As Skylar studied the fountain, snippets of memory entered her mind. This land of Magus’s was a mirror to the Underworld, fabricated from technology but missing what was hidden, the heart. The city outside this window was shiny and bright and crystalline, yet it lacked the grit of truth, of soul. Just beyond the fountain sat a mammoth yellow crystal, a replica of the citrine wall, but Skylar could feel that the frequency of the rock was much lower than that of the true version in the Underworld.
“This is Atlantis,” Skylar remembered. “Magus lied. And I’m not a prisoner here.”
“No, you are not,” Magda said.
“Why would he bring me here?” Skylar asked. “It’s as if he unknowingly did me a favor, bringing me back to correct something that should have never happened.”
“Oh, he knows. His arrogance runs deep,” Magda said. “He will gladly take on the challenge you pose, if he can secure another thirteen thousand years of rule. You were part of this world in the First Age, but this is where you will fix the wrongs of history.”
“I already did that in the Underworld,” Skylar said.
“Yes, that was grand—but it was only one part. The Underworld needed its memory. Atlantis needs its heart.”
Skylar looked down at her chest. She couldn’t see the heart light, but she knew it glowed beneath her skin. She’d never really entertained the idea that it would one day leave her. She looked up at Magda with an unspoken knowing. Her heart light wouldn’t be returning with her when she left. Skylar saw a gaping hole in her chest, her heart light gone.
“Your wound is where the light enters,” Magda said. “Rumi is my boyfriend.”
“A joke?” Skylar asked in desperation. “Now?”
Magda’s face was serious. “What joke?”
Skylar looked around this room. It held peace she hadn’t seen outside its door. “This room has such magic in it. There was heart here once, to create such beauty.”
“Use this room as your sanctuary,” Magda said. “You, and all you bring here, will be safe.”
Skylar took a deep breath and stepped out into the hall. No crashing voices yet. She returned to the lab and looked around at the technicians. They were all men. Heather stood reading from a holographic pad of scrolling information. Skylar approached her.
“You are the only woman here.”
“I am,” Heather said proudly.
“Why didn’t you get thrown into those tanks? Why were you spared?”
Guilt replaced the pride on Heather’s face. “Because I’m his daughter.”
“Of course you are,” Skylar said. She walked in a circle, trying to put the pieces together. Heather was the baby; she was Magus’s daughter. With which Mother? The scene she’d seen in the library—Vivienne was so angry, she turned the sea salty.
“You’re Ocean’s daughter,” she said.
Heather stared at her blankly.
“These Great Mothers are a pain in my ass!” Skylar blurted. “With their secrets and lies … I am so over it! Here’s a piece of advice: Live your life. Stop being a prisoner of someone else’s game and go be free. It’s as easy as making a decision.”
She ran out of the building and out into a courtyard. The air felt electrified, like it had extra oxygen, energetic and clean, much different than the air of earth. She knew it was simply pure air, free of pollutants. She breathed deeply, nourished by its potency. She slowed to a hurried walk and kept her head down, but it was no use: everyone noticed her. Heather wasn’t far behind her, and Skylar saw her motioning for all the men to keep their distance. They all obliged.
Skylar passed the great crystal fountain, no water flowing from it. She passed the wide, silver river Lethe and diminished gold Mnemosyne. She followed them with her eyes. They snaked, side by side, and flowed down the hill toward a distant shore. She looked out to the edge of the sea, knowing that was where she was supposed to go. The rivers hugged the shore of the sea, but never reached it. She followed them with her eyes until she couldn’t see them anymore. She stopped and turned to Heather.
“Where do these rivers lead?”
“To hell,” Heather said.
“Is that so.” Skylar was piecing the puzzle together quickly. She sprinted along the edge of the Lethe, gaining on the horizon.
Heather ran behind her. “I’m not kidding!” she yelled, fear in her voice. “The Archer forbids it. You will be incinerated by the heat. It’s the one place we are never to go!”
“Then that’s where I’m headed!” Skylar yelled over her shoulder. She hurried down to the edge of the shore and searched for a boat or whatever the equivalent would be there. In all the foreign lands she’d visited in the past two years, this was by far the creepiest. Everyone had a deadness to them. Even the people of the Underworld had souls. These men were soulless, like shells of humanity.
“Shells!” she exclaimed. She remembered that shells held directional information. She dove into the water but Heather didn’t follow. Fear of the forbidden unknown seemed to stop her.
Skylar dove deep to the seabed to find a shell. The ocean floor was abundant with them. She had never seen such large conch shells. They were vibrantly colored—pink, lilac, periwinkle.
Skylar had always admired the beauty of sea life, sensing a connection she could never explain. For a moment, she let herself enjoy the water. It reminded her of being in Vivienne’s lake, yet a thousand times more intense. She looked along the ocean floor, searching for the shell she knew would give her the answer she sought. But before she found it, she came eye to eye with an unfamiliar creature. It resembled a horse, but instead of having a coat of fur, it had a coat of flowing sea leaves. Its gigantic head nudged her own.
She drew back, then laughed, sending bubbles into the water from her mouth. He wasn’t dangerous. She touched him gingerly. His leafy coat felt like the wet strips of newspaper she’d used for papier-mâché as a child—not overly welcoming—but he was so happy to see her, his enthusiasm made up for the unpleasant feel of his coat. He nudged her again with his nose, swooped underneath her, and, in one flick, tossed her up out of the water, ten feet in the air.
She crashed back down, her heart pounding. She knew he meant no harm, but his size made him formidable. He was like a giant horse-shaped dog, and she had just become his play toy. She grabbed on to his coat on his next attempt to toss her and hung on. He spun in a circle, then leapt out above the water like a dolphin.
“Woohoo!” she yelled, enjoying the moment. She grabbed two leaves of kelp as if they were horse reins and tried to steer the creature—and it worked. The next moment she was riding him as fast as she could go, away from Atlantis.
From shore, Heather watched Skylar ride away on the back of a kelpie. She sighed, full of conflicted feelings. The Archer would be angry, but he was too blind to see that Skylar’s presence was dangerous, rock or no rock.
With Milicent and Noah gone, Vivienne began smudging the apartment with cedar. “Sage has become endangered so I don’t use it anymore,” she said. “And you have a lot of wood energy. Cedar can only help us.”
“Great,” Argan said.