Crystal Doors #1 Read Online Free PDF Page B

Lyssandra.”
    Vic looked even more confused. “But she didn’t say a word.” He glanced at the copper-haired girl. “Is Gwen right? Is your name Lyssandra?”
    The girl nodded and pointed to herself. “Lyssandra.”
    Vic’s aquamarine eyes lit with understanding. “Did you
hear
her say something when she was touching your head?”
    Gwen thought about it. “Well, no. Not words, exactly, but—”
    “Cool! She’s telepathic.” Vic grabbed Lyssandra’s hand and placed it against his own forehead. A delighted smile spread across his face, and he laughed out loud.
    Gwen stared. Was the girl really telepathic? That was impossible. Maybe she should reconsider the theory that this was all a dream — albeit the most vivid one she’d ever had.
    Still, her cousin’s delighted expression did not go away. Lyssandra’s hand dropped from Vic’s forehead, and he grabbed Gwen’s arm, speaking excitedly. Now she couldn’t understand what
he
was saying until Lyssandra touched her forehead again, and suddenly Vic’s words made sense.
    “— an interpreter and a telepath. If you’ll just stop squirming, Lyssandra can prep your mind so that you can understand the language! Sheesh, and you call
me
Mr. Attention Deficit Disorder!”
    Amazed, Gwen felt a shifting and repositioning of thoughts in her brain. Lyssandra spoke aloud. “I am preparing your mind to understand Elantyan, our common language. Because this island is the connecting point for many worlds, our ancestors created a language with simple rules to make it easier for people from all cultures to learn.”
    Gwen grasped each word clearly now, but the sentence still made no sense. Something about an island? Many worlds?
    Finished, Lyssandra let her hand drop to her side, and she stepped away from Gwen. “Can you understand me now?”
    “Sure. Does that mean that I’m —”
    “Speaking Elantyan? Of course you are. I gave the translation center in your brain the basic rules and vocabulary of our speech. It will automatically translate our language into termsyou can understand. While you remain here on our island of Elantya, your mind will convert your speech to our words — though the concepts may still be foreign. I myself speak eleven tongues fluently, and Elantyan is by far the simplest. It is also the easiest to communicate to another mind. It would take weeks or months to teach you another language in the same fashion.”
    “Cool,” Vic said.
    Lyssandra smiled. “In our world, your names would be Viccus and Gwenya. May I call you that?”
    “Where exactly are we?” Gwen asked. Something just wasn’t making sense. “What is this place?”
    “Such discussions can wait,” the bearded man broke in. “I am Sage Rubicas, and this is my apprentice Orpheon.” He gestured to the swarthy-skinned young man. “Hmm, now that you can communicate, please tell us how you came to be here. It is most intriguing.”
    “Uh, we were kind of hoping you could tell us that.” Vic scratched his nose. “We don’t have a clue.”
    Orpheon crossed his arms, and his heavy eyebrows drew together. “Did someone unlock the crystal door for you, or did you find the door open?”
    Gwen glanced at the graceful arched doorways. “Uncle Cap was doing something with crystals and mirrors, then there was a flash of light.”
    “And that is how you came through a crystal door to us?”
    Vic muttered, “Yep, a transporter accident. Didn’t see that one coming.”
    “But where was the Key?” Orpheon prodded. “You couldn’t open a crystal door by yourselves.”
    Vic dug in his pocket and pulled out his keychain medallion. “A key? You mean this?”
    Rubicas reached for it in astonishment. “Hmm. Where did you get this?”
    Vic handed it to him. “On my thirteenth birthday Dad said I was old enough to have a key to the house. Or do you mean the little flashlight?”
    Orpheon pointed to the small five-sided medallion.
“This”
    “It belonged to my mom. Gwen has one just