The Return of the Titans (2 page)

Well, it couldn't hurt to look some of this
stuff up, he thought and opened up his internet browser. He started
searching. The Titans in Greek mythology. The fall of Atlantis. The
war of the Titans and the Olympians. He began to get interested in
spite of himself. There were a lot of legends, folk tales, epic
poems, sagas and stories on the web. He didn't realize how deeply
he was drawn into his search until he heard his mother calling from
the living room.

“Justin? Time for bed,
sweetie.”

He looked at the clock on the screen. Wow,
twelve-thirty! Time had flown by. He didn't want to stop. “Mom,” he
called out. “It's Friday night. Can't I stay up a bit?”

“You have stayed up a bit.
And you know it. Get to bed. Or do I have to come in
there?”

He winced. He hated it when she used that
tactic, knowing that he would never make her haul herself painfully
into his room from the living room. “No Mom. I'm going to bed.”

“Good. Night,
sweetie.”

“Night Mom.” He set the
computer to sleep mode. His mother was right. It was late and he
had all weekend to explore this fascinating new
discovery.

By Sunday night, his head was overflowing
with descriptions and stories of mighty deeds and fantastic quests.
Justin had never realized just how much of the modern legends and
folktales had sprung from the old Greek legends. He had shared his
new fascination with his mother and from time to time over the
weekend had rushed into the living room to tell her about some new
fact or tidbit. His mother had dutifully listened and he never
noticed her occasionally biting her lip to keep from smiling at his
new-found intensity.

But for all the fascinating stories, Justin
could find no practical use for any of it. My life depends on it?
That thought played through his mind again and again. No, it did
not make sense. Someone was definitely having fun at his expense.
He would have been more resentful if he hadn't enjoyed learning
about the myths so much.

He was getting ready for bed at the end of
the evening when he heard the faint chime that announced new email.
He was tired and Monday morning came early. He was tempted to
ignore it until the next day. He shrugged. It will only take a sec,
he thought. He doubled-clicked on the icon.

It was another message with that same weird
address line. This time the subject line was empty. He hesitated a
moment then clicked to open the email. There was only one line.
“Watch your back,” it said. And that was all.

Justin deleted the message, shut down his
computer and got into bed. Watch your back, he thought. Watch your
back. He fell asleep with that phrase still running through his
mind.

Every evening for the next week, Justin was
surfing the net, reading stories about Greek myths and the ancient
gods known as the Titans. He still had no idea why the mysterious e
mailer had urged him to research them or what the “Watch your back”
warning had been about, but he had discovered a new passion and was
surprised at how excited the subject made him.

His mother was surprised as well. By the
middle of the week, she asked him why he was so into this new hobby
and he couldn't really explain it to her. “It's cool, Mom,” he said
and that was the best explanation he could come up with. She had
just smiled, shrugged and said “Okay hon. As long as you're having
fun.”

When Justin got home on Friday, he met
Wilson in the lobby. He had apologized earlier in the week for
being rude and had explained why and the big man had just laughed
and said he understood. As Justin entered the lobby, Wilson was
twisting a new mop head onto his ever-present mop handle. He looked
up at Justin and winked. “Nothing like a brand-new, pristine mop
head, Justin.” He sighed and stared at it. “Makes you feel like
washing some floors, just looking at it.”

Justin looked at the mop and then back at
Wilson. “Um, sure Wilson. If you say so.”

The man just laughed. “Yeah, I know. Sounds
weird, lad. But when you've been a janitor as long as I have, it's
the little things that make it all worth while.”

Justin just shrugged. “I suppose so.” He
started toward the stairs. “See you later, Wilson.”

As he was about to start climbing the
staircase, he head Wilson behind him. “So, how do you like the
Titans?” he asked quietly.

The boy stopped abruptly and turned around.
“What?” he asked faintly.

Wilson stood under the glow of the naked
light bulb. “You heard me,” he said.

Justin was confused. “How do you know
about...”

“Well, your Mom and I had
tea yesterday. She happened to mention it.”

“Oh. Right.” Justin knew
that Wilson and his mother had tea a few times a week when he was
at school. He was grateful that she wasn't always alone, lost in
the daily soaps on TV.

“Well, I don't know. It's
kind of fascinating actually. But I've always liked stories about
heroes and monsters and stuff. It's cool that they had those kinds
of stories even thousands of years ago. Don't you
think?”

The man nodded. “Yep. I've read a few of
those myths myself. Interesting, I guess.” He chuckled a bit. “A
little heavy for a thick old guy like me though. But I'm glad you
found something to take your mind off your problems at school.” He
looked keenly at Justin. “How's that going anyway?”

Justin shook his head. “Same old. I managed
to avoid Chris most of the week. I passed him in the hall today but
he just made a smart-ass remark to his little group of friends and
walked by. I can live with that.”

Wilson sighed. “I'm sorry you have to deal
with that, lad. Grade nine is hard enough to handle without the
added pressure from a jerk like that.”

Justin smiled. “Thanks, Wilson. But it's
okay. I think my new hobby is distracting me enough to put it
behind me. Or else I'm just getting used to it. Either way, I'll be
okay.”

Wilson nodded, gave Justin a wave and turned
back toward his apartment.

Justin spent the rest of the evening reading
through more of the old legends. He began to notice that he was
re-reading a lot of the same material and had a sense of
disappointment as he realized that he might have exhausted all of
the resources that he could find about the Titans and their
myths.

He tried one more search. Page after page of
results just showed sites that he had already visited and he was
about to give up when he came to the last page of results. It was
page fifty-three and the last line listed was a quote from a site.
Remember the Titans, it said.

He felt a thrill of excitement run through
him. It was the line! The line from the email.

He clicked on the address. It was an old
site, very drab with just one page of writing on it. It talked
about the Titan legends and then said that certain stories spoke of
the Titans, not as gods, but as a race of beings who had lived in
ancient times alongside humans. It also mentioned that the last
Titan stronghold, Atlantis, was attacked when humanity turned on
the Titans, trying to steal their technology and the Titans had
destroyed the island city rather than let their secrets fall into
human hands. And that was all of the information on the web
site.

Justin sat back and stared at the screen.
Was it possible? Were the Titans more than just a myth? Had they
really lived all those thousands of years ago?

He imagined how it might have been. Legends
spoke of Atlantis as being home to humans who had invented flight,
who had advanced scientific knowledge. But what if it wasn't humans
who had lived there. What if it had been these Titans?

There were no other references or pages on
the site, so Justin shut off the browser. He went through the pages
of notes he had taken from other sites. No, there were no other
hints that the Titans were anything but mythological gods. But he
had a feeling. He wasn't sure why but the idea that they had been a
race of people rather than gods just seemed to fit somehow.

Not that it mattered, he thought. After all,
it was an interesting subject but what good was it really? He
sighed and put the notes aside. He wondered what he was going to do
for the rest of the weekend now that he had exhausted all of the
information sources on the Titans. Vaguely depressed, Justin went
to bed.

The next morning, Saturday, Justin got
excited again. He thought that the library might have some
information that couldn't be found on the net. He knew it was a
long shot but it was the only thing that he could think of if he
wanted to learn more about what he had privately begun to call his
obsession.

After breakfast, he got cleaned up and
dressed and headed for the living room.

“Mom, is it okay if I go
to the library?”

His mother stared at him for a moment. “The
library? Wow. Do people still use those things?”
He grinned at her dry tone and then shrugged. “I don't know. But I
thought it might be fun for a change. You know, to do some research
with real books instead of online.”

“Still exploring ancient
myths, hon?”

He blushed a bit. “It fascinates me, Mom.
I'm not even sure why.” Then he hesitated. “But if you need me to
stay home, if you have stuff you want me to do, then no problem. I
can go some other time.”

His mother shook her head. “I'm fine,
sweetie. Mrs. P will be in soon and she can help me with anything I
need. Go on and have fun. Just be home for dinner.”

“I will, Mom, Thanks.” As
he turned to go, he looked back over his shoulder. “And don't let
her hear you call her Mrs. P. I did that once and she almost peeled
the paint off the walls when she let me have an earful.”

His mother giggled, sounding like a naughty
school girl. “I know, Just. I know. Off you go.”

He waved and headed for the door.

The library was six blocks away but it was a
warm autumn day and Justin enjoyed the walk.

When he arrived, he stared at the massive
gray building for a moment and tried to remember the last time he
had been here. Two years, or was it three? He shrugged and walked
up the stairs, passing between two bronze lions that sat at the
bottom of the steps.

Inside, he looked around and then headed for
the information desk. A middle-aged man in a brown suit was sitting
there, frowning at a computer screen. Justin stood at the desk for
a moment but the man seemed oblivious to him. He finally cleared
his throat loudly and the man jumped in his seat slightly and
looked at him.

“Excuse me, sir. Could I
get some information please?”

The man smiled, showing a row of bright,
uneven teeth. “Of course, of course. Sorry I didn't see you.” He
gestured at the computer. “Blasted thing is doing a search in slow
motion.” He sighed. “Anyway, what can I help you with?”

“Well, I was wondering if
you have any books on mythology. You know, ancient Greek stuff and
all that?”

The librarian chuckled. “Oh yes, that we do.
Not many people seem interested in the old legends anymore, but we
do have a rather large selection.” He pointed down the main aisle.
“Just head back to section M. Turn left and it's the sixth
bookshelf in.”

Justin nodded and thanked the man. He found
the section on ancient myths very quickly then just stared at the
rows of books that towered above him. There were dozens, maybe even
a hundred or more and for a minute he just stood there,
overwhelmed.

Finally he began scanning through the titles
on the spines of the books. Greek Myths and The Modern Day. Gods,
Goddesses and Monsters. Olympus: Then and Now. On and on they went.
Justin finally just pulled out a few books at random, found an
empty desk and sat down to scan through the books.

He enjoyed actually reading a real book for
a change and not just some words on a computer screen, but he was
also disappointed. Nothing was really different from what he had
read online. Oh sure, there were different authors and points of
view but the core legends were basically all the same.

There weren't a lot of references to the
Titans. Authors seemed a lot more interested in the Olympian gods
than their predecessors. Maybe, he thought, there was just more
information on the Olympic myths than the Titan legends.

Time passed. Justin went through book after
book but kept feeling disappointed. He felt like something was
missing, that he was searching for something just out of his reach.
But he didn't know what. And after several hours he sat back and
admitted defeat. There just wasn't any more to discover, he
concluded.

As he put the last books back on the
shelves, he had an idea. Maybe that helpful guy at the desk would
have a clue on where he should look. It was worth a shot.

Justin made his way back toward the front
desk. He looked around and realized for the first time that the
library was almost empty. Didn't people read books anymore? He
glanced at his watch. It was only two o'clock but he was starting
to feel hungry as he realized that he'd been reading for about four
hours. Time flies, he thought whimsically.

When he reached the desk, the man wasn't
there. Probably putting books away or something, he thought and
leaned against the desk. He looked around. There was no sign of the
librarian. Down the main aisle there were several reading desks and
chairs but he could only see three people sitting at different
spots. He kept looking for the man from the front desk or any other
library staff. He couldn't see any. The place was very quiet and
still. Even the people reading weren't moving. He thought he
noticed something odd about the readers.

He focused on them and realized that they
all looked similar. They were all men wearing dark brown suits. It
struck Justin as odd that three men would be wearing suits and
reading in a library on a Saturday afternoon. And they all had
short brown hair. None were wearing glasses and all were staring
intently at the books in front of them.