Ryan Flynn

Mrs. Salamone

Accel English 9

June 6, 2015

The Eternal SphereChapter 1: Invention Club

On a dull fall evening, Raphael Carrillo ate alone in his room, his crumpled sketches and blank

sheets of paper the only company he had. To him everything seemed like it could not be worse

than it had been right then. His attempts at uniting the invention club had failed. Everyone

wanted something to do, something to think about, something to work on, just something. But

Raphael couldn't handle something, he couldn't manage anything, all he could think of was ways

to make different sized paper balls with his miserable ideas.

"Why does the Universe hate me?" he asked himself.

"Why wouldn't I hate you?" the Universe seemed to reply, with the exact answer that

seemed to be true in all cases. Why can't Alexandra be here? She's so smart, she can think of two

ideas in a heartbeat. So, why can't she come help me. Oh, wait, because she doesn't want to, she

doesn't have to, and she most certainly would not enjoy visiting me to help me out. Yeah. Almost

forgot that she hates my guts.

"But, Raphael, you don't know she hates your guts,"

"Yes, I do. Shut up, conscience, I don't need your sass,"

"Oh, but you do!"

"Why?! Why can't I think of any good ideas? Uh-huh-huh-" Raphael groaned, defeated.

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The door downstairs opened, and footsteps marked the entry of his family. The footsteps

coming progressively closer, loud and heavy, signaled that his father was coming to call him

down for dinner. He would have to start the unnecessary conversation about what he had eaten,

which would eventually lead to him being summoned to come downstairs, and his mother-

"Raph, come on downstairs," said a deep masculine voice.

"Alright, Dad," replied Raph through the closed door of his room. Great, I was right.

However, Raphael was surprised to see the collection of toys his father had arranged on the table

in front of him. He had no clue what his father planned to tell him about this small collection of

toys that he had accumulated. His heart rate accelerated a little, when he saw that some were a

little run down. But how does he know that I can fix them? I didn't tell them about Invention club.

Does he know?

"Raph, so I was wondering if you could help me with a little project of mine," his father

said.

"What kind of project?" asked Raph.

"Your father has reached the forces section in his class," his mother explained.

"And, I would like some help from a little mechanical genius I know to help, ah, fix some

stuff up," his father said.

"How do you know I can fix them? And let's not call me 'little mechanical genius ever

again, thanks," Raph asked.

"Well, I happen to know of a certain interest you have, I believe it had something to do

with, ah, yes, inventions?"

Darn. He knows.

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"Well, that is true, but Dad, we just invent stuff, not build stuff. There's another group for

that. Also, I am no mechanical genius as you say, I just get how stuff that I think of works. I

guess I'll help though." Raph said.

"Excellent! The models themselves are the real trouble, some parts of how they will work

I have to fix. We can work on them together," Dad said.

"Sure, how about tomorrow, I got to get to thinking about stuff to invent, alright?"

"Sure, buddy."

He walked back upstairs, to finally get started with brainstorming an idea for the club.

Well, how am I going to tell him that I am really too busy to work on stuff. Well this became an

issue quite fast. He opened the door and walked to his desk across the room, ritually spinning his

globe, closing his eyes, pointing to a country and trying to guess which one it was. His finger

landed on the tape that marked the equator so he guessed,

"Democratic Republic of the Congo," opening his eyes and seeing he had landed on

Northern Brazil, "Ooh, The State of Amazonas," He then sat down and continued to think.

He realized he might be able to use something his dad had pointed out to him. Maybe if I

reengineer one of the toys, making it do some type of trick or be useful to everyday life somehow,

I could pass it off as our first invention. "See a need, fill a need, and my father's toys seem to

have a need, or maybe his class has a need- they need a new toy. Stretching, Raphael leaned

back and tilted his head back, seeing it was 8:24. Well, better take a shower before it gets too

late. Big day tomorrow, better get a head start.

Chapter 2: The Trip North

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"Hey, Julia. Sorry I can't go tomorrow, I have to go visit my family in Maine. It's like two

hours to get there and another two back. I wish I could go, maybe we can on break, which is next

week?" Raph said.

"Yeah, maybe. I don't know how busy I will be, my family is huge, so that's a lot of

Thanksgiving visits," Julia's voice replied through the phone.

"Alright, I hope this works because we have a lot to do and not enough done. See you

around."

"See you, Raph," she answered, hanging up.

He awoke in the passenger seat of the car and after looking around, could tell they were

almost in Maine, seeing that the Piscataqua River Bridge was looming in the windshield. We're

getting there, he thought to himself. Well, better just go back to sleep, the time will pass by

faster. But Raphael could not fall back asleep. All he could do was sit there, looking out at the

passing fall landscape, thinking. Thinking about life, thinking about school, thinking about

Alexandra, thinking about science. Anything to pass the time.

Eventually they made it to Limerick, Maine, the town where their relatives lived. They

got to the house, said their "Hello's" and "How's it going's" and the adults went to talk, while

Raphael went to the covered porch to sit with his cousins. This was the typical visit to any

relatives, as most of his relatives had some room for guests who didn't want to join the adult

conversations.

"Hi, Alivia. Hey, Alexa. What's up, Rodrigo?" Raph said, opening the door to the porch.

"Hey Raph," they all replied.

"How's it going, guys?"

"Great, we're just chilling on the deck, while all the adults do their thing." Alexa said.

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"Nice, sounds buenísimo," Raph replied, using the Spanish word for 'great', because they

all spoke the language. "What about you Alivia?"

"Estoy bien hoy, gracias. ¿Y tú?" she asked, after saying she was well while wondering

about me.

"I'm good, but tired after the long ride up." he said, sitting down on the rocking bench

next to Rodrigo across from the girls.

"What's cool with you, man?" Raph asked, fist-bumping Rodrigo as he sat down.

"Nothing much, man. How's the chick?" Rodrigo asked.

"What chick?" Raph asked, shrugging, rolling his eyes. They all laughed. "No, but really,

I don't got one."

"I feel you, man."

"Oh, well. So talk to me, how's life? What's happening?"

They talked for an hour or so. He told them about Alexandra, whom he liked, but could

not get anywhere with, and about the invention club, and their nonexistent progress. Alivia

sympathized with him, understanding how tough it was to run a club. Currently, she was running

a robotics club at her high school. She knew what it was like being a fifteen year old, which she

was currently, running a club, balancing homework, schoolwork, a social life, friends and family,

while enjoying some free time. She was undoubtedly popular, being friendly, sociable, and

pretty. She had blonde hair, not bleach blonde, but a beautiful mix in between bleached and dirty

blonde, and blue eyes and wore little makeup, so as to be as naturally pretty as possible.

Alexa, still in middle school, who was thirteen, could relate to some of the stuff Raph

experienced every day in high school but not the same as Alivia. She had a lot of homework in

eighth grade, and got it done remarkably fast, which accounted for her high grades, which in fact

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were all A's and A+'s. She too, was pretty for her age, like her sister, and had a lot of friends,

who she mentioned while talking to him in every other sentence. She was in a writing club in her

school and liked cross country and track. Her crush, she said noticed her, and they would talk

everyday in school. Raph couldn't help but thinking, Wow, my middle school cousin is doing

better than me, isn't she lucky. But other than that, she was doing pretty well.

Rodrigo, Raphael's laid-back younger cousin who was fifteen as well, was in ninth grade

like Alivia and him, and had a pretty good life as well. As an only child, he wasn't very

extroverted when he was young, but after moving two school systems, he became the laid-back

high school jock he is now. He liked baseball, basketball, and soccer, but played them

sporadically, out of concern for his reputation, as well as his own laziness. He didn't have the

best grades in his graduating class, but he was just as pleased to escape the typical B's and get an

A in a few subjects each quarter.

He spoke fluent Portuguese and Spanish having lived in Brazil for most of his early

childhood, and going through two divorces that left him in the hands of two Hispanic step-

parents that mostly spoke Spanish around the house. So as a result, and after taking forced

courses of Spanish, he became fluent in Spanish real fast. Due to his knack for language, being

trilingual, and his need for an extra high school credit, he now took French, and was in French II

for his freshman year. After about an hour of talking, Uncle Andre called them in for dinner.

Everyone sat down at their place that was marked with their name on the card resting in

front of their plate. Along the length of the middle of the table, were bowls and plates of all

shapes and sizes, with different delicacies in each one. Raphael didn't know where to start first.

This is my favorite part of family dinners at my Aunt and Uncle's house, Raph thought. There's

so much food, I don't even know where to start. I should probably get some meat, at least one

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vegetable, some cranberry sauce and pasta, just so it fits on my plate, and then I can go back and

get more. Which vegetables should I have first, though? Should I have carrots, beans, potatoes,

Shepard's pie, asparagus or…

"What are you going for first, Raph?" asked Rodrigo from my right side.

"Oh, man, I don't know where to start. There's so much to pick from." I said back.

"Yeah, you got to love Aunt Anna's dinner's. They're the best." He said, reaching for his

fork. "Look, Auntie's butternut squash, I got dibs on first scoop."

"Good choice, but I got dibs on first slice of pumpkin pie later."

"Nice call, man. You should eat before Papa Bear comes in, he'll eat all the squash before

anyone has had any!"

And so they ate. It was certainly the best dinner anyone had had all year. Raphael ate so

much he thought his head would explode, not just his stomach. He had eaten two servings of

each dish, exaggerating aside, and 4 servings of cranberry sauce and 3 slices of pie: blueberry,

apple and pumpkin. Raphael and Rodrigo joked throughout the whole dinner, making each of

them almost do a spit-take with their milk, and making Aunt Josephine glare at them, but after

they had showed her what he and Rodrigo had been laughing at, she joined, too. After, the family

moved to the parlor to talk and gossip and trade stories amongst each other. Alivia and Alexa

went down to the basement with some of the other older girls while Rodrigo and Raph stayed in

the den, which was adjacent to the parlor, and talked. Soon enough, Uncle Billy, who had hosted

the whole dinner with his wife, Aunt Anna, came in to warm up by the fire and find out what was

new with Rodrigo and Raph. This led him into one of his famous stories Raphael had not heard

yet, the story of an ancient ball of power, the Eternal Sphere.

Chapter 3: The Eternal Sphere7

"Hey Raphael, what's up Rodrigo? Have you guys been in here the whole time? I haven't

seen you guys all night," Uncle Billy said.

"Well, we came in for dinner, of course. We wouldn't miss Aunt Anna's dinner in a

lifetime." Raph replied.

"Yeah. Her pot roast is amazing, I certainly wouldn't want to miss that," Rodrigo added.

"But, oh, the lasagna, that stuff is from heaven," Uncle Billy remarked.

"And the Pumpkin Pie," Rodrigo said, leaning back and rubbing his stomach.

"Well, let's not fantasize about the brilliant desserts that will be out there in the kitchen,

let's go get some, and while we eat, I'll tell you guys about the eminent Eternal Sphere," Uncle

Billy said.

They hurried to the kitchen as Aunt Anna shouted "Dessert is out." Rounding the corner

of the banister, they slid along the wooden floor into the kitchen, Raphael first, then Rodrigo,

then Uncle Billy, who teetered as he was nearing the counter. Raphael got some Boston Creme

pie, Rodrigo got three giant snicker-doodle cookies, Uncle Billy got pumpkin pie, and Alexa and

Alivia got some cannoli's. Raphael, Rodrigo and Uncle Billy went back to the den and shared

their delicacies. Raph sat on the recliner, Rodrigo sat on the chair across the table from him and

Uncle Billy brought over the spinning computer chair to the front of the table, so he could tell

his story.

"It was back in 1995 when I first heard about the Legend of the Eternal Sphere. I was

watching a news broadcast one night with your Aunt. A Brazilian man named Mateus Ferreira

was in the news after spreading rumors about a globe that could change the world. He ended up

sending many friends and relatives on a hunt for a nonexistent globe that could maybe get them

out of a life of poverty and disarray. Initially I thought this guy was stupid and delusional. But 13

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days later, I was waiting for my wife at the nail salon and was reading a magazine, and I saw the

same article again. It read, "Foreigner Mateus Ferreira Spreading Stories About Mysterious Ball

of Power." I kept reading and learned all about what he was telling others. He told them that he

had found a special globe one day. When he first saw it it seemed like a regular globe." Uncle

Billy explained, pausing to take a bite of his pie.

"But when Mateus approached the sphere, he could se it visibly glowing, with white

spots dotting the entire sphere. He was still a few yards off, so he could not make out all the

details. As he got even closer, he could see that there were darker white patches, with occasional

flashes inside them that illuminated the area around them. Once he was about 2 yards out he

could see that there was a darker side opposite to the side he had been initially looking at.

Mateus also saw that there were yellow patches dotted around the darkness. He said he was very

confused at first, but when he was but a yard away, it dawned on him. Mateus was looking at the

Earth."

"Wait, you mean to tell me this man was looking at a miniature Earth?" Rodrigo asked,

astonished.

"Way an fee, Wodwegoh," Uncle Billy said through a mouthful of pumpkin pie.

"What?" Raphael asked, looking puzzled.

Swallowing, Uncle Billy replied, "Wait and see, Rodrigo."

Taking one last bite, Uncle Billy continued, "Yes. He was looking at a miniature Earth.

But that's not all. The article said that at first Mateus didn't do anything. He just stood there

admiring the sphere upon its black as night pedestal. After about five minutes of examining the

globe, he decided he should try to pick the ball up. He reached out slowly, hands shaking, and

was about to place his hands right beneath the equator on either side of the globe, but thunder

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sounded above him and the whole cave illuminated to daylight brightness. It was as if lightning

struck just outside the cave entrance. Mateus jumped back, heart racing.

Realizing he had to bring this to the public, so they would know he was telling the truth,

he decided he would just grab the sphere and ignore the spontaneous thunderstorm outside.

However, as he secured the globe in his hand, holding onto the same spot as before, the whole

ground literally shook. Across the globe, unbeknownst to Mateus, giant waves, viewed from

space looking like a handprint, surged toward shore in the Indian Ocean. Mateus, who had fallen

down, picked himself up, and realized he would have to leave the globe. He knew this because

Mateus had figured out the secret of the Eternal Sphere. What happened on the Sphere would

happen to the real Earth."

"Woah," Raphael said. "That is amazing. Imagine, a sphere that could make a giant surf

beach out of the calmest waters on the planet. That's sick."

"Yeah, sounds cool, but Mateus wasn't believed," Uncle Billy said. "But he barely made

it back to civilization either. The earthquake he had caused made the front of the cave collapse,

locking him in. So, ironically, Mateus elected to use the same power that would have ensured his

elimination to free himself. Mateus soon discovered that by waving his hand in the upper

atmosphere, he was able to control the Sphere's direction. Turning the sphere and tilting it to the

proper angle, he identified his location. Pinching and swiping, he figured out, was the way he

could zoom in, like on the tablet he had at home.

He found the pile of rocks that marked his position, and tapped lightly on the surface to

shake the rocks away. Next to him, the boulders fell away to reveal a hole in the ceiling large

enough for a man to get through. Immediately, he crawled through, but could not find the boat he

had used to get there. Mateus had destroyed it using the sphere, so now, he was trapped, forced

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to walk all the way back to the city he had come from, a trip that would take him almost a month.

When he returned to civilization, people had thought him dead. But, surprised as they were, they

still thought that he was insane, and checked him into a psychological hospital, where he lived

the rest of his life. He passed away a little more than a decade later of sickness. That is the story

of Mateus Ferreira, discoverer of the Eternal Sphere."

"Wait, so is the Eternal Sphere out there today?" Rodrigo asked.

"Well, no one bothered to believe Mateus, so no one went to the place he had described

to them. At least no one went and reported their findings. So, no one really knows if the man

named Mateus Ferreira was a brilliant archaeologist who discovered possibly the most powerful

artifact on the planet, or an insane psycho who liked public attention," Uncle Billy replied.

"So, the Eternal Sphere could be out there somewhere," Raphael said.

"It could very well be, Raph," Uncle Billy replied, nodding. "But, I wouldn't get too

caught up in this. Mateus never really explained where the sphere he was talking about really

was. He didn't say which country he was in or anything. He just crawled to the United States- the

only place he would have a chance to be believed- and started telling stories. Quite an unusual

man in my opinion. I personally believe the whole thing is a hoax. But that's just me. If you two

want to lose sleep over it, knock yourselves out, but I'd like to keep my nap schedule intact."

Uncle Billy looked at his watch. "Speaking of which, I think nap time is rolling around right

about now," He said, yawning. "Time to hit the hay, I'll see you guys a little later." Uncle Billy

left the room, leaving Raph and Rodrigo on the couch in the den alone.

"Hm, interesting, ey, Raph?" Rodrigo asked, looking genuinely puzzled.

"Yeah, I wonder whether it is really out there. The Sphere, I mean," Raph responded.

"Wouldn't it be something if someone found it."

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"Yeah, that would be pretty insane." They chuckled.

Eventually, It was time for Raph and his parents to head back to Boston. Everyone said

their goodbyes, to everyone except Uncle Billy who was asleep, but Raph couldn't leave yet

without talking to Uncle Billy. So, sporting Nerf guns, Rodrigo and Raphael, and even Alexa and

Alivia, marched down the hall to the room where Uncle Billy lay asleep, and opened fire.

Surprised, Uncle Billy yelped and grabbed his pillow for protection, but it was caught on the

bookshelf behind the bed. The teenagers kept firing until eventually Alexa ran out of darts, and

Alivia went with her to get some more, both of them running to the supply closet downstairs.

Meanwhile, Raphael and Rodrigo kept "Slam-firing" until eventually Uncle Billy figured

out the only way to snuff their assault was to get up and chase them from his room. The three ran

from the room, down the hall and into the dining room, Raph and Rodrigo firing over their

shoulders all the way. They looped around the dining table, sliding on the wood floor, but Uncle

Billy slipped, falling fortunately on his pillow. Despite his cries of "I give up", Raph and

Rodrigo ran to the supply closet downstairs, to help prepare a second assault with the girls.

Together, they emerged and snuck around to the back door of the dining room, and again

opened fire with their automatic Nerf guns, causing mass panic of all the adults, sending most

down to the supply closet to arm themselves. The war continued on like this for about twenty

minutes, and Raphael had worked up a sweat. He ultimately forgot what he was going to say to

Uncle Billy, so he instead thanked him for a great war and was promised revenge next time.

With heartily laughter, the Carrillo's left thanking Aunt Anna for a delightful time.

Chapter 4: Searching for Clues

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A few days later, at the Boston Public Library, Raphael and Julia sat alone at a table,

quietly discussing their weekends. When Raphael mentioned the Eternal Sphere, Julia, too, was

impressed.

"Wow, that's pretty cool, Raph. Do you think it really exists? I mean, it's quite unlikely

but do you believe that Mateus was telling the truth?" Julia asked.

"I don't know what to believe but if Mateus was telling the truth, the Sphere might be out

there somewhere. I wonder if anyone else looked for it and found anything significant. Maybe

some idiot decided 'Let's go venturing to some obscure place in the world to look for a globe that

might not exist.' But I guess we can only wonder whether Mateus found it. I mean, it happened in

1995, so it has either disappeared from everyone's mind or been found." Raph said.

"Yeah, where did the article say Mateus found the Sphere?"

"That's the thing, it didn't. Maybe he said something in his original speeches, but the

government decided not to let the general public know the location of an All-Powerful Globe

that could change the fate of the world."

"I wouldn't be surprised," Julia replied, chuckling. "Well, some people aren't very

respectful of the government's unstated wishes, right? So maybe someone leaked some

information somewhere. Somewhere public and not necessarily secretive, like a library."

"True," Raphael replied, nodding. "Do you think the BPL has anything?"

"Maybe. But, frankly, I don't know where to start looking. Do you have any ideas?"

"Hm, maybe like, the Mythology or the Legend Section? News or Events in history?"

Let's get started there. I'll go ask the lady at the front desk where the sections might be.

I'll be right back," he said.

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Raphael walked down the hall, admiring the view from the mezzanine as he descended

from the top floor. People milled about, looking for their entries among the vast sea of shelves.

He kept walking down the stairs to the first floor, where an attendant sat at her desk, waiting to

assist anyone who might need it. Raph politely asked where he might find books involving

contemporary history, myths and legends, and past news articles. After checking her computer,

she handed him a slip of paper and directed him toward the room where he could find the books.

Raph went back upstairs, getting Julia, to continue on to the area the lady specified.

"Ok, where is this thing?" Julia asked. Raph showed her the slip. "Alright. I think that is

right over here. I'll go look for some books on myths, you go look for some stuff on 1995."

They did. They looked for about 30 minutes exchanging comments on the books they

found, as most of them were useless. After Raphael had looked through 28 books on the 1990's,

most of them about peace talks ending the Cold War, he found something potentially interesting.

"Hey Julia, Look at this. It is in Portuguese, but from what I know of Spanish, it mentions

Mateus Ferreira and this odd sphere he describes. The whole book is on obscure contemporary

historic events, so maybe there is more to be found. I say we check it out and bring it to my

brother to see what it really says. He speaks Portuguese."

"Sounds good. I'll go check it out. Wanna run to the café and pick me up something to

eat? It's a little past my lunch time and I didn't eat breakfast, so I'm a little on the hungry side

right now. Don't mess with me on an empty stomach, I am a little less than unreasonable then."

"Oh don't worry, I know. A little too well actually. What would you like? A bagel

sandwich and a coffee?"

"How did you know I was going to ask for that, Raph?" Julia asked sarcastically.

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"It's not like you never order the same thing whenever we come here. You totally take

advantage of the BPL's new café. Anyway, I'll be right back," Raph said.

"Alright, thanks. Meet you at the Boylston Street entrance."

Raphael went to the café to find it packed as usual. The café was built a couple years

ago as a part of a renovation and the public was thoroughly pleased, well at least for Raphael and

Julia. The two always stopped here on their way out after a visit to the library. Raph took his

place in line and decided what he wanted, while he thought to himself about the book.

Wow, this might be it. The book was tough to read, so I hope Julia's brother can help. Man,

Portuguese is weird. Anyway, I hope the information is more than the article that my uncle

recited, because that would be unhelpful and counterproductive toward our search.

Caught up in his thoughts, while he was absentmindedly looking at the menu, Raphael didn't

even notice that the lady behind the counter was calling,

"Excuse me, sir. Sir! Hello, sir, it's your turn. Buddy! Come on, now."

"Oops, so sorry ma'am," Raph said.

"That's alright, sir. Long day? What would you like?"

"Yeah, I'd like a Veggie Bagel sandwich and a small coffee, caramel cream, three sugar,

hold the whipped cream. And I'll take a Peppermint latte with cream and a large chocolate chip

cookie, please."

"Alright, you can pay and get your food down at the counter on the left," she said.

"Thank you very much ma'am. Have a nice day."

Raph walked down to the pick-up counter, payed for and got his food and then headed to

the Boylston Street entrance. Julia was leaning against the doorstep, a clouded expression on her

face as she read from the article. Giving her the coffee and bagel sandwich, and with a quick 15

exchange of hugs, they started out back to her house. When they got close, they stopped at a

convenience store to grab a few packs of gum. They walked in her house, said "Hi" to her mom,

and asked where her brother was.

"He just left to go to the store. Your brother just came back from Brazil, so he had to go

get some stuff at the market. He should be back in under an hour, meanwhile, make yourself at

home, Raph," Julia's mom said.

"Thanks, Mrs. Aarons," Raph replied.

Julia and Raphael went down into the basement and sat on the beanbag in the corner.

Julia turned on the television and put on some show on Netflix and sat down on the beanbag,

head on Raph's shoulder. Julia Aarons and Raphael Carrillo had been friends as long as they

could remember. The two went to elementary school and kindergarten together and hung out all

the time. In fourth grade, the two competed to see who could master their multiplication tables

first, and in fifth grade they studied for the school geography bee and they ended up in the top

five together. By the time they were in middle school they both had relationships, and they

would go to each other for advice and talk about all the good stuff and the bad and then resolve

the problems together. Raph always told Julia what she wanted to know and Julia the same to

Raph.

All in all, the two made great friends. They both shared interests and each possessed

various talents that set them apart, but they used their differences to work as a team. When they

reached High School, Julia got a new boyfriend, who's name was Alex, which happened to be

one of Raph's best friends. Julia often brought Alex with them to the library, and Raph would

happily "third-wheel" the two while being productive at the same time. It was at this point in

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time that Raphael and Julia stood in, both happily confused at the mysteries of life and ready to

twist their minds in knots over this new mystery as well.

Chapter 5: A Trip to Portugal and A Trip to Brazil

"Julia! Matthew's home! He will be down in a minute, he just has to take off his coat and

bring in is stuff from his car. I'll let him know you are down there," Mrs. Aarons called.

"Alright, thanks a lot Mom!" Julia replied up the stairs.

"Your welcome a lot, honey."

Matthew Aarons, Julia's sister, was a very well rounded guy. In high school he played

football, soccer and basketball, all while maintaining a A- average and a 3.98 GPA. He joined

multiple clubs, including his school's robotics team and chess club and also later on, Archery and

Chemistry. Matthew had an acute taste for language and picked up on Portuguese quite fast,

skipping one year of Portuguese I and the year of Portuguese II. He also was very fond of

chemistry, astronomy, and software programming, all in which he majored in at his college,

which he was now a sophomore at. Matthew was quite tall, standing a distinguished 5' 9'', and

was well built, especially after over 7 years of intense training for his sports. He had piercing

blue-green eyes and wore contacts and had messy, slightly curly light brown- blonde hair, which

he often covered with a backwards baseball cap. When he came downstairs, he brought with him

his backpack and 3 green notebooks that he set on the ottoman next to us.

"Hey, guys! Mom told me you guys needed some help with a Portuguese article, is that

right?"

"Yup, Raph here speaks Spanish and he could tell the general idea of what it was saying,

but we need you to translate for us," Julia said. "Here, the article is on page 42. Can you read it

and tell us what they say about the dude Mateus Ferreira? Thanks."

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"No problem Little sis," Matthew chuckled.

"Yeah, please don't call me that." Julia replied, shaking her head as Matthew started to

read.

As he read, Julia lay back down next to Raphael and started flipping through the channels

on TV. She went through the channels twice, and after deciding not to watch Spongebob

Squarepants or Jeopardy!, she settled on a real estate show selling in the Bahamas. The couple

was on their third choice, a beautiful blue 3 story house with its own private beach on the

crystalline aqua waters next to the gleaming yellow sand. The house they saw was ringed by a

three foot white fence and had a tidy green lawn encompassed by a ring of shrubbery and palm

trees.

"Wow. What I would give to live there," Julia remarked, jealously.

"Yeah, but it's thousands maybe millions of dollars. Those things aren't cheap," Raph said

back.

In the end, the couple chose the third house, and at the end of the show, they saw the

family living in their newly bought house two years later. Their house now had pristine wood

floors, elaborate columns in the dining room, and a beautiful white-based kitchen and island. The

most gorgeous part of the house was their shaded patio that overlooked their stunning view of the

stunning Caribbean Sea. Up next on the channel was Brazilian real estate, as Raphael saw.

"Ooh, look Matthew, Brazilian real estate. Think you will recognize any houses?" Julia

laughed.

"Funny. I wasn't anywhere near the nice houses of Brazil, those are in the rich parts of the

country. I went to the outskirts of Rio to aid the poor, and at the same time showcase and

document their hardships to present to a group that cares about such people and will try to help.

18

Brazil isn't just beautiful beaches and festive parties and giant statues, you know. There's a so

called "Night side" too, and it's in broad daylight," Matthew said. "Anyway, I'm almost done

with the article, it's very interesting, I just have to finish up a paragraph or so."

"Alright, thanks Matthew," Julia said.

As Matthew got back to work, Julia and Raphael went upstairs to get some drinks from

the kitchen. Julia got a glass of water and put in some raspberry- lemonade water flavoring,

while Raph got a bottle of Cream Soda. The two sat at the kitchen bar and talked about their

homework- which Raph still had to do- and the Eternal Sphere. As they were talking, Julia's little

sister, who was six, came in and asked Julia to put in a movie for her.

"Oh, hey Abby! Have you met Raph?" Julia said.

"Hi, Raph! I'm Abby," she said, and then turning back to Julia, "Julia, I want you to put in

a movie for me. Mommy's busy."

"I'm sorry, Abby, I don't know how."

"I can do it," Raph said.

"You sure, Raph?" Julia asked.

"Yeah, I've done a lot with movies before. Most of my other friends have little siblings

and I've seen them do it before, and I've had to do it myself before, too," he said. "What movie

would you like to watch, Abby?"

"Umm, how about Rio 2?" she said. "I like that one. Especially because Matthew just

came back from Brazil."

"Ok, sounds good!"

The three of them went over to the living room and took out the case of movies, found

Rio 2 and Raphael put in the disc. However, when the movie player would not come on, Julia

19

told Raph that their Dad always had to unplug and replug a cord into a different spot, but she

didn't know where. Raph then went behind the television and looked at the wires protruding from

the various devices there. He noticed four sets of wires coming from the DVD player. Two of

which he noticed were multicolored, so he assumed that they were the Audio/Video cables.

Another he saw ran to a box with AC power sockets, like the ones on the wall, so he figured that

must be the power cord. The fourth cord was labeled HDMI, and it was unplugged at the end.

This he exchanged places with a cord just like it that he found on the TV, and Bam!, the video

came on. When he was coming out from behind the TV, he noticed a small card under the

television set. He reached down and saw it was a flashcard that read Brazil at the top, with a

picture of the country in the middle. He placed the card on the TV stand and emerged to see the

astonished look on Julia's and Matthew's faces.

"What did I grow another head back there?" Raph asked sarcastically.

"Wait. How did you make it work? Like, no one makes our DVD player work except my

our Dad," said Julia.

"Well, I happen to have seen people wire a DVD player before. So, I get the idea of how

one works. Oh, you're welcome by the way. Hey, Matthew, did the article say anything good?"

Raphael asked.

"Here, let's sit down and we'll talk about it. That way if Abby needs something, we'll be

right here," Matthew answered.

They sat down on the couch and Abby snuggled up to her sister while she was watching

her show. Matthew then began to report his findings. After discussing the recount of Mateus'

story by Uncle Billy, Raph concluded that there weren't many differences or supplemental

information. Matthew noticed that the stories had quite a similar word choice as the story that

20

Raph described as Uncle Billy's telling. So, Matthew drew the conclusion that the articles were

written at the same public conference where Mateus told his story. Matthew noted that this so-

called conference was held in New York in 1995, and the article quoted Mateus in some areas

and paraphrased him in others.

Julia mentioned the idea that this might be where the officials were manipulating the

information that got to the public. Then, Matthew noted that again, Mateus didn't mention, or

didn't project to the public, where he had traveled when he saw the sphere. However, the article

did mention Mateus' background. The man was born in Brazil and moved to Arizona and moved

again to New Mexico. Then later, a few years before the article was printed, he moved back to

Arizona, where he lived the rest of his life in the Phoenix area. That last part, Raphael

determined, would be the most substantial part in their search for information. What they did

with that information would have to be decided now.

"Alright, guys. I have to thank you. That reading was some pretty sophisticated

Portuguese. It must have been written by an upperclass Portuguese, Brazilian, or Portuguese-

American company. So, I thank you for bring back memories of High School Portuguese class. It

was like a trip back to Portugal or even Brazil!" Matthew said.

"Well, that's great and all but what do we do now?" Julia asked. "Do we, like, go to a

museum, or the mayor or what?"

Suddenly, Raphael had an idea.

"What if we go find it ourselves?"

The two turned silent, and they again looked at him like he had two heads.

21

"I know. Its like super expensive. But, we, three teenagers, have one of the biggest,

possibly the biggest, leads on this sphere. We could help the world! Three teenagers. Imagine

that," Raph exclaimed.

"Well, I don't know, but if I can somehow convince my mom, I guess I'm in," Matthew

said.

"Yeah, me too," Julia added.

"Alright, Let's go ask our parents."

Chapter 6: A Heated Debate and A Heated State

"Mom," Raph said seriously to his mother. "We got a tip-off that could lead us to find a

device that could possibly save or destroy the world as we know it. If we could find it, and

secure it for the government, we could change the world. Think about it, Mom, three teenagers.

We can do it, if you let us go to Arizona. Please?"

"Raph, you are talking muy loco. This device that you're telling me about seems a little

too good to be true. I don't think-"

"But we might have evidence that Mateus wasn't crazy after all, and that the Sphere is

real! If we can go to Arizona-"

"Raph, silencio. You didn't let me finish. I was going to say, 'I don't think it's real, but if it

is and you have some information, you should try to find it. If you can get just one more lead that

it could be in Arizona, I'll let you go. I want you to be sure it's there before you go."

"No way, Mom! That's awesome! ¡Gracias, gracias! I won't let you down!" He cheered.

The real challenge was to get the lead. Raphael had thought he had found the most

valuable lead, himself, with the article, so he knew that finding another would be much harder.

Nevertheless, Julia and Raph still went to BPL with high hopes that they could find another

22

somehow. Their first plan of action included heading straight for the section where they found

the last article on Mateus. They searched and searched, but to no avail. Yet, they still looked on,

confident Julia and he still could find something of Mateus that would inform them of his own

search or his own work or his discovery.

After about an hour, Raph said to Julia, "Ok, we've looked through this section about a

thousand times already, and nothing has come up. Is there something else we can try? Wait.

What about the Internet? We haven't tried that yet."

"Oh! Good idea, Raph!" She exclaimed. "Well I hope there is stuff on the web that hasn't

been removed or blocked yet. Let's take a look."

They went over to the computer section of the library down the hall to see what they

could find. The Boston Public library was extremely useful in this department as it had a whole

room filled to the brim with computers, all user-friendly. Raph and Julia each sat at a computer

and immediately started looking. Raph immediately took the Google route, starting off with stuff

like: "Mateus Ferreira" or "Mateus Ferreira finds Eternal Sphere or simply "Eternal Sphere".

Julia, he noticed took a more practical route, starting off using school databases, and entering

keywords there. After a while, Raph decided he would not have found anything new while

continuing using good old Google, and he started using various databases as well. It took him a

while, but eventually he formulated a decent search phrase and got somewhere.

"Hey Julia, check this out," he called, beckoning her over to his computer, "It mentions

Mateus in an article for a magazine. And it looks like he's giving an interview as well. But

looking for the publication information, I couldn't find anything. I guess it wasn't published. "

"What the actual hexagons! Well, what does it say?" she said.

23

"It talks about his research, which apparently he did profusely after he came to the public.

Read it over, you'll see. One thing that popped out to me was right, there," he pointed. "It talks

about where he was. It says the exact town, the address, everything. It even mentions some

details about what exactly his research encompassed."

"Wow, this is great! I think this will be the perfect lead for your mom. Let's go show it to

her ASAP," she said, pulling his arm.

What they didn't know was that looking over his newspaper, sat a man in his twenties,

eavesdropping on everything they said. when they started to leave, the man motioned to two

younger boys, appearing to be 16 or 17 each, who in turn ceased groping around on the shelves

and walked over to the beckoning man. The man said something to the teenagers, and picked up

his magazine again. At this, the two teenagers left the library, not before stopping at another

shelf, searching briefly, and picking out a concealed book across from where the two kids were

originally looking.

Chapter 7: A Flight South

"Raph, I hope you know that this trip is very expensive. The flight down alone costs over

a thousand dollars. I got a deal, though. $1,056 on Delta Airlines. I hope you enjoy your free

wifi," Raph's mom said to him on the way to the airport.

"Thank you very much for letting me go, Mom," Raph said back to her.

"Yeah, thank you very much, Mrs. Carrillo," Julia chimed in from the back seat.

"Yeah, thank you so much," said Raph's brother and Julia's brother at the same time.

"Oh, you guys are welcome, who am I to worry you guys about prices. I hope you enjoy

yourselves, get some sun for me. You guys know what to do as soon as you get in right?"

24

"Yes, Mom. I've been through it a lot, I go on trips at least every month remember?"

Raph's brother, Jack, answered.

"Alright, be careful guys, not everyone in this world is quite as friendly or happy as our

Uncle Billy sitting in front of a Thanksgiving turkey. See you guys in five days alright? Bye, I

love you, Raph. Love you, Jack" She said.

When they got in the terminal, the four of them went to the kiosk to check their bags, and

went to the security gate. Once they were past security uninterrupted, they sat at the airplane gate

and sent Matt and Jack to go get breakfast as it was still eight o'clock in the morning. Then they

all sat around stuffing their faces with their quality airport bagel sandwiches. After a delicious

2.72 seconds of eating, they wiped their mouths and started talking amongst themselves. In about

20 minutes, the plane started boarding and was due to take-off around 8:45. The four got their

stuff and got in line when their row was called. They got on the plane and buckled in after

securing their bags. Raph left his stuff under his seat so he could continue his research while he

was on the plane. In a few minutes, they were at cruising altitude, and Raph took out his laptop.

It would be a long 5 hour trip.

About 2 hours in, Julia took off her headphones and asked Raph if he wanted to play a

game of tic-tac-toe.

"Yeah, sure. As soon as I get back from the bathroom," he said as he closed his laptop

and slid it into his bag. "It's been a long flight with not much to do. I'd be happy to play."

He got up from his seat, and sidestepped his way into the aisle and proceeded to walk

toward the back of the plane. While he was walking down the aisle, he saw a man looking up at

him over the sea of seats. The man looked remotely familiar and held eye contact with him for 3

whole seconds, and then put his head down. When Raph walked by, he saw that the man was

25

reading and pretending nothing ever happened. Then, when Raph came out of the bathroom, he

saw the man peer at him over the back of the seat, and quickly turn around. Bemused, Raph

quickly returned to his seat and told Julia of his finding. Julia was apprehensive as well.

"Uh, that's a little weird, don't you think? Do you recognize the guy?" Julia asked.

"Yeah, I mean no, I don't think I do. It's weird," he replied absentmindedly; his mind was

on the man in the back. "You know what? I bet the guy has been reading that book for two hours

and just needed to look up for a while. Also, the seat next to him was empty so maybe he was

waiting for someone in the bathroom. Let's just play tic-tac-toe, we'll see what else he does."

They did. Julia took a page of paper out of one of the several notebooks she insisted on

bringing, and they played for an hour straight, with respective "Yeah's" and "Ohh, man's" when

they won and lost. Soon enough, Matt lost interest in the television programs JetBlue was

offering and looked on. He began to try to predict the outcomes, which soon became amusing

after he started guessing the opposite outcome 3, 4, eventually 8 times before he threw his hands

up and went back to watching the boring television programming.

For the rest of the plane ride, Julia and Raph played more games, got some lunch from

the plane's meal service, and listened to music. About an hour before they landed as they were

listening to music, Julia got tired and fell asleep on Raph's shoulder while he was looking at the

clouds.This got Raph thinking about Alexandra, who he knew he wouldn't see in a while. A

particular memory surfaced as he pictured what he and Alexandra sitting together at a café when

they landed would be like.

"Hey, Raph, wait up!" Jeff said in Raph's memory. "Wait up! Come on Raph, she's not

going anywhere for 20 minutes! Raph!"

26

"Alright, alright," Raph said. "But I want to get a good table at lunch in the cafeteria. So

let's go."

"Dude, 8th grade isn't going anywhere that fast. You will have plenty of chances to see

your girlfriend," Jeff remarked, sarcastically emphasizing "girlfriend".

"Woah, woah, woah. She's NOT my girlfriend."

"Yeah, sure." Jeff smiled, rolling his eyes.

They walked to the lunchroom and sat at the table right next to Alexandra's. Alexandra

had just gotten up to get lunch with her friends. So Raph sat down with his friends and opened up

his lunch box. Noticing he needed a fork, he and Jeff went to go get one. At that time, Alexandra

came out of the lunchroom giggling with her friends. She flipped her hair over her shoulder,

smile on her face, and Jeff nudged Raph with his elbow. Raph shook himself out of his trance

and punched Jeff in the arm, who was laughing silently.

"Hey, Alexandra," Raph said as she walked by.

Looking around, surprised, and seeing the source of the greeting, Alexandra replied,

"Oh, hey. Ha-ha-ha," and turned back to her friends.

This made Raph smile. He looked at Jeff who was making kissing noises at him.

"Oh, grow up would you?"

He and Jeff got to the utensil rack where a janitor was refilling the cups. Jeff poked the

man and politely asked him if he could get a spoon and a fork.

"Oh, sorry boys, I'll get out of your way," the janitor said, turning around. It was the man

in the back of the plane.

"Oh my Gosh." Raph exclaimed, jumping out of his reverie and knocking Julia's head of

his shoulder.

27

"What? What's going on?" Julia said, groggily opening her eyes.

"Oh, nothing, sorry to wake you," Raph said back as he tried to keep his heart from

beating out of his chest.

"Oh, that's oka-"

"Hello this is your captain speaking, we are approaching Phoenix, Arizona and are

beginning our descent. We'll be on the ground shortly, please buckle up for the remainder of the

flight. Thank you," announced the intercom.

"Oooh, Julia look! I can see the city out the window! Look! We'll be down there real

soon."

Chapter 8: Base of Information

They landed at PHX, got their bags from the baggage claim, and were out of Sky Harbor

International Airport in just under an hour relative to landing. The quartet hailed a taxi from the

busy Arizonan streets and told him to get them to their hotel. On their way they passed by the

Arizona Diamondbacks' home baseball field, Chase Field, as it was closing its roof. Eventually

they made their way into the suburbs and looked out over the brush- ridden landscape for the

remainder of their ride. They then checked in and went up to their room. It was only 8:26 P.M. in

Arizona Time, but coming back from Boston, they were on the 11:26 P.M. time that they were

coming from. So, they fell on the bed, exhausted and slept soundlessly until morning.

The crew ordered room service for breakfast when they awoke, though it was almost

noon in Arizona time. Once they had downed some orange juice and french toast, they began

discussing the day. They were there for four days and would leave at night the fourth day, so

they began with discussing their schedule.

28

"Alright, So we have four days to work this out, and you guys are in charge so how do

you want this to go?" Jack asked, pointing at Julia and Raph.

"Well, today we should at least get a feel for the area, and maybe check out this place.

We have the address, so we can get a taxi, or we can ask someone and if its close we could walk.

I only say that because I love this weather, just saying," Julia replied.

"Yeah, sounds good. I really need today to get used to the time change. Then, when I'm

not dragging on the sidewalk, I'll be ready to explore," Raph supplied.

"Alright, sounds like a plan, Stan," Jack concluded.

"My name's not Stan," Raph said.

"I know, that's why I said it," said Jack, smiling.

"Just shut up," Raph said, punching his brother in the arm jokingly. "Now, if Matt is done

stuffing his face," he directed at Matt, who in turn looked up incredulously with his mouth full of

muffin, "Let's get a move on."

Swallowing, Matt protested, "Hey, I'm hungry!"

"Oh, come on muffin-head, we don't have all day," Julia said, standing up.

The crew left their room and walked downstairs to the lobby. There they picked up a

local map of the area and with a little guidance from the receptionist, they found the location of

Mateus' house on the map. The place was two and a half miles down the street past a local

bakery which Matthew pointed out and passive aggressively reminded them that he was

ferociously torn against his will away from the routine daily necessity that was breakfast. Then

with a few chuckles and some more protests out of Matthew they headed out to find the Ferreira

Residence.

29

Two point five miles proved to be rather boring and exhausting. This was the consensus

of the group because under the dry Arizona sun, the short walk felt like hours, but eventually the

group made it to the address they knew as Mateus Ferreira's. The house was small but stocky,

indicating that those who lived there were middle class people with a decent, but not exaggerated

sum of wealth. The lawn was an anomaly. It was the only vibrant shade of green on the street.

Near the front of the pale turquoise house sat four slightly overgrown bushes that looked as

though they had been watered quite well, and surrounding these were little pink flowers popping

up out of the soil. The gang reached the walkway and continued up to the porch and awkwardly

looked at each other to silently vote on who would ring the doorbell. Julia and Raph motioned at

the same time, but Raph withdrew and let Julia do the honors. She rang the doorbell. When there

was no answer she attempted so by rapping on the door.

"Wait, just to clarify. Isn't this guy dead?" Matthew asked. "Like no offense, but wouldn't

his house be empty? As in, no one home?"

"What are you saying? Are you trying to suggest that we just walk right in?" Julia asked

incredulous.

"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying."

"Wow, that's just rude. Hey guys, just in case anyone was wondering who the jerk who

made us go inside when we weren't supposed to, make sure you tell them it was this guy."

"Oh, cut it out would you?" Matthew said, rolling his eyes. "Come on, do you want to

figure this sphere thing out, or not?" He pushed on the door handle and it gave no resistance.

"Oooh, spooky." Jack added in his best haunted voice.

"Oh stop," Raph said.

"No, I'm good," Jack said laughing. "Let's look around, guys"

30

Entering the home, they were greeted by an elegant- looking home that was faded out by

years of dust. The first thing they saw was a long hall commenced by two sleek curving columns.

at the end of the hall was a kitchen top with a marble surface, and stained oak cabinets. A single

faucet-head sat dangling its sink, swinging slightly as their footsteps rattled throughout the

dwelling. When the crew reached the end of the hallway they looked around. To the left was the

rest of the kitchen with a hallway leading out of it and around a corner at the other side, while on

the left was an enormous living room that seemed like it could fit a decent party. Like to the left,

there was a hallway that extended outward on the other side of the right-hand room as well.

The group stared at each other in awe and silently unanimously agreed to go down the

hallway on the right. Crossing the room to the hall, they noticed a wall marked by several

hanging art pieces, as well as a grid of light squares opposite to what seemed to be a window.

Walking past this, they got their first view of the back yard, not nearly as maintained as the front,

as it was covered by pebble footing ringed with grey polished stones. Down the hall was another

intersection, leading right, left and straight to a closed door. To the left down this hall was what

appeared to be a laboratory or something "Science-y", whereas on the right was a library, with

book cases lining the walls.

"Jeez, well, we know this dude was smart. Which way do you guys think will yield the

most information?" Matt asked.

"How about the one on the right?" a strange voice said behind them.

Chapter 9: A Strange Voice

Everyone wheeled around, wearing shocked faces in surprise. A young lady stood before

them, just shy of Jack's height. She wore a purple shirt and a skirt with bare feet. What surprised

31

them most was how pale and beautiful she was. Once the four had set aside their astonishment,

Julia asked,

"Who are you?' Julia asked.

"I am the ghost of your friend Mateus' sister, and have come to warn you about the

inevitable fate you will come to if you continue down the path you are traveling down now. You

all, and your precious Earth will be entered into an epoch of death and destruction. So, please,

while you still can, go home and live on without mention of the artifact you now seek," the

woman said.

"Yeah, I'm not buying it." said Jack.

"Yeah dude, ghosts, just not real," Matt agreed.

"Excellent," The lady muttered, "You aren't as gullible as I thought."

"No dip, Sherlock. We're teenagers, not toddlers." Raphael contested.

"Wait, what's the difference?" the lady asked with a straight face.

"Woah, woah, woah. Rude. That wasn't cool, we are not anything close to toddlers,

missy." Jack said.

"Yeah, except Jack," Matt laughed.

"Ha ha ha," The lady laughed. "You guys are funny, I like you guys."

Everyone laughed except Jack, indignant, who said, "Wait, this isn't funny. I am not a

toddler!" This made everyone laugh even harder, and made Jack eventually throw down his

hands in defeat.

When everyone finally calmed down, Julia asked, "What's your name, and are you related

to Mateus?"

32

"Why yes. I'm his daughter. My name is Elizabeth, but you can call me Eliza if you

want."

"Eh-lee-za? Like E-L-E-E-Z-A?" Matt asked.

"Yes, it's pronounced that way but, jeez, work on your spelling. E-L-I-Z-Ah" she replied.

"I take it you are looking for my father's work, am I right?"

"No, of course not, we just uh, saw this nice-looking house and-" Jack and Raph started

saying until Julia cut them off.

"Yes, we are," shooting Raph and Jack a glance. "We hope that by finding it, we can

return it to society and reset the negative effects humanity has done to the Earth. Without,

hopefully, causing World War III, of course."

"Well, I can tell you it isn't here," Eliza solemnly replied.

"What?!" all four of them gaped. "But, how? Why?"

"I don't know. I asked him about it previously, and all I got was that it was found in

Brazil. I knew my father had a lab down there, but I have no clue where or if the sphere or his

work is there. I truly am sorry."

"But, wh- I mean- Ugh, why must everything get so difficult when we get so close?!"

Raph exclaimed.

"I am sorry. Maybe know that you know his lab was in Brazil, you may be able to learn

more." Eliza said. "I am sorry but I can no longer help you, and I am afraid it is time for you to

leave."

The four left and Eliza shut the door behind them, presumably locking it. They walked

back to their hotel in silence, the only sound around them was the sound of distant airplanes and

33

the white noise of the cars on the interstate to the north. When they got to the hotel, they all sat

on their beds defeated with their hands on their heads. Finally, Raph spoke.

"Well, what do we have left to do aside from going home."

"No," Matt said. "We came this far, I'm not giving up."

"Well, what else should we do?!" Raph snapped back. "I'm spent. I have no more ideas,

so unless you can telepathically connect with the sphere telling us where it is, I don't see how

we'll ever find it."

"Woah, woah, woah." Jack said putting out his hands. "Let's not get worked up, now.

That's the least we need right now. Let's think logically now."

"Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry."

"Wait," Julia's head jerked upward. "What if we use Eliza's advice and check out BPL

again. I'm not so thrilled about going back empty-handed, but its a step. It could end up good or

this whole thing might just be a bust. We won't know unless we try."

"I'm game," Matt said, and Jack nodded in agreement.

"Let's do it," Raph said.

"I'm stopping at the bakery before we leave this place," Matt pointed out.

"Oh, fine," Julia remarked, rolling her eyes.

Chapter 10: Back Again, Almost.

The gang caught the 10 P.M. departure Red-Eye flight back to Boston the next day. Matt

got a muffin at the airport Dunkin' Donuts (he claimed that the fat bag he brought back only

contained one muffin, but Raph was certain he saw him scarf the first down as he was walking

out of line), and the others when to the comfort kiosk to purchase a pillow and blanket. When

boarding time came, Jack presented the tickets to the attendant, and the crew got on the plane in

34

silence. As he put his bag in the overhead compartment, Raph turned and thought he saw the

same man as before, but looking back, didn't see him.

Oh, no don't even start with me, paranoia.

Raph took his seat on the same side of the plane, and after the captain explained the

emergency procedures, and the plane began to lift off, he put his head back and fell into a deep

sleep that lasted until a beautiful light woke him up, and the sun out the window.

"Raph, we're here," Julia said from in front of him.

"Thanks," he returned, groggily rubbing his eyes.

As the plane taxied into the gate, Raph struck up a conversation with Julia beside him.

"How'd you sleep?" he asked still rubbing his eyes.

"Alright," she replied, stretching her arms up and back. "What about you?"

"Pretty good, I must say," Raph said, still rubbing his eyes while arcing his back.

"Yeah, I would guess considering the amount of snoring you did. You kept saying

something about a man in your sleep. Bad dream?"

"Huh, that's funny. I don't remember dreaming of anyone," Raph lied.

"Yeah, I almost never remember my dreams. It's funny how that wor-"

"Welcome to Boston, the local time is 5:45 and it's a pleasant 52°. We will be arriving at

the gate in a couple of minutes, so sit tight and thank you for flying with us," said the captain

over the intercom, followed by,

"Hello, Flight 1576-A, the aircraft is almost at the gate, however, the captain asks that

you remain seated and your seat belt remains fastened for the remainder of the ride, thank you."

said the stewardess over the intercom.

35

The plane eventually rolled into the gate, and a cargo cart could be seen driving over to

the plane to unload the suitcases from under the plane. Soon, the seatbelt signal turned off, and

everyone got up to retrieve their overhead items. Finally, the crowd started to move, as people

disembarked the plane. The four walked through Logan International to get their luggage from

the baggage claim, and found their way to the exit. They resolved that, since Jack had his car

parked in the parking lot (employee parking at the airport was great apparently), he and Matt

would bring home the luggage and stuff, while the other two went to the BPL which wasn't a far

bus ride away. So they did. Jack and Matt went their way to the parking garage, while the others

went to the taxi and bus pick-up.

They got on the bus that was headed to the Prudential Center, the Boston Public Library

and various other hotel stops on the way. After two stops en route to their destination they

arrived outside the front main entrance to the McKim building.

"Hey, we should go for breakfast at the Prudential Center before we go burn out our

brains," Julia said.

"Yeah, I'm half brain-dead anyway, that was a long, uncomfortable flight. I'm game."

They walked down Boylston Street toward the Prudential Building looming over them.

They entered the rotating doors, and mounting the escalators rose up to the hall level of the

Prudential Center. As they rose gradually to the top, the tops of kiosks became visible and

eventually the entire hall. They walked toward the glass covered food court where they planned

to eat their breakfast. They passed kiosks selling phone accessories, homemade cookies,

sunglasses and Boston colleges' sweatshirts, featuring Harvard University and the Massachusetts

Institute of Technology, two schools that Raphael truly admired. They then got food and sat in

the food court, Prudential Tower towering high directly above them.

36

When they finished their delicious breakfast they walked back down the hall back toward

the Boston Public Library. As they were exiting, they began walking toward the library and the

gleaming Hancock Building, but Raph wanted a quick picture.

"Hold up, Julia," he said stopping her. "I just want a quick photo of the Pru. This is a

great time to use some filters my new phone came with."

"Alright, just make it qui-," she said ending with a cough to clear her throat.

Raph activated his phone's camera and selected his filter. He took three pictures and then

turned around to continue on to the library. But, Julia wasn't there.

"Julia! Hey, Julia! Juli-," he was cut short by a rag on his mouth and a putrid odor that

filled his nostrils. The light of the city seemed to dim painfully to black in front of his eyeballs as

he passed out.

Chapter 11: Cain Zielinski

When Raph awoke, he was in a dusty cellar with one light above him, sitting in chair, not

bound but there was no apparent method of escape. Raph got up and walked the perimeter of the

room, which was clearly a finished basement, since contrary to the weather outside, the room

was moderately warm, but still had the cool damp feeling of a basement. As Raph walked about,

he noticed an area of the wall with deep, thin scars, scattered throughout the given area in no

particular pattern. Attempting to find the reason for the scars, he moved down the length of the

wall to find the parameters of the scarring and didn't hear the false wall open to darkness behind

him.

"Ah, I see you have found my practice spot," said a voice from behind him, and Raph

spun to see its owner. As he did, a dim shiny object whizzed by his nose and landed with a

"klunk" in the evidently wood wall.

37

"Watch yourself," the voice said again, as Raph was mid- turn. Instead, he turned in awe

to look back at the wall that surely now possessed the projectile. Sure enough, a black knife

handle stuck out and up at a 40 degree angle, and a dull unpolished black blade was barely

visible underneath.

"Woah, bro," Raph said. "Are you trying to kill me?"

"Not really, and I didn't really plan on it. But if you really want, I can have that

arranged." The man standing against the wall on the other side of the room said.

"Nah, I'm good thanks."

"Alright good, because I want answers, not to kill you."

"What exactly do you want answers about?"

"The Eternal Sphere," the guy said, with an expression of interest that looked vaguely

familiar.

"Wait, how do you know about it?"

"Well, fair to say I can ask the same to you, isn't it?"

Raph rolled his eyes.

"Isn't it?!" The guy insisted, compelling Raph to acknowledge his question in a quiet

affirmation. "Ok, good. So, we are on the same page. This is how it's going to be. I ask you a

question, I expect a vocal reply. Comprende?" The Spanish for "Got it?"

"Sí, Comprendo claramente," Raph replied, telling him he understood clearly, in a better

Spanish accent that the dude lacked.

"Ah-ha! I thought Raphael Carrillo spoke Spanish," he said grinning.

38

"Woah, wait. How in the world do you know my name, you creep?" realizing his

mistake, he flinched, thinking the guy would lash out. No blow came, but when Raph looked up,

the muscular guy stood up from the wall and glared him down.

"Well, since we are being rude and forward, I will be rude and forward. I saw what you

were looking for in the good old Boston Public Library, and I took interest. So I followed you.

That trip to Arizona was quite nice."

Instantly the mental image of the guy sitting in the back of the plane resurfaced, and

Raph saw the connection.

"You were watching me on the plane. I knew it! I knew you weren't just waiting for

someone in the bathroom. You were watching. Creep."

"Hey, that's no way to act when you are about to relinquish your claim to the honor of

having found the Eternal Sphere," The guy said, shaking his head. "Which, let's face it, was

pointless being sought for in the dust bowl they call Arizona. Brazil was apparent from the start."

Vague memories of seemingly pointless incidences where Brazil popped up coincidently

emerged from the depths of his memory, where they were stored from being thought

unimportant.

"Why Brazil?" Raph asked, curious.

"Oh, never mind. I've said too much. But let's just say I found an interesting source of

information from the Library's collection," The man said, extracting a book from the darkness

and holding it up to the dim light.

Raph couldn't discern the title, but it seemed noteworthy.

"Woah, where did you get that?!" Raph asked, incredulous.

39

"Why, from the Boston Public Library, of course," The man replied, smirking half

concealed by the edge of the light.

"Okay, we looked everywhere for something like that. You're bluffing," He paused,

realizing he did not know how to directly address the man standing across from him."Wait, you

know my name, so tell me yours."

“Well, see I could tell you any name I want you to call me. I could tell you that I am Prince

Charles of the French Kingdom of some island in the Pacific. You just have to believe me. It’s

not like you will ever see me again after you get out of here. If you get out of here that is."

"Dude seriously, not cool. Not cool."

"Yeah, I figured you'd say something like that," he said, extracting a knife and flipping it

over and over in his hand. "So, anyway, my name is Cain. Cain Zielinski. I will be your

enchanting... host during your stay here." Cain let his knife fly to land with another "Klunk" in

the wall behind Raph upon exhaling the word "host".

"Host?! For some reason, that doesn't seem very... accurate." Raph shot back, pondering

the best word.

"Well, I am, and you are going to like it. You also will answer all my questions as I see

fit. Thank you." Raph's host said, sarcastically.

"Sure."

"Alright, first do you know about this Eternal Sphere?" Cain asked pulling a chair out

from the shadow and shoving it across to where Raph stood.

"Not much, considering that you have the most interesting piece in Boston Public

Library, we know a lot less than you apparently. You have likely already read the articles we

40

picked out. Also, if you really want to stalk us, feel free to head to the BPL and check out our

search history. I'm sure I can access it, just for you."

"Bahp, Bahp, Bahp, Bah. Let's not act that way," Cain said, sitting down in the chair he

extracted from another spot in the shadows. "What I want to know, is how exactly you even

found out about the Eternal Sphere. So, do tell."

Raph began to recount the story that Uncle Billy a few months back when he had gone to

Thanksgiving over Aunt Anna's and his house. However, when he began talking about Mateus,

Raphael thought,

Wait, I doubt this guy knows my Uncle Billy, or the exact article he read. Maybe I don't have to

disclose all the information he revealed to us.

So, Raph decided to manipulate the information he was delivering to his audience. He left

out the parts of how to work the sphere, but decided he ought to include how he found it, as he

had heard the story, as well as some of the effects mentioned. When he finished his story, Cain

was stroking his chin, and when he had decided the story was over, he got up, replaced his chair

where he got it, and exited the room. Incredulously, Raph began to ask whether he would be

released, or if he would get food, but Cain was already gone. So, Raph began to pace the

perimeter of the room again. He couldn't think of any way out, or anything he could do for the

time being. Consequently, he just sat down in the chair Cain had left for him. When he did, he

heard a resounding "bang" on what seemed to be the exterior of the room he was in. He got up

and examined the chair. Rocking it back and forth, he concluded that there was nothing wrong

with it and sat back down. After a second or two, a second resounding "bang" sounded, this one a

bit louder. Confused, he looked around. Then, the whole room echoed with a "bang".

Chapter 12: Escaping to Brazil

41

"Raph! Come on! Let’s go!" a voice said urgently from Raph’s right. When he wheeled

around, he saw his brother standing in the door, directing him out. "Raph, come on! Hurry!"

Raph ran out the door his brother was holding open. Jack in turn slammed the door and set off

after him.

"What the hexagons is going on?!" Raph yelled over his left shoulder as he ran down the

corridor.

"You were kidnapped, doofus! When we went to the library an hour after we got home,

you weren’t there, so we sent you a text. Then, when you didn’t reply for another two hours we

came after you."

The two rounded a corner. "Where exactly are we?!" Raph shouted back at his brother.

Jack replied, "Upstate New York. Anyway, we got to get you out of here, and to Brazil."

"Why Brazil?" Raph started to ask. He then realized what Jack was talking about. "We’re

really continuing to look for that?"

"Yeah dude, of course!" Jack yelled up, panting.

The two got to an intersection in the compound. Raph slowed to a stop, allowing Jack to

catch up.

"Alright now where to? There are three ways to go," Raph said, noting the possible

directions he could go. He looked to the left and saw a hallway with unconscious a dozen or so

people, and motioned to Jack. "You... did... that?"

"Nah, I did that, directing his attention to the right hallway." There, all the way down the

hall, lay unconscious men slouched on the floor necks slumped to the side. Looking back to the

left, Raph could see the difference.

"Well, yeah, I guess I should've known you'd have gone for the face."42

"Yeah, if this thing cools down, we really have to teach this dude Matt how to punch. He

got the strength but no technique."

Raph laughed, but as he did, footsteps sounded from the hallway in front of them. He

tensed ready to run, but Jack stopped him.

"No wait, look."

It was Julia and Matt.

"Well, nice of you guys to show up," Jack called to them.

"Yeah, what're you guys waiting for? Let's get out of here!"

The four of them ran to where Matt claimed the exit was. Julia apparently confirmed this,

saying that she and Matt had found it after her brother had got her out of her holding room. As

she was finishing saying this, Raph noticed a man in front of them down the hall. Jack sighed

and said,

"I got this guys," and he ran faster toward the guy, while the others hung back a little bit.

When he got close, Raph noticed that the guy dropped his shoulder and was planning to tackle

Jack. However, Jack, agile, spun around and stopped behind him. Then Jack ran up behind the

man and kicked him in the back whilst holding his shirt, and then letting go. The man, who tried

to get up, met Jack's fist as he pushed up from his side and fell back unconscious.

"Nice move Jack," Matt called.

"Yeah, that spin-move was 'pro'," Raph yelled, beginning his dash again with the others.

The four ran until Matt got them to the exit. The group then ran to Matt's car located in a

nearby alley. Matt ran to the driver's seat, Jack claimed shotgun and Raph and Julia got the back.

Just as the two sat down and buckled up in the back, Jack jumped out of the car with something

43

in his hand. He cocked his arm back and launched something into the alley that skittered under a

dumpster. Getting back in the car he said,

"Come on! Go, go go!"

Matt started it and drove out of the alley way like a mad man. The tension remained until

they had driven for at least 20 minutes when everyone regained a normal breathing rate. Raph

was the first to comment.

"OK, that was intense. Now, where exactly are we and where are we going?"

"One, yeah it was. Two, we're in upstate New York. Three, we're bringing you to the

airport," Matt said.

"Wait, what about you? Aren't you coming too?"

"I'm afraid I have to go home, I can't go on this one, but if there's anything I can do back

here in the states, I will be happy to. Julia has my cell phone number, so send me a call. But,

don't worry. You won't be alone, Jack will being coming to make sure the alligators don't get you

guys."

"Yeah, I'll punch them in the jaw for you guys," Jack added.

"Sure, I hope you break your hand," Raph said.

"Thanks, Stan. Love you, too."

"My name's not Stan."

"I know, and I won't break my hand."

"Alright, sure."

"Brother fights are so cute," Julia remarked.

Jack and Raph stopped throwing comments back and forth and stared at her, making her

laugh. Jack and Raph protested, glaring at each other, silently agreeing that it was not funny.

44

"Oh, would you guys stop, you are all so annoying! I mean I saved your behinds from

some maniac in New York and you don't even thank me. Oh, the shame," Matt played nobly.

"Yeah, thanks. And, hey, nice car by the way. I like all the trash. Especially that Dunkin'

Donuts bag. That's a nice Dunkin' Donuts bag," Jack commented, and everyone laughed.

When the laughing finally died out, Raph asked, "Hey, Jack, what was that you threw by

the dumpster?"

"Ah, I thought you'd ask. Well, it was a tracking device. We bought a little cheap tracking

set on our way up. The pack came with a monitor and ten little GPS spheres that we can track on

the monitor," Jack answered, holding up a ball and the monitor.

"Dude, that's sick."

"Yeah, I know. Your brother has good taste," Jack said, smiling.

"Woah, I picked them out. Jeez, man," Matt corrected.

"Classic Jack, taking all the credit," Julia said shaking her head.

"Yup, you nailed it," Raph laughed, and Jack threw down his hands in defeat, igniting

giggles in the back seat.

They drove on for another 3 hours, though most of them, Raph spent asleep. It was late

and they had been through a lot that night. About half-way through, Jack and Matt apparently

switched, because when Raph awoke, Matt was asleep in the passenger seat as the sun rose down

the highway. Raph tried to stay awake and shield his eyes, but he eventually just closed them and

fell back asleep.

The next time Raph woke was to the sound of Julia's soft voice telling him that they were

here, and then Jack's rock music, which he cranked up until frantically, Raph proved he was

awake. While he was out, the gang had stopped at their houses and packed some clothes for the

45

three who would be boarding their flight right after lunchtime. Raph looked out the window and

saw that they were back at Logan International Airport, and then looked at the clock and saw that

it was 12:30.

"Wakey, wakey. Your flight leaves in an hour." Matt cooed.

"Joy," was all Raph said in return.

Chapter 13: The Flight South 2.0

When they got to their gate they sat down with their lunch and looked out the window at

the arriving and departing planes. Raph opened his lunch platter and dove into his seafood that

he got at the airport Legal Seafood. He scarfed most of the platter down then paused for a drink

that he picked up at a kiosk along the way. As he was drinking, a Southwest airlines plane was

taking off down the runway. Julia nudged his arm. When he looked, she, too, was taking a drink

and was pointing at the plane.

"Been on one of those before," she said.

"Yeah, the service is terrible.

Julia laughed and said, "Nah, not really. I thought it was pretty good. I especially like

their pillows," and began laughing again.

"I don't get... Oh. I get it I was your pillow. Oo-oh. That's a good one," Raph said and

face-palmed himself, shaking his head.

"That's funny," said Jack, and the two looked at him like he had two heads.

"Oh, Jack, I kind of forgot you were here. It was quite nice," commented Raph.

"Good one. Now, we're gonna be boarding in like 20 minutes so let's listen. It's already

loud in here, let's not make it louder. Uncle Jack already has a headache,"

46

"Uncle Jack now, are we? So Raph is your brother/ nephew and I'm your niece?" Julia

inquired interestedly.

"No, Raphael Carrillo is the dork that was adopted to be my brother, and I'm just Uncle

Jack. Deal with it. 'Drops the mic and leaves'," Jack said sassing them with a double hand shake

in the air.

"Yeah, who's the dork?" Raph asked Julia.

Laughing, "Raph, you aren't really adopted, right?"

This made Raph laugh, "No, but Jack wishes I was." To confirm this, Jack put his hand

together in prayer position to imitate pleading to a deity and shook his head, chuckling.

For the remaining 15 minutes, Raph and Julia watched the planes in silence, and Raph

drifted off to think about Alexandra.

The first memory that surfaced was when Raph was in History class, with Alexandra

sitting behind him. Jeff sat to the right of him, and no one sat on his left. When the class was

studying Chinese Dynasties, Raph got his work done first, put his pen down, and slid back in his

chair. Alexandra poked him on the head with her pencil eraser lightly, to get his attention. Raph

spun around and said, 'yo'.

"Are you done already?!" she asked, incredulous.

"Uh, yeah. Did you need help?" he asked politely.

"Well yeah, I can't figure out why the Manchurians took away the religious freedom of

the people in the Qing Dynasty. Can you help?"

"Sure," and Raph began to explain.

"Jeez, you're smart," Alexandra commented, and began writing.

"Nah, not really, but thank you."

47

"Dude your grades are what, all A's? A+'s?"

"Uh, I'd rather not-"

"You are like too smart. Just go to college already, smarty," she laughed.

Raph then thought of a time where they were in the lunch room at the start of freshman

year. Alexandra was at the table behind him, Raph had his back turned, and was talking to Jeff.

Raph had just mentioned the guy who won American Ninja Warrior that night, when something

hit his neck. He turned around to see what happened, but the source was unidentifiable. So, he

turned back to his conversation with Jeff. A few minutes later, the same thing happened. When

Raph turned around, nothing had changed. So, he located the projectile, which turned out to be a

grape, and walked over to the table.

"Uh, is this anyone's?" Raph asked, and was met with a blast of laughter.

Confused, he waited until the laughter died out and asked, "Should I come back later?"

One girl across the table piped up, "It was Alexandra's", which made Alexandra perk up

and deny it.

Cautiously, Raph over-dramatically placed the grape in the center of the table slowly, and

said, "Alright, I'm gonna leave this here," causing another burst of giggles. He then left the table,

returning to his own, chuckling, with a smile on his face.

As Raph was thinking about another good time with Alexandra, he was interrupted by

something touching his hand on the airport chair armrest. He shook himself out of his flashback,

and looked down to see Julia's hand on his. He started to look up at her, smiling, but she hastily

removed her hand and said,

"Oops, sorry, ha-ha. My hand slipped," she said, glowing red.

48

"Oh, that's okay. It was no problem really. Actually-" He was cut short by the

announcement from the loudspeaker saying,

"Flight 2456-B, boarding at Gate 32 may now step up to the flight check-in, I repeat,

Flight 2456-B, boarding here at Gate 32 may now be checked-in, starting with those who have

purchased seats with MoreLegRoom®."

"Oh, looks like we'll be boarding soon. We ought to get our stuff... and wake up Jack,"

Julia said giggling.

"I got this," Raph said. He walked over to his brother and shook him gently, saying

"Wakey, wakey little baby Jackie," and when he didn't wake up he drew back his fist and as he

sent it directed at his brother's arm, shouted mildly, "Wake up, Doofus."

But, just as Raph's arm was about to connect, Jacks hand shot out from under his armpit,

grabbed Raph's hand and said, "I'm awake."

Raph attempted to yank his hand free, but when he couldn't, he pulled harder, pulling

Jack out of his chair with it. Shaking his head and stretching, Jack nodded to Julia and Raph

indicating it was time to join the herd of people surrounding Gate 32. They didn't wait too long,

but, when they got on, Jack exclaimed his relief to sit down again by immediately crashing into

his seat when they were on board, pulling his hat down and feigning to go to sleep. Raph

reminded him brotherly to put on his seatbelt, which was met by a teenage grumble, oddly akin

to a bear when agitated.

Eventually, the captain gave is speech and in less then 15 minutes they were in the air, en

route to Northern Brazil. Raph and Julia were research powerhouses on the trip down because, if

they were honest with each other, they really didn't know what they were going to do when they

landed. Each had a printed copy of a map of Northern Brazil, and were hard at work looking at 49

potential destinations. Raph had packed headphones and worked hard while jamming out to his

favorite playlist.

After about four hours of research, Raph got quite tired. He took out his earbuds and told

Julia he was going to take a quick rest. It was about six o'clock in Boston, but Raph still felt

exhausted. He reinserted his earbuds into his ears and reclined to fall asleep, however, as he was

leaning back, he noticed Jack, still asleep, and chuckled to himself. He soon fell asleep to the

thought of his brother's "doofus-ness".

When he would wake up, he would be in another country, far from his home.

Chapter 14: Maps Don't Lie, But People Do

"Raph? Raph. Ra-aph. Raph!" Raph heard, and shook himself awake.

"Thanks for waking me up, Julia. I think I slept a little long," Raph said, beginning to get out his

laptop. "I better get start-" Raph had just looked up and realized that the last two people were

getting off the plane, and Julia and Jack were standing there in the aisle packed and ready to go.

"What?! We’re here? Jeez," Raph exclaimed.

Julia handed him his bags that she had retrieved from the overhead storage compartment, and

Raph jumped up and into the aisle so they could get off the plane. He politely apologized for

being late off the plane as he disembarked, while Jack and Julia behind him thanked the Captain.

The crew followed the airport signs, that were in English and Portuguese, to the baggage claim.

They didn’t have much stored in the belly of the airplane, just two suitcases, one for the two

Carrillos and one for the one Aarons on the trip. Once they had gotten these they silently went to

the taxi and bus boarding area to get the bus to their hotel in Central Manaus.

50

They rode the bus in silence, spare a thank you to the driver. They got off at the Caesar Business

Hotel, where they would stay in comfort for the duration of their adventure. Immediately they

were impressed. Jack claimed otherwise, but Julia and Raph could tell contrary by the number of

times he looked around, wearing a stunned look.

The lobby was phenomenal; it consisted of a check-in desk to the right, just to the right of a long

stairwell going up to the next floor. The entire room was flower- and plant-based. The center

table was covered in flowers. The check-in desk had flowers. The floor had floral designs. The

guest area had a coffee table with elaborate bouquets on them. They were everywhere. It seemed

to the three that the jungle they were about to go search blindly was ever-present in Manaus.

Jack told Julia and Raph that he would take care of checking-in, so they went over and sit in the

guest lobby area. The section had comfortable-looking chairs and a table sitting on a red and blue

checkered floor. Each of the teenagers chose a seat next to each other and sat leaning back

embracing the sheer beauty of the hotel. They admired the mezzanine, with its glass railing and

wood handrails, and the intricate table in the middle of the lobby, decked with flowers. Sooner

than they anticipated, or time just went by faster while they managed to relax, Jack came back

with three room keys and an informational packet.

The three then went up to their rooms and like in the hotel they visited in the states, jumped onto

the mattresses, sighing in relief. Raph especially enjoyed this, as he was still groggy from

sleeping soundlessly for 15 hours on the plane. They for ten minutes just lay there staring at the

blank ceiling. Quite soon, Jack had had enough, and got up and began examining the room they

would be staying in for the next couple of days. Raph watched him rummage through the

drawers of the desk in their room, examine the closets, the bathrooms and fridge, and then finally

pick up the hotel guide. He read through this until Raph heard him put the book down and say,

51

"Alright, so it looks like there’s a pool here. You guys want to check it out?"

"Sure," Julia replied. "I’m game for a swim. I think Matt packed me a bathing suit."

"Jee, what a nice guy."

"Hey, he was being a nice thoughtful brother."

"Yeah, what a nice guy to do that."

"You would do that if you had a sister, you know, make sure your sister had all her stuff ready

for a trip."

"Unlikely."

"Wow, how rude."

"Just kidding. Now if you guys want to beat the rush you better head down. Its almost after

dinner time."

"What are you going to do, Jack?" Raph asked.

"I am going to go to find a store somewhere around here to get some stuff for out uh, vacation,

out in the jungle."

"Good idea. Alright so we'll see you- when?" Julia asked.

"I'll probably be back when you come back from the pool."

"Alright see you later, Uncle Jack."

As he was opening the door to the hotel room to leave, he shot a glare at Julia, who

laughed, and as he was finally leaving the room she called,

"Love you, Uncle Jack have fun at the fishing store," and Raph could see the look he

gave her.

"He hates me," she said turning to him. "Anyway, we better get going. We had better

change."52

"Ladies first," Raph said, mocking a bow.

"Oh, jeez," she said and headed to get her stuff.

Raph took this as a prime chance to check out their room. They had a TV, multiple

drawers in a dresser, a desk, a closet, and a very eccentric bathroom themed about, you guessed

it, nature. There was also a balcony, so Raph decided to check out the view. He opened up the

curtain and stepped out the sliding glass door onto the balcony. He was greeted by a warm gust

of air and an extremely pleasant smell of botanical entities. The view was almost as pleasant as

the warm, moist jungle air that differed greatly from Boston's. Palm trees were all around, and

looking down, Raph saw his next destination, the pool.

The pool's design was quite complex, Raph noticed immediately. The main section of the

pool was ovular with a circle design on the bottom that warped outward forming many more

elongated ovals. Off the ovular body in three directions were circular pools and off the fourth

direction, the main body stretched to form the entrance to the pool. This area was rectangular and

inclined from the depths to the bottom of the two sets of stairs leading into the pool. The railing,

too, was interesting to Raph; it was a single handrail that split into two rail that curved into each

circular set of stairs. On either side of the pool sat two hot tubs, bubbling away, positioned

slightly nearer to the rectangular body of the pool than the opposite end consisting of the three

circular side-pools.

"Okay, your turn," Julia's voice said from behind him.

Raph turned around to see Julia in her bathing suit, a two-piece with a floral bottom and a

colorful ruffled bikini top, putting on a beach robe. She walked onto the balcony and moved

aside so Raph could get by.

As he walked by her to go change, he commented, "Nice suit."

53

With a smile, he got "Thanks," back, and with that he proceeded to get his tank top and

bathing suit from his suitcase.

When they were both dressed and had acquired towels from the bathroom, they headed

down through the lobby to get to the pool. At one point during this journey, Raph commented

that he thought it would likely be easier to rappel down the side of their side of the hotel to get to

the pool than via the route they took now. But the two did find their way and got good seats by

the pool. There wasn't much competition though, as there were a total of seven people there.

They dropped their stuff on their chairs and waded into the water. The water was warm as

the air which in Raph's opinion was ideal, and the soft breeze against his wet skin made the water

slightly warmer, so Raph dived in and swam around. Julia, to Raph's astonishment, had joined

him, and when Raph poked his head up, she was right behind him doing the same thing. For the

time being, they swam about, or just chilled on the edge of the pool exchanging quiet banter.

Raph pretty much had a smile on his face the entire time and Julia was the same way.

At one point, they got themselves into a splash fight, and ended up disturbing the peace

that was shared by them and the attendant, as everyone else had left, which made the attendant

come over and ask them to leave. All the way back to their hotel room, they laughed and joked

about the expression the attendant had given them. When they finally got back to the hotel room,

and as Raph was making a face similar to the one the attendant had given them, Raph noticed

that Jack was home.

"Hi, Uncle Jack! We're back!" Julia called.

"Oh, would you be quiet, you'll wake up the country of Brazil." Jack said in his normal

friendly tone. Just then, a toilet flushed, and out walked none other than Eliza Ferreira.

Chapter 15: The Assistant Makes Four

54

"Woah, what are you doing here?!" Raph exclaimed.

"I thought I'd stop by and see if I could help you guys out."

"But, you said you weren't gonna help us, you liar."

"Hey, Raph, she changed her mind. That's a good thing isn't it? Let's not start calling

people names."

"Oh, yeah. My bad. Alright, let's start over. What exactly are you planning to do to help

us?"

"Well, I dug through the information on my Dad's computer look what I found," Eliza

said, retrieving a manila file folder from the table and handing it to Raph. He opened it and on

the first page was a map with a red dot and an arrow drawn in in red ink that read,

The Cave: 2° 29' 45.69'' S; 58° 9' 13.72'' W"No way! We gotta check this out. Come on," Raph said.

"Uh, Its 10 o'clock. Nice try, Buster," Jack threw back.

"Fine, but first thing in the morning."

"Deal."

That was what they did. The four of them went to bed soon after and woke up to the

alarm Raph set on his phone, full volume. They arose groggily and dressed themselves one at a

time, still rubbing their eyes. Everyone was yawning and begging to go back to sleep except

Raph, who was giddy with excitement. They went to the hotel lobby and found the

complimentary all-you can-eat buffet and ate enough to keep them alive. They then got a taxi

down to downtown Manaus where they would figure out where they would go next.

55

As soon as they made it to the city, they grouped together and figured out how exactly

they would get to the coordinates. Raph started the conference outside an internet café off a

main road.

"Alright guys, I think we should get to the Amazon river, rent a canoe for two- three days

and find this thing and figure out how to get it out of the cave."

"Maybe, but let's keep our options open," Julia said.

"Oh, I know! Jetpacks. That is all," Jack said, crossing his arms, nodding.

"Really?" Raph asked.

"Yeah. we ride in style." He shot back.

"And where exactly do you suppose we get those Jetpacks."

"We buy them on the black-market."

"Oh! So now we want to get on Interpol's radar now do we?"

"Boys, boys, boys." Eliza said, shaking her head. "I already took care of that."

Raph and Jack both looked at her and started to protest that they wanted to go in their

methods, but Eliza simply said,

"Yes, we ride in style, and no, we won't get on Interpol's radar. And, before you even

think about being sarcastic, yes, it will get us to our coordinates."

"Oh, yeah, Mrs. Smarty, is it a decked-out military helicopter?" Raph said.

"Close, but yeah. That's exactly what it is."

They followed Eliza to the Amazon River boat launch and got a private boat, that she had

booked, and they were transported to a secret helipad on the bank of the river by a secret nearby

Brazilian military compound, similar in stature to Area 51in the States. There an EC 725 Super

Cougar sat on the helipad, prepped and ready for flight. The gang's jaws dropped.

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"Hey Rafael," Eliza said, greeting an approaching soldier carrying a helmet with a visor.

"E aí?"

"Muito Bem, Obrigado."

"So, guys, this is Rafael, he'll be our pilot in our stylish ride. And no, Raph his name is

spelled with an F, not a P-H."

"What did you say to him?" Raph asked.

"I greeted him and asked him how he was. He replied that he was very well, thanks.

Rafael and I go way back. I'll tell you about it sometime."

"Well, Alright. The things you learn in a day. Anyway, let's get this show on the road."

They boarded the aircraft, which had one co-pilot seat and a back bay with seats and full

body harnesses. Eliza took the co-pilot seat while the others took the transport area. Raph and

Julia took the two seats by the door and Jack took the first of the 12 seats on the opposite side of

the helicopter. Soon enough they were in the air, and once they had hit their cruising velocity of

155 mph, they were there in a mere 15 minutes of low flying over the river.

The pilot told them the landing procedure over the headset as they were flying. The pilot

would stop over the bank of the river, where they had found a small clearing, and they would

drop them there. The clearing, however, wasn't large enough in area that the pilot could land. So,

the pilot instructed Jack to secure the ladder and swing it out the door when the helicopter had

positioned itself over the drop zone. From the hovering copter, they would climb down the

ladder to the ground, and the procedure would be repeated for when they got back on.

This the gang did, and in no time, the four were on the ground, ready to go. The

helicopter flew away soon enough and they were on they own. Raph broke the silence as they

followed Jack's GPS down a nearby river toward the coordinates. 57

"What river is this?" He asked, pointing at the relatively small tributary branching off the

river they had flown over.

"It's the Rio Uatumã, and it branches off the Rio Uatumã, which was the river we turned

to when we swung left in the middle of our flight. I seem to remember you screaming your head

off over the headset."

Raph glared at her in protest, but looking around at his friends, their shaking heads

confirming the incident.

"Wow, guys. Thanks."

They continued on their way toward the red dot on the GPS that marked their set

destination. Time seemed to draw out on the four adventurers while they were in the jungle. In

the humid heat, hours felt like days, minutes felt like hours and seconds were torturous. The

temperature in Manaus that day was 87º, but in the Jungle it felt like 95º. Several times the

group stopped for water breaks, just to stay cool, despite the facts that their Thermoses were

getting warmer and warmer.

When they were a mere quarter mile out, Raph stopped them, on the grounds that he

thought he heard an animal in the trees in the distance. The group stopped and looked. Raph

looked in the direction he thought he heard it from, and the rest of them did the same. Julia shook

her head, she couldn't see anything. Jack looked at Raph with a puzzled expression. Just then, a

"crack". Eyes bolted back to their original position to sight the source of the perceived broken

stick. Nothing again. They waited five more minutes, and Jack finally said,

"Well we had better get a move on. If it's an animal that wants to eat us it likely would

have attacked by now. Or, it could just be some creature that just wants to be left alone. So let's

get a move on, we're closer than ever."58

The group turned and began walking again. Just as Raph, the last to turn and resume,

started walking again, a blur of movement caught his attention. His head snapped to the left and

caught the sight of three teenagers running in the same direction they were. When the guy in

front looked at him, Raph recognized him. It was Cain Zielinski, his New York captor.

Chapter 16: Racing for Power

Without two seconds of thought, he yelled, "Quick, Run!" and started running as fast as

he could. Raph didn't know where he was going, where the Eternal Sphere lay, or where Cain

and his posse were headed. He just ran. They swerved around trees, hurdled logs and all-out

sprinted as hard as they could. Raph began to fall behind, so he steeled himself, gasped for air

and putting his head down, he ran with all his might.

Raph managed to catch up to Jack, Julia and Eliza, who was then starting to fall behind.

Raph tried to help her along, to catch her up with the group, but he fell, face first into the ground.

Eliza kept running, and when Raph looked up, the other two were ahead, gaining ground every

second. Raph looked around, to see what tripped him as he was getting up, cringing as he

extended his legs. Looking back, he saw a log protruding out of the ground and in disbelief and

agitation, he started to jog in pain.

Wait! A log sticking out of the ground! He thought to himself. He walked back to where he was,

and sure enough, where the log was protruding, was a hole, large enough for a human to fit

through, but not large enough to be noticed immediately. Raph wheeled around and yelled,

"Wait, Guys! STOP!" He projected toward them as loud as humanly possible and even

though they were a couple hundred feet out, they halted and turned around. Seeing Raph so far

behind, they looked back at their opponents and ran back to Raph rapidly.

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As they were running back to him, Raph looked down in the hole. There were large rocks

just under where Raph was standing, and the topmost rocks had dirt in between, but down at the

cracked rock floor, there were larger boulders and moss caps. The floor was a maze of rocks and

dirt, clearly aged.

"What is it?" Jack said, between heaving breaths.

"I think we found the cave." Raph said pointing.

"Yeah, I think so," Jack said, examining the cave entrance and to confirm this, he took

out his GPS and nodded that this was the right location.

"Alright, well let's go," Julia said. "I call first!" She walked over to the hole and lowered

herself to the ground then into the hole.

"Me next," Raph said and mimicked Julia. He got into a push-up position, then lowred his

feet to the ground, sensing where the rocks were for footholds. Step by step, he worked his way

down into the dark cave. Once he had finally reached the floor of the cave, he got out of the way

to stand next to Julia.

"What do you see?" He asked.

"It's too dark. We need Jack and his pack."

"Yeah, for once Jack is useful."

"Hey! I heard that!" came Jack's voice from above them.

Julia laughed and said, "Good ol' Uncle Jack."

Eliza came next through the hole, and in due time, Jack came last, struggling with his

backpack, to the point that he eventually got back up, threw his backpack through the hole, and

descended himself. Once down, by the light of the sun through the hole in the ground above

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them, Jack dug around in his backpack looking for the flashlight and when he did, he shone it

down the cave.

The cave was uniform throughout, dirt walls, a strange crooked, cracked stone floor and

roots stemming out of the ceiling. Down the hall was an intersection that split in three more

directions. The group walked down the hallway toward the intersection, Raph and Julia in the

lead watching their tall shadows cast by the flashlight held by Jack. When they reached the

intersection, they stopped and debated which way they ought to go.

"Well guys, what way should we go?" Julia asked.

"I think we should go left," Jack declared.

"Well, I think we should go right," Raph said. "Right looks longer- less likely to be a

dead end."

"Well, I think we should go left, because I am older than you."

"And, I don't care, because I think we should go right anyway."

"Well, too bad, Stan."

"My name's not Stan, Uncle Jack."

"Ooo, so creative."

"Yeah, because I say right."

"Too bad, left."

"Right."

"Girls, girls you're both pretty. Now let's settle this the intelligent way. By looking at the

papers my father wrote to tell us where to go!" Eliza intervened, starting toward Jack to get the

file folder out of his backpack. She unzipped the bag and retrieved the folder, where she looked

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around and extracted a paper, beginning to read. After a few minutes of scanning, she looked up

and said,

"So my father says straight. Are we done being girls now?"

"Sure," Jack replied sticking out his tongue.

They then began walking across the intersection to the middle path. As they were

walking, the only notable change Raph detected was the elevating feeling of ominousness and

anticipation as they walked further down the cave. With every step, the cave seemed to be

actively trying to extinguish Jack's flashlight, because to Raph, the light level in the cave seem to

depreciate constantly. But then, after about fifteen minutes, Raph noticed the darkening effect

begin to wear off. The cave seemed to get almost lighter. Raph didn't mention it, but instead

silently wondered if the other's noticed it.

The cave turned right, and when they did, they could see the source of the light. The

illumination came from ahead, where once again the cave turned. However this time, it turned

left and was defined by faint light appearing from around the corner. The anticpation seemed to

grow wings and soar to cruising altitude to Raph as his senses peaked with anxiety. After ages,

they rounded the corner and stopped immediately. Looking down the hall was a circular cavern

made of the same material of the walls of the cave passage. In the center, however, in a fountain

of light streaming from the ceiling, sat the glowing orb they knew as the Eternal Sphere.

Chapter 17: The All-Powerful Globe of Legend: Found

The group slowly walked up to the cavern, Raph in front. As Raph got closer he began to

notice the details on the object he had spent months imagining. The sphere was mounted on a

pedestal, black as night, that has tiny little white dots that appeared to sparkle. The globe

appeared to float, and on the bottom sat a black expanse that received no sunlight from the hole

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above. On the top of the sphere was another object with the same complexion as the pedestal,

except that it was hovering in midair. On this there was a particular white dot that shone mildly

brighter than the rest on the odd substance holding the sphere.

Wait. I think those are supposed to represent stars! And, that's Polaris! Raph thought continued

examining the sphere. One thing Raph noticed looking up was that there was actually a ring of

holes in the ceiling, but most were covered in leaves except for a small portion that could let the

sunlight through. The sun now was on the farthest left hole and it illuminated half of the globe

Raph now saw.

Looking at the globe itself, Raph saw stark contrast between the two hemispheres

discernible by whether they were lit up or not. The left hemisphere, lit up, was defined by

sparkling blue, pristine white, heaps of green and some desert tan. The other side, in darkness,

was defined by black, obviously, and surprisingly, yellow.

"Hey, Julia. Are you seeing this? The yellow on the darker side?"

"Yeah, I do. What do you think it is?"

"I honestly have no-" He trailed off, but got an idea. "Wait, what if those are the cities?

Like there," He pointed. "Europe."

"That's so cool."

"Can you find where we are?" Jack asked.

"Uh, probably. Let's check." Raph replied.

Raph started to walk around toward the illuminated hemisphere , but remembered what

he had heard about the sphere. He put his hand tentatively in the upper "atmosphere" and moved

to the right. The sphere spun clockwise. He then panned in toward his location, and the whole

image on the globe zoomed in enormously. Raph identified the Uatumã River, and then found

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the cave. He gestured to the place in awe and accidentally placed his finger too far into the

atmosphere. A loud thunderclap sounded overhead, and everyone ducked in fear.

"What the HEXAGONS was that?!" Julia asked, looking around frantically.

"Wait. I just pointed at the globe." Raph said, confused. "Like this-"

Raph again pointed at their location on the ground and the thunderclap happened again.

"Hold up. You interacted with the sphere, and something happened to the world. What

you do to the globe happens to the Earth!" Eliza exclaimed. "That's the secret of the Eternal

Sphere!"

"Oh, yeah forgot about that," Raph said, rubbing his head. "Maybe we shouldn't-"

"Woah, woah, wo-ah!" said a voice from the opposite side of the cavern. "You played

with the sphere before we got here?"

Raph, Julia, Jack and Eliza wheeled around to see Cain Zielinski and the two boys that

were running with him entering the cavern.

"Why do you guys get to have all the fun when you don't even get to bring it back to

society and claim glory for the discovery?"

"Woah, woah, woah! Who said you would either?" Julia asked.

"I did," Cain said evilly, with a grin.

"I don't think so, buddy. If you look around and figure out how to count anytime soon,

you'll see that we outnumber you. Not the other way around. So, try again," Jack said.

"Well, it's my precious artifact anyway. Caleb and Marty here can attest to that."

"Yup, sure thing, boss," the two goons standing behind Cain said.

"Oh, my bad. You haven't met my friends. Marty and Caleb Brown. They help me out

with things. Such as taking care of little children like you."

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With that, Raph and Jack had had enough. They, in sync, ran full speed at Cain, with

intent to harm.

Chapter 18: Cave Fight

The two boys instantly engaged Cain and his cronies, who rushed in at Jack and Raph,

while Julia and Eliza hung back. The girls looked for something they could do to help. First, they

looked for sticks they could throw to the boys to give them an advantage, but couldn't find any.

So, instead they looked for rocks they could free from the ground. This also failed.

"What can we do to help, Eliza?" Julia asked.

"I don't know. What is left in the cave except for dirt and fighting boys that is useful?!"

Eliza exclaimed, frustrated.

The two thought hard, and in a few seconds, Julia said, "Wait! The Eternal Sphere!"

They rushed over to it. On the way to it, Eliza saw something happen on the sphere.

"Julia, did you see that?"

"What?"

"On the sphere. I saw something flicker." Eliza relied, still confused. "Wait, back up,

maybe we'll see it again."

Sure enough, the girls saw something again when they backed up. Two little lumps

appeared in one of the cave holes. Julia looked up to see what was above the hole they were

under, and Eliza gasped.

"What? What happened?" Julia asked, looking at Eliza.

"Look at the sphere."

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Julia looked at the sphere, and out of the corner of her eye could see that Eliza had looked

up. Looking at the the two lumps on the sphere, she could see that one was a face.

"Wait. That's you!" She exclaimed.

Eliza looked back at Julia and said, "Yeah! What happens to the world on the sphere

happens in real life, and what happens in real life happens on the sphere!"

"Wait. We can use that!"

"Oh my gosh, you're right!"

The girls ran to the sphere and panned in to the cave. The rest of the sphere went dark,

which must have meant that they were looking underground. They then altered the perspective so

they were looking from their backs at the rest of the room. They could see themselves and a

blurred blue object in between them. This must have been the sphere. In front of the two girls on

the sphere were the boys fighting. While examining the sphere they witnessed Jack give Marty a

nasty punch to the jaw. Both the girls recoiled and yelled, "Yeah, Jack!"

"Okay, now what can we use?" Eliza asked.

"Wait, look," Julia turned the perspective 180 degrees, toward where they had entered the

cave. "Rocks. That's what we can use."

"Oh my gosh! That's actually genius! One question: How do we pick them up?"

"Yeah, I'm getting there." Julia said, biting her tongue, deep in thought. "Tapping

maybe?"

She tried tapping on the boulder on the sphere, and a loud noise sounded from behind

them. Looking back, Julia saw the rock had exploded. She turned around and saw the boys had

stopped for a second. But, as Julia thought that, Cain creeped up behind Raph, panting for air,

and drew back his fist.

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"Raph, around! Now!" Julia yelled, and Raph wheeled just in time to see Cain send his

fist flying. Raph tried to get out of the way but, being a fraction too late, got clocked on the nose

and sent spinning to the ground. "Eliza, we have to hurry," Julia yelled.

"Try pinching your fingers not to hard over the rock. That might work," Eliza provided.

Julia tried. She positioned her fingers so one was relatively above the rock and one below

the rock and began to squeeze slightly together, slowly so it wouldn't blow up. But then, Jack

yelled, "Hey a little quicker over there. Three against one isn't a fair fight." She tried again, and

this time the boulder rose.

"You did it! Now throw it! Quick, Cain is off Jack!" Eliza said.

"Alright. Here goes nothing," She spun her perspective, and locked on to Cain's rugged

body. When Jack was away from the rest temporarily, she paused and let the boulder fly. A rock

flew over her head, over the sphere and hit Cain, dead on. Cain fell to the ground, and passed out

against the wall. Marty and Caleb looked up as Eliza stared them down. Julia looked

momentarily at the ferocious glare she gave them and in seconds, the teenagers on the other side

of the cave were gone.

"Well, that was intense. Good job, Uncle Jack. Good Job-" Eliza paused. "Wait, where's

Raph?"

"Over he-ere," Raph struggled, laying on the ground out of sight.

"Raph! Are you ok?" Julia asked running over to help him get up.

"Just a little wiped, you know?"

Laughing, Jack said, "You did well today, Stan. Great Job. Although you did get knocked

out a little and left me alone. Jee, thanks, bro."

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"My name's not Stan!" Raph said, and Julia and Eliza laughed. "Okay, well we need to

figure out how to get the Eternal Sphere out of here. Any ideas?"

"Oh don't worry, I got this one covered. We just have to go up and enjoy the view of the

Rio Uatumã while we wait," Eliza remarked.

"Wait, what are we going to wait for?" Raph asked.

"I have the extraction process all set up, all we have to do is go up and notify my buddy

on the walkie-talkie I gave Jack."

"Alright, sounds short and sweet to me," Julia said. "Let's go."

The crew went up to the river bank a hundred feet or so away from the entrance to the

cave. Eliza called her friend from the Brazilian Military to come pick them up in a specialized

copter. While they were waiting, they enjoyed the start of the sunset over the Amazon rainforest.

They waited for about 25 minutes, and in that time they saw crocodiles, birds and some lizards

on the near bank. Pretty soon the military helicopter would come and meet them. During the 10

minutes before the copter came, Eliza took Jack's walkie-talkie and GPS and walked back to the

cave to give the pilot directions.

When the copter came, the gang walked back to the cave entrance, and a marine had

dropped down from the helicopter and was digging a large hole around the center of the cavern.

Raph and Jack joined in, and in little time, the hole was dug, and the sphere sat in the hole

patiently. The real tough part was hoisting the sphere up. The helicopter lowered a specially

made gyro-cage they would use to lift the sphere with out dropping or tilting it. The gang had to

figure out how to lift the pedestal from the ground.

The marine used a jackhammer to carve four holes that intersected in the middle for

ropes. The helicopter lowered ropes then and two special rings used to separate the rope from the 68

main section of the load. The marine positioned the rings so the ropes weren't hitting the sphere

and secured the ropes around the base. Then, they began to hoist it. After five tense seconds, the

pedestal with its prize mounted on top, was in the air and in a few more seconds, was safe in the

gyro-cage, ready to go. The helicopter then lifted the cage into its cargo bay and took off, back to

the military base.

"Yo, Eliza what's the deal, aren't they gonna take us?" Jack asked.

"Yo, Uncle Jack, where we gonna fit?" Eliza asked sarcastically. "I mean the helicopter's

cargo bay is stuffed, and it is a cargo helicopter, so did you think there was a passenger section?"

"Good point, so we just wait for the other helicopter to come pick us up?"

"Well, you could try waiting for one while we go to the helicopter at the clearing that will

take us to the VIP jet waiting for us."

"Oh, well nevermind then."

"Ha-ha, yeah, I thought so." Eliza said, sardonically mocking laughter.

So they walked to the awaiting helicopter. Just like before, Raph and Julia sat next to the

bay doors and Jack sat on the opposite side. However, this time there was a co-pilot in the co-

pilot's seat so Eliza sat in the back opposite the bay doors next to Jack. When everyone had

buckled and the co-pilot had distributed the headsets, the copter lifted off. In the air, they

watched the river go by beneath them and saw a White Hawk that the pilot pointed out.

They got to the military base as the sun was taking its final glimpse of the rainforest

before it fell over the horizon for the night. The landing pad lights brought the pilot in, and soon

enough, the gang was on their way to a Jumbo Jet marked VC-3 on the tail with the flag of

Brazil; this was the national VIP airline, Raph remembered. Soon they were in the air on a

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Brazilian presidential-grade airliner on their way back to Boston with an ancient artifact that

hadn't been seen in decades until now in the underbody.

Chapter 19: The World in the Basement

When the crew got back to the states, they had already discussed what they planned to do

with the sphere. The Brazilian Military aircraft was allowed full security clearance and unloaded

directly into a Brazilian heavy-armor transport vehicle designed for street use, that was

apparently on-board the aircraft. The group got in a car and rode back to their house.

A few days later, Jack, Raph, Julia and Matt sat down for dinner. They ate a hearty meal

of roast beef and vegetables and exchanged conversation. Strangely enough, none of this was

about anything that had happened in the last couple months. Julia brought up her grades, Raph

talked about his invention club, finally declassified, and Jack talked about the upcoming lacrosse

game he had to win. All appeared normal in the Carrillo house while they ate a family-and-friend

dinner together.

At the end of the meal, Raph got up and brought his plates to the sink where Jack was

standing, looking over a magazine. In silence, he washed his plate and put it in the dishwasher.

Then, he nodded to Jack, who put down the magazine and walked with Raph over to the staircase

leading down into the basement. They went into the left room, designated the "exercise room",

and unlocked the back door. Jack flicked on the lights and they began walking again.

"You haven't seen it yet, have you?" Jack asked.

"No. The military officer told me it was down in our back room, but not where. Since you

had the key, I had no way of coming down to see it. So yeah, this is the first time," Raph said

back.

"Well you'll like it. We figured out an excellent solution to the problem."

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When they rounded the last corner of the Carrillo household's back room, Raph saw what

he wanted to see. The Eternal Sphere. It sat on its pedestal, in their basement, confined within a

reinforced glass gyro-sphere. Nothing could knock it over, nothing could touch it. No harm

would ever come to the precious artifact. No one knew about it yet except for the four who had

found the sphere, Matt, and the parents. The whole ordeal would hopefully remain a secret to

most for as long as possible.

"Hey, Jack," Raph asked.

"What's up?"

"How did we get that glass gyroscope?"

"Some friends at MIT made it while we were away and they brought it when you were in

school yesterday. Matt had it made."

"Oh. I see. That's cool," Raph noted, nodding. "Well, what do we do now?"

"I don't really know. I guess its just back to regular life now."

"Well, I'm good with that."

They laughed and walked back upstairs in silence again, Jack shutting and locking the

back room door behind them. They went back upstairs and sat down on the couches in the living

room. Jack sat on the beanbag, the parents sat awkwardly together on the big couch, as usual,

Matt took the rocking chair, and Julia and Raph shared the little couch. The parents turned on the

TV and they watched some random show that turned out to be quite hilarious and kept them

laughing themselves until they made themselves go to sleep. It was well after 11 when the

Aaronses had to leave, and Raph went up to his room to got to bed after saying "Goodnight."

The next day was a Saturday, so Raph woke up late and started on some homework he

had missed that Monday and Tuesday while he was gone. He was working on his English

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project, an analysis of the reading of Macbeth when the phone rang around one o'clock in the

afternoon.

"Hello, this is Julia, may I speak to Raph?" Julia's voice said through the reciever when

Raph picked up.

"This is he, what's up, Julia?"

"Oh, hey. I was wondering if you wanted to go to the library and work on some

homework with me."

"Sure, when would you like to meet?"

"How about 1:30 in the Johnson Building?"

"Sure, sounds good. I'll be there in a few," Raph said. "Talk to you later."

"Alright, see you," the other line said, and hung up.

Raph took a shower, got dressed and then grabbed his bike to ride down to the Boston

Public Library in the June sun. He showed up at 1:32 and Julia gave him a look, then laughed

and ushered him over to where she had claimed a beanbag for both of them. They sat down and

started on their homework together.

"Ugh, I hate English class. It's so boring, and we have so much work," Raph groaned.

"Ugh, I know. English is the worst. I have all A's and A-'s in that class, I just can't get

good grades there," Julia mentioned.

"Yeah, that and robotics for me," Raph said. "Robots just don't like me, I guess."

Julia laughed and with that they got to work. Raph on his English and Julia on her math.

At times, they got up and looked around for resources, or to get a snack at the café, but other

than that, they sat shoulder to shoulder, hard at work. They shared jokes often and shared

complaints about how evil school was.

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When Raph was looking through a book on diagramming sentences, Julia caught his

attention, "Hey, Raph."

"Yeah, Julia?"

"To be honest, I've really liked you for quite a while now and I think that we should be

more than friends. Do you want to go out with me?"

Raph, surprised, smiled and said, "Yeah. Yes, I do." and gave her a big hug.

Julia pulled back a little and without a word placed her lips on his and gave him a kiss. In

that moment, everything was perfect. Raph didn't want to ever leave that spot in the library with

Julia in his arms. When they pulled away, smiling they started talking for a little while, until all

of a sudden, Raph's phone rang. He slid his finger across the screen to answer it and said,

"Hello, Raphael Carrillo speaking."

"Hello, Raphael. This is the President of the United States. I wanted to talk to you about a

particular artifact that you have uncovered. Do you have a few minutes?"

Stuttering, he replied, "Su-sure. What would you like to know?"

The End

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