[Junior Jedi Knights] - 01(21)

“It fits,” Tahiri yelled. With a loud click and a gentle hiss of air, the door swung open. A golden light flooded the room. It was much brighter than the glitter. Anakin and Tahiri moved forward, holding hands as they walked inside the secret room.

A gigantic crystal globe was in the center of the chamber. It reached to… the whole room. The globe was filled with swirls of golden glitter. It looks like a sparkling dust storm on Tatooine, Tahiri thought. She moved to touch the globe. Before Anakin could warn her to be careful she was tossed back into the stone wall. Anakin raced over to his friend.

“I’m okay,” she said as she rose to her feet. “Guess there’s some kind of force field around that thing. Oh no, what’s this creature?” Tahiri cried, jumping backward.

Anakin peered over to the spot where his friend had fallen. Curled up - at the base of a stone block was a small creature. He hadn’t seen it at first because its fur was the exact brown and golden color of the stone wall. It seemed to be sleeping. Its closed eyes were large and so round that the lids stuck out several centimeters. The creature’s body was about one meter long and its floppy ears draped down to the stone floor. Anakin bent to touch the being’s fur. It stuck straight out but was surprisingly soft.

“Anakin, I think it’s waking up,” Tahiri warned. Anakin backed away. The creature opened one large eye, which was at once a swirl of brown, green, and blue. It studied the two friends. “Do you think it’s dangerous?” Tahiri whispered.

Anakin shrugged. He wasn’t sure. Then the being stretched and yawned.

“He doesn’t seem too worried about us,” Anakin said.

“Ikrit, Ikrit, Ikrit!” the creature sat up and whistled in a high-pitched voice. Anakin raised his eyebrows questioningly.

“Ikrit, Ikrit, Ikrit!” the creature whistled again. Then it curled up its small hands and pounded its chest. “Ikrit, Ikrit, Ikrit!”

“I think it’s trying to tell us its name is Ikrit,” Tahiri said with a giggle. “Okay, so your name is Ikrit. Pleased to meet you. I’m Tahiri and this is Anakin Solo,” she said in a polite voice. It was really kind of cute, she thought.

Ikrit stared right at her with its large round eyes. Now they were pure green, just like her own. For a second she could have sworn it winked at her! Then Ikrit rose and scurried on all fours around the golden globe. It looked like it was checking to make sure the globe was all right. It sat down in front of Anakin when - it was done. Then its fur changed color. It was now frost white. Anakin turned back to the globe.

What was it? And why did he feel so sad when he looked at it? Anakin closed his-eyes and tried to use the Force to understand the golden globe. For a moment he thought he heard whispers. His eyes flew open. Maybe he and Tahiri were not alone. But no one else was in the room except the creature Ikrit. Anakin closed his eyes again. This time he was sure he heard whispers. The whispers and cries of children. He turned to Tahiri to tell her. She looked frightened.

“Anakin, I know this is going to sound crazy,” Tahiri whispered, “but I think I saw a hand pressed against the inside of the globe.”

Anakin turned back to the globe and peered into the golden light. He could not see anything.

“And that’s not all I have to tell you,” Tahiri said in a small voice.

Anakin turned to face his friend.

“The hand was a child’s.”

Anakin whirled back to the globe. He still couldn’t see anything.

“Tahiri, I can’t see anything, but I believe you. Something is inside that globe. When I close my eyes and reach, out to it with the Force I can hear children whispering and crying,” Anakin said.

Tahiri looked at her friend in horror. She wanted to break the globe open and free whoever was inside of it. But neither of them could touch the globe without being thrown back by its powerful force field.

Ikrit began to leap and jump in the air.

“What’s it doing?” Tahiri asked.

“I think it’s just playing,” Anakin said. Ikrit leapt onto Anakin’s shoulder and covered the boy’s eyes.

“Hey, quit it,” he said.

But Ikrit wouldn’t get down from his shoulders. It yanked at Anakin’s hair and tweaked his nose. Anakin reached up to pull the creature down. His wrist - chronometer flashed in the golden light. Ikrit turned Anakin’s wrist so that he could play with the instrument.

“He must like how it flashes in the light,” Tahiri said.

“Oh, my gosh!” Anakin cried when he saw the time flashing. “We’ve been here for six hours! Everyone at the academy must be out looking for us. We’ve got to get out of here. If they find us in this secret room, everything will be lost.”