The Secret
of the
Desert Stone

THE COOPER KIDS ADVENTURE SERIES®

Flying Blind
The Legend of Annie Murphy
The Deadly Curse of Toco-Rey
The Secret of the Desert Stone

(Available from Crossway Books)
Trapped at the Bottom of the Sea
The Tombs of Anak
Escape from the Island of Aquarius
The Door in the Dragon’s Throat

The Cooper Kids
Adventure Series®

The Secret
of the
Desert Stone

Frank E. Peretti

THE SECRET OF THE DESERT STONE
©1996 by Frank E. Peretti

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

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Scripture quotations are from the International Children’s Bible®, New Century Version®, © 1986, 1988, 1999 by Tommy Nelson®, a division of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Peretti, Frank E.
    The secret of the desert Stone / Frank E. Peretti.
       p.  cm. — (The Cooper Kids Adventure Series® ; 5)
    Summary: Fourteen-year-old Jay and his younger sister Lila accompany their father to the tiny African nation of Togwana where they experience a supernatural phenomenon through a mysterious stone.
    ISBN 978–0–4003–0574–2
    [1. Supernatural—Fiction. 2. Christian life—Fiction.
3. Africa—Religion—Fiction.] I. Title. II. Series: Peretti, Frank E.
The Cooper Kids Adventure Series® ; 5.
PZ7.P4254Se 1996
[Fic]—dc20

96–1919
CIP   
AC

Printed in the United States of America
08 09 10 11 12 QW 13 12 11 10 9 8

CONTENTS

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

ONE

The sky was still black, the stars were still out, and dawn was nothing more than a thin, red ribbon along the horizon when the sirens went off, wailing rudely across the vast army camp. As one man, the army of black warriors awoke—there were no dawdlers, no one who dared to slumber beyond reveille. The desert rattled with the slap and clatter of a thousand hands grabbing a thousand rifles. The soldiers leaped to their feet and burst from their tents, dashing across the sand, lining up in long, even rows on the flat desert. They stood at attention, rifles ready, eyes straight ahead, primed for battle.

Field Marshal Idi Nkromo was already awake and strutting about at the front of the camp, watching his army come to life. He was a heavy-set, marbleeyed man with medals and ribbons adorning his chest—most were of his own design, and most he had awarded himself. He scowled; he glared; he growled orders to his lieutenants, his hand always on the gleaming saber that hung at his side....