Guardian of Atlantis (The Children of Atlantis) (6 page)

“Don’t even think about it. You won’t make it.” The woman’s voice suddenly grew cold and hard. More powerful waves rolled off of her.

“Look what she did to my arm. Just cut off
her head and take the necklace
.” Marley slowly inched his way closer. “It’s so much easier when they’re dead.
And a lot more fun.”

“Just shut up and let me handle this,” Meritus hissed. “You had your chance and you blew it in typical Hellhound fashion. Why Zeus even bothers with any of you is beyond me. If it were
up to
me, I would’ve disposed of every last one of you
years ago
. And believe me, it wouldn’t have been much of a loss.”

“Like you can get rid of me,” sniffed Marley.
             

“I’ll be rid of you, if it’s the last thing I do,” promised Meritus. “I sick of being stuck with your sorry self.”

“And I love you too.”

“The only thing I’d love to do is slit your throat every time you mess up.”

“I had her, but then she did this to my arm. She broke my arm, and then did this to it,” whined the Hellhound.

Meritus’s eyes narrowed. “Go crawl back into your lair and lick your wounds,” she told Marley. She turned her attention to Raven. She suddenly appeared tal
ler. “Raven Weir, I insist
you come here.” A huge sword appeared in her right hand out of nowhere.

Raven backed away. Her eyes widened with fear and shock.

“Not so brave now are you?” taunted Marley. “Let’s get this over with. Chop off her head, and the
n we can just take the necklace
. We’ll be doing everyone a huge service.”

“Do something useful and shut up while I deal with Miss Weir,” Meritus almost shouted.

“But?
What about my arm? I can’t go through the rest of my life like this. I can’t even shift because of it!” Beads of sweat collected on his forehead. “A Hellhound is worthless if he can’t shift. I’ll be the laughing stock of the pack. I want revenge!”

Meritus rolled her eyes in disgust. In a swift but graceful movement, she stepped in front of Marley. The sword flashed in the fluorescent light, and then Marley’s stone arm
fell to the tile
floor and shattered into small pieces. Marley turned a pasty gray color. His eyes rolled into the back of his head until only the whites were left and he fell to the floor in a dead faint.

Raven gasped bringing Meritus’s attention back to her.

“Now, I believe you have something I want.
The key codes.
Now.”
She held out her hand.

Raven shook her head. She took a couple steps backwards but found her escape route blocked by a wall.

“Give the necklace to me.”

“What does my necklace ha
ve to do with the key codes
everyone wants?” asked Raven.

“Are you stupid?”

“I’m not stupid.”

Meritus rolled her eyes. “The necklace bears the marking of
the
ruling family. It contains the key codes to Atlantis. Now, hand it over.” She stepped toward Raven.

Raven looked around for something, anything she could use as a weapon. The walls were bare except for a fire extinguisher, just inches to her left.

“I can’t wait to see Father’s face when I present him with the key codes to Atlantis. He’ll be so proud of me. And my reward will be anything I want. And I want it all! I’ll finally be
free of that pathetic excuse of
a Hellhound.” Meritus’s eyes gleamed with anticipation. She closed her eyes and sighed. Then she opened them and glared at Raven. “Give me the key codes!”

Raven stared at her but didn’t move.

“The necklace
, you little fool
. Give it to me.
Now!”
She shoved the tip of the sword into Raven’s throat using just enough pressure to get Raven’s attention. Meritus held out her other hand, waiting not so patiently for Raven to hand over the necklace.

“Raven shook her head. “I can’t give it to you.” She flattened her body against the wall.

“You can’t give it to me? I don’t think you have an option. Do you?” Meritus put a little more pressure on the sword, causing it to pierce Raven’s neck. A thin ribbon
of blood from the cut decorated her throat
.

“I won’t give it to you.”

“You’re not in the position to refuse. Are you?”

Raven’s heart pounded against her rib cage trying to find a way out. “You’re just trying to bully me.”

“You think this is bullying you?” Meritus snorted.
“The necklace.
Now!”

“I can’t. I won’t. It’s—
It’s
complicated. I doubt you would understand.”

“Me, of all people, not understanding complications?
Try having Zeus, the god of all gods, for a father, and being stuck with all these whiny humans and that smelly Marley.” Myers laughed but her sword stayed at Raven’s throat. “You’ve got ten seconds to un-complicate whatever it is, and give me the necklace.”

“No,” whispered Raven.

“Do you want to live or die? I’m running out of patience.”

With the sword digging into her throat, Raven tried to keep her breathing as shallow as she could. Not an easy task. “Why should I make it easy for you? Even if I give you the necklace, key codes or whatever, you’re going to kill me anyway. Aren’t you?”

Meritus laughed. “You’re not as stupid as you look. If you give me the key codes, I’ll make it quick and painless.” She lowered her voice as her eyes narrowed into thin slits. “Otherwise, you will die slow, painful, and begging me for mercy. The choice is yours. Either way, I win. You lose.” A cold confidence emanated from the woman.

“Oh, gee whiz! Those are such difficult choices. I just don’t know how I’m going to pick just one.” Raven looked up at the ceiling then at Marley, who was still lying on the floor. “Wait, I’ve got it!” She looked back at Meritus. “This is so much better. Why don’t we just forget the whole thing? You know, pretend it never happened.” While she was talking, Raven slowly slid her hand along the wall, until her fingertips touched the top of the fire extinguisher. “I mean, isn’t it enough that you’re going to have to explain Marley’s body. It’s not exactly something you can easily hide. B
esides, it’s pretty obvious
you killed him. You’re the only one around here waving a sword.”

“You stupid girl!
He’s not dead. He just fainted in typical Hellhound fashion. They can’t handle any sort of real pain.” The teacher glanced over at Marley who was still lying in a crumpled heap. “He’ll be fine. Well, as fine as he can be with only one arm. I don’t think there are too many three legged Hellhounds running around town. But that’s your fault. Whatever you did to his arm, you shouldn’t have. And don’t try anything with me. I’m way ahead of you.”

“I didn’t do anything to him. You’re the one who cut off his arm.” Raven wrapped her fingers around the top of the fire extinguisher. “Do you think I’m stupid enough to try anything? Hello! You’ve got a sword at my throat. And you’ve already made me bleed.”

“That’s nothing compared to what I’m going to do to you if you don’t give me the necklace.”

The fire extinguisher shifted. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to encourage Raven. She tightened her grip on the handle. “I guess you’re right. About Marley, that is.” Raven gestured with her head toward the janitor. “I think he’s starting to wake up. I saw his arm move.”

“His arm moved?” The woman sounded skeptical.

“You know. The one still attached to him. You weren’t thinking I meant—” Raven wrinkled her nose.
“
Eeww
!
That’s gross.” She pretended to shiver.
“And way too creepy.
If any of those pieces moved—” She shook again hoping it would emphasize her words.

“Silly girl!
It was just an involuntary muscle contraction. If you think that’s scary, just wait until you see a Hellhound
fully
shift. Oh, but wait! You’re not going to get that opportunity.” She smiled
at Raven.
“The necklace.”
Meritus
made a little waving motion with her free hand.

Raven took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’m not giving it to you. The sooner you get that through your thick skull, the better off we’ll both be.” As soon as the last word was out of Raven’s mouth, she swung the fire extinguisher as hard as she could. It connected with Meritus’s side, knocking the breath out of her and causing her to almost drop her sword. Raven swung the fire extinguisher again, this time hitting the woman on the side of her head.

Dazed, Meritus fell to the floor. Her sword clattered to the tile beside her.

Raven dropped the fire extinguisher and picked up the sword. She stared at it then at the woman. Raven shook her head. “It’s not worth it,” she mumbled and threw the sword down the hallway. It clattered loudly on the tile floor and slid several feet. No one came out to investigate. Raven picked up her bag and looked down at Meritus.  “Guess we’re going with the third option.
And by the way, I didn’t do the
stupid paper you assigned me. Guess you’re just going to have to give me a zero or an office referral,” she said and ran for the front doors as fast as her bruised leg would go.

Raven paused at the doors and looked over her left shoulder at the hallway behind her. She could see Marley still lying in an unmoving heap on the tile floor, but Meritus Myers was gone. Raven scanned the hallway. It was empty. Even the sword was missing.

Raven’s eyes widened. She shook her head. “This can’t be happening. Where is she?” Her heart thudded wildly in her chest. She shook her head again.  Raven pushed the door, but it wouldn’t budge. “No! This can’t be happening.” She pushed on it again. The door just rattled.

Raven was trapped.

4

When you’re a little kid, everything and everyone looks really big. You walk in the land of giants
. And they’re pushy and
noisy.

When I was about five
or six
, I spent a whole day in this weird land of the giants. Dad was there. He protected me from them, because he was in charge of the giants, at least part of them. There were several other caves in the dark hall, each housing a number of giants. And each group had a person in charge.

In the cave across from
dad’s
, the person in charge was a strange, older man. I thought of him as a grandpa, not having one of my own. There was something different about him. He knew things about me and told me fantastical stories about flying spaceships, other worlds,
and
living under the sea. I loved hearing the stories. But the day ended and I went home. I never again went with dad to the land of the giants.

             
--Raven Weir’s journal

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

The sound echoed.

Raven glanced in every direction, searching for the source of the sound. Beads of sweat dotted her forehead and covered her palms. She wiped her hands on her shirt, leaving a wet trail across her midsection. She’d heard about people having sweaty palms, but she’d never experienced it before, but then again, she’d never had a teacher and a school janitor try to kill her either.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

Raven put her hand on her che
st and took several deep breath
s. Her eyes widened slightly.  Her hand moved in time with the beating noise. She realized the sound she kept hearing was the beating of her own heart. Relief flooded through her.

She looked down the hallway where Meritus Myers had been, but it was completely empty, even Marley’s body was gone. Raven trembled. She took a couple of steps forward. Her boots squeaked on the waxed tiles. She glanced to her right then her left.

Thunder boomed.

Raven nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound. She closed her eyes and focused on controlling her breathing.

SCRAP!

SCRA-A-ATCH!

SCRA-A-A-AP!

TAP! TAP!

Raven’s eyes opened and turned her head from side to side looking for the source of the new noise, but nothing was there. Trembling almost uncontrollably, she slowly turned around and
looked at the doors behind her.

Raven screamed.

Pressed against the glass panes in the door was a grotesque form of Marley’s face. His mouth and nose were still stretched out into a snout, but it was now different—worse. His mouth was wider. Huge fangs hung down, joined with rows of sharp teeth, reminding Raven of a grinning shark. A strange, gurgling growl erupted from its throat.

Raven screamed again.

The door rattled.

A hand shook Raven’s shoulder.

Raven screamed as she whirled around to face the new threat to her life. Two screams joined hers.

“Would you two get a grip on yourselves?” Leslie thumped Ari and Bree on their arms. “Raven, we’re here to help you,” she said as she let go of the two girls.

Raven grabbed her chest. “Are you trying to scare the daylights out of me?”

“We’ve got to go. I don’t know how much longer the doors are going to keep him out.” Leslie nodded toward the rattling doors.

The Marley creature growled and clawed at the doors, sending a shiver down Raven’s spine.

“What are you doing here?” Raven looked at the girls.

“Look Ari! She’s wearing it.” Bree pointed at Raven’s necklace. “I knew it! I knew it!” She bounced up and down clapping her hands.

Leslie bopped her on the back of her head. “Not now.”

“But it proves what I said. She’s got the key codes. Only a member of the ruling family would have that necklace,” said Bree rubbing the back of her head.

Raven backed away from the girls.

“Bree, shut your big mouth,” ordered Leslie.

“But—”

“Look what you’ve done.” Leslie nodded toward Raven. All eyes immediately went to her.

“I didn’t mean anything.” Bree’s face turned red with embarr
assment.  “I’m just excited she’s really here and I’m
right.”

“Raven, we’re here to help you.” Leslie held out her hand to Raven.

“
I’ve experienced what kind of help you get around here. No thanks.” Raven shifted her weight off of her injured leg.

“Raven, we know you have the key codes to Atlantis. There was a lot of speculation yesterday. But we are here to help you. We don’t want the key codes to fall into the hands of anyone who would use Atlantis to destroy the world. And Zeus is the wrong hands.” Leslie crossed her right arm over her heart. Her hand curled into a fist. She dropped to her left knee. “I pledge my loyalty to you, Raven Weir, daughter and guardian of Atlantis.”

“What are you doing?” Raven asked in disbelief. The next second, Ari and Bree crossed their hearts, dropped to their knees before Raven and recited the oath. Raven shook her head. “Get up! This is ridiculous.
Especially right now.”

Marley roared. The doors rattled harder.

“Uh, guys? I think we’ve got a really big problem.” Raven stared at the monster on the other side of the door. “Yuck! What’s that smell?” Raven covered her nose and mouth to keep out the stench of rotten eggs.

Leslie stood up and moved to stand next to Raven.
“Hellhound.
We have to go before he fully shifts. There will be no stopping him when he does.” She grabbed Raven’s arm and pulled her away from the doors.
“Bree.
Ari.
Create an obstacle to keep it busy when it breaks through the doorway.”

The girls jumped to their feet. Ari put her hands on Bree’s shoulders. Bree closed her eyes and she whispered. “Ancient forest who once ruled the land, I call to thee to awaken and open your hand. Your daughters are in danger. Hear our cries. Awaken from your slumber. Protect your children. Arise.”

The floor trembled.

The tiles rattled.

Grass, trees, vines erupted from under the tiles and grew at accelerated rates. In minutes the front doors were comple
tely blocked by a dense forest, a
forest growing inside the school building. The growth crept toward the girls. Raven found herself standing on a thick carpet of grass instead of tiles.

“Good job, Bree.” Ari patted the top of her head.

“We make a good team,” said Bree. Her face turned pink.

“How did you do that?” Raven touched one of the vines growing on the wall next to her. The thick, sweet scent of lavender and rose filled the air.

“I’m a wood nymph,” said Bree.

“And I’m a water nymph,” said Ari.

“You’re nymphs.
All of you?
As in the nymphs in Greek mythology?”
Raven looked over at Leslie, who didn’t say any
thing, just nodded her head. “W
a
i
t a minute! Isn’t your last name Waters?” she asked Bree.

“Kind of funny when you think about it.
Me being
the wood nymph
, and Ari being
the water nymph.”
Bree grinned
.

Raven shook her head.
“And that oath thing?”

“We are loyal only to you. We’ll help you anyway we can. And right now, we’ve got to get you to Professor Snyder’s classroom. You’ll be safe there, until we can figure out what to do,” said Leslie.

“What about Meritus?” asked
Raven.

“I don’t know where she is, but I’m sure the witch is around here somewhere.” Leslie shrugged her shoulders. “Come on. We have to go.”

Leslie took off running down the hall. Raven followed behind her as fast as her injured leg would let her go. Bree and Ari were right behind her. As soon as they passed Meritus’s classroom, they rounded a left corner, then turned right and went through an old-looking door.

“Where are we going?” asked Raven. She paused at the top of a staircase leading down into
a dimly lit hallway. Her leg ached, and she was beginning to question her decision to follow Leslie.

“Professor Snyder. His room is one of the old classrooms in the basement. He refuses to move upstairs to one of the new ones. He probably just doesn’t want to pack everything he’s got down there.” Leslie smiled. “What did you think? That I was taking you to Hades?” She winked.

“Something like that,” mumbled Raven.

“Come on. We’re almost there,” said Leslie.

They ran down the stairs. At the bottom of the last step, they stopped. The hall was quiet except for their breathing.

Leslie pressed her body against the wall and peaked around the corner. “It’s clear,” she announced to the group.

Raven frowned. “School should have started. Where is everyone?”

“I’m not sure how to explain it.” Leslie glanced at Bree and Ari who shrugged their shoulders. “It’s kind of like we’re caught in a bubble.
Trapped.
Separated from regular time.”

Raven blinked. “That makes absolutely no sense.”

“I told you I didn’t know how to explain it.”

“You could do better than that.” Raven crossed her arms.

Leslie blushed. “I don’t really understand the concept. I’ve just heard stories about it, and this is the first time I’ve experienced it.” She glanced around the corner again. “Professor Snyder will be able to explain it better than I can.”

Raven rolled her eyes. “Lead on,” she said as she gestured with her hand.

Leslie nodded and led them down the hallway.

The hairs on the back of Raven’s neck stood up the second she stepped into the hall. Something wasn’t right. The hall was darker than the stairwell. Breathing was difficult. The air was hot and humid.

“I guess it
’s one way to save money,” Raven said under her breath. “I w
onder if the classrooms are this
way too.” She sniffed the air and wrinkled her nose at the musty smell. “Guess they don’t believe in cleaning either.”

“
Shh
!” Leslie turned and put her finger over her lips.

“What?” mouthed
Raven.

Bree and Ari giggled but a sharp look from Leslie quickly quieted them. “Nymphs,” she mumbled.

“You’re a nymph too,” whispered Bree. “So don’t bad mouth
us.
” She stuck her tongue out at Leslie.

“Whatever,” hissed
Leslie.

“Enough! Listen.” A wave of energy rolled off of Raven. All three girls sto
pped talking and looked at her
. Jaws hanging slightly open.

No sounds emanated from the hallway, not the typical creaks and groans from the aging building. Not the shuffling of shoes and giggles, laughter and talk of teenagers. Not even the sounds of the storm raging outside.

“Is it me, or shouldn’t there be some kind of sounds
, at least the storm
?” asked Raven.

Leslie nodded. “You’re right. I’m not sure what’s going on, but Professor Snyder’s room is over there.” She pointed to a room on her left side about twenty feet away from them. 

“Lead on,” said Raven.

As they walked down the hall, Raven noticed the doors to the classrooms weren’t the typical sized doors. They were taller and wider. They were familiar. Raven pushed past Leslie and ran. She stopped at a door on the right side of the hall. Putting her hand on the wood, she closed her eyes.

Images flashed through her mind.
Giants walking up and down the hall and going into the rooms.
Her holding her dad’s hand as they stopped at this door. Raven opened her eyes. Her hand moved to the doorknob and tried turning it, but the door was locked. “Hello? Is anyone there?” she called out as loud as she dared.

No one answered her.

Raven put her forehead on the door. This was her dad’s classroom. She knew because she had been there once.

“Raven, are you okay?” asked Leslie. Her hand hovered over Raven’s shoulder.

Raven didn’t answer. She softly tapped on the door. The sound amplified and echoed back to her, making her cringe at the noise. The door across the hall opened. The girls jumped in fright.

“Would you quit that ridiculous pounding!” ordered a gray haired man. Only his head stuck out from behind the wooden door. “Some of us are trying to work.” The man turned his head from side to side. “Leslie, what are you doing down here? Aren’t you supposed to be in class?” He smiled at her. But when he looked at Raven, the smile left his face. “Who are you?” He squinted. “I know you. You’re not supposed to be here.”

“I’m Raven Weir.”

“Weir.
Weir.
There hasn’t been a Weir down here in years. Not since Douglas Weir was murdered.
And that crazy wife of his—Suzanne.
Not since she came and packed up the classroom.
Made more of a mess than she did cleaning stuff up.
Didn’t really pack anything either.
Left all the important stuff.
But I took care of it.
Kept it safe.”