Called

by E J Pay

  “Thank you, men,” Ceto says, “I shall only need one to escort us through the tunnels. I don’t think Ms. Marin is much of a flight risk at this point.” She enters the tunnel. I realize I am meant to follow behind and so I do. Though my mind reaches out to Gus to beg him to come with us, he says he is outranked by General Sampson who will be guarding us through the treasury. I send my regret to my ally and am followed by the largest of the octopi. Together, we swim through the darkness.

  Even though the tunnel entrance is completely masked in shadow, my eyes adjust to the black water. Soon the faint glowing green that I saw when I first entered my prison creeps into my vision. It grows brighter and lighter as we swim further into the tunnel. I am unsurprised to notice notches and caves of creatures from other times as we swim through the murky corridor. The walls are far from the smooth stone of the alabaster city above. Instead, they are pocketed and bumpy. No tools were used to create this passageway. Ceto has been talking to General Sampson about his octopus family as we swim. I am not paying attention to their conversation so I nearly bump into Ceto as she slows. She stops in front of yet another stone doorway on our right. This door, however, is sitting on hinges so Ceto can open it herself.

  She moves to the side, and with one hand on the door and another extended to me, she says, “Alright Evelyn, my dear, I have someone I would like for you to meet.”

  “Who is it?” I ask.

  “Oh, you’ll see. I think you will be pleased. Go in.”

  I hesitate, not sure if I am being set up for a trap. But what other choices do I have? Besides, I have a cell waiting for me higher up. There would be no point in abandoning me here in a dungeon. So, with gentle strokes, I swim cautiously into the new corridor.

  “I’ll be right outside the door, dear. Do let me know if you need anything. You have just a few minutes as I really do need to get back to my work for the day.”

  As I turn my back on Ceto and toward the hall, I see a warm glow, not unlike the city above, coming from an opening at the end. I swim toward the light, assuming that this is the way to go. As I draw near, I can hardly believe what I see. It looks like every sea treasure ever written about or mapped or pirated in all of history is here in these deep, stone walls. From where I float, I see piles and piles of gold coins, speckled throughout with jewels, necklaces, goblets, gold bars, chests of treasure, and even fine armor. I am stunned by the sight. It is like a glittering dream. I enter the room and reach my hand out to run my fingers through a pile of coins when I am grabbed by the wrist.

  Looking at this enormous treasury, I forgot where I am, who I am, and why I am here. And now I have allowed myself to be captured without even a fight. That lesson was taught in Soldier 101. I try to twist my arm away from the creature, but his grip is vice-like and unrelenting. All I can see of him is his grey-skinned hand as he holds me tight. He is cloaked in a robe with a hood that veils his features in a darkness that I cannot see through. The robe is long, almost to the treasury floor. Floating just beneath the robe, I see two feet, nearly human, with webbed toes and scales growing just above. So, this is a two-worlder. And not just any two-worlder. This is an Atlantean.

  “Who are you? What are you doing here? Who sent you into my treasury? Nobody steals on my watch – and I am always watching!” I know I should be afraid of this stranger, but I am not. There is something in his voice that touches something deep within me. I know I can never fear him.

  “My name is Evelyn Marin. I was sent here by Ceto to meet someone. Is anyone else here or are you the one I am meant to meet?”

  I have stopped trying to twist away. I want to see my guard, if that is who he is. But as I speak, his hand goes slack. Slowly his fingers let go of my wrist and his arm returns to his side.

  “What did you say your name is?” he asks. His voice is at once so deep and soothing that I feel like I can melt into it.

  “Evelyn. Evelyn Marin is my name. Who are you?”

  The two-worlder lifts his hand to his hood and pulls back. He is tall and handsome. His hair is dark with many strands of grey about his temple and starting on the top. It moves about freely in the water. He is a merman. His nose is straight and strong, his jawline equally as strong and angular. His skin is greying like his hair, an effect from too many years without seeing the sun. But the most striking things about him are his eyes. His eyes are the color of the sea before a storm, the churning greenish blue that warns of what is coming. They are vast and piercing at the same time. I have seen eyes like that before. Every time I look into a mirror.

  “Evelyn. Evelyn could that possibly be you?” He reaches his greying hand to my face and I back away. He pulls back like he was pricked by a thorn, then with emotion filling his eyes, he speaks again, “Evelyn. Evelyn. I had no idea what time could be erased so instantly and so thoroughly by seeing your face again. How I have missed you.” His voice cracks with suppressed tears and I stand silently in front of him. He swallows hard then addresses me again, “Evelyn, it’s me. I’m your father.”

  Chapter 23

  My father? You are my father? How can that possibly be? I don’t believe you. My father was lost at sea during a hurricane when I was just a little girl. You can’t possibly be my father. If you are my father, how is it possible that you could have been here for so long? Why didn’t you contact us? Why wouldn’t you come home? We needed you! We needed you! You can’t possibly be my father!

  All of this runs through my mind like a flaming current of ocean water, boiling from a lava flow – bursting into my mind and heart like boiling hot steam. But I can’t utter a single word. I stand there, completely frozen. My icy exterior a complete mask over the flame I feel inside. All I can do is stare. I hear him reaching out to me, making excuses for his absence from my life. He was lost in a hurricane, but Ceto saved him from the wreckage of his cheap old boat. She cared for him while his body healed and he stayed one year when she promised him treasure for his family. In that time he came to understand what she is like, her cause is not the evil he once thought it to be. She really isn’t as horrible as I have been taught. I hear all of it, but all I can do is stare.

  Eventually, this man in front of me, who claims to be my long lost father, realizes that I am in shock. He calls out to someone for help then puts his arms around me and swims to the outer corridor, back to Ceto. I am scooped up into the arms of General Sampson and we swim back out to the open water. Once there, Gus tries to reach out to me to speak, but I am too frozen to respond. All I can do is manage a brief, but pained glance in his direction. It is enough to communicate my distress to him and I know he feels my suffering.

  “Oh Kai,” I hear Ceto say with warmth, “I thought she was a stronger girl and up to the meeting. Come, let’s get her back to the palace.”

  We ascend back the way we came. Though Ceto again leads the way, that man is right beside her, whispering in hurried and anxious tones, constantly making furtive and concerned looks in my direction. Up we go through the dark until we again pass through the glowing city. This time even more of its inhabitants stop what they are doing to see the procession.

  As we rise alongside the brilliant stone walls, we swim by a window where I hear two women arguing. I don’t know what in all of seadom they are arguing about, but their yelling is enough to bring me to my senses. I am a soldier being carted around by my captors. Not some baby girl in need of tending. If these two-worlders and sea creatures think there is something to look at now, they have no idea what is coming.

  I am fully aware of every one of my sea elements: tide, water temperature, sea creature, and wave. The air above water can do nothing for me so far beneath the ocean’s surface, I will leave that for another day and another battle. I scream out mentally to Gus who is just behind General Sampson. He urges me to do nothing so I will be safe, but I can’t and I won’t. I let go of my connection to Gus and focus on my water temperature skills. I approach the water around me and ask its favor on my behalf. The water thinks this is a f
unny ruse, something to add some entertainment to its dull life. It will comply with anything I ask of it. Within a matter of seconds, General Sampson lets out a small groan of pain as his tentacles freeze. He is distracted enough that I push out of his freezing tentacles and into the open water. He yells but is caught mid-breath by the icy water that clings to his head. A few seconds later, he is frozen solid and sinks slowly to the ocean floor, hundreds of feet below.

  None of this goes unnoticed by those around me. While Gus hangs back in surprise at what is happening, Murphy reaches toward me with four of his tentacles, determined to hold me and keep me in check. But I am not easy to hold. As he reaches out, his own tentacles begin to freeze. Disbelief registers within him, and I am blown to the side by a tremendous current of water. My connection to the water temperature is broken and I am sent flailing through the water, toward the city walls. Ceto has current control abilities.

  She comes toward me with a deranged look of anger on her face, arms raised to send a wall of water straight at me. Our family connection is not going to keep me out of trouble with the reigning queen of sea evil.

  I brace myself for a serious impact with a wall, but Ceto is nudged to the side herself. Just as quickly as she came after me, she turns her attention to my would-be father. He has reached out with a current of his own to protect me. Though his skills are limited from years of disuse, it is enough to keep me from slamming my head and body into the edifice behind me.

  Then, this man, who claims to be my father, starts to freeze. First his hands, then his arms. I can see his feet writhing in pain from under the hem of his cloak. Ceto is not going to be countered by one of her underlings. Pain fills his face as the freeze creeps higher. I reach out with my own water temperature abilities when Gus’ conscious prickles mine.

  Please stop, Evelyn soon-be friend! Ceto has many skill and very strong! She kill you if you try cross her! Please stop!

  As the freeze grows higher on her victim, I realize that either this man or I will die if I don’t end this.

  “STOP!!” I shout. “Please stop!! Please don’t hurt him. It was my fault!”

  Ceto stops mid-freeze and turns to look at me. I am powerless before her. She has incredible skill that I cannot match and I know it. I have learned from my interactions with Celia when I am outranked. I am going to have to find another way to fight these battles.

  “Ah, Evelyn,” her voice is soft and tender and scarier than anything I have ever heard before. “Are you saying you surrender?”

  Bile rises into my throat as I let out the wretched answer, “Yes, Ceto. I surrender.”

  “Good. Gus, take her. Miss Marin is going to have new quarters.” She lets Kai go and swims ahead. Gus takes me in his tentacles and swims after his queen. We pass Kai whose arms have been unfrozen. He looks after me with so much concern that I cannot help but feel bad for the pain I just caused him. I am not ready to accept him as my dad, but I can at least acknowledge that he reached out to help me. Murphy recovers and reaches Kai as Gus and I pass. He wraps four of his tentacles around Kai, who is limp from his ordeal. I know he will be joining me in Ceto’s prison.

  Chapter 24

  Since I displayed my water temperature abilities, I am not led back to my original cell of stone and ice. Instead, I am taken to a cell deeper in the vault of the prison, this time with bars as the fourth wall. I am quiet as Gus swims with me back to the cave. He tries several times to reach my mind, but I am too depressed to respond. I am foolish. I could have used this time to learn important information and find a way out of this place. Instead, I allowed my embarrassment, frustration, and temper to rule the day. And I gave away a piece of my identity in the process, forcing my enemies to put me in even more guarded accommodations.

  With no daylight reaching me in my cell, it is impossible to keep track of time. I am given food periodically – uncooked seaweed and decomposing shrimp – but the timing is so irregular that it is difficult for me to count the days by it. I cannot bring myself to eat the monotonous and unappetizing meals at first. But over time, my hunger gets the best of me. I won’t touch the shrimp, I have too many reasons to not want to eat it. But eventually the seaweed courses diminish and disappear altogether until shrimp is all I am left with. Ceto is determined to bend me to her will.

  My guards change regularly, though I see Gus only once. The one time I do see him is very early in my incarceration. He does all he can to console me, to bring me out of my depression, but I am too deep to allow for his attempts at kindness. I don’t bother trying to reach out to any of my other guards.

  Night after night I dream of Atlantis, of finding my sea abilities, of the people I left behind. Sometimes I have vivid dreams of James, holding his hand and laughing. Then in an instant I see Gwen by his side, holding his other hand, talking and laughing. I let go of his hand and he breaks out into even louder laughter. He and Gwen laugh at me for my stupidity. “You can’t even escape from a dim-witted octopus,” they say, “What kind of two-worlder are you? Fish eater!” Each time, I awake feeling embarrassed and ashamed, sad and lonely.

  I spend some of my awake hours thinking of Jack, dreaming about the time on his boat, taking people on tours, and the many little instances where he smiled at me and I would go all weak inside. I imagine following his orders and doing all I can to please him as a soldier, determined to make him proud. I imagine that in some way he cares about me. What is he thinking now? How did he react when he heard I was gone? Was he angry with me because Pisces was lost? Would he try to rescue me?

  These hours of thought are followed by fitful sleep and disturbing nightmares. I dream that I am training under Celia. I follow her on diving expeditions, always searching for something that is not there. Sometimes I talk to the air around our little boat, but Celia punishes me with slaps to the face. In one dream, she makes me the example of training failure. “Look at her well, recruits. Evelyn Marin is the perfect example of how to get caught. Follow her path and you will all end in ruin. Associate with her at all and you will still end up in ruin.” I come at her with my mace over my head, ready to fight her and show my strengths, but she blows me back with her current control. Just as I use the water to freeze her to the point of death, her face changes into my mom, pained and confused. Why would her daughter do this to her?

  My mom. That same woman whom I barely spoke to on our last day together, whom I left behind pleading for my safety. How can I ever face her again? What can I say to her when she loved me so much but I abandoned her? What would she do now that I am gone?

  Weeks pass in this stupor of inner emotional abuse. Then one night a new dream enters my sleep. It is a dream I know well – like a memory.

  A familiar yearning creeps into my heart, pulling me and pushing me forward. My body follows the motions that I have no control over. Instinct is making me adhere to a path I am meant to pursue. I am in the ocean and I feel completely at ease, even at home. I am in a cold and lightless hallway, heading toward my doorway. Then, instinct is gone, choice taking its place. I don’t need that yearning to pull me forward, I am going to take myself to face my destiny.

  As I near the door, I feel a familiar warmth pulsating behind it. The water which has been so frigid is now comfortable and inviting. I open the door and blink to help my eyes adjust to the brightness inside. This time, though, I see more than I have ever seen before. Despite the cold and deteriorating exterior hallway, this room is warm and lavishly furnished. It is round with a pearlescent patterned finish on the walls. Gold and jewel gilt frames surround crystal clear paintings of a time long past. Men and women, wrapped in ancient white robes cover every painting. Some are laughing and singing, their ringleting hair forever captured in a happy bounce. Others are praising a god, dropping jewels and fruit on the top of an ornate altar. Still more are weeping over a great loss, perhaps the death of a child or a king, draping their scarlet capes over a casket, covering their heads in sackcloth. I am moved by their grief and my own heart reaches
out to theirs in pity.

  As I move around to view the pictures in the room, I watch myself to keep from swimming into furniture. Incredible ottomans and lounging couches sit beneath each painting. Every item is different. Some are covered in a pure white satin, others are encrusted with jewels on the arms and legs. A few have very decorative and ornate pillows to lounge on, some have decorative tables to the side, covered with books. I bend down to look at one of the titles and am stunned by what I read. Tinnaeus by Plato. This is a relic of ancient literature containing a partial account of the fall of Atlantis. It is a book I have learned about but never seen. It was lost when Atlantis first sank into the sea. Beneath it is its cousin work, Critias, also by Plato. Both books are bound in scarlet-shaded leather and embossed with gold letters. But lying next to these ancient works is a far more modern book on the same subject. The Sunken Kingdom: The Atlantis Mystery Solved, by Peter James.

  I turn from admiring these works and face the center of the room. And there it is, just as it always is in my dreams. That ball of spherical perfection, glowing with radiating light. Swirling designs of light and dark liquid, pale yellow and gold, move about within the ball. It is nearly half my size but floats midair at the level of my eyes. I feel the ball reaching out to me, calling me to it and telling me who it is. It is like a living soul is reaching out to me, seeking to shake my hand in greeting. I am being offered an introduction. Am I going to take it? The fear that normally seizes me when I find this globe is not present. Only curiosity fills me now. Yet, I still know what awaits me if I touch that glasslike orb.