CHAPTER SIXTEEN

THE FIRST TREATMENT

IT IS THE largest of them all. It bounds over the ridge, slashing trees in its path. The red raptors—griffins—surround it like hornets, dive-bombing, screeching. But it springs from its haunches, grabbing one of the taunting raptors out of the air and crushing its neck. I turn away as it holds the bird-lion under its claw, waiting for its twitching to stop.

I do not want it to see me. So I continue to run. Until I hear a voice.

I know the voice. It is my brother’s.

He is my age, but we look nothing alike. I am angry with him, but I don’t know why. He is telling me to come, to escape with him.

A fireball plunges from the sky, nearly taking my head off. I believe my brother’s plan is doomed. But I see an escape: a scorched pathway through the woods, leading over the ridge. I point that way and call to him. His name comes off my tongue, but I can’t hear it.

And now I can no longer see him. Where is he? I hear his voice behind me. Then to my left. My right. Above me. I turn and turn, helpless, confused.

And I see the great creature looming above, the head of the lion-bird gripped between its teeth.

It is coming for me.

“No!” It is the first word I hear out of my own mouth.

The beast laughs, dripping blood from its jaws. “Ja-a-a-ck…” it says.

“No-o-o-o-o!”

“Jack!” a voice called out of the darkness. “You’re awake, Jack. You’re healthy and alive and in the real world! Welcome back.”

My eyes blinked open. I saw charts and beeping LCD monitors and IV tubes. For a moment I thought I was in Belleville again, and this whole adventure had been a horrible dream.

But the voice was Professor Bhegad’s, and he was dressed in a white lab coat. The silver-haired doctor from the submarine—Dr. Bradley—was adjusting my IV tube.

“What happened?” I asked.

“Your first treatment happened,” Dr. Bradley replied. “It wasn’t scheduled yet, but you collapsed in the House of Wenders.”

“You were having visions,” Bhegad said. “The timing of the first symptoms is unpredictable, which is why we’ve been monitoring you so closely since you arrived.”

“Now you tell me!” I said.

Professor Bhegad smiled. “The hump is over, Jack. After this one we can time the other treatments nearly to the minute. From here on in, they will be given to you before anything bad happens. You will receive a schedule.”

“Lucky me.” I sat up, feeling weak. I thought of the museum. “I…felt something in there. That building…”

“Yes,” Bhegad said. “The others did, too. To a lesser extent, but that may be because they’ve been here longer. For the Select, physical relics of the ancient world seem to act as conduits to the past. It as if the past and present are together.”

“I saw the creature move,” I said.

Bhegad cocked his head. “The others did not see that. To them, you screamed and fell to the floor. They are concerned about you.”

“Why didn’t they see it?” I demanded.

“I—I don’t know,” Bhegad replied.

“There was a song, too,” I said. “Not really music, but more like…a call. From one of the rooms.”

“The Wenders Collection?” Bhegad said. “Just above where I was standing…one of the rooms leading into the balcony?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Fascinating…” Bhegad murmured. “That is where we keep the most unusual relics from Dr. Wenders’s archaeological digs. We believe he alone possessed knowledge of where the heart of Atlantis lies. The place where the seven Loculi must be gathered to regain the power of the lost continent. But his studies were never completed. After his young son died, at age fourteen, he fell into grief and began trying to destroy all he had discovered. He died a broken and confused man.”

“Age fourteen?” I said. “Was he…?”

“Yes, young Burt Wenders was most likely a Select,” Bhegad said.

I lay back in my bed and closed my eyes. I could still hear—feel—what was coming from that room. “So…that’s one of our tasks, isn’t it? To find that place where the Loculi were gathered. Which no one has done in thousands of years.”

“Give yourself a night’s sleep and a good shower,” the professor said softly. “It’s been a long day.”

I spent the rest of the night in the hospital.

Wide awake.