The Battle for Sanctuary: The Titan's Legacy: Vol: 2 (Volume 2) (3 page)

Wow, this thing hasn't
moved in forever, he thought.

Then with a loud thump,
the stone plug dropped straight down and swung to the side. Justin
was fortunate that he had been standing on the opposite side of the
swinging plug. He still stumbled back and fell into a sitting
position on the edge of the basin though. Which saved him again, this
time from being swept off of the basin by the torrent of water which
suddenly poured straight down into the bowl.

He had a second or two to
gape at the water cascading out of the ceiling before the bowl filled
up and he was pushed out and over the rim.

A desperate grab saved
him for a moment and he swung from the edge of the basin. Justin knew
that the lower level was just inches below his feet, but the water
was splashing and flowing so heavily over him now that he was having
trouble breathing and was afraid to even try to drop down to the next
tier. It was like clinging to a rock in the middle of a river.

He felt his fingers start
to slip and he was trying to catch his breath through the splashing
water. But he was becoming dizzy and he felt his grip beginning to
weaken.

With a last gasp, he let
go of the basin and was carried into the bowl below. A hard smash on
the stone basin was followed by the force of the water immediately
lifting him up and over the edge before he even had a chance to try
to grab hold of anything. And then he was in mid-air, thrown upwards
by the strength of the cold water.

Justin could breathe now,
but he didn't care, because he knew he was falling. The only thing in
his mind was Aaron telling him that if he landed on the titanium on
the lowest basin, it would probably kill him.

The fall seemed to take
forever. All Justin could see was a blur through the water that had
drenched him. He was too breathless to even scream and so, in that
tiny moment before he hit the ground, he found a calm place inside
himself and simply waited for the inevitable crash.

When he hit the ground,
Justin felt a momentary flash of pain. And then it was gone. But the
force of his impact drove what little breath he had left out of his
body and he bounced and rolled and finally came to a stop. Then he
just lay there on his side, gasping and grunting in a frantic effort
to breathe.

He was aware of the
others gathered around him, Aaron frantically talking, but he was
concentrating on breathing and couldn't reply. When Justin finally
began to catch his breath, his first thought was one of relief. Thank
God I didn't hit the titanium, he thought. Then he realized that he
was lying in a puddle of water that seemed to be growing.

Justin started to sit up
and Aaron quickly put his arm around his shoulders and helped to
steady him. He glanced around and noticed that his less than perfect
landing had thrown him some thirty feet away from the fountain. He
looked at the structure, and his jaw dropped in shock.

Water was still pouring
out of the hole in the ceiling, cascading down the fountain and
flowing outward across the room. He wasn't lying in a puddle. He was
sitting in what would soon be a pool.

“
Hey
Just, you okay?” Aaron asked anxiously.

Justin shook his head and
water flew everywhere. Several of the others stepped back; Dominic
cursed under his breath.

“
Yeah,
I think so. Um, I think we might have a problem here.”

“
Oh
great. He thinks we
might
have a problem.” Dominic shook his head in disgust. “What
the hell were you thinking, man? Look at that thing! We're all going
to drown down here thanks to you. You probably opened a hatch into
the frigging ocean. You guys told us that Sanctuary was under the
ocean, right? We're going to drown in sea water. Geez, where was your
brain?”

“
Stop
it, Dom,” Maria said forcefully. “Justin was trying to
get us out. We all agreed that he should open that hatch, including
you! So knock it off.” She looked at Justin. “There's no
way you could have known about the water, Justin. I certainly don't
blame you for this. But we have to think fast. Dominic's right about
one thing; if there are no drains on this level, and there may not
be, we are going to drown.”

Justin smiled weakly and
nodded his thanks. But with a stab of guilt, he remembered the
discolored fungus, and the feeling of dampness around the rune. He
should have known there was something wrong. He should have! And now
here they were, facing a slow death by drowning. He stared at all of
them, struggling for something to say, trying to think of something
to do. Then he suddenly turned and looked at Dominic.

“
What
did you just say?” he asked. He hadn't really been listening to
Dominic's rant. “About being under water?”

“
What?”
Dominic looked confused, then he scowled again. “I said we're
going to drown!”

Justin shook his head.
“No, no. I think you said 'we're going to drown in sea water'.”

“
Yeah,
exactly. We're going to...”

Justin jumped to his feet
and then touched his lips, wiping the water away. “But that's
just it. This isn't salt water. It's fresh.” He looked at the
blank expressions around him. “Don't you see? It's not the
ocean at all.” He glanced at Aaron and watched his friend's
expression change.

“
Awesome,
Just!” He turned to the others, talking excitedly. “Justin
and I saw a bunch of artificial lakes and ponds when we were in
Sanctuary; I mean the populated part of Sanctuary. The escape hatch
he opened must be under something like that. So once it drains,”
he looked up at the torrent still rushing down the levels of the
fountain and shrugged, “whenever that is, we'll be able to
climb up and get out of here!”

Dominic stopped talking.
He still looked skeptical but turned and stared up at the ceiling.

Maria smiled and took a
deep breath. “That's a relief, guys. I wonder how long it will
take to drain?”

Justin looked down at his
feet. The water was sloshing around the bottom of his sneakers, but
it wasn't too deep yet. “I don't know, Maria. One of the lakes
we saw, in the Arboretum, was pretty big.” There were some
piles of stone and debris scattered around the room. “Maybe we
should move to one of those piles of rocks, try to stay dry for now?”

The others agreed and
they found places for themselves above the flow of water and got as
comfortable as they could.

Aaron spent a few minutes
describing Justin's acrobatic fall from the top of the fountain to
him. Since Justin wasn't hurt, Aaron laughed as he told him that he
did about three somersets and maybe a cartwheel or two before he
finally hit the ground. Then Aaron's expression changed and he said
soberly, “When I first saw you fall, I was sure that you were
going to hit that titanium on the edge, Just. But a surge of water
hit you and threw you clear. I don't think I've ever been so scared.”

Justin grinned and
punched Aaron lightly on the shoulder. “You? Imagine how I
felt, bud.”

Aaron laughed and nodded,
not answering. He looked over at the continuing stream of water
gushing out of the ceiling and frowned. “Must be a big pool,
Just. It doesn't seem to be in any hurry to stop, does it?”

“
Well,
if it's anywhere near as big as the lake in the Arboretum, it could
take an hour or more to drain out. Luckily this level is as big as
the others we've seen. I doubt the water will get much higher than
the tops of our shoes.”

Maria moved over the top
of the pile of rubble they were sitting on and sat near the two
friends. She had tied back her hair into a ponytail and it swung
around her face as she looked at Aaron and then Justin.

“
I
wanted to thank you again for what you did, Justin.” She
glanced at the other teens huddled together several yards away. “I
know the others don't say much, and Dominic says too much, but I know
they all appreciate how much you're trying to help us, and how much
you've done already.”

Justin felt his face get
warm and he ignored Aaron's grin. “I haven't really done
anything, Maria. Back in the library, I was saving my own life. I'm
glad that it helped you guys too, but honestly it's not like I had a
choice.”

With a shrug, Maria said
“If you say so.” She smiled. “But I think you're
being too modest. However,” she looked around the room, “once
the water stops draining out, how do you think we should proceed?”

“
Proceed?”
Justin was confused for a moment, “Oh, right. Well, if it's
okay with everyone, I'd like to climb back up and go through first;
you know, look around, make sure it's safe. And then I think you
should choose the order of who climbs up after me, Maria.” His
tone became quite serious and he lowered his voice. “The
fountain is obviously pretty stable, to hold up after being hit by
all that water; but we should still be careful, in case it's been
weakened. I don't want to think of someone being caught up there if
it topples over. We may be Titans, but that much stone on top of us
would prove fatal, I'd guess.”

She nodded. “Okay,
sounds good. But that brings up a question that I've been meaning to
ask you guys. And some of the others have been wondering as well.”
She paused and seemed to be collecting her thoughts. Justin and Aaron
exchanged a curious glance but didn't say anything.

“
What
I think we'd all like to know is, what exactly is a Titan? I mean,
what are we? What can we do? We didn't get any answers from those
government guys who were holding us, and in the last couple of days
we've been a bit distracted just trying to get out of here to really
think about it. But now,” Maria looked at the fountain, then
back at Justin, “we've got some time to kill and I think that
we should know as much as we can before facing whatever's to come.”

Justin nodded. “Good
point, Maria. Well, we can tell you what we were told by the
Guardians. Whether it's the whole story or not, I don't really know.
But this is what we learned.”

Justin began to explain
to Maria what had been taught to him about Titans. Aaron jumped in
occasionally when Justin missed a point or was having trouble with
the explanations. The other teens moved over and began to listen as
well. Occasionally one of them would ask a question and Justin or
Aaron would answer as well as they were able.

In the end, Justin was
sure they forgot several things but he hoped they had covered the
most important details. Finally he wrapped it up.

“
So
that's it, really. All of us are more durable than regular people and
we'll become even tougher as we get older. Our main weaknesses are to
titanium,” he held up his arm to show them the bracelet again,
“and to drowning. And yes, I know we don't look it, but we will
become heavier as we age, even if none of us grow any larger. That's
just the Titan structure becoming denser over time.” He looked
at each of the teens. “Any more questions?”

No one spoke up for a
minute and Justin was about to stand up and stretch when Dominic said
harshly “Yeah, I have one.”

Here we go, Justin
thought with a mental sigh. “Go ahead, Dominic.”

“
Okay.”
His expression was defiant. “How do we know any of this crap is
true? I mean, where's the proof?”

Before Justin could
answer, Aaron stood up abruptly and glared at Dominic. “Proof?”
he said loudly. “Look around you. Where exactly do you think
you are? How do you think you got here? And you think those guys back
in the library snatched you up because of your stunning good looks?”

Dominic flushed but
didn't back down. “Yeah, fine. But that doesn't prove you're
right, even if you think you're telling the truth. I mean
really...Titans? Us? Maria's the tallest of all of us and she's what?
Five-seven?” He looked to the others for support but the group
looked back at him with less than helpful expressions. Finally,
Dominic threw his hands into the air. “Fine. Whatever. I think
you're either confused or lying to us. I'll go along for now, if only
because the others are, but when the real explanation comes out, I'll
be there to say I told you so.” And he sat back and folded his
arms defiantly.