Crystal Keepers by Brandon Mull Page A

pressing the tab down, then picking at it. Mira held her soda unopened as well.
    â€œHaving trouble, master?” Dalton asked.
    â€œI’m waiting for you to do your job,” Jace said.
    Dalton held out a hand, accepted the can, and demonstrated how to use the tab to pop it open. He handed it back to Jace. After seeing the example, Mira popped her own can open. Dalton opened his as well.
    â€œWe have tickets?” Cole asked, taking another sip.
    â€œWe’re officially going to town,” Joe said. “The monorail leaves in about fifteen minutes. We should get aboard.”
    â€œWill our swords be a problem?” Jace asked.
    Joe held up his travel bag. “Both are in here. Primitive weapons like swords should be okay. They don’t really screen for weapons here. Not like on flights back home.”
    Joe led them to a line waiting to pass through a door in a high crystal wall. A pair of patrolmen flanked the door, one checking IDs and tickets, the other watching the line. They wore gray-and-black uniforms with padding over the chest and on their limbs. Dangling from their shoulders by a strap, each man had a tubular weapon that looked like a miniature rocket launcher.
    The line moved steadily. Cole shuffled forward beside Joe.
    â€œWhat are those weapons?” Cole murmured. “Little bazookas?”
    â€œNo,” Joe said softly. “Those are trapguns. Most of the weapons used by patrolmen stun or entrap. You’ll get gummed up by quicktar, or stuck to webby nets. Nonlethal, but very effective. There isn’t usually much violence in Zeropolis. Crime happens quietly here.”
    Joe stopped talking as they drew near to the door. Coleclutched his ticket and his ID card. He thought about how he would hand over the ticket and ID card if he wasn’t a wanted fugitive. He decided to act calm and polite, maybe a little distracted.
    Joe held out his card. The patrolman scanned it with a device, glanced at his ticket, then waved him along.
    Upon reaching the patrolman, Cole fretted about making too much eye contact. Or too little. The patrolman took Cole’s card and scanned it, then waved him through. Cole didn’t look back to watch the other kids, but soon they were all together beyond the crystal wall.
    Up ahead, three elevators shuttled people up to the level of the track. Elaborate compartments of crystal and bronze, the elevators were not hidden within a shaft. Each had an operator and could fit roughly ten passengers.
    â€œThey look kind of old-fashioned,” Dalton observed, beside Cole.
    â€œThey’re fast though,” Cole replied. He noticed Jace watching the elevators climb and sink. He looked both excited and a little uncertain. “Ever ridden in an elevator, Jace?”
    â€œNope,” Jace said.
    â€œMe neither,” Mira added.
    â€œThey call them senders here,” Joe mentioned. “Like ‘ascend’ and ‘descend.’”
    After a short wait, Cole and his four companions entered a sender with a few other people. The operator raised a lever, and the compartment surged briskly upward.
    When Cole exited the sender, the monorail came intofull view. Long and sleek, the streamlined train was composed of silvery metal and crystal tinted such a dark blue that Cole could only barely see the forms moving inside.
    â€œBonded crystal?” Cole asked.
    â€œVery good,” Joe said. “They use it a lot here. Those elevators were made of bonded crystal and some sturdy alloy. Maybe renium. The crystal for the monorail is grade two, tougher than steel. The train moves fast—over three hundred miles per hour.”
    Cole and the others joined the crowd making for one of the many doors of the long train. More patrolmen stood on the platform, trapguns dangling within easy reach. A conductor at the door to the monorail quickly checked tickets as people entered. Cole boarded after Joe, flashing his ticket to the conductor, then