ABANDONED. Book about a child that finds a stone that fits in his hand that burns cold and unlocks his magical powers most likely checked out 1996-2000

[Cory]

I am looking for a book that I checked out from the library as a child. I believe I checked it out around 1996 or 1997 but I could have checked it out as late as the early 2000’s.

What I can remember is that it was about a child (most likely a boy) that finds a stone that burns cold in his hand and activates some sort of magical power that he has. Holding the stone also made him vulnerable to the supernatural or made the supernatural aware of him. Shortly after finding the stone an old hermit that was most likely a wizard finds him. Their might have been a scene that involved being stuck in a church. I remember the book having a creepy to enchanting feel to it. The book was not Eragon. There might have been a sticker of a skull on the book indicating the genera. I think it was paper back and less than 200 pages but I am not sure.

[Sue]

I'm pretty certain this is The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper. It's the second book in the series of the same name. The boy is collecting Signs, which are quartered circles made of different materials. The Sign of Iron burns his arm when he faces the Dark,

[Cory]

Thank you so much I am pretty sure this is it.

[Andria]

The Dark Is Rising -- for the link.

Cory, can we consider this solved?

[Kate]

Cory ~~
We crave closure, so we like to have explicit identification of the book by you. Can you confirm that you are sure enough about this solution for us to mark this as Solved and shelve the book? Please let us know!

[[deleted user]]

It might also be Alan Garner's Elidor.

[Kris]

No response, moving to Abandoned folder.

Cory (OP) was last active on the site in February 2020.