Crystal Doors #1 by Kevin J. Anderson, Rebecca Moesta Page A

“Enjoy the moment. My dad’s probably in the solarium right now trying to figure out what happened. This couldn’t have been a complete accident, you know — he must have realized what he was doing. Have a little confidence.”
    After everything she had seen in the past hour, Gwen realized she didn’t want to go home just yet, though she would have felt much better to know they
could
go back. She fingered the pendant at her neck. Why had Sage Rubicas been so interested in these medallions their mothers gave them? She really did want to find some answers… .
    Lyssandra led her companions down the steep street and stone steps, past multicolored sculptures of blown glass and wind chimes made of flat-cut gems that created a beautiful high-pitched music. As they walked, Sharif reached into a mesh pouch around his neck and withdrew an object the size of a grapefruit wrapped in scarlet cloth. He removed the cloth to reveal a lovely crystal sphere, which began to glow. Inside the ball, Gwen could see the silhouette of a tiny female form.
    “There, now you can shine, Piri,” Sharif said. “I hope you had a nice nap.”
    The female figure stretched her tiny arms. Sharif tossed the crystal sphere into the air, and it drifted back down into his hand as gently as a soap bubble. He extended the clear globe toward the two newcomers. The miniature girl leaned closer to the glass, glowing aqua, and looking just as curious about the cousins as they were about her. The young man rolled the shimmering ball back and forth in front of a delighted Vic and Gwen, showing off.
    “Looks like somebody put Tinkerbell inside a snow globe,” Vic said. “Beam me up, Scotty, my brain is about to explode.”
    “And I thought Ocean Kingdoms had too much stuff to absorb in one day.” Gwen peered into the crystal ball. “That’s beautiful, Sharif. What is it?”
    “A nymph djinni. Piri cannot yet survive outside of her protective eggsphere, so I carry her everywhere with me in a pouch.”
    Vic’s eyebrows arched. “That doesn’t look like an egg. It’s not egg-shaped.”
    “You mean just because it’s round?” Gwen asked. “Fish eggs are round. So are frog eggs and —”
    “Okay, I get it. Anyway, that’s the coolest pet I’ve ever seen.”
    “Piri is much more than a pet.” Sharif’s voice held a reproachful tone. “I am her master and protector. Very few people have a djinni, you know.” He carefully polished the curved surface with the scarlet cloth, then rolled the sphere from the tips of his fingers up his arm to the shoulder and back again. “Piri is my companion and confidant. In myposition, it is refreshing to have someone I can trust who wants nothing from me but security and affection.”
    The globe twinkled in variegated shades of pink, and the djinni danced inside, giggling silently while Sharif juggled her sphere. “Piri is quite helpful in the dark. Look how bright and rich her light is.” He spun the ball on his fingertips, then let it roll down his arm again to his elbow.
    Gwen could tell Sharif was just as proud of Piri as he was of his fancy flying carpet. “How do you make it change colors? The ball was turquoise at first, but now it’s pink.”
    Sharif regarded her with annoyance. “Not ‘it.’
She.
Piri’s color changes with her mood. For example, pink is evidence of happiness, red represents anger, and so on. In a year she will become capable of small feats of magic — nothing extravagant at first, but eventually she will be powerful. Won’t you, Piri?” Holding the ball close to his eyes, Sharif rubbed his nose against the glass. The sphere responded with a warm yellow glow, brighter than before.
    Lyssandra took them to Elantya’s main harbor. The docks stretched out into the sheltered water like tongues of slatted wood. Exotic ships with colorful sails came in and out of the port, dancing like butterflies on the waves.
    Harbor workers unloaded crates from trireme ships tied up to the