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  The Twelve Stones:

  Eunoia

  Book Five

  By:

  RJ Johnson

  Published by Rick Johnson at Amazon.com

  Copyright 2017

  R.J. Johnson

  First Edition

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  R.J. Johnson

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  Other Books by this Author

  The Twelve Stones

  The Twelve Stones: SkyFire

  The Twelve Stones: Petrichor

  The Twelve Stones: Orenda

  The Twelve Stones: Eunoia

  From the Files of Jim Meade: Martian P.I.

  Change in Management (A Jim Meade, Martian PI Novel)

  Rosetta (A Jim Meade, Martian PI Novel)

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Chapter Fifty

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  Chapter Fifty-Seven

  Chapter Fifty-Eight

  Chapter Fifty-Nine

  Chapter Sixty

  Chapter Sixty-One

  Chapter Sixty-Two

  Chapter Sixty-Three

  Chapter Sixty-Four

  Thank you

  The Twelve Stones Recap:

  The Twelve Stones:

  Alex was only ten years old when he found the first of the twelve stones. During an adventure gone wrong in the backyard of his home in Onyx Summit, his friend Scott is critically hurt after a fall from a large tree. It’s only through a mysterious stone that somehow falls into Alex’s hands that he is able to heal his friend’s grievous injuries.

  Alex’s father Ted, seeing what Alex was capable of while using the stone takes it away from his child, and hides it away, believing it was best to keep something containing so much power away from the world.

  Twenty-two years pass.

  Alex has been missing in action after being “killed” in an accident while working on an Army base during the Iraq war. Ted (Alex’s father), is still living in Onyx in Alex’s childhood home when Alex comes home to visit. The reunion is emotional, and brief, as Alex warns that there are “Ghosts” chasing him. Ted manages to cajole Alex into one last trip to their favorite camping grounds in Joshua Tree. Alex agrees.

  After arriving in Joshua Tree, Ted decides to give the healing stone back to Alex. Ted says it seems appropriate for someone who’s come back from the dead to posses something that heals any injury. Alex accepts this, although, he suspects the hazy childhood memory of healing his friend in the forest must have been the product of his overactive imagination.

  Ted and Alex’s reunion is interrupted when billionaire Rupert Kline and his ever-present bodyguard/right hand man Geoffrey Tate land. They can’t help but notice the ring Kline wears that has a stone exactly like the healing stone. Kline tells the father and son pair that they’re standing on his private property. When Ted protests, Kline shoots him without a second’s thought.

  Horrified, Alex rushes Kline, but is swatted away by Kline’s incredible strength. Alex falls off the cliff and lands on the ground, horribly crippled. Alex passes out in pain. At the last moment, the mysterious stone given to him by his father manages to fall onto Alex’s chest and heal him of the injuries he sustained after falling from the cliff.

  Alex spots a pair of Kline’s workers who were careless with the keys to their suburban. Alex takes it, using it to escape the desert and the mysterious billionaire.

  Despite the ghosts chasing him, Alex decides to go to the cops and report his father’s murder. After that, he will disappear, never to return. Unfortunately, the sheriff thinks Alex is high on drugs and refuses to believe him – that is, until Kline’s goons begin shooting up the place in an attempt to eliminate Alex, the only witness to what Kline is up to so far.

  Alex discovers just how powerful his healing stone as he battles the mercenaries trying to kill him. During an impressive firefight at the Joshua Tree sheriff station, we learn how Alex is proficient has become weapons and his remarkable ability with tactics and urban warfare. Alex escapes the ambush and heads for the one man he knows he can still trust – his best friend Scott who he healed in the forest so long ago.

  Kline send his associate to find out more information about the mysterious Alex McCray. Tate finds Alex’s childhood home and discovers the connection to Scott. Tate heads for Pasadena to try and learn more about his new foe.

  Meanwhile, Alex arrives at his friend’s apartment in Pasadena and informs him that he’s still alive. After a brief moment of “adjustment” Scott is glad, and happy to help his friend Alex in any way he can. He decides to take Alex’s stone to his lab at JPL to investigate the stone’s abilities.

  Kline sees the video of what happened at the Sheriff’s station and Alex’s incredible ability to heal. He orders a helicopter to Tate’s location.

  Scott and Alex get the healing stone in a lab and attempt to cut into the stone. Unfortunately, whatever it is that the stone is made up with, doesn’t like being meddled with. After the stone nearly destroys the lab, the pair learns that the stone is made up of a strange element – something humanity has no way of creating.

  Stymied, Alex decides to involve his ex-fiancé, the woman who broke his heart ten years ago after she refused to marry him. Emily has become an expert in astronomy, and spends her days listening to the stars for signals that could come from an alien civilization.

  Unfortunately, Tate has caught up to the pair and they
get into another confrontation. This time, Alex is overconfident with his new powers, he is brought down by non-lethal means. Just when all seems lost, Siobhan O’Neill, a 400-year-old Irish woman (who has a stone of her own) shapeshifts into a grizzly bear and tears Tate’s mercenaries. After Siobhan arrives, rescuing Alex and Scott from their own stupidity, the pair of friends get away with their new ally.

  Kline arrive son the scene at JPL and rescues his number two. It’s then we learn of Kline’s goals and his past. He’s a 144 year old man, who found the stone of strength during WWII. Over the years, he’s built an empire, while fruitlessly searching for more stones like the one that grants him incredible strength. After years of research and preparation, he finally believes that he’s found another stone, the second of twelve that he wants to collect for himself. That’s why they are there digging into the mesa at Joshua Tree.

  After Tate and Kline learn more about Alex and his past life, Kline decides to use Alex’s ex-fiancé as bait, hoping to lure Alex and his healing stone back to him.

  Meanwhile, while Alex, Scott and Siobhan all head for the Allen Telescope array where Emily works, Siobhan tells her story about how she came to hold a stone. She was just a young girl in Ireland when her village was raided by the English. She and her brother were the only ones who escaped. After a long arduous journey, her brother leaves her in a cave while he searches for food. Later, Siobhan is trapped inside the cave by the rising tide. Her only escape is through a magical door that suddenly appears. That’s when she meets The Old Man who tells her about the stone and what it’s capable of. The Old Man also shows her why the stones were left on the planet.

  Later, a brief confrontation at the Allen Telescope array between Kline and Alex prove that the two are on a collision course.

  Alex learns how powerful his stone is from Siobhan, and how each stone has a different power, and reinforces each other – that is, the more stones you have, the more powerful you can become. The person who holds the stone “Chooses” the power.

  Meanwhile, back at Joshua Tree, Emily learns about the stones, and how she’s unique, and has been “chosen” by the universe to be the first human being to contact an alien species. Kline cannot enter the mysterious crystal room that his work crew found inside the Mesa because of the stone on his finger. However, Emily can. And if she retrieves the “artifact” from inside, he’ll let her go, and be the first person to contact an alien species and announce that fact to the world – a dream Emily has had her entire life. She agrees, and retrieves the stone. However, Kline, being the dastardly villain that he is, goes back on his word, and nearly kills her. Fortunately, Alex is able to save her, and bring her back to life.

  With the love of his life safe, and his newfound faith in his stone’s healing ability they all confront Kline, ultimately forcing him to retreat. Unfortunately, during the final confrontation, Siobhan is killed by Kline. Kline ends up escaping with his stone of strength and the stone recovered from the Mesa which gives him control over physical objects, and weak-minded people. Alex and Emily, celebrating the fact they’re still alive, kiss and make up as the sun sets on the star-crossed lover’s reunion.

  The Twelve Stones: SkyFire

  Deep in the jungles of Peru, Professor Maxwell Collier is working on a project that could unearth the lost city of Gold – Patiti. He and his pair of graduate students work in the humidity and heat, stretching their supplies to their breaking point with no luck. Just as the professor is ready to give up and return home empty-handed, his graduate student Kevin accidentally initiates a rockslide that reveals another mysterious crystal room – exactly the same as the one in Joshua Tree that gave Rupert Kline the Stone of Control.

  Professor Collier is drawn into the crystal chamber and discovers the stone podium. His interaction with the alien intelligence that gives him the stone is vague about its goals, saying little other than the stones were a gift to our species to help fight the cancer of fear. Collier shrugs off the strange proclamation and takes the stone for himself. The chamber plunges into darkness and Collier finds himself wishing for his lighter. That’s when he discovers the stone has given him the ability to conjure fire.

  Stepping back out into the jungle, his graduate student is amazed at his professor’s reappearance. Collier turns to try and return into the chamber, but, is denied. He’s unable to do so. He instructs his grad student to use the drill to get them back in there. That’s when the drill explodes, killing the young graduate student. Collier, frightened that his grad students’ death (which only happened because he insisted they continue) would taint his discovery, decides to use his new stone to vaporize the entire campsite and cover up the crime.

  Collier decides to take his discovery back to San Diego and show the regents what he’d discovered and demand more money for another expedition. He would blame Kevin’s death on nearby cartels or some kind of accident after establishing an alibi.

  Meanwhile, back at Joshua Tree, Alex, Emily, Christina and Scott decide to retreat away from the crime scene. Piling into Scott’s stealth prototype truck, Scott and Emily demand answers from Alex as to where he’s been the last six years they thought he was dead. He tells them he can show them what happened if they go to San Diego. They agree.

  On the other side of the world, Otienu Ododa is preparing for another explosive day at the copper mine where he is the Safety Director. After blowing up a new section, you guessed it, Ododa finds another crystal chamber. While attempting to examine the chamber, Ododa falls in and has a strange encounter with the alien intelligence who tells him to be careful with the gift he receives. Ododa pockets the stone and returns home after reassuring his boss he is fine.

  As it turns out, the copper mine belongs to Kline, who is informed of the discovery by Ododa’s boss, Mbasi. Kline and Tate immediately head for Zambia where the mine is located to recover another stone.

  In San Diego, Alex shows his friends what happened to him so many years ago – turns out, he was part of a secret squad of criminals who robbed the U.S. Government of nearly $6 billion dollars. The money, funds from the Iraqi Food-For-Oil program was literally pallets of hundreds shipped overseas. Alex, and a friend he met through his service Nathaniel Ash, had stolen the money to set up a clandestine spy agency. Alex managed to steal that money and had it shipped to the storage facility in San Diego.

  Emily and Scott are stunned, but appreciate the honesty, and the money. They decide to retire to a nice hotel in downtown San Diego to get some rest and relaxation, hiding away from Kline using the variety of fake id’s available to Alex.

  For his part, the stone seems to be taking its toll on Collier. He snaps and fires Rachel in a fit of ego. Upon reaching the meeting with the regents at UCSD, Collier is surprised to see a detective and police there. They inform Collier that Kevin kept a constant video blog uploading to the internet, and it captured everything, including Collier’s insane firestorm. Collier snaps, and decides to burn them all down to the ground. He kills the police and detectives, as well as his rivals. He escapes, and decides to go big time.

  Collier decides to rob the federal bank in downtown San Diego. As it plays out live on the air, Alex learns in a shocking twist that Collier is actually Emily’s current fiancé who she met one day at a conference three years ago.

  Alex sees what Collier is capable of and deduces that a stone is responsible for the man’s powers. He goes to confront Collier, but is too late. Collier gets away, and is able to escape with his bank robbery profits.

  Alex confronts Emily about Collier having a stone, but she knows nothing about it.

  Back in Zambia, Ododa discovers what his stone is capable of while he helping to rescue workers at his mine. Ododa’s stone allows him to teleport wherever he wishes. After returning home from a long day of helping rescue his friends at the mine, Otienu takes his wife on a whirlwind tour of the world, a vacation they had dreamed about for years.

  Unfortunately, Mbasi spots what Ododa is capable of and abducts Ododa’
s twins away from him while Ododa is on his tour with his wife. Once Ododa returns, Mbasi demands an exchange – Ododa’s twin girls for the teleportation stone.

  Ododa has no choice, and agrees to give Mbasi the stone. Later, during the confrontation, Ododa is able to rescue his twin girls, and is able to get some revenge on his boss. That’s when Kline appears, and sees what Ododa is capable of. Ododa flees the scene of the mine, taking his wife and children to Paris. He teleports inside a bank and robs it of several million euros. Giving the money to his wife, they disappear, so Ododa’s wife can set up in Paris like they always dreamed.

  Alex, Scott, Christina and Emily confront each other about what happened with Collier. They decide they have to stop him before Kline can get ahold of the stone that grants someone the ability to conjure fire. Emily believes she can reach her fiancé, and bring him back from the brink of madness, but Alex is doubtful. He’s seen Kline’s madness with his stone up close, and knows how far gone a person can be. Privately, Alex begins to wonder if he’ll begin to go insane if he continues to use/hold the stones.

  They find Collier at his apartment in Carlsbad, and they confront him. Unfortunately, Emily has to learn the hard way that Collier is too far gone because of the stone’ s hold over him. He can’t come back. Alex rescues Emily from the situation just in time. Collier gets away. Driven mad by the stone’s hold on him, Collier holds the entire west coast hostage in his latest scheme. He goes to the San Ellijo Nuclear Plant and uses his stone to take control, threatening a meltdown and poisoning the entire west coast.

  Meanwhile, Kline discovers how much Ododa cares for his friends at the copper mine and decides to take them hostage in order to lure Ododa back to the mine with his teleportation stone. After a pitched battle, Ododa is slain, but not before saving the workers at the mine. Using the stone, he sends one last message to his wife.