The Return of the Titans (24 page)

Aaron looked a bit disappointed, so Justin
nudged him and grinned. “Did you have fun?” he asked.

Aaron smiled back. “For sure! Gerry's an
amazing player.” He frowned slightly and lowered his voice as they
approached the group. “So is that Benson guy. In fact, he took over
his team right away. I'm glad I stuck with Gerry's side. Benson's a
pain.”

Justin nodded. “Yeah, I've noticed,” he said
dryly.

They rejoined the other teens and Mr.
Fitzgerald looked over the group.

“Is everyone here?” he asked.

They glanced around. No one seemed to be
missing.

“Good,” the man said. “I'm glad you had a
good morning. Tomorrow we will visit the Atrium. I think you will
find it as interesting as the Arboretum. Now, let's head back.”

After dinner that night, Norm and Gerry
stopped by Justin's room. Gerry smiled at Aaron. “Good game today,
Aaron. You may not be big, but you're quick! And a great shot
too.”

Aaron reddened. “Thanks Ger. It was fun.” He
looked across the living room table at Justin. “Maybe next time we
can talk Just into playing.”

“Don't think so, Aaron,” Justin said. He was
trying different combinations of finishing moves in the arena using
his favorite avatar, the minotaur. He heard Aaron sigh and glanced
up at him. “Aaron, I'm just not that into sports, except hockey.
But you can play with Gerry, right?”

“Yeah, right. I suppose I can,” Aaron said
with an irritable tone to his voice.

“Gee, don't sound so enthusiastic, Aaron,”
Gerry said, but he was grinning. Aaron looked at him a moment then
smiled in return.

“Nothing personal, Ger. I guess Justin can
hang out with Norm when we play.”

Aaron had slid over to make room for Norm
when they had arrived and Norm was now going through several
avatars in the arena.

“For sure, guys. I'm really starting to get
into Arena, so Justin and I can play whenever you two are off doing
soccer or whatever. Is that okay with you, Justin?”

Justin smiled at Norm. “Anytime, Norm. If we
can't use our brawn, then we can use our brains.”

They all laughed except Aaron who, Justin
thought, had a rather strained look on his face. Justin decided to
ask him what the problem was after the others had left.

When it was time to turn in, Gerry and Norm
said good night and Justin began to get ready for bed. Aaron stayed
in the living room, absently cycling through each avatar in turn.
When he was done in the bathroom, Justin walked into the living
room.

“Bathroom's all yours, Aaron,” he said.

Aaron didn't look up from the board. Justin
wondered if he had nodded off. “Did you hear me? I said...”

“Yeah, I heard you.” Aaron turned and looked
at him. Justin was startled to see that he looked angry.

“Um, what's wrong?” Justin asked.

Aaron stood up abruptly. “There's nothing
wrong. Why should there be?”

Justin shrugged. “I have no idea. I thought
we had a great day today. Didn't you?”

Aaron brushed past him and walked into the
bedroom. “Yeah, I had a great day. Great day. And now I'd like some
sleep. Is that okay with you?”

Justin was confused. Why was his friend
angry? Had he said or done something wrong? He slipped into bed and
tried not to look at Aaron, in case he got even more upset. He ran
through the day in his head. What could have set Aaron off? But try
as he might, he couldn't think of anything he had done wrong. Maybe
someone else had angered Aaron. Justin remembered that Aaron had
mentioned Benson. Well, he thought, that jerk could irritate
anyone. Maybe that was it.

He finally gave up. Whatever the problem
was, unless Aaron told him straight out, Justin doubted that he'd
be able to guess. He rolled over facing away from Aaron's side of
the room and eventually slipped into a troubled sleep.

The next morning, Justin woke up earlier
than usual. He hadn't slept well and had woken up several times
with vague, troubling dreams. He finally decided to get up after
lying awake for a long time staring at the ceiling.

He looked over at Aaron, who was sprawled
across his bed. His hair covered his face and Justin could hear
quiet snoring coming from underneath. He grinned at the sight and
headed for the bathroom.

A half-hour later, bathed and dressed,
Justin was sitting in the living room absently playing Arena. He
had learned how to start a solo game, with the board somehow
playing the other avatar. How it did that with no computer
controlling it, he had no idea, but it was a challenging
opponent.

He finally heard Aaron wake up and move
around. He suddenly felt nervous. One thing he wasn't good at was
confrontation, but he had no intention of living with someone who
played head games, even someone like Aaron. When his friend finally
walked in carrying a towel, Justin sat back and looked at him.

“Good morning,” he said.

“Morning,” Aaron muttered as he walked by,
not looking at Justin. “I'm going to the baths.”

“No problem,” Justin said. “I'll ask
Jonathon to reassign me to another room. I should be gone before
you get back.”

Aaron stopped abruptly and spun around to
stare at Justin. “What?”

“You heard me, Aaron.” He leaned forward.
“Look, I don't know what the problem is or why you're acting this
way. But I don't play head games and I don't like the whole silent
treatment thing. So if that's how you operate, I think you might be
better off sharing a place with someone who's more into that
stuff.”

Aaron walked to the opposite sofa and sat
down with a thud. “But, but, I thought we were friends,” he said.
His hair had fallen across his face and Justin could barely see his
eyes.

Justin swallowed but plowed on. “We are,
Aaron. But we've known each other what? Eight, nine days? If we
can't get along after that short a time, what will we be like in
eight weeks? Or eight months?”

Aaron shook his head so hard, the hair flew
back over his shoulder. Justin was surprised to see that his eyes
were red before his face was obscured again. He didn't say
anything.

Justin sighed heavily. “Aaron, you're a
great guy. I think we could be best friends, once we get to know
each other. But friends, good friends, don't play games. If they
are having problems, they work it out.” He turned away from Aaron
and looked at the far wall. “If my friend Chris had just told me
what had changed over the summer, maybe I wouldn't have turned into
his favorite punching bag.” Then a thought occurred to him and he
looked at Aaron again. “Maybe that's it! Maybe it's just me. I've
never been real good with people, never had a lot of friends. I
could be one of those people who just can't make friends.” The
thought burned inside of him. What a horrible life it would be, not
to have friends.

“Oh don't be stupid, Justin!” Aaron said
forcefully.

“What?”

“You heard me. That's the dumbest thing I've
ever heard. Not able to make friends.” He snorted loudly. Before
Justin could get mad about being called stupid and dumb, Aaron cut
him off.

“It was me, okay? I...” he hesitated, “I
was...jealous.”

Justin stared at him, completely surprised.
He knew his mouth was hanging open. “Um, excuse me?”

Aaron pushed his hair back and Justin could
see how red his face was. “I know, I know. We've only been friends
a short time. But I'm like you. I don't have a lot of friends.
Maybe I'm a bit, I don't know, possessive? I'm not sure. But when
you said you'd rather hang out with Norm and play Arena instead of
with me playing soccer, I felt, well you know.”

Justin felt as if a giant weight had fallen
from his back. He stared at Aaron in disbelief. “Oh for cripes
sake, Aaron. I told you that I don't like soccer. You'll be playing
with Gerry, so what's the big deal?”

“I know, I know. I was an idiot. Okay?” He
stared hard at Justin. “Please don't leave, Justin.”

Justin shook his head. “I'm not going
anywhere, you moron,” he said with a grin. Then he shook his finger
at Aaron. “But next time, just tell me what's bugging you. Okay?
It's easier than dealing with misunderstandings.”

Aaron returned his grin. “Deal,” he said.
“Uh, could we not tell Gerry or Norm about this?”

“Cool.” Justin looked up at the clock.
“Better hurry. Breakfast is in ten minutes.”

“I'm on it,” Aaron said and hurried out the
door.

Justin sat back and took a deep breath.
Suddenly he felt terrific. The day was going to be great. And he
remembered that Mr. Fitzgerald was going to show them the Atrium,
whatever that was. Sounded cool. He leaned forward, eager to get a
quick Arena match in before breakfast.

After breakfast, which had been held in the
Court again, Mr. Fitzgerald stood up and began to tell them about
the Atrium.

“As I'm sure you all know by now, Sanctuary
is underground. Deep underground. And while we won't tell you
exactly where in the world it is, I will now share with you another
little fact about it. Not only is Sanctuary underground, it is also
underwater.”

There were a chorus of gasps around the
room. Justin and Aaron looked at each other with wide eyes then
quickly turned back to listen to Mr. Fitzgerald.

“Yes, underwater. The Atrium is the highest
point in our complex. And what is extraordinary about it is that it
allows us to actually see the waters that we live beneath.”

Someone held up their hand. “Yes, Mr.
Benson?”

“Figures,” Aaron muttered as he rolled his
eyes. Justin tried not to laugh.

“So we will actually be able to see the
ocean, sir?” Benson asked.

“Yes indeed. Like the Arboretum, the Atrium
is a popular spot among us when we tire of looking at stone walls
all the time.”

“Which ocean is it, sir?”

Mr. Fitzgerald looked at Benson for a long
moment and Justin saw the boy's face become flushed.

“As I've said, Mr. Benson, we will not
divulge the location of Sanctuary.” He smiled slightly. “And I did
not say it was an ocean; you did.” He looked at the rest of the
group. “Now, if you are ready, let us proceed.”

They all followed Mr. Fitzgerald out of the
room. Once again they headed toward the courtyard, And once again,
when they entered the courtyard, they passed the fountain, walked
passed the Sentinel, which moved quickly out of the way, and walked
down the stairs.

They walked down the same central corridor
and finally approached the sheet of water that flowed across the
hallway. Mr. Fitzgerald stopped in front of the waterfall and
turned to speak to them.

“Now that you've experienced the portal, you
won't be quite as surprised today when you arrived at the Atrium.”
He smiled as several of the teens nodded. “Good. Proceed please.”
He touched the water and, like on the previous day, it changed to
an opaque, milky color. No one hesitated this time; the teens in
front stepped into the waterfall and the rest followed in good
order.

Justin felt the momentary vertigo as he
entered the portal and then he found himself in a square room,
standing in front of another milky fall of water, this one falling
across part of a wall. He stepped out of the way quickly to make
room for the others coming through. As Aaron appeared, Justin
turned and looked around the room.

There were no doors in the room. The plain
walls were roughly chiseled from stone and each of them had a
waterfall splashing down their middle and disappearing into a
trough in the floor. The other waterfalls were clear, not milky
like the one the teens had just passed through. As they all
gathered in the center of the room, Mr. Fitzgerald appeared and the
water behind him turned clear again. He looked at their puzzled
faces and smiled broadly.

“As you might have guessed, this is not the
Atrium. The portals can only project people so far and then another
must be used to continue the journey. In this case, the Atrium is a
very long way from our point of origin.” He pointed to the
waterfall directly across from the one they had just used. “We
shall be using that portal to continue on.” He walked across to the
portal, touched it and, as the water turned milky, gestured for
them to enter.

Once again, Justin felt dizzy as he went
through the portal but this time it only lasted a split second and
then he was standing in a vast, circular chamber. He looked around
him and saw the other teens staring at the room in awe.

They were in the center of a dome, seemingly
made of a single huge piece of crystal. The walls rose up fifty
feet or more and met smoothly above their heads. And outside of the
crystal room was the sea.

It glowed with phosphorescence and the sea
bed, level with the floor of the room itself, was covered with
long, flowing streamers of seaweed, waving gently in the
current.

Schools of tiny, colorful fish swirled and
darted in and out of the weeds, accompanied by larger, lone fish
emitting flashes of silvery, bright colors.

Justin and the others were so enthralled by
what they were seeing that they didn't noticed Mr. Fitzgerald
arriving until they heard his voice.

“Beautiful, isn't it?” he said softly, his
voice echoing gently around the room. Justin looked at him and saw
him looking straight up through the clear ceiling. As Justin
himself looked overhead, he gasped. A huge form was slowly passing
over the dome. It swam leisurely through the water, and
majestically sailed across the length of the room and out of sight.
Another appeared following the same path, and then another.

“Whales,” said Mr. Fitzgerald. “We see many
of them here.”

Justin had never seen anything so beautiful.
When the last of the whales had passed, he looked around the room.
Along the walls, singly or in small groups, Guardians were standing
and looking outward. He heard muttered conversation but nothing
clearly. The Atrium seemed to be a place where a hushed voice was
more appropriate than a loud one.