Chasing Atlantis (17 page)

Patrick’s voice startled me when it came from the kitchen, on the other side of the room. “I’m going to start cooking now. Amy is it alright if we have burgers and hot dogs? I couldn’t think of anything else you’d be willing to eat that I can cook.”

“Amen to that!” Henry and Ty answered in unison. Patrick answered by hurling two forks that they dodged easily. For the first time since I’d met Ty a true feeling of ease spread through my body as I spent time with his family.

“That would be great. Thanks for making lunch Patrick!” I called back happily.

Henry groaned from next to me. “You shouldn’t sound so happy Amy. You haven’t tasted it yet.” Henry turned to Ty. “Do you remember what happened the last time Patrick tried to make human food for that one girl… I think it was Sheila that he liked? We ended up ordering take out because he burned it so badly. We tried to pass it off as his food, but she knew what it was the moment she looked at her plate.” The boys howled with laughter. Patrick even grudgingly joined in towards the end.

“Aw. Come on guys, it wasn’t that bad. Not like either of you two could do any better.” By this time they were nearly in tears.

Henry continued, “It was
that
bad, and worse. It was almost as disgusting as that jerk, Greg that Amy went out with for a while. Thank goodness her mom finally released him.”

“What did you just say?” To me the whole room froze. All smiles slowly dropped off their perfect faces. “What do you know about Greg? How do you know about Greg?” Ty’s hand tightened its hold on mine. Henry looked down suddenly ashamed, but Patrick’s face looked vicious.

Patrick crossed the room so that he was standing before us, his chest heaving, fists clenched in anger. My throat tightened. Ty bounded off the couch, to place himself between us. Henry’s hands slipped around me, pulling me into the cloister of his protection. He was trying to defend the untenable. I could feel the anger pouring out of Patrick like water.

“She doesn’t know Ty?” His voice was nothing more than a whisper with enough venom to stop my heart.

“No,” he retorted. “I know I should have confessed sooner about everything but I didn’t, because I wanted her to make the decision. It’s her choice, not ours to force on her. You will never understand.” Patrick snarled in response. I didn’t see Patrick’s arms move, but I heard the bang as Patrick picked him up by his shirt collar, slamming him against the wall. I tried to rush to Ty’s aid, but Henry’s strong arms held me chained to the couch.

“By protecting her you’ve almost got her killed twice. You’re doing a wonderful job.” I winced at the memories. Henry wouldn’t budge. “When are you going to open your eyes and realize that she needs to know everything now? If you are too afraid to tell her everything I will. If she is going to make the choice she needs to be informed of the consequences on both sides.” Ty never flinched away from the confrontation, his eyes glinted steely against Patrick’s angry ones.

“I see your point Patrick, now put me down. I intended to tell her today, though this certainly wasn’t the way I wanted to do it.” They stared at each other for a long moment. I began to worry that Patrick was going to do much more when his hands unclasped from Ty’s collar. He slid down the wall, gracefully onto his feet. I struggled to be near Ty, yet Henry held me fast to the couch.

“I’m sorry you had to see that Amy.” Patrick apologized. I glared angrily at Patrick for putting Ty through that. Ty relaxed his position. Patrick slowly wheeled around to shrug down into the chair opposing the couch, while Ty walked calmly to slide next to me.

“Henry, you are breaking my arm.” Henry’s fingers were digging into my bones. “Whoops. Sorry Amy.” He released me. We sat in an uncomfortable silence for a few moments.

Patrick cleared his throat loudly. “Amy, how much do you know about your parents? Do you know the name of the club they belong to?” His questions caught me off guard. My main goal in life is to avoid my parents at all costs, not study them. Not to mention I was still pretty angry at him for hurting Ty.

“Uh. I guess I don’t. The only thing I know is Mom and Steve always wear these little pendants of suns every single time they go to a meeting. Why? What does that have to do with me?”

“Everything.” All three brothers answered in unison. Ty focused his face on Patrick making sure to place a reassuring hand on top of mine. I focused on not being mesmerized by Patrick’s all-knowing eyes, which somehow possessed a gruff, steely quality.

Patrick continued calmly. “The name of the club is; The Sunrise Club.” Very slowly Patrick stood, my face flushed red with embarrassment as he lifted the left bottom flap of his shirt. On the side of his hip bone was a tattoo of a brilliant crimson sunrise, underneath it were strange symbols and letters I took to be from an old language. “Henry, Ty, and I all belong to this club. People who belong to this club are not humans, or join with the intentions of becoming something more than just humans.” He paused. I listened to him without fully understand his meaning, my slow brain refused acknowledge that such a thing could be real.

“The club’s motto is: That every sunrise brings a new victim, and every new victim serves a greater power.” Ty still refused to look at me, agitation smoldering deep in his eyes.

“Patrick, are you trying to tell me that Mom and Steve aren’t… aren’t
human
?”

“Yes, for t
he most part at least. Steve hasn’t been human for over two hundred years, but your mom is only half human at this point. Luckily, she hasn’t completely been transformed yet.” He anticipated my next question before I had to ask it. “Steve is a vampire. Your mom wants desperately to become one. He will only change her when you make your choice.”

He didn’t give me time to digest the new information, my familiar headache returned. The haze surrounded my brain, stupefying my senses. I could only listen while dread reared itself inside of me.

“Which leads me to the real discussion.” I swallowed my questions for the moment. “The club is made up of creatures of the night that walk among your kind. The club was founded so that our kind could have protection and order. You would be amazed at how easily things can get out of hand when you put vampires and dragons in the same room together, complete chaos.”

Ty cut into the conversation. His usually enchanting voice was filled with dread strengthening his charm one hundred fold. “Amy, do you remember when I told you that there was something about you that emitted a very bright light?” I nodded my head. I wouldn’t have forgotten that for the world. “Well, I’m not the only one that can see it. There is something about you that all of us, not just Merpeople, can see the light.”

“That,” continued Patrick “is how you wound up here with us. When you were only two your mom happened to cross Steve’s path. The club had grown weak over the decade, due to a leader more concerned with his problems than with the actual club. Humans were dying left and right in such a haphazard way that it was only a matter of time before all of us were discovered for what we really are.” I cringed at the mention of humans dying. I still had some issues with that aspect of Ty’s genetic traits.

“Steve took one look at your aura and new that somehow if you could be changed into one of us your power might be unstoppable. After that it didn’t take much effort on his part to charm your mother into leaving your father. The fascination that we hold on you can’t compare to the way humans could love one another. Even when Steve revealed himself to her she opted to stay by his side rather than go back to the life she once knew. By that point it was too late to save her, she had thrown away her life dragging your fate with her.”

“He finally convinced your mother to let them take you to a club meeting. Even though I was only seven when this happened I’ve never forgotten it. I suppose you don’t forget something when it changes your life completely.” He smiled grimly. “It was a dark night, with absolutely no wind. A storm was coming so everything laid still in the calm. Your mom brought you into the club to be accepted as one of them. Everyone crowded around, trying to get a good look at the miracle.”

“William, our oldest prophet and soon-to-be leader of the club got word of you and decided to come see for himself. A hush fell on the crowd when he entered, both human and creatures alike bowed down before him. Your mom and Steve had placed you on a pedestal—no pun intended, you were actually on a pedestal so that you could be judged. William strode up to you and to everyone’s amazement he knelt before you. The room seemed to breathe together as he reached one hand out to place it on your forehead. His eyes rolled back into his head struggling to prophesize what your future would hold for us.”

“I can’t ever forget what he said. It has changed my family’s life as well as your own. He said, ‘This girl has the potential to be our greatest savior, or our worst enemy. Her time shall come when our great club will succumb to the fight of fire against water. Whichever way she picks will change the fate of not only our club, but hi
story together in one continuous line.’ William died that night, we were never able to verify what exactly he meant by that prophecy.”

“Your mom thought at first that water would always win over fire, which is how you came to meet us.” He smiled slightly at the end. “Also, the last part of the prophecy states ‘in one continues line,’ it was thought to flow like a river. It was only coincidental that Adam came along for play dates and the like.”

I couldn’t contain myself any longer. “Ty, was that you I couldn’t remember? Were you the other person that I was always with? Why don’t I ever remember meeting any of you?” My voice edged on hysteria. I was beginning to lose all grip of what was reality and fantasy, they merged together in one continuous line for me.

“Yes, it was me. There was a sad ending for our story, but it doesn’t have to stay sad.” He cradled me in his arms while Patrick continued with meaningless words that summed up my past, present, and future.

“It was thought that once you and Ty got married that the club would be complete, with the leaders ruled by water… That is until the Greys got dragged into the club one night. Adam’s family likes the taste of power, it awakened things in them that they never felt about themselves. I’m sure you can guess that they joined the club, made the devils bargain; their souls for immortality and power. They were the first to willingly exchange their souls in three hundred years. Even your own mom isn’t completely convinced on the matter. To everyone’s amazement Adam’s power, and temper, grew at an alarming rate. No one could compete with him, nor was anyone stupid enough to tempt him.” The haze in my head thundered at full force, a cold sweat formed on the base of my neck. I used all my willpower to fight against the black cloud. My breathing became ragged, forcing back the tears.

“Your mom couldn’t resist the taste of new power that lay just out of reach from her. Steve can manipulate human memories, forcing them to be something they aren’t, or to cover them up. She decided it would be best for Steve to just… block all memories of us; of the club, of Ty. That way it would be easier for Adam to win you over, getting the club in return. Ironically, it’s also the reason the Greys had to move. When Adam first started transforming he used to wake up the entire neighborhood. Not to mention when he couldn’t control is temper one night, he ripped the roof off the house. They ended up burning the whole house to save face for the neighborhood.”

The black cloud encircling my head dissipated, slowly some distant memories blurred too quickly past my eyes, leaving behind only more questions without answers.

I could almost remember. I was almost there.

I could see Ty’s face in my memories and it was the most beautiful thing I have ever experienced.

“What do you mean she took me away from Ty? I don’t understand.” I fought back the tears that wanted so badly to surface. I didn’t cry, and I wasn’t about to start crying now. I jumped when Henry dropped a large photo album in my lap. Ty placed his hand under my chin pulling my face around to look at the despair in his eyes.

“We were engaged Amy. Not because of your mom’s efforts.” He laughed slightly. “Your mom was never fond of me. She tried to press Henry on you.”

Henry nudged me with his elbow. “And do you know how hard it was to get you off me Amy? I’m such a gentleman I refused to be with you because I knew that you were meant for Ty.” Henry teased.

“Don’t worry we snuck around your mom’s back anyways.” Ty attempted to smile, though it didn’t meet his eyes. “Steve maneuvered through your memories, being careful to only erase the ones concerning us. Though I guess it didn’t completely succeed. He may have erased your memories but he wasn’t able to erase your feelings. How interesting.” Ty’s eyes turned brooding.

“Once your memory was wiped clean she found Greg, asking Steve to perform the same technique on him that was used on you so that he could fill the void that wiping your memory wouldn’t be able to fill, once I was gone. Even he understood that much.” Silent sobs gripped my chest as small fragments of memory streamed into my mind, now that the haze was lifting.

The photo album turned into a lead weight in my lap. I couldn’t bring myself to open it. I was sure that it would be filled with pictures of us. Only it would be different, because it would be a happy carefree version of us, not the way we are now.

“Mom and Steve just can’t be vampires. I’ve seen them go out in broad daylight. I’ve seen them eat human food. I just can’t believe it.” Ty gently caressed my head.

“Are you familiar with tanning oils?” Henry asked. I shook my head unable to hide my agitation about the irrelevance of his question. “Well there’s a vampire who markets them to cover their skin so that they can go in sunlight, besides their movements are even faster than ours. There’s no way you could have been sure of what you saw. You would be amazed at how many famous people are vampires. When they can’t explain their youthful appearances anymore they have to fake their own deaths to hide the truth.”

The room became uncomfortably silent. My hands trembled with silent frustration. “Now you know everything. I wanted to tell you everything from the start Amy, I really did. I just didn’t want to do this to you, until you were sure of what you wanted. Please forgive me.” Ty wrapped his arms tight around me. I pushed him back so that I could look into his eyes, anger dripping from my face.