As they rushed past, Faren brushed her fingers along the back of one of the babies. He stopped short. While Faren stroked the animal, he flipped onto his back. It looked like he was grinning. After a few minutes, he flipped back to his stomach. End over end, the stingray tumbled like a barrel rolling down a steep hill. Before she swam away, she whispered a silent goodbye. When it became obvious that their petting session was over, she watched the juvenile rush to join his family.
Faren left the reef behind, giving way to the soft sand of the ocean floor. Off to her right, a ten-foot nurse shark searched for its next meal. Once Faren’s sweet scent invaded the fish’s senses, it swam away.
A distant light caught her attention. She recognized the source of this threat all too well–humans. They swam after dusk, brandishing their own sun, covered in slick black skin. These humans were the most dangerous kind because of their ability to swim deeper and stay under water longer. If the mers’ world was ever exposed, there was a good chance it would be one of these creatures who would unveil them. These humans enjoyed surfing through the reefs after dark, taking in the beauty residing beneath the surface, and they were descending on her fast.
When the light passed overhead, Faren’s body went transparent, hiding her from prying eyes. She darted away from the perilous confrontation to come; her heart felt like it was in her throat. A few minutes later, she glanced back over her shoulder to see an empty ocean.
Her fear subsided, allowing her natural vibrancy to return, and she continued along the sea floor with her unrivaled eyesight leading the way.
* * *
David lay in bed that night thinking of Faren. He imagined her beautiful smile and siren-like voice. He had never met anyone like her before. He longed to be near her, to hear her melodic laugh, to gaze upon her beautiful features.
How could I fall for someone so fast?
David pondered this question, not knowing the answer, nor did he care. All he was sure about were the feelings he carried deep inside. He slipped into a slumber filled with images of his newfound love.
Chapter 3
Enemy Territory
THE MOONLIGHT ILLUMINATED THE MOSS GROWING along the Bimini Road and silvered the fish nibbling at the waving sea grass.
Faren approached the massive limestone blocks and placed her hands atop one of them, and within seconds, a faint blue glow surrounded her fingertips, lighting up the water around her. The stone ground away, revealing the entrance to the realm of the mers, reuniting her world with the human world for the briefest of moments.
She made her way through the breach with ease and down the two hundred-foot shaft sheltered beneath the sea floor. The algae lining the tunnel glowed like submerged sapphires, guiding her deeper. Once Faren made it to the sandy bottom, the flat stone moved back into place.
She slipped into a current that thrust her into the depths of a magical, walled underwater river. She raced toward Atlantis at an incredible rate, plunging around sharp corners and soaring over deep trenches. A heavy sprinkling of quartz, resembling stars plucked from the sky, covered the walls around her. Fish caught in the current leading away from the city raced past.
When the river released her, she swam the length of the corridor. A soft light twirled and tumbled up ahead. Faren followed it, swimming beneath the coral and crystal archway to the edge of the mighty cliff overlooking Atlantis. The underwater sun, now dimmed by nightfall, brought the city to life with a vivid mixture of orange and blue, purple and pink. The massive mountain range, encasing Atlantis on three sides, dwarfed the city. Beyond the harbor of these mighty giants, miles of sand ventured on until colliding with the walls of the cavern.
The two-story marble homes were submerged memories of their former selves. Their proud gardens and beautiful fountains had disappeared long ago, devoured by the powdery dunes. Now, sea lilies took up residence in the sandy yards. They crawled from house to house, dragging their wispy stalks behind them. Their many vibrant arms waved around them in a rainbow array.
The roads crisscrossing this side of the island brandished worn down way markers and old torches. Feather duster fans of beautiful hues–blue and red, purple and yellow–enveloped these surfaces like a brilliant carpet.
Faren heard the low ululation of a siren. The alarm had been sounded. The High Council only used the sirens in times of great peril. Faren sensed a thousand jumbled thoughts around her. Had the humans found them? Was it a sea demon attack? Faren hurried to follow the mers flocking to the temple.
The sacred building rested on the outermost edge of the city, ancient, but clean and whole. The courtyard around it was flanked by the remains of stone columns demolished by the sinking. The temple itself was still beautiful, carved of white and blue larimar that shimmered beneath the Atlantis night sun.
With their spears held high to ward off evil, two fifty-foot human statues stood just beyond the entrance.
Two–there were four here last night.
Where the other two once stood, there were now only piles of broken sandstone and coral.
A familiar voice shouted over the sounds of the frightened denizens. “Faren… Faren!”
Faren saw Luna in the crowd and swam over and hugged her. “Have you seen my father?”
“Not yet.”
“How about Cindel?”
“I haven’t seen your sister all day.”
“What’s going on?” Faren scanned the mers around them for any glimpse of her family. “Why have we been called here?”
Luna shrugged. “I have no idea.” She twitched her red and black tail from side to side nervously.
The voices around them stilled and Faren looked to see why.
The High Council emerged from the temple carrying coral scepters of their ancient ancestors and wearing larimar crowns.
Salene’s bright yellow tail propelled her beyond her fellow council members, Thaden and Servio.
“We float before you one less council member.” Faren could hear the quaver in her telepathic voice. “A sea demon murdered Abrielle earlier this afternoon off the coast of Bimini. Her escort survived, but just barely.”
Gasps erupted from the crowd.
Servio put his arm around Salene’s shoulders and whispered something to her. A few seconds later, she faced her subjects again. “My twin sister loved Atlantis.” She paused, shutting her eyes tight. “She loved each and every one of you. I… I…” Salene broke down. “I can’t,” she said through invisible tears, “I’m sorry.” Without saying another word, she swam back into the temple.
Thaden came forward, his long, dark hair billowing around his face. He clasped his hands behind his back and gave everyone a stern look. “The murder of our beloved Councilor, Abrielle, is not where the crisis ends,” he said. “We have been robbed. The crystal that fuels our sun is missing, and as you all know, Atlantis cannot survive without it. Two temple guards were killed during the robbery, and we think a sea demon is to blame.”
Faren couldn’t summon her own thoughts–her head was full of the frightened voices of the other mers. She tried to follow individual conversations, but with everyone speaking at once, it was impossible.
“The cold war we’ve shared with the sea demons for the last ten thousand years is over,” Thaden intoned. “In light of these vicious turn of events, I declare a state of war.” The crowd’s excited chatter escalated and Thaden raised his hand for silence. “Pavire has been notified of our predicament and their High Council has issued a similar declaration.”
“We must behave as if the sea demon is still with us,” Servio interrupted him. “Even if this fear turns out to be unfounded, we need to be prepared for anything. Since we don’t know when the crystal was taken, we cannot be certain how long we have until our sun dies.” He swam into the crowd. “Our warriors will invade Pandora and retrieve the missing crystal!” he screamed suddenly, making those around him jump. “With these monsters’ dwindling numbers, their fighting force could never hold a candle to the one th
ousand willing souls we’ll be sending to Pandora. Atlantis will go on!” He and Thaden swam back into the temple, leaving the citizens to ponder over the biggest question of their lives–would they see another Atlantis sunrise?
Harmony joined Faren and Luna at the back of the crowd. “What are we going to do?” she asked, moving her dark hair out of her face. “Pavire isn’t big enough to hold us all. The mers left homeless will have to live among the island dwellers.” An extra set of deformed dwarf fins protruded from the side of her pink and orange-splotched tail, swishing in sync with her flukes. “If only we knew where Cronin was,” Luna broke in. “I can’t believe we still haven’t found it after all this time.” She fidgeted with her pearl and seashell necklace, something she always did when she was anxious.
Harmony was right about Cronin–they needed it now more than ever–but the location of the city became a mystery centuries ago. As if someone had moved it, poof, just like that, it was gone. Atlantis and Pavire had sent warriors on countless missions to find the missing civilization, but they came up empty-handed every time.
While the girls talked among themselves, Teegan and Tristan swam up.
“Can you believe this?” Tristan asked, looking around in amazement. “I wonder how the High Council expects our warriors to break into Pandora. The sea demons have to be on high alert for retaliation.”
“I’m supposed to go to Pavire to stay with my grandmother later today,” Teegan said. “If this mess isn’t cleaned up by then, you and your families are welcome to join me.”
“Hopefully it won’t come to that,” Tristan said, “but we’ll definitely take you up on your offer if we need to. The big question is what do we do in the meantime?”
Luna interceded with the best suggestion yet. And the most dangerous. “I think we should follow the warriors,” she declared. “We can’t put all of our trust in the High Council.”
Tristan was quick to side with his sister. “She has a good point. I say we do it.”
Faren didn’t need time to think about her response. Images of her family and friends made up her mind for her. “Me too,” she announced with conviction.
Harmony followed suit without argument.
“All right,” Teegan said with conviction, “We’re all in agreement then.”
* * *
The brave mers swam over the continental shelf, concealed by their gift of camouflage. The Gulf Stream blew their hair around, but their supernatural strength moved them forward with very little effort.
The sea demons were everywhere, climbing the sheer rock wall like monkeys and attacking fish caught in the current.
As they descended into the great abyss, Faren stared down into the depths to the evil hidden below. Furia, queen of the demons, still slumbered, and she would continue to sleep until the day of reckoning.
Please, don’t be today, Faren repeated in her head.
“Stay alert,” Harmony called out. “Pandora’s close.”
Six hundred feet beneath the surface of the sea, the city came into view, tucked into the side of a bluff. A metal gate separated the sea demons’ lair from the outside world, but to the mers’ surprise, it was still wide open.
The heroic band of Atlanteans were already battling their way through the enemy, and looked to be winning their fight until another wave of sea demon warriors rushed from the city. Now the tables were turned, and the mers were on the losing end. Because these brave souls were too courageous to use their gift of invisibility, the monsters slaughtered them easily.
Faren and her friends rushed through the gates without a hint of trouble. The fog suspended within the confines of the city held an ominous quality. The algae crawling along the walls of the massive cavern produced the only light source Pandora had. Without it, the city would have been plunged into darkness.
The submerged island was dilapidated and crumbling around them. A majority of the marble buildings lay in ruin–they were piles of unrecognizable rubble–and the structures still standing were on the brink of surrendering to the same destruction.
Unlike other sunken cities, Pandora no longer held mystical water to preserve the buildings. Those days were lost when their sun died. But the tumbling ball of energy didn’t look dead. Faren could see the slightest hint of blue light forming within the center of the mighty orb.
“Well, now we know for sure they have the crystal,” she whispered. “It’s obvious this place hasn’t seen sunlight in centuries.”
“At least,” Teegan agreed.
Old way markers littered the crumbling roads. Once upon a time, they directed sea demons to their awaited destinations. Now, they lay scattered across the ground. Hundreds of multicolored fish swam in and out of the buildings. Stingrays and turtles floated overhead.
The shattered streets were alive with sea demons. Their numbers weren’t in the hundreds, as the High Council had anticipated, but instead, in the thousands.
The mers made their way through town, staring at the destruction unfolding around them. Street after street they searched for the temple, and street after street their hope diminished a little more.
“Don’t panic,” Teegan said, his eyes jumping from one demon to the next. “If we panic, we’ll never find the temple.”
“Teegan’s right,” Tristan hurried to agree. “Does anything look familiar to anyone? I think we’re traveling in circles.”
Harmony groaned her displeasure. “I don’t know. The streets all look alike.”
Tristan put his hands up in defeat, doing his best to keep his thoughts nice and steady, but Faren could still hear his fear. “Unless we want to stay here and live with these things, we need to…”
“Oh, no,” Harmony cried. She backed up, her eyes filling with horror. “We’re stuck here, aren’t we? They’re going to kill us.” She took off, almost slamming into a passing sea demon. “I can’t stay here.”
Faren caught up to Harmony and spun her around. “Be quiet,” she whispered. “They can hear us.” Harmony laid her head on Faren’s shoulder and whimpered. Her body trembled with quiet sobs.
“Look, over there,” Tristan exclaimed, “Please tell me that is what I think it is.”
Faren breathed a sigh of relief when the rest of the fog cleared, exposing the crumbling temple. It was set away from town, cloaked in semi-darkness. Microorganisms covered its larimar facade. Instead of massive columns holding it up, the building stood by its foundation alone. The door was unguarded.
The mers swam across the vast undersea beach and made their way inside before the sea demons could detect them. Unlike the rest of the city, the great hall still possessed mystifying beauty. The algae enveloping the room transformed from blue to yellow, gold to red in an instant, cascading down the walls, bringing the dingy larimar to life.
A human statue stood in the middle of the room. But why was it in Pandora, Faren wondered. As far as the mers had known, the city had always belonged to the sea demons. Apparently it had not always been so.
The statue’s stony exterior grew soft, and a pink tint returned to his cheeks. He moved his legs and raised his spear.
The mers ducked into the closest corridor just as the warrior returned to human form and waited in silence for the next few minutes.
“What is he doing now?” Harmony asked. “Someone needs to look.”
Faren peeked around the corner. To her relief, the statue stood motionless in the center of the room, a rocky giant.
“What just happened?” Tristan asked. His eyes were wild.
Faren took a guess. “I think the warrior obeys the sea demons now. I just assumed he lost his magic when the sun died.”
“I think we all did,” Luna said. “What are we going to do now?”
Faren quieted her when she heard the sea demons enter the temple. She peered around the corner again. At once, she realized her assumption regarding the stone warrior was correct. In the sea demons’ presence, he never stirred.
“I can’t believe how easy it was for
you to steal the crystal from those insignificant creatures,” one said, chuckling. “I haven’t seen Zavian yet. Where is she? I thought she went with you to Atlantis.”
“She did,” the other answered with a laugh. “Every war needs a good martyr.”
Their voices got farther away, and seconds later, they were gone.
Faren took a good look at the passageway that was now a victim to time and disregard. Along the walls tattered and torn portraits stared down. It was difficult to make out the faces in the pictures, but right away Faren knew they had to belong to past mer council members.
Harmony scrunched her nose. “This place is disgusting,” she said. “These monsters live in filth.”
“We can’t focus on that right now,” Teegan snapped. “Let’s find the crystal and get out of here.”
Faren could hear the uneasiness in his voice. Like the rest of them, it was evident Teegan’s bravery was evaporating fast. “Where do we start looking? It could be anywhere,” she wondered.
Harmony hugged herself and gazed around the empty hallway. “Should we split up?”
Faren was quick to answer. “No way,” she said, putting her hands up as if to ward off the suggestion. “I’m not swimming anywhere alone, and I wouldn’t advise anyone else to either.”
“If you have a better idea, let’s have it,” Tristan said. “No?” he asked Faren when she got quiet and looked away. “Well, then it looks like we have no other choice. We can’t stay here and wait to get caught.”
“He’s right, Faren,” Luna spoke up. “I don’t want to split up either, but we’re running out of options.”
Faren looked around nervously and sighed in defeat. “Fine, whatever we need to do to get out of here.”
“When should we meet back up?” Teegan asked.
Mythos Page 4
