Blood for Atlantis Read online

  “Train? Are you a fighter?”

  “It is the one thing that gives me peace. I suspect that is how I was chosen to be a potential. Before my choosing, I landed an apprenticeship under General Calisco. So, this is all I know.” I gesture to the mess hall.

  We step up to get our plates. The cooks behind the counter plop eggs, a hunk of cheese, and a biscuit on our plate moving us along.

  “You can sit with me and Morgan. We are heading to train afterward. Maybe you can join us?” He phrases the last portion in the form of a question. I take in his strong lean form in light blue jeans and a somewhat baggy shirt. He looks strange to me, but I like him.

  “Yes, I’d like that,” I smile, excited to have made friends that I hope I can trust. Ari told me I shouldn’t trust her, and these guys have no direct connection to pures that I am aware of.

  We approach a mostly empty table where a dark-haired, dark-eyed man sits eating his food. He looks up as we near, and my stomach does another flip; similar to what I felt when I ran into Aden yesterday. What is wrong with me? His face is blank when he sees me, appearing disinterested.

  “Morgan, this is Meri. She is one of the potentials that passed all of the tests yesterday. I invited her to train with us after breakfast,” Aden introduces us, his explanation piquing Morgan’s interest as his eyebrows raise in response.

  “Oh, I remember you,” Morgan observes without saying hi.

  “Well, it is nice to meet you, too,” I respond.

  Morgan’s chest rumbles with a light chuckle, “I’m sorry. Just surprised you are eating in the mess hall. Rumor has it that you are a pure.”

  I roll my eyes and take a bite of my food. I’m not in the mood to explain how little I know of who I am again. I just want to train and work my bored muscles.

  “Like I told Aden, I know very little about where I come from. All I know is that I need to have some sort of routine to stay sane through all of this.”

  “I can respect that,” Morgan says simply and turns his attention back to his food.

  I have always been a loner, but my world, until recently, was set in stone. I look at the two men who eat silently next to me, grateful I found some people who may be able to bring a sense of normalcy to this chaotic experience. I don’t need a hidden garden to hide in. I need a pit to train in and people to train with. I need my weapons.

  I absentmindedly finger the necklace my mother placed on me the day before. I tried to remove it this morning while I showered, but it refused to come unlatched. I was in a fit of panic when it wouldn’t come off. Now I have to train with a fancy necklace on. I make sure the pendant portion is still tucked into my crop top just to be sure.

  Morgan observes my actions and states the obvious, “It isn’t safe to train with jewelry on.”

  I roll my eyes, “I tried to take it off, and it won’t come off.”

  “So, you didn’t put it on?” Aden asks with interest.

  “No, do I look like the type of girl who would wear a big pendant necklace advertising my lineage?” I snap.

  “Honestly, I don’t know what type of woman you are. Yesterday, you were wearing a dress, today you are dressed for battle but have no weapons,” Aden replies.

  My eyes cast downward to what remains of my biscuit. I no longer have an appetite. “My mother put it on me before we came to the main island.”

  “Where is your mother now?” Morgan asks in a skeptical tone.

  “I am guessing home on the seventh isle. In my memory, she has never stepped foot on the main island. It is what it is.” I get up to put my plate on the stack of dirty plates.

  Aden and Morgan rush to follow me. Once done, I turn to them, “As you noted, I don’t have my weapons with me. Do you have anything I can practice with?”

  I follow them out of the mess hall and down a hill towards round pens made of tall wooden walls. Each one has two or more men in them sparring.

  Aden turns to talk as we walk, “They will have some wooden staves you can use. If you don’t mind, we don’t like to train in the pens. We found a nice private grassy area along the side of the palace.”

  Aden picks three staves up as we we walk around the front of the pens and head back towards the palace. “Don’t you need to be seen practicing?”

  “Why? Sounds counter productive when we will be going against the other men in the Ring next week,” Morgan responds. He is a leader. It is obvious he thinks things through.

  The private grassy area they found is perfect. One side is the wall of the palace with a window above us. Morgan and Aden both remove their shirts, and my mind goes blank. I can’t pick which one deserves my stares more, but Morgan wins out, this round, with his stocky frame and strong arms.

  Not that Aden isn’t also perfect in his own way. His jeans sit low on his hips, his abs are defined, and although his chest is lean, it is still strong. My eyes keep darting back and forth between the two of them.

  “Are you okay?” Aden asks when he looks up from marking a circle to the ground and catches me staring.

  “I, um, yeah, I’m fine.” The heat of a blush rushes through my face, and I am officially embarrassed.

  I try to shake off the odd nerves. I have trained with both women and men my entire life, and never have I drooled over someone like I am now. What is wrong with me? Am I okay? I never felt the need to be with a man. I fooled around once when I was in school, but I never actually desired a man until now. Now I want Aden and Morgan.

  I turn my back and walk away from the two men to clear my mind and drill alone, while they warm up. I don’t go far before I bring my eyes up to see if they are watching me. When I notice their attention before turning back to warming up, I begin.

  I start by twirling the staff above my head and then bend over, twirling it behind my back. I move through the motions of various hits it could catch. The staff cuts through the air of Atlantis sharply. It whistles with each move and doesn’t take long before I am lost to the drill, and muscle memory takes over.

  All thoughts leave my mind as I go through each of the motions with a natural grace I have always possessed. I may not be the prettiest, the tallest, or even the strongest, but I am the best with weapons. My body naturally responds to battle in a way that is hard to describe and understand.

  When I am drenched in sweat and fully out of breath I bring myself to a stop. My body feels magnificent. Yesterday, it did not get the physical workout it craved.

  “Wow, Meri. I had no idea you were so good with the staff. I would have never guessed,” Morgan says, sounding truly surprised.

  “Why because I’m a girl?” I stretch my arms behind my head.

  “Well, um . . . . No, I didn’t mean it like that. Is the staff your best weapon?”

  “No, I am best with the sword, and throwing knives. I am not bad with the bow, either,” I shrug, “Who wants to spar?”

  “Aden, you go first,” Morgan orders.

  Aden groans as I head toward the circle they drew into the ground. I crouch into my fighting stance as Aden circles me. For some reason, I decide to show off and not even turn to face Aden when he circles behind me. Instead, I stand my ground, listening and aware of every breath he takes. It isn’t long before I sense Aden gearing up to make his move. He comes at me from behind my right shoulder. I wait until his staff almost lands to bring mine up to stop it.

  I twirl around, and he decides to give it his all. I meet every blow he sends, until he finally misses. I take that chance to kick him and send him to the ground. In most cases, that would be the end of a scrimmage, but in this instance, Aden gets up asking for more.

  Morgan steps forward to take his place, but I motion for them both to stay. I feel stronger, now that I have shifted, than I have ever felt before. Both of them advance on me from different points, like wolves circling me and looking for a weak spot. Soon they will learn; when I feel like this, I don’t have one.

  They attack. I find myself swirling through the air using the stave’s p
oint on the ground to land behind Morgan. It brings them both towards me at the same point. I dodge and catch every blow before it hits me. Neither landborn man has even made it within five feet of me.

  When an opening appears, I catch Aden on his shoulder and then his chest just hard enough to knock the wind out of him. He lands on the ground hard. While dodging a blow from Morgan, I kick his staff away from him.

  I square up to attack Morgan and end this scrimmage when a voice cracks through the air.

  “Meri! Stop it now. This is unacceptable!”

  I look up to see a woman in a pale-pink toga dress with a scarf covering her face. She is either a goddess or a pure. Before I step away from Morgan, I land one final blow catching him unawares and stealing his staff.

  “What is unacceptable? I need to train,” I say while giving a slight bow of respect due to the station of whoever I am speaking to.

  I walk towards her slowly and notice her eyes narrow as she looks upon me and then widen as if she realizes something.

  “It’s inappropriate to beat up on your potential gatekeepers,” the woman says as if I should be aware of that.

  “I am only a potential. I am not the Key yet, madame . . .”

  “Amphitrite,” she fills in the last bit for me, and I can feel the blood drain from my face. My stomach drops into my toes, and my eyes forget to blink.

  Morgan, Aden, and I all drop to our knees, “I am sorry for disrespecting you.”

  A sweet laugh erupts from behind the pink scarf, “Child, you had no idea who I am. It’s okay. Follow me, we need to talk.”

  All I can focus on is how she called me ‘child’. I am hardly a child. I could be married and having babies if I wanted to. I am still young in Atlantean years, but I am not a child.

  8

  I follow a step behind Amphitrite, goddess of the Sea, Mother of Mermaids, and Wife to Poseidon. I am like a mouse in comparison to this ancient goddess who chooses to take the form of a tall slender blonde woman with blue eyes, much like my own. Maybe she will be willing to give me some answers.

  We enter a door around the corner from where the guys and I were sparring, going into the base of a tower. The hallway we walk in is very poorly lit. Amphitrite leads me through a narrow hidden door on the wall. We climb stairs between one wall and another. It is uncomfortable, tight, and feels like the climb will go on forever. We finally reached the top where she opens a small hatch door into her personal sitting room.

  It has a glass ceiling, just like my own room, but instead of being curved and domed, this one swirls up in a spiral. My mouth opens in awe. Amphitrite removes her scarf, bringing my attention back to her. The surprise I displayed strengthens. Amphitrite is the woman who handed me the glass of blood in the Ring .

  She sits down in a wingback chair, crosses her legs, and drapes her arms over the side casually. Amphitrite the goddess is relaxing in front of me like I am a relative.

  “Take a seat, Meri,” she casually gestures to an identical chair across from hers.

  I move across the room, feeling out of place in my second-hand training garb Ari left for me in my room. Once I take my seat in the chair, I face an overwhelming sense of being insignificant. There is no reason I should be here. I temper my emotions and keep my face flat. I don’t want to be transparent with my lack of self worth.

  “Why do you think you are here?” Amphitrite asks me point blank.

  “Because I was chosen as a potential Key,” I reply in a flat tone. I don’t know what game she is playing, but I am going to stay as passive as I can through it.

  “Oh stop it, you are not daft. Why do you think you of all the potentials are here in my room, seeing me without my scarf?”

  “I guess it has something to with this,” I pull the pendant free of my top.

  “It does. You see, I gave that pendant to my daughter, and it appears she gave it to you.”

  I shake my head like a petulant child, not wanting to believe the words she told me. I am a warrior, not a pure daughter of Amphitrite.

  “My mother looks nothing like you,” I try to argue sensibly.

  “But you do . . .”

  Everything is starting to make sense. The way I shifted, and how easily my fangs sprouted.

  “Who is my father?”

  “Ares,” Amphitrite sneers as she says his name.

  “Ares? As in the god of war?”

  She doesn’t even need to answer, everything makes sense now. I am built to protect Atlantis. Not only am I a pure, but I am also the daughter of a war god.

  “Why the secrecy?” I ask.

  “Well, Aphrodite, being as selfish as she is obviously didn’t want you to be influenced by Ares.”

  “What? Aphrodite? She isn’t my mother! My mother’s name is Harper! She is a mermaid and works as a guard.”

  Amphitrite breaks out in a manic laugh that turns me red in the face.

  “Your mother is Aphrodite, and I am your grandmother because Aphrodite was born from my sea foam.”

  Another realization hit me, “So, I’m not a daughter of Poseidon?”

  Amphitrite laughs again, “No, you’re a daughter of Ares and Aphrodite. Granddaughter of Amphitrite.”

  “What does all this mean for me?” I ask, not understanding how this overwhelming information will affect me.

  “Nothing. You will still be the Key of Atlantis.”

  “How do you know? I haven’t even passed all of the tests,” I really don’t want to be the key to anything, and I am certain Amphitrite can already read that on me.

  “Because there is no one better suited to protect Atlantis other than a daughter of Aphrodite, who many forget is a sea goddess, and a daughter of Ares. You are built to be the Key to Atlantis,” Pride fills her eyes. “I saw you practicing out there, and you move like him. When I saw your necklace in the Ring, I knew who you were. I’m glad that silly child of mine had the sense to send you and keep you in Atlantis.”

  “She has been a good mother.”

  “To you, not to her other plethora of children. She only stays away because of all the trouble she has caused for Poseidon.”

  I understand now that I don’t know my mother at all. From birth she has raised me to be the Key to Atlantis and only the Key. This was her plan all along. I feel betrayed and manipulated all at once. It is painful.

  “If you don’t mind, I think I will take the rest of the day to lay down.”

  “If you must. Go back the way you came in. I will have more appropriate attire for the daughter of two gods delivered to your room. Weapons, too,” she answers me just as I raise my finger to ask.

  I squeeze through the hatch and go back the way I came. I’m grateful she allowed me to leave without a lengthy talk. When I open the door to go outside, I find Aden and Morgan sitting on the ground waiting for me.

  “What are you doing here?” I ask.

  “We wanted to make sure you came back. We have heard stories. . . .”

  “It wasn’t anything like that,” I look to the dome and can tell by the lack of blue hue that it is midday. “Do you want to go have mid-day meal with me? I think I am done training for today.”

  “What happened?” Morgan asks.

  Aden shoves Morgan in the shoulder, “You don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to. We just wanted to make sure you were okay that is all.”

  Gosh, these guys; never have any of the mermen in Atlantis ever given me attention, but then again, I never gave them a chance. I would beat them all in training, and that would be the end of it. I also never once wanted any of them the way I want Aden and Morgan.

  “I’m fine, I have a lot on my mind now. Nothing I can’t work out through training tomorrow. Let’s go.” I gesture towards the training pens and the mess hall.

  “Do you think you will be the Key?” Morgan asks, trying to gage my confidence.

  “I wish I could honestly say no,” I reply with a hint of sadness. My entire life has been a lie. Even my mother is not who I
thought she was, and my father . . . I don’t even know him.

  “It is an honor,” Morgan says in a bad attempt to make me feel better.

  “It isn’t anything I ever planned for. It seems who I am and who I should become were determined long before today. I have no control in any of it. Yesterday was my first day shifting, and since then, I have partaken blood twice. Blood!”

  I have no clue as to why I feel comfortable opening up to the two men. Ari told me to trust no one, but something deep in me is pushing me to trust Morgan and Aden.

  “Do you think you two will be chosen as gatekeepers?” I ask as we are nearing the mess hall. The path we are walking is well worn into the earth, and the grass is browning in areas and bare from the hundreds of feet passing over it.

  “I know I am in the top tier talent-wise, but we all know it is the Key who chooses,” Aden leans in and says over my shoulder from behind me.

  Goosebumps run down my arm. Oh, Aden. if I am ever forced to choose, I am picking him first.

  “Is that why you two are hanging out with me? Convinced I am the potential who is going to make it?”

  “I wasn’t convinced until I saw you work the staff. Now that I know you are drinking blood, and have some pure connections . . .,” Morgan teases.

  “Shh! Everywhere here has ears,” I warn.

  “Maybe you should remove the necklace then. It is kind of a giveaway that you are more than you appear,” Aden suggests.

  “Don’t you think I would have I tried that?” I snap. They forgot I told them I have already tried this morning.

  “I don’t really know you well enough to know what you would or wouldn’t have done,” Morgan quips.

  True; once again I feel like I have known these two forever, when it has actually been less than a day. We enter the mess hall to see it full of sweaty male bodies. I am the only female here, and people are starting to take notice. It makes sense that I am the only female because I am a potential Key, and they are potential gatekeepers.