Reuben and James both turned quickly to see Devon falling off the ledge. Quickly they raced over to see where he would land, but as they looked over, Devon had disappeared. Ella soon joined the two.
"What happened?" she asked, seeing them looking over the ledge to the dark patch below. From where they were looking, there was about a sixty foot fall straight down.
"Devon went over the side," Reuben replied. "Can you see him? I can't see where he fell."
"You did this!" Ella exclaimed toward James. "You use your ice and made him slip off!" She hasn't forgotten about the events of last week.
"It wasn't me," James rejected her accusation. "I was over by Reuben, helping move rocks. I couldn't even reach this area."
"He is telling the truth, Ella," trying to calm down the fuming, sparking girl who was ready to unleash on James. "He couldn't have anything to do with it."
Ella began to call down, and busied herself looking over the ledge. "Where did he fall?"
"Right under us. He has to be right here somewhere." Reuben continued searching. "We may need to go get some help. "Ella, you stay here and keep looking, maybe find a lower vantage point if you can. James and I will go get help."
With that, the two boys ran to find some researchers and their teacher.
---
Darkness. Pain. Light. Darkness. Devon couldn't move. His whole body felt broken and his consciousness faded in and out. He tried to recall how he got here. "I think I fell, but how? And how far? Where am I? My legs, arms, and back all feel broken." He passed out as his head fell back.
There was no darkness this time. Instead, there was a brilliant white light, followed by a rainbow of colors. Voices were calling for him, but they sounded so far away. He began to see images in his sleep, but he couldn't tell what was going on. He watched as the variety of colors began to consume him.
"I must be dying," he thought to himself. His legs were gone, and his waist began to unwind up to his chest. He couldn't see them, but his arms quickly quit hurting, prompting him to believe they were now missing too. "Is this how someone experiences death? It's not so bad. At least the pain goest first." The sensation of pain dissipating brought relief. It continued spreading as the light continued consuming him, his neck, his head, and finally, his thoughts.
Suddenly he awoke, though it was only his mind. He began to feel his face, his hair blowing lightly with a breeze. He focused, and slowly began feeling the rest of his body. His arms no longer hurt, and he could move his fingers. His legs also had no pain, and he wiggled his toes. He lay there for a while, feeling his body, wondering what happened to the pain that had racked it just moments ago.
After a while, Devon tried to sit up. "Ouch!" He let out a pained cry as his head hit a rock above him. He opened his eyes and noticed a crevice above him, just wide enough for him to have fallen through. He was surrounded by a rock face on three sides, and in front of him was a narrow opening. He looked down at where he had fallen, and right there his head had been, was a small white-ish rock, right where his neck had come down. The rock was nothing like all the death stone that surrounded him, unique to the area. He picked it up and placed it in his pocket. "A little souvenir from the fall," he thought as he turned to crawl out of the hole.
Working his way out from the crevice, Devon was able to stand and stretch. He looked around and realized he was near the center of the dark patch of death stone.
"Devon, Devon!! Are you ok?" He heard Ella above him. "Don't move, I'll find a way down!"
"I'm ok!" Devon called back. "Coming here is risky for you, just meet me by where we found our way up!"
"Alright I'll be right there. Are you sure you are ok!?"
"I'm sure!" He replied, and began half climbing and half stumbling over the crater wall to make his way from the dark patch to the path they had started from.
A few minutes later, he reached the path, and Ella ran to high him. "I was scared you died!" She yelled at him. "You need to be more careful! Let me check you over." She began to pull his shirt up, checking for bruises or breaks in the skin.
"I told you I'm fine," Devon replied, thoroughly embarrassed at the way Ella was handling him. She continued checking him over until she felt satisfied he was ok.
"How did you fall that far and not even get a scratch!?" She asked in amazement.
"I'm not sure, but I do remember it hurt, and I did get knocked out for a while." Devon told her, and pulled the rock from his pocket. "I'm pretty sure this is the rock that did it."
Now it in the sunlight the rock's features were easier to distinguish; it was pale white, but reflected an amazing hue of color, like a star burning through it's life cycle in just moments, reds, greens, blues, purples, yellows, and all the colors in between.
Ella gasped and backed up. "It's a star stone! You found an actual star stone!"
Devon quickly dropped it, afraid of the risks associated with touching it, but Ella encouraged him to pick it back up.
"You've already touched it, maybe even layed on it, it's not going to hurt you now.. maybe that's why you are fine, you fell on it and it rewrote your biological sequence before you could die from the fall! That's why you aren't hurt!"
"I guess that makes sense, Devon answered, bending over to retrieve the stone. "Lucky me." Strangely he didn't feel lucky, in fact he felt the opposite. He had always been sure footed, and couldn't think of a reason he might have fallen in the first place.
"Well anyway, I'm glad you are ok," Ella hugged him again. "Don't show that to anyone until we get back. Even then hand it to me Helen as soon as you can."
"I will. Let's head back. Seeing as Reuben and James aren't here, I'm guessing they went for help. Let's get back before they form a search party." The two then began following the trail back across the crater floor toward the caves.
"Did you manage to get what you needed to finish your part of the project?" Devon asked as they walked.
"I did, but I'll need tonight to do the actual study," Ella replied. "I don't think Reuben managed to get his recording don't though."
"I feel bad about that. Maybe you two can come back over here after this me is cleared up." Devon didn't like that he had caused such a problem early in the day, especially at such a far away spot.
"I think we can manage that, but you need to rest when we get back. Maybe after some sleep you can find out what your ability is!" Ella was starting to get excited for him.
"Maybe," he answered. "But before that, I know you wanted to touch the star stone tomorrow. You got to see me handle this one out here," he said as he pulled the stone from his pocket. "Would you like to try now instead? I know there can be a lot of pressure with everyone watching, and.. you are the only one who saw me touch it. I was wondering if we could keep this a secret and you turn it in instead."