The Return of the Titans (30 page)

“Thanks, Mr. Fitzgerald.
If you hadn't done this, I would have always believed that he died
defending me. But now, it's such a relief.”

“For me as well.” Mr.
Fitzgerald smiled. He reached into a pocket, took out a black stone
and handed it to Justin. He recognized it as a teleport rune. “This
is the only way for you to get back, I'm afraid.” Then he reached
into another pocket and took out a small flask. He opened it and
poured a stream of water onto the sand. “Quickly, lad, step on the
wet spot.”

Justin wanted to keep talking about Wilson
but he could see the sand quickly absorbing the water and so he
stepped firmly on to the patch of dampness.

He experienced the sensation of sinking into
deep water again but it only lasted a few seconds. Then with a
splash, he was standing next to the fountain in the courtyard. The
ground was soaked all around him but he was perfectly dry. The
stone had disappeared.

Justin stood there for a moment, waiting for
Mr. Fitzgerald. When he didn't arrive immediately, he decided to
sit down on the edge of the fountain. He realized just how
exhausted he was. In fact, he was shaking with fatigue. He glanced
up at the clock on the fountain. Wow, he thought. We've been down
there almost two hours.

He waited a few more minutes and then
decided to head back to his room. Mr. Fitzgerald hadn't said
anything about waiting for him and now Justin's stomach was loudly
complaining that it was empty. Between his hunger and exhaustion,
he wasn't even sure he would get back to his quarters before he
collapsed. But he stood up and started to slowly walk back across
the courtyard.

Justin finally made it to the corridor
leading to the boys quarters. As he started to slowly walk down it,
he heard someone hurry up from behind him and put an arm around his
shoulders. The support came just in time as Justin felt his knees
buckle. The arm held him up until he got control of himself and
then he looked to see who was holding on to him.

Aaron was staring back at him. His hair was
almost hiding his whole face as usual but Justin could see that his
friend was looking very pale.

“Hey bud,” Justin
whispered. “Always there when I need you.” He grinned weakly at
Aaron who just looked determined.

“Save your thanks until I
get you home, Just,” he said as he slowly walked Justin down the
hall. But Justin saw a quick smile come and go on Aaron's face and
that made him feel a lot better.

They managed to stagger into their quarters
and Aaron got Justin on to his favorite couch. “You sure you don't
want to lie down, Just? You look like death warmed over.”

Justin sat back and closed his eyes. “No
thanks, Aaron. I'm beat but I'm also starving. Please tell me I
didn't miss lunch.”

Aaron sat down across from his friend.
“Nope. Mrs. Mallon should be along any time now.” He leaned forward
as Justin opened his eyes. “And try not too look so beat when she
comes in or she's going to fuss over you.”

Justin took a deep breath. “Ugh, good point.
I think she's terrific, but I feel a bit smothered when she starts
that.” He leaned forward to untie his shoes and almost fell on to
the table. “Whoops,” he muttered. “Bit dizzy.”

Aaron hurried around the table and pushed
him back. “Just sit there, you idiot. I'll do it.” And he quickly
got Justin's shoes off and put them in the bedroom.

Justin sat back and tried not to move. His
feet were throbbing so much he thought he could almost hear them
pounding. And his stomach was now past growling and had started a
constant grinding sound. Aaron came back in and sat down again. He
stared at Justin with a worried expression.

“Don't worry, Aaron. I'm
just sore and tired. And thanks for the help with the
shoes.”

“No problem, bud. So where
did you go that got you so tired so quickly?”

Justin closed his eyes again. “The past,” he
said quietly.

“The past? What do you
mean?”

Before he could answer, Justin heard the
door chime ring. He opened his eyes and sat up carefully. Aaron had
been watching him and nodded when he saw Justin sitting up.

“Come in,” Aaron
called.

The door opened and Mrs. Mallon was standing
there holding a tray. She walked in and smiled widely at
Justin.

“You're back!” she said
and set the tray down on the table. Mr. Bellisle followed her in
and put down a pitcher and two glasses. “Hey Justin, how ya doing?”
he asked cheerfully.

Justin smiled at the two adults. “I'm good,
thanks. A bit tired but otherwise I'm fine.”

Mrs. Mallon sat down abruptly beside Justin
and he suddenly found himself in the middle of an enormous hug.
After a second he gently hugged her back. He was surprised to feel
tears stinging his eyes and as she released him, he turned away for
a moment and cleared his throat. When she stood up, Justin
swallowed the lump in his throat and turned to look at her with a
grin. She dabbed her eyes and then shook her finger at him.

“I want to see that tray
completely emptied when I get back. You're too skinny. I don't
think they even fed you in medical.” Then she walked out, muttering
to herself.

Mr. Bellisle chuckled. “She was worried
about you, Justin. We all were, come to think of it. Glad to see
you feeling better.” As he reached the door, he turned back and
looked at them both. “Make sure you do finish everything on that
tray, or she'll have a fit.” He grinned and left the room.

“Wow, that was
unexpected,” Justin said as he watched the door close behind Mr.
Bellisle.

Aaron reached out and took the cover off the
tray. “Hey, burgers! And fries with gravy! Yeah, like we'd leave
anything on this tray.” He passed a plate to Justin and set his own
in front of him. As he ate, Aaron looked over at Justin. “So, what
was that about visiting the past?”

Justin told him about his morning and the
things he had seen. Aaron's eyes got bigger as the story unfolded.
When Justin was finished, they had cleaned off the tray and both
sat back contentedly.

“The whole thing sounds
amazing, Just. Especially the part about your friend. So, you think
they'll try a rescue or what?”

“Well sure. They'll have
to, won't they?” But as he said it, Justin felt some doubts flit
into his mind. Would they try to rescue Wilson? And even if they
would, could they? The forces they were up against were powerful,
both the government and the rebels. Aaron broke into his
thoughts.

“Maybe you should ask Mr.
Fitzgerald? He'd tell you.”

“Would he, Aaron? Why? I'm
just one kid out of how many? Thirty-five or so? Even if he planned
a rescue, I don't think he'd mention it, if only for security's
sake.”

“I think you might be
wrong, Justin,” Aaron said thoughtfully.

Justin looked at Aaron in surprise. “What?”
he asked.

“Well, think about it.
You're the one he took with him this morning. No one else. And
you're the only one who was marked by Cronus. I think that's
important.”

Justin snorted. “Well, if it is, no one's
told me about it.”

Aaron just rolled his eyes. “Just, you're my
best friend here. But sometimes you're a bit thick. No, hear me
out. If it wasn't for you, we might have lost that battle eight
days ago. It was you who somehow got through to the Sentinels. No
one else. Not even Mr. Fitzgerald could get them to move and he's
the leader here. I think that means something. Something
important.” Then Aaron smirked a bit. “And Benson has started
bad-mouthing you at every opportunity.”

Justin sat up so quickly that he almost
toppled over again. “He's what?”

Aaron laughed. “You heard me. That's almost
proof that you're important. That pompous ass wouldn't waste his
time putting down somebody that he didn't see as a threat to his
popularity.”

“Aaron, what the hell are
you talking about? How am I a threat to that idiot's
popularity?”

“Well, you've become a bit
of a hero to the others. Even some of the girls can't seem to stop
talking about you.” Aaron looked slyly at Justin who felt his face
getting red.

“I'm no hero! I was just
desperate and angry. All I did was slap the minotaur. I had no idea
that it would actually wake him up or whatever it did.”

Aaron shrugged. “Doesn't matter,” he said.
“It's the results that count, and we're alive and they're not. So,
tada, instant hero.”

Justin sat back. “What a load of crap,” he
muttered. Aaron just laughed.

Later that day, Aaron came into the room
with an armful of scrolls. Justin had asked him to go to the
library to find anything he could on the last days of Atlantis. He
didn't really feel up to walking any more and he wanted to know
more about what had really happened at the end. Aaron said he was
happy to do it.

“Well, here you go, bud,”
Aaron said as he dumped the dozen or so scrolls on to the sofa
beside Justin.

“Any trouble finding
them?” Justin asked as he started to make a neat pile of the
scrolls.

“Nope. There was a
Guardian in there. I think she must be acting as the librarian.
Anyway, I asked her and she showed me exactly which ones to choose.
It was easy.” He dropped some papers that had been tucked under his
arm. “Oh and guess what? They have copies of some of the major
newspapers in there now. The Guardian said we'll be getting new
ones in once a week.” He held up a newspaper to show Justin. “New
York Times! And the major papers from Britain, Canada and some
others. Finally, we can find out what's going on in the
world.”

He sat down happily and started reading.
Justin chuckled and went back to the scrolls. Each one had a label
on the outside, written in Titanian. He could almost read them but
his brain felt too tired to decipher the runes at the moment, so he
pulled out his knowledge rune and held it as he read the
labels.

Ominously, they were listed in a sort of
countdown. The oldest one was labeled: Thirty-six months until the
Fall. The next one said: thirty-three months until the Fall. They
all seemed to count backward at three month intervals until the
last one. It was labeled simply: The Fall.

Justin was tempted to begin with the Fall,
but he wanted to do this properly and so he began reading the
oldest scroll first.

The writing on the scroll was miniscule and
a lot of information was crammed on to it. It told a deceptively
peaceful story. It spoke of the day to day lives of the citizens of
Atlantis. There were records of elections of local officials, trade
lists of supplies bought and sold, even descriptions of high
holidays. It was all quite serene and rather dull. But occasionally
a detail would be mentioned that caught Justin's attention.
Something that didn't fit in with the bland and tedious records in
the rest of the scroll.

The first small hint of trouble that Justin
read was just a couple of lines mentioning an assault on a human
trader by several Titans. The offenders had been arrested and
detained. And that was all there was about it. But it was the first
time that any violence had been reported on in the scroll. The next
scroll mentioned the mysterious death of a city guard. No cause of
death was listed. Further on in the scroll came the tale of a brawl
that had broken out in a tavern. The city patrol had to be sent in
to break up the violence. The story said that the fight had been
started by members of the house of Hyperion. There had been no
deaths and no arrests.

On and on it went. Each scroll contained
more reports of violence, more assaults, more unrest. By the time
Justin had reached the second last scroll, there were more tales of
violence than there were lists of events, prices of trade goods or
other more mundane items.

As Justin was reading through the scrolls,
Aaron had been scanning through the newspapers. Justin glanced at
him occasionally and began to notice Aaron's expression becoming
more somber and grim. It almost seemed to reflect what Justin had
been reading in the scrolls.

As he was opening the final scroll, Justin
was interrupted by a loud exclamation from his friend.

“I don't believe it!”
Aaron said.

“Don't believe what,
Aaron?” Justin asked, a bit surprised by the tone of his friend's
voice.

Aaron stared at him then back at the
newspaper he was reading. “I think, well I don't know for sure, but
I think the rebel Titans have begun attacking regular humans.”

Justin sat up with a jerk. “What?”

Aaron nodded. “Yeah, I think they are
attacking. And I think they are using those creatures that we were
told about. You know, the ones that were, I dunno, stored somewhere
since Atlantis fell?”

“What makes you think so?
What's the paper say?”

“There are several
articles of events around the world.” He pointed to a spot in the
middle of the newspaper. “For instance, a bus in southern India was
destroyed, the people killed and the bus ripped apart. According to
witnesses, a flock of giant birds attacked them.”

“Giant birds? You're
kidding.”

“Nope. The police are more
than skeptical but the people who saw it swear it a bunch of giant
birds. The kicker is that the birds had the heads of
women.”

Justin felt his mouth drop open and Aaron
nodded. “My reaction exactly, Just. And doesn't that remind you of
something?”

Justin thought about It sure seemed
familiar. Wait a second. He looked at Aaron. “Harpies!” he
said.

“Exactly. And there's
another one. This time in Newfoundland. A fisherman was snatched
off of his boat and disappeared. His ship-mates swear that he
didn't fall overboard. They say he was pulled in by a man, with a
fish's tail.”