Dome of Atlantis

Chapter 8

     "What happened Felix?" I asked in a whisper and motioned him to come in the room.

     Felix walked into the room and shut the door behind him. "I saw a merman by the ship. He motioned for me to come close and I cautiously did so and ran into Ben."

     "Ben was near the ship?" I asked.

     "Ben told me to not let anyone know he was there and that he needed to talk to me and you. I asked him if it really was the other way around and he said yes. He said he'd explain later when you were present, but that I should keep up the search so they wouldn't suspect me of finding him. I told him we'd go back to the broken ship to talk to him when the sun goes down again."

     "Ok, yes we need to go back later then," I said.

     "I heard Edric is going to talk to you soon after this search and to check on you. I just wanted to relay the message to you cause the sun might go down all the way soon. That's why we stopped the search," Felix said and headed for the door.

     I watched Felix leave and shut the door quietly behind him. I felt drawn back to the bookcase and ran my fingers over the books again. I pulled one out that my fingers kept running over.

     It was a tall, thin, pink notebook. I opened the notebook and an old photo slipped out and landed on the floor. I crouched down and picked up the little photo.

     A little elf boy sat against a palm tree with a big smile holding a coconut. On the other side stood a tall handsome elf with long black hair down to his ankles.

I flipped the picture over and read: Rainier and Edric.

I put the photo back in the notebook and looked at the writing where the picture had left an indented wedge.

Today Edric had a fantastic time at the beach. He tried coconut water straight from the coconut this time and Rainier was able to take the day off.

I heard a gentle knock at my new door. I instinctively walked over and opened the door to see Edric.

Edric looked down to see the notebook and picture in my hands. He tensed up and grabbed the book from me. "Where did you find this?"

I felt like a little kid that just got in trouble. "I'm sorry, I saw it in the bookshelf and when I pulled it off that picture came out."

"You shouldn't be reading since you're sick anyways. You need to take care of yourself. Are you feeling better?"

I paused for a moment and looked at his shaky hands holding the book. His hands stopped shaking once he noticed I saw them.

He sighed and moved one hand away from the journal to lift my head up to meet his silver eyes. He then moved his hand to my shoulder and gently squeezed. "I'm sorry Vivian, it's just I haven't been in this room in a long time. It brings back hard memories."

"I'm sorry," I said quietly.

He stood there for a bit in silence before speaking again. "There's a ship wreck not far from here. I would like to show you something there soon."

My heart jumped. I can't let him take me there tonight. He'll see Ben, I thought. "How about when the sun comes up? You're right, I still do feel a little fatigued." I tried my best to sound weak.

He pursed his lips. "Tomorrow then. I'll let you get your rest," he said and left me alone in the room.

Now I just needed to wait a bit until Felix was ready to leave. I walked over to the beautiful pond in my room and leaned down to wash my face to wake me up. I would be exhausted tomorrow. I hadn't gotten much sleep, but I needed to find a way off of this island.

I heard a light scratch on the door and pushed it open to see Felix. He motioned me to follow him and we silently left the palace.

It took a little bit, but we finally made it back to the broken ship.

Ben was waiting for us.

I smiled in relief and walked over to him. "Ben we've been worried sick about your safety," I said and relaxed in my stance.

"Vivian, I'm glad you're safe. Listen, you can't listen to the elves. The elves want your heart to kill all the mer-folk and pull up rare resources from the bottom of the ocean to make their palace even fancier."

"Kill the mer-folk?" I asked

"The elves want to eat your heart to lift the land up out of the water and dome to be connected to four islands on each corner of this island. Doing this will make a ginormous island the size of 5 states and trap mer-folk in little bodies of water to be slaughtered by the elves. Mer-folk can only survive 30 minutes to an hour on land without any special equipment."

"How do you know all this?" Felix asked Ben.

I was sent some emailed pictures of the archaeology site your father was working on Vivian. It showed people spearing other people that had fish tails in small bodies of water. A mermaid spoke to me about the matter and confirmed everything I wondered without me asking for specifics."

"I've heard that I have to fall in love with them first right?" I asked.

"I believe that is the case," Ben said.

"Honestly I'm not worried about falling in love, I'm worried about getting off of the island," I spoke.

Ben cleared his throat. "You see, that's the thing. You have to fall in love to open a portal and return home."

"What?" Felix and I both said in unison.

"I know, it sounds weird, but the portal supposedly opens to a beach somewhere in the US. Once you get there, you can call for help."

     A merman figure swam up in the dome next to the wrecked ship. He floated down and looked at us from the water. He had shoulder length blonde hair and a cream colored skin tone. His yellow looked at all of us and he relaxed. He lifted his hand up for a small and gentle wave.

     Ben turned and waved gently back at him. "This is Maxwell. He's the one who helped me with all of the questions I had."

     "Maxwell?" I asked and closed my eyes for a split second. Maxwell was the name of the merman that Mia was going to leave with. Is this the same Maxwell? I thought and looked at him.

     I have to fall in love to make it back home, but if I choose the wrong one to fall for, innocent lives will be lost, I thought and sat on the sandy beach.