The Battle for Sanctuary: The Titan's Legacy: Vol: 2 (Volume 2) (5 page)

“
Then
what is it? Look, there are more!” Julia pointed in several
directions. “They're all over!” She started to sound
frantic. Maria reached out and put her arm around the smaller girl.

“
Easy,
Jules. We don't know what they are, but there's no reason to believe
they're dangerous.”

Maria's statement and
even tone had a calming effect on the entire group. As they began to
discuss it amongst themselves, she sidled over to Justin.

“
Any
ideas on what those are?” she asked in a hushed voice.

He shook his head. “Aaron
and I were asking the same thing, Maria. But like you said, if
they're fish, where were they when the lake was drained? And if they
aren't, then what are they?”

Aaron spoke up. “I
think the more important question is, are they dangerous?”

Justin watched several of
the ripples as they darted back and forth. He soon noticed that there
was one side of their small island that seemed to have no
disturbances between it and the next islet, which was about thirty
yards away. He looked at the water for a short time and finally made
a decision.

“
I
think I'll go for a swim,” he said casually. He saw Aaron
looking at him in surprise. The rest of the group all stared at him
with a mixture of disbelief and confusion. Predictably, Dominic spoke
up.

“
A
swim? What, are we on holiday now?”

Not rising to the bait,
Justin turned to look at him. “Hardly,” he said. “But
I need to know a couple of things. First, how far can I swim. And
second, what the heck are those things out there. I led us into this
place, so I should be the one to find out what we're up against.”

Aaron gaped at him and
some the others shook their heads or murmured protests. Maria was
more direct.

“
That's
just ridiculous, Justin. Sorry, but you saved us down there. It isn't
your fault that this place is the way it is.” Then she stopped,
looking puzzled. “And what's this about knowing how far you can
swim?”

Justin smiled a bit.
“Like we told you earlier, Titans are more densely packed, on a
molecular level, than regular people. That's what our teachers told
us. And they also said that as we get older and more, I don't know,
dense I guess, the heavier we'll become. So I need to know if I'm too
heavy to actually make it to that island.” He pointed to the
closest islet. “Plus, there don't seem to be any of
those...whatever they are, between us and that mound.”

They had all looked in
the direction Justin pointed and then looked around, checking the
locations of the ripples.

“
Well,
he does have a point,” Dominic said. “And if he wants to
go...”

“
Yeah,
right,” Aaron said with a glare at the other boy. “I'm
sure you'd like nothing better than to see Justin sink to the bottom
of the lake.”

Dominic's face paled and
he looked stunned at the accusation. “Hey look, man. I may not
be your buddy's biggest fan, but I don't want to see him hurt. I
mean, what the hell is wrong with you?”

Aaron suddenly looked
shame-faced, especially when he saw the look of disbelief on Justin's
face. “Sorry,” he mumbled. “I got a bit carried
away.”

Justin punched him
lightly on the shoulder. “Easy, bud. We're all in this
together.”

Maria stepped forward.
“Well, I think it's a good idea, except for one little thing.”

“
What's
that?”

“
I'm
the one who's going to go swimming,” she said with
determination and started to walk to the edge of the water.

“
Whoa,
whoa there!” Justin said. “Why should it be you?”

Maria stopped and looked
at Justin calmly. “Well, for one thing, I'm the oldest. If
anyone's put on weight, it's me. Girls do mature faster than boys do,
physically.”

“
Mentally
too,” Justin heard Julia whisper. Yolanda giggled.

“
Are
you a good swimmer, Maria?” Aaron asked anxiously.

“
Got
my lifeguard permit last summer,” she answered proudly. Then
seeing Justin's worried expression, she grinned. “Relax,
Justin. If I start to sink, one of you younger guys can pull me out,
I'm sure.”

Justin still had
reservations, but had to agree with Maria's logic. So he waited while
she took off her shoes and socks and then looked away hurriedly as
she removed her jeans, But her t-shirt fell almost to her knees and
she was so matter of fact about it that his embarrassment quickly
passed.

Maria waded slowly into
the water, shivering slightly. Jason had moved to one side of the
island and Richard was watching the other; both of them keeping an
eye on the ripples that were still sweeping back and forth at various
points in the lake.

“
Okay,
guys. If I can do it, I'll swim directly to the next island. Once I
get there, send over the next one. I think it's best if we do this
one at a time.”

“
All
right, Maria,” Justin said. “But give a shout if you have
any problems and we'll come and get you.” She nodded and gave
them a thumbs up as she slipped into the water and began to swim.

Justin
had to admit it; Maria was a strong swimmer. She was ten yards out
and seemed to be having no problems when Richard yelled in a squeaky
voice. “Hey! I think something's happening.”

They all turned and
looked to where he was pointing. One of the ripples, maybe a hundred
yards away, had changed direction and was suddenly streaking toward
Maria. It was moving very fast.

Justin whipped around.
Maria was about halfway to her goal, so he shouted “Swim
faster, Maria! One of the whatever-they-are is heading right for
you!”

She showed no sign that
she had heard him, but Justin saw with some relief that she had
increased her speed, her strokes becoming longer and faster.

The group watched
breathlessly as the ripple shot toward Maria. They looked back and
forth between the two points; Maria and the unseen menace. The race
was on. The ripple had increased in size as whatever caused it
boosted it's speed even more and a rooster-tail of water marked its
position.

Maria was approaching the
islet but the ripple was closing in fast. Forty yards from the girl,
thirty. Maria was getting close to her goal. Twenty yards, ten.

She put on a last burst
of speed and literally shot out of the water and collapsed on the
grassy shore, obviously out of breath and exhausted. The whole group
began cheering and clapping, almost like they'd been watching some
championship race. But the mood quickly turned sombre as they saw the
mysterious ripple slow down and then begin to circle the small island
that Maria was resting on.

“
Maria!
Are you okay?” Justin shouted. Maria sat up slowly and pushed
her soaking mass of hair out of her face. She waved weakly. After a
long moment, she stood up looking a bit shaky and called back.

“
I'm
fine, Justin. I just needed a minute to catch my breath.”

“
Can
you see whatever that thing is in the water?” It was Aaron that
called over this time. “Is it a fish or what?”

They watched as Maria
stared intently into the water. She followed the ripples as they
circled her little island. Finally she looked over and shook her
head.

“
I
think we have a problem, guys,” she yelled.

“
What
sort of problem?” Justin asked.

“
It's
not a fish, I'm pretty sure of that. It looks more like an eel, about
six feet long or so. Lots of long, sharp teeth. But that isn't the
problem.”

Dominic snorted. “That's
not a problem? Then what is?” he shouted.

“
Well,
it seems to be a shiny, metallic yellowish-green color. Now where
have we seen that recently?”

The seven teens looked at
each other for a few seconds, and then Dominic groaned and swore. He
looked back at Maria and shouted “You're not talking about that
mechanical man that Justin fought back in the library, are you?”

They saw her nod
vigorously. “Got it in one, Dom. I'm pretty sure that it's a
machine.” She focused on Justin. “Just a guess, but I
don't think it likes me very much.”

Her dry tone, even from a
distance, made several of them chuckle, but Justin wasn't one of
them.

A machine? What the hell
are swimming machines doing in here? He felt his thoughts tumbling
over each other as he tried to figure it out. Then, while the others
were talking amongst themselves, he spotted a ripple swimming by on
the opposite side of the islet, maybe thirty or so yards away. Not
stopping to think, he rushed over, waded in until he was waist-deep
and ducked under the water.

Justin opened his eyes
and peered through the shadowy water. The greenish tinge made it hard
to see clearly, but then in the distance he caught a glimpse of the
eel-like creature that Maria had described. He watched as it shot
down from the surface to the floor of the lake. It seemed to scoop up
a long strip of the algae that was growing on the bottom and then
zipped back up to the surface again. He lost sight of it and stood up
again, turning to make his way back on to dry land.

Aaron stood at the
water's edge, staring at him. “Justin, are you crazy? What did
you do that for?”

Justin managed an
embarrassed chuckle. “I just wanted to know what they were
doing in here. I mean, what's the point of making these, whatever
they are, and dropping them in a lake underground?”

Aaron shook his head and
gave Justin a welcome hand as he pulled him up on to the grass.
“You're making me old before my time, Just,” he said with
a laugh. The others walked over. Justin took off his shirt and wrung
it out before putting it on again. He ignored the squishing of his
shoes as he walked back to the closest point to Maria's island and
called over to her.

“
I
think I know why these things are in here. It looks like they're the
clean-up crew. They eat the algae on the bottom and I guess digest it
or destroy it somehow.”

“
Clean-up
crew?” Maria sounded incredulous. “Well, that's just
great. Someone should tell this one,” she indicated the ripple
that was circling her, “that we don't need to be cleaned up.
They can have all the algae they want, but I am definitely not on the
menu.”

Both Julia and Yolanda
giggled and Justin was relieved that they weren't more worried at the
moment. He certainly was. How could they possibly get off of this
lake with a bunch of metallic, algae-eating eels with razor-sharp
teeth just waiting to attack them?

He glanced down at the
rune on his right palm. It was perfectly healed now and the thought
of how painful it was to use wasn't as frightening as it had been
after the first time. But even if it worked against one of those
things, what were the odds of it dying or deactivating or whatever
without attracting more of them? Justin might be able to take on one
at a time, but a half-dozen or more? Not a chance.

He felt someone watching
him and turned to see Aaron looking intently at him, then glancing to
the ripple circling Maria's islet.

“
You
aren't actually thinking what I think you're thinking, are you Just?”
he asked. “Because that would be suicide.”