Guardian of Atlantis (The Children of Atlantis) (7 page)

Her dad murdered? All
Raven
had ever known was her dad was dead. No one said a word about how he died, and she assumed he had been killed in some sort of accident. Even her mom refused to talk about it. And then there was the newspaper article she found last year about her dad. The article talked about his career as an archeologist—supposedly the best in his field—and the lingering questions as to why he suddenly quit. It also mentioned his death was caused by unknown circumstances. But murder? Was that why her mom moved them away so quickly?

“Professor Snyder? I’m Raven Weir. Douglas Weir was my father.”

The gray haired man squinted harder at Raven even more. He patted his shirt with both hands.
“My glasses?
Where did I put my glasses,” he mumbled. It was almost comical wat
ching him search for them
. He patted one pocket after the other and then started over.

“The top of your head,” said Raven,
pointing to the pair of glasses
on top of his head. She
bit her bottom lip to keep from laughing.

“What did you say?” he asked.

“Your glasses.
They’re on the top of your head.”

“Oh!” Professor Snyder reached with both hands to his head to catch the elusive prey.
“Ah ha!
There they are! Now, how in blazes did they get up there? I know I didn’t put them there.” He shoved them over his eyes and blinked.
“Much better.”

Raven rolled her eyes. How else
could the glasses
have gotten there, she thought.

The man stared at her for a minute. Suddenly his face lit up in recognition. “Raven, how are you? I haven’t seen you since before—
It’s
been a long time.
I thought I heard water. Did the water pipes break again? That’s not acceptable. Leaks of any kind will ruin my books and notes,” he babbled.

“It’s raining outside,” said Leslie.

“No leaks or broken pipes that I know of,” added Raven.

“Just a forest upstairs.”
Bree giggled.

“Good one.” Ari gave her a high five.

“You’re sure there are no broken pipes?” he asked suspiciously. “They told me there weren’t any the last time, but they
lied
. Then they tried taking away my books and notes. They said they were just cleaning up the mess. But I know better. They were trying to steal my things. They wanted to find out what I know. But I fooled them. Yes, I did. What’s this about a forest upstairs?” He frowned. “You shouldn’t be growing forests in the building.”

“I told them to,” said Leslie, taking full responsibility. “Marley’s gone off on the Hellhound deep end. We had to keep him from getting back into the building and killing Raven.”

Professor Snyder turned his attention to Raven. Something was wrong with his warm brown eyes. They didn’t fit in with his wrinkled face. They were too—too young.
“Strange weather even for this time of year.
Don’t you think so?” he finally said.

Raven raised an eyebrow. “Is he for real?” she asked Leslie.

“Wasn’t prepared for this.
So much to do.
So much to do,” muttered the old man.

Leslie shrugged her shoulders.

Raven shook her head, not sure what half of what the old man said meant. “What do you mean my dad was murdered?” asked Raven.

The professor looked at Raven and sighed. “Don’t just stand there. Come in and close the door behind you. We can’t let everyone hear, you know.”

Raven stepped just inside the room, followed by Leslie and the others. She looked around. Only half the room was set up with desks for students. The rest was filled with piles of boxes and books. File cabinets lined the far wall. A large old wood desk s
at in the center of the chaos and i
t was covered with stacks of papers and file folders.

Raven watched the old man shuffle through papers on his desk, mumbling to himself as he did it. Something was vaguely familiar about him. Raven closed her eyes and thought back to the day she spent with her dad in the land of the giants. Her bottom lip quivered. Thinking about her dad made her realize just how much she really missed him. A memory flashed. There was an old
man, who entertained her with stories. “You were the one who told me all those stories, weren’t you?”

“Ah, yes.” A smile lit up the old man’s face. “Douglas loved you very much. Like you were
his own
daughter.”

Raven blinked several times hoping to stop the tears threatening her eyes. “No, it’s not true,” she whispered. She felt dizzy. Her worse fear was becoming a reality.

“Every morning before class Douglas would stop by for a cup of coffee. We had such lovely talks. He was worried about you. About your future that is. But
I told him not to worry. E
verything would be fine. Fate and destiny, you know.” He frowned. “Then after he turned up dead, and Suzanne ran away with you, I wond
ered. I don’t blame her for what she did
. I think she somehow knew, here,” he pointed
to his heart, “you would never
really
be just
her child. But she loved you so much.”

“No.” Raven shook her head. “Did you know this?” she accused Leslie and the others.

“I swear we didn’t,” Leslie paled slightly.

“They don’t know. But you do. I see it in your eyes. You’ve met your real mother. Haven’t you?” Professor Snyder gave Raven a sorrowful look. “I’m sorry. Your life is no longer yours. You’re special. Others, besides Marley, will be after you and the power you hold.”

Raven shook her head. “You’re mistaken. I’m not special. I’m. Not. Special.”

“No, dear child.
I’m not mistaken. You have in you a power that can rival Zeus’s and it scares him. And you have the key codes to Atlantis. This he and others want.” Professor Snyder moved a stack of papers from the corner of his desk and sat down.

“What’s so special about a myth? Atlantis isn’t real. Is it?” Raven
wanted to believe it was just a story
, that all of the stuff happening to her was just a nightmare.

“Atlantis is as real as you are.” The old man’s eyes twinkled.

“Great! That’s what I was afraid you’d say,” muttered Raven. “All those stories you t
old me
years ago, they were true. Weren’t they?”

A smile spread across Professor Snyder’s face. “You remember. I wondered if you would. And to answer your question, yes. Those were not fictional stories.”

Raven looked from the teacher to her three new friends. “If the wrong people get their hands on Atlantis, what will happen?” she quietly asked.

“Zeus’s first battle to take Atlantis almost destroyed an entire continent. If any of the wrong people get access to Atlantis, no one will be safe. Not the descendant
s of Atlantians. Not the
Altered Ones. Not the humans. The power of Atlantis in the wrong hands will result in the total destruction of this world. You can’t let it fall into the wrong hands.”

“Geez!
When you put it that way, it sounds so—so bleak.” Raven paced back and forth. “Bad guys plus Atlantis equals really bad things. That’s all you had to say.” She stopped and turned to face Professor Snyder. “And I’m it?
The only one standing between them and Atlantis?”
She shook her head. “We’r
e in so much trouble. Wait! Mom kne
w about this? Is this why we kept moving all these years?”

“No, she didn’t know, not initially. But I suspect she read Douglas’s journals,” said
Professor Snyder.

“How do I know who I’m fighting against? How do I know it’s not you I should be worried about? My history teacher’s already tried to kill me.” Raven’s voice grew louder.

“History teacher?” asked Professor Snyder.

“Yeah, Meritus Myers.
She hated me from the moment she saw me. And then
she
babbled something about making her dad proud of her while she held a sword to my neck. See?” Raven pointed to her neck.

“There’s nothing there.”

“What?
Nothing there?
She jabbed to point into my skin and cut it,” argued Raven.

“I don’t see anything either,” said Leslie.

“I don’t doubt you. Most likely you have the ability to heal yourself,” explained Professor Snyder. “It’s probably just one of many things you
’re
capable of doing. But with Meritus here and interested in you, then it’s not safe for you to stay here. Meritus is Zeus’s daughter.”

“Can my day get any better?” asked Raven.

“Professor,” Leslie stepped forward, “somehow Meritus created a time bubble. How do we get out of it and get Raven out of here?”

Professor Snyder sighed. “So she inherited one of Zeus’s tricks. The only way out of this time bubble, is to want your way out. In other words, you have the ability to get out. You
just have to want it bad enough to shatter the bubble. And maybe tap into some of your powers.
”

“Professor, are we safe down here?” asked Raven.

“As safe as we are anywhere on this campus.”

Raven groaned silently. “Leslie, I need you to get Ari and Bree back to the stairway and do something to block it.”

“We can’t leave you,” protested Leslie over the grumbles of the other two girls.

“I’ll be fine. I’ve got a couple of things to ask the Professor.” Raven put a smile on her face. She hoped it didn’t look as
fake
as it felt.

Reluctantly the girls left Raven.

As soon as the door closed, Raven turned back to the old man. “They made an oath to me. They’re in danger too, aren’t they?”

The old man nodded his head. “There w
ill be others who will make the
oath to you too. There’s nothing you can do to stop them either. And yes, they are in danger.” The professor studied her intense look of concentration. “Be careful, Raven Weir, of what you do. There are a lot of people who are not happy and you may not be the only one who has to pay for it.”

“I’ll try to be careful.”

“Find Douglas Weir’s journals. They will have some of the answers you seek.” Professor Snyder picked up an old book and opened it.

Raven knew she had just been dismissed, but it didn’t bother her. She had another problem. She had to keep Leslie and the girls safe. That meant keeping them away from her. And she had to find her mom and warn her.

Raven picked up the circular pendant hanging at the end of the silver chain around her neck.
As she studied the design, a faint pulse went through her hand. She
stared
at the pendant for a long time. Peace wrapped around her like a comfortable blanket. Oddly, everything suddenly made sense. Raven let the pendant slip from her hand. There was one thing that frightened her more than anything else.
Her acceptance of the situation.
Raven slipped out of the classroom, careful not to disturb the professor.

She didn’t see Leslie or the girls, but she heard them. “Hopefully this works,” Raven muttered to herself. Professor Snyder said she had the power to get out of this weird time bubble thing Meritus had c
reated. She only had to want it, but how was she going to tap into her powers—powers she didn’t even know she had?

She chewed on her bottom lip. Maybe it was just her imagination causing it, but the hairs on the back of her neck stood up.

Maybe it was because the hallway was just too dark and dreary. 

Or maybe it was the fact she knew Meritus Myers and Marley, the Hellhound janitor, where somewhere around the building waiting for her.

The hallway was clear.

No students.

No crazy teachers.

No deranged janitors.

Raven pressed her lips tightly together and shook her head. Even though she didn’t know what to expect, she didn’t think the hallway would be this empty,
even with
the time bubble
thing
.  As she moved away from Professor Snyder’s classroom, the hall grew dimmer. “I really wish they would pay their light bill,” said Raven. She drew in a deep breath, let it out slowly and headed down the darkening hallway. “And do some cleaning down here.”

Her footsteps echoed through the empty hallway. Raven paused. The dead quiet reminded her of walking in the cemetery on a moonless night. “Great thing to think about now,” she whispered to herself. “Might as well say, HERE I AM! COME GET ME!” she said a little louder than she meant too.

Clapping a hand over her mouth, she listened. The quiet was almost deafening, but a faint noise slipped in. Raven concentrated on it, but she couldn’t make any sense of it.

The time bubble.

That had to be the answer.

Pressing her body against the nearest wall, she looked around, making
sure she wasn’t being followed
by anyone. The hall was clear, but the muffled noise was still there.