came close to the bars and tossed in some rubble that bounced on the floor of the cell. “There you are beast. Eat up. Enjoy the scenery while you have it.”
“Bubble!”
“Oh, thanks Brutus. That one was close enough to smell. Let’s go eat.”
“Meet, you idiot,” Brutus said.
“Yeah, let’s go eat meat.”
“No, puffer-face, we have a meeting to go to.”
“You said we were going to the eating.”
Closing the rock door, the sharks continued their bickering. Lilliana felt the wave of water as the door settled into place and she watched the light from the two sharks fade from the window. She heard some laughter and one last shout of “Bubble!” before she felt certain she could reveal the light again. If it was still shining. A flicker of fear passed through her heart, and she scooted off of the crystal and cupped it in her hands. It was still shining bright and Lilliana felt instantly better.
She moved to the pile of blobs that Smiley had tossed on the floor. There were some pieces of shell and one whole oyster completely shut. No good. There was a half-eaten red urchin and a purple spiny urchin eating a shrimp. Amongst the shells was a snail. Lilliana couldn’t help but wonder if it was a cone snail. Off to one side had rolled a slightly squashed ocean plomme. Lilliana picked it up and thought of Spectrum as she chewed on the bit of sea apple.
Tricking the sharks into letting her out would take a rather elaborate plan, but Lilliana had nothing better to do. She picked up the glowing crystal and looked at it. Its light seemed to glow off of the bony bars of her window. Lilliana swam back to the opening to finish her investigation.
This time she was careful with the light and hid it in her pocket while she explored with her hands. Lilliana felt the bottom of the window and she could tell that the bars had been placed in sockets at the bottom of the window. She took hold of the middle bar and twisted it. It turned freely in the socket. Screws perhaps?
Lilliana slid her hands up the bars and felt the top. The bars continue up past the top ridge of the window. Lilliana put her hand outside the window and followed the length of the bar. About a hands-width above the window she felt the rod sharpened to a point. Lilliana pulled her hand back in, not wanting to risk a puncture with poison if that was at the edge. Still it seemed that they had placed the stakes into the sockets, but hadn’t secured them at the top. Lilliana hurried now. If they had just come to feed her, then they wouldn’t be back for a while. If she was going to escape, now was the time.
Lilliana put both hands on the middle bar and twisted. If she was right, then she should be able to squeeze out the window with this one removed. Lilliana pulled straight up. Nothing happened. She put both hands on the bar and twisted. The rods didn’t move much at first, but just as she was about to give up, Lilliana felt a budge. She used all her might and the budge became a twist. Soon the twist went back and forth and Lilliana started to pull up with each twist.
She felt sure it wasn’t a screw now, so she pulled up hard on the rod. Lilliana felt the rod lift and she slid one hand up to take it out of the socket. She tilted the bottom of it into the window and leaned it just inside the wall. Lilliana held her breath for a second and listened. She didn’t hear any alarms or any sharks swimming towards her, but still she had to be careful. She poked her head out the window and looked up.
Above, Lilliana could see the silhouettes of many creatures swimming in one direction. They must be going to the meeting that Smiley had mentioned. Lilliana looked down and felt a rush of hot water. Just in time she pulled her head in and avoided one of the super-heated bubbles. A wave of sulfur passed over her gills, and a shiver ran down her back.
Lilliana gave one last look to her cell. The urchin had finished its shrimp and was starting on the oyster now. Nothing else moved on the floor. Lilliana looked out the window for bubbles and picked up her rod. It was long and sharp and would make a nice sword, but Lilliana had trouble enough swimming without it. She decided to put it back in its place. She took it outside the window and slid it back into the small hole.
“Good eating,” she whispered to the urchin and she swam quietly up the ravine towards the shark gathering.
16. Spies
Lilliana stayed close to the uneven rock wall side. Looking up she could barely make out shadows swimming around in the sea above her. Lilliana’s heart was racing. If she left now, then she would have until the end of the meeting before the sharks would be after her, but if she listened to the meeting then she could tell King Nereus about the shark’s plans.
Lilliana felt something hot float past her hair. Bubble. She mustn’t forget the bubbles. Lilliana looked down and scanned the inky darkness for the telltale shimmers of bubbles. There were none immediately below, so she moved on.
Lilliana held a hand to the rough wall and moved slowly up, staying against the side. She could hear the rumbling chatter of the sharks now, as they swam in small groups towards the meeting. Occasionally she would hear “Bubble!” or a small snarl as one of the super-heated spheres came past. She had to make sure that as the sharks looked for bubbles, they would not see her.
“Ouch!” The word escaped Lilliana’s mouth before she even thought it. A small bubble grazed her elbow and burst next to her. Lilliana pushed her arm towards the cool water next to the wall to ease the pain.
“You sound like a seagull,” came a voice just over Lilliana’s head.
“I didn’t say anything,” replied the other.
There were many more sharks than she had thought, and it looked like some squid and other creatures were there too. Lilliana patted her pocket to make sure the crystal was still inside. She saw the faint glow through her pocket and she knew she could do this.
The shadows above were dwindling now. It seemed that most of them had reached their destination. What was Titan meeting for? Not for the wedding; she would have been taken out of her cell for that. The only time her father held a meeting for all of his people was on huge occasions, either a feast or a war. Titan was getting ready for something big!
“Hey Brutus! What’s that sparkly thing coming up this way?” came a familiar voice. Lilliana put her hand over her pocket and looked down. Bubble!
“I don’t see anything --- Hey! That hurt!”
Lilliana could taste the scorched skin in the water.
“You made me look right at a bubble! Smiley won’t be your name when I remove all your teeth!”
The water above Lilliana churned as the sharks flipped and swam away. They were going up the trench, but others were going into the cliff.
Lilliana clung to the side of the ocean wall and looked down. The pit was pure darkness. She had been swimming for a long time, but the view below her looked pretty much the same as it had when she started. Lilliana took a deep breath and her chest felt lighter, so she must be moving further up. She looked above her and there was still a hundred feet or so to get to the meeting. As she slowed down, Lilliana listened to the sharks talking and laughing excitedly. One large squid swooped down over the cliff’s edge and she pressed against the side of the wall.
“Of course he doesn’t know,” said a low female voice. Lilliana jumped. It sounded melodic and powerful and it came from right beside her.
She looked around for the fish that was speaking but saw nothing. She looked up the wall and saw a small opening with a glimmer of red light coming from it. Lilliana swam closer.
“Don’t be silly, Pyra. They’re all at his precious war meeting, and even if there were stragglers I have alarms that let me know if a fish is near,” the voice said.
“What if there is a stray mermaid?” asked a low raspy voice that must have been Pyra.
“My detectors will find any creature of the sea,” the first voice said.
Lilliana peeked inside the window. She saw a large woman with billows of blue hair. Her hair was shimmering in the dim light and it looked
fleshy and translucent like the tentacles of squid or a jellyfish. She was dressed in flowing robes of gray and green and her tail was split into two sections, each one undulating with the currents. The woman was looking at something on the wall; no, it was in her hands. Lilliana peered closer. The globe glowed and showed the face of a woman dressed in red, with black eyes.
“I have finally convinced Titan to marry the little princess, sister,” said the blue lady.
They were talking about her!
“That is good news Serena, but how can you be certain that he’ll marry a land creature?” asked Pyra.
Serena laughed. “It was almost too easy. Once my spies told me about the child and the prophecy, all I had to do was convince Titan that the marriage would let him rule the ocean and the land.”
Pyra laughed with a cackle. “Why would he believe such a foolish lie?”
“I told him it was ancient magic when royalty is wed, and that he would be invincible. Sharks see red when they think they can have more power,” said Selena. She moved to the side, and Lilliana could clearly see the red face she was talking with. It filled the room with an eerie glow that made the water in the cave look like blood.
“If he wants to see red, then he will enjoy meeting me.”
“Right before he dies!” Serena said with a wicked laugh.
Lilliana felt her heart thumping faster. They wanted to
The Prophecy of Atlantis Page 24
