SPOILER ALERT!
The following article may indicate or reveal significant events in the story. Read at your own risk!
The Stonekeeper is the first installment in the Amulet series. The book was published by Scholastic on January 1, 2008.
Summary[]
| The Stonekeeper | |
 | |
| Author | Kazu Kibuishi |
| Publisher | Scholastic |
| Publication Date | January 1, 2008 |
| Number of Pages | 192 |
| Series Guide | |
| Previous This is the First book. |
Next The Stonekeeper's Curse |
After David Hayes dies in a car accident, his widow, Karen, and their children, Emily and Navin, move to a house in the little town of Norlen. Karen hopes that a new, more affordable home will help the family get back on their feet.
The house, which has been in her family for generations, is boarded-up and disused, and needs care and attention. As they clean the house, Emily finds a strange amulet in the library where her great-grandfather, Silas Charnon, worked, and puts it on. That night, hearing strange noises, the family goes to investigate. Their mother goes into the basement and is snatched by a monstrous arachnopod.
Emily and Navin follow them into another world to save her, with the amulet's voice as their guide. They are pursued by a mysterious elf but are rescued by a rabbit-like robot called Miskit. Miskit brings them to Silas' house, and they meet his other robots Cogsley, Morrie, and Bottle. Emily talks to Silas, who tells her of the amulet's power and dies soon afterward. The amulet then speaks to Emily, telling her to accept the powers of the amulet and become a stonekeeper in order to save their mother. Despite Navin's distrust of the amulet, Emily accepts.
They then hunt down the arachnopod by taking a shortcut through a tunnel full of rakers in an old helicopter plane. Navin pilots the plane while Miskit shoots at the rakers to keep them away, but when the gun is knocked from his hands, Emily uses her stone to defend them. They escape the tunnel and locate the arachnopod, but fail to subdue it, as the tranqulizer darts Miskit brought were actually vitamin supplements. Emily tries to pull her mother from the arachnopod regardless, but it stabs Karen with a stinger and she can't move. Emily uses her amulet's powers to return to the plane.
They follow the arachnopod into a forest, where they crash through the trees, and Emily runs after the arachnopod on foot. When she finds it, the mysterious elf reappears and kills the arachnopod with the use of his own amulet, freeing Karen from the corpse. The elf then grabs Emily and demands she help him kill his father, the Elf King. He attempts to use Sybrian to take over her mind, but Emily breaks free and corners the elf with the power of her own amulet. Although the amulet demands she destroy him, Emily lets the elf go. She carries her mother back to Navin and Miskit.
After they bring Karen back to Silas' house, Morrie explains that she has been poisoned by the arachnopod, and she'll remain asleep until they find the antidote. They begin piloting Silas' house -- which is actually a giant robot -- to the nearest city.