The Battle for Sanctuary: The Titan's Legacy: Vol: 2 (Volume 2) (30 page)

The teens moved quickly over to check out the fountain.
Dominic stood back and smiled as everyone tested the water or started
to explore the alcoves.

“
At
least now you can all have some privacy to get clean and changed,”
he said, nodding toward the smaller rooms.

“
So
true. Dominic, you're a genius,” Maria said as she gave him a
hug.

He laughed a bit uncomfortably. “Hey, I didn't
build it, Maria,” he said. “I only found it.”

“
Even
so, thank you for that.” She looked down into the water at the
bottom of the fountain. “I wonder if it's constantly refreshed
like the other pools in Sanctuary seem to be?” she wondered
aloud.

“
One
way to find out,” Justin replied. He grabbed a handful if the
thick dust off of the ground and tossed it into the water..

“
Why
did you do that, Justin?” Julia asked in irritation. “Now
the water's all dirty.”

“
Maybe
not, Julia. Let's watch for a minute and see.”

They stood or sat around the fountain and watched as the
cloud of dirt settled near the bottom for a minute. Then it was
caught in the unseen current, swirled around for a few turns and then
disappeared into a drain under the shaft in the middle.

“
Hey,
it does keep itself clean!” Yolanda exclaimed and then she
poked her friend. “See Julia. Don't jump to conclusions. Justin
always knows what he's doing.”

Justin laughed as Julia stuck her tongue out at Yolanda.
He was happy to see them acting more normally. “Not always
right, Yolanda. Just always trying,” he told her with a wink.

The teens separated into groups. The girls decided to
get cleaned up right away. Happily, in their opinion, Daemon had
included a cake of the soap that Prometheus had used to clean clothes
in each of their packs. Soon they were standing in the fountain,
having unselfconsciously stripped down to their underwear, and were
washing both their clothes and themselves.

While they were using the fountain, Aaron and Justin
checked out the alcoves. Each had a stone bench built into one wall
and a flat slab on the other two.

“
Sleeping
quarters, I'm guessing,” Aaron said as he pointed to the slabs.
Justin agreed. But other than that, the rooms were bare of
decoration. They wandered around the room for a bit.

The other alcoves, there were six of them in total,
three on each side, were all the same and the two friends soon found
themselves back in the main room, waiting for the girls to finish
their laundry.

Once they were done and had chosen a room to spread out
their clothes to dry, the guys took their turns. Richard, Jason and
Dominic went first, as the fountain wasn't big enough for the five
boys to use it at the same time, and Justin and Aaron sat back and
talked about the gorgons and what strategy they could use against
them.

Soon, the two friends had the fountain to themselves.
The girls were sitting together, wearing the robes that Daemon had
given them and chatting while their clothes dried. The other guys
were doing the same and Justin and Aaron washed their clothes and
then soaped themselves down.

Standing under the cascade of water from the fountain
was like being in a real shower and Justin reveled in the feeling. He
was just rinsing the soap from his hair when suddenly the water cut
off abruptly.

“
What
the?” he said as he looked up. The water was still flowing
around him, but it seemed to have hit an invisible dam above him and
was falling away on both sides, leaving him dry.

“
What's
going on?” he asked as he looked around. He heard a giggle and
turned to see Julia and Yolanda standing there, staring intently at
the water with their arms raised, broad grins of their faces.

“
Oh,
cute trick,” Aaron said from beside him. A glance told Justin
that Aaron was still covered in soap like he was, and it was rapidly
drying out. “Would you mind letting us rinse off before the
soap hardens, please?”

“
Sorry,
Justin. Sorry, Aaron,” the girls said. They dropped their hands
and the water splashed down on the boys again, almost knocking them
over.

Aaron cursed and rinsed off as fast as he could. Justin
did the same, but he was more pleased than angry.

The girls were not only practicing their talents but
they were working together, which he thought was an excellent sign.
Maybe their combined skill could work better than either one on her
own. It was something to consider.

Aaron was still looking a bit cranky as he dried off and
put on his robe but Justin congratulated the girls on their trick.
Julia looked relieved that he wasn't angry.

“
Thanks
Justin. This was our first chance to actually practice our gifts
since we left Prometheus' place and, since the rest of you were
getting so good, we thought we'd try and catch up.” Yolanda
nodded enthusiastically. Aaron finally gave up his irritation and,
when he got back from laying out his clothes to dry, added his
congratulations to Justin's.

“
It
was actually a good trick, guys,” he said with a grin. Everyone
else was still chuckling at Justin and Aaron's earlier discomfort but
they encouraged the girls to continue their practicing.

“
I
have a suggestion, Julia, Yolanda, if you're up for it?” Justin
said as he walked over and stood next to them.

“
Sure,
Justin. What's on your mind?” Yolanda asked.

“
Well,
I was thinking that if we're going to go up against snakes and
snake-people, you should try to chill the water. In other words, make
it freeze. From what Richard told us, dropping the temperature would
really do a number on them. Might even stop them in their tracks.”

The two girls exchanged glances and grinned. Julia's
grin was slightly evil.

“
Awesome
idea, Justin!” she said enthusiastically. “I hate snakes!
I really do. And if we can freeze them solid, that would be
excellent!”

“
I
agree,” Yolanda added with a nod. “Let us think about it
a minute, Justin and we'll give it a try.”

“
Sure,
take your time,” Justin agreed cheerfully. “Whenever
you're ready, have at it.”

He wandered back across the room and sat beside Aaron
and Maria.

“
That
was clever, Justin,” Maria said under her breath. Aaron looked
puzzled.

“
Well,
yeah, it was clever, I guess,” he said. “But it makes
sense, don't you think?”

“
I
don't mean that, Aaron,” she continued, still speaking quietly.
“I mean the way he gave Julia the power to fight her fears.
Justin knows how terrified she is of snakes; we all saw that back in
the entry room. But now she has a chance to fight them and her fear
has faded into the background.” Maria looked at Justin in
admiration. “Good job, my friend.”

Justin felt himself getting red. “It was just a
thought,” he shrugged. “We'll need her and Yolanda's
talent before we get out of here, so a little confidence won't hurt
her at all.”

“
Wow,
Justin,” Aaron looked at him wide-eyed. “You really are
smarter than you look.”

“
Thanks,
Aaron,” Justin answered automatically. Then he realized what
his friend had said. “Hey, wait a second!” Aaron and
Maria burst out laughing and Justin sat back, pretending to grumble a
bit, but then grinned along with them.

A few minutes later, after Julia and Yolanda had put
their heads together, obviously discussing the possible techniques
for making ice, they told the others that they were going to give it
a try.

Everyone stood back, away from the fountain, and watched
quietly. Justin found himself holding his breath as he looked from
the fountain to Julia and Yolanda and back again.

The two girls stood quite still side by side, staring
intently at the water flowing from the top of the fountain. Then they
raised their arms and exchanged a quick glance.

“
On
three,” Yolanda said, her voice sounding strained. Julia nodded
once. “Okay, here we go. One, two,” and then, seemingly
without thinking, Julia took Yolanda's right hand with her left one.
Yolanda didn't hesitate. She squeezed Julia's hand and firmly said
“Three!”

Two things happened almost simultaneously; the cascading
water in the fountain froze instantly. And then it exploded into a
thousand shards of ice, shooting out in all directions!

There was an uproar as everyone jumped and ducked for
cover. Screams and curses rang through the air for a moment, and then
heads popped up, looking around to see if anyone was hurt.

“
Everyone
all right?” Maria asked anxiously. There was a chorus of
affirmative answers and it seemed they had all escaped unscathed.

Julia and Yolanda had ducked and covered their heads
with the rest. Now they stood up and huddled together, red-faced and
nervous.

“
Sorry,
guys, sorry!” Julia exclaimed. “We didn't know that would
happen, did we?” she asked, looking at Yolanda.

Her friend shook her head. “Of course not,”
she answered vehemently. “We're really sorry, everyone. I think
we need more practice.”

“
Sounds
like a great idea, Yolanda,” Dominic said dryly. “Would
you mind waiting until I'm out of the room?”

There was a moment of silence, followed by a round of
relieved laughter.

“
Don't
worry about it,” Dominic continued more seriously. “Practice
does make perfect. But maybe try freezing a small puddle or something
before working on the big stuff,” and he nodded toward the
fountain.

“
Excellent
idea, Dom,” Maria spoke up. “Why not take one of the
alcoves, you two? Take a flask of water and pour a bit on to the
floor and start with that.”

“
Thanks
Maria, we'll do that,” Julia sounded hopeful. She grabbed a
water flask from her pack. “C'mon Yolanda, let's try it again.”

Her friend smiled and followed Julia into a nearby room.

“
Well,
that certainly woke me up,” Aaron said with a grin. “But
they do need to hone their talent and quickly.”

“
Agreed,
bud,” Justin said. “And speaking of practice, we have two
other members of our little group who need to do some as well.”
He looked at Maria and then over at Jason. “You two should
really sharpen your skills as well. We may need your speed, Maria and
I'm fairly sure a jolt of lightning would come in handy as well,
Jason.”

Both of them looked startled but Maria smiled agreeably.

“
I
wouldn't mind, Justin, but I need someone to spar with.” She
glanced at the others. “Any volunteers?”

There was an uncomfortable silence and then
surprisingly, Aaron put up his hand.

“
I
learned a bit of hand to hand in class,” he said, pointing
toward the ceiling. “Miss Takomo taught us some basic stuff;
enough to spar with, I think.”

“
Excellent,
Aaron! Thanks a lot.” Maria led Aaron to the far end of the
room near the door and began chatting with him. In the meantime,
Justin approached Jason.

“
So
what do you think, Jason?” he asked. “Is there any way
you can practice the whole electricity thing?”

Jason chuckled. “I have been practicing, Justin.
Ever since we left Prometheus' place.”

Justin was startled. “You have? When? I don't
remember seeing you do anything with it.”

“
That's
because I was being discreet. Any chance I got to turn away from the
group, like when I was watching the door in the entry room earlier, I
would be doing this.”

Justin watched in fascination as Jason brought his hands
together, palm to palm and then slowly drew them apart. In between,
an arc of electricity connected his hands. There was a small hum and
a faint smell of ozone, but if Jason had his back turned, Justin
doubted that he would even have known he was doing it.

“
That
is amazing, Jason. Well done!” He watched, almost mesmerized,
as Jason increased and decreased the gap between his palms. The
electrical arc flickered and hummed but adjusted smoothly to the
changing distance between his hands.

“
Um,
what else can you do with it?” Justin asked. The electricity
was cool and all but he doubted it was of much use the way Jason had
been using it.