A Small Spark

Amaris

John slept the entire day, and the following day as well. His color was slowly returning to his face, but Amaris could see there was going to a long road to recovery for him. Audrey, the ex-servant girl from the castle who was now working for the Rising, was called to examine Lyla and John.

Before she could see them, however, there was something Amaris needed to do first.

When they left Kirio, she asked them about the tracking devices. Everyone in Atlantis went through the same process. When a child was born, the parents were required by law to have them injected with the tracker and register them. Failure to do so would result in immediate death. The trackers were what connected the people to the cameras in the fake sun and moon. This was a very serious matter in Atlantis, anyone who did not comply with the law would be labeled as a traitor. At any rate, John and Lyla had mentioned that their trackers had been turned off while they were in Kirio. In essence, they were considered “dead” to the government and the people of Atlantis.

Now that they had escaped, it was just a matter of time before the trackers were reactivated again. When Amaris was eight, and she moved into the forest, her tracker was still in her arm. Matthias cut open her arm and removed the tracker himself. It hurt like nothing else in the world, and Amaris would carry that scar until the day she’d die.

It was this memory that told her what she would have to do. She knew it was going to hurt, but it had to be removed as soon as possible.

After knocking once, Amaris cautiously entered John’s room. He looked grotesque, unlike the friend she had once known. He looked at her as if the sight of her was still shocking to him, which, in all honesty, it probably was. He cast her an effortful smile.

Amaris strode to him, noting the way he had changed since the last time she had seen him. She wondered how many times over the years he had blamed himself for her death. Sure, Amaris hated that she’d inflicted that pain over him, but she rationalized her actions. She needed to stay near the forest where it was safe.

She asked him how he was feeling and John replied that he felt fine. Amaris knew he was lying. Anyone with working eyes could see that he was in an immense amount of pain. And here was Amaris, about to inflict even more. She told him what she needed to do and that once she was finished, John could sleep for the rest of the week if he wanted to. “I understand, Mare,” he muttered, “just do it.”

Amaris could not move him because he was still recovering, but to save the bed, she laid old newspaper and paper towels down, removing the blankets that were covering him. She took her knife out and slid the blade across the inner part of his right forearm, where the trackers were inserted. John winced against the pain and wanted to cry out, but he refrained. Instead, he threw a pillow to his mouth to keep himself from screaming. Amaris opened the wound slightly, looking for the tracker. Blood sprung from the arm and onto the paper towels and newspapers. Good thing she had the foresight to place the papers down.

Looking at the tracker, she knew she could not pull it from his arm. The tracker had grown around the bone in his arm. Amaris would have break his arm to pull it out, she was not sure how much more pain he could take. She called Audrey into the room, asking her what to do. As she looked at it, she could see Audrey was as baffled as she was.

“We have to break the bone,” Audrey informed them. Amaris nodded and looked to John, his face had paled and he looked as though he could pass out at any time. While they were discussing this, Audrey had placed a cloth on the wound and applied pressure, trying to slow down the blood flow.

Amaris stared hard at him.

“Oh, just do it, Amaris,” John grunted.

Needless to say, Amaris did not want to break his arm, but it had to be done. Taking a deep breath, she broke the arm. The noise that emitted from him would forever plague Amaris’s dreams. The screams only grew worse when she had to reach inside the sticky, red blood to grab the tracker.

She handed the blood-soaked tracker to Kane and Shane, giving them free rein to do with it whatever they wanted. Amaris helped Audrey stitch the wound before mentioning the same needed to be done to Lyla. Audrey and Matthias scampered off to the next room. Looking at John, she helped him lean back into his bed.

He stared at her with those startling blue eyes.

“Long time no see,” he stated. Amaris nodded, he had not seen her in a long time. Ten years in fact. Amaris was a different person the last time those blue eyes had met hers.

Slowly, his eyes, overcome with drowsiness, closed.

Amaris wondered what he was dreaming about.

With the help of Kane and Shane, they burned the trackers in the fireplace. Afterwards, Martin handed each of them a glass of some sort of alcoholic liquid. She downed it in one long sip. Matthias strode over to her and placed an envelope of 100 doman, the price that he owed her for the job. “Are you and Damon returning to the forest?” he inquired.

Amaris frowned, worry filled her. Damon still had yet to return. It had been a few days; they should have heard from him by now. Something was wrong. Just as she was contemplating these things, and as she was opening her mouth to tell Matthias, the door to the tavern swung open and Damon entered the room.

He looked a little disgruntled, paler than usual, but the for the most part he seemed alright. Amaris raced over him, demanding him to know what had happened. He just shook his head in reply, muttering something about missing the forest deeply. Amaris did not answer. Something about him seemed off, as if something had happened. She did not ask though, and he did not voluntarily give up any information on the subject.

They spent the day in the tavern. Matthias requested Damon and Amaris to stay, he had something he wished to discuss with them. Damon wanted to return immediately to the forest and a part of me wanted to also, but Amaris was curious to see what Matthias wanted to discuss. Surprise flittered in Amaris as she stared at Damon; she had thought he would have wanted to see Lyla. Amaris knew better than to breach the subject. She could not put her finger on it, but there was something off about him. He just seemed sad.

Amaris refrained from saying anything though.

Matthias invited them to the dinner that night. It was held in the back room of the tavern. It took them only a few minutes to realize that the dinner was in fact a meeting for the Rising. And it became evident throughout the evening that she was wrong in her assumption that Matthias was the leader of the Rising. After a few minutes of conversation, it became apparent that he was not. When she asked him about it, he shook his head, “Castor Kartsaros is the founder the Rising, Mare.” This was the first of Castor that had been mentioned in quite a while.

“Castor is dead,” Amaris stated. There was a universal shift in the seats at her words.

“Amaris,” Matthias said, treading carefully, “we think he is being held in the castle right now. We’re trying to locate him.” Matthias glanced to Kane and Shane. Amaris knew from this small look that Matthias had ordered the twins to find Castor. “We need to rescue him.”

“Why?”

“He has something vital to the Rising.” Curiosity sprouted in Amaris.

“What?” she inquired.

“That is classified. But I may be willing to tell you if you join the Rising.”

“That’s petty,” Amaris told him. Matthias chuckled. That was the thing about Matthias. When he smiled or laughed or chuckled, he completely transformed from the focused, driven person. He returned to the sixteen-year-old boy who saved her life.

But then the moment passed and seriousness returned to the table.

“I want you to join the Rising,” Mathias said to Amaris, his expression earnest.

“My answer is not going to change, Matthias, no matter how many times you ask. My answer is not going to change.” He sighed.

“Then I would like to hire you again.” Amaris laughed outright at him.

“You can keep paying me, but the only one who loses is you.” He shook his head.

“We will discuss this further tomorrow.” Amaris replied with a nod, knowing she would take the money he was going to give to her and Damon.

Sometime later, Lyla walked into the room. Immediately, Damon straightened and smile politely at her. She did not appear to see him as she strode past him to her fiancé. Choosing the seat beside Matthias, she waved for the conversation to continue. Damon sloughed into his seat, annoyance emanating off of him.

Lyla was still bruised and battered from her time in Kirio. A scar had planted itself on her chin that disrupted her pale skin. Her left eye was blackened and there was a look of sorrow in her eyes that Amaris had known almost all of her life. She was nobleman’s daughter, but they had attended the same grade school.

Amaris never cared much for her.

Lyla’s parents had died about six years ago. Amaris could see it all happen from her treehouse. Ahab had them personally executed. She did not know what infraction they had committed, but she knew it was something horrendous to deserve the punishment they received. John and Lyla were thrown into a life they had not anticipated. For the past six years, they had been living with their grandparents. Well, that was, until they were suddenly uprooted and thrown into Kirio for testing.

As the dinner continued, an unspoken agreement to avoid eye contact with Lyla hung in the air. The others muttered about the weather and other asinine arguments. All the while, Amaris stared at Lyla. She looked less destroyed than her older brother. Perhaps it was Damon’s sanity playing in the back of her mind, or perhaps she was just concerned for John, but she asked Lyla what specifically happened in Kirio.

Matthias glared at her and demanded that she leave Lyla alone. Amaris asked the questioned again. “They tortured us,” Lyla answered, annoyed and frustrated by the questioning.

“I can see that,” replied Amaris, more harshly than she had originally intended to be. “What happened?”

“Amaris,” Kane said from the other end of the table, “maybe we should wait for another time for this conversation.” The glare she sent his way immediately silenced him. Amaris turned back to Lyla. Tears sprung into her eyes, but Amaris cared little for this.

“I’m just really interested in why Ahab suddenly decided to run tests on you and John.”

“I don’t remember a lot of it,” she added, her tone defensive. “They wanted to see what we could do and John told them we would never work for them, and no matter what they did, nothing could make us side with them, or something like that. So, they threw us in the cells in Kirio and left us there for a few days without food and water. When they came back, they were hoping we would have changed our minds, but John told them that we would rather die than help them. That was when the torture began. John took most of it for me. That’s why he’s so bad.”

Amaris stared at Lyla, her expression emotionless. Amaris knew exactly why Ahab wanted John and Lyla on his side. It was not exactly a secret what had happened to them. Before their parents were executed, Ahab tried a different tactic to torture Mr. and Mrs. Stravos. He had John and Lyla injected with some synthetic substance. In essence, it was supposed to kill them. Ahab was using Mr. and Mrs. Stravos’ weakness against them.

Only, the plan backfired on him. Instead of killing them, their bodies adapted to the chemicals. Very few Atlanteans knew the truth about the chemicals with which they were injected. Back when King Jonathan was in power, he and a scientist by the name of Milos, developed a chemical that activated a certain region of the brain. Once this portion of the brain was activated, those with the injection had something called Melovusi, abilities that others did not have. These abilities were prevalent during the 1900s, but were not accessible through chemicals, but by a pendant that was worn around people’s necks. After King Jonathan died, Milos and his formula disappeared, no one had seen him or the chemicals since.

Damon theorized that whatever scientist worked on the substance that should have killed John and Lyla purposefully changed the liquid that they were injected with in order to save them, but there was no way to prove that. Furthermore, anyone who worked for Ahab had no humanity. Why would they have suddenly sprouted a conscience?

In essence, the effects of the chemicals enhanced themselves. The abilities that they could do were unfathomable. John, for example, suddenly had the ability to see perfectly in the darkness, like he did in the daylight. Lyla could force things to happen with her word, much like the Sirens from the legends. In truth, they were still barely grasping the full weight of their capabilities.

Amaris stole away from the dinner to John’s room. He was still asleep, and she wondered for a brief moment if she was ever going to wake up and what he would say to her when he was in his full mental facilities. Amaris sat on a chair beside him which Audrey had left for his guests. As she stared at him, she thought about the past and all the years they had wasted since then.

John and Amaris used to be friends. She recalled countless times of running around Atlantis in youthful glee. She was on the way to Stravos Manor when she found King Jonathan lying on the road. She had left school, deciding to spend her day with her friend, John, who was at home ill.

She had to send an official looking letter to the orphanage explain that she was dead. She could just imagine the look on John’s face when he came by to see her, only to find out she was dead instead. “How many times did you blame yourself?” she asked the body before her. She wanted to say he awoke at this point and all was forgiven, but life does not work that way. Instead, he remained motionless.

“If you could be anything, what would you be?” She remembered asking I when they were only seven years old.

“I’d be somebody who helps people,” he replied. “Like a Keeper or something.”

“Don’t be a Keeper!” she said. “I don’t trust Keepers, even though they tell you to all the time. I still don’t trust them.”

“Amaris,” he answered, “you don’t trust. But fine, I’ll just be a palace guard.”

“Ugh, don’t be a palace guard. They have to stay up all night and pace around. It’s weird. Plus, they’re like want-to-be Keepers.”

“Then, I’ll be a gardener,” he joked. “Or one of those people who puts the sticker labels on bananas.”

Looking back, Amaris was not sure who that girl was. The girl who was happy and ready for a life of adventure, who wanted to know and find her parents. She began to rub the locket hanging from her neck, a nervous habit she had picked up over the years. A single round shaped pendant laid there, she had tried to open it on numerous occasions, but it was impossible. She fell asleep there, staring at John and rubbing her locket.

He was still asleep when she awoke the next morning.

Audrey, a content look on her face, entered the room. She was a short, redheaded woman of twenty-five. She had worked in the castle maid before joining with the Rising. There, she had met Adam and they had fallen in love. King Ahab did not know about the affair, because if he did, Audrey would have been murdered by this point and Adam imprisoned or exiled. Ahab had an interesting soft spot for his son, Adam. Alstor was his first born, but for whatever reason, Ahab inflicted an immense amount of pressure on him. Granted, if Ahab continued to rule, Alstor would be ruling the country one day.

So, really, the Rising would be doing Atlantis a favor by removing Ahab.

Amaris muttered something about letting Audrey work and left the room. As she was walking down the stairs, she heard a voice say, “Well, well, well, Amaris.” The voice was deep and familiar. Amaris sighed, annoyance flashing through her.

“What Marinus?” she said, turning to face the man completely. Dimitri Marinus was nearly six years older than Amaris and had a demanding presence. He had the type of face that girls swooned over and willingly followed anything he said. The way he was smiling now could coerce just about anyone to complete his wishes. There was little flaw in his appearance, everything about him seemed to be perfect, from his dazzling blue eyes to his dirty blond hair, even his nose was perfect. He easily towered over Amaris in his six-foot stature. He was attractive, and the worst part was that he knew it.

“Is that how you greet everyone, Mari?” he said innocently. She glared at him.

“No, I save that just for you. And don’t call me that. What do you want?” she inquired, her disdain blatantly obvious so that someone as thick as Marinus could see it.

“I didn’t see you at dinner last night,” he stated, ignoring her annoyance. “I was late and you had already gone. I heard you put on quite a show.” His northern accent played through his words.

“I don’t see your point.”

“I just reckoned I’d give you the pleasure of seeing,” he grinned. She turned and walked away, hoping he would leave her alone at this moment. But Marinus always did the opposite of what she wanted. He ran to catch up to her as she descended the stairs and walked over to Martin, where he was speaking in hushed tones to Lyla and Matthias. Amaris honestly did not care what they were discussing, but she wanted to join them so as to not be around Marinus anymore. Amaris had a habit of hating most of the things in her life, but Dimitri Marinus was at the top of that list.

As she strode over to them, Marinus trailed after her, saying, “You know, Mari, you don’t have to deny our love.” She slapped him across the face, hoping this would deter anything more he had to say. Instead, he laughed and, grabbing her by the arm, dragged her over to one of the empty tables. “I do have something I want to talk to you about, though.” Amaris sighed and took the seat, deciding it was better to get this conversation over with so that he would leave her alone. Marinus took the seat across from her, adding, “I want you to join the Lykoi.”

“No,” Amaris stated, moving to stand up, assuming this would be length of the conversation. He motioned for her to sit down.

“You know, not everyone gets the king of attention you are receiving. Most think it’s an honor to be a Lykoi.”

“It wasan honor to be a part of the Lykoi. That was before it changed to what it is now. And I really don’t care, Dimitri. I am not joining you. Not now, not ever.”

“When you first came to us, you seemed so excited. What happened?”

“First, The Rising is playing me right now, something the Lykoi isn’t going to do. Second, I never ‘came’ to you. You ambushed me and tied me up.”

“You make it sound worse than it really was,” he responded, trying to dismiss her argument. Amaris stared at him, annoyance pouring off of her. There was little way to exaggerate what happened that night. Marinus murmured something about getting them something to drink. In the time he was gone, Amaris was transported to the last time she had met with the Lykoi.

It was only about a year ago, Amaris was in Jasper City on a job for Matthias. They were walking out of the Little Turtle when they were jumped out of nowhere. Someone banged something against their head, rendering them unconscious.

Amaris remembered the first thing she noticed when she woke up was how brutally cold it was. She felt snow trickle through her shirt, down her back. She tried to look around and realized instantly she had a blindfold covering her eyes. Amaris took a deep breath and tried to assess her situation. Her legs started to cramp and she wondered how long she had been sitting here, wherever here was. Her hands were tied skillfully behind her back, she struggled against them.

Something grabbed her hand. Feeling the calluses on his fingers, and she knew in an instant it was Matthias. Reassurance coursed through her. Deep breathing echoed around us and a low voice spoke quietly. A sword swung and she felt the rope around her wrists loosen. Amaris reached up and took the gag and blindfold off.

“Hello, girly,” she heard someone say. Looking around, she saw five men staring down at her and Matthias. They were huddled in a cave and a fire burned off to my right. She wanted to crawl over to it but was unsure. Amaris had no idea who these men were or what they could, and would, do to us.

“Hello,” Amaris replied, not even attempting to hide her annoyance. “You are­­­–?” A rumble of laughter answered her. The man who spoke to her shoved his sword over his shoulder into its sheath, revealing a tattoo on the man’s arm. Amaris frowned, wondering why the man had chosen a wolf with blood dripping from its paw to cover his entire forearm. Matthias stood up beside her.

“I thought you were a myth,” he said stunned. They were answered by laughter again.

“Oh, we are,” a man to her left said. “That’s how we exist.” Amaris was completely confused at this point. She had no idea who these strange men were towering over them. Matthias gave her a look of excitement before turning his attention back to them. He bowed, strangely, to them before formally introducing himself.

“All hail the King of the Rising!” someone shouted, Lykoi roared a cheer. Amaris climbed to her feet and stood next to Matthias. He seemed so confident, she trusted he knew what he was doing.

“Mare,” he practically yelled her name, “these are the Lykoi!” He gave her an expectant look, like he was waiting for her to jump up and down with glee. But she stared blankly at him. Amaris honestly had no idea who the Lykoi were. Matthias sighed audibly as if she was disappointedly ignorant.

Which she did not appreciate.

“Right then, let me introduce meself,” said the man who had originally spoken to her. Amaris immediately noticed the scar that stretched from his brown eyes up toward his left ear. “I’m Tal. You can call me anythin’ you want though, little missy.” He gave her a wink which, in her impatience, she returned with a slap. Tal chuckled a little. “We are the Lykoi,” he motioned to the men around him.

“So I gathered. What exactly arethe Lykoi?” Amaris asked slightly annoyed. She wished they would blatantly describe who they were.

“We, mis,” said Tal, lifting his hands, “are the future of Atlantis.” Amaris looked helplessly at Matthias.

“These men,” Matthias interjected, “are the rebellion. Everyone’s heard about them. I always thought they were an urban legend. But they’re real!” A thunder of chuckles echoed from the Lykoi.

“Yes, I can see that, but who are they?” A man with light brown hair and beautiful, dazzling blue eyes extracted himself from the pack and walked over to her.

“Who we are is a different question entirely. I’m not sure any of us actually know themselves. But I can tell you what we do.” Finally, they were getting somewhere. The man brushed off his wool coat and handed it to her. Pulling the coat around her shoulders, she thanked him. He walked over to the fire and sat down beside it, she followed willingly.

“I’m Dimitri Marinus,” he told her. Picking up a stick, he started to poke the fire as Amaris waited for him to go on. He did not, exhausting her patience.

“So, what do you do?” Amaris prompted, annoyance creeping into her voice again. The corners of his mouth twitched.

“We do what the Rising does, Kid,” he said. “We are the people who give food to the kids in the cities. We protect the Surface. We take from the rich and give to the poor. And we make sure to take down a few Keepers as we’re going.” A cheer erupted form the men around them. “People in the villages and cities have some crazy theories about us. See, we don’t technically exist, just like you. Yeah,” he continued at her stunned expression, “we hijacked the Atlantean mainframe. Everyone in the Lykoi does not exist.” He was referring, of course, to the cameras, the ones that towered over all of Atlantis.

“We’ve known about you for a while,” Tal commented.

“I can’t believe you’ve never heard of them,” Matthias muttered. Amaris frowned.

“I live in a forest, Matthias. Where would I have heard of them from?” Amaris turned to Tal, as he seemed to be the leader of this small operation. “But why are we here?”

“We want you to join us,” he replied.

“You are incredible with a knife and we can teach you so much more. We think you could help us in our fight against Ahab.” Matthias looked excited. She was hesitant, she did not trust these men around her.

“How can we trust you when you kidnapped, blindfolded, gagged, and tied us up?” Dimitri’s mouth twitched again as he poked the fire and Amaris wondered if he was trying to suppress his laughter.

“Told you it was a bad idea,” Dimitri interjected to Tal.

“Consider it an audition,” Tal returned, ignoring Dimitri. Amaris looked over at Matthias. He was ready. By the way he was looking at Amaris, she knew he wanted to do this more than anything else in the world. But she was a little weary. This whole thing seemed too good to be true. And in her experience, things that seemed too good to be true usually were. Amaris shook her head.

“No. I can’t trust you, I decline,” Amaris stated. Tal opened his mouth, but Dimitri shook his head, warningly, at Tal. She was beginning to wonder who was really in charge here.

“What can we do to sway your mind, Kid?” Dimitri asked her, his blue eyes illuminate in the night.

“You can stop calling me ‘Kid’ for one,” Amaris replied. Dimitri have me a slight smile and motioned to the three men who had not yet introduce themselves. “This is Flynn, Crew, and Brysen. They are runners kind of like thieves, but not entirely the same thing. But, by Poseidon, they are fast.” The men around her laughed.

“The Lykoi?” Amaris inquired, wondering what they name was from.

“My grandfather created the Lykoi,” Dimitri told them. “He had a soft spot for the abused.” He pulled out his right forearm, showing her his tattoo. “Wolves tend to stay in packs. That’s what he wanted for Atlantis, to work like wolves. He always thought the Lykoi would one day lead the rebellion that will finally give us back our freedom.” He looked away from her to Matthias. “We also think an alliance with the Rising would benefit you and us as well.” Matthias simply nodded.

“What exactly does being one of you entail?” Amaris asked. Dimitri paused. She could tell he was thinking over his words carefully.

“You would be one of us,” he said hesitantly. “So, you would have to go through our initiation. But you have already proven yourself worthy. You will have a life of adventure and devotion to Atlantis. A life of protecting those that cannot themselves. We can teach you more than you ever thought possible, Amaris. What do you say?” She wanted to ask for some time to think, it was hard to do so with the cold and all these men staring at her. But something told her that this offer would end once she left. She could not just jump into a decision like this though. Matthias wanted this, that was obvious to her, but did she? She had never allied herself with anyone as these men had done. Did she want the association? She needed time to think.

“I want to see what you can do first,” Amaris requested.

“We already did­–” Tal started to say before she interrupted him.

“Anyone can kidnap someone who is asleep. I want to see you in action, then we’ll talk.” He stared at her for a moment with eyes greener than the fake grass. Amaris knew he was considering her, wondering if she was worth it. Then, he smiled.

“You got yourself a deal.”

Dimitri devised an interesting plan that included Matthias and herself. She was still pessimistic about working with him, but she laid that aside to work with him. The Lykoi were ready for the plan, she just hoped that it was going to work as well as they hoped it would.

“I got you coffee,” she heard a voice say from above her, startling her out of her reverie. Marinus took the seat across from her again and inquired over her thoughts. Amaris shook her head and sipped the black liquid Dimitri had found for her.

Lyla extracted herself from their group and walked deliberately over to them. She looked at Amaris angrily and told her that she had no right to ask the questions she had at dinner the night before, and that she should be ashamed of herself. Her eyes filled with tears as she began to talk about the fact that in ten years, she had not seen fit to talk to her or her brother. But, a part of her still hated her. She supposed she was siding with Damon in this. Amaris was hating her when he could not.

Lyla continued talking, but Amaris chose not to listen. She glanced at Dimitri. He was listening intently to what she was saying. “Oh, Lyla,” Dimitri interjected as though he was talking to a two-year-old, “were your feelings hurt?”

Amaris knew she was rude to Dimitri Marinus, and she honestly believed that she had a good reason. The man was pigheaded, rude, obnoxious, and opinionated. He was stubborn and pushy beyond belief. But every now and then, like this one, he had his moments.