The Return of the Titans (4 page)

Chapter 2

He was surrounded by water. Justin felt as
though he had fallen into a deep well. Where was the bottom of the
tub? He tried to hold his breath as he sank deeper. All he could
see was darkness and the water became bitterly cold. His lungs were
burning but he held his breath until he began to see flashes of
light before his eyes.

Finally, as he was about to pass out, Justin
gasped and drew in a great breath, expecting to suck in water. He
knew he was going to drown. Instead, he began to cough and breathed
in great gulps of cold air.

He was lying on his back in a dark and musty
room. After laying there for a minute, breathing in great gulps, he
sat up quickly. His heart was pounding with shock and his mother's
scream still rang in his ears. He looked to the left and right
wildly.

He was sitting on a rough stone floor in a
small circular room. Several torches were hanging on brackets
around the room, flickering from the walls which were also carved
out of stone. Justin couldn't see any doors or windows.

He just sat and breathed until he felt a bit
calmer. He realized that his clothing was dry, as if he had never
fallen into the tub, but the ground was wet all around him. I
wonder if I passed out? he thought. Then he stood up and turned
around.

Standing before him was a massive statue. He
jumped back, his heart in his mouth and then realized that the
large form was not moving. The flickering light gleamed off of
metal and he realized that the statue was made of bronze. It was a
minotaur. He recognized the half-man half-bull figure from some of
the old pictures that he'd seen recently. He narrowed his eyes and
tried to make out the details in the moving torchlight.

It had to be ten feet tall at least. The
arms and legs were bare and hugely muscled. The figure wore armor,
intricately carved and over its shoulder it carried a large axe.
But it was the face that caught Justin's full attention.

The bullish head was so minutely detailed
that he could almost count every hair on the mane that flowed down
from top of the head to the back of the figure. A ring that shone
against the bronze like silver hung from the bovine nose and the
eyes seemed to convey an almost human expression. Justin caught his
breath. It was an expression of profound sorrow and grief. He felt
his own eyes filling with tears as he looked at that face and
turned away for a moment. He shook his head. I'm seeing my feelings
in its eyes, he thought.

He looked back at the statue. The face now
was just a face, blank like most statues he had seen. Yeah, I was
right. Then he noticed a small archway behind the minotaur. The
great figure was standing right against the exit and try as he
might, Justin couldn't get around the statue to reach the
doorway.

He sighed loudly. Great, he thought. How am
I supposed to get out of here? He stepped back and stared up at
that heavy face again. “I wish you would move, buddy,” he said
aloud. His voice echoed around the small stone room followed again
by silence.

Justin walked around the edge of the room,
tapping the walls, looking for any cracks or seams that might
indicate a hidden door or something. But the walls were solid and
the only exit had to be the one behind the minotaur. Finally he sat
down again in the middle of the room. He was tired and still shaken
by his last memories of what had happened at home.

Was his Mom all right? What about Wilson?
And what exactly had happened at the end? How had he gotten here,
wherever here was. He had already noticed that the stone that
Wilson had given to him was gone. And what was he going to do now?
If he couldn't get around that statue, he would be trapped in this
little room until he died.

He knew he should be more afraid than he
was, but he just felt numb. It was all too much to process. He
rested his forehead against his knees and just let his mind go
blank.

A sound brought him back to reality. It was
the sound of metal grating on stone. He looked around but the room
hadn't changed. Or had it? He looked up at the statue and just
stared. The two large eyes were no longer blank and unseeing. They
were now two holes filled with red flame. He stood quickly and
backed up until he hit the wall.

The massive head tilted down and stared at
him. The fiery eyes narrowed and the minotaur brought its axe down
off of its shoulder and held it in both hands across it's body.

Justin looked around but there was no
retreat. He had nowhere to run. The statue lifted a foot and took a
step forward. The archway was now clear but Justin knew that he
couldn't slip by the monster without it grabbing him or smashing
him with its weapon. He felt a sort of calm descend upon him as he
faced his death. He swallowed and stepped away from the wall toward
the minotaur. Then he just stood there awaiting his fate.

The statue stopped. It continued to stare
but now Justin thought that he saw a look of puzzlement on that
bronze face. It rested the axe on its shoulder again and reached
out with its empty hand. Justin didn't move. The metal hand touched
the top of his head.

He had expected it to feel cold and hard but
was surprised to find that the hand was hot, almost burning as it
touched him. He wondered for a second if it would have burnt him if
he felt pain the way most people did.

The hand just rested on his head for a long
moment. The minotaur didn't press down on him. In fact, the hand
was strangely gentle, almost tentative. Then it was gone. The
monster turned and stepped to one side of the archway. It turned
again to face Justin and snorted. Twin jets of flame shot from its
nostrils. And then it was just a statue again. The eyes were blank,
the body was still. And Justin stood in the center of the room,
shaking with relief.

He waited a moment but the statue remained
still. So, with a last glance at the minotaur, Justin walked though
the archway.

He was standing in a narrow, unlit hallway.
A dozen feet ahead, the hall seemed to connect with another room,
The light from that room was much brighter and steadier than the
torchlight behind him. He walked forward and as he was about to
enter the next room, he heard the sound of metal on rock again.

Justin turned around in time to see the back
of the statue again blocking the exit to the stone room. He shook
his head and turned back toward the brightly lit room.

As he entered the new area, he realized that
it was actually another corridor. But it was much larger than the
narrow hallway he had just exited. The ceiling had to be at least
twenty feet high and the walls were a dozen feet apart. It was also
carved out of stone but the rock was smooth and almost polished.
And the walls were decorated. Pictures had been carved into the
rock. Pictures of people and animals and creatures from legend,
like the minotaur.

Justin got closer to one wall and gazed at
the carvings. They covered the entire surface. He looked down the
corridor and saw that the pictures went on as far down the hallway
as he could see. He looked at the intricate detail. Here were men
fighting some sort of three-headed lizard. And over there was a
scene of minotaurs in battle against giants.

The scenes flowed smoothly into one another
and went on and on. He shook his head. How old was this place, he
wondered. These carvings must have taken years to create, decades
or longer. And the opposite wall was equally rich with pictures and
carvings. It was overwhelming.

He noticed that instead of torches, there
were iron baskets hanging from the ceiling every ten feet or so.
Inside the baskets were some sort of glowing rocks. Justin couldn't
see what kind of rocks they were or why they glowed, but they lit
the corridor quite brightly.

He slowly made his way down the hall,
stopping every few feet to examine another detail. He could have
spent hours just exploring this one hallway. There were several
doors made of iron along the corridor, reaching to the ceiling,
Each one had a large symbol engraved on it and all were closed
tight. Justin couldn't move any of them.

Suddenly he heard the tapping of footsteps
in the distance. The hallway turned to the left up ahead of him and
that's where the sound was coming from. He forgot the carvings and
just stood there, waiting. His heart began to pound faster. Now
what, he wondered.

The footsteps increased in speed, Someone is
in a hurry, he thought. Or some thing. He remembered the minotaur
and clenched his fists at his side, preparing for the worst.

From around the corner, a figure came into
view. Justin stared. It was a woman. She was wearing a long, dark
blue gown belted tightly at the waist and her gray hair was pulled
back from her face.

As she saw him, her eyes lit up and she
smiled. She reminded Justin a bit of his mother's great aunt
Violet, who had died when he was very young. She had always been
kind to him and he relaxed a bit as the woman strode up to him.

“I am so sorry, Mr.
McLeod,” she said as she approached and stopped in front of him.
They were almost the same height. “We didn't realize that you were
coming today.” She shook her head and, taking Justin's arm, drew
him with her back the way she had come. Justin just let himself be
led, too confused for the moment to say anything. “It's been that
sort of day, I'm afraid. Unexpected arrivals, attacks all over the
world, and here we are, trying to keep up. It's enough to drive a
body to distraction. Well, no need to think about that now.” She
patted his arm as they turned the corner and walked down another
hallway.

As far as Justin could tell, the walls here
were just as intricately carved as the others. His guess at the age
of this place increased. The woman chatted away as she guided him
along. He was so relieved at meeting someone who seemed friendly
and comforting that he wasn't really paying as much attention to
her words as he was to the lady herself.

She was older, that much he could tell. Her
kind face was lined with wrinkles but she moved with the vigor of
youth. He tried to focus on what she was saying as he realized that
he was staring at her. If she noticed his staring, she simply
ignored it.

“Now, there's no need to
worry, young man. We are here to watch over you and the others. And
everything will be explained soon.” She patted his arm again and
then motioned ahead of them.

Justin saw that they were approaching an
intersection of sorts. To the left and right, large iron doors were
set in the walls, while the corridor continued on into the
distance.

“The others are in the
Court, to the left. Come along now.” The lady continued to pull him
along. Justin finally spoke up.

“I'm sorry, ma'am,” he
said tentatively. “You know my name but I didn't get
yours.”

The woman stopped abruptly, several feet
from the doors. “Oh my goodness!” she said. “I'm so befuddled
today. Honestly, if my head wasn't tied on, I'd lose it I'm
sure.”

Justin grinned and felt himself calming down
even more. “I'm Mrs. Mallon.” She held out her hand. “And I am very
pleased to meet you, Mr. McLeod.”

Justin shook her hand. She had a very firm
grip. “Please, Mrs. Mallon, call me Justin. I'm not old enough to
be mister to anyone.”

She shook her finger at him but smiled at
the same time. “Respect knows no age, Mr. McLeod.” He just looked
at her and raised an eyebrow slightly. She chuckled. “Justin,” she
said. He nodded. “But we must be formal in front of the others, so
it's Mr. McLeod for the moment.”

Mrs. Mallon took his arm again. “Now, we
have to get on. You are the last arrival today. At least, I hope
so. And like you, everyone is anxious to know what's going on.”

They reached the large iron doors and turned
to face the one on the left. Beside the door, a small round stone
was inset into the wall. Justin was reminded of the rock that
Wilson had given to him. Like that one, this stone had a symbol
carved into it's surface. This one was a simple picture of a square
with a cross in the center. Mrs. Mallon reached over and tapped the
stone lightly.

The iron door swung inward quietly. Justin
looked but no one had opened the door and he could see no mechanism
that could make it move. It was simply a heavy iron door. He
shrugged slightly. Another mystery to add to the rest.

They walked through the doorway and entered
an enormous space. Justin stopped and stared. It was the size of a
cathedral. The vaulted ceiling was so high that it was partly
hidden in shadows. The walls were again covered with carvings but
the first ten feet or so were masked by hanging cloths that were
stitched into murals of amazing colors and designs. Heavy wooden
tables and chairs were scattered around the area in groups of three
or four.

Justin looked toward the front of the room
and saw a gathering of people. Mrs. Mallon led him forward and, as
they approached, Justin could see that there were a bunch of young
people, most of whom seemed to be around his own age.

They were sitting or standing alone or in
small groups. There were about thirty teens and perhaps a dozen
adults. The adults were either talking to various teenagers or just
making their way slowly through the crowd, patting this one or that
one on the shoulder or offering a whispered comment as they moved.
Justin noticed that most of the adults were older, like Mrs. Mallon
and wore simple yet elegant clothing.

Near the far wall there was a low dais that
extended halfway across the width of the room. A long desk and
chair stood upon the platform and seated in the chair, glancing
through piles of notes, was a man. Justin looked at him and became
fascinated by what he saw.