The Dark Shore (Atlanteans) (20 page)

There was land in the distance now, a black undulating coastline beyond the purple sea.

“Take it nice and slow,” said Victoria. The man beside her watched a monitor and slid little bars on the screen up and down. It showed a view of the underwater topography. Most of it was squiggly contour lines, but we were also nearing a series of uniform, geometric shapes.

“Tide’s low,” said Victoria, “so I wanted to bring you in by the scenic route.” She pointed off to the starboard side. “Here lie the temples of the ancient kings.”

The sun had sunk into the cloud folds, and the world cooled to lavender and blue hues. I scanned the gloom and then I saw a large, rectangular shape jutting up out of the water. It was skinny and long, maybe fifty meters, with curved ends. Chunks of it were missing. Most of it looked gray, but spots here and there seemed to still have a slight bit of faded golden color.

“You have to see the other side to get my joke,” Victoria added.

We skimmed past the structure and I looked back. Giant metal letters in a script font stretched across the wall, reading:

HOTEL MAYAN GOLD

“Is it a beach resort?” I asked.

“Yes, they used to call this part of the Yucatán the Mayan Riviera. It was one beautiful resort after the next, for miles, places for the pleasure of people with too much money and time, and too little soul. They would come here to get fat and sedate their lives away. The kings of the pre-Rise world. Many of their descendants probably live in the Edens now.”

Off to port, waves slapped against the skeleton of another building with a few remnants of grass roof.

“Even before this place went under, the hurricanes that were hitting it were really something. Furious storms. Now we get a monsoon season with long heavy rains that cause terrible flooding. All that rain from the dry parts of the world has to fall somewhere, I guess. Okay, here comes the best one.”

A structure grew out of the mist and shadows. It was pyramid shaped, built of giant stone blocks. A huge sign stood on top, letters held aloft on metal girders. They’d probably once been brightly lit but were now covered in decades of bird droppings:

THE ATLANTEAN

“From what I’ve read,” said Victoria, “that place had a whole sunken city theme, with rooms that had windows into aquariums, a scandalous mermaid show, a mall that had a swimming pool path through it. That kind of thing. Such decadence.”

We passed a few more sunken structures. Some were acting as breakers for flotsam. At one point, an entire house was hooked cockeyed on a building top.

“South of here,” said Victoria, “there’s this place that used to be an ecotourism park. You’d go there and do things like look at animals and ride on zip lines. Imagine that: The same people who sank themselves in the Great Rise also had ‘eco’ tourism. I love the idea of people flying a few thousand kilometers in airplanes to ride on zip lines over caged and sedated animals and then eat burgers and ice-cream cones, all the while patting themselves on the backs for doing something eco-friendly.”

In the distance I started to see a hazy corona of light in the gathering dark.

“There’s home,” said Victoria. “Now, to go put my face on for the people. I warn you, Owen, you’re in for a little shock on our arrival tonight. I’ll be putting on a bit of a show. I’m hoping that you’ll be part of it.”

“What do you want us to do?” I asked.

“Well, it’s easy, actually. After we dock, I’d just like you to fly yourself and the other Atlanteans into Desenna and meet me atop the temple of Tulana. That probably sounds a little odd, but it fits with the mythology that we’ve created about your return.”

“I know, the Epics of the Three. Your . . . those people in Gambler’s Falls told me.”

“Right.” A look of distaste came over Victoria. “Well, that was one truth that they told you, anyway. My people are anticipating your return. This is a big moment for them, but, that said, I don’t want you to think that I’ve brought you here just to use you as a puppet.”

I hadn’t thought of that, though now that she mentioned it, wasn’t she?

“I mean, I am,” Victoria confirmed, “in a sense. I guess what I’m saying is that this is where we begin to enter into our frank relationship. I want to help you and I want you to help me. It will make more sense after tonight, but this first move is a bit of a leap of faith on your part. Would you be willing to do that, and then we’ll take it from there?”

I wasn’t sure what to make of this. On the one hand, I didn’t want to be a pawn in someone else’s game. I’d gotten enough of that to last me a lifetime with Paul. And I remembered what the siren had said to me back in the skull chamber, about seeing both sides of something. Here was that question again: What would Victoria do if I said no?

But on the other hand, the way Victoria was presenting this made it seem, while not harmless, worth trying. She had saved us from Paul. It seemed like I owed her this.

“Okay,” I said.

“Excellent.” Victoria smiled. “Arlo will fill you in when we dock. And I will see you in about a half hour’s time. And just remember to have an open mind about what you see. The people of Desenna are a free people. I don’t force any of this. Can you do that for me?”

“Sure.” I wondered what she meant by
this
.

Victoria turned to Arlo. “And make sure
she
does what she’s told.”

“I will,” said Arlo.

Victoria climbed down the ladder and headed below deck.

The lights ahead had grown. I could make out a ridge of land, a bluff made of jagged black volcanic rock, with large buildings perched on top. They were lit by a few soft yellow floodlights and then torches that lined the roofs. The structures I could see seemed to be crafted of big stone blocks, and at the center was a giant pyramid with a flat roof. Though there were torches glowing around its perimeter rather than ghostly white lights, there was no denying its similarity to the one I’d seen in my visions with Lük, where the original Three had been sacrificed.

Beyond it, there was a general glow of light and haze, as if there was much more city that we couldn’t see.

We arrived at docks at the base of the bluff. Crew members hurried around, throwing and securing lines. A staircase crisscrossed the black cliff up to stone buildings perched on its edge and a wide balcony where a line of silhouettes watched our arrival.

“Okay,” said Arlo. “Let’s head down to your ship.”

Serena arrived at the craft just as we did, guiding Leech by the arm. “Here we are,” she said to him.

“Hey,” I said to Leech.

He turned toward my voice. “So, I hear you agreed for us to be part of the big show.” He didn’t sound happy about it.

“Yeah.” I looked around. “I’m not sure we have a choice, but I think it’s okay. Where’s Lilly?”

“Oh,” said Serena, “Ms. Keller said it was only you two. I thought she wasn’t . . . um . . .”

“Right,” I said. “No, she’s not.”

“Everybody ready?” Victoria had reemerged. Her hair was up on her head now, wrapped tight. She’d traded her black coat and boots for a long crimson robe with gold trim, and was surrounded by an entourage of assistants in simple white robes.

“Yes,” said Arlo. He checked his watch. “Just waiting on . . .”

“I’m here!”

There was a commotion over by the gangway. Someone was coming up, and the crew seemed very concerned with getting out of the way.

A girl breezed up onto the deck. She was taller than me, and wearing a long shimmering silver coat that stretched down to her black boots. She had blond hair tied into a braid that hung down over her shoulder. She strode toward us and there was something immediate about her presence, as if she thought she owned any room she was in.

“Hey, kids,” she said, stopping beside us. She was chewing gum. “How’s it hangin’?”

None of us replied.

The girl kept chewing. Her jade eyes flicking up and down, looking us over. “So, Mom, this is really them?”

Victoria stopped at the top of the gangway. “It’s really them, and they’ve been through more than you’ve known in your lifetime, so I’d give it a rest.” Victoria looked at me. “This is Heliad. And I’m not really her mother.” She turned and headed off the ship.

“You’re everyone’s mother!” Heliad called after her. “The Benevolent and Wise! Chooser of Fates! The lead lemming into oblivion!” Heliad turned back to us, grinning. “She hates when I get on her case like that. So . . .” She stepped past me toward the craft. “How do I fly it?”

“Fly it?” I couldn’t keep up. On the one hand, I felt like I already hated her, the way she was so full of herself and thought she could say whatever she wanted. I could feel the vibe from her: coming right at you, almost daring you to try to stand on equal footing. It was the kind of personality that always knocked me off guard, and I hated feeling like I was slipping back toward the old me, unsure of what to do or say.

At the same time, there was something exhilarating about her that I couldn’t deny. The way she dominated my senses, smelling like flowers and some sort of citrus, her figure and movements instantly magnetic, and I didn’t even want to be noticing these things but it was like the technicians were back, flipping switches and announcing: “We’ve got an attractive female coming in fast!”

And then even more than that was a strange feeling like I
knew
her. Obviously I didn’t, but I had a sensation like I’d seen her before, and it was an old feeling, like I knew her from the past, the Atlantean past. Put it all together, and I felt stuck in place.

“Hey, slow down, sundrop,” said Leech, who luckily was not having the same problem. Maybe because he couldn’t see her. “Owen flies.” I wondered how Leech could do that: slip back into that cocky, unimpressed persona like he’d had at camp. Especially now that I knew him better and knew the kind of life he’d had, the dark feelings he felt. I wished I could be more like him in moments like this.

Heliad eyed me. “Does he?”

“He’s an amazing pilot, actually,” said Arlo. “He’s escaped from Eden’s forces twice.”

I was surprised to hear this assessment of my flying. I hadn’t thought of myself as amazing. More like, surviving.

But I could go with that, and Heliad seemed impressed. “Well, by all means, you fly, then.” She turned to Leech. “And what do you do? Make obnoxious comments?”

“I navigate,” said Leech, but then he touched the bandage over his eye. “Well, I did.”

She looked Leech up and down. “And they call you Leech. I won’t ask. But you guys can call me Seven. Heliad is a ridiculous name. Has something to do with ancient Greeks or whatever. But, honestly, Mom just cherry-picked all this religious business anyway.”

“Seven . . .” Arlo cautioned.

“What?” She rolled her eyes. “Come on, Arly, you know it’s true. Heliad is the daughter of the god Helios,” she said to me and Leech. “Seven refers to the seventh sun of Aztec history; Tulana is just a rip-off of Tollan, also Mesoamerican, and Chaac used to be a rain god, but she thought a vulture would be better; and then Desenna—do you know where she came up with that gem?” She didn’t wait for anyone to answer. “It was the name of her lab partner back in grad school, I kid you not.”

We were all just standing there listening, and Seven smiled, enjoying it. “So, here we are.” She pointed at each of us. “Owen the Aeronaut, Leech the Mariner, and me, the mystical speaker to the Atlantean soul, or something like that.” She thrust out her hand, palm facing down. “Hands in, team!” She grabbed Leech’s hand and moved it on top of hers.

I hadn’t even moved my hand toward her when she said, “On three . . . one, two . . . Atlanteans!” She threw her hand up in the air, then looked at me and laughed. “I never wait for three. Sorry. That was corny.”

“Kinda,” I managed to say.

I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye, and saw two medics approaching the gangway with Lilly on a stretcher.

“Hold on.” I headed toward her.

“Who’s that?” Seven asked behind me.

“Lilly,” I said over my shoulder. I reached the stretcher and rubbed Lilly’s hand. “Hey.”

Lilly’s eyes flickered half-open.

“How you doing?” I asked.

“Just listening to the music . . .” Her voice was a thin string of a whisper. “Do . . .” She trailed off, her lips making dry sounds. I leaned closer to her. “Do you hear it yet?” she asked.

“No,” I said, “not really.”

“It’s like the most beautiful song,” she said, and then she smiled and didn’t say any more.

I ran a finger across her cheek, which she didn’t seem to notice, and I felt a surge of worry for her. I also felt a pang of guilt for letting Seven affect me like she had.

“I’ll find you later,” I said. Lilly didn’t reply, just sort of hummed to herself. They took her down the gangway and I returned to the craft.

“So, what’s the deal?” Seven asked, looking over my shoulder. “There are only supposed to be three Atlanteans.” Her smile had faded just a bit.

“She’s Owen’s girlfriend,” said Leech.

This made Seven light up. “Ooh! Owen the swashbuckler, saving the damsel and bringing her along.”