The Curse of the King (10 page)

“Stealing those spheres is what caused the destruction!” he bellows. “Playing with them! Showing off!”

I am tired of this argument. I have work to do.

“Of that last part I am indeed guilty,” I say. “But I realized early on that I was wrong. I returned them. If you are correct, everything should have been perfect again. Was it?”

The king is silent.

“Why the earthquakes, my king?” I say. “Why the monsters?”

He turns away.

“Mother's actions—not mine—depleted the energy,” I say. “She doomed Atlantis. Had we left the Loculi in place, they would have sunk away with the rest of the continent. Only by taking them and making them safe—stealing, as you say—could we have any hope for rebuilding. Minds of the future, minds greater than ours, will figure out what to do. I am not seeking
glory; I am not foolish. I want to house the Loculi for future generations, in the most magnificent forms imaginable.” I gesture toward the block of marble. “Behold Zeus, Father! Does he not look like a living man?”

It looks nothing like a man. One can discern only the back of a giant throne—and the outline of what will one day become, according to plan, a likeness of the mighty god. The architects would have liked Zeus to be standing tall, but no temple could have been built high enough to do justice to this vision. So he will sit on a regal throne, his feet planted firmly. His staff has been separately sculpted, and it leans against the marble block. By its side is the Loculus of Strength.

It is this I want my father to see.

The lines of his face deepen, his eyes hollow. I have been waiting for this moment. In my time since leaving Atlantis, I have marshaled my own powers.

IMMOBILITUS.

My father is rooted to the spot. He tries to move toward the Loculus but cannot. “I will not allow this,” he bellows. “I command you to return that to me!”

“I am not your soldier,” I say.

“You are my son!” he replies.

I must fight a desperate pang of guilt. Shall I show mercy? His words tug at my heart.

But the deaths of thousands of Atlanteans tug harder.

I have much work to do. Structures to build. And I will not
be stopped. Not by any army. Not by Uhla'ar.

“You wish for your hands to be around that Loculus, rather than Zeus's?”

“Immediately!” he thunders.

“Then your wish, my father, shall be granted,” I say. “Now and forever.”

I feel the power welling up from my toes, spreading through my body like an intruder. It hurts. It blinds. I raise my hand toward my father, and I feel a jolt as if a hundred knives course through my veins.

Father's mouth drops open. His feet leave the ground, and he floats.

He is in midair now, screaming. I have never heard the king scream before. I know it is the last time I will ever see him.

But I turn away. I have already mourned the loss of my father. The loss of my people. My family now is the future. The people of the world yet unborn.

I walk away, forcing my ears to hear nothing.

M
Y EYES FLICKERED
open. I tried to hold on to the dream, but it was fading. I wanted to remember the details, to trap them in my brain, because they always seemed to mean
something.

Already, in early versions of the dream, I'd seen Atlantis destroyed and the Loculi stolen away. Back then, it was as if I'd been trapped in the body of Prince Karai. But in these latest dreams, I'd been Massarym.

Somehow, being Massarym felt a whole lot worse.

“Hey,” Aly said softly. “Are you okay?”

I sat up. The images were drifting away like smoke. I was on the ledge outside Routhouni. It was still dark. Middle of the night. Aly lay next to me on the ground, and
Cass was curled up into a fetal position behind us. I blinked myself deeper into reality.

“I wanted to kill him . . .” I mumbled. “Not me. Massarym.”

“You wanted to kill Massarym?” Aly asked.

“No!
I
was Massarym,” I said. “In my dream. I wanted to kill my father. The king of Atlantis, Uhla'ar. It was the second time I dreamed about him. The first was back when you were getting sick. I was Massarym then, too. Back then, the king was mad at me for stealing the Loculi. I threw a fake Loculus over the cliff in Halicarnassus. To fool him. This time we were near the Statue of Zeus. But it wasn't a statue yet.”

The details were growing faint. Aly put an arm around my shoulder. “I have nightmares, too, but they're not like
that
. Shhh, it's okay.”

“Yeah. Just a dream.” Her arm felt warm, and I let my head touch her shoulder. In the distance, the lights of Routhouni flickered faintly. “Is it almost morning? We're going to have to make our move.”

I heard a dull thump from above us.

Cass's eyes flew open. He spun around, looking up the hillside. “Did you hear that?”

Aly and I stood. “What kind of animals live on Greek mountains?” Aly asked.

“Goats?” I said.

My flashlight was still strapped to my head. I shone it
upward just in time to see something small and sharp hurtling downward.

Cass fell back, almost to the ledge. “
OWW!
The goats are throwing rocks!”

Another rock flew downward. And another. “I don't think those are goats.”

“Let's get in the cave,” Cass said.

As Aly and Cass headed for the opening, I grabbed my backpack and the Loculus of Strength. I meant to follow them, but something happened when I tucked that thing under my arm.

I didn't want to hide. I was angry. Someone was trying to scare us. What if this was a trap, bandits trying to force us into a cave, a place we couldn't escape? After all we'd been through, no way was I going to let this happen. I held tight to the Loculus and dug my foot into the mountain wall.

“Jack?” called Aly from inside the cave. “Jack, what are you doing?”

My fingers dug into the dirt wall like hooks. They were both yelling at me from the cave opening, but I blocked it out. My muscles felt like steel coils as I climbed the cliffside.

“Woo-HOO!”
I couldn't help shouting. I mean, come on. Jack McKinley, the last guy picked for any sports team. The boy who collapsed after one push-up. The winner of
the Most Times Shoved to the Ground by Barry Reese Award five years running. Now my friends were in danger and I could do something about it. I was climbing with the ease of . . . a goat!

This felt awesome.

Concentrate.

I hauled myself upward, maybe fifty feet, and reached my fingers over the rim of the next ledge. Then I hoisted myself straight upward and managed a three-sixty somersault in midair. Well, maybe three-forty, because I landed on my back. It wasn't the Loculus of Perfect Coordination, I guess.

Still, it didn't hurt at all, and I sprang to my feet. I turned my head, training the flashlight beam right and left. This ledge was narrower but longer from side to side.

There.

Above me. A tiny movement. Black against the blackness.

“Hello?”

As I looked up the hill, an outstretched body leaped at me. It knocked me off-balance, spinning me around. I fell to the ground, dropping the Loculus.

As I rolled away, my flashlight slid off my head. I grabbed it, the leather strips dangling. “Who's there?” I shouted, shining the light into the blackness.

“Jack? Are you okay?” Aly yelled from below.

I felt a hand land heavily on my shoulder. Leaping away, I spun to face my attacker.

Two eyes glared at me as if they contained light sources of their own. They were silvery white and definitely not human. “What do you want?” I said.

“WHAT DO YOU GO-O-O-OT?”
came the reply, as the massive figure of Zeus hurdled toward me.

I
T FELT LIKE
a cow had dropped out of the sky and landed on my chest. I couldn't breathe under the weight. Zeus's mouth was inches from my face, but I felt no warmth and smelled no breath. He had one hand on the Loculus and it took all my effort to keep hold of it myself.

As long as I had contact, I could match his strength. I twisted my body hard. I kicked. Finally I just reared back my head and butted him on the forehead.

It hurt like crazy. But I guess it didn't feel too great for him either. He roared with surprise. And I took that moment to curl my legs upward, between his body and mine, and push hard. He fell away.

Unfortunately, the Loculus fell the other way. I
scrambled to my knees, swinging the flashlight.

The god-statue stood before me, legs planted wide, the broken section of his staff in his right hand.

“We're coming!” came Aly's voice from below.

I swung the beam around, looking for the Loculus. Zeus saw it first. He dived like a shortstop, reaching with his arms. I threw myself into his path.

Big mistake. Without the Loculus, my body took the hit hard. I bounced away, but I'd managed to knock him slightly off-balance, too, and we both tumbled to the rim of the ledge.

The Loculus rolled out of reach. Zeus and I lunged toward it at the same time. I was closer and my finger grazed the surface. But all I did was knock it over the ledge.

As it disappeared, I cried out, “Catch!”

Zeus roared and came for me, his fingers reaching for my neck. I could see the tempest in his eyes. So I did the only thing I could.

I bit him on the shoulder.

His eyes bulged. His arm froze. I jumped to the rim and flung myself over, praying I wouldn't overshoot the lower ledge.

“Jack!”

Aly was climbing up from below, her body pressed against the mountainside. She had caught the orb and was clutching it to her. I tried to jump clear of her, but my foot
clipped the Loculus, dislodging it from her grip. Cass, who was below her, jumped back down to the ledge to get out of my way.

I landed beside Cass. Aly landed on top of me. It hurt but we were basically unharmed.

“Where's the Loculus of Strength?” I said, leaping to my feet.

“At the bottom,” Cass cried. “I saw it falling.”

I glanced upward. Zeus was at the edge, scanning the area. I would need to get down there, fast. I unhooked my backpack and took out the sack with the two Loculi. “I'll fly down there,” I said, carefully removing the Loculus of Flight. “You and Aly take the—”

“GERONIMO!”

Zeus had jumped off the top ledge and was diving straight for me like I was a pool on a hot summer day.

I left the ground. Zeus landed at the spot where I'd been. He reached toward me, swinging with the broken staff. I heard it crack against my ankle, and I winced. But I was aloft, hanging tight to the Loculus of Flight.

I fought back the pain. The Loculus dipped and rose crazily. I felt like a disoriented bat.

Don't let it throw you off. Control. Think.

As I took a deep breath, the Loculus leveled out. The sun must have just risen above horizon, because I could see the outline of Zeus now. He was on our ledge, staring at
me open-mouthed with astonishment. Cass was nowhere to be seen, but Aly was lowering herself downward from the ledge.

Of course. She had to let go of the Loculus of Invisibility. She needed two hands.
“Jack! Cass fell!”
she called out.

I looked down quickly, but the base of the cliff was a black pit, angled away from the moonlight.

“Cass!” I called out.
“Caaasssss!”

I swung around and flew straight downward, landing on the ground harder than I meant to. My ankle throbbed so bad I expected it to fall off. I pulled out my flashlight and shone it around. The bushes and trees were a scraggly, dusty green, like fake props in a movie.