Trials, Chapter 1: Prey

(uncorrected draft)

 

“Ten minutes!”

 

Heart thumping, Ben ducked into an alcove, gulped air like a dying fish out of water and tried to clear his ears. Atlantean markers, the shape of nautilus shells, morphed and changed to indicate location, time and the ambient temperature. There was no night or day in Atlantis. Calamar’s technicians marked time using Earth’s rotations around the sun just like everyone else. They just didn’t spring forward or fall back.

 

Swoosh!

 

High above, visiting delegates followed the hunt as if they were spectators at the Roman Colosseum. Apparently, watching Ben evade predators was more interesting than preventing Earth’s destruction. He supposed his uncle was watching too. When was he NOT watching? Ben tried blocking out the sounds of wagering which increased every time he hit a dead-end.

 

“I wager two power cells he succeeds!” Toich shouted. The vampire squid’s voice was always a raspy squeak.

 

“I wager ten!” said Urako, the shark leader. “I say the boy doesn’t make it.”

 

Hearing a thump to his left, Ben pivoted right and ran toward the control room.

 

Payback indeed. He’d already apologized for throwing Aris in the bathtub when they lived in California. How long was his mother’s cat going to carry that grudge? And Bastet? He was just along for the hunt. Two gigantic beasts against one human. The odds were not in Ben’s favor.

 

Sprinting down an unfamiliar corridor, Ben reached another dead end. That narrowed his choices to left, right or up. Up was the same as tapping out in a prize fight. He banked right to retrace his steps then sprinted across the bridge leading to the hydroponic garden where his sister worked.

 

So far so good.

 

The dome’s bright lights simulated sunshine on one side. The other half was kept in constant shade. Could he hide on the dark side? Probably not. Aris and Bastet knew the layout as well as he did.

 

“Hey! You winning?” April yelled.

 

“Not yet!”

 

“Try not to get bit, then,” April laughed and tossed him an apple. “For food or a weapon.”

 

“Not funny!” Ben caught the apple, then picked up speed and sprinted out the other side of the dome.

 

“Six minutes!”

 

Suddenly, Ben’s skin prickled. The glass tunnel was quiet. Too quiet. The crowd had stopped wagering. Skidding to a stop he felt static electricity build in the air.

 

The cats were closing in.

 

“Five minutes,” the nautilus clock read.

 

Ben considered his options. In training he’d learned not to run from an opponent if he was trapped. He had to close the distance. Wait until the opponent was off balance before pivoting to exploit their weakness.

 

But what was Aris’s weakness? Between shape shifting, infrared vision, armor plating and the most keen sense of smell of any animal alive, the cat was invincible.

 

“Four minutes!”

 

The ground rumbled. It had been doing that a lot lately. Small earthquakes. The wall in front of Ben rippled.

 

Rippled?

 

The tunnel wall wasn’t glass. It was a water!

 

“Three minutes!”

 

Ben’s pulse raced. Feeling the electrical charge grow stronger around him, he tilted his head to the right. A distortion moved slowly in his direction. Tilting to the left revealed the same thing. He was almost out of time.

 

“Think!” Kavera used to tell him. “Fear is a tool, not a guide.”

 

Water! Aris hates water!

 

Coming August 20, 2020. Preorder now at your favorite bookstore.