The Battle for Sanctuary: The Titan's Legacy: Vol: 2 (Volume 2) (31 page)

Jason thought for a moment. “Hm, well, let's see,”
he said thoughtfully. He looked around the room. “Okay, how
about this?” he said. He pointed at a lone light fixture in the
ceiling that was barely illuminating a dim corner of the room. Justin
jumped as a flash of light almost blinded him.

There was a loud bang and the light disappeared in a
shower of sparks.

“
Whoa!”
someone yelled. Justin blinked his eyes rapidly, afterimages floating
in front of him, making it hard to see. The smell of ozone was almost
choking him.

“
Oh,
geez, sorry Justin,” Jason said apologetically. “I didn't
think it would be that...dramatic.”

Justin coughed. “Yeah,” he said choking
slightly. “No problem, Jason. Bit of warning next time would be
good.”

He looked around, his eyes still watering. The whole
group seemed to be frozen in place, staring at the blackened remains
of the light fixture. Then, like a dam bursting, they all cheered for
Jason.

“
Well
done, Jase!” Richard crowed.

“
Excellent!”
Aaron called out from where he and Maria had begun sparring. The
others added their congratulations and Jason looked sheepishly at
Justin. Then he shrugged.

“
Well,
at least we know it works,” he said with a crooked grin.

“
True
enough,” Justin replied and wiped his eyes. “Well, keep
up the practice. Just don't blow anything else up.”

Jason laughed and agreed. Justin wandered over to Maria
and Aaron. His legs were a bit wobbly, so he sat down nearby and
watched them sparring.

Aaron was surprisingly good at the hand to hand combat,
Justin thought. I wonder why I never noticed. Maria of course was
more than a match for him though. Her speed and reflexes kept her a
step ahead of Aaron at every turn.

“
Okay
Aaron,” she said, breathing easily. “Don't be afraid to
really hit me. We're Titans, after all. You won't hurt me.”

Aaron just nodded, saving his breath for the fight. He
increased his speed of attack and Maria ramped hers up to match.
Justin watched, fascinated. Then he looked around the room at the
rest of the group.

Jason was sitting off to the side, playing with the arc
of energy between his hands. Julia and Yolanda could be heard
giggling in their small room, obviously working on their freezing
skills and Dominic was watching Aaron and Maria spar, but he was
sitting in a patch of shadows, appearing and disappearing every few
seconds. Richard kept glancing at Dominic, as if checking to be sure
that he was really fully healed.

Wait a second, Justin thought. Everyone's practicing
except me. He wondered what he should do. He realized that his talent
wouldn't be much good in a fight if he had to close his eyes every
time he used it, which he had been doing up until now.

Watching Aaron getting pummeled by Maria suddenly gave
him an idea. Hm, I wonder if it'll work? He glanced at the floor that
the two were standing on.

It consisted of small, interlocking tiles of pale blue
and green. Pretty actually, he thought with some surprise. But the
ground shouldn't matter really. Rock was rock, after all.

Justin rubbed his hands together quickly. Okay, do it
while they're fighting and you'll have a good excuse in case anyone
complains afterward.

He glanced down at his right palm and watched his runic
mark slowly appear, its silver lines clear and pulsing slightly with
the beat of his heart. Then he put both hands on the ground, palms
down. He watched the two teens sparring. It will take a bit of
timing, he thought. I have to do it when they step away from each
other for a second, to give me a clear shot.

Justin watched, holding his breath and awaiting his
chance. After a few more seconds, Aaron and Maria backed off for a
moment, both of them breathing heavily. Then Maria took a step
forward, swinging her fist at Aaron's midsection. And her hand
slammed into a stone wall.

“
Hey!”
she said, baffled. A rough pillar of stone had erupted from the
ground between her and Aaron. He stepped to the side and peeked
around it.

“
Um,
what gives, Maria?” he asked in confusion. Then they both
turned to look at Justin, who couldn't help grinning widely.

“
Sorry,
guys. I just wanted to see if there was a way to block an incoming
attack, and to see if I could do it with my eyes open for a change.
And the answer is yes and yes!”

Aaron and Maria both laughed.

“
Impressive,
Justin.” She looked at the heap of stone. “But could you
put it back now? We really need the space.”

“
Oh
yeah, right,” Justin replied hurriedly. He touched the ground
again and concentrated on the pillar. Push it down, he said to
himself and watched the stone slowly collapse back into the floor.
All that was left were some broken tiles and he grabbed them with his
mind and swept them into a corner.

“
Thanks,
Just,” Aaron said with a wink. “Nice one, by the way.”
And he and Maria began practicing again.

Justin sat back and watched his friends. He noticed
something that he hadn't before. Every time he used his talent, he
got a rush off of it; some sort of high? He wasn't sure but the
feeling of pleasure was very intense. I wonder if people could get
addicted to that, he thought.

He caught a movement from the corner of his eye and
turned to see that Dominic had popped out of sight again. And then he
reappeared. Justin noticed Dom's expression. He was grinning almost
gleefully. Definitely enjoying his talent, Justin thought. He watched
for a few moments until Dominic disappeared again.

Could someone enjoying a rush from power actually go
overboard and misuse it? Stupid question, he chided himself. Of
course they could. Like the bullies at school who used to push him
around. He couldn't show that their abuse didn't hurt him physically
and they'd certainly seemed to enjoy attacking him. He'd have to keep
a close eye on the others. And on himself, he thought soberly. What
was that saying his mother had used? Power corrupts? He shivered
slightly. I sure hope not, he thought. Then he put it out of his mind
and went back to watching Aaron and Maria.

The
sparring match went on for a few more minutes and then Aaron asked
for a break. He was sweating and winded and staggered over to sit
beside Justin.

Aaron
gulped down some water, wiped the sweat from his eyes and caught his
breath.

“
Whew,
you are good, Maria!” he said with admiration. “I
couldn't lay a finger on you.”

“
Thanks,
Aaron,” she said as she sat down next to Justin. She was
breathing heavily but didn't seemed as tired or sweaty as Aaron was.
“You're a pretty good fighter, you know. Let me know any time
you want to practice; I'll be happy to oblige.”

“
Thanks
but I'm good for a while,” he wheezed. He lay back on his
elbows and sipped more water.

“
You
really are crazy fast, Maria,” Justin said as he watched her
drink some water and wipe the sweat off of her face. “I doubt
that any bad guy could touch you in a straight fight.”

“
Maybe,
Justin,” she said. Suddenly serious, her voice lowered. “But
what are the odds that we'll get into a face to face battle? My guess
is small or none. Your talent, Aaron's, Jason's, everyone else's,
will be more useful than mine. I'll probably just be a cheering
section at the back in a fight.” She sounded subdued and a
little sad.

“
You
must be joking!” Justin stated. Maria looked at him with
surprise. “Your talent isn't your only strength, Maria. You're
a leader, and a darned good one too. We'll need you to help plan an
attack if we need one, to help direct us in battle, and lots more.”
He smiled at her look of disbelief. “We couldn't have gotten
this far without you. And don't you forget it!”

Maria
blushed and then muttered “Thanks for that, Justin. Yeah, maybe
you have a point.”

“
I
do. Don't lose confidence in yourself, Maria. You are very strong.
You remind me of my mother and she was the strongest person I've ever
known.” His smiled widened. “And that is the greatest
compliment I could give anyone.”

She
nodded and smiled then got up and walked off, looking thoughtful.

“
Good
job, Just,” Aaron commented. “We need her big time. I'm
glad you were able to remind her of that.”

“
We
need all of us, Aaron. The odds are not in our favor down here.”
Justin sighed as he thought about how far they still had to go to
reach safety; if there was any safety to be found in Sanctuary any
more.

A
high-pitched yell of triumph startled them both and then Julia and
Yolanda came rushing out the alcove where they had been practicing.
They hurried over to Justin and stood looking down at him.

“
We
did it, Justin! We did it,” Julia said with delight.

“
We
really did. We found a way to freeze the water safely,” Yolanda
added. “Come see!”

Justin
got up and the two girls led him and the rest of the group to the
alcove. They pointed through the doorway and Justin peeked in.

There
was a frozen puddle of water in the middle of the floor, but more
impressive was the small crystalline sunflower that rose up out of
the ice. It was almost a perfect replica of the real thing, except
that it was made of ice.

“
Oh,
it's beautiful, guys,” Maria said as she looked in. “You
really managed to get control of your talents. Well done!” And
she wrapped an arm around each girl and hugged them tightly. Julia
and Yolanda giggled.

“
Thanks
Maria,” Yolanda spoke up. “We found that when we work
together, if Julia focuses on what we want the water to do, and I
sort of nudge it in the right direction, we have control.”

“
Yeah,
it works well,” Julia added. “But it was Yolanda's idea
to make the sunflower. I'm not that creative.”

“
Ah
but it took the two of you together to make it all work and that's
the important part, Julia.” Maria gave the smaller girl another
squeeze.

“
Yeah,
that's true, I guess,” Julia said. “Anyway, we're hungry
so I think we're done for now. C'mon, Yolanda, let's get something to
eat.”

The
girls went out to find their packs. Justin continued to stare at
their creation for a long moment. I think we're about as ready as
we're going to be, he thought. He felt a slight chill and he didn't
think it had anything to do with the cool interior of the alcove.

Everyone
decided to take a break from practicing and settled down for a snack
and a rest. Richard checked on Dominic and pronounced him ready for
action. Dom thanked him yet again for his healing but Richard
shrugged it off.

“
One
thing I've learned now about Titans. We are hard to heal but also
hard to hurt. That venom in Dominic's veins from the snake bite? Just
in the process of healing him, I realized that a normal human would
have been dead in minutes from that bite.” He looked at
Dominic. “The fact that you were able to make it all the way
back to us is a tribute to your Titan physique, Dom. And my healing
was just using your own energy to repair your body.” He shook
his head in seeming disbelief. “We are definitely built tough.”

“
That's
good to know, Richard,” Justin said as he leaned back against
his pack. “We'll need any advantage we can get as we move
forward.” After a moment, he leaned forward again.

“
I
had a question, Dominic. I was wondering if you found any evidence of
a way out of this level? I mean, I think the best way to deal with
these gorgons, and their snakes, would be to avoid them entirely if
possible.”

Dominic
was eating an apple. His chewing slowed as if he was trying to think
back to what he saw while out scouting. He swallowed and nodded
slowly.

“
Maybe,
Justin. Maybe. If I remember correctly, there's a ramp off to the
left as you enter the main area where the gorgons live. It follows
the wall up gradually, winding up and around. Unfortunately, there
are no ceiling lights in there, so I couldn't see how far up it went
or if there was a door at the end of it.” He shrugged. “I
was going to follow it up and see where it went after scouting the
rest of the level, but, well you know, I met this snake and that was
that.”

Justin
smiled grimly. “Gotcha, Dom. I don't blame you for trying to
get back after that. But now the question remains: is that the exit
or isn't it? If it is, we'd be fools to fight these creatures when we
could simply slip past them and out of their territory. If it isn't,
then we'd better have a strategy for dealing with them.” He
looked at each of the teens in turn. “Because running in there,
guns blazing, so to speak, would be nothing short of suicide.”

Julia
gulped loudly but the others were murmuring or nodding in agreement.

After a
moment's hesitation, Dominic spoke up. “Well, I could go back
and try another scout. This time I can avoid the main area, and those
damned trees, and just take the ramp up, see where it goes.”