Called

by E J Pay

  “Get the city cleared,” she commands. “We have prepared for this eventuality, Captain Slee. The people will know what to do.”

  Captain Slee swims out the door and starts barking orders to everyone he sees. ‘Get Going!’ ‘Get to your posts!’ ‘This is just like our drills!’ I hear his commands echoing down the hall, through the open door. Gwen stands at the end of the table, fear written across her face. Ceto has other places to be. She embraces Gwen around the shoulders, and though Gwen doesn’t even respond, Ceto whispers a few words into her ear. To me she nods and says, “I hope we have time to finish our discussion later, Evelyn. I must see to the battle and the welfare of my people.

  “Gus,” she says. He stiffens at attention, “take these girls to the safety bunker next to my own. Make sure they have enough food and protection then join your comrades at your post.” And with a flourish of tentacles, she swims out the door.

  Chapter 27

  I feel as shell-shocked as Gwen looks. I can hardly believe what is happening. I am a prisoner and my enemy is under attack. My enemy also happens to be my aunt and it turns out that my friend is also my cousin. Oh, and I am being guarded deeper into the fortress by an octopus. An octopus who is becoming a friend to me.

  Gus is swimming hastily through the halls, a single tentacle around me and another around Gwen.

  Where are you taking us, Gus?

  A booming sound comes from just outside the hallway and the cave walls tremble.

  Gus take you safe place.

  Another blast. The people of Atlantis are here and very, very close. If I am ever going to get out of here, it has to be now.

  Gus, I know you want to follow Ceto and take us where she asked, but if you let us go, we have the chance to be free and not be prisoners anymore.

  You safe with Gus. You not safe in battle.

  But, Gus, I am a trained soldier, remember? If you let us go at a safe place, we can get back to the Atlanteans on our own.

  Ceto no be happy I let you go. And no be happy I let Gwen go. Gwen her daughter, Evelyn.

  Yes, Gus, I know. But Gwen doesn’t want to be here anymore than I do. She is Ceto’s daughter, but she is also a prisoner.

  More rattling of walls. We are nearing an opening that was blasted through the cave. Atlanteans are swimming toward the hole that leads into Ceto’s palace. Gus pauses, unsure of what to do now that his path is blocked and his queen is being invaded by the enemy. He doesn’t have the ability to think his way around that.

  Gus, let us go here. Our people are coming and will not hurt us.

  I feel the battle within him as he hovers, silently staring at the opening in the wall.

  Gus, please. You have taken such good care of me, just like a friend would do. I think you are my friend, Gus. Don’t you think you are my friend?

  He swells with pride as he understands that I am calling him my friend. He has wanted that title ever since I first came to Ceto’s fortress. I feel the tentacle around my waist slacken.

  Oh Evie friend. You make Gus so happy. Yes I you friend. I let you go. But what I do when Ceto find me?

  Gus, come with us. You can live with us in Atlantis. Together we can defeat Ceto and show how well all of the ocean can live together and be friends. Nobody needs to force anyone.

  My guard considers this thought for a moment, but before he can answer, the first Atlanteans are through the opening in the palace wall. Gus is unprepared. This isn’t his post. He is out of his element and training. He freezes where he is, his tentacles tightening around my waist again. As the first of the troops make their way through the door, they move straight toward us, shouting at Gus to let us go. He stays there, frozen. Gwen comes to her senses and pushes at Gus, trying to get free. When an Atlantean soldier grabs hold of my arm, it pulls Gus out from whatever trance he is in. He reacts instinctively, pulling me away and raising his tentacles to fight off the invaders. He pulls a sconce off of the cave wall and uses it as a weapon.

  It is like watching slow-motion as he swings and swings at the invaders. I scream and scream at the invaders – my people, trying to get them to stop. Gus will not harm us. He will let us go. He is afraid and confused. But the sound of the battle is too much for my voice to reach the Atlanteans. More and more of them make their way through the blast in the hallway. Gus is forced back into the room from which we came. Once we reach the room, Gus tries closing the door, but he is overpowered. He tries so hard to hold on to Gwen and me, but there is too much going on. We slip out of his tentacles as he fights off the enemy Ceto gave him. I scream to him with my mind as loud and as strong as I can.

  Please stop, Gus, my friend! They will overpower you and hurt you! Please, Gus! They will kill you if you don’t stop fighting! Please stop!

  Finally, Gus gets the message I am trying to send. He stops what he is doing and turns to face me. But he is too late. A huge mace – my weapon of choice – comes gliding through the water from an unseen hand and strikes Gus squarely on his bare head.

  I don’t need to look anymore. I know that Gus can’t survive that kind of blow. His skull is so much softer than my own. He has no helmet. I know he is dead. As my head sinks down to my chest, I see his lifeless body sinking to the floor. My fellow Atlanteans have no idea that they have killed an innocent creature. Gus was only following Ceto because she reached him first. But I had reached his soul. He would have made a better choice if he had lived to do it.

  The soldiers swim over his motionless body, some toward Gwen and me, some toward the large stone door. They are shouting to Gwen and me but I am reeling. Just as the door to this beautiful room opens, I sink to the floor and start to cry. Hands, fully human hands, reach out for me on the floor. I am carried in a pair of strong arms out to where the battle is raging. Gwen is swimming out on her own. She has no desire to follow in her mother’s footsteps. She wants Atlantis.

  I just watched a friend die. I am so lost in tears that I can hardly move. My mind is still calling out to Gus. I still receive only silence.

  I am carried somewhere near the back of the battle. I hear voices shouting that I have been found. They are grateful. My tears slow as I take in the scene around me. What am I supposed to do? I am left in a sea-cart where I can be tended to by a nurse, but I don’t have any wounds for her to heal. My pain is all internal. I look toward the battle at the walls of Ceto’s home. The amazing fortress is quickly being overtaken by Atlanteans. But, to my surprise, the battle is slowing. Where are the fighters for the other side? I expect there to be defenses firing from the tops of the palace walls, but there is nothing. Several sharks, eels, stingrays, octopi, and others of Ceto’s sea creatures are being rounded up by Atlanteans, prisoners of war. But for the most part, the palace is desolate.

  James.

  I forgot about James. What about the prisoners kept in Ceto’s dungeon? Were they freed? I put my hurting for Gus in a little box and stow it away in my heart as I rise from the makeshift bed I have been sitting on. The nurse protests, but I assure her I am fine and I leave the cart.

  I swim to where the prison entrance lies below Ceto’s home. Atlanteans are conducting a thorough search of the hallways and cells, but it is completely empty.

  “What happened? Where are all of the prisoners?” I ask of a soldier nearby. He is in full battle armor, with a club in one hand and a shield in the other.

  “They had an evacuation plan ready. We were only able to save a handful of her prisoners before the rest were taken and hidden away with the rest of the city,” he answers.

  “But where are the ones we rescued being kept?” I ask.

  “They are in the back of the company by now. I’m sure Lady Pescara has questions for them.”

  I thank the soldier and swim away again from the city walls, making my way toward the back of the company. My heart falls when I reach them. There couldn’t have been more than a half dozen rescued Atlanteans. I search their faces but recognize none of them. Panic stricken, I ask each of them if they
have seen James. I describe his features: his hazel eyes, light freckles and auburn hair. But nobody registers what I am asking of them. They are still too dazed from the battle.

  I am getting ready to leave when one final Atlantean joins the group. His face is bruised and he has a large gash on his shoulder that hasn’t been tended to properly. When I pelt him with my questions, his face registers understanding, then disgust.

  “Oh, I saw that one alright,” he says. “He led me to my cell. Told me if I knew what was best, I’d be a saint. But I wasn’t a saint, see? I don’t take orders from the enemy and that guy let me have it.” I’m not sure I understand what the man is saying. I am beginning to think he is talking about someone else. He continues, “He made sure I got one good sock in the gut every day, right before dinner. Then he would take my plate away before I could finish eating. Said I had better start talking if I wanted to eat a decent meal. Said if I didn’t show Sergeant James some humility, I wasn’t going to get any kind of meal. I tell you I hate Ceto and everything she stands for. Her little fish army isn’t so bad to deal with, but when her follower is a two-worlder, watch out! They aren’t going to take any pity on you.”

  I watch silently as the man is taken to have his injuries treated. I cannot understand what he means. It is a mistake. I saw James in the prison as I was being taken to Ceto. He was surrounded by an octopus guard. Wasn’t he? Was he inside the cell or outside of it? Was he a prisoner or a guard himself? I can’t remember. I think about what he said to me months ago about a woman who was changing into a different creature. I assumed that he meant Lady Pescara with her mermaid tail, but maybe it was actually Ceto. I hadn’t seen any other two-worlders than those living in the city below the palace. Ceto kept only full sea creatures around her all the time. Is James the exception to that rule?

  I am brought out of my thoughts when I notice another former prisoner being brought to the group. It is Kai. His black robe is missing and he is dazed and confused. His skin is grey, and where his legs should have been a gorgeous merman tail has taken their place. A triple-layered row of scales winds around his mid-section with a slight dip below his belly button. He wears no shirt and I see that his torso and arms are strong from years of swimming in the sea. His feet are the only thing on his lower body to look at all human. His toes are webbed, yes, and scales are creeping down the tops of his feet, but I can see that the skin on his feet is turning into a gauzy white, a precursor to the split fin they will become.

  Once he reaches me, the guard holding him asks another soldier to get the nurse to him quickly and alert Lady Pescara. Kai raises his head and sees my face. His face is worn and worried and strained with years of stress and concern. But as our eyes meet, he sighs deeply and says, “Evelyn. Oh my Evelyn. You are safe,” then he cries. When the guard looks at him, then at me, I see understanding dawning in his eyes. The nurse arrives at that moment with a small carrying cot for Kai.

  “Could you help me get him into the cot, Evelyn,” the guard asks. I cannot say no to him. Kai looks so weak and sad, how can I not help him. I come to his side, his guard still holding him on the left. I wrap my arm around his waist and put his arm around my shoulder. He is still crying softly and saying my name over and over. It is like he is trapped in some kind of dream. The kind of dream where he can’t wake up and he is trying to save somebody – me.

  Chapter 28

  It takes a week to get back to Atlantis. We travel at a slow pace as we have to accommodate the wounded as well as prisoners. Everyone is worn out from the strain of travel and battle. I learn that the battle I saw when I was captured lasted for nearly twenty hours. It wasn’t until two days later, when the accounting of wounded and dead were being made, that anyone recognized I was missing. Pisces died before the battle ended. Nobody saw what happened to him because we were so far behind the fray. A heavy weight lives on my shoulders now as I feet guilt and responsibility for his death. When Jack realized that Pisces was dead and I was missing, he went directly to Lady Pescara. My abilities were too valuable to allow me to be captured, and all generals were employed in figuring out where I had gone and how to get me back. When the Atlanteans attacked Ceto’s city, they weren’t even sure I would be there. All they knew from their spies was that several others had been taken prisoner and were being held there. But everyone was relieved to discover that I was alive and well. That did very little to comfort me.

  I have spent much of this traveling week sitting alongside Kai. Whatever he is to me, I cannot leave such a pitiful creature on his own when I have power to help him. For several days, he tosses and turns in his traveling cot with fitful dreams and nightmares. I hold his hand, rub his arm, and speak soothing words to his sleeping ears until he finally quiets down and returns to a peaceful rest. It is amazing how much you can come to care for a person you are serving. I do not yet accept him as my father, but I still feel protective of him and have started to feel more than general concern for his welfare.

  The nurse tells me she is certain he was either drugged or under some kind of mind control. It was rumored that Ceto was using those methods to draw other of the less willing two-worlders to her cause. No one knows about the source of her power to control minds. Kai is the first two-worlder captured alive who can be of any use to us. But he is in such a state of confusion and healing that we have to wait for him to recover before we can get any kind of useful information from him. Once we make it back to Atlantis, I make sure Kai is safely settled in the hospital. He will be cared for there by the best sea doctors from all forms of sea life and two-worlder life, that is except for the smooth-skinned creatures like eels, sharks, and octopi. Once I have gotten Kai settled in, I am summoned by Lady Pescara for a debriefing.

  It feels surreal to be back in my Atlantean home. I swim the streets only partially aware of where I am headed. Fortunately, Jack is with me or I would have gotten lost. We make our way, weaving through the city streets to the government building where Lady Pescara is waiting. Jack came to see me several times on the journey home to check on how I was doing. I still remember our final meeting and the feeling I had when he held me, but I am so consumed with the things that have happened that I can’t give him much of my focus. This is the first time we’ve been together alone.

  “What does Lady Pescara want from me?” I ask as we swim.

  “It’s just a regular debriefing, Evelyn. You were held captive by Ceto and had actual communication with her. Anything you have to share could be helpful to us as we continue to plan and strategize.” Finally I am going to be useful. I wanted to spend as much time as I could with Ceto for this very reason. I wanted to gain something useful. I hope that what I did learn will be helpful to Atlantis.

  When we arrive at the doors of the government building, Jack swings one open wide for me and allows me to go in first. He places his hand on the small of my back as I enter and he follows closely behind. I get a tingle up my spine from the contact. It is a feeling I have not felt for a long time. A fish guard – very similar to Pisces – announces us to Lady Pescara before we enter her office. I am suddenly saddened to see this fish here in this place and I long to be with my friend again. Lady Pescara greets us in a warm yet official fashion and invites us each to take a seat near her desk. She remains upright in front of her chair, using her large and fully developed mermaid fin to keep her aloft. I recognize the underwater map on the wall behind her desk. I saw it when I first came to Atlantis. But now it has several new markings in a dark brown ink. It takes me a moment to realize it is Ceto’s fortress city. It was recently drawn in as it was discovered by the Atlanteans.

  “I cannot tell you how pleased we all are to know that you are safely back with us, Evelyn,” says Lady Pescara. “We feared for your life when we discovered Pisces.” I shudder and can feel the color leave my face as she mentions Pisces. Lady Pescara notices my reaction and takes sympathy on me. “I am very sorry for your loss, Evelyn. I know you were fond of Pisces and he was fond of you.” A single tear
escapes from the corner of my eye and enters the salty water we sit in. I nod my head, too choked up to speak. “Evelyn,” she continues, “I know this must have been a terrible and difficult time for you. I know it is hard to go over such painful memories and talk about them. But I am going to have to ask you many questions. We are still at war with Ceto and any information you may have gained while her prisoner could be helpful to us. Do you think you are strong enough to talk with me? I know it is what Pisces would have wanted.”

  I know she is right. Pisces would never have allowed sentiment or difficulty to keep him from his duty. Besides, there are so many things I want to share that can change life under the sea forever. Like how Gus and the other octopi have no real allegiance to Ceto. Maybe if Atlanteans had reached out to them sooner, we could have avoided this war and all the pain that it has inflicted so far. Maybe Ceto would never have turned against her Atlantean home. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe I can help find an end to this madness. So, I take a deep breath and tell Lady Pescara I am ready to help her in any way I can.

  “Good,” she says, “I’m glad to hear it. I know it must be painful, Evelyn, but I would like to start from the beginning. Can you tell me how you came to be captured and Pisces killed?”

  I feel like I have just been sucker-punched. I am prepared to share all I know about Ceto, but I am not ready to talk about the events leading to my capture. I feel so much shame washing over me. I hadn’t thought about it since becoming a prisoner. I wanted to protect myself, to protect Pisces. I must be pale because Lady Pescara tells me I can take all the time I need. I turn slowly to look at Jack, wanting to see that he still cares about me for a few more minutes before I completely disappoint him. I take a deep breath then straighten in my chair to begin my story.

  I start with how I was given very clear orders and had been completely frustrated by them. I cry openly as I talk about how I tried to force Pisces to let me fight. I talk about how my arguing made us fall so far behind the army, open victims to the other side. I apologize over and over for being so stubborn and for disobeying a direct order. This is not what I was trained to do and my foolishness and pride got one of the best fighters in the Atlantean army killed. I pause in my account to calm my tears. Nobody will be able to understand me soon if I start to sob. Jack reaches his hand over to me and places it on my arm. How can he stand to touch me? I am so ashamed.