Chapter 6

Ray

"Dude! Are you okay?”

I opened my eyes. Doug was standing above me, looking concerned. “What happened?” I asked.

“I think you passed out.” It was Britney. She knelt down next to me at the bottom of the crater. “It looked like you were being electrocuted for a second, and then you just fell.”

“I tried to get you to let go of the rock,” Doug said. “But you were gripping it tight, man. At first, we thought you were just foolin’ around, but then you hit the ground pretty hard.”

I sat up, dirt falling off of my shirt. “You okay?” Britney asked.

I noticed that Cody, Tyler, and the other girls were standing on the edge of the crater, looking down at me. I shrugged my shoulders and got to my feet. “I think I feel fine,” I said, looking at the stone in my hand. It wasn’t shining anymore, its mysterious red light completely gone. Now it looked like a rock that’d been plucked off of Mars—the same color as red potato. A Martian potato. “That was weird…” I said.

I didn’t feel any different, which was strange. I remembered the impact of a meteorite near my truck, finding a glowing red stone in the crater, picking it up, and a sharp jolt of pain just before passing out. I should be feeling aches or bruises, shouldn’t I? I felt fine. No pain anywhere.

“We heard some other explosions out there,” said one of the girls who came with Tyler—I think her name was Amy. “Do you think Michael and the new girl are okay?”

“Yeah, they’re fine,” Doug said.

I climbed out of the crater, brushing sand off my clothes. “Well, that was fun. Let’s head back to the fire and see what happens when I put it in.”

“I don’t know, Ray,” Britney said. “We’ve seen some crazy stuff tonight. Asteroids coming down, a red-glowing rock, and you getting electrocuted by it. I’m calling it a night. Let’s get out of here before another one kills us.”

The other girls agreed and started heading to the truck. Cody and Tyler followed them. “C’mon guys!” I said. “We’ve only been out here for an hour!”

“We can do it again next week,” Britney said as she climbed out of the crater and walked to the truck. The rest of the group followed her, looking anxious to leave.

I frowned. A perfect night ruined. First by Stoner, and then by falling stars…lame.

Doug looked at me and shrugged sympathetically. “Let’s go, Ray.”

I heaved a sigh and started walking to the truck. I took a final look at the red space rock in my hand and shoved it into my pocket.

Michael

“Looks like they’re gone,” Angela said.

I nodded. I couldn’t see Ray or his group anywhere. Their fire still burned; they apparently hadn’t thought to put it out before they left. We got out of the car and smothered the fire with dirt. On our way back to the car, I noticed something. “That looks like a crater,” I said, pointing in the distance.

“Good eyes,” Angela said. We ran over to see the crater. “I’m surprised you could see that in the dark.”

“Me too.” For some reason the night didn’t seem as dark as before. It looked as bright as a night with a full moon, but there was no moon out tonight. Angela shined her flashlight into the bottom of the crater. Black meteorite rocks like the ones we saw in the other crater rested at the bottom. We saw footprints around and inside the crater. Ray and his friends had been there. It seemed unlikely that anyone got hurt from the impact; the crater was half a soccer field away from the fire.

Angela jumped in the crater and looked through the meteorites. “I wonder if there was another glowing meteorite in here like the one you found.”

I pulled the blue stone out of my pocket. It no longer glowed like it did before. It was dark blue, felt smooth in my hand, a perfect skipping rock. I don’t know why I was still holding onto it. It’d zapped me unconscious a little while ago. I’d woken up a few seconds later, no pain, no more light from the rock, no idea what’d happened. Angela was scared for me and intensely curious about the meteorite.

She sighed. “I don’t see any glowing stone here. I’d hoped to find another one that still glowed, so my dad could study it. Either yours is the only one in the world, or Ray and his friends took one. I’ve never seen a rock like that before.” She stood up. “Wasn’t there a third meteorite that landed out there? Maybe there’s another glowing rock there.” She climbed out of the crater and headed to the car. “Let’s go check it out.”

“No, it’s too late,” I said. “Your dad told me to get you home by midnight. It’s already past that.”

She hung her head to the side. “Oh, it won’t hurt to stay out just a little later…” Her smile faded when she saw that I was serious. She clicked her teeth. “Oh, alright. Let’s go home.”

We got in the car and I drove her to her house. The whole way there, Angela held the mysterious blue stone up to her face, observing its every detail. “I still don’t understand how it was glowing like that,” she said. “And that was so weird how you passed out after you touched it. Sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah,” I said probably for the hundredth time. “I feel absolutely fine.”

She returned her attention to her stone. “Hmm.”

Before long, we arrived at Angela’s house. It was a typical stucco house that looked like every other house in the neighborhood. I got out and opened her door. She got out of the car, still looking at the blue stone. “Come inside with me, Michael,” she said. “I want you to explain to my dad what happened when you touched the meteorite.”

“Okay. But… isn’t he asleep?”

“Probably. I’ll just wake him up.”

“You’re sure that’s a good idea?”

“Of course, it is. Michael, we survived a meteorite impact and brought home a piece of it to study! I’m sure he’ll wake up to hear more about that!”

She unlocked the front door and walked inside. I lingered at the doorstep, feeling a little nervous to meet her dad, especially after bringing her home an hour late and after him being woken up. Angela walked up a staircase and disappeared around the corner. I shuffled into the front room, closing the door behind me. I stood there in the front room in silence, observing their fish tank and grandfather clock. Unpacked boxes littered the floor. Did Angela’s mom live here too? She’d never mentioned anything about her. Did she have any siblings?

Angela walked down the stairs, the blue stone in hand. “My dad said he’ll be down in just a bit. Follow me.” She led me to a nearby room that was obviously her dad’s work room. There were two large desks with black and brown rocks all around, meteorites for sure. Angela slid into an office chair, placed the blue stone on the desk, and turned on an overhead lamp. “I wonder if it will glow again if we heat it up.”

I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. I turned to see her dad enter the room. My nerves grew tense. He was not what I’d expect a meteorite hunter to look like. I’d apparently stereotyped not only girls that are into science, but archeoastronomers too. He was massive—buff, that is. Like he’d been working out his whole life instead of studying space rocks. He had short, grayish blonde hair with a carefully trimmed beard. He looked tired…and grumpy. He looked at me. I gulped and waved.

“What’s going on?” he said in a deep voice.

“You’ve got to come see this meteorite we found, dad!” Angela gestured to the stone resting on the desk.

His eyes lit up and he suddenly seemed wide awake. “Oh, let’s take a look here!” He put on his glasses, took the blue stone, sat at his desk, and held it up to the lamp.

“Isn’t it amazing?” Angela said. “I’ve never seen any meteorite that looked so…” She stopped talking because of her dad’s expression. He looked…scared? Alarmed? Amazed?

“Where did you get this?” he asked in a very serious tone, taking off his glasses.

Angela spoke quickly. “Um… that’s an interesting story. Don’t freak out, but while we were stargazing, a meteorite landed about twenty feet away from us. Don’t worry. We’re okay. Only a broken window. It was actually awesome to see! So, we went in the crater and that’s where we found this stone. But, the craziest part was that the stone was actually—”

“Glowing?” her dad asked.

“—er, yeah. How did you know…?”

He stood up and grabbed her by the shoulders, looking very concerned. “Did you touch it?” She hesitated to answer, clearly surprised with her dad’s reaction. “Did you touch it?” he repeated, louder this time.

“No, dad. Michael did. Why are you so—?”

He looked at me. “And did it… knock you unconscious?”

“Uh… yeah,” I said. “I don’t know if it was the stone or something I ate. I feel fine now, but how did you know that?”

He didn’t answer. He looked at the ceiling and took an enormous sigh, trying to take in all the information. He slumped into his office chair and rubbed his face with his hands. “It’s happening,” he muttered. “I can’t believe it’s happening.”

Angela and I shared a worried look. She knelt down next to him. “Dad, what’s going on? What do you mean ‘it’s happening?’”

He still looked up at the ceiling, apparently deep in thought. He gradually lowered his eyes and looked at his daughter. He smiled at her and touched her hair in a loving way.

“Dad, what’s wrong?” Angela sounded scared.

He looked at me and stood up. “Your name is Michael?”

“Yeah—er… yes, sir.

He walked over to me and handed me the blue stone. I could feel its cool, smooth surface between my fingers. Angela’s dad placed his hands on my shoulders and looked me in the eyes. I looked up at him, which was strange because not many people were taller than me. “Michael,” he said in all seriousness. “Keep this stone with you at all times. Don’t let anyone take it from you and don’t let anyone know that you have it. Do you understand?”

I nodded… and then shook my head. “Why?” I said, perplexed. “Why is this stone so special? Who’s going to want to take it from me?”

“I—I can’t tell you.” He rushed to a window and looked between the blinds. “Just take care of the stone and lie low for a while. You’ll need it for what will come next.”

“Dad,” Angela said, a little frustration showing in her voice. “What are you talking about? What will come next? Why won’t you just tell us…?”

“To protect you,” he snapped. “The less you know, the better. I’ve got to fly back to New York first thing tomorrow morning. Michael, I think it best you head home now. I need to talk to Angela about something.”

I was still trying to wrap my mind around what was happening. Angela’s dad knew something about the blue meteorite that we didn’t know, and whatever he knew must’ve been dangerous information. “Sorry,” I said timidly, “but you just told me to take care of this stone without any explanation. I think I deserve to know whatever information you’re going to tell her.”

Angela and her father shared a knowing look and she turned to me. “Actually, Michael,” she said softly. “I think this is about something else. You’d better go. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Okay,” I said, a little hurt. I never was a fan of secrets. Now Angela was hiding something from me too. I put the blue stone in my pocket, walked to their door, and opened it.

“Thanks for the date,” Angela said before I walked out. I looked back at her. Her dad was rummaging around the house, already packing for his unexpected flight. Angela frowned. “Sorry for the crazy ending.”

“It’s okay,” I said. “Thanks for stargazing with me. It was fun.”

She smiled. “Yeah, it was.”

We said goodbye and I walked out of her house, closing the door behind me. As I walked to the car, I pulled the blue stone out of my pocket and observed it carefully. Sure, it was bluer and smoother than most rocks—and it was a meteorite—but nothing else seemed very special about the stone. Except for the fact that it was glowing when we’d first found it.

How did Angela’s dad know so much about it? What was he hiding from us? Or from me? Angela apparently was in on some sort of secret too. All I knew was that I was supposed to keep the stone safe and hidden from others, but I had no idea why.