The Return of the Titans (11 page)

Then he turned, still in an almost
dream-like state, and placed his palm on the black plate.

There was a deep rumble of sound, as though
a huge bell had tolled somewhere under ground. The plate under
Justin's hand glowed brightly and an intense pain shot through his
palm. It felt like he'd been burned with a white-hot poker. He
pulled his hand back with a yelp and clenched his fist over the
burning agony. A streak of light traveled up the sides of the
figure and, like the three others before him, ignited the symbol
over the portrait. But instead of a silvery light, a flash of pure
gold lit the room.

Justin fell to his knees. The pain in his
hand wouldn't stop. In fact, it seemed to be getting worse. He
looked down, almost positive that he would see a hole burned right
through the back of his hand. But it looked normal, there was no
smell of burning flesh, which almost surprised him. Then he felt
hands gripping his shoulders hard.

“Justin, are you all
right?” It was Mr. Fitzgerald. And he had called Justin by his
first name! He almost forgot the pain for a moment in his surprise.
The hands on his shoulders were suddenly wrenched away and he heard
Mr. Fitzgerald say “What the...?”

The pain in his palm was either easing or he
was getting used to it, because Justin was able to stand slowly and
look around. He gaped in surprise.

Mr. Fitzgerald was lying on his back several
yards away, with the other boys around him trying to help him up.
Justin's view was blocked then by two enormous bronze legs. The
minotaur had come to life and was standing over him, looking down.
Justin swallowed and backed up so quickly he hit the wall behind
him. The pain was forgotten in his shock at seeing the massive
Sentinel looming over him. He stared up into those blazing red
eyes. And then felt his jaw drop as the huge statue slowly dropped
to one knee and inclined its head.

“Holy crap,” he heard
Aaron exclaim. Then he said hesitantly “Hey Justin, you
okay?”

“Um, yeah. I think so. The
pain is fading finally.” He slowly unclenched his fist and looked
down at his palm. Like the others, he had a miniature copy of the
symbol from the wall. But his wasn't dark like theirs had been,
more of a silvery color. And it seemed to glow slightly. He looked
at the Sentinel again. It continued to kneel and stare at him.
Justin felt his shock replaced by an awkward feeling of
embarrassment. “Could...could you please get up?” he muttered to
the Sentinel. At once, with a snort that sent two small jets of
fire from its nostrils, the minotaur stood. It watched him a moment
longer, then turned heavily, walked to the stairs and
left.

“Wow,” Justin
said.

Chapter 7

Justin hurried over to Mr. Fitzgerald, who
was getting up slowly. “Are you okay, sir?” he asked.

Surprisingly, the man chuckled. “I'm fine,
Mr. McLeod.”

Oh, so I'm Mister again, Justin thought.

“I've never been pushed
aside by a ton of metal before.” Mr. Fitzgerald continued. “All in
all, I could have lived without the experience.” He grimaced
slightly as he rubbed his left shoulder. “But no matter. How are
you doing?”

Justin shrugged. “I'm okay. I didn't know
that they,” he pointed at the portraits, “could do that. You know,
burn like that.”

“Did it really hurt,
Justin?” Aaron asked with concern. “Mine just sort of tingled for a
moment. Kind of like a hard pinch.”

“Oh it hurt, all right,”
Justin answered. “But it's okay now.” He looked down at his palm at
the symbol. He hadn't really noticed before, but it was shaped like
a circle, with three half-circles intersecting it, like horns
sticking out around the edges. “So when does it start to
fade?”

“Start to fade?” Gerry
looked down at Justin's hand. “Mine faded almost right away. Hey,
how come it's shiny?”

“That is pretty cool,
Justin,” Norm said, staring at the mark. He looked at his own palm
but there was nothing there any more. “Oh well,” he said with a
sigh, “guess I'm back to regular old me.” The boys all
laughed.

Justin caught Mr. Fitzgerald staring at him.
“Something wrong, sir?”

“Wrong? I don't think so,
Mr. McLeod. But my research did not mention anything about a silver
mark on the palm, or the intense pain for that matter. I'm going to
have to check into this more thoroughly. But in the meantime, thank
you all for participating in this. The rest of the young people
will be brought in later, in small groups. So,” he indicated the
stairs, “off you go. I would think that it's nearly lunch time. It
will be served in your rooms again, until we can organize a proper
dining hall.”

Everyone started down the stairs, discussing
what had happened. Mr. Fitzgerald stayed in the room above. Justin
realized that he was starving and was eager to get back to his
room. Aaron said the same, as did the other two, so they all
hurried down the corridor, into the courtyard and toward the hall
that led to the boys quarters.

Back in their room, Justin and Aaron barely
had time to sit down when the door chimed. “Come in,” they both
said and Mrs. Mallon and the same older man they had seen earlier
entered the room.

“Well, how was your
morning stroll, gentlemen?” the lady asked with a smile.

“It was...interesting,
Mrs. Mallon,” Aaron answered. Justin was watching both of the
adults lay large trays in front of Aaron and himself and didn't
answer.

“And you, Justin? How as
your morning?”

“Um, fine ma'am,” he said.
Then he looked sharply at Mrs. Mallon. “Hey, you called me
Justin!”

She chuckled. “I think we can forgo the
formalities when it's just us, don't you?”

He nodded vigorously. “Absolutely. And
thanks, Mrs. Mallon.”

She just smiled then turned and looked at
Aaron. He grinned.

“Please, please, pretty
please call me Aaron, Mrs. Mallon?” he asked, dramatically clasping
his hands together as if begging.

The lady rolled her eyes. “All right, Aaron.
No need to be a smarty pants!”

He chuckled, then gave her a puzzled look.
“What's a smarty pants?”

Mrs. Mallon burst out laughing and the man
with her grinned widely. “Thanks Aaron, now I really feel old.”

Still laughing, they both left the room.

Aaron looked at Justin who was also
grinning. “Well, what is it anyway?”

“It's a wise guy, Aaron,”
Justin said.

“Oh, right. Yeah that's
me, for sure.” Aaron sighed. “At least that's what my teachers all
think. So,” he grabbed the cover of the tray in front of him,
“what's for lunch?”

They both lifted the covers off at the same
time. 'Whoa!” Justin exclaimed.

“Woo hoo! Pizza!” Aaron
practically shouted. “Man, I could get to like it here.”

“Yeah, me too,” Justin
said. “Once I figure out what the heck is going on. Oh well, time
for that later.” And they both attacked their meal.

After lunch, Mrs. Mallon and her helper,
whom she finally introduced as Mr. Bellisle, came back to Justin
and Aaron's room to get the trays.

“So, I'm told that you two
can continue your exploration of Sanctuary today, at least until
dinner time.” She looked up at the clock. “Which means you have
five hours or so. We serve dinner at six.”

Justin sat back heavily. “Maybe later, Mrs.
Mallon. I have some stuff to think about.” He looked across at
Aaron. “Go ahead if you want to, Aaron.”

“Naw, I'll wait for you,”
Aaron said. He glanced around the room. “Sure wish we had a TV or
the Net or something though.”

“Well, you can always play
Arena,” Mr. Bellisle said.

Mrs. Mallon rolled her eyes. “Al, you are
hooked on that blasted game, do you know that?”

The man chuckled. “It's good clean fun,
Janet. What's the harm?”

She just shrugged and picked up a tray. Mr.
Bellisle took the other one.

“Hey, wait a minute,
please,” Aaron spoke up. “What's, um, Arena?”

The man put down the tray at the end of the
long table. “That's Arena,” he said and pointed at the square of
metal embedded into the table.

“'Scuse me?” Justin and
Aaron looked at each other in puzzlement then back at Mr. Bellisle.
The man chuckled.

“Here, watch,” he said. He
moved to sit beside Aaron. “Scooch over a bit, would
you?”

Aaron slid over on the couch and Mr.
Bellisle moved until he directly faced the flat metal surface.

“Now, to start the game,
just run your finger over the runes on your side of the square.” He
rested his index finger on the bottom right corner of the square
and then pulled it along the symbols over to the left corner. The
texture of the metal changed. It became smoother and shinier, and
then an oblong circle formed just inside the edge of the metal. It
rose several inches above the surface, forming a wall.

Justin and Aaron watched with fascination.
“Lean forward and look inside the Arena,” Mr. Bellisle told
them.

Both boys looked inside. The walls of the
arena sloped down to the flat surface, which inside had become
rough and pebbly. The floor of the arena was about a foot and a
half wide and a foot long. It almost looks like a miniature
football stadium, Justin thought. But there was nothing inside on
the floor of the arena.

“That's cool, Mr.
Bellisle, but now what? It's just a small empty arena,” Aaron said,
sounding disappointed.

“Ah, the impatience of
youth,” the man said smiling. “Now you choose your
avatar.”

“My what?” Aaron looked
confused.

“The figure that you will
control when you play the game. Look at the runes again.” Mr.
Bellisle looked up at Justin. “You too, Justin. They are the same
on both sides.”

“Each rune will summon a
different avatar. You can also touch two or more runes for even
more avatars. There are a lot of combinations. I don't think I've
even seen them all yet.” Mr. Bellisle was talking rapidly. He
seemed to be very enthusiastic about the game. Mrs. Mallon stood by
the door, holding her tray. She snorted slightly with
annoyance.

“Al, we have to get these
trays back to the kitchen sometime today, you know,” she said
sarcastically.

“Patience, Janet. It
doesn't take long to explain. Go on ahead. I'll be along in a few
minutes.”

“Yes, well, don't lose
track of the time. We have a lot to do today.” And with that, Mrs.
Mallon swept from the room.

Mr. Bellisle ignored her departure. “Now,
guys, once you have chosen an avatar, you need to control it. Here,
let me pick one just to show you how it's done. Justin, come around
and watch. It'll save time.”

Justin got up, walked around the table and
sat down on Mr. Bellisle's right. Aaron was sitting on his
left.

The man touched the first symbol on the
right and they watched amazed as a small figure, maybe an inch
tall, rose from the surface.

“Hey cool!” Aaron said.
“It's a gryphon!”

“Yep, a gryphon,” Mr.
Bellisle agreed. “Now, once you have your avatar, rest the four
fingers of each hand on the four outer-most runes on either side.
Like this. Got it?” He looked first at Aaron then at Justin. Both
nodded. “Good. It will take you a while to get used to the
controls. Do either of you play piano?”

Both boys said no. “Pity,” Mr. Bellisle
said. “Controlling your avatar is almost like playing a keyboard on
a piano. Oh well, no matter. So, watch what happens as I use the
runes.”

Both teens watched, mesmerized as Mr.
Bellisle touched the runes with his fingertips. It does look like
he's playing music, Justin thought.

They watched as the tiny gryphon opened its
wings and flapped them once. It reared back and waved its front
talons in the air. At the same time, it flung back its head and let
out a small but audible screech.

“Oh that is so cool!”
Aaron said. Justin agreed and watched as the figure paced around
the arena, moved forward and back, even sat down on its
haunches.

“So how does it actually
battle, sir?” Aaron asked eagerly.

“When the two avatars
touch in the arena, the fight begins automatically,” Mr. Bellisle
answered. “Each avatar has two special attacks, and that's where
your thumbs come in. Now watch the gryphon.” The man tapped his
right thumb on the fifth rune beside his fingers. The gryphon
whirled, its wings slashing the air in front of it. “And the other
attack is this,” Mr. Bellisle said and used his other thumb. This
time, the gryphon leaped into the air and punched downward with its
two forelegs. Justin noticed a tiny, thin strand of metal kept the
figure attached to the metal surface. “You can also combine the two
special attacks into one. And when you are done, or want to change
avatars, just remove all your fingers from the runes.” As he said
this, Mr. Bellisle lifted his hands from the symbols and the
gryphon seemed to melt back into the metallic floor of the
arena.

He sat back and beamed at the two teens. For
a moment, they were too amazed to say anything. Justin finally
spoke up and thanked Mr. Bellisle. “Not at all, not at all,” the
man said as he got up and picked up the tray. “Just don't turn into
an Arena addict like me, or Mrs. Mallon will have my head.” He
smiled at them and headed for the door.

“Um, Mr. Bellisle? How do
we turn it off?” Aaron asked.