The morning came quickly but Nathan rolled out of bed before his alarm had a 
chance to go off.  He glanced down at his shirt surprised to find it in tact.  Running his 
fingers across his chest he thought back to the horrible pain he had experienced as the 
disc had burrowed into him.  Lifting his shirt he found no marks, no cuts or scarring… 
nothing.  Had it all been a dream?
	Slowly, almost afraid of what he’d find, Nathan moved to the door and unzipped 
his backpack.  Inside was the yellow envelope Miss Tolbert had given him the day before.  
Walking back to his bed he pulled it out and dropped the bag to the floor.  He sat down 
slowly and opened the envelope.  The pages were still there but the disc was missing.
	Nathan emptied it entirely just to be sure, but there was nothing there.  His brow 
furrowed and he touched his chest again.  The previous night was a bit of a blur.  Reality 
blended with his dreams and it was difficult to see where one ended and the other began.  
Did any of it happen?
	Grabbing the stack of papers, he half expected to see geometry homework but the 
strange words and measurements were still there.  But if that was real, what happened to 
the disc?  Nathan sighed and shook his head.  He stuffed the papers back into the 
envelope and then put the envelope back into his bag.  Behind him, his alarm went off 
startling him.  Dropping the bag on his bed, he grabbed a towel and headed for the 
shower.  He needed to find Miss Tolbert.
##
	Nathan’s bus usually arrived at school fifteen minutes before homeroom.  This 
gave him enough time to run to Miss Tolbert’s room so he could ask her about the pages 
and the disc.  When he got there, however, he found the room empty and the lights off.  
Stepping inside he looked around to make sure she wasn’t just in the bathroom or the 
teacher’s lounge then felt his shoulders slump and his bag slip down to his side.  She 
really wasn’t there.  “Nathan?”
	The voice of his English teacher Mr. Jenson came from behind him.  He looked 
back to the door and forced a weak smile.  “Oh, hey Mr. Jenson.”   Mr. Jenson was a 
disheveled mess of a man.  It was as though he was actually an alien in disguise, and this 
was the best impression of a human he could come up with.  With tangled hair, a suit that 
didn’t quite fit and a clip-on bow tie he shot a glance around the dark room.
	“What are you doing in here?”
	Nathan suddenly felt very guilty, as if he had been doing something wrong.  
“Um… I was, uh…” he gestured towards Miss Tolbert’s desk.  “I’m looking for Miss 
Tolbert.”
	Mr. Jenson looked around the room again, and smiled, his dark eyes sparkling 
through his meager appearance.  Nothing about his eyes fit with the rest of him, and yet 
there he was.  One neat contradictory package, complete with a bow.  “I don’t think she’s 
in here.”
	A nervous smile teased his lips for a moment.  “Yeah.”  They stood in silence for 
a few seconds before Nathan spoke up.  “Do you know where she is?”
	Mr. Jenson opened his mouth, but paused for a moment.  “I, um, I’m sure…”  He 
smiled again.  “I believe she called in sick today.”  Nathan nodded but before he could 
respond the bell for homeroom called out.  Mr. Jenson looked back into the hall, then at 
Nathan again.  “You’re going to be late.”
	“Yeah.  See ya Mr. Jenson.”  He pulled his backpack up onto his shoulder again 
and headed out into the hall.  If Miss Tolbert wasn’t here, it was going to be an even 
longer day than he had feared.  And the prospect of making it through the entire day 
without finding any answers was infuriating.
	Walking down the hall, Nathan considered simply slipping out the door at the end 
of the hall but thought better of it and headed for homeroom.  Stopping at his locker, he 
spun the lock dial left, then right, and left again.  The familiar click of the lock releasing 
followed and he pulled the door open.  Before he could open his bag and start swapping 
his homework books for the one’s he needed for his first three periods, a harsh siren 
pierced the air.
	Nathan looked up at the wall to see the fire alarm flashing and a moment later the 
sounds of students rustling in their classrooms surrounded him.  He slammed his locker 
shut and immediately headed for the nearest door.  A classroom door opened ahead of 
him almost hitting him in the nose, forcing him to stop in front of the entrance to the 
basement.
      Out of nowhere a strong hand grabbed him by the shoulder, and another covered 
his mouth.  He was caught completely off guard and could do nothing as he was pulled 
into the stairwell.  Students had finally spilled out into the hallway and a few walked past 
the doorway as it was closing but no one noticed him being dragged into the darkness.
	He kicked and struggled, trying to break free, but the man holding him was far too 
strong for him to pry himself away.  Nathan reached out for something to grab onto, 
something to slow his assailant, anything to buy him a moment to get noticed, but it was 
too late.  The door eased shut and any chance of someone seeing him vanished.  Panic 
was racing through him.  He could feel his heart pounding against his ribcage, sweat was 
forming on his face, his arms, his legs.  There was nothing he could do.  The realization 
spread through him like venom.  It started in his core and spread out through his chest, 
then into his arm and legs, finally reaching his fingers and toes.  It paralyzed him and he 
stopped struggling.
	“Shhh!”  The sound came with warm rank breath and Nathan realized they’d 
stopped moving.  The man spun him around and pushed him up against the wall.  He let 
go of Nathan’s mouth, but kept a firm hand on his shirt and paused.  It was too dark to 
make out any details so Nathan tried something else.
	“What do you want?” he asked, his voice trembling slightly.
	“Shhh!”
	After the man seemed sure they weren’t being followed, he pulled Nathan away 
from the wall and dragged him along through the dark hallway for a few minutes.  He 
seemed to know where he was going, or at least what he was looking for, though Nathan 
had no idea how he could see anything through the inky shadows.
	Finally, they stopped and Nathan could hear him rustling in the darkness.  Before 
he could ask what he was doing, the man lit a match and the room flared to life.  They 
were at a dead end.  Looking up at the wall before them, he was surprised to see that the 
man who had been dragging him around like a rag doll was old!  Not old like his 
grandfather, but really old!  Ancient even!
	The man had a bulbous nose surrounded by withered features and sunken eyes.  
His hair was silver, thin and wispy and looked like it hadn’t been combed in months.  He 
flashed a porous smile before the light from the match dimmed again then turned his back 
to Nathan, finally letting go of his shirt.  By the time it occurred to Nathan to run for it, 
something ignited on the floor in front of them and the wall blocking their path drifted 
away like smoke in the wind.
	Absolutely astonished, Nathan’s jaw dropped.  The old man grabbed him again 
and dragged him through the suddenly missing wall and into a brightly lit room.  He 
released Nathan again and this time he didn’t hesitate.  He turned to run but found the 
wall had reappeared as quickly as it had vanished.  “What’s going on?  How did you 
make that wall disappear?  Who are you?  What do you want with me?”  He turned back 
to the old man who was waiting patiently with an amused smile on his face.
	“All very good questions,” he said, placing a small metal container on the table 
next to him.  The room was filled with maps that Nathan didn’t recognize.  There was a 
fairly large chemistry set sitting near the far wall like the one his father had bought him 
when he was younger, only more dangerous looking.  Various fluids and powders were 
assembled there.  A bed was tucked away in the corner and some clothes were strewn 
over the bedpost.  A large green chair sat alone in the far corner and a thin wooden cane 
rested against it.  “It’s quite complicated.  I shifted it into another dimension.  My name is 
David Hudson.  And I’m here to help you.”
	“Huh?” was all Nathan could manage to reply before he realized that the old man 
had just answered his questions in order.  “Help me?”
	A smile spread across his archaic face.  He grabbed the metallic container and 
moved to the chemistry set.  Popping it open he reached for one of the bowls of powder.  
He took a pinch of whatever it was, dropped it into the container and finally spoke.  “Yes.  
Your little friend is in danger.”  He continued to drop more powder into his container one 
pinch at a time.
	“Lyr!  You know where she is?”  Nathan moved away from the wall for the first 
time.
	“No,” the old man turned back to him for a moment.  “I’m afraid not.”  Returning 
to his work, he continued, “But I can help you find out.”
	Nathan had all but forgotten how terrified he was just minutes ago.  This man 
knew something about Illyria.  “How?”
	“It’s complicated,” he replied again.  Nathan allowed a frustrated sigh.  One that 
David didn’t miss.  “There is much I have to tell you.  So why don’t you sit down and let 
me try to explain?”
	Nathan glanced at the chair when a sudden realization washed over him.  “Wait!  
The fire alarm!  We can’t stay in here, what if the building is on fire?”
      The old man patted him on the shoulder reassuringly.  “We’re in no danger, my 
boy.  I pulled the alarm.”  Nathan eased up, somehow less frightened of the man then he 
was at first.  There was a calming quality to his voice.  “Now, have you ever heard the 
term White Powder Gold?”  The blank look on Nathan’s face prompted the old man to 
continue.  “No?  Well, how about Manna?”  Nathan shook his head.  “How about the 
Philosopher’s Stone?”
	Nathan perked up slightly.  That one was familiar.  “Philosopher’s Stone?  I think 
I’ve heard that one before.”
	Hudson smiled for a moment.  “They are all the same thing.  And there are many 
other names for it as well.  Star Fire, The Elixir of Life, ORME’s.  All of them refer to 
Monoatomic Elements.”
	Nathan’s eyes lit up.  Monoatomic Elements!  He dug through his bag quickly and 
pulled out the yellow envelope.  “Miss Tolbert gave me something!”  Sliding the stack of 
papers out, he continued, “I didn’t understand most of it last night, but that word… 
Monoatomic… it was on a bunch of the pages.”
	The old man’s smile lingered.  “So you did read it.”  Nathan nodded.  “What did 
you learn?”
	A frown found its way onto Nathan’s face.  “I didn’t really understand most of it.”  
The old man just stood there, patiently waiting for him to elaborate.  “I recognized some 
of the elements from chemistry, and there were some locations I knew too.  But all the 
elements had that word in front of them.  What does it mean?”
	Hudson thought for a moment before looking down to him.  “Well, break down 
the word into parts you might understand.  What can you derive from it?”
	Nathan thought for a few seconds.  “Mono means one, right?”  The old man 
nodded.  “And atomic… well, in chemistry an atom is the smallest known particle of an 
element.”  Hudson sat, still waiting.  “So, what?  One atom?”
	The old man smiled again.  “Very good.  Monoatomic Elements are elements 
existing in a single atom state.  They are very rare, and very precious.  And they have 
some very special properties.”
	“Like what?” Nathan asked.  He had completely forgotten his fear of the old man 
at this point.  Curiosity dominated him.
	“Well, they can travel to other dimensions, for one.” He pointed to the wall they 
had come through.  “Some of them can heal sickness, others can conduct energy very 
efficiently.  There are thousands of uses for them.”  David paused and returned to his 
chemistry set.  Pulling a small vile out, he smiled.  Clicking the case on the table open 
again, he pinched off a small amount of powder and dropped it onto a scale.  After a 
moment, he picked up a flat edged tool and scraped some away.  The scale moved 
slightly.  He repeated this a few more times, then scraped the remaining powder into a 
tiny pouch and placed the pouch into the empty metal case with a strange symbol on it.
	Nathan’s head was swimming.  He couldn’t decide which question to ask first.  
David was still playing around with the scale, apparently waiting for him to decide.  
Finally, he settled on something.  “Can these… Monoatomic Elements help me to find 
Lyr?”
	David smiled at the directness of the question.  “That, my young friend, is what 
we’re going to find out.”