Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

P enelope jolted awake, the computer screen bright in front of her eyes. The glare of the fluorescent lights above her made her head hurt. There were class timetables, project deadlines, and an awkward family photo on her cubicle's gray felt walls. The air smelled of stationary, stale Nescafe, and someone's lunch that they were reheating in the staff room microwave.

Penelope rubbed at her neck. What was she doing again? Had anyone noticed her micro-nap? No one seemed to have looked up from their own pods.

Outside, the rain was falling and turning Melbourne's streets dark. She had been having the strangest dream…something about Venice…

"You okay, Bryne? You look like someone just knocked you in the back of the head," Phil asked. He taught Ancient Roman history and spilled something on his shirt every day without fail.

"Yeah, just got a bit of a headache," she admitted.

"End of term will do that to you," he replied before wandering away.

"End of term," Penelope murmured.

Her screen had online class formatting pages open with a picture of a fresco found at the Akrotiri site on Thera. It was of Potnia, the Minoan goddess of fertility, holding the leash of a griffin with a blue monkey offering her a bowl.

Keep looking, the goddess whispered, and Penelope jolted back from the desk.

Penelope's eyes drifted to the background on her screen, and she closed the program. There was a picture of her standing in the waters of Crete, holding a lump of rock.

"The tablet." The dream came back to her in a rush. She had been in Venice with Atlanteans, including the love of her life. Cold fingers of dread crept over her. "How did I get here? I don't…" She didn't belong there. Not anymore.

How was she back? Penelope leaped out of her chair, hurrying through the cubicle maze. She made it to the bathroom before she wretched up coffee and biscuits.

"No, no, no. I can't be back here. I was never going back." She washed her hands and bare arms. She grabbed more soap and scrubbed at her forearms harder and harder. Faint lines of tattoos seemed to float like shadows under her skin. Penelope remembered pain, Aelia singing, and the marks that had remained. She remembered Poseidon kissing the back of her wrist and leaving the tattooed mark of the book and trident.

"Give them back. This is not my life!" she snarled, scrubbing harder. This was a nightmare. She froze, her pulse in her throat. "I'm in the labyrinth."

Penelope looked around her at the prints of flowers on the bathroom walls and the line of stalls. She stepped back out into the halls of the university.

The labyrinth will make you confront your shadows, a deep masculine voice whispered through her mind.

"Alexis," Penelope whispered, her hand resting over her thrumming heart. She saw a silvery string of light in her mind's eye and almost wept. It was still there. Alexis wasn't a figment of her imagination.

Penelope walked down the hall of the university department, the nausea clawing up her throat again. This was the labyrinth fucking with her. She had to hold onto that to keep the panic attack at bay.

Penelope had faced real demons and murderers in the past year, and yet she stood in her greatest fear—that she would wake up and Alexis and her magicians would have all been some kind of dream.

"And what makes you think you haven't completely lost your mind?" Stuart Bryne appeared before her. His brogue was light most of the time but when he was in a yelling sort of mood, the Irish came out in him. "I always said your hunt for Atlantis was a complete waste of time and talent. My daughter, labeled as some kind of pseudo-archaeologist! You're a disgrace."

Penelope cringed back. "No, I'm not. I found evidence. Real evidence. No one believed me. I know it's real. I've met survivors."

"Survivors! Listen to yourself, Penelope. No on can survive for thousands of years."

"Now, love, don't shout," Kiri said, appearing at Stuart's side. "We talked about this. Penelope has been very stressed and just needs a nice break to get her head right. I've been told that the facility is very upmarket and peaceful."

"What are you talking about, Mom? I'm not going into any facility." Penelope's hands clenched at her side. "You two should have believed me. Should have supported me. I am your daughter, and yet you chose to think I was crazy. Atlantis was real. The survivors are real. Magic is real."

Penelope's fingers ached, and the rain outside the window started to circle around in patterns. Poseidon's magic flowed in her veins. The Storm Bringer. Overhead, thunder boomed, and the glass rattled.

"I don't belong here," she said, her voice rising as she looked at her old office and disapproving parents. "This is not my life anymore. It was only a stop on the path to where I was truly headed."

Her father started saying something, but his voice was drowned out by more thunder.

" Let me out, " Penelope commanded.

The glass of the windows shattered, and saltwater rushed in, washing away her parents and colleagues, the desks and bookshelves toppling in a wave. Penelope no longer feared the sea. The sea was freedom. She dived under the waves and swam through a broken window.

Light shone above her through the water, and she kicked hard. She breached the surface with a deep gasp.

Carolyn was sitting on the edge of the pool, a glass of white wine with ice cubes in one hand. "Jesus, Pen, you were under there so long, I thought I was going to have to jump in and rescue you."

Penelope swam to the pool's edge and hauled herself onto the hot terracotta tiles. She wiped the salty water from her face. Salt. She had been in the ocean a moment ago.

"Sorry, what were we talking about?" Pen said, reaching for her bottle of Peroni.

"Why I'm stupid enough to agree to give Tim another chance," Carolyn replied, and she looked behind them to where he stood at the BBQ.

"Tim…" Penelope swallowed the hard lump in her throat. "You're giving him another chance because it's Tim, and you love him."

"You're right there. If only I could get him to stay away from Qumran," Carolyn said with a dramatic sigh. "Why do I have such a weak spot for archaeologists?"

"Because our attention to detail makes us the best lovers. You really should go with him next time," Penelope pointed out. She got to her feet. "I'm going to make sure he's not burning the sausages."

She was halfway across the backyard when she remembered the last time she saw Tim. He had been nothing but pulped flesh. Murdered by Abaddon.

"Tim," Penelope said and threw her arms around him.

"Hey! Don't get me all wet, you menace. I don't care how hot it is!" he squealed, trying to get away. Penelope held onto him, and he finally relented. "What's wrong, Hawkes?"

"Nothing, Carter," she said, swallowing down her tears at the pet names. "You know Christmas just gets to me."

Tim squeezed her hard. "Your dad is a dick, but you're with us this year and don't have to worry about his disapproval or your mom's constant fussing to appease him."

"I know. I just… I'm sorry for everything, Carter."

"Sorry for what? You haven't done anything wrong," Tim reassured her and took her by the shoulders. "What is this really about?"

"I couldn't save you from yourself or from Abbadon. I'm so sorry, Tim," Penelope said, tears streaming down her face.

The concern in his eyes shifted to something darker. "I thought we would always have each other's backs, no matter how wild our theories got. You found the biggest prize of them all, and you were going to keep it to yourself. You always were so selfish about your precious Atlantis."

Penelope held her ground. "They aren't a prize. They are people, and their secrets are worth protecting. They are my family."

"And we weren't? All you did was upgrade us when you found fancier people to hang out with!" Carolyn demanded, the wine in her glass sloshing over the side.

Penelope took a deep breath. Labyrinth. She was in the labyrinth. She opened her eyes. "I gave you both the opportunity to come with me on the adventure. To be a part of their secret and to have access to real magic and archaeology. You broke my trust, Tim. And Carolyn…you never believed in magic. You got to see the truth of the greatest of mysteries, and you made Alexis take it away. You both walked away and left me because you couldn't handle that I was becoming the person I was meant to be. It was fine when I was just a struggling archaeologist and the convenient shoulder to cry on. You both bailed as soon as I found what I was looking for. I'm sorry you died, Tim, but I won't feel guilty for it. I tried to protect you, and you attacked me. I'm sorry you couldn't love who I was becoming, Carolyn."

"You always loved the idea of Atlantis more than anyone else, Penelope. That's why I couldn't love you anymore. I was always going to be second," Carolyn snapped back.

Penelope flinched, the blow finding its mark. "I'm sorry you felt that way, but I can't change who I am," she said, straightening her shoulders. "Atlantis is a part of me. The song that I've always heard calling in my heart. You never had to compete, but I won't change who I am to suit anyone anymore. I'm tired of making myself small and silent. Atlantis has always been my future, a part of who I am. I'm never going to give it up. Not for anyone."

Penelope walked away from them as they shouted accusations, and she dived back into the pool. The salty water drowned them out, and she kept going, trying to escape their anger. She swam down and found the bottom of the pool was covered in sand. Penelope kicked off it, making for the crashing waves above her.

This time, she surfaced in front of an island. Penelope swam in on the waves, making out a temple structure through the trees. And she wasn't alone.