A Small Spark

Stephen

The following week proved that Captain Thomas definitely suspected Stephen of something. No longer did Captain Thomas leave Stephen alone in the control room. Instead, he sent Stephen to help Lilith in the kitchen. Stephen, as he quickly learned, knew little about food and only annoyed Lilith instead of effectively helping her there.

Stephen was not sure how the captain knew or what he knew, but he was certainly suspecting Stephen, Mason, and Julie of something.

One day, Stephen found Julie sitting on her bed, reading from a book. Stephen strode into the room and sat down beside her. “Hey,” he said. She glanced up at him before returning to her book. He rolled his eyes, knowing what this meant. Julie was going to finish whatever chapter she was on before talking to him. The proof of this was found when she held up her pointer finger, indicating that she would reply in the moment.

A moment, as it turned out, consisted of ten whole minutes in which Stephen went from sitting beside Julie to lying on the floor in boredom.

“Hey,” she finally answered. She seemed distant, like she had something on her mind, but did not want to talk about it.

“I think Captain Thomas is suspicious,” Stephen informed her. She hesitated for a moment, but then she shrugged.

“It will work itself out, Stephen.”

“Are you alright?” he asked her. Whenever she did not give her opinion, Stephen figured she was sick.

“I’m fine,” she murmured. But Stephen knew she was not. He had grown up with her, dated her for years. He was smart enough, knew her enough, to know when she was unhappy.

“Jules–”

“I am fine, Stephen, really.” Stephen stood up from his perch on the floor and took the place beside her once more, throwing a comforting arm around her shoulders. She frowned at him. “Didn’t you break this arm?”

Stephen’s glanced down at his own arm in a surprise mixed with confusion. That was odd, he hadthought he had injured himself, but his arm was working normally. “Oh, yeah, must not have been broken then.” Julie kept staring at his arm, not to be deterred by Stephen’s careless manor.

“The bone was literally sticking out.” Stephen glanced back at his arm, trying to remember exactly what his arm had looked back after he had broken it. Sure, he had thought the bone was sticking out. They must have been mistaken, though. His arm was working perfectly fine now.

“It doesn’t hurt, Jules,” he assured her. “I’ve always been a fast learner, you know that.”

“But the bone was sticking out,” she said again, disbelief echoing through his voice.

Of course, now that Stephen was thinking about it, he had always been a fast healer. Once, he and Mason made a ramp. They had been watching Hot Roda dozen times prior and decided they needed to take their bikes out, thinking they would have a really awesome Hot Rodlike moment.

Of course, they had missed the main part of that film. Because everything they did was exactly how it would have been in Hot Rod. The ramp broke halfway through Stephen’s jump and he crashed into the pavement. He was going fast, trying to jump into the air, but instead, he plummeted the pavement, not becoming as injured as he should have.

He landed head first, but he walked away fine. He had scrapes all up and down his arms and legs. His shoulder was dislocated.

As he walked home, all he could think about on the way was how much in trouble he was going to be. His parents were going to be livid. However, by the time they made it back to his house, the scrapes were nearly imperceptible and his shoulder had relocated itself. His mom still did not know about it.

Stephen stayed beside Julie for a long while, long enough that she had returned to her book, even started reading it aloud to him. It was a practice he was used to. He climbed up further onto the bed, laying down while she read aloud. And somewhere along the way, he fell asleep.

He was awoken by Mason parading into the room. He closed the door behind him, dropping to the floor, leaning against the door. He brought with him news. The submarine was going to be resurfacing for a few days to refuel, take a break from the endless ocean they saw before them. They would be spending two days in Kea, Greece.

The reaction to this news was as can be expected. Julie, especially, was ready for a few days of land. The claustrophobia was beginning to get to her. Once again, she would be able to walk around on land, not thinking about the millions of ways they could die in the metal death tube.

Two days of sightseeing in Greece. What was the worst that could happen?

At the last moment, Stephen randomly passed out and had to stay in the hotel in Kea. He had been feeling strange all day. And, just as they were about to head out for a day in Greece, he fell over, hitting his head slightly on the edge of a coffee table as he fell.

Lilith came up to his room and examined him. Apparently, Stephen had picked up some sort of stomach bug an had to spend the two days in Greece sick on a hotel bed while Julie and Mason went off and had fun. On the bright side, Stephen was able to watch copious amounts of television, only being able to slightly understand it, as it was in Greek.

The morning of the second day, Julie entered his room in a bright pink shirt. This was a shirt he had seen her wear a hundred times, especially since he had told her she looked pretty in that color. And really, today was no exception of this. Stephen had always believed that Julie was a goddess among men, a sentiment she believed he exaggerated. She only stayed for a few minutes, checking with him before racing off with Mason to enjoy Greece.

In the meantime, Stephen decided it was time to call his sister. “What goes on Little Sister?” Stephen asked when she answered the phone.

“Stephen?” she said, her voice echoing surprise. “You don’t sound too good.”

“I always sound great,” Stephen reminded. She might have laughed if his words were not slurred slightly. They talked for a few hours about miscellaneous things, mostly about life back in the States, how she had been spending her time. Stephen was not an i***t, he knew that once they found Atlantis he was not going to be able to speak with his sister anymore. He needed to use this time effectively. Who knew when the next time he could talk to her would come?

“When are you coming home?” she inquired when there was a lull in the conversation.

“Not for a while,” he admitted.

“I wish you were here. Mom and Dad are fighting again.”

“D’you know what I just realized,” Stephen replied, mindlessly ignoring her comment and panicked tone, “if you spell both mom and dad backwards, it’s still mom and dad.”

“Stephen!” Rosie cried into the phone. “This is serious! I heard Mom say something about divorce.”

“Rosie, they’ve talked about divorce every time they’ve fought for the past twenty years. It’s not going to happen, you’ll see.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“I’m always right.” She laughed and said she needed to go. Stephen nodded, even though she could not see.

“Love you, Stephen.”

“I love you, too, Rosie,” he replied before hanging up the phone.

Stephen sighed, thinking about the time when he and Rosie ditched school. To be fair, he did not exactly plan on kidnapping his sister and driving her away from school, it just sort of happened.

Senior came with a time of supreme lack of motivation for him. She was still in junior high during this time and Stephen would drop her off at school before driving to the high school. On this particular day, they were driving to school and Rosie interjected, “I don’t feel like going to school today.” The full weight of Stephen’s recent, unmotivated attitude fell on him.

“Shoot dude,” he muttered in reply. “I don’t either.”

So they didn’t. They did not go to school. Instead, they went to the movie theater and chose to watch whatever movie that had just come to the theaters, whether they knew the movie or not. To this day, Stephen could not recall what the film had been about. He only remembered movie hopping with his sister all day long.

They never skipped school again, they were good, responsible kids that way. But as long as he lived, he knew he would remember that small diversion in the normal routine of his life.

It was around this time that Julie entered the room. Stephen, still weak and exhausted from whatever bug he had caught on the submarine, was lying the luxurious hotel bed. Julie climbed up onto the bed, sitting beside him. She pulled her bags up with her on the bed with her. She talked about her day, how much she enjoyed walking around the country, learning about Greece and, apparently, spending all of her money.

They returned to the submarine the following morning. They set off again into the ocean, searching for a fish. It was water, water, and even more water. Quickly, Stephen began to miss the beautiful scenery of Greece. He missed the wide open spaces that were hidden by the small tube they called a submarine.

The water was everywhere. It felt like it was suffocating him. There was just water everywhere he looked. He needed to return to somewhere less submarine as soon as possible.

Stephen was standing in the middle of his room when the captain came. Captain Thomas came into his room to see how he was feeling. “Good–” was all he could say before he suddenly pinned Stephen up against the wall. “The heck?” he shouted, his confusion seeping into his words.

“What are you doing, Stephen?” spat Captain Thomas.

“I’m trying to figure out what the heck is happening!” Stephen fought against him, trying to free himself from the captain’s grasp.

“Why are you adjusting our course?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” He slammed Stephen against the wall again, forcing Stephen to dig his back into the edge of the table nearby.

“My daughter’s life is at stake here, Lewis. Do not mess with me. I will end you.” He pushed Stephen against the wall in a threatening way. “Where are you taking us, Lewis?” he shouted. He gasped for breath.

“How did you know?” Stephen asked him.

“We’d only drifted after you were on watch.”

“That’s why you sent me to the kitchen,” Stephen summarized. Captain Thomas shook his head, disgust passing his lips.

“I’m surprised you are even standing right now with what I have you.”

“You poisoned me!” cried Stephen, disdain placing his lips. He had looked up to Captain Thomas, thought he was good person.

“I couldn’t have you sabotaging this. Now, where are you taking us!” Stephen fought against his desire to throw him against the wall again. “Where, Lewis!”

“Atlantis!” Stephen returned loudly. He did not know why he said it, the words left his lips before Stephen could stop them. “We know where the Lost City of Atlantis is.”

The captain was taken aback. He dropped his grip on Stephen, stepping away from him. He looked at Stephen the way he had expected. There was surprise and terror on his face. “You are not serious.”

“No, I am, we know here Atlantis is. We have to find it.”

The captain looked as though he was genuinely deciding whether or not he was going to throw Stephen into the ocean. “You are insane. Absolutely insane. Ut it really doesn’t matter. You and your friends are going back to the States. You are not interfering with this expedition.”

“That is not up to you, Captain,” said a voice clearly. Behind the captain stood Dr. Allen. Stephen as surprised by the man. If it was not for Stephen, he might have been able to find that fish he was looking for by now. “I have always wanted to find Atlantis,” he continued.

“Dr. Allen­­–”

“Haven’t you ever wanted to find the Lost City, Captain?” Mr. Allen asked.

“Dr. Allen–”

“I am in control of this project. Why look for a fish when we can find a whole city?”

“Dr. Allen­­­–”

“Set course for the city. I’ve always believed Atlantis is real.” The captain looked completely stunned. Stephen was not sure what to do and he did not think he did either. The captain huffed and walked out of the room, heading for the control room. “Looks like you and your friends are safe for now, Stephen,” added Dr. Allen. “I do hope you are not wrong about this.

Dr. Allen walked out of the room, leaving Stephen alone. “Yeah,” Stephen muttered quietly to himself, “you and me both.”

-----

Stephen dreamt one night about finding the Lost City of Atlantis. He dreamt that he found the lost city and his real parents saw him and welcomed him there. That was why they were searching for the lost city in the first place. Stephen wanted to find his real parents.

Stephen had grown up knowing that he was adopted. Yet, he always believed that his parents gave him up for a specific reason. What that reason was, Stephen was unsure. He was hoping this venture to Atlantis would give him the much desired answers to his questions.

When he was ten years old, he started asking his adopted mother and mother where his real parents were. He could see the pain behind his parents’ eyes at this question but also a deep understanding for what he was asking.

The only thing they could give him was a note written by his biological mother. He could see it was tearing up his adopted parents when they handed him the letter. But they understood. He ran up the stairs to his room, throwing himself down on his bed, tearing open the envelope and thirstily unfolded the letter.

But he could not read it. It was all Greek to him, written in some ancient language he could not understand. He spent hours on the Internet, searching for someone who would be able to decode the letter.

But no one could.

Stephen’s adopted father had a friend who taught Greek, German, and French at a college in Denver. For his sixteenth birthday, Julie and Mason drove him out to the college so he could ask Mr. Douglas to look at the letter. But even he could not understand the words written on the page. The only word he could read was “Poseidon,” which was written in Greek at the bottom of the letter.

That instigated the search for what Poseidon would mean. He knew it meant more than the Greek god. It took an entire year, but they finally found the connection between Poseidon and Atlantis. Stephen was utterly convinced that Atlantis was real and he was going to find it one day.

And now, here they were, in a submarine far into the ocean, looking for a place that many people did not think existed. People, it seemed, did crazy things sometimes when they really believed in something.

Two weeks passed since the captain found out about Stephen redirecting their coordinates. Two weeks since they started their course for Atlantis. Two weeks of the captain refusing to look at him or let him anywhere near his daughter. The captain hated Stephen now. And he guessed it was justified, since they were kind of putting the entire crew in mortal danger.

Mason blatantly told Stephen that it really did not matter what everyone else thought. They were going to find Atlantis and everything was going to be perfect. Mason was like that. He believed in things the way that kids believe in Santa Claus. He held onto that belief as though it were the only thing keeping him going.

Mason’s father had died only a year prior. His father was the founder and owner of Hawk Industries, one of the fastest growing companies in the world. When Mr. Hawthorne died, everything went to Mason. He had always known he was going to get the family business one day, but he apparently did not want it. Not once in his life did he want this, he always thought there was more to life than getting rich.

When the submarine docked after the two weeks, everyone was able to spend the day walking around Greece while the submarine recuperated from the journey. Julie suggested that Stephen go shopping with her in the city, but he really did not want to go shopping. He went anyway, mostly to get off of the submarine.

Julie dragged him to every store they could find. She had to buy every dress in a six mile radius. Stephen could understand if they were there for souvenirs, but he could not understand why she needed to buy so many dresses. When on earth was she going to wear all of these?

“What do you think they wear in Atlantis?” Julie inquired, grabbing his hands as they walked away from yet another store.

“Hmmm…I always pictured them in tunics,” he replied, sarcasm dripping from his words.

“Stephen,” she said to him, “it’s the twenty-first century. I doubt they wear clothes from ancient Greece.”

“You never know, they could,” he pointed out.

“I like to believe that their clothing chooses aren’t that different from ours.” Stephen wove his arm across her shoulders and drew her closer to him.

“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”

“I guess we will.” She lightly kiss his cheek before running forward and looking at something from one of the many booths.

The street was crowded with tourists looking at the numerous books standing, drawing people in with their merchandise. It was as though the whole world was trying to stand in a city and everyone was trying to go in opposite directions. But even with the thousands of people surrounding them, he could easily find the man in black walking towards them.

He had a mean look about him, a scar that stretched from his forehead to his chin. Something about him just seemed off, particularly the way that he was starting at them. Something was just not right about him.

Without thinking too much about it, Stephen grabbed Julie’s hand and, together, they started to run. “Stephen–” He pushed his way through the crowd, but there were too many people all of whom decided to stand in Stephen’s way.

Accidentally, Stephen pushed over a woman with her child, trying to make a breath through the people. Really, he must have accidentally hit everyone in the square before finally reaching a small, uncrowded alleyway.

Quickly, Julie and Stephen ran, racing back to the submarine like it was their only salvation. “Who is that!” Julie squeaked in his ear.

“I’m not sure, but we have to keep moving!” he yelled back. He squeezed her hand tighter, unwilling to let her go for anything in the world.

The alleyway led them to a different part of the crowded road. Without hesitating, they ran through the people, forcing them out of their way. Accidentally, Stephen collided with a teenage girl. They did not have the time to top and help her, they just kept moving.

They raced down five more alleyways, dodging people as they went. Finally, they raced down one alleyway, and as if they knew they would be there, five men wearing all black stood, starting at them.

Stephen glanced behind him, only to find the man with the scar extending across the left side of this face stalk towards them. They were trapped and there was nothing they could do.

-----

Stephen could feel the gag in his mouth before he even opened his eyes. When he did, he could not see anything and his face slightly itched. Great. He was blindfolded, gagged, and by the tightness around his wrists and ankles, he was tied up. Shoot dude.

Stephen could hear the men talking to one another in a language he had never heard before. Something told him that they were of here because of what they did in Anderson Labs. No. These people had to be Atlantean.

Stephen was not sure what they were saying but whatever it was, he did not like it. He heard a slight whimper near him and he knew it was Julie. His Julie. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do to protect her right now.

“…Paomai Tondie,” one of them said to the others. Whatever he said started a large argument between all of them. In that time, Stephen tried as hard as he could to free himself from the bonds. Struggled all he could, but he could not free himself from the ropes.

There was nothing he could do.

Before the hopelessness had completely settled in him, there was a loud bang on the door. Or, really, what Stephen assumed to be the door. One of the men’s footsteps sauntered over to the door and, creakily, it opened. Not a moment later, the sound of gunfire echoed throughout the room. What on earth was happening?

The men scattered and Stephen heard heavy steps make their way over to them. Suddenly, his blindfolded was gone and he was staring into the face of his best friend, Mason Hawthorne.

“I leave you two alone for five minutes to do whatever the heck relationship people do, and this is what you guys get yourselves into? You guys can’t last a minute without me.” He took off Stephen’s gag and with his knife, Mason cut the ropes around him.

“How’d you know where we were?” Stephen inquired, glancing over at Julie. Gee’s daughter was taking off her blindfold.

“You accidentally knocked into her,” Mason replied, pointing to Gee’s daughter, “when you were running form that crazy guy. She told me about it. Good thing I know how to hack the video footage on the security cameras. See, you two need me so much.”

“Thanks, Mason.”

“Yeah, man.”

Julie was completely untied now and raced over to Stephen. Together, they all walked away from the scene, knowing that this was the only thing they could do.

It was on their way back to the submarine that Gee’s daughter suddenly fainted.

“What just happened?” Stephen asked as Julie inspected the girl. Pulling her onto her back, blood seeped out of her side. A knife was sticking out of the wound. One of the Atlanteans must have fired back without our knowledge. Julie pressed her finger to the girl’s pulse.

“She’s dead.”

They stared at her for a long time before Mason bent down and carried the girl to the submarine, to her father.

“What was her name?” Stephen asked them as they walked.

No one could answer him.