Eary and Mote hustled down the dark corridor of Eldris stone, each foot step resonating their isolation from the others. They quickly turned a corner. They simultaneously gasped as the way forward began to close. In a flash of orange, Eary popped through each of the closing gaps. His new power proving too fast for Udug Hul’s booby-traps. They finally reached a large ornate hall.It had grand dark arches that suspended a golden scrolled ceiling. Grand mirrors cast a silvery light that drew the eye to the room’s center piece. An enormous scarlet and gold metallic set of double doors stood sentinel over it’s secrets.

The two moved closer to inspect. As they stared in awe the encroaching sound of footsteps drew their attention.

“Mote?” Eary inquired.

“What’s up, kid?” Mote replied as he examined the door.

“What do you call the new power I just got?” Eary asked.

“Short distance teleportation. Not as strong as Alice’s and you ain’t fast like Luke. But it’s a nifty power for someone like you.” Mote explained.

Eary gazed down at his hand. His powers had grown quiet fierce lately, he could hardly believe it.  The demon went down surprisingly easy as well. Perhaps he was more capable then everyone thought.

“Eary!” Luke’s voice cried out from an adjacent corridor.

“I’m here!” He called back.

Moments later, Luke and the others came flooding in. They all quickly embraced Eary, who had held his breath since his disappearance. After the typical concerned exchanges, they all focused their attention on the grand door. Maxwell inquired of it’s origin. Oddly, Mote had little to say of it. Alice walked up and touched the door.

“Then what do you suppose is behind it?” she asked calmly.

“There’s only one way to find out!” Denby announced confidently as he ran up and slammed into the door.

He left no damage and the door yielded not a bit. He once again huffed away, assured in his defeat.

Eary joined Alice at the door. He inspected the ornate handles of gold. A brief sparkle caught his eye. On closer inspection, he noticed the unmistakable lights of the Rathok’s technology.

“Guys!” He cried out as he gestured the group to his discovery.

Professor Maxwell inspected the handle closely. He determined it to be a hand scanning device like the others. Eary tried in vain to open it with his grip, but he was denied access. Luke then stepped forward. Examining the handle he quickly located a control panel. With a few quick jabs from his picks, the door flew open. What lay beyond perplexed the party further.

Large beams of light transported glowing glyphs back and forth, as far as the eye could see. Which light up a long catwalk that led to a strange looking terminal. They moved cautiously forward. A flash of a distorted image, rested to create a being. It was tall and muscular with white hair. It’s eyes were ruby red and it’s skin was as gray as slate. As they moved forward, the newly formed figure politely addressed them.

“Greeting Claris Of Life, great hope of the Nocopo people. How may I assist you today?” The Being asked.

“Um, Mote.” Eary exclaimed nervously. “Who is that?”

Mote began to explain but was quickly cut off by the gray man.

“Allow me Claris.” He began. “I am Nah-ha the head of Rathok research and development. Although I passed away long ago, my conscience resides in the memory files here in Udug Hul.” He carefully explained. “It is my duty to create new demonic troops for our assault on the temple. Like your father had ordered me to.”

Eary gasped in disbelief. True he had never met his father. But he found it hard to believe he could have come from someone so corrupt. Luke inspected the device more thoroughly as the moteling looked around suspiciously.

“Where are these vast demon armies?” Mote inquired hesitantly.

“They were used in the assault on the Aedish temple and the Leoht palace.” The hologram proudly announced.

“Then what are you still doing here?” Luke inquired from the control panel.

“Awaiting further instructions from my Claris.” Nah-Ha proudly exclaimed.

“From me?” Eary asked.

“Or your father. If he had not survived I was to guide you in his place.” Nah-Ha calmly informed him.

“In what way?” Eary asked in disgust.

“I am to assist you in anyway in your fight to destroy Eldris. Just as your father had planned.” The hologram replied.

“So what can you tell us about this place?” Luke asked Nah-ha politely.

“This room is my central processor. It contains the wealth of knowledge of the entire Nocopo civilization.” He explained. “It was created in secret under orders of Claris El Xam and Claris Rathok. I have eagerly awaited your arrival all this time.” Nah-Ha explained.

“Can you leave?” Luke inquired sympathetically.

The unfeeling hologram blankly smiled as it replied. “No.”

“What happens after the Claris leaves?” Luke asked.

“Then I will wait until they need me again.” Nah-ha Blankly stated.

Luke looked at the hologram with pity. He reexamined the control panel. He quickly worked with orange light erupting from his blurry hands. Nah-Ha faded from existence as  Luke pulled a large processor from the console.

“Maybe I can do something with this.” He stated examining the device.

“Indeed.” Maxwell promptly replied. “And perhaps this is as good of place as any for the portal door.”

Luke nodded and erected four hovering cubes into a rectangle. He pressed a button on the  the top left cube and a door materialized in the space.

“I made some modifications earlier today.” Luke confidently boasted.

“Impressive Mr. Olson. Beverly seems to be an excellent teacher for you.” Maxwell exclaimed.

Luke nodded and smiled. His fair cheeks began to flash a blush red. Alice folded her arms and exclaimed,

“Maybe we don’t just tear that hologram guy out. Hmm? You think about that?” Alice huffed.

“Uh, why do you care?” Luke asked perplexed.

Alice shook her head in annoyance.

“Because!” She paused. “Eary needed to ask it questions first. Duh!” She replied dismissively.

“It sounds like he’s programmed for evil. So I think he’s going to need to be reprogrammed.” Luke replied suspiciously. “But thank you for your concern for my brother. It means a lot.”

Alice playfully smiled at Luke as the team gave each other curious glances. The professor was to quick to break up the exchange and direct his charges back to bright hope.

The sun had set in the frozen mountain town. The starlight radiated onto the parlay floors casting the room in a silvery silhouette. The team flooded in exhaustively. They took to the sofas and chairs like a thirsty man at a spring.

“I’m so tired.” Eary exclaimed in exhaustion.

“I bet.” Decan replied, pulling Eary closer. “What happened while you were gone?”

“Fought a demon. Got a new power. You know, the usual.” Eary replied with a yawn.

The group gasped at the revelation and pressed for more details. He described the fight with Baelfagor and he new found ‘popping’ ability. And the ring of Solomon, given to Mote to summon his attention starved offspring into battle.

“That was like twenty minutes!” Luke groaned protectively.

Eary apologized. However, he could see that his brother was beginning to look at him differently. Like he had passed some sort of test in Luke’s mind and passed into manhood. His proud smirk and a firm pat on the back was a far cry from Luke’s normal coddling. It was one of equals.

The sound of thuds and clanging of coins disturbed the moment. On a nearby desk, the team watched in horror as Mote removed his pilfered goods from his pocket. Dropped jaws in solidarity and chilled silence spoke of the sight as Mote removed three large sacks of goods and a sword from his pocket.

“How do you fit all that in there?” Calvin asked in a disgusted trance.

“Huh?”

Mote replied as he perked his ears in attention to his staring companions. He quickly flew to the small coffee table in the center of the crowd.

“Now don’t look at me like that. It’s a perfectly normal thing for a moteling to do.” He explained to the horrified crowd. “I got an extra slot from Claris. See!”

Mote lifted his rear and flashed his butt hole and ‘pocket’ to the crowd.

“I got my own little pocket dimension in there.” Mote proudly boasted as he waived his rear back and forth.

“Why?” Mei asked between giggles and gasps.

“Because I demanded it from Claris. That’s why!” The moteling explained as if it was a badge of office.

“But why… does it come out of you?” Calvin asked.

“I’m made of impossibly stretchy stuff, kid.” Mote put his thumb in his mouth and blew himself up into a ball. “I needed it for my ol’ job. I just shove it in there and when I need it, I think about it and reach in. Wallah! There it is!”

Calvin’s eyes widened as he slowly backed into the safety of Mei. Mote proudly kept explaining.

“Every so often, Claris would have somethin’ They’d want me to stow away. So They’d teleport some sacred artifact to me for safe keepin’. It was part of the deal.”

“Why not use Their infinite power to conceal these things?” Eary asked in confusion.

“They are.” Mote merrily replied. “Why do it yourself when you can outsource? Besides, They know to come to me when They need to stash the evidence.”

“Do all moteling’s have this pocket, then?” Luke asked out of curiosity.

“Sure do! I’m the head moteling. The king. I was made first. So if I get one, we all get one. Goes to the same place as well.” Mote replied, loving the attention.

The group was marveled by the revelation. Mote’s significance to his people and to the evolution of creation.

“So what exactly are you stashing then?” Eary asked.

“Ah, geeze, kid. I got two different kinda arks, a cup and oh this big lower case ‘t’. Took me all afternoon to get it in there.” Mote groaned as he reminisced about the experience.

Awkwardly, the group listened on in disturbed curiosity. Then a question that had plagued Eary for years resurfaced from the depths of his mind.

“Just how old are you Mote?” Eary asked in anticipation.

“Forty.” Mote replied quickly.

“How is that possible?” Eary asked suspiciously.

“I’m forty in moteling, kid.” Mote explained matter of factually. “We ain’t got the same kind of birthdays. Nope! A moteling is one year old based upon how many universes they’ve lived through.”

“Like, been in?” Calvin asked in wonderment.

“No, I said lived through. Big bang to cold death.” Mote nodded in melancholy.

Eary moved into console his strangely forlorn friend. The moteling casually dismissed the embrace. Eary stared in reserved surprise at the first flicker of true vulnerability on Mote. He always held excuses for himself. But this, this was different. Forty forever's of screw ups shined a whole new light on his constant companion. The years of rejection and failure had taken it’s toll and created the selfish fairy starved for validation.

“It’s gone!” Maxwell announced in bewildered shock.

The team turned their heads at the Professor’s outburst. He stood at his desk, bottom drawer open. A dark feeling washed over Eary.

“What’s gone?”

“The shard. It was here in this drawer yesterday morning. I’m certain it was.” Maxwell replied intensely.

The group spread out and searched the library for any signs of an intruder. Each desk was thoroughly searched in a frantic bid to retrieve the dangerous artifact. Mote scolded the Professor for his lack of security, while the panicked youths speculated about the globe’s whereabouts.

“Sasha. It’s has to be.” Luke calmly stated among the crowd.

“He’d be our only enemy.” Sakile replied in agreement.

“We also don’t know who the third Scion is yet.” Alice announced in opposition.

“He’s right, Ms. Pickering. It’s all we have to go on right now and it’s our only lead.” Maxwell stated in solidarity with Luke and Sakile.

Alice flashed the Professor a suspicious look as the rest of the group followed suit with the others. Eary moved in close to Alice.

“What’s wrong?” He whispered to the quiet girl.

“The Professor.” She whispered her voice dripping with concern. “His mind is blank to me.”

Eary furled his brow in surprise as the two gazed into each others concerned faces.

“He does have powers. Maybe he naturally blocks telepathy.” Eary thought.

“Maybe. But I think it’s time we investigate the ‘Good Professor’ again. Don’t you?” Alice’s thought rang in Eary’s head as she raised her eyebrow coyly.

Eary nodded back in agreement as the two recollected themselves into their circle. The Professor was calling for an all out hit and run tactic war against Sasha’s known research labs. In spite of his hesitation, Sasha was a known Scion and a dangerous one at that. Even if The Professor couldn’t be trusted, he was on the list. Eary and Alice reluctantly agreed as their first target was announced. A tech lab in the Siberian Tundra.

“Awfully strange place to put a hub of commerce.” Mote stated in regards to the labs location.

“We think so too. Victoria has been briefing me on the locations of each suspicious facility. This is one of three. The other was the one Eary was brought to when he was captured.” Maxwell replied.

He returned to his desk and pulled out a large map of the Earth. Three red dots and a series of writing next to each. He explained how each facility was not on any record and the suspicion of N.A.T.O. that he maybe building weapons of war.

Maxwell then proposed to strike sooner than later. Pushing for the team to go out again. But Luke refused handily, much to The Professor’s disapproval. But quick dismissal from the protective brother was all it took to postpone another adventure.

Luke took Ben back home through the portal door, with Mote, Denby and Sakile following suit. Although it was already past ten, Eary agreed to spend a little time at the Star Gazer’s cafe with his friends.

They all piled in a booth and pulled up a few chairs. Alice and Eary informed the others of her growing psychic powers and their growing suspicion of Maxwell. A suspicion not unfamiliar among the group.

“Didn’t he get abducted?” Mei reminded the pair.

“Yes but he could have staged that.” Alice replied in annoyance.

Mei and the others looked at Alice in concern.

“Maybe this thing with your powers going off is messing with your judgment.” Calvin replied in concern.

“Do not patronize me, little boy!” Alice stated angrily. “I’m not stupid and I’m not crazy.”

“No one said that.” Decan said trying to quell the growing tension. “I think it’s good to consider multiple possibilities.”

Eary felt a sense of validation as he backed up Alice.

“Alice has proven to be right too many times. We need to listen to her.”

The teens collaborated on a scheme to outs The Professor. They would double their efforts on keeping an eye on him again. Alice agreed to watch him while the others were at school. While Hannah and Maggie would stick close to him on missions. The plan put Eary at ease a bit. However, Alice’s face still bore the expressions of concern.

After a goodnight kiss from Decan, Eary returned to his room to settle in for the night. The sound of Ephraim crying out in his sleep caught his attention immediately. He quickly crossed the room and woke his friend from his nightmare.

“Eary?” Ephraim weeped as his realigned with consciousness.

Eary agreed and quickly crawled in bed and consoled him. When asked about his dream, Ephraim explained that he was in a cold dark place. No matter how fast he ran, it was always the same. Nothing.
The events of the last few weeks had taken it’s tool on Ephraim’s mind, Eary feared. He wrapped his arm around his friend and gently pet his hair until he fell back asleep. Eary drifted off shortly after, dreading what nightmares awaited him in his future.