he four basic elements understood in ancient times were fire, earth, water and air,” Talitha said. “Apparently, we have a treasure that corresponds to Earth: Cici’s Lantern. Cici can detect the presence of minerals with it. We also have one that corresponds to water: Alanna’s Bracelet. Alanna can detect the presence of water, including bodies of water like Silvermint River. It is reasonable to believe at least one of these pieces of jewelry corresponds to air and another to fire.”

“I hope mine is air,” Jessica said, adoringly examining the little Golden Charm attached to her jacket. “Maybe it will make it so I can fly! Even if it doesn’t, it’s still pretty and I still want to wear it.”

“Well, then what about Shannon’s Ring?” Alanna asked. “Are animals part of the elements?”

“No, but if her ring corresponds to animals, perhaps another of the treasures corresponds to plants.”

“Okay, Professor, that’s got to be yours, then. You’ve got the green leaves and the gold edges, and we already know there’s some kind of ghost shield in it too, and a ghost sword in Goofy’s.”

“So my Lantern knows about minerals and rocks?” Cici asked.

“Yes, Cici. Shannon’s Ring corresponds to animals, my Barrette to plants, and Alanna’s Bracelet to water.”

“Leaving my Necklace and Goofy’s Charm, which are either air or fire, right?” Ranko asked.

“Don’t forget the Earrings!” Jessica announced.

Shannon nodded. “Those might be something too. Except we’ve only got two elements left.”

“And we’ve found the gate,” Talitha said, stopping and pointing across the road.

Sitting out in the middle of an open grassy area were twin iron gates each attached to a short column made of gray stone. They were fastened together with a large block of metal. There was nothing unusual around them. It looked as if someone had built a fence, and then taken it down, leaving only the gate behind.

The barrier was made of black metal bars. Beyond was empty grassland.

“So this deserted place is the Lockvern?” Ranko asked quietly.

“Reina said there would be a test and that we would learn about how to defeat evil,” Cici said with an assured tone.

“I wish only that you learn to trust your own strength,” a voice interrupted. The girls all whirled around. Reina stood several steps behind them holding a long torch burning with a purple flame.

“Reina!” Cici exclaimed. She hurried to greet the robed woman but Alanna held her arm across Cici’s path. The younger girl stopped and looked up at Alanna with a confused expression.

“Who are you?” Shannon asked boldly.

“One who is pleased to see there are at least a few people in Gacenar with the initiative to do something besides count their neighbor’s portion and bicker.”

The woman walked towards them. It was a prolonged affair. After each second step she momentarily rested her weight on the enormous staff she carried. Jessica watched the purple torch, wondering how anyone could make fire a different color.

Cici wondered where Enken was.

Reina handed the torch to Ranko, who hesitated.

“It is harmless.”

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anko closed her eyes, turned her head away and motioned urgently for Jessica to come over to their side of the Lantern. Jessica ran to join the others. As she passed Talitha, the enormous phantom wooden Shield came into view.

“Sugoi! Is that what my charm looked like?”

“Same idea. It’s like spooky weapons. Your charm is a Sword, the Professor’s charm is a Shield.”

“I wonder if they go together?” Talitha asked rhetorically.

“Cici, turn the Lantern so the purple lens is lighting up Talitha’s jewel” Alanna said.

As the Lantern rotated, and the blue light was replaced by the purple light, the semi-transparent shield image disappeared.

“Okay, now turn it back.”

Once the treasure was lit by the blue light again, the Shield re-appeared.

“We gotta figure all this stuff out,” Ranko said. “Blue light makes these ghosts appear but the purple light doesn’t do anything.”

“Yes it does!” Cici replied, looking up at Ranko. “The purple light is the power of time, it made you come back after Reina said so.”

“What’s that lens made out of, Cici-chan?”

“The purple lens is made of amethyst, and Reina said if there was danger I’m supposed to use my Spectrum Deflect power.” Cici put her Lantern down and sat next to it.

“This is stupid,” Shannon said, plopping down on a large nearby tree stump with her arms folded.

“Maybe all our treasures have some special powers,” Jessica said, turning her Charm back and forth and watching the light reflecting from the faceted gems. “I wish we knew what they are.”

Talitha straightened her glasses.

“I don’t care. This is all stupid and confusing. I want to go home,” Shannon replied.

“What’s a Cryptic?” Cici asked, spinning her Lantern around.

“Sounds like someone I don’t want to meet,” Alanna said.

“We don’t even know who this lady that Cici is talking about is. I don’t think we should be listening to people we don’t know. She could be on the same side as those guys that attacked us!” Shannon exclaimed.

Talitha sat down across from Cici. “Did you say that green lens in your Lantern is made out of emerald?” Talitha spoke very quietly as she pointed.

Cici nodded. “Uh huh. It is a emerald.” She continued spinning the treasure.

“The whole thing?” Talitha asked, noting the lens was nearly a foot tall.

Cici nodded again. “I like the blue one and the purple one too. Reina says the purple one can control time with magic. The rest of it is gold and bronze and a little iron too.”

“What if we can’t get home?” Ranko asked the obvious question. There was a pause as all six girls considered the serious possibility they were stranded.

“I miss my cat,” Cici said. “Hikousen won’t eat if I don’t feed him.”

“The ferocious guard cat looks like he hasn’t missed many can opener activations,” Ranko said.

“No more band practices,” Jessica said.

“This is stupid,” Shannon snapped, arms still folded.

“Alright look–” Ranko started.

“We can’t panic here,” Alanna said. “If we get all bent out of shape–”

“This green lens is worth more money than all of our parents’ houses put together,” Talitha said quietly.

“Well I am bent out of shape!” Shannon exclaimed. “First, we shouldn’t have been down in that ship where we didn’t belong. Second, the tour group should have come back to get us and third, this whole thing is stupid and I don’t know why we’re sitting out in the middle of nowhere because some weird lady that we don’t even know said we have to wander off in the middle of the night. We should just leave and forget this and find our own way home.”

“And go where?” Ranko replied. “We don’t know where anything is, even if we do have the Professor’s whiz-bang map. For all we know the next person we meet could be worse than anyone we’ve met so far.”

“I sure don’t want to go back to that ship,” Alanna said, folding her own arms.

“Why? Who says we can’t?” Shannon raised her voice further. “What if I want to? What if any of us want to go back to the ship!? Are you saying we can’t?”

“No,” Alanna replied in an appeasing tone. “Noboby’s saying that. I just think it’s a bad idea to go somewhere we know is dangerous.”

Shannon finally relaxed and folded her arms again. Her hair fell over her shoulder and she sat quietly. It was about as close as she was going to get to admitting Alanna was right.

“What’s this one again?” Talitha asked, pointing at the blue lens.

“That’s a sapphire,” Cici replied. “And the orange one is a sunstone.”

Talitha looked up, pushing her glasses higher on her nose with two fingers. “If what Cici says is correct, this blue lens is the largest sapphire gem on Earth.”

“Great, we’re lost and sitting by some river and now we’re the richest high school students in the world,” Shannon said.

“We need to make the best of it!” Jessica said. “Come on, everyone! We have to help Reina! She’s all by herself and she got attacked by that evil Cryptic, and she might get attacked by those guys! What if she gets hurt?”

Cici jumped up. “She can make herself better! She has green swirly magic that sounds like bells and it made my ankle stop hurting! It’s all because of her ring. She has lots of rings.”

Alanna knelt down to look Cici in the eyes. “Cici, I want you to tell me the truth, okay?”

Cici nodded intently with a serious expression.

“How did your ankle get hurt?”

“I fell all the way down that hill we were by and it turned sideways and then I was under this tree and I couldn’t get out.”

“And that lady climbed all the way down the side of that ravine?” Ranko asked.

Cici nodded.

“That would be dangerous for any of us,” Ranko concluded.

“I guess that answers the question of whether she’s one of the good guys,” Alanna said.

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