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Ali stood in the lighthouse lantern room, the five keys—now united—humming with energy in her hands. The portal her uncle Jack had emerged from still rippled against the stained glass window, casting alien light across the familiar space. Outside, the storm remained frozen in time, waves suspended in mid-crash like a photograph.
“How long do we have?” she asked, tearing her gaze from the impossible weather to look at her uncle.
Jack’s otherworldly eyes—so like her own, yet somehow more—studied the portal’s edges. “Minutes, perhaps. The convergence is already weakening.”
“Then we need to hurry,” Cooper said, checking his equipment. “The frequency patterns are becoming unstable.”
Ali felt a strange sensation spreading through her body—a warmth that began in her palms where she held the keys and traveled up her arms, across her shoulders, and into her chest. It wasn’t uncomfortable, but it was distinctly foreign, like a part of herself she’d never known was waking up.
“What’s happening to me?” she whispered, watching as faint blue light traced patterns beneath her skin, following the path of her veins.
Uncle Jack’s expression softened. “Your Alitousian heritage is awakening. It always does in the eighteenth year—your mother knew this would happen, which is why she left the book with Ms. Greco.”
“Is it… safe?” Jan asked, concern evident in her voice as she watched the light pulsing beneath Ali’s skin.
“It’s necessary,” Jack replied. “Only someone of both worlds can safely cross the threshold and return. Only Ali can bring her father back.”
The Simon device Jasper had activated floated between them, its colored sections still glowing in sequence, maintaining the delicate connection between worlds.
“I can see things,” Ali said suddenly, her vision changing as the light spread. The world around her seemed to gain new dimensions—subtle energies flowing through the lighthouse stones, the unique signatures of her friends glowing like auroras around their bodies, and most striking of all, the complex, crystalline structure of the portal itself. “I can see… everything.”
“Focus, Ali,” Jack urged. “Your father doesn’t have much time.”
Archer spread his tidal charts on the floor, pointing to specific patterns. “According to these calculations, there’s another convergence point forming in the north cave. That must be where your father is trapped.”
“But the cave flooded,” Bett reminded them. “How can we reach it?”
“We don’t need to physically go there,” Jack explained. “Not all of us, at least. Ali can reach him through the pathways, guided by the keys and her awakening abilities. The Simon device will anchor her connection so she can bring him back.”
Ali felt a pull toward the portal, an instinctual understanding blossoming in her mind. “I think I know what to do,” she said, stepping closer to the rippling gateway.
“Wait,” Jan said, placing a hand on Ali’s arm. “You’re just going to… walk through that thing? Alone?”
Ali looked at her friends—these five people who had stood by her through this impossible journey. Cooper with his frequencies, Archer with his tides, Bett with her historical knowledge, Jan with her connection to the animals, and Jasper with his dreams. Each had played a crucial role in solving the puzzle, finding the keys, understanding her heritage.
“I have to,” she said simply. “He’s my father.”
Muffin whined softly, pressing against her legs. The golden retriever had been her companion through everything, seeming to understand the alien presence long before any of them. Ali knelt beside him, burying her fingers in his thick fur.
“You knew all along, didn’t you, boy?” she whispered. Muffin licked her face once, his intelligent eyes reflecting the blue light emanating from her skin.
Jack approached, placing a hand on her shoulder. The touch felt electric, a connection that transcended human contact. “Your mother wanted to return for you both, but the pathways became unstable. Your father spent years trying to find a way to reopen them. That’s why he left six months ago—he received a signal, her calling to him across the stars.”
“And now he’s trapped between worlds,” Ali said, the truth crystallizing in her mind. She could feel her father’s presence, a distant echo suspended in the void between realities.
She turned to Jack. “Will I see her? My mother?”
A shadow crossed his alien features. “No. The pathway leads only to the void where your father is trapped. My sister—your mother—remains on Alitous. But she knows what we’re attempting. She’s the one who sent me to find you.”
Ali nodded, accepting this truth even as disappointment washed through her. She had hoped, somehow, that this journey would reunite her with both parents.
“I’m ready,” she said, straightening. The five keys floated from her hands, arranging themselves in a pentagram pattern before her. The Simon device responded, its lights accelerating to match their pulsing rhythm.
“The rest of you need to maintain the Simon device’s sequence,” Jack instructed the others. “Keep it active. It’s the anchor that will allow Ali to find her way back.”
Jasper nodded, moving closer to the hovering device. “I’ll guide it. I’ve seen this in my dreams.”
Ali took a deep breath, the light beneath her skin now so bright that it cast shadows across the room. She could feel herself changing, becoming something more than human—accessing the other half of her heritage that had lain dormant for eighteen years.
“When you enter the void,” Jack explained quickly, “you’ll need to focus on your father. His essence, his energy signature. The keys will help you locate him, but you must be the one to forge the connection. Your dual nature is the bridge.”
Ali nodded, understanding instinctually what she needed to do. She reached out, letting her fingers brush the portal’s surface. It felt like water and electricity combined, parting around her touch.
“Ali,” Jan called out suddenly. “The animals on the island—they’ve been trying to help you all along. Use that connection if you get lost.”
“The tidal patterns,” Archer added. “They’ll guide you through the currents between worlds.”
“The frequency of the lighthouse beam,” Cooper said. “It’s always been your homing signal.”
“The theater masks,” Bett reminded her. “They were designed to help navigate the dream space. Remember the patterns.”
“And my dreams,” Jasper finished. “They’ve been showing the way all along. Trust them.”
Muffin barked once, sharply, as if adding his own guidance.
Ali smiled at them all, feeling their support strengthen her. “I’ll bring him back,” she promised.
With that, she stepped forward into the portal. The world around her dissolved into pure light as she was pulled into the space between realities. The lighthouse, her friends, and her uncle vanished from sight, replaced by an endless void filled with swirling energies and impossible geometries.
Here, in this place that was no place, Ali Blacksmith fully awakened to her true nature—half human, half Alitousian, a bridge between worlds, just like the lighthouse she had tended all her life.
And somewhere in the void, suspended in the currents between stars, her father was waiting.
“Shadows of the Keeper” is written by Julie D’Aloiso in collaboration with Anthropic’s Claude AI. Each chapter is crafted through creative partnership, combining human storytelling with AI assistance.
© 2025 Julie D’Aloiso All rights reserved.
