by Katrina Ryan
I'm going to die here, Victoria realized. Caelan released his grasp on her to open a small door she hadn't noticed next to him, and she found herself taking a few involuntary steps through it, her body feeling disgustingly like a puppet that only Caelan could control. Despite the fog in her thoughts, she understood what the threat in his words meant. He closed the door before she could resist any of his dexes, leaving her in complete darkness.
“Goodbye, Victoria. I'm truly sorry it had to end this way.”
The lock clicked into position. Caelan's footsteps faded as he returned to the upper deck, and then they silenced completely. After a minute, Victoria felt her body relax as the dex keeping her petrified seemed to loosen. Caelan’s leaving, Victoria thought. When she regained full control of her body, she was able to panic.
Her prison was a cupboard. She could only take half a step in any direction before finding herself against a wall. There was no handle on the inside of the door, and a simple push against it confirmed that Caelan had locked it properly. Victoria felt a stab of annoyance that she hadn’t mastered an unlocking dex for emergencies like this. Those dexes are actually useful, she reprimanded herself. After hitting the door a few times, she sat down and began to cry. Atlantis was going to burn. There was nothing she could do but pray that Sarah and Athelea would either return with an army, or return quickly enough to fight the fire themselves.
An hour seemed to pass, even though Victoria knew from her watch that it had been barley half that time. She regretted not telling Sarah and Athelea about Caelan's previous visit. She imagined he’d already started his crusade in the heart of the city, where he could wreak the most havoc in the least time. The Night Rain wouldn't fall for hours, if Caelan hadn't put a dex on his fire to keep it burning. If Sarah and Athelea brought their boat directly back to the main island from the Isle of Time, they might stand a chance of minimizing the damage.
He could have put me in a burning building instead of here, she suddenly realized. Why didn't he? The question occupied her until a much worse thought occurred to her. When Sarah and Athelea failed to find her, they would never know she hadn't met that horrible fate. They probably wouldn't even notice that a ship was missing, let alone think she’d been on it. And unless they found her by chance, it seemed unlikely that there would be a way of tracking her. Caelan must have known about Sarah, she reminded herself. He would take precautions. It didn't feel like he’d put a dex on the ship to make it move out of the harbor faster, but she had no way to know for sure.
Another hour seemed to pass.
“Victoria?” a voice called in the distance. Victoria froze, wondering if she’d imagined it. The sound was muted through all the wood of the ship, but Victoria would have recognized the voice anywhere. Sarah didn’t sound terribly far away. “Are you here?”
Victoria felt her heart soar. “I'm on the ship with black masts!” she shouted. She began pounding on the door. “I can't get out!”
A few seconds passed with no response. “Victoria?” Sarah repeated. “Can you hear me?”
Any hope Victoria had felt vanished. The ship was too far away from the pier by now, its layers of wood too thick for Sarah to hear her from the pier. Victoria held her breath, listening carefully for what Sarah would do next. She hoped that the lone ship floating in the harbor would be enough to raise suspicion. She heard a splash a second later and hoped that Sarah had jumped into the water.
Please come to the ship, she prayed.
Half a minute passed before the splashing stopped. Victoria hoped Sarah had been swimming closer, and a few seconds later, she heard light footsteps on the deck above. Her heart soared.
“I'm downstairs!” Victoria shouted, pounding on the door. She had a terrible feeling that Caelan had made the room soundproof with a dex, expecting that someone would look for her. She could hear footsteps going down the stairs now, and Sarah finally stopped in front of the door. Holding her breath, Victoria listened to as a key the lock and click. The door swung open without any further warning, and Victoria launched herself into Sarah's arms.
“Sarah,” she gasped, “I'm so glad you're here.”
Sarah was soaked from swimming to the ship, and she’d never looked more worried. “Are you okay?”
Victoria shook her head. “Caelan was here,” she said. “He's going to burn Atlantis to the ground. “We need to go.”
Sarah sighed and helped Victoria walk up the stairs to the deck. The boat hadn’t drifted quite some distance from the pier, but not too far to swim back. “Look at Atlantis. Do you see smoke anywhere?”
Victoria shook her head. The sky was clear apart from a few early clouds, and she couldn't see smoke or any sign of fire.
“Then we can take two minutes for you to calm down,” Sarah said. “The ship is drifting, though. Let's swim back to shore and talk there. If we leave the ship for now, Athelea can get it later.”
“Or leave it,” Victoria muttered, standing up. “Then Caelan will think I’ve gone.”
“We can see what Athelea thinks is best,” Sarah said. She dove overboard, and Victoria followed. The water was beautifully warm, and setting foot onto the beach, Victoria felt a sense of calm begin to return. She sat down next to Sarah on the sand, shaking. She had so many questions.
“Are the Atlanteans back?”
“We didn’t see anyone at the Isle of Time.”
Victoria swore. She wasn’t going to have an army to fight Caelan. “Same here. How did you unlock the door?”
“This key,” Sarah said, touching her necklace. On it was the key that Victoria had found on the ship at Shipwreck Beach. “I looked around the palace when you and Athelea were busy the other day, and from what I could see, it opens a lot of locks. Maybe every lock.”
“It must be a dex,” Victoria said, feeling relieved she’d let Sarah keep the key. “How did you know where to find me?”
“You left a note on the table in our room. I found it.”
Victoria shook her head. “Caelan left that for me. I fell for it, too.”
“Anybody would have,” Sarah said, giving her another hug. “I'm just glad it showed me where to find you. What did he want this time?”
Victoria knew she could no longer withhold the truth. “He came to the Royal Tower a few nights ago when you were sleeping and told me he would burn Atlantis to the ground if we were still around.”
Sarah stared at Victoria with an indignant expression. “You should have told us straightaway!” she said. “He's dangerous, but I'm sure Athelea could have helped!”
“I didn't want you to worry,” Victoria muttered. Saying it now, she could hear how weak her excuse was. “Athelea is too protective sometimes. She’d never let me do anything she thought was remotely dangerous.”
“We should find her and tell her what's happened. We can fight Caelan. There's three of us, and only one of him.”
You don't understand, Victoria wanted to say. He's too strong. But there was no point hiding what she was thinking now. In the last hour, everything had changed. “Sarah,” she said, “I don't want to stay in Atlantis.”
“What?” Sarah asked. Her emerald eyes were wide with surprise. “Why not?”
Victoria took a deep breath and let a handful of sand run through her fingers before she spoke. “I feel like I've been causing problems for Atlantis ever since we arrived here. I have no idea how to bring the Atlanteans back, and I can't use dexterity to fix anything. I want to leave before anything goes seriously wrong because of me.”
Sarah shook her head. “We'll talk to Athelea. I'm sure she'd disagree that you’re causing problems, but I can see you're shaken by what's just happened.”
“Of course I am,” Victoria snapped. She could hear the edge of hysteria in her own voice. “Caelan’s trying to kill me.”
Victoria felt tears stream down her face as the enormous pressure of the past few weeks overwhelmed her. Athelea expected so much of her, Caelan was trying to destroy her, and she still couldn't un
derstand why Atlantis had wanted her here so badly. Looking around at the empty harbor, she felt like her dream adventure in Atlantis had turned into a nightmare.
“Come here,” Sarah said, enveloping her in another hug. “You know you always have me and Athelea to help you.”
“What about Tom?” Victoria sniffled. “I need him, too.”
“I'm sure he'd love to be with you and protect you and see all the sites,” Sarah agreed, “but you can see him as soon as we get back to England.”
“Soon,” Victoria sighed. “I feel incomplete without him.” She thought of her dream of Tom in Atlantis. It seemed so long ago, but it had only been a week. So much had happened since then, and she’d made up her mind about what to do next. Watching him hadn’t helped how much she missed him. With or without Sarah, whether or not the Atlanteans came back, she was going home at the first opportunity possible.
Chapter Twenty-Six
FIRE
“Victoria? Are you okay?”
Athelea had found them at the port only a few minutes later. The alarm and immediacy of the question made Victoria wonder if her emotions were written across her face, or whether Athelea had noticed the ship floating away in the harbor.
Victoria shook her head. “Caelan was in Atlantis again,” she said. Athelea gasped, looking pale, and Sarah nodded in encouragement. “He locked me on a ship, set it loose, and said he was going to burn Atlantis to the ground.”
“This key unlocked the door,” Sarah interjected. “Lucky I had it.”
“Lucky indeed,” Athelea said, looking pale. “Are you okay, Victoria?”
Victoria nodded.
“Thank the stars. Did Caelan say where he was going next?”
Victoria shook her head before looking towards the city. There was still no sign of fire, but she knew it was only a matter of time. “Probably wherever he can cause the most damage. I reckon he'll go somewhere in the city, probably the Plaza.”
“We must make sure Atlantis is safe, then,” Athelea said. She muttered something under her breath, and Victoria felt a sense of warmth wrap around her body like a blanket. She stopped shaking after a few seconds and felt a peacefulness that she knew wasn't originating in her own body. It was the most wonderful dex she’d experienced yet. Athelea flashed an encouraging smile and then nodded towards the city. “If you're feeling well enough, let’s continue. I'll bring the ship back into the harbor later.”
Despite the reassurance of Athelea's dex, Victoria felt her anxiety grow as they walked towards the city. As much as she wanted to run, she wanted to find Caelan and fight him. Even though they were unprepared and he probably wasn’t in Atlantis anymore, the possibility of ending his offense on Atlantis was irresistible. Then, she could leave Atlantis with a clear conscience.
“Still no smoke,” Sarah said, interrupting her thoughts as they reached the edge of the Eternal Forest.
Victoria frowned. “Doesn't mean there isn't a fire,” she replied. She knew Caelan was finished with empty threats, and the others would realize it soon enough. There would be a fire somewhere in Atlantis, and she hoped they found it before it was too late.
Athelea turned onto a smaller path through the Eternal Forest, instead of continuing to the city as Victoria expected. Sarah shot Victoria a questioning look, to which Victoria could only shrug. Athelea obviously had somewhere she wanted to go, and that was good enough to follow.
“Athelea, where are we going?” Victoria said when they began to climb an unfamiliar path up Mount Theus for a few minutes.
“The watchtower,” Athelea said. Victoria instantly understood, remembering the sentry she’d seen in her first dream of Atlantis. He’d been watching over Atlantis from the side of Mount Theus and had seen the wave before anybody else on the island. When they reached the stone outpost a minute later, the detour had been worth it. She could see the entire city from here, sprawling across the land between herself and the sea, and Athelea had been right. There was no smoke in sight.
“There,” Sarah said after a moment, pointing towards the city, “by the Library.”
Looking towards the Plaza, Victoria saw what Sarah meant. The entrance to the building was glowing with a flickering light. The other buildings blocked her view of the Plaza itself, but Victoria knew a fire was burning there. “What do we do?” she asked.
Athelea was already whispering something under her breath, her hands clasped in front of her face. A second later, a tiny cloud formed between her palms. Victoria glimpsed misty raindrops falling onto her Sentence before Athelea blew the dex forward. The cloud grew lager and the rain heavier as it drifted towards the city. When it finally stopped over the Plaza, a downpour was visible, and the glow on the library slowly disappeared.
It was a very powerful dex. Victoria smiled at Athelea.
“Let’s go to the Plaza, ladies,” Athelea said. “I can't guarantee that the dex worked perfectly, and it might not have been an ordinary fire, either.”
“What if Caelan's there?” Sarah asked. Victoria could tell she was more shaken by recent events than she’d admitted.
“I'll send a dex ahead to detect human presences,” Athelea replied simply. “We won’t be unprepared.”
Athelea invoked a dex, and five minutes later, the women were standing in the Plaza. Victoria could hear Athelea’s rain hiss as it extinguished the fire. Most of the grass on the Plaza had been burnt, but there was no sign of Caelan. That doesn't mean he's gone forever, Victoria thought.
“Arrogance,” Athelea muttered, burying her face in her hands. She looked exhausted. “He believes his plans are perfect, and he is confident they will never fail. He expected a single, ordinary fire to destroy all of Atlantis because he had locked you away. He never considered how your friends or your skills could deter him. Someday, this will be his downfall.”
“Do you think we're safe?” Victoria asked.
“Caelan will not come back to Atlantis tonight.”
“How do you know?”
“Arrogance. He didn't expect anyone to find you on the ship, and he trusted his pathetic fire to destroy Atlantis,” Athelea repeated. “It was not enhanced with a single dex, and I believe he will allow it a few days to run its full course through the city before he returns to survey his work.”
“What should we do if he comes back? Will your protective dexes work?”
“We fight,” Athelea said simply. She began to pace around the edge of the Plaza, and Victoria and Sarah followed. “We fight with everything we have. And until then, we prepare. From now on, we must always be one step ahead of him.”
A few days ago, Victoria would have been thrilled at the suggestion, but the time for fighting Caelan had passed. “I don't want to stay here,” she said.
Athelea stopped pacing. “I'm sorry?”
Victoria knew Athelea had heard her. Sarah fidgeted uncomfortably between them. “I want to leave Atlantis,” she said. “Today.”
Athelea closed her eyes, and a long silence punctuated the moment. Victoria suddenly felt like she was about to face a jury for a crime she hadn't committed.
“Atlantis needs you, Victoria,” Athelea said. Atlantis is killing me, Victoria thought reflexively, looking around the burnt Plaza, but she knew better than to say it. “On its behalf, I must ask one more favor of you.”
Victoria exchanged wary glances with Sarah. “What is it?”
Now Athelea hesitated. “I need you to help me. I see now that Atlantis is too full of history, too full of valuable information and important places, to leave unguarded. I have made a terrible mistake in not securing it more thoroughly sooner, and my carelessness nearly destroyed everything. But I know you’re stronger than me and will be able to help more than I ever could.”
“How long will it take?” Victoria asked, ignoring the flattery. She couldn’t let compliments get to her head
“A few days at the most. But if you want to leave after we have worked tomorrow, I will let you go.”
Victoria sh
uddered. One day is still too long. She was glad that Athelea had finally had her epiphany about protecting Atlantis, but it was too late. She and Sarah needed to leave now.
“I know you don't want to stay in Atlantis any longer, but all I ask of you is a little more time,” Athelea persisted. She sat down on the steps of the Grand Library, looking defeated. “I will stay at your side every second until you leave, if you are worried about your safety. I promise on my own life that Caelan will never touch you or Sarah again. Why don’t we go to the Hall of Divinity while you consider it?”
Victoria let Athelea lead the way, needing time to muse over the situation. There is so little I can do to help Atlantis that we haven't already tried, she thought while Athelea lit another candle. The routine had become so familiar during her time in Atlantis, and she would miss it, but Athelea’s prayers weren’t enough. She glanced at Sarah, reluctant to decide on her own, and received a noncommittal shrug in response.
“What about Sarah?” Victoria asked when Athelea had finished her prayer.
“She will be able to help us, too,” Athelea said. “She can lock every door and window with her key.”
Sarah nodded in approval, touching the key on her necklace.
“What exactly will you and I have to do?” Victoria pressed.
“The procedure is quite simple. I want to secure all the important places in Atlantis in such a way that only we can enter. Sarah and I were late to come back today because I sealed the Domain to protect the Lifeglasses. It took less than an hour, and we can use the same process on buildings around the city.”
“Would we use dexes?”
Athelea nodded. She sent the candle floating towards the others overhead. “Yes. I have a protective dex that worked nicely on the Domain.”
“But I can’t invoke dexes,” Victoria sighed. They were both wasting precious time by returning to this argument. “You’ve got too much faith in my ability to do the impossible.”
