The Return of the Titans (25 page)

When the group returned to the courtyard,
Mr. Fitzgerald gathered them around him for a moment.

“Now, I hope you enjoyed both the Arboretum
and the Atrium. These are only two of the wonders that you will
find in Sanctuary.” He looked at each of them then and he wasn't
smiling. “However, visits to other areas of the complex are a
privilege, not a right. I expect you all to study hard and learn as
much as you can over the next few months. Those who do will be
allowed more access to other parts of Sanctuary. Those who don't,”
he paused for a moment, “may find themselves confined to this level
until they have shown me that they are doing their best. Do you all
understand?”

The group all nodded or murmured their
assent.

“Excellent.” The man smiled again. “Enjoy
the rest of your day.” Mr. Fitzgerald turned away and walked
off.

Justin looked at his friends. “He sounded
serious,” he said.

“Yeah, no kidding.” Gerry was looking around
at the rest of the teens. “Let's hope for their sake that the
others got that. I'm not taking a chance of missing out on more
soccer down in the Arboretum.”

“I'd rather watch the whales myself,” Norm
said with a smile. “And I wonder what else there is to see and do
here?”

“Dunno, Norm,” Aaron said as they began to
walk back toward their quarters. “But I have a feeling we've got a
lot more to discover in this place.”

Chapter 17

Several weeks passed quickly as Justin and
his friends got into the routine of living and learning in
Sanctuary. They learned more about runes and how to use them. And
as Mr. Hunter had promised, the rune for knowledge came in handy
when they began to learn to speak Titanian.

Each student was given a small silver disk
with the knowledge rune etched into it. And when they held the disk
and concentrated on the old scrolls in the library, the meaning
suddenly became clear. Justin thought it was like magic. They
suddenly understood the old records of Titan life; the day to day
workings of the ancient society. He found it fascinating.

Norm was excited by this new knowledge as
well, but Aaron and Gerry were more interested in the martial arts
classes and the history lessons. Justin was sure that they only
liked history because it was being taught by Ghelena.

Whatever power she had, Ghelena could keep
the class mesmerized for hours when she spoke of the history of the
Titan race. There were very few questions asked and very few
interruptions. But Justin had a nagging question that he had been
longing to ask and one day, as Ghelena was talking about an
argument between Cronus and Hyperion, he raised his hand.

Ghelena stopped speaking abruptly and stared
at Justin. She seemed startled that anyone would break into one of
her lectures. But she finally nodded at him.

“Yes, Justin?” she asked. She was the only
one of his teachers that actually called all of the teens by their
first names.

“I was just wondering where the original
twelve Titans came from, Ghelena,” he said. Aaron stared at him,
blinking several times as if he had just woken up.

“Excuse me?” Ghelena said, sounding confused
for the first time.

“Where did they come from? Did they fall
from the sky? Appear magically? It just seems like one day there
were only humans on Earth and the next, poof, there were these
twelve Titans.”

Ghelena slowly nodded. “Now that is an
excellent question, Justin. Excellent.” She appeared to be thinking
about it. Justin found it hard to tell without being able to see
her expression.

Finally she answered. “There are two schools
of thought on that matter. The first, shared by some of the
Guardians here as well as a few of my people, is that the original
Titans were indeed gods.” There was a general murmur of
astonishment in the room, which quickly stilled as Ghelena lifted
her hand. “Yes, I know. It's a trifle far-fetched. But with no
evidence to the contrary, some people will believe what they want
to believe.”

“Do you believe that, Ghelena?” Denise spoke
up.

“I? Certainly not.” Ghelena sounded faintly
offended. “And not many of my kind do either. It's an absurd idea.
I prefer the second school of thought, which is a recent
development brought on by modern science and the theories of
evolution. I believe that they were some sort of mutation.
Spontaneous and unpredicted. Now, how twelve humans could be born
at around the same time, with the same sort of mutation, is
unclear. Perhaps their mothers were all exposed to an unknown
radiation, or some sort of gene-altering virus.” She shrugged.
“Many things could have happened. But that's the theory that suits
my beliefs best. What you choose to believe is, of course, up to
you.”

She turned back to the rest of the class and
continued with her lesson. Justin hardly listened as he thought
about her answer. Genetic mutation. Of course! It makes sense, he
thought. He looked around at the class, all of whom were once more
staring at Ghelena with almost reverence in their eyes. After all,
he thought, what were all of the teens here, himself included, but
genetic mutations? Except they were, apparently, planned mutations.
Their cells had been timed to mutate five thousand years after the
fall of Atlantis. He certainly liked that idea better than the one
that made those first Titans into gods. That he could not
accept.

One day, after runes class, Justin and his
three friends headed back to the courtyard. When they arrived, they
were surprised to see several of the teens tossing a football back
and forth. Gerry approached the closest boy.

“Hey, where'd you guys get a football?”
Gerry asked.

The boy caught the ball and threw it to
someone else.

“I asked Jonathon,” he answered simply, not
taking his eyes off of the game.

Gerry looked at Justin and the others. “Why
didn't I think of that? We've been so busy that I never thought of
just asking for something!”

Norm looked at his friend curiously. “Asking
for what?” he said.

Gerry shrugged. “I dunno. A ball and bat
maybe. Or maybe,” he looked down at the patent leather shoes they
all wore, “some sneakers. I hate these things.”

They laughed. “Yeah, they don't have
traction when we're playing soccer,” Aaron said. “That's why I
played barefoot. But I'm getting a bit tired of stubbing my toes on
the field.”

“So let's go ask Jonathon,” Gerry said and
hurried toward the main entrance to the courtyard. Aaron started to
follow him but stopped when he noticed that Justin and Norm hadn't
moved.

“C'mon guys! Don't you want something?” he
asked.

Justin shook his head. “Not right now,
Aaron. You, Norm?”

“Maybe, when I think about it. But I don't
have anything in mind at the moment.”

“Okay then. But I'm definitely going to ask
for some sneakers!” Aaron waved and followed Gerry.

Justin turned to looked at Norm. “So there's
really nothing you want?”

Norm smiled as he watched Gerry leave the
courtyard. “Of course there is. But it was Gerry's idea, so let him
enjoy himself.” Justin looked at him curiously and Norm
reddened.

“Well, you know how much I like to study and
stuff. I think it bugs Gerry a bit that the teachers call on me a
lot in class.” Then he grinned widely at Justin. “So, let him have
his time to shine, ask for something. It was his idea for a
change.”

Justin laughed and slapped Norm on the
shoulder. “You're a good friend, Norm,” he said.

Gerry and Aaron got their sneakers. Although
he wasn't specific as to how, Jonathon told them that small items
could be procured from the outside world, if the request was
approved.

Soon the entire group was sporting new
clothes, shoes and sports equipment. Many of the girls requested
cosmetics. Denise told Justin that it gave them a feeling of
normalcy in this crazy new world they had found themselves.

The teens began to settle into a comfortable
routine. They were allowed to send letters to home once a month, as
long as they included no information about Sanctuary, and this
helped the group's attitude even more.

Finally, about six weeks into their stay in
Sanctuary, Mr. Hunter told them on a weekend that they would begin
learning runes that could actually be inscribed on to their
bracelets. The excitement level of the entire group rose
considerably and Justin and his friends could hardly wait for the
new week to begin.

Chapter 18

Justin had just closed his eyes when a loud
ringing, like a giant gong, echoed through the room. He sat up and
turned so quickly that he fell out of bed.

Aaron sat up as well, pushed his hair out of
his face and looked around with bleary eyes. “What's going on?” he
asked thickly.

“BREACH! BREACH! SANCTUARY IS BREACHED!”

A voice that Justin had never heard before
shook the room. It was so deep that it seemed like Sanctuary itself
was yelling. And it sounded furious.

“BREACH! BREACH! SANCTUARY IS BREACHED!
SENTINELS, DEFEND US!”

And then another voice echoed through the
room and Justin immediately felt calmer. It was Mr. Fitzgerald.

“All Titans to the courtyard immediately. To
the courtyard please. Guardians, protect your charges.” He
hesitated a moment, then said “Destroyers, we need you.”

A moment later, someone else spoke. “We heed
the call,” it said simply. Justin thought he recognized the
speaker. He looked over at Aaron who was just sitting in bed,
staring at him. His face was very pale.

“Aaron, I think that was the guy. Remember?
From the Arena room?”

Aaron blinked and then nodded. “Right, yeah.
The scary, cool guy. Wow. Wonder what a Destroyer is?”

Justin stood up and started to get dressed
quickly. His mouth was dry and he could feel his heart racing, but
he tried to sound calm. “I don't know, but let's get moving. I
don't think they're kidding around.”

They both dressed and headed into the
hallway. All of the boys were streaming past, hurrying toward the
courtyard. Norm and Gerry approached as they entered the hall.

“What's going on? Anyone know?” Norm asked.
His voice was shaking.

“You know what we know, Norm,” Justin
answered. “But it sounds like we're under attack.”

They turned at the intersection. The girls
were hurrying in the same direction. Several were holding hands or
arms but no one was panicking.

As they entered the courtyard, two of the
Guardians were standing by the doorway. Six Sentinels stood a
several yards from the entrance, facing it. The Guardians directed
all the teens toward the fountain.

They could see three of the Sentinels
standing in front of the fountain. The teens were gathering behind
them. Justin and the others joined them. He noticed that his
favorite Sentinel, the minotaur, was one of the group that were
guarding the fountain.

“How could we be under attack?” Gerry
muttered. “I thought no one knew where this this was? And how could
they get in even if they did?”

“All good questions, Mr. Smithson.”

They turned and saw
Mr. Bellisle standing next to the fountain. They
all stared. The nice older man who had told them about the Arena
game now looked completely different.

He was wearing some sort of black leather
armor, with bronze-colored plates attached to the chest, arms and
legs. (Titanium, Justin thought.) And he was armed with a long,
titanium sword. His face was grim.

“We don't know how they
got in, lads. But before this is all over, we will.”

He gave them a small smile and walked past,
heading for the main entrance.

In the distance, they
heard a huge bang, like an explosion. The girls backed toward the
fountain, clutching each other. But Justin noticed that none of
them were crying or talking. They were all watching the entrance to
the courtyard.

There was another blast from the direction
of the Court. The ground shook slightly.

“Hey, they must have come
through the Entrance rooms,” Norm said. “They're past the Court,
remember?”

Gerry nodded. “Yeah, but that would mean
they had a rune to port in. How could they get one?”

Justin thought about that as he watched the
far doorway. Then an idea occurred to him.

“Guys, didn't they lose
some Guardians when we were all rescued? I mean, Guardians and
Titans both?” He thought briefly of Wilson and felt the usual pang
of regret.

“Sure. Mr. Hunter
mentioned his friend, right?” Aaron answered. “He said she was
killed along with the Titans she was rescuing.”

“Exactly. So what if they
got her Portal rune? And maybe some others. Then they could port in
whenever they wanted.”

They all stared at Justin. “I hadn't thought
if that,” Norm said quietly. “You could be right, Justin. Question
is, who are they? The government guys or the other Titans?”

There was a shout from a group of Guardians
that had run into the room through the entrance. They suddenly
scattered as a bright red ball of fire shot out of the hallway
beyond and billowed up slowly toward the ceiling.

“Oh my God,” Aaron
murmured. “What kind of weapon is that?”

One of the Guardians whom Justin had never
seen before hurried over to the group. “All of you, get around on
the other side of the fountain.” She glanced around and noticed
Denise, who looked calm and collected, watching her intently. “You.
If they break through, take them all down the stairs to the Ocular
room. You know where it is?”

Denise nodded. “Good. Now, all of you,
move.”

The group began to move toward the rear of
the fountain.