Kote did not stop.
Carrying Nas, he passed through the jeering crowd and returned to his shabby home, where he lived alone.
He laid Nas on the floor and knelt beside it, watching its final breaths grow weaker until they stopped altogether.
Outside, the children were still laughing at him.
Stones struck the door with dull thuds.
Kote sat in the darkness all night.
He remembered his parents' warm hands, the rough feel of Nas nuzzling his cheek, Isabella's smile, and the sweetness of that bag of candy.
Then he remembered the clan's legend.
The Forbidden Grounds.
The cave at the bottom of the volcano.
A treasure handed down for a thousand years was enshrined there, possessing incredible power-some even said it could bring the dead back to life.
As dawn approached, Kote made his decision.
He would use that treasure to bring Nas and Isabella back to life.
He wanted them back.
Early the next morning, Kote set out for the Forbidden Grounds with Nas's body in his arms.
He slipped into the Forbidden Grounds while the guardian was away at the elders' council hall.
Deep inside the cave, dim torches illuminated a stone platform in the center.
A scepter was enshrined upon it.
It was pitch-black, with a dark red gem set into its tip.
The scepter lay motionless, yet it radiated an ancient, unnerving presence, like a savage beast that had slumbered for a thousand years.
Kote approached the stone platform and set Nas down.
He reached out with his only remaining hand, his right, and grasped the shaft.
The instant he touched it-
A spike suddenly sprang from the tip of the scepter and pierced his palm!
Agony!
But more terrifying than the pain was the feeling of the scepter frantically draining his blood!
He tried