Geological surveys revealed that the temple is built on a bedrock of quartz. While quartz is common in sedimentary rock, the purity of the crystal at the temple site is unprecedented. Quartz is an unusual mineral because of its inherent piezoelectric properties – the ability to generate electricity when mechanical or heat stress is applied to the crystal structure. Today we exploit this property using a range of synthetic materials in industrial and manufacturing applications: our smartphones, the development of robotics and the world’s electricity grid all rely on piezoelectricity. But the purity of the outcrop in Laos raises questions. Did the monks accidentally stumble across the quartz after they had chosen the temple site, or did they choose the site because of the crystal? And if the latter, did they harness its piezoelectricity? Like everything observed here, it seems unlikely that the monks happened upon this site, that it was mere coincidence. The inevitable conclusion must be: this site was chosen for a reason.
Brock Williams, Working Notes.
It was so very dark, and so very cold. Fletcher sat with his arms wrapped around his legs, darkness hemming him in from all sides. He had lost track of time, of what it felt like to control his own body. The ancient voice penetrated the deepest recesses of his mind, trickling through his synapses like poison. Let me in. You cannot hide forever.
Fletcher said nothing. Perhaps he had to conserve his energy, fight to control even this small corner of his consciousness. A door materialised out of the dark recesses of his memory: the front door of his house in Durham; a fragment from his life before pain and loss. It thudded as a great weight collided against it.
Let me in, earth walker.
Never.
The spirit’s frustration rippled through their shared neurons. The sweet lilt of Fletcher’s mother came through the keyhole. “Fletcher, honey? Let me in, sweetheart. I promise everything will be all right. Just open the door.”
Fletcher pressed his nails into his calves, fighting the urge to run to the door, fling it open and fall into his mother’s embrace. Nyx needs me to reach the spirit world. As long as I can fight her, Nyx is powerless to destroy the planet. He rocked back and forth, clutching this small thread tight in his mind. I can’t give up. I have to save my friends.
Silence, stillness. Fletcher choked back a sob as he closed his eyes, focusing on his memories of home. When he opened them, he found himself sitting on his bed, the darkness gone. His bedroom was exactly as he remembered it, right down to the faded quilt his mother had sewn for him. He pulled it around his shoulders, inhaling its faint cedar scent, and explored the rest of the empty house. His fortress. If I can create this, I can hold out against Nyx.
The house shook; dust fell from the strong beams Fletcher’s father had built.
I will have you soon enough, walker. Then you shall know true despair. Nyx’s voice reverberated in Fletcher’s ears.
Fletcher flinched, pulling the quilt tighter around his shoulders as he struggled to hold out against Nyx’s barrage. He repeated the words over and over. I can’t give up. I have to save them. The pressure squeezing his brain eased. Sweet relief. Then terror.
Let’s go visit your friends, shall we?
Kara frowned at her monitor. Solar flare activity continued to jam the comms link. It had been more than a day since they’d had any contact with Eli and his team. Kara hated flying blind.
A warning flashed in the bottom corner of her screen. Kara pulled up the video feed. “Holy shit!”
Two horses trotted down the driveway. Kara zoomed in on the image. A lean muscled figure rode toward the house. “Fletcher?” she said, flooded with relief which quickly morphed into concern. The earth walker looked haggard. There were dark circles under his eyes and his features were sharper than she remembered. Kara shut down the alarm and pushed back her chair. She found Ariana at the kitchen table, hunched over a huge map, her fingers pressed against the tiny nation of Laos.
“They’re back.”
Millisecond transitions of confusion, hope then anger washed over Ariana’s face. She slowly stood, wiping her palms on her jeans. “Fletcher,” she said, her voice breaking. “Dad.”
Ariana raced out of the house. Kara followed her and stopped by the front door, watching Ariana stride across the gravel. The sea walker stopped halfway, staring at Fletcher, as if reassuring herself he was really here. When the earth walker dismounted, Ariana broke into a run, her eyes glittering with tears. They met in the middle of the driveway in a crushing hug.
“I’m sorry,” Fletcher whispered into her hair.
Ariana pushed him away. “You’re sorry? You’ve been gone for months. No word, nothing.” She jabbed a finger in his chest in time with her words. “You. Could. Have. Died.”
Fletcher ducked his head in apology. Ariana turned to embrace her father. “I missed you too.”
“Well, we’re back. And very contrite,” Bry said with a grin, his hand over his heart. “And I promise not to leave again.” He glanced at Fletcher, then whispered, “I had to try, Ariana. For his sake.”
Ariana pulled her father close again, inhaling his familiar outdoorsy scent. “Thank you.” She turned to face Fletcher. “Did you find what you were looking for?”
Fletcher smiled and picked up Ariana, twirling her around, before gently placing her down. “I sure did, and then some.”
Ariana’s breath caught in her throat. How long had it been since she’d seen Fletcher smile? Maybe this journey had helped. Maybe she’d worried over nothing, and Robyn was wrong about the earth spirit and Nyx.
Fletcher whistled and an enormous brown bear emerged from the bushes lining the driveway. It stepped into the sunlight and cautiously sniffed the air.
Ariana gasped, shaking her head in disbelief. “It’s not possible.”
Fletcher ran a hand across Eva’s flank. “I know, right? I didn’t realise just how much I missed her until she came back.”
But while the words sounded okay, Fletcher’s intonation sent a shiver down Ariana’s spine.
Ariana watched Fletcher climb the stairs, his legs corded with muscle. The way he moved made her uneasy. He looked different. He carried himself differently. Like the old Fletcher but not. What exactly happened while Fletcher had been away?
Fletcher paused on the landing. “I’m sorry I left without talking to you, but I wasn’t sure you’d understand why I had to go to Iceland. You and Eli are so connected to the sea and air spirits, and I just … wasn’t.”
The familiar guilt washed over her. Despite the long hours of training he’d put in trying to access the walker state, Fletcher had never been able to connect with the earth spirit. Forced instead to witness how effortlessly she and Eli slipped between worlds. It must have been hell to watch them. “I do understand, but I still wish you’d trusted me.”
Eva huffed and stretched, her flanks rippling with muscle. Ariana couldn’t comprehend how the bear was really back. She’d seen Eva shot, watched her blood spread through the water of the MRI compound in Bulgaria. Eva had died. Yet here she stood at the bottom of the staircase, looking mournfully up at Fletcher. Something was off about this new Eva though; something Ariana couldn’t put her finger on. The old Eva had always nuzzled against her looking for a pat, eyes wide and trusting. But there was an air of coldness about this Eva. She seemed closed off, distant.
Ariana climbed the stairs, leaving the bear behind. Her thoughts returned to Fletcher’s mysterious journey. “Is it different now? Are you connected with the earth spirit?” At the landing, she took his hand and flinched at how cold it felt. Ariana studied his face, mapping every new furrow, the shadows under his eyes, the pronounced sharpness of his jaw. A haunted expression flashed across his features. For a second Ariana didn’t recognise him, then he laughed and pulled her in close, kissing her forehead.
“Of course it’s different now! For one thing, I have Eva back.” Fletcher grinned.
But his flippancy made her uneasy. She stared up at Fletcher’s hazel-flecked eyes, darker than she remembered. “Before you left, you told me that there was something wrong with you. That you were diseased, useless,” Ariana paused, leaving him space to explain why he was behaving like this.
Fletcher frowned and shrugged. “Did I? I don’t remember saying that.”
There was definitely something wrong with his eyes. Somehow pretending not to be watching her, yet she kept catching him scrutinising her when he thought she wasn’t looking. It was a bit creepy. Ariana met his gaze. “What happened when you met the earth spirit?”
Joy filled Fletcher’s face like he was having a religious experience. “She made me whole again.” He wrapped his arms around Ariana and pulled her into a tight hug. “The earth spirit told me how to stop Nyx. Don’t you see, Ariana? I can finally access the spirit world! I’ve redeemed myself.”
“Don’t.” Ariana broke his hold and stepped away. Fletcher flinched like she’d slapped him. Realising she’d hurt his feelings, Ariana backtracked. “I mean, don’t push yourself so quickly. You’ve had a huge adventure,” she said with a reassuring smile.
Fletcher turned away and pushed open the door to the room that had once been her bedroom. It had since been repurposed as a hang-out space where Eli, Sara and Jacob kept their stuff. Fletcher rummaged through garbage bags overflowing with clothes looking for something in his size. The last time Ariana and Fletcher had been alone in here, he’d kissed her so sweetly she thought she might combust. Did he still feel the same way about her? Or had the harrowing trip changed him? She had to know what he’d found in Iceland. “Did you … did you find any trace of Nyx?”
Fletcher spun around; his arms full of clothes. “I told you, I found the earth spirit.” Frowning, he strode past her. “Where’s Eli?”
Ariana rubbed her shoulder where he’d bumped into her. “He’s on a mission.”
Fletcher tensed and he stopped on the landing. “The moment he gets back, we need to agree on a plan.” Then he bounded down the stairs, ignoring Eva, and headed for the bathroom.
The door slammed behind him. Ariana’s eyes brimmed with tears. What had happened to the warm, vulnerable boy she cared so much about? Fletcher was hiding the truth.
Robyn’s days passed in a blur. Up at dawn to train with Lenti, then into the lab to her notes and scribbled drawings, and the three vials of walker blood: earth, air, sea. Blood samples preserved from Eli, Ariana and Fletcher, courtesy of the MRI. Miranda had delivered a thick stack of photocopied field notes, and Brock had added his working notes to the pile on her lab bench. Robyn stayed up late into the night, absorbing everything the pair had gleaned from decades of studying the temple site. She had tacked photos to the whiteboard – the temple surrounded by workers; a young Miranda and Brock smiling as they strained against the sun in their eyes. And the temple itself, which gleamed like polished crystal, as if carved from the very rock beneath its foundations.
She stopped only whenever Lenti appeared with a tray from the mess tent. Each night, she collapsed into an exhausted sleep, dreaming of a world in chaos, Vulcan’s enslaved convergers, and Catherine. Always Catherine. Far away, alone, vulnerable, scared, tortured. Her subconscious crafted increasingly terrifying scenarios where Robyn failed to save Catherine. She’d jerk awake, covered in sweat, and lie there until dawn. Paralysed by fear, she’d focus on her breathing until light leaked into the sky and she could summon the energy to do it all again.
The vials on her lab bench glittered like liquid rubies in the early sunlight. Robyn opened her notebook to a scrawled sketch of three overlapping circles. Inside each circle, she’d written plants, animals, fungi. Everything had felt so clear in her vision, but now that clarity had dissolved, leaving her grasping at threads. Vainly, she tried to weave them back into the stellar tapestry she was part of.
Lenti entered the tent, carrying a mug of tea and a plate of toast. He put Robyn’s breakfast on the corner of the lab bench, bowed, then settled cross-legged on the floor and closed his eyes.
Robyn returned her attention to the circles. They kind of looked like cells. The noise in her head went still. In humans and animals, mitochondria carried the convergence sequence. Grabbing a fresh sheet of paper, she sketched a simple eukaryotic cell, circling the mitochondrial energy apparatus. Fungi also need mitochondria. Plants produced energy by chloroplasts, but their cells still needed mitochondria to produce ATP, the energy currency used by all living beings.
“That’s it!”
Lenti started and looked up at her. “What is?”
“All three main branches of life depend on mitochondria. The walker convergence sequence includes both plant and fungal components because they’re all connected. They all depend on this ancient symbiosis. The kindred ties that bind us to the planet and to all living things. See?”
Lenti stared at her picture, trying to divine the sense of her words and images. “At the temple, we made daily offerings of fresh fruit, mushrooms, whatever was in season.”
“Yes, of course. The monks understood the importance of this symbiosis.” Robyn held one of the glass vials up to the light. “The convergence mutation has lain dormant for thousands of years, ever since the physical and spirit worlds separated. Those who carried the mutation never realised their potential.”
“When you created the activation dose you unlocked the convergence sequence.” Lenti bowed his head, hands clasped in the prayer position. “For that I am eternally grateful.”
Robyn smiled at Lenti, glad that at least one person didn’t blame her for the destruction her discovery had caused. “To restore the balance, we have to open the boundary between the physical and spirit worlds, which requires all three walkers.” Robyn tutted and sighed. “Fletcher.”
“Is missing, and if he finds the earth spirit, we’re – what do you call it – toast?” Lenti held up a slice of jammy toast and took a thoughtful bite.
“Somehow, we have to help Fletcher overcome Nyx’s hold over him.” If it wasn’t already too late. Robyn slid the vial back into the rack and returned the samples to the fridge.
Lenti rose and stood at the lab bench, examining Robyn’s diagrams. “Nyx has had centuries to infiltrate the earth spirit and centuries more adrift in the void between worlds. This ancient spirit had access to power we can never know.”
Robyn studied the boy monk. His hair seemed to grow inches every day. He had tucked it behind his ears, which made him seem old and wise and daggy all at the same time. How had Liro managed to hold her off, and save Lenti and preserve the walker lineages in the process? Robyn rested her forehead against the cool metal of the fridge door. “You’re right. We can’t underestimate Nyx.” She traced the birthmark that bisected her right eye, the mark she shared with Liro and every guide before her. “I’m the guide. I’m supposed to find the solution, but we’re running out of time.”
“You need a break.” Lenti steered her away from her lab bench toward the fresh air and sunshine. “And something proper to eat.”
At the tent entrance, Robyn noticed the screen in the corner of the lab flicker to life. A familiar face appeared. “Vulcan,” Robyn said. Dread quickly gave way to anger as she remembered the gun he had pressed against Catherine’s spine and her girlfriend’s barely suppressed terror.
“Citizens of the world. I am Vulcan Manning.” He flashed a grin that failed to reach his eyes. “When I was young, I joined the military because I believed it to be honourable; a means of preserving life and defending those who could not fight for themselves.”
Vulcan folded his hands in front of his chest, a posture designed to make him seem contrite. As the camera zoomed in, he raised his gaze. “I was wrong. I no longer recognise country borders or the sovereignty of nations. Today, I address you as global citizens.”
Robyn stared at the screen. She despised yet feared this dictator. A man who sought to bend the convergence sequence to his will. She hated how helpless he made her feel.
“Over the past few weeks, my armies have systematically overhauled oppressive governments throughout the world. To date, your countries have been governed by fools who believe the impending solar storm is a disaster. It is not. This is the opportunity for a brighter future. Today, I give you your freedom.”
Robyn sensed Brock and Miranda join them in the lab. No-one said a word.
“I will lead humanity into a new era. A world without boundaries, without conflict, hunger or fear.”
“Arrogant bastard,” Miranda spat, sitting on a nearby stool.
Brock nodded, brow furrowed. “I was afraid it would come to this.”
“Within the fortnight, every government must deliver formal surrenders. Failure to recognise me as polemarch of this new world will not be without consequences.” The camera panned across lines of convergers wearing bodysuits with the trademark MRI white stripe. By their heels sat their animals wearing plates of dark armour.
The screen dissolved into blackness. Fear curdled in Robyn’s stomach. Lenti bowed his head, crestfallen. “There are so many under his sway,” he murmured. Robyn steered the dazed monk to a lab stool and helped him sit down.
“Polemarch my ass.” Miranda pinched the bridge of her nose. “I knew Vulcan was power hungry, but this is insane.”
“The world is in chaos. Without other options, people simply surrender.” Brock thumped the nearest lab bench and starting pacing the tent. “If Vulcan thinks the solar storm is his chance to seize power, he is a fool. With Nyx freed, life on this planet will cease to exist.”
Miranda rubbed the tension in the back of her neck. “Vulcan never believed in the existence of spirits. Remember? He hated the idea of beings with greater power than us. When I presented the MRI with my findings from the temple, Vulcan refused to believe any of it was possible. Except the ability to connect with – and control – animals.”
Robyn’s gaze moved between the two determined scientists. Miranda, Brock and Robyn were allies. Together, they must prevent Vulcan seizing total control and restore balance to the planet. It was time to put all her cards on the table, to truly trust them. “If we open the boundary between the physical and spirit worlds, I think we can stop Nyx.”
Miranda sat up. Brock stopped pacing and joined them, his eyes wide. “Are you positive? Nyx is not to be trifled with.”
Robyn nodded. “I know, that’s why we need Fletcher.”
“Apart from the fact that he has gone missing,” Miranda said.
“The bigger issue is not where Fletcher is but that Nyx has infected the earth spirit that resides within him.”
Miranda and Brock shared a look. Miranda gave a slight nod and Brock turned to Robyn. “Vulcan cannot be allowed to wrest power over the world.”
“Go on then,” Miranda said with a low chuckle. “I know you’ve been dying to tell her.”
Brock smiled. “I think it’s time we introduced you to our side project.”
Robyn ran her hands through her hair, utterly dumbfounded. “What side project?”
Brock stood at the tent flap and, with a flourish, gestured for Robyn and Lenti to follow him. “C’mon. I think you’ll like it.”
Except for the hammock strung in one corner, Brock’s tent was an extension of the lab. Glistening shards of crystal, carefully refined and faceted, sparkled like gemstones on the stainless-steel benches. On a hotplate, a magnetic stirrer churned a bubbling solution sending a herby aroma wafting through the tent.
Lenti picked up a crystal and closed his eyes. “Oh,” he whispered. “You’re right – I do like this side project.”
Brock selected another crystal and weighed it in his palm. “This entire mountain top is a geological anomaly. It’s predominantly made of quartz crystal, the purest I’ve ever seen. The temple is built on a bedrock of it.”
He placed the crystal in Robyn’s hands. Instantly, the walkers’ tethers clarified into a single note, pulsing against her chest. Energy swirled through her system and behind her eyelids flashed red, green and blue light. “Oh,” she said, mirroring Lenti’s quiet exclamation. She grasped at the faint thread of Fletcher’s green energy tether. It was the first time she’d felt the earth walker since she’d returned to the physical world. “It does feel different here. Clearer, somehow.”
Miranda walked the length of the bench, rainbow refractions glittering against her shirt and the canvas behind her. “Quartz is piezoelectric. This mountain acts as an enormous natural transmitter and receiver. I believe that’s why the boundary between our world and the spirit world is weakest here and why the monks chose this location for their temple. It’s a direct cosmic antennae channelling electromagnetic radiation.”
Robyn remembered how she’d been drawn to the temple in her dreams, how being here on the mountain top brought her so much clarity. It all made sense now.
“This is how Liro could overcome Nyx,” Lenti whispered in awe, looking up at Robyn.
Surprised, Miranda regarded the boy monk. “Exactly. I think we can harness its potential to do so again.”
Robyn closed her fist around the crystal and felt its energy thrum through her veins.
Brock chose a circular piece of quartz and raised it to the light, sending a cascade of rainbows spiralling around the tent. “The quartz acts as a powerful electromagnetic amplifier,” he said, his expression thoughtful as he admired the rainbows dancing across the tent walls. “To think – we mine for gold and metals, yet we’ve never viewed quartz as valuable, even though it shares the same silicon oxide structure as the circuits that made the computer age possible.” He passed the curved quartz band to Robyn. “The crystal heightens your receptivity and that of the walkers, but we believe it is devastating to Nyx.”
Robyn studied the band and smiled at her old supervisor as understanding dawned. “A piezoelectric collar.”
Brock nodded. “Precisely.”
“If we jam Fletcher’s frequencies, he can’t be the conduit for Nyx to enter the spirit world or the walker state.”
Lenti scrutinised the collar and frowned. “But how will you put it on him?”
Ariana’s blue energy tether tapped insistently against Robyn’s ribcage. She gestured to Lenti to follow her before turning to Miranda and Brock to explain. “I have to talk to the walkers.”
Robyn and Lenti sat on the cool stone floor of the ruined temple. She brought her fists together and closed her eyes, but her mind refused to calm down. Vulcan’s ultimatum and Miranda and Brock’s side project competed for neural space. They had a fortnight. Not nearly enough time to stop Vulcan and Nyx. She focused on her breathing, allowing the flow of thoughts to still, then crossed into the spirit world.
When she opened her eyes, Robyn blinked in confusion. She expected to be in the glade but she remained in the temple. Across from her sat Ariana. “How’d you get here?”
“Ugh, finally! I’ve been waiting for ages.” Despite her attempt at levity, Ariana’s face was drawn.
Robyn pulled the sea walker into her embrace. Fear and uncertainty surged through her system as Ariana sank into the hug. Her shoulders shook with suppressed sobs. “It’s Fletcher,” she managed, all pretence at levity gone. “He’s back, but he’s different. I don’t know how but somehow Nyx has an even stronger hold on him.”
Ariana took a deep breath and raised her gaze to meet Robyn’s. “He found the earth spirit.”
Robyn processed Ariana’s words. She felt sick. She’d hoped she still had time to find Fletcher and prevent Nyx from fully parasitising the earth walker. Too late. Robyn stood and followed the line of mosaics. They glowed with the energy from her fingertips, calling to her, awakening something buried deep in her subconscious. “The solstice is only two weeks away.” Robyn paused, focusing on the push and pull of energy in her system. She found what she was searching for; a feather-light tendril connecting her to the earth walker. “He’s still in there. And while he is, there’s still a chance Fletcher can help us defeat Nyx.”
Robyn turned from the mosaics, remembering the weight of the cool crystal in her palm. “And I have a plan.”