MystikQuest, Jeff Schanz [red seas under red skies .txt] 📗

delusional,” said AJ, backing up toward where the rock landed.

“Wes. Seriously, it’s ok,” said Marc. “Jeez, dude I thought you were gonna cave AJ’s head in.”

“Probably should’ve.”

AJ bent down to pick up the rock. “Gee. Love you too.”

Marc rotated Wes to face him. “Ok, look, I don’t know what you saw, and I believe you saw something, but – I mean, the picture’s kinda too perfect, dude. You didn’t have to make that part up to…”

“It’s – real! Come on, I’m not lying.”

From the back of the room, AJ said in a soft tone, “Uh, guys?”

Oblivious, Wes and Marc stared at each other. Marc said, “Dude, I wanna believe you, but – but…”

“But, what? I can’t lie, Marc. You know me! I suck at it. I can’t lie to save my life.”

Marc dropped his gaze to consider this.

AJ again said, louder, “Guys?”

Marc nodded, still ignoring AJ. “Ok, ok, I hear ya. But, ya gotta admit that…”

“Guys!” shouted AJ.

“What!?” said Marc and Wes together.

AJ took a step toward them, concentrating on the rock in his hand. A soft green glow came from his palm. “You seriously need to see this.”

“We just saw it,” said Marc.

“Yeah, but – there’s something inside this thing.”

“AJ, man, if you mess around with this dude’s head any more, I swear I’m gonna…”

“Nah, bro. I’m deadass. Look.”

AJ held the rock between his fingers and presented it to the two boys. A pinprick of green light came from a crack in the rock.

Marc stared in disbelief. Wes felt a shiver go through his veins. And AJ stretched a grin across his broad face. “So – what did that goblin guy say again?”

CHAPTER 4

 

 

The story of the treehouse goblin was retold, this time with livelier discussion. Though nobody had a clue what it all meant, that didn’t stop the rampant speculation.

“What if it really was a wizard’s goblin familiar?” said Marc.

“Where the hell would wizards come from? Or goblins?” said AJ.

Marc shrugged. “Maybe they live in the woods.”

“Goblins or wizards?”

More shrugging from Marc. “Both? Either?”

“Nah, we’ve all been all over those woods and never saw…”

“Guys,” interrupted Wes. “Focus. One thing at a time, ok?”

Everything needed to be separated into factual details, not assumptions. Just because the creature looked like the Beast Book version of a wizard’s goblin familiar, didn’t mean it truly was. Stick to the facts. The creature was not any kind of animal that textbooks could explain, especially since it spoke English and possibly some other language. It had green blood. Its wound could’ve been a burn, though Wes’s description made it sound more mysterious. And the fact that it exploded into embers and disappeared altogether was pretty significant. It was hard not to use the term “magic” when referring to the circumstances, but the boys were also trying not to jump to conclusions from the limited details Wes had witnessed.

The only material and examinable thing was the rock. Or whatever it was. The sliver of green light emitting from the crack made by Wes’s tantrum was an inviting mystery that they didn’t know what to do with.

“What if we just throw it at the wall again? See if it opens up more?” suggested AJ.

“What if that damages it? Or destroys it?” said Marc.

“Worked the first time,” said AJ.

“No, Marc’s right,” said Wes. “That was stupid. Dumb luck. We gotta be more careful with this thing.”

AJ clapped his hands together and donned a big smile. “Hey! My dad keeps some tools down here. There’s a bunch of pliers and a vice, I think. If we’re real careful, maybe we could break off the outer crust, or something.”

“I – I don’t know, AJ,” said Wes, suddenly nervous. “I mean, anything we do could damage it, or release some kind of – I don’t know.”

AJ ignored Wes’s concern and went into a corner to rummage through a toolbox. He came back with several instruments.

Wes took a step back. “Seriously, dude. I don’t know.”

“Aw, come on. Whatever’s inside is the important stuff,” argued AJ. “This could be, like, proof of the existence of magic, or something. There’s no way to find out what it is unless we – you know, open it up and see it for real.”

Wes opened his mouth without a good rebuttal.

Marc placed a hand on Wes’s shoulder. He made a playful grimace, “It hurts to say it, but I actually agree with AJ on this one.”

“Thank you!” said AJ with a crooked grin.

“Don’t get used to it,” said Marc.

AJ blew a raspberry. “Whatever.”

He approached Wes, waggling a pair of pliers. Wes curled his fingers around the rock, taking another step back.

“It’s just… I – I don’t know,” nervously muttered Wes.

Marc was leaning closer to put his whole arm around Wes’s shoulder when AJ cut him off.

“Wait a sec,” said AJ, holding Marc back with a stiff-arm.

“Huh?” uttered Marc, surprised by AJ’s tactic.

Wes barely noticed the interaction. He was taking another half-step backward, eyes focused on the rock in his palm.

AJ leaned toward Marc, conspiratorially. In a near whisper, he said, “What if that thing is like, you know, The One Ring from Mordor, and it messes with Wes’s brain, and he turns evil and stuff?”

“What?” said Marc, shaking his head. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“You know?” AJ made gravely, croaking sounds in his throat. “Gollum, Gollum. Yes, my precious.”

“Dude,” said Marc, using the word as a combination answer and admonition. He looked at Wes who still hadn’t lifted his eyes. Marc hunched down to put his eyes within Wes’s view. “Wes?” He snapped his fingers. “Wes!”

Wes blinked and his head snapped up. “What?”

“You ok?” asked Marc.

“Yeah?” The answer came out like a question. “Why?”

Marc shook his head, “You’re just acting weird.”

“Weird? Really?” said Wes sarcastically. “I don’t know, maybe cuz there’s this thing in my hand that a freakin’ goblin died for, maybe it’s magic, or dangerous, maybe it could kill all of us, who knows what it can do, and you guys just wanna break it open and see what happens?”

AJ waggled the pliers again and shrugged. “Well – yeah. But we’ll use these.”

Wes scrunched his face, incredulous. “How is that ok?”

“We’ll be careful,” said Marc.

Wes shook his head. “Like how?” Wes was covering the rock hand with his other hand, clutching both to his chest.

“I don’t know. Just, you know, careful.” AJ put his hands on his hips. “You got a better plan?”

Admittedly, Wes knew they needed to discover what this thing genuinely was, and he had no alternatives to offer on how best to do it. There had to be something better than crushing the thing like a walnut with blunt pliers.

He sighed. “What other tools does your dad have?”

AJ made a curt nod and smiled. “Bunch of stuff.”

From the table, a shy voice said, “Dremels are precise.”

All three boys turned to look at Schroeder, who was holding a small cylindrical device. He pressed a button and the device whirred and whined. It sounded like a dental drill. Wes had forgotten Schroeder was even in the room.

AJ nodded enthusiastically. “Hell, yeah! The Dremel. My dad uses it for really delicate stuff. It’s got a diamond-tipped bit. It’ll carve through anything.”

AJ went over to retrieve it from Schroeder, who looked uncomfortable holding the drill and handed it over without argument. Marc followed AJ over to the table, reluctantly followed by Wes.

The Dremel was a craftsman’s tool, small enough to hold without an extra handle. It had a black cylindrical shape, with a cord coming from one end and the other end wielding a conical steel nose tipped with a strange bit that Wes had never seen before. The bit looked like a steel toothpick that had a minuscule disco ball on the end.

AJ held up the drill for the others who had gathered around. “It’s got a diamond tip that’s super precise. If this doesn’t do the job, nothing will.” He snapped the drill on and off, revving the little motor for emphasis. Wes winced from the sound, reminding him of a dentist.

“We can put it in the vice and maybe – I guess, carve off the outer layers,” said Marc.

“Yeah. Come on, Wes. Please?” AJ pleaded.

Wes looked at the unnatural light coming from the crack. Lost in all the enthusiasm for this thing being magic was the possibility that the strange glowing may be from a more explainable source. Could it be radioactive? What would uranium, or radium, or something similar look like? He was good at chemistry and knew a lot about real elements, but had never seen a radioactive isotope up close before, and wondered if it could look something like this.

“Listen, guys, let’s think about this for a second,” said Wes, trying to sound adult. “What if this isn’t magic, but, like, radioactive? Maybe the rock’s crust could be shielding us from the effects. So, if we were to remove it…”

“It wouldn’t make a difference,” said Schroeder, flatly. He looked neither interested nor disinterested in the conversation, with a blank expression and a distant gaze. One hand absently stroked the other folded arm. “Radioactive isotopes can only be shielded by something as dense as lead. That crust isn’t lead. So, it’s either already affected us or it isn’t radioactive at all.”

AJ and Marc shot a glance at each other, then simultaneously looked at Wes. Wes reluctantly nodded. “He’s probably right. If it’s really radioactive, we’d already have been exposed for a while.”

“Uh huh,” said AJ, looking skeptical. “Does that mean I’m gonna piss green, or turn into a superhero?”

“It means you’ll die,” said Wes.

“Oh,” said AJ, lowering the drill, his exuberant mood evaporating.

Marc seemed to have an epiphany. “Crap! Maybe that’s what happened to the goblin.”

Wes was feeling a tad more confident. He always did when the subject ventured into things he had studied. “No, that’s not what radiation does. And I don’t think he was killed by the rock. Something else got him.”

The three other boys focused on Wes expectantly, probably waiting for his theory on what the rock was. But as Wes had said before, one thing at a time. One boy at a time, Wes met each of their eyes.

“Let’s drill this thing,” he said.

“Yes!” said Marc, clapping.

Strangely, AJ now looked less certain. “Sure. Yeah, ok. I mean, if you think it’s safe, an’ all.”

Marc shot AJ a severe look. “What? A minute ago you wanted to throw it against the wall. You wussin’ out?”

“Hmm? Me? No! No, nuh uh.” AJ rubbed his fingers on the drill’s shell, suddenly interested in its minute details. “You know, just wanna be careful, like you guys said.”

Wes shook his head. “It’s not an isotope. It’s something unexplained right now, so – we either open it and find out or – give it to someone who knows what to do with it.”

Marc grinned and tapped a quick tattoo on the table with his fingertips. Everyone looked at AJ.

A brief moment of indecision passed over AJ’s face before he broadcasted a carefree expression. “Yeah, no, that’s cool. I’ll just get the vice to hold it down and… Yeah, we’ll, uh, drill it, and, uh, should be fine. Totally fine.”

AJ was fishing around in his father’s tool chest for a moment before Schroeder announced, “Someone’s coming.”

CHAPTER 5

 

 

Everyone froze for a second or two before the room erupted into voices all speaking at once.

“Hide it!”

“Act like we’re playing the game!”

“Where’s the dice?”

“Where’s the story quest?”

The boys scrambled to sit down at the table, placing the MystikQuest game items around them in the pretense that they had been immersed in their game the whole time.

Feet thumped upstairs, muffled voices grew closer to the basement door. Whoever it was seemed to be talking near the door before coming down.

The boys weren’t sure whether to launch into random game-appropriate chatter, or just sit tight, listen, and wait.

AJ reached for the story quest next to Wes and slid the book to himself since he was acting as Quest Master. He examined the cover.

“Aw, man,” he said in a whisper. “Not this thing again. Why’d