Realm Keepers 01 - Realm Keepers

hand against the stone.
    “Look at that cloud,” said Calvin dreamily. He was staring at the cloud stone with fascination in his eyes. “It looks…fluffy. Like a bunny. Or a tribble.” I didn’t see what was so great about the cloud pillar; the one with the rock on it was much more appealing.
    “A what?” asked Raven, who herself was staring at the pillar with the lightning bolt.
    As I turned to look at her, I saw Blade reach out toward the fire pillar. “It’s warm,” he said quietly.
    “Blade,” I said cautiously. “I don’t know if—”
    Blade brushed his hand against the stone, and there was a blinding flash of light. I had to blink a few times as a white streak was seared into my vision. I saw Blade backing cautiously away from the pillar and the stone on top of it.
    “Um…oops?” he said.
    A low hum grew on the air. At the same time, the stones on top of the pillars began to glow. The glow spread down the pillars, spreading through the carvings like the light was coming from inside the rock and shining through the carvings like cracks in a wall.
    “What did you do?” I asked Blade, trying to hide the nervousness in my voice.
    “Nothing!” Blade insisted over the hum that was growing louder and louder. “I just touched it, I swear!”
    Without saying a word, we all backed into the middle of the circle. I felt Tess behind me and put an arm protectively across her. She reached out and clung to my shirt sleeve with a trembling hand.
    As I watched, all of the stones started to hover. They just rose up off the tops of the pillars and started to spin in midair. Their glow grew brighter, as did the glow in the carvings on the pillars.
    “Dude, you activated these things,” Calvin said. “That’s not good.”
    “Oh, like you’re some kind of electronic stone expert,” Blade said sarcastically.
    “Well, look at them, man!” said Miles, the only one besides me who seemed to have a reign on his emotions.
    “I don’t think they’re electronic,” said Calvin, ignoring Miles. “I think they’re—”
    He shut up as the stones began to orbit, moving in a circle around us, hovering right at my eyeline about a foot over the tops of the pillars. They moved faster, and faster, until they were just a glowing blur in the air.
    I started to think that maybe we should get the heck out of there. The stones were plenty high for us to duck underneath them. If we made a run for it, maybe we could get out before…before whatever was about to happen, happened. I didn’t know if the rocks were bombs, some kind of electric fence, or what, but I could tell they were about to do something , and I figured that when they did there would be better places to be than right in the middle.
    “What’s happening?” Raven asked.
    “I don’t know, but we need to go,” I said. “We’ll make a break for it and duck under the stones. When I say go, okay?” I risked a glance over my shoulder at everyone and saw them nod in agreement—even, thankfully, Blade. “Okay. One. Two.”
    Before I got to three, the blue rock leapt out of orbit and flew at Miles, hitting him in the chest and knocking him to the ground. He gasped for air as the rock flew back to the circle and started whirling around us again.
    “Miles!” I cried.
    “Oh God, they’re killer rocks!” Calvin yelled. He hit the deck, but the white rock jumped out next and slammed into his back. “Ow!” he yelled. “That’s cheating!”
    I tried to put myself between Tess and the rocks, but it was kind of impossible since they were all around us. As I watched, the yellow one leapt out and hit Raven in the chest, knocking her down. The red one got Blade, and then the purple one leapt out. I barely had time to move in front of it, but it dodged around me like it was alive and hit Tess. She cried out and went down.
    Finally the brown one jumped out and got me, knocking me on my butt with a grunt. I tried not to cry out, to give the others some courage, but the impact hurt. A lot. I rubbed where the stone had struck me, trying to dispel the pain.
    Having now knocked all of us to the ground, the hum slowly died. The rocks slowed in their orbit and their glow dwindled to nothing, and then they all settled back down on the exact same pillars they’d all started on.
    I groaned and started to push myself up. But a funny thing happened. I felt the stone courtyard under my fingers, and it sort of…tickled. I ran my hands across the ground and felt the