“Oh don't be stupid, Justin!” Aaron said forcefully.
“What?”
“You heard me. That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Not able to make friends.” He snorted loudly. Before Justin could get mad about being called stupid and dumb, Aaron cut him off.
“It was me, okay? I...” he hesitated, “I was...jealous.”
Justin stared at him, completely surprised. He knew his mouth was hanging open. “Um, excuse me?”
Aaron pushed his hair back and Justin could see how red his face was. “I know, I know. We've only been friends a short time. But I'm like you. I don't have a lot of friends. Maybe I'm a bit, I don't know, possessive? I'm not sure. But when you said you'd rather hang out with Norm and play Arena instead of with me playing soccer, I felt, well you know.”
Justin felt as if a giant weight had fallen from his back. He stared at Aaron in disbelief. “Oh for cripes sake, Aaron. I told you that I don't like soccer. You'll be playing with Gerry, so what's the big deal?”
“I know, I know. I was an idiot. Okay?” He stared hard at Justin. “Please don't leave, Justin.”
Justin shook his head. “I'm not going anywhere, you moron,” he said with a grin. Then he shook his finger at Aaron. “But next time, just tell me what's bugging you. Okay? It's easier than dealing with misunderstandings.”
Aaron returned his grin. “Deal,” he said. “Uh, could we not tell Gerry or Norm about this?”
“Cool.” Justin looked up at the clock. “Better hurry. Breakfast is in ten minutes.”
“I'm on it,” Aaron said and hurried out the door.
Justin sat back and took a deep breath. Suddenly he felt terrific. The day was going to be great. And he remembered that Mr. Fitzgerald was going to show them the Atrium, whatever that was. Sounded cool. He leaned forward, eager to get a quick Arena match in before breakfast.
After breakfast, which had been held in the Court again, Mr. Fitzgerald stood up and began to tell them about the Atrium.
“As I'm sure you all know by now, Sanctuary is underground. Deep underground. And while we won't tell you exactly where in the world it is, I will now share with you another little fact about it. Not only is Sanctuary underground, it is also underwater.”
There were a chorus of gasps around the room. Justin and Aaron looked at each other with wide eyes then quickly turned back to listen to Mr. Fitzgerald.
“Yes, underwater. The Atrium is the highest point in our complex. And what is extraordinary about it is that it allows us to actually see the waters that we live beneath.”
Someone held up their hand. “Yes, Mr. Benson?”
“Figures,” Aaron muttered as he rolled his eyes. Justin tried not to laugh.
“So we will actually be able to see the ocean, sir?” Benson asked.
“Yes indeed. Like the Arboretum, the Atrium is a popular spot among us when we tire of looking at stone walls all the time.”
“Which ocean is it, sir?”
Mr. Fitzgerald looked at Benson for a long moment and Justin saw the boy's face become flushed.
“As I've said, Mr. Benson, we will not divulge the location of Sanctuary.” He smiled slightly. “And I did not say it was an ocean; you did.” He looked at the rest of the group. “Now, if you are ready, let us proceed.”
They all followed Mr. Fitzgerald out of the room. Once again they headed toward the courtyard, And once again, when they entered the courtyard, they passed the fountain, walked passed the Sentinel, which moved quickly out of the way, and walked down the stairs.
They walked down the same central corridor and finally approached the sheet of water that flowed across the hallway. Mr. Fitzgerald stopped in front of the waterfall and turned to speak to them.
“Now that you've experienced the portal, you won't be quite as surprised today when you arrived at the Atrium.” He smiled as several of the teens nodded. “Good. Proceed please.” He touched the water and, like on the previous day, it changed to an opaque, milky color. No one hesitated this time; the teens in front stepped into the waterfall and the rest followed in good order.
Justin felt the momentary vertigo as he entered the portal and then he found himself in a square room, standing in front of another milky fall of water, this one falling across part of a wall. He stepped out of the way quickly to make room for the others coming through. As Aaron appeared, Justin turned and looked around the room.
There were no doors in the room. The plain walls were roughly chiseled from stone and each of them had a waterfall splashing down their middle and disappearing into a trough in the floor. The other waterfalls were clear, not milky like the one the teens had just passed through. As they all gathered in the center of the room, Mr. Fitzgerald appeared and the water behind him turned clear again. He looked at their puzzled faces and smiled broadly.
“As you might have guessed, this is not the Atrium. The portals can only project people so far and then another must be used to continue the journey. In this case, the Atrium is a very long way from our point of origin.” He pointed to the waterfall directly across from the one they had just used. “We shall be using that portal to continue on.” He walked across to the portal, touched it and, as the water turned milky, gestured for them to enter.
Once again, Justin felt dizzy as he went through the portal but this time it only lasted a split second and then he was standing in a vast, circular chamber. He looked around him and saw the other teens staring at the room in awe.
They were in the center of a dome, seemingly made of a single huge piece of crystal. The walls rose up fifty feet or more and met smoothly above their heads. And outside of the crystal room was the sea.
It glowed with phosphorescence and the sea bed, level with the floor of the room itself, was covered with long, flowing streamers of seaweed, waving gently in the current.
Schools of tiny, colorful fish swirled and darted in and out of the weeds, accompanied by larger, lone fish emitting flashes of silvery, bright colors.
Justin and the others were so enthralled by what they were seeing that they didn't noticed Mr. Fitzgerald arriving until they heard his voice.
“Beautiful, isn't it?” he said softly, his voice echoing gently around the room. Justin looked at him and saw him looking straight up through the clear ceiling. As Justin himself looked overhead, he gasped. A huge form was slowly passing over the dome. It swam leisurely through the water, and majestically sailed across the length of the room and out of sight. Another appeared following the same path, and then another.
“Whales,” said Mr. Fitzgerald. “We see many of them here.”
Justin had never seen anything so beautiful. When the last of the whales had passed, he looked around the room. Along the walls, singly or in small groups, Guardians were standing and looking outward. He heard muttered conversation but nothing clearly. The Atrium seemed to be a place where a hushed voice was more appropriate than a loud one.
When the group returned to the courtyard, Mr. Fitzgerald gathered them around him for a moment.
“Now, I hope you enjoyed both the Arboretum and the Atrium. These are only two of the wonders that you will find in Sanctuary.” He looked at each of them then and he wasn't smiling. “However, visits to other areas of the complex are a privilege, not a right. I expect you all to study hard and learn as much as you can over the next few months. Those who do will be allowed more access to other parts of Sanctuary. Those who don't,” he paused for a moment, “may find themselves confined to this level until they have shown me that they are doing their best. Do you all understand?”
The group all nodded or murmured their assent.
“Excellent.” The man smiled again. “Enjoy the rest of your day.” Mr. Fitzgerald turned away and walked off.
Justin looked at his friends. “He sounded serious,” he said.
“Yeah, no kidding.” Gerry was looking around at the rest of the teens. “Let's hope for their sake that the others got that. I'm not taking a chance of missing out on
more soccer down in the Arboretum.”
“I'd rather watch the whales myself,” Norm said with a smile. “And I wonder what else there is to see and do here?”
“Dunno, Norm,” Aaron said as they began to walk back toward their quarters. “But I have a feeling we've got a lot more to discover in this place.”
Chapter 17
Several weeks passed quickly as Justin and his friends got into the routine of living and learning in Sanctuary. They learned more about runes and how to use them. And as Mr. Hunter had promised, the rune for knowledge came in handy when they began to learn to speak Titanian.
Each student was given a small silver disk with the knowledge rune etched into it. And when they held the disk and concentrated on the old scrolls in the library, the meaning suddenly became clear. Justin thought it was like magic. They suddenly understood the old records of Titan life; the day to day workings of the ancient society. He found it fascinating.
Norm was excited by this new knowledge as well, but Aaron and Gerry were more interested in the martial arts classes and the history lessons. Justin was sure that they only liked history because it was being taught by Ghelena.
Whatever power she had, Ghelena could keep the class mesmerized for hours when she spoke of the history of the Titan race. There were very few questions asked and very few interruptions. But Justin had a nagging question that he had been longing to ask and one day, as Ghelena was talking about an argument between Cronus and Hyperion, he raised his hand.
Ghelena stopped speaking abruptly and stared at Justin. She seemed startled that anyone would break into one of her lectures. But she finally nodded at him.
“Yes, Justin?” she asked. She was the only one of his teachers that actually called all of the teens by their first names.
“I was just wondering where the original twelve Titans came from, Ghelena,” he said. Aaron stared at him, blinking several times as if he had just woken up.
“Excuse me?” Ghelena said, sounding confused for the first time.
“Where did they come from? Did they fall from the sky? Appear magically? It just seems like one day there were only humans on Earth and the next, poof, there were these twelve Titans.”
Ghelena slowly nodded. “Now that is an excellent question, Justin. Excellent.” She appeared to be thinking about it. Justin found it hard to tell without being able to see her expression.
Finally she answered. “There are two schools of thought on that matter. The first, shared by some of the Guardians here as well as a few of my people, is that the original Titans were indeed gods.” There was a general murmur of astonishment in the room, which quickly stilled as Ghelena lifted her hand. “Yes, I know. It's a trifle far-fetched. But with no evidence to the contrary, some people will believe what they want to believe.”
“Do you believe that, Ghelena?” Denise spoke up.
“I? Certainly not.” Ghelena sounded faintly offended. “And not many of my kind do either. It's an absurd idea. I prefer the second school of thought, which is a recent development brought on by modern science and the theories of evolution. I believe that they were some sort of mutation. Spontaneous and unpredicted. Now, how twelve humans could be born at around the same time, with the same sort of mutation, is unclear. Perhaps their mothers were all exposed to an unknown radiation, or some sort of gene-altering virus.” She shrugged. “Many things could have happened. But that's the theory that suits my beliefs best. What you choose to believe is, of course, up to you.”
She turned back to the rest of the class and continued with her lesson. Justin hardly listened as he thought about her answer. Genetic mutation. Of course! It makes sense, he thought. He looked around at the class, all of whom were once more staring at Ghelena with almost reverence in their eyes. After all, he thought, what were all of the teens here, himself included, but genetic mutations? Except they were, apparently, planned mutations. Their cells had been timed to mutate five thousand years after the fall of Atlantis. He certainly liked that idea better than the one that made those first Titans into gods. That he could not accept.
One day, after runes class, Justin and his three friends headed back to the courtyard. When they arrived, they were surprised to see several of the teens tossing a football back and forth. Gerry approached the closest boy.
“Hey, where'd you guys get a football?” Gerry asked.
The boy caught the ball and threw it to someone else.
“I asked Jonathon,” he answered simply, not taking his eyes off of the game.
Gerry looked at Justin and the others. “Why didn't I think of that? We've been so busy that I never thought of just asking for something!”
Norm looked at his friend curiously. “Asking for what?” he said.
Gerry shrugged. “I dunno. A ball and bat maybe. Or maybe,” he looked down at the patent leather shoes they all wore, “some sneakers. I hate these things.”
They laughed. “Yeah, they don't have traction when we're playing soccer,” Aaron said. “That's why I played barefoot. But I'm getting a bit tired of stubbing my toes on the field.”
“So let's go ask Jonathon,” Gerry said and hurried toward the main entrance to the courtyard. Aaron started to follow him but stopped when he noticed that Justin and Norm hadn't moved.
“C'mon guys! Don't you want something?” he asked.
Justin shook his head. “Not right now, Aaron. You, Norm?”
“Maybe, when I think about it. But I don't have anything in mind at the moment.”
“Okay then. But I'm definitely going to ask for some sneakers!” Aaron waved and followed Gerry.
Justin turned to looked at Norm. “So there's really nothing you want?”
Norm smiled as he watched Gerry leave the courtyard. “Of course there is. But it was Gerry's idea, so let him enjoy himself.” Justin looked at him curiously and Norm reddened.
“Well, you know how much I like to study and stuff. I think it bugs Gerry a bit that the teachers call on me a lot in class.” Then he grinned widely at Justin. “So, let him have his time to shine, ask for something. It was his idea for a change.”
Justin laughed and slapped Norm on the shoulder. “You're a good friend, Norm,” he said.
Gerry and Aaron got their sneakers. Although he wasn't specific as to how, Jonathon told them that small items could be procured from the outside world, if the request was approved.
Soon the entire group was sporting new clothes, shoes and sports equipment. Many of the girls requested cosmetics. Denise told Justin that it gave them a feeling of normalcy in this crazy new world they had found themselves.
The teens began to settle into a comfortable routine. They were allowed to send letters to home once a month, as long as they included no information about Sanctuary, and this helped the group's attitude even more.
Finally, about six weeks into their stay in Sanctuary, Mr. Hunter told them on a weekend that they would begin learning runes that could actually be inscribed on to their bracelets. The excitement level of the entire group rose considerably and Justin and his friends could hardly wait for the new week to begin.
Chapter 18
Justin had just closed his eyes when a loud ringing, like a giant gong, echoed through the room. He sat up and turned so quickly that he fell out of bed.
Aaron sat up as well, pushed his hair out of his face and looked around with bleary eyes. “What's going on?” he asked thickly.
“BREACH! BREACH! SANCTUARY IS BREACHED!”
A voice that Justin had never heard before shook the room. It was so deep that it seemed like Sanctuary itself was yelling. And it sounded furious.
“BREACH! BREACH! SANCTUARY IS BREACHED! SENTINELS, DEFEND US!”
And then another voice echoed through the room and Justin immediately felt calmer. It was Mr. Fitzgerald.
“All Titans to the courtyard immediately. To the courtyard please. Guardians, protect your charges.” He hesitated a moment, then said “Destroyers, we need you.”
&nbs
p; A moment later, someone else spoke. “We heed the call,” it said simply. Justin thought he recognized the speaker. He looked over at Aaron who was just sitting in bed, staring at him. His face was very pale.
“Aaron, I think that was the guy. Remember? From the Arena room?”
Aaron blinked and then nodded. “Right, yeah. The scary, cool guy. Wow. Wonder what a Destroyer is?”
Justin stood up and started to get dressed quickly. His mouth was dry and he could feel his heart racing, but he tried to sound calm. “I don't know, but let's get moving. I don't think they're kidding around.”
They both dressed and headed into the hallway. All of the boys were streaming past, hurrying toward the courtyard. Norm and Gerry approached as they entered the hall.
“What's going on? Anyone know?” Norm asked. His voice was shaking.
“You know what we know, Norm,” Justin answered. “But it sounds like we're under attack.”
They turned at the intersection. The girls were hurrying in the same direction. Several were holding hands or arms but no one was panicking.
As they entered the courtyard, two of the Guardians were standing by the doorway. Six Sentinels stood a several yards from the entrance, facing it. The Guardians directed all the teens toward the fountain.
They could see three of the Sentinels standing in front of the fountain. The teens were gathering behind them. Justin and the others joined them. He noticed that his favorite Sentinel, the minotaur, was one of the group that were guarding the fountain.
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