Free Jack Staples and the Ring of Time by Mark Batterson Page B

looked up to see a perfectly clear sky filled with thousands of stars. Drawing a deep breath, he began telling his mother about the voice in the fire and the dark fog. He told her about the strange map and the other Jack. He spoke until his throat was hoarse and he could think of nothing more to tell her.
    When he finished, his mother stayed silent for a long time. Jack began to fear that maybe she thought he’d gone mad. Will she send me to the asylum like Ethan Wild? he wondered. Yet when she finally spoke, her voice was calm and loving.
    “I am glad you told me, Jack. This was far too much for a boy your age to carry on his own.” She paused, then asked, “Have I ever told you about the day you were born?”
    “I don’t think so,” he said, wondering at the seeming change of subject.
    “You were not the only thing born that day.” She smiled and pointed toward the night sky. “Do you see that star, the one that’s surrounded by the perfect circle of stars?”
    Jack scanned the sky and found where she was pointing. “Yes, I see it.”
    “Well, that star was also born on the same day. It exploded into being in the exact moment that you were born. The constellation is called ‘The Lion’s Eye,’ and your star is at the center of it. Before you were born, the center of the eye was dark.”
    Jack stared at the star in wonder. He could see it clearly. It was very bright and surrounded by a circle of seven slightly fainter stars. “Mother, are there not two stars in the center of the circle?” He squinted, trying to get a better look.
    His mother grinned. “You have very keen eyes, my Jacksie. There are few on earth that could differentiate between the two. But you are correct; the two stars are side by side and very close together. Yet it is not the stars that are special; they are merely signs that point us toward what is truly special.” His mother sat up and placed Jack’s head on her lap, stroking his hair lovingly.
    “You are not a normal boy, Jack. Your birth was prophesied even before our world came into being. There are things you can do that no one else can. There are things you were born to do.”
    Jack was dumbfounded. He didn’t know what to think. Was his mother as mad as he was?
    “We have not told you before now because no child should have to carry such a heavy burden. But it seems the time has come.” She smiled warmly. “Yet, what I have to tell you will be easier to hear when the sun is up. Besides which, Alexia will need to hear it as well.”
    “You want Alexia to know?”
    “Yes, because Alexia is also special. The two of you are unlike any two people who have ever lived before. But let us talk more in the morning when we are all together. I love you, Jack. And I have never been more proud of you. Now off to bed, my boy. It’s late and the morning will come before you know it.” She pulled him close and kissed his cheek.

Chapter 12
    THE STRANGER
     
    Alexia lay in bed staring at the ceiling. Warm sunlight shone through her bedroom window, casting the shadow of a nearby oak on the wall. Mrs. Staples had told her this was Parker’s room. Parker was the woman’s oldest son who was away with his father. “But,” she’d said, “Parker can share a room with Jack when he gets home. The room is yours, if you want it.”
    She still couldn’t believe it. She was in a real bed in her very own bedroom, and she was staying with a family! The thought was almost too much to bear. She hadn’t slept in a real bed since her fifth birthday. As often as not in those first few years, Alexia had awakened to find herself lying on the topmost branches of a nearby tree or on the peak of the tallest roof. The first few times this happened, it had taken her many hours to climb down. Yet after a few months of waking up in trees or on rooftops, she’d begun feeling quite comfortable. Her father had been right. She was Alexia Dreager, the Ally Goat, and she could climb anything.
    One day Alexia had