The Return of the Titans (9 page)

“Definitely. Different
generation, I guess. Like Jonathon last night.”

They walked for several minutes, glancing
around them. The corridor had no doors or turns of any kind but the
carvings remained, intricate and interesting, at least to Justin.
He noticed that Aaron seem to have no interest in them at all,
except to point out the round carvings that they could use if they
got lost.

Finally, they saw an end to the hallway
ahead of them and moved faster. Justin was intensely curious about
what this place was really like. What would they find, he thought,
in a place that was five thousand years old?

As they left the corridor, both boys stopped
and stared around them, stunned by the sight.

The corridor had opened into some sort of
courtyard. It was massive, larger than the Court had been by far,
several hundred feet across. The ceiling was hidden in shadows, but
they could see huge supports leading up from the edges of the
walls. The floor was not plain stone any longer, but something like
cobblestones, made of different colors and laid out in bright
patterns. And all along the walls were irons doors, dozens of
them.

But what caught their immediate attention
was the sight of figures moving around the area, some hurrying as
if on important errands, others ambling along more slowly. Some
were walking by themselves, others were in pairs or small groups.
And none of them were human.

“Wow, Justin!” Aaron
whispered. “Look at all the Servitors.”

Justin nodded silently and stared. The
metallic people looked and acted just like any group of humans.
They were chatting, laughing or talking seriously together. There
were obvious differences between those meant to look male and those
that were female. It was amazing.

Finally, Justin looked away from the
Servitors. He could see a distant something in the middle of the
courtyard. He walked toward it and Aaron followed. As they got
closer, they noticed several of the teens from the night before,
boys and girls, standing or sitting on the edge of the object.

“Hey, it's a fountain!”
Aaron exclaimed.

Justin could see that his friend was right,
but it was like no fountain he had ever seen before.

Instead of plain stone, the fountain was
made of marble, inlaid with brass. Rising tier upon tier, it was
many times Justin's height, so tall that it looked like a waterfall
when he stood below it. In the base was a deep clear pool, with
scenes of sea battles and sea monsters laid out on the bottom in
intricate tile work.

The two boys just stood there for several
moments and stared at the fantastic sight. Aaron was the first one
to tear his eyes away from the fountain and then he jabbed Justin
with an elbow.

“Justin, look there!
Across the courtyard.”

Justin looked to see what Aaron was pointing
at. And for the second time in a few minutes, he was stunned.

It was a Sentinel. It had to be, he thought.
It was made of bronze, like the minotaur he had seen when he
arrived but this was no man-bull statue. He gaped as he tried to
remember the different mythical beasts he had seen online recently.
Yes, it was, it had to be a...

“It's a gryphon!” Aaron
exclaimed.

“Yeah,” Justin agreed
faintly. “That's a gryphon all right. A walking, feathered, bronze
statue of a gryphon.” He looked at Aaron. “I think I'm losing my
mind.”

Aaron shook his head so hard that his long
hair whipped over his face. “Join the club,” he said in
amazement.

As they watched, they heard the sound of
metal scraping on stone. They turned around to see another Sentinel
sliding slowly by the fountain. This one looked like a huge snake,
but with several sets of wings, each pair evenly spaced down the
length of its body. Justin felt like he was still asleep. He was
gratified to see Aaron actually pinching his own arm, as if feeling
the same way.

“Ouch! Yep, I'm definitely
awake.”

Justin had to laugh. “I know exactly how you
feel, Aaron.” He looked at the other teens scattered around the
fountain. Two boys, who Justin thought looked a bit younger than
himself and Aaron, saw him looking around and walked over.

“Hey guys,” one of the
boys, whose black hair was cut so short it was just a shadow on his
head, grinned as he greeted them. His friend, a skinny black teen
with long braids hanging down his back, also smiled and nodded at
them.

“Hey,” Justin replied.
“How you guys doing?”

The first boy shook his head. “We're kind
of...numb, I guess is the word. Don't you think so, Gerald?”

“Yeah, that's the word for
it. And it's Gerry, Normand, thank you very much.”

Normand giggled. “Just teasing, Gerry. But
if you call me Normand again, it'll stay Gerald!”

“Fine, Norm it
is.”

Justin saw that Aaron was amused by the
exchange. “Nice meeting you, Norm and Gerry. I'm Justin, this is
Aaron. So how long have you been here?” Justin asked, indicating
the fountain.

“About an hour, maybe
more,” Gerry answered. “We had a chance to check out some of the
doors.” He pointed at the far wall. “Some of them are sealed, most
open on to other hallways. That one over there is the entrance to a
very cool looking library.”

“Library?” Justin was
intrigued. “Nice. But what makes it so cool?”

Norm grinned and answered. “There aren't any
books. Just shelves and shelves of scrolls; you know, rolled up
papers? I wanted to check it out, but Gerry here said we could look
at old documents any time, and there was a lot more to see.” He
smiled at his friend. “I suppose he's right, but I definitely want
to get back in there some time soon.”

Aaron looked over at the gryphon Sentinel
walking along the edge of the courtyard. “So what do you guys know
about those things?” he asked, nodding toward it.

“Well, Mr. Fitzgerald told
us that they have always been in Sanctuary, since the time it was
built,” Norm answered.

“What, you mean like five
thousand years ago? You're kidding.”

“Nope, we asked and that's
what he said. He didn't tell us how they worked or anything but I'm
not sure if that's for security or he doesn't know
himself.”

“Have you seen any
others?” Justin asked.

Both boys nodded. “Come around to the other
side of the fountain and see for yourself,” Norm said as he started
walking .

All four of them walked around the fountain.
Across the courtyard, Justin saw a large arch in the wall, exactly
opposite to the entrance that had brought him and Aaron into the
area. There was no door covering the archway that led into
darkness, but a Sentinel stood there, plainly blocking anyone who
might try to go through. This time, the Sentinel was shaped like a
humanoid. Justin squinted. Did it only have a single eye, right
above the bridge of its nose?

“Yeah, it's a cyclops all
right,” Gerry said very quietly. The statue had a huge club resting
on its shoulder. “I wouldn't want to try and get past
it.”

“How many are there?”
Aaron wondered aloud.

“Good question. But what
I'd rather know is what would they actually do if someone tried to
get by them?” Norm said, staring at the Sentinel
apprehensively.

“Thinking of sneaking by
for a peak, Norm?” Gerry asked with a grin.

Norm turned and punched him lightly on the
arm. “Nope, I was actually going to get close enough to push you by
it and see what happens.”

The others all laughed. “Well, I really want
to explore,” Justin said. “Aaron?'

“Absolutely. I'm nosy by
nature and I want to see all that I can see.”

Gerry gave Norm a poke and the other boy
spoke up. “Mind if we come along? You know, safety in numbers and
all that?”

Justin looked at Aaron who nodded. “For
sure, guys. It'll be fun.”

“Great!” Norm exclaimed.
“And if we should happen to run into a Sentinel that's in a bad
mood, I'll have all of you to distract it for me, so I can get a
good head start.”

They all laughed again and looked around for
a likely door. They chose one at random and headed off. As they
approached the door, Justin looked back at the fountain and noticed
Benson sitting with his friends, watching them intently. He saw
Justin looking at him and hurriedly turned his head. Justin assumed
he was curious and promptly forgot about it.

The door they had chosen wasn't locked and
opened when Gerry touched the button beside it. As the door slid to
the left, the four young men entered a short corridor that ended at
the bottom of a spiral staircase, carved as usual out of solid
rock.

“Wow,” Aaron said. “It's
the first stairs I've seen here.”

“Same with us, Aaron,”
Gerry agreed. “So, who wants to go first?”

They glanced at each other, then Norm
shrugged and started up the stairs. Gerry followed quickly after,
then Justin with Aaron bringing up the rear.

The stairs went up and up with no end in
sight.

“Wonder where this leads?
Outside?” Aaron asked breathlessly.

No one answered as they saved their breath
for the climb. Suddenly Norm, who had pulled a bit ahead of the
others, stopped abruptly. The other three piled into him before
they could stop themselves.

“Gee Norm, a little
warning!” Gerry exclaimed. Then he gasped and fell silent. Justin
and Aaron glanced at each other, then pushed up past Gerry to see
why they had all stopped.

Like Gerry, Justin and Aaron gasped out loud
and just stared. They were standing at the top of the stairs, which
had emerged from the floor of a gigantic circular room.

The room wasn't formed of the same stone
that the rest of Sanctuary seemed to be. The walls and floor were
made of black marble, shot through with veins of gold and silver.
The domed ceiling appeared to be covered in bronze. At least,
Justin thought, it gleamed with the same metallic shine that the
Sentries did . There were no glowing stones in baskets here.
Instead, torches sat in brackets spaced around the wall, making the
gold and silver in the marble flicker and glint with every movement
of the flames.

The circular wall was broken into sections,
separated by the torches. Justin counted them. There were twelve.
And each section held a huge portrait, not made of bronze or carved
like the walls of the Sanctuary hallways, but seemingly painted
directly on the marble. Above each portrait was a symbol, each one
different from the others.

The four teens emerged from the staircase
and spread out, examining each portrait in turn. Justin noticed
that there were six men and six woman. Some were wearing robes, but
most were clad in elaborate armor. All held a weapon of some sort.
Their hair was long, the men as well as the women. Some were
blonde, one was a red-head, one was gray and the rest had black
hair.

“Wow, Justin, look at this
guy!” Aaron exclaimed, pointing at the portrait of the red-headed
man.

Justin walked over and stared. The man was
wearing armor so black that it looked dark blue. He was armed with
a spear, held as if he was about to attack. But it was the
expression on his face that seemed to have caught Aaron's
attention. It was animal-like, filled with hatred and brutality. He
almost seemed to be trying to leap from the wall.

Both the boys took an involuntary step back.
“Wouldn't like to meet him in a dark alley!” Justin said.

“Yeah, no kidding,” Aaron
agreed. “I wonder if that's his wife? She looks as mean as he
does.”

The next portrait to the right was of a
woman. Aside from being blonde instead of a red-head, she was
dressing in armor similar to the man. But she was armed with a bow,
an arrow already notched and ready to shoot. Her expression
mirrored that of the spear wielder's.

“Lovely couple,” Norm said
from behind them. Justin and Aaron both jumped and Norm chuckled.
“Sorry,” he said. “So what do you suppose this room is for
anyway?”

Gerry walked over. “Beats me. Maybe it's a
temple or something. You know, like these are the Titan's gods or
whatever?”

“Ancestors,” Justin said
quietly. The others looked at him.

“Ancestors? What do you
mean, Justin?” Norm asked.

“I think,” Justin spoke
hesitantly. “I think these are the ancestors of the Titans.” He
looked at the others who looked back at him with puzzled
expressions. He shrugged. “I don't know why, it just seems to fit
somehow.”

“You are quite right, Mr.
McLeod.”

The boys all jumped this time and turned to
look at the staircase. Mr. Fitzgerald was standing there, smiling
slightly. He walked over and joined the group.

“These are the original
Titans, their first ancestors, if you will. From them sprung the
entire race. Or so legend says.”

“Hi, Mr. Fitzgerald,”
Justin said, getting over his shock. “Um, I'm sorry. Are we not
supposed to be here? The door below wasn't locked.”

“Of course you are allowed
here.” The man looked surprised at the question. “In fact, all of
you young people will be visiting this room in the next day or two.
You just happened to be the first ones to find it.”

He stepped back and pointed to the
portraits. “Allow me to introduce you.” The first portrait he
indicated was of a huge man, with a long black beard. He wore armor
and held a sickle in both hands. “That is Cronus, the lord of the
Titans. Beside him to the right is Rhea, his wife.” The woman wore
luminous robes and a crescent moon hung in the sky over her
shoulder. She was armed with a scepter.