Gabriel Stone and the Divinity of Valta (24 page)

“Welcome home, Mom.”

“Nice to be home, bud.” She squeezed his hand, and he turned the doorknob.

Shouts of happiness and relief, followed by sobs and happy tears filled Gabriel’s house. Soon after, Gabriel’s dad flung the door open, and called for Piper and Brent to join them. He had one arm slung around Gabriel, and the other around his wife.

Phone calls were made, Brent and Piper’s families arrived, and tears and laughter flowed. They methodically answered the questions they’d prepared for. The adults then rushed into the kitchen to prepare dinner.

Gabriel, Piper, and Brent secretly admired their necklaces.

“Seriously. We should ask about Cedric,” Brent whispered.

“Hey, Dad?” Gabriel called over the noise. “Have you seen Cedric Morley around lately?”

His dad strolled over. “Yeah. You’re not gonna believe this. He went missing, too, and came home just over a week ago. Said he got caught in a sewage pipe. Today’s actually the first day of spring. It’s been about a month since you guys went missing. And, hey, Gabriel, your twelfth birthday is in a few days. Perfect time to celebrate, I’d say.”

Clang!

Something dropped in the kitchen. Gabriel’s dad hurried out of the room to help.

“A whole month?” Brent mumbled, looking dazed.

Gabriel peered through the white, sheer drapes, watching the neighbors across the street. Cole Matthews shot hoops in his driveway. He played with a tall, dark-haired girl, who Gabriel had never seen before.

“Hey. Check this out, guys,” Gabriel said, pointing at the two of them. “Looks like Cole’s got a girlfriend.”

“Really?” Piper strolled over to look, cradling Tratta in her arms.

Brent followed close behind. “So something interesting
did
happen while we were gone.”

Gabriel’s dad rejoined them at the window. “Oh, that’s not Cole’s girlfriend,” he said. “That’s the Matthews family’s newly adopted daughter. I handled the case. She’s about your age. Poor girl was abandoned. Tala or something’s her name. Hmm … Tahlita. That’s it.” He downed a cookie, and wandered off to join the adults in the dining room.

“Tahlita?” Piper whispered to her friends. “Why does that sound so familiar?”

“Where’d we hear that before?” murmured Gabriel.

Tratta squirmed in Piper’s arms.

“Hold still, girl.” Piper tried to hold the cat steady. Tratta hissed and stared out the window with her tail flicking back and forth.

“
Meow
. It’s Tahlita, Councilor Dane’s daughter.” Tratta jumped from Piper’s arms and hid beneath the sofa.

The moment the girl’s name was mentioned, Tahlita faced Gabriel’s house and stared directly at them.

Piper’s mouth gaped open. “Snap! Tratta still talks!”

The boys’ gazes stayed glued to the mysterious, dark-haired girl across the street.

Brent opened his mouth, then closed it. He grabbed Gabriel by the elbow. “Dude, she can’t hear us, can she?” he whispered.

“That’s impossible. How could she?” Piper lifted her brows. “She’s across the street, and besides, the window’s not open.”

Gabriel’s eyes widened. A crazy thought occurred to him. He lowered his voice to a whisper. “Yeah, but if she’s Dane’s daughter, she’s a Zeveron. Who knows what powers she has? This is epic.”

“Epic,” both Piper and Brent echoed back.

Tahlita cocked her head, her face holding the same curious expression as theirs.

Then their parents called them to dinner, and they reluctantly pried themselves away from the window.

Piper coerced Tratta from her hiding spot, and gently kissed her head. “It’s okay, Tratta. Just, please don’t talk around the adults. It’ll get us into big trouble.” She hugged the cat.

Tratta purred in Piper’s arms—normal cat behavior.

Gabriel watched his parents from across the table.

His dad hugged his mom. “I’m so glad you’re home, honey. How did you survive for so long?”

Mom’s cheeks blushed red. “I don’t remember a lot, George. But I’m home now, and it’s where I’ll stay.” She patted his hand and smiled. Gabriel’s parents beamed and clinked their glasses together, in a toast to everyone’s safe return.

When it was time for Piper and Brent to leave for home with their families, First Street was quiet and peaceful. A full moon hung low in the sky, and a warm, spring breeze blew. Piper and Brent let their parents go on ahead as they sat with Gabriel on the porch a moment. Luckily, it was Friday, and they still had the whole weekend before heading back to school. They fully intended to soak up every moment possible.

“It’s gonna be nice to sleep in our own beds tonight.” Brent stretched, yawning.

Piper stroked Tratta’s back. “And take a hot shower.”

“I wonder what Finley’s doing … ” Gabriel gazed to the sky, as if it would give him an answer. But it gave him nothing but silence.

“School on Monday,” Piper moaned.

Brent bolted to his feet. “Oh crap.”

“What?” Gabriel asked.

“Mr. Roswell. The project! What’re we gonna do? We can’t go back without the crystal.”

“Maybe we can find a way to use our knowledge of Valta to, like, do another project. A different one,” Gabriel thought aloud.

“Guys,” Piper said. “We’ve gotta find Cedric. Science can wait. We need to let Dane know we’ve found his daughter.”

“What’re you saying? You don’t really think Dane’s here, do you?” Brent shuddered. “And if Dane’s in Valta? Empress Malina said we can only contact her through your necklace one time.”

Gabriel, Piper, and Brent looked from one to another. Brent’s father beeped his car horn, and Piper’s mother called from the car window.

“Come on, Tratta.” Piper picked up the Valtan kitty and waved goodbye to her friends.

“Later, dude.” Brent nodded, before taking the steps two at a time. Zigzag barked after them.

As Gabriel stood to go inside, his compass fell to the floor. He’d all but forgotten about it. He picked it up, opened it, and frowned. The glass face was cracked. Had he done that?

He shrugged and headed inside with Zigzag at his heels. He’d saved a dying world, and found his missing mother. His compass would have to wait.

Shannon Duffy

Shannon grew up on the beautiful east coast of Canada in the province of Newfoundland. As a kid, she devoured books as fast as her mom could buy them for her. She remembers flipping through the pages much longer into the night than she was supposed to … straining her eyes under the dim hall light. Today Shannon lives in Ontario, Canada, and loves to write about the characters that float around in her head. Add to that an amazing husband, an awesome son, and three dogs. She adores animals of all kinds, traveling, shopping, and finding adventure in the world and within the pages of a great book.

And now, a sample from the exciting sequel, GABRIEL STONE AND THE WRATH OF THE SOLARIANS, coming from Month9Books in February 2014!

Chapter One

Nightmares suck.

The wind pushed at Gabriel’s back, shoving him like a bully, its force bouncing off the tree-covered valley and swirling colorful leaves all around. Gabriel tripped and stumbled, trying everything to rip his eyes away from the black, beckoning shadow slithering toward him like murky fog.

Only it wasn’t a shadow for long. The dark mass transformed into Dane—the man Gabriel wanted, no
needed
to find. Gabriel had to tell him that the daughter Dane searched for, Tahlita, was in Willow Creek. Gabriel wanted Dane and Tahlita to get back to their home, otherwise known as Valta. Then everything could
really
be normal—no Zeverons or otherworldly creatures skulking around Willow Creek or neighboring cities. That stuff was just crazy-train.

Dane’s face twisted into a half smirk as the blustery wind rattled his black bifocals. He held out one long finger and crooked it towards him twice. Dane opened his mouth to speak, but only a loud groan shot out.

Gabriel gulped. He knew it wasn’t
really
Dane. Evil shadows just like these had swallowed his friend Brent whole when they were in Valta, and had transported Brent to Duke Malgor’s castle.

But Gabriel couldn’t peel his gaze away from Dane’s bulging eyes. What if it
was
Dane in front of him right now? Gabriel had been home from saving Valta a whole two weeks already. He couldn’t wait any longer for Cedric to cough up the information. He needed to know
now
where the portal was that Dane had brought Cedric home from Valta through. And if there could be any possibility of the dude in front of him being Dane—if this was
really
happening—then Gabriel needed to tell him about Tahlita, reunite them, and get them blasted back to Valta where they belonged.

Who knew how long it would take Gabriel and Brent, and their other best friend Piper to coerce the info out of Cedric. Cedric liked having that kind of power over Gabriel and his friends. It made the slimy worm feel big.

Something wet slapped against the back of Gabriel’s neck, stinging him. “Ahh,” he hollered, thinking the shadow had finally gotten him with its acid-like tentacles.

I’m a goner.

Another zinger zapped Gabriel’s earlobe, just as Dane mouthed the word, “Gabriel.”

Gabriel dug his feet in, trying to stay on the ground, but it felt like he was floating toward Dane, even as something wet trickled down the side of Gabriel’s neck.

When the third zap struck him, Gabriel slapped his hand against the sting just as Dane’s face twisted, contorted, and changed shape into … what?

Gabriel blinked as the sound of laughter filled his ears. He stared at the place where Dane once stood … and where his Science teacher Mr. Roswell now blurred into place. Mr. Roswell shook his head in what looked like exasperation.

“Gabriel … ” Mr. Roswell said. “Welcome back to the land of the living.” He held up a gloved finger oozing frog guts.

Another round of laughter followed.

Gabriel gave his head a shake and looked around, realizing where he
really
was—not back in the Valley of Shadows facing Dane, or even the evil shadows that lived there. Nope. He was in the middle of seventh grade Science class studying—or he was
supposed
to be studying—the anatomy of a frog.

But instead, Gabriel was the mockery of the classroom. Perfect. Just perfect.

“Sorry,” Gabriel mumbled, straightening himself up in his seat while trying to extinguish the burning flames on his cheeks. The laughing, and the swirl of freshly-stewed frog guts in the air, made him feel like he was about to puke, but thankfully Mr. Roswell turned his attention back on the deceased frog.

Gabriel caught the eye of Piper who pasted that pitying look across her face again. He didn’t need his friend’s pity. So he fell asleep in class the second time this week? Wasn’t he still the hero who helped save the dying land of Valta, like, only two weeks ago?

Seriously. Gimme a break already.

He wondered where Brent was and hoped he’d throw out one of his usual one-liners to take the heat off of him, but Brent’s seat sat empty. He probably took a bathroom break, Gabriel figured, or more likely, a
snack
break knowing Brent and his never-ending hunger issues.

As Gabriel lifted his gaze from Brent’s empty desk, his eyes locked onto Tahlita instead. She shoved a strand of her stringy, dark-brown hair behind one ear, freeing her hazel eyes from their usual hiding place, and narrowed them in on him.

Gabriel swallowed back the lump in his throat. Maybe she was like Princess Evangeline and could read thoughts. Did she see into his daydream? As awkward as that made Gabriel feel, maybe it would be a good thing. Maybe seeing her father, Dane, inside Gabriel’s dream would trigger a memory in her. God knows when Gabriel, Piper, and Brent tried talking to Tahlita, the girl denied knowing anything. Said she had amnesia or whatever—if he even believed her. Maybe she just wanted to get away from a crazy life with her family. Having Dane as a father might not be the best thing. Then again, Tahlita was about as prickly as a porcupine herself. Living with Dane couldn’t have been that bad.

With that thought, Tahlita rolled her eyes at him, shook her head, and twisted around to face the window where the wind rattled its hinges.

Gabriel jolted in his seat as something small, sticky, and wet struck the back of his neck.

Again. Except this time he was sure it wasn’t those stupid, menacing shadows.

He slapped his hand against his skin and pried free a foreign object clinging to him like dead weight. Peering down into his hands, he saw the culprit—a spit ball!

Gabriel groaned. He knew exactly where to look to find the spit ball slinging offender. Twisting around in his seat, he shot a glare at Cedric. A few desks back, Cedric sat gnawing on the chewed up shell of a hollowed-out pen.

A sly smirk crossed Cedric’s face and he winked.

The creep actually winked.

Gabriel gritted his teeth and sighed. Yeah. Getting the crucial information about Dane and the hidden portal to Valta out of Cedric would be like Spiderman making friends with the Joker—not exactly an easy task.

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Gabriel Stone
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