Dome of Atlantis

Chapter 14

After swimming through a couple of fluorescent caverns an underwater palace greeted us.

"Wow," I said more to myself than to Proteus.

The palace looked like glass with algae coverings everywhere along with colorful plants and fish roaming on and around the palace. The top corners of the palace looked like a jester's shoe turned upside down. Beautiful corals and clams lined the way to the palace.

"It is a sight to behold," Proteus said.

Once we entered, many mermaids bowed in respect to Proteus. Many of them stopped to gawk at me once they realized I didn't have any fins.

He waved them off and kept hold of my hand with his free one. "Don't mind them, they don't see humans much, let alone female ones."

A loud and boisterous voice echoed through the palace until we made it to the center of all the commotion.

I looked up to see Maxwell. He was speaking to the crowd as a whole.

Maxwell looked down at us and smiled, "Everyone, we have a very important guest here with us if you have not yet noticed. Welcome Vivian," Maxwell said and motioned over to me.

I leaned closer to Proteus. Maxwell frightened me a little. I was still worried that he might have eaten Edric's mother's heart.

Maxwell turned his head from me and continued to speak to the crowd: "She is our guest here and I want everyone to treat her with the respect she deserves. She will be under the care of Proteus."

Proteus looked over at me. "I'll show you all the cool things to do around here," Proteus whispered in my ear.

There were many words about dangers around the palace spoken and warnings about the merfolk going too close to the elvish kingdom.

Maxwell stepped down and started walking towards me and Proteus after he finished speaking to the crowd.

I leaned closer to Proteus. Since that crown belonged to his mother, he should be a prince or something right? Then he should be able to protect me from Maxwell if he tries to kidnap me, I thought.

Proteus turned around to face me. "Meet my brother Maxwell," he said and lifted his arm up to motion to the approaching Maxwell.

If water wasn't being filtered in my neck, I would have choked on my own spit. I blinked the shock out of my eyes and refocused on Proteus. "Maxwell is your brother?" I asked Proteus.

"The one and only," Maxwell said interrupting us.

"I'm the favorite though," Proteus said with a chuckle and playfully punched Maxwell's arm.

"You wish," Maxwell said and looked back over to me. "Look, I know the elves probably told you all kinds of rumors about me or my folk, but I want you to know that you have nothing to worry about. You're safe here." Maxwell looked over at me.

I relaxed a little before he swam a little closer. "Seriously, I hope you can relax around here. We're not going to keep you stuck in a room like they kept my brother. There's a lot to explore here in and out of the palace. I only assigned Proteus to watch over you because sharks have been spotted nearby since brother's been missing. We need everyone to stay safe."

Proteus put his arm around my shoulder. "I'll protect you Vivian," he said. "First I'm going to show her the Emerald room and then I thought about maybe showing her the secret depths."

"Just be safe, there were a couple of shark sightings around there," Maxwell said.

"Maxwell, you know I'm the best shark hunter in the palace. Vivian has nothing to worry about."

"Alright, just be safe," Maxwell said before slapping his hand on his brother's shoulder. "Take this at least in case you two need help." Maxwell gave Proteus the horn he used to call for the meeting earlier. He nodded his head at us and then took his leave.

Proteus put his arm out for me to take it and he pulled me through beautiful gold seaweed hallways all the way to a doorway covered in a curtain of strobing purple seaweed. "The seaweed around these parts are not common where I'm from. At least I've never seen seaweed like this in my life."

"This place is pretty magical," Proteus said and pulled the strobing seaweed to the side to show me the emerald room.

"This will be where your room during your stay here," Proteus said and motioned to the room behind the curtain of seaweed.

The room was very mystical with pearls aligning the room and giant purple clams on each corner. The walls were a shiny green and the bed looked covered in soft anemone-looking bedding. Beautiful, glowing algae lined the wall above my bedroom giving it a soft blue glow that reflected off the emerald walls.

"Thank you," I told him.

"I hope you like it. I'll let you get used to your room and then I'd like to show you the depths. It is a sight to see," he said excitedly.

"We can go now if you want," I said.

He raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Are you sure?" he asked me.

"Yeah, I don't have plans to sleep just yet."

"Follow me then," he told me and put his hand out for me to take.

I took his hand and he brought me out of the mermaid palace. We passed more merfolk who stared at my legs and then smiled when they saw that I noticed them. I laughed on the inside. That must be how I look at their fins and the ears on elves.

"What is it?" Proteus asked me after he saw my smile.

"I just see how people stare at me for my legs and I just realized that I've probably been staring at your guys' fins and the ears on elves. I'm just not used to it yet. Everything's kind of magical to me."

"Magical?"

"Sorry, that's the word that comes to mind."

"I like that word. You're pretty magical to us to. We rarely see humans. especially human girls."

"Didn't your brother know a human girl?"

Proteus stopped and turned to me. "Did the elves tell you anything bad about my brother? They've been trying to say he was the cause of her death, but it was the Elven king I believe. I haven't heard too much about that story. Brother doesn't like when I bring it up. I think he began to care for the girl."

I stopped to think. Maxwell did know the girl. Well at least Proteus isn't lying to me, I thought.

A cliff came before us. It was pitch black and Glowing seaweed led down to the blackness below us.

I looked down worriedly.

As if Proteus sensed my nervousness he squeezed my hand. "Don't worry. I have an ability to see in the dark that most mermaids don't have. I'll find you in the dark if you lose grip of the vines. I want to show you something amazing. We'll crawl down with the glowing vines into a cave and follow the anglerfish to the other side of the cave. That's where you'll see magic happen and then we can head back," he told me.

I took a deep breath. "You promise you'll come get me if I get lost in the dark?"

He smiled. "Promise."