by E. G. Foley
“We thought if anyone would know about it, you would, sir,” Dani offered sweetly.
Dr. Giannopoulos glanced around at them with a look, almost, of suspicion. “It would help to know where exactly you were sea-bathing.”
“It wasn’t too far from the rim of the Calypso Deep. But I couldn’t say for certain,” Sapphira said, studying him.
“Hmm,” he said.
“What do you make of it, sir?” Jake prompted.
Dani thought the man looked nervous. An oily sheen had begun to appear on his face. Perhaps it was just the heat.
“Well, obviously, I’d have to study it for a few days. I have books, drawings…but I’d need to compare these markings against those already documented. If you’d leave the orb with me—”
“No!” they all shouted in unison.
The man jumped, then hugged the orb. “Why not? How else am I to study it properly? I can’t give you information if you don’t let me—”
Isabelle cleared her throat.
Everyone glanced at her; she shook her head at Jake, and her blue eyes held that dug-in, stubborn look that she got from time to time.
Dani knew that look well, and Jake had apparently learned its meaning, too: Something’s wrong. Don’t trust him. He’s lying.
Jake’s face hardened, but Archie heaved an exasperated sigh at his sister’s discreet warning, as though loath to doubt his fellow scholar.
Suddenly, Sapphira gasped. “Sweet Poseidon! Yes—I remember you!” She turned to Jake. “I just recognized this man! I thought he looked familiar! Now I remember.”
“Beg your pardon, miss?” Dr. Giannopoulos asked, his bushy eyebrows lifting. “Have we met?”
She scoffed at him in haughty disdain. “You’re the captain of that rusty old fishing boat who almost caught my cousin, Angelina!”
“What?” he said, looking her up and down in astonishment.
“Oh, yes, I remember you now, though it was a few years ago. You’re that fisherman! You were the bane of our existence—until a passing whale did us the favor of smashing your boat, as I recall. Ha!”
“Sapphira!” Maddox whispered angrily. Revealing her true nature was not something they had discussed in advance, nor planned.
Dr. Giannopoulos had turned white. “Impossible. I-I… The girl’s mad. How can you know about that?”
“How do you think?” Sapphira said, her sea-blue eyes gleaming.
Jake stepped up beside her. “Did this man give you some trouble, Your Highness?”
“Your Highness?!” the author echoed.
“Mm-hmm,” said Sapphira, folding her arms across her chest. “What did you mean to do if you had caught one of us, anyway? Eat us?”
Liliana shrieked at this and dove behind Maddox.
“This fool used to sail out every day trying to take one of my people prisoner,” Sapphira reported. “Humans don’t usually bother us because they don’t believe we’re real. But, for some reason, this one did.”
“So it’s true!” Dr. Giannopoulos said. “But…but…”
“Yes, I have feet at the moment. It’s called the Landwalker’s spell, not that you’d know anything about that!” Sapphira said boldly, safe between her two sworn protectors, Jake and Maddox. “He’s a shifty one, though,” she added. “Whatever he says, take it with a grain of salt.”
Dani humphed. That’s rich, coming from her.
“Whoever made those rock monsters,” the mermaid added, “he’s probably in on it.”
“Oh, really?” Now Nixie approached the sweating archeology professor with a no-nonsense stare. “You wouldn’t by chance know how to make rock monsters, would you? Where did you learn magic?”
“Magic? I-I don’t know what you’re talking about! I am an antiquities dealer, that is all!”
“Your biography in the back of the book says you used to teach at the University of Athens,” Jake pointed out.
“Yes…until I was sacked for publishing it! But soon they’ll be sorry!” he said, as though he could no longer contain himself. “Atlantis was real, and soon the whole world will see the proof!”
A smug laugh escaped him, but he couldn’t keep quiet. He glanced around furtively, then leaned closer, as though he’d been dying to tell someone that for weeks, anyone who’d listen and possibly believe him.
“Let’s just say Dr. Schliemann’s Mask of Agamemnon, though it be solid gold, is but a trifle compared to the treasure trove my patron and I will soon reveal to the world! Take the silly orb for all I care,” he said, thrusting it at Archie. “It’s nothing compared to the rest of the artifacts we’ve discovered.”
“Let’s see ’em,” Jake challenged, while Archie cradled the orb.
“You think I’d keep them here? I’m not stupid!”
Maddox tilted his head. “Take us to them, then.”
“Sorry, boy, you’ll just have to wait and buy a ticket to the exhibition, like the rest of the world,” the man said with a greedy gleam in his eyes.
“What if we insist?” Jake asked ever so politely.
Dani knew the tone of his voice spelled trouble at that point, and Archie knew it, too.
He bustled into their midst, pushing Jake and Maddox and Sapphira aside with a few gentle but insistent shoves. “Can we all just calm down here? Everybody, please. Let’s have a little respect for a man of learning.”
After backing off the others with a scowl, Archie, still holding the orb, tugged his waistcoat with great dignity and turned again to face Dr. Giannopoulos. “We don’t want any trouble here, Professor. All we ask is a little information about this artifact. It’s causing the merfolk a dreadful spot of bother, and it would seem to hold a certain threat for our world, too. Isn’t there anything you’re able to tell us? We already know ’tis indeed from Atlantis, but how does it work? And what do these hieroglyphs say? You did rather look as though you recognized some of these markings, if one may say so.”
“Perhaps,” the doctor conceded, mollified by Archie’s more respectful tone.
They all waited, but Dr. Giannopoulos seemed to decide then he’d already said too much.
“This is not the time to be coy, mister,” Nixie said with a stern look. “We’re not fooling around here.”
“Millions of people’s lives could be at stake,” Jake warned.
“And that doesn’t even begin to cover these other artifacts he mentioned. Who knows what they might be able to do?” Maddox said.
“You mentioned a patron?” Jake prompted. “Who’s your backer?”
“Is he the one who made the rock monsters?” Nixie demanded.
“Leave me alone!” the man cried, trapped against his shop counter and starting to look a little panicked.
“You’d better start talking,” Sapphira said.
“Aye,” Jake growled. “My cousin asked you nicely. I’m a lot less reasonable than him.”
“Easy, coz,” Archie said, though Dani knew full well the two cousins had mastered this routine by now—friendly Archie, nasty Jake.
It usually got them the information they wanted when it came to interrogating an enemy.
Archie shook his head with a look of regret. “I’m sorry, Doctor, I’m afraid I can only hold my cousin back so long.”
“Answer the questions,” Jake warned.
“Get out of my shop, you horrid little ruffians!” the archeologist howled.
Archie sighed and shook his head. “Wrong answer.”
“Right,” said Jake, all business.
“Don’t touch me!”
“Don’t even need to.” He smiled. They all stepped back as Jake raised his hands and levitated Dr. Giannopoulos off the floor by about six inches, twelve, a foot and a half…
“Wh-what, what is this? How are you doing that?” he cried. “Put me down!”
“The markings, Professor?” Archie pressed him.
“I-I’m still trying to decipher them. I don’t know yet!”
“I don’t believe him. Do you?�
�� Jake asked his partner in crime.
“Not sure,” Archie answered. “So your position, then, is that you have no idea how the orb works?”
“Th-that’s right…”
“Perhaps we can change his position,” Jake said, and Liliana giggled as Jake moved his right hand and slowly turned Dr. Giannopoulos upside down.
Coins and pencils fell out of his pockets. His fob watch slipped out of his vest and swung, still attached to its chain.
“Ha! Looks like it’s your turn to be the prisoner this time,” Sapphira said, laughing and clapping her hands.
“This is insanity! Put me down!” the man cried.
“Not until you tell us something useful,” Jake replied, clearly reveling in Sapphira’s delight.
Dani watched her old friend with a disapproving frown.
“I’d hate to drop you from this height, sir. You could crack your head.”
“No, please!”
“That’s enough, Jake,” Dani said quietly.
He grinned, staring at his captive. “Aw, lighten up, carrot.”
“Lightriders are never mean on purpose.”
Her words dropped like an anchor in their midst.
He glanced over, looking annoyed at her reminder of the hero he someday wished to become. Dani held his gaze angrily.
I’m sure Sapphira’s very impressed, but I’m not.
“You were saying?” Archie prompted.
Unnerved, the professor relented. “Th-there was a man. An Englishman.”
“Name,” Jake demanded.
“All right, all right—it’s Wyvern!” the doctor said with a gulp. “The Earl of Wyvern. He was the one who learned about the Atlantean treasure trove—how, I don’t know. He bade me make the arrangements, so I did, and when he joined me…” Dr. Giannopoulos gulped, which wasn’t easy to do when hanging upside down. “Well, he’s very strange. That’s all I know. Some sort of sorcerer.”
“Indeed?” Nixie asked. “So he’s the one who made the rock golems?”
“Yes. Maddest thing I ever saw,” he told them absently, still upside down. “Sprang up out of boulders, they did, and then flopped back down into piles of rocks again after they had served their purpose. He sealed the items in a cave before he left.”
“Where did he go? And when did this occur?” Archie asked.
“About a month ago. H-he went back to England. He took a few of the items with him, but he left the rest here.”
“Where are they?” Jake demanded.
Dr. Giannopoulos balked, then shrieked as Jake floated him higher toward the ceiling.
“Fine, fine! They’re in a cave on the island of Nisáki. I swear, y-you can go and see them for yourselves! But don’t steal them, I beg you. Otherwise, I’ll never get my life back.”
“We’re not thieves,” Jake said sharply.
“Am I to understand you left a priceless collection of ancient Atlantean artifacts unguarded in a cave?” Archie asked skeptically.
“The island is deserted. N-no one ever goes there.”
“Nisáki,” Maddox repeated. “And where on the island is this cave? How do we find it?”
“Below the Cyclops’ Crown—spiky rock pinnacles on the western edge of the island.”
At that moment, the bell over the shop door jangled and a couple of chatting customers stepped in. They froze, however, when they saw the shop’s proprietor dangling upside down in midair.
“We’re closed!” the kids shouted in unison at the intruders.
But, red-faced, Dr. Giannopoulos hollered, “Help! Robbers! Send for the police! I’m being murdered!”
The would-be customers gasped and fled to fetch the constable, but even Dani huffed at the accusation that they were murderers.
“Oh, that’s just perfect.” Isabelle scowled at him indignantly, while Archie hastily returned the orb to Jake’s knapsack.
“Come on,” Maddox muttered, even as they heard muffled police whistles start trilling in the distance. “We’ve got to get out of here. Your aunt won’t be pleased if anyone gets arrested.”
“Go! I’ll hold him till you all are clear.” Jake used his telekinesis to keep the professor dangling in midair as the rest of them hurried to the door, Sapphira helping her sister.
Maddox stepped out first to make sure the constables had not yet arrived in the street, then beckoned the kids out swiftly one by one.
“C’mon, Jake!” Dani paused at the door.
Jake followed, backing his way to the door, and only lowering Dr. Giannopoulos to the ground once he reached the threshold. As soon as he stepped out, he slammed the door, and Nixie discreetly used her wand to lock the shifty fellow inside his own shop.
Then they ran.
CHAPTER 17
Rock Monsters
Landing on the floor of his shop in an undignified heap, Dr. Dmitri Giannopoulos bumped his head, then scrambled to his feet in a fury. Horrid little beasts!
Heart pounding, he rushed to the door of his shop and peered through the window. Relief filled him when he saw that the little tribe of barbarians were gone, but when he laid hold of the doorknob and tried to twist it, intent on stepping outside to yell to the police, it didn’t move.
Panic filled him as he jiggled the door frantically, shocked to find he was trapped. What manner of people were these youngsters? More wizards like Wyvern?
Dazedly, he pondered the knowledge that at least one of them had been a real mermaid. Memories of the many humiliations he had suffered at the hands of the mer-brats filled his mind—and restored his backbone.
Though still shaken up, Giannopoulos scowled with fury. “I will not be humiliated in my own establishment!” he muttered under his breath.
Rubbing his bruised head, he tried to make sense of what had just happened, but only one thing was clear: He had to let Lord Wyvern know he had accidentally blabbed.
Ugh, he was not looking forward to that, but he did not dare attempt to keep his terrifying patron in the dark. Though maybe he should leave out the part that he’d revealed His Lordship’s name.
He didn’t want to die, after all.
Still, he wasn’t too concerned about those little terrors. Even if the children found the treasure cave, the moment they disturbed the rocks around it, they were in for a very rude surprise. The rock golems would put an end to their search—and their lives.
Another glance out the window showed there was still no sign of the police. “Typical!” he huffed. Well, hopefully they’re chasing those miscreants, he thought, then clomped into the back room.
Though his shop was empty and he was locked in anyway, he shut the door to the backroom. Once it was secure, only then did he take out the fat black candle that Lord Wyvern had left him.
It had the earl’s aristocratic coat of arms imprinted in the side of it. Giannopoulos studied the Wyvern family crest for a moment before lighting it. The crest showed a wyvern with its claws bared—his patron had told him that a wyvern was a dragon with two legs rather than four.
The symbol seemed to suit him very well, Giannopoulos thought with a gulp. Then, with shaking hands, he pulled out a Lucifer match and struck it, nervously lighting the black candle’s wick.
In truth, he had not expected to have to use it, had doubted that it even worked. But the earl had warned him in the sternest possible tones not to try to contact him by telegraph if anything of an unusual nature were to happen. They could not risk such communiqués being intercepted.
But it was just as well, for the telegraph operator would have thought him mad when conveying such a message:
Dear Lord Wyvern, STOP, I was besieged by magical children and a mermaid today, STOP, and held upside down in midair by an especially nasty blond boy. STOP.
He shrugged off the absurdity of reporting such a thing to outsiders. Unsure of what would happen, he began reading the incantation that Wyvern had jotted down for him over the black candle as it burned.
The thing smelled absolutely awful.
Wincing at the sulfur smoke that curled up from the crackling wick, Dmitri glanced nervously at the flame and noticed that it burned a weird color.
In the next moment, the smoke began to form a dark, foul-smelling cloud above the candle—and in the center of it, the earl’s face suddenly appeared.
Giannopoulos’s eyes widened.
“Hello? Yes? Who’s there?” The earl’s face in the cloud squinted into the room. “Oh, it’s you,” said Wyvern, sounding bored. “What is it, Giannopoulos?”
He couldn’t speak for a second.
“I’m waiting! Speak, man. You have my attention. Has something happened? Are the artifacts safe?”
“Er, y-yes, sir, I think so.”
“You think so?”
“I-I’m sure they’re safe, sir.”
“They’d better be. Well, then? What is it?”
“Well, it’s just…there were some children here a moment ago. Very strange children, my lord. They had one of our artifacts—they said they found it while sea-bathing. I can only conclude it must’ve fallen out of one of the sacks as your, er, servitors were carrying them up.”
“Did you take it from them?” Wyvern asked.
“I tried, sir. But there were too many of them and they had strange powers. Not unlike your own, I should think.”
In the smoke, Wyvern’s eyes narrowed. “Oh, really?” he murmured coldly. “What sort of object did they have, Giannopoulos?”
“An orb—and they had a mermaid with them! She’s the one who found it. They’ve locked me in my shop. I-I’m afraid, sir, they…they terrorized me into admitting that we found the Atlantean trove.”
“They what?” Wyvern bellowed.
“I couldn’t help it! I feared for my life!”
“From children?” Wyvern shook his head in disgust.
“They tortured me! B-but don’t worry, my lord,” the doctor hastily assured his patron with a crafty smile. “I sent them to the cave—we both know what will happen when they start poking around there.”
“Hmm. Yes. Let’s hope so.” Wyvern brooded on it. “Tell me more about these children. You say they had powers like mine? Describe them.”