CONNOR GIBBONS
THE TWELVE SACRED STONES
BOOK 1
JALEXANDER

Future titles in the Connor Gibbons series (In reading order):

CONNOR GIBBONS IN:

• THE TWELVE SACRED STONES
• PIGWIGG WADDLEDOODLE’S CURIOSITY SHOP
• CITY OF DARKNESS
• THE MIRROR
• THE CASTLE
• THE ALIEN CONQUEROR
• THE ARMY OF DOOM
• A WORLD DESTROYED
• DEATH OF A HERO
• THE FUTURE REVEALED

BOOK 1
CHAPTER 1
CHRISTMAS IN JUNE

New York, New York

All eyes turned toward the young man in the dark blue suit. Most just took a quick look and then turned back to what they were doing, while others stared openly, just smiling and shaking their heads.
There were two reasons the young man caught everyone’s eye. First off, this was a construction site and unless you were part of management or an inspector, you would not be on a job site in a suit. Secondly, was June in the city, which means it gets hot, hot, and hotter.
Young Johnny Beck did not take much notice of who was watching him, nor did he care what they were thinking. His every step seemed carefully planned as he passed one obstacle at a time, keeping his mind on how he could deliver a message from head office to the construction site superintendent “as safely as possible”. He just wanted to get back to his little desk, his sanctuary, at the Atlas Construction Company on Pectin Street in the Bronx.
Just when Johnny thought, he was going to make it through the maze unscathed, he rounded a corner and heard a very loud noise that sent him to his knees with his hands over his head. He knelt there on the ground shaking for what seemed like an hour. When nothing else happened, he slowly raised his head to see a construction worker standing over him holding two pieces of two-by-four. He looked down at the young man and again he smacked the two pieces of wood together and without saying a word, smiled, and walked away.
Shaking and sweating, young Johnny was glad when he finally handed over the package and paused at the entrance of the construction site. With a wave of his hand and under his breath, he muttered a few words, turned and disappeared out of sight.
After the young man left, Matt Henagar, the site boss, without looking up or even turning his head away from the plans on the makeshift table shouted out an order to anyone within earshot of the old dilapidated trailer; “Tell Dave Miller I want to see him right away.”
Within ten minutes, Dave, the crew supervisor, stuck his head in the doorway and asked, “What’s up Matt; you wanted to see me?”
Matt replied, “Yeah; deliver this message to John Gibbons. I think he’s working on the fourth or fifth floor; I don’t care where he is, just give him this message ASAP.”
Dave did not have to read the note to know it must be important. Finding John would not be a problem because he was one of the few carpenters Dave could count on to be where he was supposed to be at all times. When Dave got to the fourth floor and started to walk toward some workers framing a wall, he stopped after about ten steps and called out for John to come to him. John put down his hammer and walked toward his boss, not expecting anything out of the ordinary; good workers are often asked to leave one job to do something that was a rush on another job.
Dave handed John the piece of paper, and as they walked toward the doorway, John stopped, looking a little pale. He looked at Dave and said, “There’s a problem at home. I need to leave right away.”
“Go ahead, it’s almost quitting time, and don’t worry about your tools”, said Dave. “I’ll look after them, just go.”
“Thanks Dave, I will make up the time tomorrow or on Monday,” muttered John.
His voice trailed off as he ran to the stairs leading to the first floor. He couldn’t wait for the elevator; it was too slow, but his choice of the stairs was not a good one either. Two laborers coming up the stairs carrying a large piece of plywood blocked his way. He was about to shout at them but he held back and waited until they reached the landing. With a burst of speed, he ran down the stairs taking two or three at a time.
After running across the dirt parking lot, John was out of breath. He waited a few seconds and then reached into his pocket for his keys. After a minute of searching, he realized that they were not there. “Oh no, they’re in my lunch pail”, he remembered. He shouted, “Darn it!” and then he hit the top of his car with his fist!
Looking up at the building, he thought of the trek back up to the fourth floor. He shook his head and started running back across the lot, but then he stopped dead in his tracks, letting out a huge sigh of relief. John looked up and saw Dave coming towards him carrying his lunch pail.
“I guess you’ll need this,” said Dave as he handed the pail to John. “You know my friend, sometimes these things have a way of turning out okay,” he assured. “Give me a call when you can and please take care of yourself and watch your driving.”
John’s heart was pounding so hard he thought it was going to burst. He took the note out of his pocket and read it again. The words “Connor had an accident; I will meet you at the hospital. Love Helen,” jumped from the page. John knew his wife would not contact him at his work unless it was very important, so he braced himself for the worst.
“I’m John Gibbons. What room do you have my son in?” he asked breathlessly as he arrived at the main desk.
The nurse responded, “He is in room 203. It’s just down the hallway on your left.”
John thanked the nurse and then headed toward the room, hoping that things were not as bad as his mind was telling him. He opened the door slowly and saw his wife sitting next to Connor. Except for the bandage on his forehead, Connor didn’t look all that bad, he thought, but from where John was standing he could not see the bandages on Connor’s left arm. They blended in with the white sheets on the bed. Helen stood up as John approached her and with a swipe of his hand, he moved the chair that was between them out of the way. John put his arm around his visibly shaken and worried wife. He kissed her on the cheek as they turned and looked at their son.
John cleared his throat, and with a soft squeeze of her hand asked his wife to tell him what had happened.
“You remember Billy Harper, Connor’s friend from over on Tenth Street? He and Connor are classmates. Well, he came home crying to his mother, telling her that Connor got beat up by a boy in their school that everyone calls Moose. Moose is a big kid from one of the grade ten classes and is always picking on the smaller kids, but only when he knows the teachers aren’t watching,” she relayed.
“Apparently, Moose got mad at Connor because he wouldn’t give him the sandwich and cookies, I made him for his lunch. However, when he and Connor moved to another table, Moose shook his fist at him and said he would get him on the way home from school,” continued Helen. “Billy told Connor to tell their teacher about Moose wanting to fight. I guess he was hoping that she would talk to Moose.”
John listened intently as Helen continued to tell him about the events leading to Connor’s hospitalization.
“When confronted with the possibility of a fight, Connor bravely said he did not need to talk to their teacher because there was not enough time in the day for Moose to fight everybody he didn’t like. Billy and Connor took the short cut through the vacant lot after school.”
“You know where the old Abbot’s store used to be, before it burnt down last year? Remember how mad everyone was at the city, telling them that the place was a death trap. Then it took six months for them to build a fence around the property and put up that little sign telling everyone to stay out of the area,” she recalled angrily. “Well, the fence was only up a week before someone tore off some boards so they could make a shortcut from Horner Street to Becker Avenue. I guess they weren’t going to let a little fence stop them from using what they thought was a public pathway.”
Helen took a minute, and then continued. “Billy told his Mom that Connor was standing close to the edge of the burnt-out basement. He was throwing rocks into the open pit, trying to see where they landed. They were having a lot of fun and didn’t notice Moose and his friends coming up behind them, until it was too late. Billy said that he heard Moose saying, ‘I got you now Connor Gibbons,’ and then he tried to grab for him.
However, it was too late. Connor stepped back and then he just disappeared. Moose looked down into the hole and saw Connor lying on top of an old burnt up washing machine. I guess he didn’t know if Connor was dead or alive.”
“Billy said Moose looked scared and then started running toward the hole in the fence and he didn’t even wait for his friends to catch up. Billy didn’t know what to do. He was worried about his best friend, so, he just ran home,” continued Helen.
“Luckily, it wasn’t far to his house where he knew his Mom would be and that she would know what to do. After sitting there for a few minutes, Billy told his Mother about what happened to Connor. When he finished telling his story, his Mom told him that he did the right thing. Her words were hard for Billy to make out because she was already in the house heading for the phone.”
“When she called me, I didn’t wait to hear the whole story,” recalled Helen. “As soon as I heard Connor was hurt, I asked her where he was, and I shook with disbelief when she said he was still in the basement of the old Abbots store. I put the phone down. I knew I had to call you and then get to Connor as fast as I could”
Helen continued to recall the events that had happened, describing all of the details to John. She described her arrival at the store and the big crowd that was standing around. She recalled that she hurriedly pushed some of them out of the way so she could get through the hole in the fence, running right into the backside of a big police officer. Just as he was about to tell her to get behind the fence it was as if he recognized her. At that moment, she heard shouting from the ambulance crew. They were yelling that Connor was trying to sit up and that he was talking.
Someone else called out, “They have him on a stretcher and they’re lifting him out of the hole,” recalled Helen to John. “In a low voice and with my eyes closed, I said, thank you God.”
“I was in a terrible mess when I reached the stretcher,” Helen continued. “I kept asking them to please stop as I wanted to talk to Connor but they just kept walking, so all I could do was walk along with them. I remember telling Connor to be brave and that I wouldn’t leave him.”
John continued to listen intently as Helen described Connor’s rescue from the basement. She depicted the sound of the big police officer, now on the other side of the fence telling the people to get back and give the ambulance people room to come through. The person on the front of the stretcher had a little trouble getting over the two-by-four that was across the hole, but when someone on the other side reached in and grabbed the handle, he was able to turn his body and lift his leg over the wood. The fellow on the other end quickly followed him through the hole and they were gone.
“When I got through the fence, I couldn’t see the stretcher but I could see the ambulance with its flashing lights, so I headed straight for it,” said Helen. “Some people tried to stop me and ask me some questions. I didn’t want to be rude so I just shook my head and kept on walking. When I got to the back doors of the ambulance, Connor was already inside but before the driver could close the doors, I jumped in and sat on a box next to his stretcher. It was a little crowded in there, but it would have taken the ambulance crew and the policeman to make me leave.”
John reached out his hand to Helen as she continued. “Without saying a word to me, the driver closed the doors and in a flash, we were speeding toward the hospital,” she recalled. “It seemed to take the ambulance a long time to reach the emergency department, but as I think back now, I’m sure it was only a few minutes. When we got to the hospital all I wanted to do was get to a phone and call you because I thought I was losing it and I knew you would comfort me.”
John wanted Helen to continue to give him an update on Connor’s status, but before she could continue, there was a knock on Connor’s door. Helen and John just stood there as a young woman entered the room.
Walking toward them, she held out her hand and with a warm smile said, “I’m Doctor Hutton.”
“Hi, I’m John Gibbons, and this is my wife Helen.”
Dr. Hutton began, “Well, I have some good news and a little bad news. The good news is that the X-rays show your son does not appear to have a concussion and we cannot see any broken bones. The bad news is that he has a cut on his left arm that needed five stitches. You can bring him back next week and we will take them out. I used a new type of stitching so there should not be any scaring. I am sure your boy will want everything in working order so he can enjoy a great summer with his friends.”
John felt a little relieved as he listened to the doctor. When she finished he said, “When can we take him home?”
The doctor responded, “I think we’ll keep him overnight just to be sure. You can take him tomorrow, if there are no major problems.”
When the doctor left the room, John put his arms around Helen and as they looked at their son, he felt the tension leave his body. With a very serious voice, he said to them, “I promise if it’s the last thing I ever do, I will get you out of this neighborhood.”
The problem was John Gibbons was unaware that he had no say in when they would be leaving or where they would be going. When John got home from the hospital, he called his boss and told him he wouldn’t be in the next day. His boss, Dave, said he understood and told John to take care of his family and to enjoy the weekend.
When John returned home from the hospital he didn’t slept well and was up very early. He was anxious to get back to the hospital and bring his son home.
“Helen, it’s almost 10am; are you ready to go?” he asked.
“Yes John, I’m just cleaning up a bit. I don’t want to bring Connor home to a messy house,” replied Helen.
John took her in his arms and reassuringly said, “Helen, I have never seen our home messy or dirty. I have even heard people say you could eat off the floors at the Gibbons residence.”
John and Helen only got as far as their front steps when the bouncing, smiling postman, Jimmy Duffy stopped them. John and Helen mused, “This is a kid who loves his job. I bet he would work seven days a week if they asked him to.”
Maybe he had not heard what happened to Connor, or he is just trying to ease any tension and lighten the mood, thought John. Jimmy held a package high over his head and with his best impression of Santa Claus he shouted, “Ho! Ho! Ho! It’s Christmas in June at the Gibbons house!”
After signing for the package, John just shook his head and gave a half wave to Jimmy, took out his keys and opened the front door again, putting the package on the hallstand. He closed the door for the second time and as he was walking towards Helen, asked, “Can we go now?”
Helen was about to say that it wasn’t her fault that we’re having trouble leaving, but she decided not to say anything. She followed her husband down the stairs. They walked in silence to the driveway where their faithful old Chevy car was waiting patiently. When they arrived at the hospital, John arranged for Helen to go in while he parked the car, agreeing to meet in Connor’s room.
Helen wanted to ask her husband if he was all right, as he seemed not himself that morning, but she didn’t because she knew everything would be fine once they got Connor home. Helen decided to wait at the nurse’s station for John. She knew he would only be a few minutes parking the car and she wanted them to be together when they entered Connor’s room.
“Okay, let’s go get our son,” John said, as he held his wife’s hand while they walked together down the hallway. They didn’t talk nor did they have to, they were there to pick up their son, get home and get their lives back to normal. Neither of them knew that their normal life was gone forever.
Connor was sitting up in bed when his smiling parents walked through the door. The young nurse had just finished taking his temperature, and they were both laughing and looking at his stitches. They kept on giggling as John and Helen approached the side of the bed. The nurse was the first to stop laughing, but she couldn’t wipe the smile from her face even though she was trying to look serious and professional.
His mom said, “Well I can see you’re back to your old self, Connor.”
She thanked the nurse and bent down to give her son a kiss on the forehead.
John stepped out of the way so the nurse could get by. Then, he looked at Connor and said, “Are you ready to go home, son?” John knew the answer, even before he asked it.
Connor’s response was, “I’ve been awake for hours even before the sun came up. I tried not to bother the nurses, but I was so excited about getting out of here. I kept asking them when you would be coming to get me. They said they did not know but if I promised to be good, they would tell you to stop on the way home and get me an ice cream and a coke. They said they would tell you it would be good for my health.”
John chuckled. “I’ll have to go and ask all the nurses if they think ice cream can help you get better. I can sign you out at the same time. Do you think you can help your Mom get you ready so we can leave as soon as I get back?”
Connor smiled, as he threw back the covers to show he was fully dressed. “Is this fast enough for you, Dad?”
John just shook his head, smiled and walked out of the room. When he got back, Helen and Connor were sitting on the edge of the bed and in unison, they both said aloud, “What kept you so long? We’ve been waiting for hours!”

-CHAPTER 2-
The Adventure Begins

A Little Riddle:

“FIRST THE KEY, THEN THE LETTER, THEN A STRANGER IN BAD WEATHER.”

After supper, John asked Helen if she would like some help with the dishes. As usual, she said, “No thanks,” and then almost like a ritual she would kiss him on the cheek, and say, “You go read your paper and I’ll bring you your tea.”
John got his newspaper off the hall table and settled in his Lazy-Boy with his feet up. In this position, it was very hard to keep his eyes open. Like every other evening for as long as he could remember, he couldn’t fight the feeling and he dozed off. However, this day would be a little different. Helen did not wait for John to finish his nap. She came into the room carrying his tea, and after laying the tray on the table beside his chair, she just stood there for a moment watching him sleep. He looked so peaceful; she had second thoughts about waking him but she knew he wouldn’t mind; it didn’t happen very often.
Reaching out her hand, she gave him a little shake and said, “Honey, can we talk?” John sat up, rubbed his eyes, and then gave a little yawn.
“What is it dear, is there something wrong?” he questioned.
“No nothing is wrong; I just need to talk to you,” responded Helen.
Just then, Connor came into the room and stood next to his mom. They both had silly smiles on their faces as they sat down on the couch. “Okay,” John asked, “What are you guys up to?”
Helen reached behind her back and brought out a package, the one Jimmy the postman had delivered the day they went to pick up Connor at the hospital. “Connor and I would like you to open this, please,” said Helen.
As she handed it to him, John remembered what Jimmy had said when he gave it to him on the front steps. “Looks like it is Christmas in June for the Gibbons family,” mused John. “I forgot all about this,” he said as he gave it a little shake, pretending it was Christmas morning and this was one of his presents.
Helen said, “Just open it, Hon,”
Connor agreed, “Yeah Dad, open it, the suspense is killing me.”
“Okay, okay, I’ll open it if you both keep your shirts on,” John joked. He gave the colorful package another little shake and then sat it on the footrest. He gave the excited pair another little smile, and then started to untie the ribbon very slowly.
“Come on Dad, hurry up,” Connor urged him anxiously, but the excitement was too much for him and he made a grab for the package. Although Connor was younger and had faster reflexes, he was too far away from the Lazy-Boy to have any real chance of getting it out of his father’s hands. Dear old Dad was watching his son out of the corner of his eye, and before Connor made his feeble attempt to snatch the package, his Dad’s two big hands picked it up and held it captive over his head. The master of the house had won again.
“Come on John, stop teasing us,” said Helen.
“All right,” he said, “here we go.” He waited a few more seconds, and then with a smirk and a wink, he just tore off the paper with ease and there on his lap sat a white box. John had the urge to keep playing cat and mouse with his two loved ones, but after looking at their faces, decided to open the box and stop the suspense.
“What have we here?” John asked, as his hands reached into the box, bringing out another white box, wrapped the same as the first one. I think this must be someone’s idea of a joke. He was convinced he was right when he opened the second box and found another smaller box.
“This is like one of those wooden doll sets from Europe,” said John. “I remember my Aunt Verna kept a set of them over her fireplace. When we would go to visit her, she would have them in a line from the biggest down to the smallest and then the next time we went to her house there would be only one big doll. All of us kids would ask her where the other dolls were but instead of answering, my Aunt Verna would just smile.”
When John opened the last box, he removed a hard object wrapped in fine paper. The ends of the paper folded in and the two sides came over them, held in place by some red wax with two letters carved into it, H.H. like the seal used by royalty many, many years ago. He thought, “This is weird,” so he broke the seal, removed the paper, and found what looked like a knife. As he examined it more closely, he saw that it was not a knife, but a key in the shape of a knife. When he looked inside the folded paper again, he saw a card.
He picked it up, read it and the words sent a chill through his whole body.

FIRST THE KEY, THEN THE LETTER, THEN A STRANGER IN BAD WEATHER.”

John placed the key and card on the footrest, looked at Helen and Connor, shrugged his shoulders and sat back in his chair. “I don’t like this, it’s not normal and it gives me the creeps.”

THE KEY

“I’m sure there’s a good explanation for this and I swear if it’s someone playing a joke, they’re going to be sorry,” John stated. “I’m not going to give them the satisfaction of thinking they pulled one over on us. I’m putting this key in your jewelry box and we’re going to act like nothing happened, okay Helen?” She gave him a nod in agreement.
Then he asked Connor, “How about you? Can you forget this ever happened? “
“I’ll try Dad,” said Connor.
“Good,” responded John. “Now let’s all go to bed. I’m sure everything will be okay in the morning.”
John took one last look at the mysterious key and although his wife and son agreed to forget about what had happened. John really didn’t believe they would, nor would he! Over the next few weeks, the conversation at the dinner table didn’t touch on the subject of the “key,” at least not out loud.
Each of them had questions they would like to have answered. Especially John, being the head of the family, he needed to keep some control over the welfare and the safety of his wife and son. Many times, he found himself thinking even at work about why this was happening to his family. John had thought of going to someone and talking about this stuff, but decided against it for fear they might think he was crazy or even worse, that he might need some professional help. He had always kept his family and personal life to himself, and besides he didn’t have anyone he could talk to anyway. It seemed that the old saying out of sight out of mind was not working for John. Maybe with time, he will think less about “The Key”.
John didn’t know it yet, but something was about to happen that would bring not only the key back into their conversations, but a new twist was to be tossed into the brew also. Feeling like someone was staring at him, John slowly lowered his newspaper and saw his wife and son sitting on the couch. They looked at him with half worried, half excited grins on their faces.
“Okay, what’s going on with you two tonight?” John asked, curiosity getting the better of him. He sat up very straight when Helen presented him with a letter. She didn’t just hand it to him; it was more as if she was offering it. Holding it with both hands, she slowly stretched her arms toward John, like something you would see in a movie when they presented a gift to Royalty.
John hesitated for a moment before taking the letter. “It came in the mail today, I think it’s the second part of the ‘Riddle’,” Helen said.
John was concerned that the letter was for Connor but addressed in care of John and Helen Gibbons.
On the back of the paper was the “Riddle.”

FIRST THE KEY, THEN THE LETTER, THEN A STRANGER…

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