Lori Ryder and the City of Crystals

By Carmen Romero

Lori Ryder is a girl living in London with her mother, her father, and their family dog. Her best friend, Amanda, comes over to stay for the weekend. She is carrying a surprise in her travel bag: a crystal sphere. A wise old man in a small tribe in the middle of the Amazon rainforest gave it to her. This is no ordinary crystal sphere. Whoever holds it can set an intention. If that intention is noble enough, the item allows the holder to travel through a tunnel of rainbow water. This tunnel is millions of years old. It connects all dimensions and all civilisations past and present. It leads to one central place: the City of Crystals. The City of Crystals holds many treasures. This city is a secret city. It is the oldest city in the world. It has been kept under the guardianship of wise old tribes hidden deep in nature. The City of Crystals is a place of high power where tribes from various worlds and dimensionsall civilizations and all realms meet up to make decisions for the greater good. It is a city where one retreats, goes to learn something new, and most importantly, where one heals. Lori and Amanda will discover this magical city and its people. They will meet civilisations and organic technologies they had never imagined. They will come across Bird People, Singers, a magic waterfall, and chatting trees and cheeky stones. Time will stop during their visit. They will return home, and it will be as if they had never left. But this special and unique artifact also interests someone else. He wants it for very different reasons. The chase will go from Venice, via London, and all the way to Peru, Brazil, and the rainforest. Will the girls be able to keep the crystal sphere safe?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Mar 29, 2018
• ISBN: 9781504399876

Carmen Romero

Carmen Romero (Barcelona, 1973) es psicóloga, educadora en disciplina positiva, experta en estimulación temprana y atención precoz, coach de sueño infantil y madre de cuatro hijos. Además de tener su consulta privada, trabaja como asesora para centros educativos e imparte clases de formación a profesionales. Es autora de la colección Bilulu publicada por Vegueta.

Book preview

Chapter 1

O h Amanda, I have missed you so much!

Hi Lori, I have missed you too. Hello Mrs. Ryder, hello Mr. Ryder. How are you?

Good. Thank you, Amanda. We are so pleased that you will be staying with us over the weekend.

Thank you, Mrs. Ryder. My parents will be calling later this evening to say hello.

We look forward to speaking with them and to seeing them on Sunday when they’ll pick you up. We hope they will stay for tea.

I am certain that they will, thank you.

Well, I am sure that the two of you have lots to talk about. We’ll see you later Amanda. Darling, do let us know if you need anything.

My mother kisses my forehead and exits the room. I am so excited to hear all about Amanda’s travels. Her face has an air of excitement that she can hardly conceal.

Sooooooo, how was your trip?

"OMG, amazing. I have so much to tell you. We went on a tour of Latin America. I loved it. I studied Spanish at school for six months so mum and dad thought it would be a good idea to put it into practice. We flew to Lima first. I loved it!

Lima’s airport is complete chaos upon arrival. We had a driver taking care of us the entire trip. Eduardo. He was so patient. We just wanted to stop everywhere to take photos. He was very chatty and he told us many folklore stories.

I was so happy to smell the ocean. The beaches were mostly deserted. Lima is a massive city. The town centre is very cute, it reminded me of Madrid. Given its history, it makes complete sense. My favourite spot was the Indian market. It is full of colours, patterns and products crafted by natives. I loved it! I got you and your parents some presents from there."

Goodie, I love presents!

We stayed a few days in Lima. Dad wanted to sample a few restaurants. The food was so good. The most interesting part of the trip was when we took off to Cusco. It takes about an hour to fly, but you know dad, he felt really daring, so we drove all the way there. It took us for ever to get there, like 20 hours!

Your dad is nuts!

We giggled. Amanda’s dad is a bit of an eccentric. He says it himself. He is a lot of fun; you can never tell what he will come up next. Amanda has inherited that from her dad for sure!

"Well, dad being dad, he is a bit stubborn you know. Eduardo did not want to make the trip with us of course, his family being in Lima and all. So dad rented a van and we took off. You know what, it was amazing. I know, I know, I say amazing a lot, but it really was. We left Lima for Nazca, Abancay and Cusco. The Andes scenery is breath taking. Mum was terrified at times.

The roads were…interesting. The altitude added something else to the mix. Headaches. Poor mum. She felt so sick, poor mummy. You can imagine dad and I were so excited about everything and mum was well…she tried to follow us as much as possible. Machu Picchu was her low point. Breathing was tough for her."

Oh no. She must have felt so bad!

Wait, she loved it too. Once she got to the top, and she went around the sacred valley, she was transformed! We saw a very different side of her during the rest of the trip. She was actually leading us!

I wish I had been there, it all sounds divine.

So after we returned to Cusco, dad left the van there and we were off to the airport. Guess where we went to?

No idea. Just tell me. Pleeeeease.

We flew into Puerto Maldonado, in the Amazon forest.

No way!

Yes way! We stayed at a butterfly house and travelled on the Madre de Dios river.

Actually, Amanda, that sounds really amazing!

"It was! Mum decided to sleep at the hotel, but I joined dad for one night to sleep in the rainforest. I was scared, now I can tell you that, Lori. I really was.

There were so many scary sounds at night. Animals. Some of them you see. Others you hear only. And a few come close enough to be able to touch you! The best part of this adventure was to admire so many constellations from where we stayed. We also visited Lake Sandoval. I saw giant river otters for the first time, blue and yellow macaws and red howler monkeys. The scariest one was the black caiman. We visited a place with hanging bridges that connect the treetops at 90 feet high. It was incredible. We watched toucans, woodpeckers, squirrel monkeys and the three-toed sloth."

Amanda, everything you tell me sounds so dreamy! What an incredible trip!

Wait, I have not told you the best part yet! she says with a wink.

Coming from you, I thought that something else was missing. We both laugh.

"OK, so it is our last day in the rainforest and we are exploring some of the walking trails near where we are staying. We come across a small village, a native tribe. The small children are the first ones to come and say hello. They seem to be familiar and comfortable with tourists. I guess we are not the first ones to stumble upon them. But it feels wonderful to see these people, their environment and to admire their jewellery, feathers and art.

Their houses are decorated; even their dishes have some patterns celebrating the earth and a goddess of some sort. They were incredibly friendly and welcoming. We sat in a circle with the elders of the group. You should have seen dad. His face said it all. He was glowing! Writing and drawing like mad in his notebook and taking pictures with their permission. They were not so keen on photos so he kept drawing the faces of the elders and the village children playing.

It was a shame that we did not have a proper translator. One of the elders sat next to me. I remember his eyes. He looked at me. It was like he was piercing my soul. I felt like I was transparent, he could see everything inside of me. I think that I forgot to breathe at one point. He was so kind to me, he smiled and took my hand in his. His skin was so dark, and the texture felt like hard leather. But I could see only kindness in him. He was so gentle. We did not speak words and yet I felt like he knew everything about me and strangely enough, I felt really connected to him."

Were you scared?

"Scared is not the word I would use. I don’t know. It felt like a privilege to sit next to him. I was maybe a bit anxious, but I was so curious about him. I had never seen anyone like him before. He seemed really amused by my childish curiosity.

At one point, he looked at me with a really cheeky expression showing on his face. He was carrying a small pouch with him. He grabbed something from the bag. He hid both his hands behind his back, and then placed them in front of me. They were both closed, clasping something precious; he wanted me to guess which hand. That was so cute."

Did you guess right?

No, I missed.

Oh no! Giggles.

But he gave me another chance.

How funny!

I know. If you fail, try and try again!

So what was in his hand?

This! she says while motioning towards her bag.

Guess! Amanda places both hands closed in front of her.

Oh come on, Amanda! Just show me, please!

Ok, but you are spoiling all the fun. Close your eyes and open your right hand.

I feel something cold in my hand. I open my eyes. I was not expecting that at all. I am holding a medium-sized clear crystal ball. I look closely inside the sphere, in case I have missed something, like snow balls where you shake them and it snows beautifully inside. But there is no trace of anything inside this ball.

Amanda is watching my every movement with a twinkle in her eye.

Ok, I give up. What does it do?

It beams you up. No I’m joking!

Giggles.

Try again. Relax, sit back, clear your mind and just go with it. Look inside. Wait for a moment. And then tell me what you see.

What do I see. What do I see. Seriously, Amanda, there is nothing in this thing. Anyway, I will give it another try.

I sit back. I am holding the crystal sphere in both my hands, staring at it while I am asking myself what it is exactly I am looking for or hoping to see.

Amanda guesses what is going through my mind. She whispers softly in my ear: Just let go. Don’t think about anything. Let it come to you. Trust me.

Here we go again. I breathe in and I let go. If I see something; that’s great. If not, that’s okay too.

I am not sure how to explain this, but…am I seeing something? Are my eyes deceiving me? Or is it just my imagination? I mean, there was nothing there a minute ago. Wait. Wait. Is it really?

Chapter 2

I feel out of breath suddenly. I close my eyes for a second in an attempt to catch my breath. I open my eyes again. I am standing in the eye of a hollow tunnel of colour and sounds. It is like I am surfing inside the curve of a wave and all of the colours of the rainbow are turning in perfect circles all around me. I can see the horizon right ahead of me. I try and stay centred. I glide my fingers caressing the water. This is exactly like that. It feels surreal. Absolutely incredible.

Except that I am not on water. I am in another place, I can no longer see Amanda sitting by my side. I can feel the beating of my heart in my ears, it is deafening. I must remain calm and see where all this is taking me.

But then, it is all gone in the blink of an eye! I am back sitting on the couch with Amanda by my side. My head is still spinning. I do not understand what just happened.

Amanda is repeating my name anxiously; I can feel the pressure of her long delicate fingers on my arm.

Lori, are you okay? Lori? Lori, is everything all right?

Yes, yes. I can only mutter a couple of words. I am out of breath. I am still trying to process what I saw and how I felt. I do not even know how long I was gone for? Was it minutes? Or hours? It felt so real. Did I even leave the room for a second? What happened?

Gosh, Lori, you frightened me.

I am sorry, Amanda. I am here. Now.

What happened to you? Did you see anything? She is smiling softly at me with a sweet mix of angst and awe in her glance.

Oh, Amanda. Yes, I saw. I saw and I went there too.

Okay, I totally get the ‘I saw’…but I am more interested in the ‘I went there too’. What do you mean by that? Where did you go to?

You mean, you have not tried it. You saw the tunnel of rainbow colours appearing in the glass ball, didn’t you?

Yes, that I did. Isn’t it awesome? She was clapping her hands.

It is more than awesome. But did you go inside the tunnel?

Hold on. You were inside the tunnel? You went inside the tunnel? Lori, that is insane. How was it? Tell me!

Well, it was like surfing through a hollow wave. Gliding through the water, except it was dry and seeing a whole world all around you with all the colours of the rainbow. Actually, each colour emitted a sound. It was beautiful. I was touching those colours while gliding the curve effortlessly. How long was I gone for, Amanda?

A few minutes only. But I began to worry, because I was talking to you and you did not respond or move. You were completely absent. So I called your name and shook your arm a little. I thought that you were daydreaming.

I could not hear you anymore. I was gone. I was in that place. It was so beautiful. It looked like an endless tunnel of rainbow colours. It went on and on and on. I must go back. I want to explore. I want to see more of it.

Ok, since when have you become so adventurous? Amanda bursts into laughter.

She adds: I am usually the daring one.

Yes, you are. But listen Amanda, what if we hold hands and return to that place together so that you can see it too. You would be there to protect me.

That sounds really exciting. It reminds me now of what the elder who gave me the crystal sphere said to me in the rainforest. He said that this was the beginning of a life time journey.

Did he tell you anything else? Like how to get to that place. I mean, I ended up there but I don’t even know how I did it and even less if I can do it again.

No. His only words were to breathe, to let go and to open your eyes. I guess what he meant is to open our minds to all possibilities. Even to things we are not used to. Things we have not seen before.

Okay. So let’s try it again.

Amanda and I are holding hands, breathing in and closing our eyes, trying really hard.