What Came From the Stars

On a distant planet lit by twin suns, the Valorim, a noble race of guardians, protect the Ethelim people with their Art, a creative power forged from song, story, and craftsmanship. The traitorous Lord Mondus has raised an army of faceless monsters called O'Mondim and laid siege to the Reced, the Valorim castle. As the O'Mondim breach the gates, the remaining Valorim sacrifice themselves to buy time for Young Waeglim, a warrior-smith, to forge their Art into a green and silver Chain. Brythelaf, a fellow Valorim, holds the Tower doorway until he falls. Young Waeglim finishes the Chain and sends it out the Tower window on his Song and Thought, the Valorim's power of music and will, launching it across galaxies to land in the lunch box of Tommy Pepper, a sixth-grader in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Tommy finds the glowing chain when his lunch box tips off a cafeteria bench on his twelfth birthday. He puts it on and it feels warm, as if made for him. Strange knowledge floods his mind: He knows the names of the twin suns, displays uncanny artistic precision, and that evening sings a keening lament in a language he does not know. His father and younger sister Patty, a first-grader who has not spoken since their mother's death, stare in amazement.

The Lord Mondus imprisons Young Waeglim beneath the Reced and seats faithless Valorim on the Twelve Seats, the Reced's ruling thrones. Through spies, he learns the Chain can be retrieved if an O'Mondim calls from outside the world to reveal its location, or if someone receives it from a willing hand and brings it back across the stars.

The chain's influence over Tommy deepens. Foreign words and artistic powers seep into his mind. At home, yellow surveying flags mark the Peppers' beachfront property for the Pilgrim Way Condominiums, a development pushed by Mrs. Charlene Cabot Lumpkin, a ruthless real estate developer. Tommy's father reveals the land is at risk. That night, Tommy imagines the flags gone; by morning, they have vanished.

A flashback reveals Tommy's deepest guilt. The last time he saw his mother, he slammed the car door after arguing about piano lessons and refused to wave goodbye. She died in a car accident that day. Tommy blames himself for her death, for Patty's silence, and for his father's decision to stop painting. He has not touched the piano since.

On the beach, Tommy sculpts an O'Mondim figure in wet sand and presses his chain into its forehead. The sculpture moans. He kicks off the figure's right hand and the sound stops. Storms batter Plymouth, and houses along the coast are broken into nightly, filled with rank seaweed that Tommy recognizes as the O'Mondim's stench. The Lord Mondus sends two faithless Valorim across space to retrieve the Art; only Ouslim the Liar survives the journey.

Tommy plays Bach's "Sleepers Wake!" on the piano, the first time since his mother's death. His father begins painting again, and Tommy uses the chain to paint his mother's image in pale hints on the hallway walls. At the Plymouth Fall Festival, Tommy recognizes the Cardiff Giant, a famous stone hoax, as an O'Mondim with the same faceless head and missing right hand. His classroom is later ransacked with the message "PEPPER GIVE US WHAT WE WANT." At the beach, the O'Mondim projects an image of Tommy's dead mother beckoning from the water. Tommy wades toward her, entranced, until Patty arrives crying, breaking the spell.

Mr. Burroughs, Tommy's teacher, disappears. A substitute named Mr. Pilgrim Way takes over, his voice so beautiful that the school falls under his enchantment. Alone with Tommy, he reveals himself as Ouslim the Liar. He demands the chain and attacks, but Tommy deflects using the chain's power. Ouslim strikes at Tommy's guilt, telling him he betrayed his mother, and Tommy loses his memory of her voice. Ouslim's enchantment spreads until no one can remember Mr. Burroughs.

Tommy builds a wall of clear ice along the property line, carving images of Elder Waeglim, Young Waeglim's father, and Bruleath, an Ethelim hero. Mr. Pilgrim Way offers a bargain: the chain in exchange for saving the Peppers' land at the Planning Commission hearing. Mrs. Lumpkin's lawyers overwhelm Tommy's father's plea. Tommy stands and says "No." The commission approves the easement, but Tommy feels peace: His mother would never have surrendered the Art.

The O'Mondim chases Tommy through Plymouth. He arrives home to find his father and Patty missing. On the shore, Patty's backpack lies tied with seaweed. Tommy wraps the chain around garden tools and whispers "Ferr orlu," forging an orlu, the Valorim's signature weapon.

On the Valorim world, Young Waeglim escapes his cell and rallies the Ethelim. He sends Ealgar, the young son of the Ethelim hero Bruleath, across space to retrieve the Art. Ealgar arrives in Plymouth. Tommy draws Mr. Burroughs's face on the school bulletin board, breaking the students' enchanted amnesia, and gathers his friends. Together they confront Mr. Pilgrim Way. Though Ealgar is skilled and Tommy wields his orlu, the faithless Valorim defeats them all and demands the chain for Tommy's family. Tommy refuses. Mr. Pilgrim Way offers him the chance to destroy the O'Mondim as a supposed act of good faith, but Tommy refuses this too.

That night, Tommy carries the chain to the shore. The O'Mondim emerges from the water, but when Tommy holds out the chain, the creature picks it up and holds it back, along with his ruined right hand. He does not want the chain for power; he wants to be made whole. Tommy sculpts a new hand from sand, then forms eyes, a nose, and ears on the blank face. The tide rises and covers the O'Mondim.

Tommy leads his friends to the school, where they find Mr. Burroughs, Tommy's father, and Patty imprisoned in the basement. Mr. Pilgrim Way attacks. Ealgar drives him onto the beach in a blinding blizzard. As Mr. Pilgrim Way raises his weapon, the O'Mondim emerges from the snow and drags the shrieking Ouslim into the ocean. The creature speaks his only words: "Eac naman Pepper," meaning "Also named Pepper," claiming the name Tommy gave him. The storm ceases and sunlight breaks through.

Before sunrise, Tommy holds the chain one last moment, seeing visions of the twin suns and of playing piano with his mother. He places it in Ealgar's palm. The Valorim knowledge drains from his mind, but he remembers his mother more sharply than he has in months. A green burst carries Ealgar beyond the clouds.

On the Valorim world, Young Waeglim and the Lord Mondus fall from the Tower window during their final battle, but the Art's green light catches Young Waeglim while the Lord Mondus plummets to his death. Ealgar returns with the chain and touches each O'Mondim's forehead, restoring their eyes, mouths, and names. He tells them the story of the O'Mondim who gave his life, whose name was Pepper. Young Waeglim dies of his wounds, and Ealgar the Bold rules as one of the Twelve Sovereigns.

In Plymouth, Mrs. Lumpkin abandons the condominium project. Mr. Burroughs returns with no memory of his absence. Tommy puts his gyldn, a dagger from the Valorim world, above his bedroom door but cannot remember what it was for. He plays the Bach piece for his father and Patty, and one night, Patty begins to hum along, her first sounds since their mother's death. Their notes float down to the shore and up toward the stars.