d come over to it in the first place.
	“You’re freaking out about that English test, aren’t you?”  He sighed quietly.  She 
hadn’t noticed.  “I told you not to sweat it.  We’ll go over the book on the phone tonight.  
You’ll be fine.”
	Looking back over his shoulder he smiled.  “Yeah, I guess so.”
	She looked down at her watch and jumped.  “Oh no!  It’s after six!  I’m gonna be 
late for dinner.  My mom is gonna kill me!”  She moved past him quickly, grabbing the 
sleeve of his shirt.  “Come on, you’re gonna be late too.”  With a brief smile, Nathan 
allowed the relief of not being caught wash over him.  He followed her to their bikes and 
they headed off, pedaling as hard as they could.  If they hurried, they might just make it.



	With the early afternoon sun spilling in through sporadically drawn shades, it was 
like any other day for Nathan.  The seconds dragged on toward the inevitable bell that 
would finally free him from the long school day.  His teacher, Miss Tolbert was going on 
about Euclidian Geometry at the front of the classroom.  She had just said something 
about acute angles and some kind of theory, or theorem.  It was too muggy to pay 
attention.
	The warm summer afternoons had arrived earlier this year than in any other he 
could remember, and it made his later classes nearly unbearable.  To make matters worse, 
Illyria was absent today.  So he didn’t even have anyone to pass notes to.
	He’d known Lyr for nearly his entire life and the two were rarely separated.  So 
he was eagerly awaiting the chance to go home and call her.  The day had dragged on, but 
it was still ripe with gossip and drama.  Ben Davis had asked Julie Thompson out at lunch 
and she laughed so hard juice sprayed out of her nose.  There was a fight in the hall after 
third period between two football players, but it was broken up by a few teachers before 
it got out of hand.  And some old nut was arrested trying to get into the school during 
sixth period.
	Nathan glanced at the clock again and watched a few more seconds slip away.  In 
only four minutes the bell would ring but time always seemed to move more slowly 
during last period.  His eyes slowly drifted back to Miss Tolbert who looked almost as 
disinterested in the lesson as her students.  Even with the air conditioning blasting all day, 
it felt like they were sitting in an oven.
	“So, in order to find the length of the hypotenuse, we use the formula on page two 
hundred ninety three.  The lengths of the two shorter sides, each squared, are equal to the 
length of the hypotenuse squared.”  She paused, jotting the formula down on the dry 
erase board.  “How can we use this to find the perimeter of the figure on page two 
hundred ninety four, where we are given the hypotenuse and one other side?  David?”
	A stout boy in the back looked up from his notebook, obviously having been 
jarred from a day dream.  The blank look on his face was accentuated by his round puffy 
cheeks and a thick bottom lip that curled out over a cleft chin.  “Uh, I…”  At the same 
moment Miss Tolbert’s face soured into a frown, the bell rang, saving David from 
himself.
	The classroom erupted into a blur of activity.  Students stuffed books and pencils 
into their bags, scurrying to get out of the room as quickly as possible.  Nathan followed 
suit, but was stopped by his teacher as he reached the door.  “Nathan, could I have a 
moment, please?”
	A brief sigh passed over his lips as he backed into the room again, turned to face 
her and made his way to her desk.  “Yes, Miss Tolbert?”
	She opened a drawer and pulled out a large yellow envelope.  “I was hoping you 
could bring this to Illyria.  It should help her with what she missed today.”
	He nodded briefly, took the full sized envelope and made his way out into the hall.  
As he dropped his books into his locker and stuffed what he needed for homework into 
his book bag, his eyes were drawn down the hall.  At the far end, on the other side of the 
door leading to the school’s inner courtyard, someone was peering in through the small 
square window.  His view was obscured by a group of kids walking towards him, so 
Nathan turned and craned his neck to try and see over them.  But by the time he was able 
to get another look at the door, the figure was gone.  His gaze lingered on the door for a 
moment longer, then he closed his locker, slung his bag over his shoulder and headed in 
the opposite direction toward the waiting school busses.
	The ride home was quick and uneventful and as he stepped off the bus, Nathan 
saw his mother’s car in the driveway.  She was home early from work.  He glanced over 
his shoulder at the rumbling bus laboring down the road and started up the driveway.  
	Pushing the door open, Nathan dropped his school bag on the floor, kicked off his 
shoes and made his way into the kitchen where his mother sat at the table alone, her eyes 
red and puffy.  “Mom?” he asked gingerly.
	She jumped as if woken from a sound sleep, blotted her eyes quickly and forced a 
smile.  “Nathan, you’re home.”
	He felt the urge to walk over and hug her, but instead, pulled out the chair next to 
her and sat down.  “What’s wrong?”
	A sniffle ran through her and she took a napkin to her eyes again.  “Hon, I need to 
talk with you, and I want you to be completely honest with me.  I’m not going to be mad 
no matter what you say, and you won’t get into any trouble, OK?”
	A pang of fear shot through him suddenly.  Just the mere possibility that he might 
have done something wrong was enough to make him feel guilty inside and he suddenly 
found it difficult to look her in the eye.  A brief nod was all he could manage in response.
	A police officer was just here a few…” she glanced at the clock “Goodness.  It 
was over an hour ago.  I…”  His mother paused, looked back at her son and took a deep 
breath.  Nathan felt the fear tear a little deeper and forced himself to swallow.  “When’s 
the last time you saw Illyria?”
	He thought for a moment.  “Um… yesterday after school.  We hung out at the 
park just before dinner.”  His brow furrowed a bit.  “Why?”
	She stood up and crouched down in front of him, taking his hand in hers.  “And 
you haven’t talked to her since then?”
	“Yeah, we talked on the phone before bed.”  He forced himself to look her in the 
eye.  “Mom, what’s going on?”
	Her hand was trembling a bit and she forced another nervous smile.  “Did she say 
anything… strange?  Was she upset at all?”
	The fear that was coursing through him moments ago quickly gave way to a rising 
panic.  “What’s going on, mom?”
	“Nathan, Hon…” she paused and it occurred to him that he’d never seen her like 
this before.  Not even after dad had left.  “Illyria’s missing.  She left for school this 
morning, but never got there.”  Time slowed down.  The sound of his mother’s voice was 
muffled and there was a light buzz coming from the back of his head.  Lyr was missing? 
He immediately started going over every detail from the previous day, praying for a 
signal he might have missed.  A detail he hadn’t caught.  But there was nothing.
	The day had been perfectly normal, aside from that moment where he felt hot 
under the skin.  Nothing stood out no matter how hard he tried to find something.  The 
buzzing had risen to a throbbing in his ears and he couldn’t even hear his mother’s voice 
anymore.  The room started to press in on him and he immediately felt very small.
      Lyr.
	The throbbing in his ears faded away then, and his mother’s voice came back.  
“The police still don’t know if she ran away or was abducted.  But they haven’t found 
any signs of a struggle anywhere between her house and the bus stop.”  She was standing 
by the sink now, mindlessly scrubbing a dish.
	Nathan pushed his chair back under the table and his mother looked over her 
shoulder at him.  “I’m so sorry, hon.” She moved to him quickly and hugged him tightly.  
“I’m so very sorry.  I’m sure she’ll turn up soon.”  He didn’t hug her back, though.  After 
a moment, he pulled away from her and headed for the stairs.  Grabbing his bag as he 
passed the front door, he made his way up into his room and collapsed onto his bed.
	He was suddenly very tired.


	When Nathan woke up it was already dark in his room and he could hear the TV 
from his mother’s room down the hall.  A sure fire sign she was already asleep, or soon 
would be.  He rubbed his eyes as he sat up, feeling the weight of exhaustion still pushing 
down on him.  He didn’t care enough to turn around and look at the clock, but he didn’t 
need to.  The sounds of frequent cars passing by on the street told him it wasn’t very late.
	He had hoped, in the moments immediately after shaking loose the bindings of 
sleep, he might have dreamed it all, and that Lyr would be waiting for him to call.  But 
reality pressed down on him like a vice.  Near the door, on the ground where he had left it 
was his bag.  It wasn’t more than a few hours ago that he was in school.
	School… Miss Tolbert had given him Illyria’s homework.  Nathan pulled himself 
up off the bed and dragged his feet across the room to his bag, knelt down and opened it.  
The yellow envelope was right where he had left it.  Pulling it out, he headed back to the 
bed and sat down with it.  It was thick, and heavier than he remembered it being.  Pulling 
the envelope open he reached inside finding a thick stack of papers.  He slid them out and 
dropped the covering on the floor.
	It clinked as it landed.
	Caught off guard by the sound, he glanced around the left side of the papers in his 
hand and pawed at the envelope with his foot.  There was still something inside.  
Dropping the papers on the bed, he reached down, picked it up again, and stuck his hand 
inside.  A cold metal disk met his fingers, sending a quick shiver through him.  Shaking it 
off, he pulled it out and flipped on the light on the desk next to his bed to get a better look.
	It was a perfect circle, made of something that looked like polished steel or silver 
donning an engraving of a triangle with a tiny hole at its center.  Nathan flipped it over 
and stared at his own reflection for a moment, completely in awe of the hollow shimmer 
that wafted from it.
	It was almost hypnotizing, compelling him to look more deeply into it, as if he 
could see through it.  But nothing was there except him, staring back sleepily.  He 
wondered why Miss Tolbert would give something like this disk to Lyr along with her 
homework.  Glancing back at the stack of papers he had put down beside him, he noticed 
that there was nothing about geometry anywhere on the top page.  Instead, it was merely 
a list of strange words he didn’t recognize with measurements after them.
	“Monoatomic osmium, monoatomic ruthenium, monoatomic copper…” he 
paused, recognizing some of the elements from chemistry, but being unfamiliar with the 
word that preceded each of them, “What is this?”
	There were seven strange words he couldn’t figure out before each list of the three 
elements.  It looked like they were from various languages, sharing little in common with 
each other.  Each had different measurements of the elements in different combinations.  
No matter how long he stared at it, none of it made any sense.  “Mylara?” he whispered.  
The word had just jumped out at him and now it was all he could look at.  The rest of the 
words seemed to fade into the background, leaving only Mylara there on the page.  
“Three grams of osmium, one point seven four grams of ruthenium, six tenths of a gram 
of copper?”
	Finally putting the page down on his bed, he looked at the next piece of paper in 
the stack and saw another list, only this one didn’t have any of the words from the other 
languages, except for monoatomic.  This time it was simply twelve elements, each 
preceded with the bizarre word.  Cobalt, Nickel, Copper, Ruthenium, Rhodium, 
Palladium, Silver, Osmium, Iridium, Platinum, Gold and Mercury were numbered one 
through twelve with Gold and Platinum in italics.
	Nathan wasn’t sure what to make of either list, but he was compelled to read on, 
and promptly picked up the next page in the stack.  Finally he found himself looking at a 
list he could understand.  Various coordinates filled the next four pages, some with 
names he recognized as some of the most famous tourist spots in the world.  “Stonehenge, 
Easter Island, Gaza,” he read aloud.  Many of the coordinates did not match up with a  
famous location, but the only names on any of the four pages that followed a pair of 
numbers were, indeed, places he had heard of.
	Placing the four pages with the first two he had examined, he looked down at the 
next sheet and found it blank.  Each of the pages following it was also blank and he 
frowned, disappointed that there wasn’t more interesting information for him explore.  
Looking over at his clock, he noticed it was actually quite late.  It read “2:14” meaning he 
had been staring at the strange pages for hours.  He would be getting out of bed four 
hours later.  That meant he’d be in school in about six and he’d be able to track down 
Miss Tolbert to ask her about the strange disk and lists.  Maybe they had something to do 
with what happened to Illyria.
	Putting it all back into the yellow envelope, Nathan tucked it all neatly into his 
bag and placed it back by the door.  A moment later, he was crawling under his covers 
and trying to get comfortable.  For the first time all year, he was eager for the school day 
to start.  He hadn’t done any of his homework, but he didn’t care.  The first bell of the 
day couldn’t come soon enough.  He closed his eyes, but sleep wouldn’t come that easily.
	It was going to be a long night.
	Reality pressed in on him again.  The streetlight humming outside his window, 
the clock ticking in the hall, the faint whisper of a gentle breeze passing through the 
leaves of the giant oak in the front yard all kept him from drifting away at first, but they 
did fade eventually.  They were replaced with the distant sound of children playing and 
the darkness faded into a clear meadow on a warm spring afternoon.  The flowers were in 
bloom, the grass was lush and full, birds were chirping playfully in the trees and he could 
hear the relentless yet gentle push of the sea as waves washed over the sand.
	Nathan paused, realizing there was no sand, nor a beach anywhere in sight.  He 
glanced around and found there were no children either, yet their playful laughs still 
echoed all around him.
	Just as he felt certain he was alone, the sounds of the ocean and the laughter came 
to a sudden stop leaving the area in complete silence.  A finger tapped him on the 
shoulder and he jumped.  Spinning around, he was shocked to see Illyria standing there 
smiling at him.  Her face was sparkling in the sunlight.  Tiny specs of shimmering light 
covered her arms and legs too, though she didn’t seem to notice.  Her eyes were darker 
than normal.  “Lyr?  What…?”
	Bringing her finger up to her lips, she quieted him, then turned and looked back 
over her shoulder into the field.  “They’ll hear you.”
	In the distance, Nathan could see cloaked figures approaching.  Their faces were 
shrouded in shadows cast by thick dark hoods and a chill ran down his spine.  “Who are 
they?” he whispered. 	The smile returned to Lyr’s face and she pointed at something 
behind him.  Turning around slowly, Nathan was surprised to see the baseball field at the 
park had materialized while he wasn’t paying attention.  Taking a step towards it, he 
asked “What’s going on?”
	When she didn’t answer he glanced back only to find she was no longer there.  
The cloaked figures, however, were still approaching.  Only now, they were moving 
oddly.  Their steps were jagged and uneven moving as though they were speeding up and 
slowing down at random.  Nathan could feel his heart beat harder in his chest and turned 
to run but the field was now bathed in a dim green light.  The source of the light was a 
tiny metal disc laying at home plate, just like the one in Illyria’s folder.  With one more 
look over his shoulder at the sporadic movements of his cloaked pursuers he darted out 
across the infield toward the disc.
	He picked it up without breaking his stride and charged off the field entirely, 
heading for the pool where he normally left his bike.  The figures were still drawing 
closer, no matter how hard he ran, but if he could just make it to his bike there was no 
way the would be able to keep up.
	The sound of children laughing echoed in his ears again but there still were none 
to be found anywhere at the park.  The pool, normally empty at this time of year, was 
glimmering in the sun.  Short choppy waves splashed against its concrete edges as if 
children were playing in the water, but Nathan couldn’t see any of them.  He was only a 
few feet from his bike and he knew he should just get on and ride away before the 
cloaked figures could catch up, but something drew him toward the pool’s edge.
	He found himself standing with his toes dangling out over the liquid which he had 
just realized wasn’t water at all.  It was silvery and slow moving, like molasses.  Steeling 
another glance over his shoulder he saw the dark figures were only moments away, but he 
simply could not pull himself from the sparkling liquid at his feet.
	Turning his back to the pool, he faced his pursuers and fingered the disc in his left 
hand.  A dull green glow still radiated from it but it was cold to the touch.  Something 
inside him told him to hold it out towards the cloaked figures that were now only a few 
feet from him.
	The disc erupted into a vibrant deep green, flooding the area in light, tinting 
everything he could see and the figures halted immediately.  The disc remained cool in 
his hand, but everything around Nathan started to burn.  The silver liquid in the pool 
behind him ignited and flames danced across it, the fence melted away and the grass 
beyond withered to ash.
	But the disc remained cold, and Nathan immune.  The cloaked beings before him 
screamed in horror and a moment later were engulfed in flame as well.  The disc pulsed, 
sending out a shockwave of blinding green-white light.  It was followed by another, then 
another, each time stripping away a bit more of the world around him.  The dark figures 
were little more than ash in the wind after the fourth pulse and all that remained of the 
landscape was the burning liquid in the pool and the barren field all around.
	Nathan turned the disc towards himself, seeing the familiar pyramid with a single 
dot at its center.  Before he could lean closer to examine it, a final blast of light tore 
through the symbol, blinding him.  He dropped the disc and shielded himself, finally 
feeling the sting of the flames.
	Before he could scream, Nathan found himself opening his eyes in his bed.  He 
expected the bright green light of the disc to fade with each passing moment, but it 
remained, hovering there before him.  Curious, he sat up, reached out and was surprised 
to see the disc was actually floating there above his bed.
	The light intensified then, just as it had in the dream, and Nathan was snapped 
back down onto the bed.  The disc closed in on him and he wanted to run, but something 
was keeping him pinned to the bed.  His shirt tore away and the heat of the light singed 
his chest.  Quick shallow breaths ripped through him.  Panic was setting in, but there was 
nothing he could do.  The disc pressed against his skin finally, and the cold metal was a 
sharp contrast to the burning heat of the light.  He gasped, but could not manage to 
scream.
	Feeling his skin split around the disc he wanted nothing more than to call out in 
agony but the unseen force keeping him pinned down refused to relent and he remained 
paralyzed.  The disc, while still cold, melted away his ribs and Nathan could feel it 
sinking into his chest, through his heart and lungs to the very center of his being.  The 
light was pouring from him now, still filling the entire room with a deep green.  And just 
as he thought it couldn’t get any more painful, the disc pulsed deep inside him.  The room 
lit up so brightly he had to squeeze his eyes shut.  The pain was too much, and the next 
pulse sent him spiraling into unconsciousness.  The world, the disc, and even the pain 
faded into nothingness.