A Small Spark

Stephen

“I don’t like your people,” Mason said to Stephen as they sat in the cell. Stephen ignored him as he tried to think of a solution to get them out of there. Kane and Shane had left with translator. That would have been nice to have, so that they could talk to the other prisoners. Maybe they could help.

“Will you stop pacing?” Julie demanded, her eyes on Stephen. “You’re making me nervous.” Reluctantly, Stephen did what she asked. “Come on, we can think of a way out of here. This isn’t the worst trouble we’ve ever been in.”

“What in the world are you talking about, Woman?” Mason replied, incredulously. “We have never been in this much trouble.”

“I was trying to be optimistic,” Julie stated.

“You are literallythe worst, Julie,” Mason emphasized the word “literally,” knowing how much she despised that word. She always claimed that it was being used improperly.

“What do you think happened to the crew?” Stephen inquired, changing the subject. You know, before Julie gave them a grammar lesson.

“I’m guessing they’ve left by now. They’re not going to help us,” Julie told them. They did not deserve to be in here, they did not do anything wrong. But here they were. Stephen looked around at the other reprobates in the prison.

His eyes glanced around the prisoners. There was an older man, a man dressed in rags and had a reddened bruise on the left side of his face, directly across from them, who refused to make eye contact. Stephen assumed he was afraid of them or something. He glanced at his friends, wondering how they could be so terrifying to the other prisoners. Especially Julie, all five foot two of her.

To their right was a cell with two men huddled together, talking in what Stephen could only depict to be Atlantean. They glanced their way occasionally, like they knew who they were. On their right forearms there was a tattoo of a three circle, encasing their arms. Strange.

To their left, there was a pregnant woman. Unlike the rest of the people in the dungeons, she did not look half-starved. That was probably good because she was pregnant. There was a young girl, younger than Sally, that was dancing around the cell with the woman. Stephen assumed she was the daughter of the pregnant woman.

Suddenly, a thunder of footsteps resounded across the prison as King Ahab and his guards marched to their cell. One of the guards unlocked the cell, while another grabbed his arm. Stephen was dragged out of the prison so quickly he barely had time to register the countless other “criminals” he saw on the way.

Thrown into a room, Stephen was left alone for a few moments. Stephen looked around the room, taking in the atmosphere around him. It was a warm room with a table and two chairs sitting across from each other. There was a ceiling fan that was circling so slowly it was losing its purpose. Sitting in one of the chairs, he leaned back and counted the ceiling tiles. There was nothing for him to do but to wait to be interrogated for whatever it was they thought he did.

The king and some guy who had to be son by their similar features walked into the room. Kane and Shane was with them with the translator. “Incredible,” the king finally said. What was he? Some sort of zoo exhibit?

“He looks like them,” the king’s son remarked.

“Who?” Stephen inquired. Were they talking about his parents?

“He looks like Amaris,” he heard Shane mutter to Kane.

He heard footsteps behind him, another guy walking into the room. Great. More people to see the American. The new guy looked at him unbelievingly. Great.

“Adam,” the king said, “what are you doing here?”

“I heard that Surfacers were here. It’s all over Atlantis.” King Ahab remained emotionless.

“I’m sure they’ll be along for him,” muttered the king. It felt like lightning, the way hope struck him. Someone was coming, probably his birth parents. “Alstor,” the king addressed the man standing beside him, “where’s the girl?” His son hesitated.

“She got away,” he replied.

“And how is it that happened? I sent twenty of my men with you.”

“She has an accomplice,” Alstor tried to amend.

“I know that!” thundered the king. “I have always known this! Yet, you were unsuccessful.”

“I will go after her now, Father,” the prince tried to amend.

“And where is she, Alstor? How would you be able to acquire that information? She destroyed my camera!” Stephen wondered if this was all some sort of strange dream. Perhaps, if he closed his eyes and then opened them again, he would wake up in his warm bed in Colorado. The king refocused his attention on Stephen while the prince stood in his humiliation.

The other guy had never broke his stare. The king glanced at him. “Adam. Speak.”

“I’ve just never seen a Surfacer before. They’re not going to like him.”

“Who?” Stephen asked once more, now incredibly annoyed by the lack of answers.

The prince looked stunned by his own words. The second man smiled. “It works,” he stated. He strode over to Kane and Shane.

“I don’t mean any disrespect,” Stephen interjected, louder than before, it seemed like the right thing to say, “but you could at least tell me why you arrested me and my friends?”

“Who are you?” Adam asked.

“Stephen Lewis,” he answered.

“Do you know who you are Stephen Lewis?” questioned King Ahab. Stephen frowned, unsure how to answer.

“I’m from America?” he guessed.

“What’s that?” asked Alstor.

“Stephen,” continued the king, “let’s agree to not lie to one another. You are not in fact from America, are you?” Stephen shook his head. It was uncanny how he knew Stephen better than he seemed to. The king stood and began to pace around him.

“You are from here,” the king told him. Stephen nodded. “Yet, you returned after your parents cast you away?” Stephen did not answer, he refused to believe that his parents cast away like this. Thunder resounded above the prison. Stephen did not suspect anything, but he king and the other Atlanteans in the room grew uneasy. It was just rain. Or maybe it did not rain in Atlantis.

Stephen noticed Shane, Kane, and Adam glance among themselves. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning dropped from the sky, through the roof, into the interrogation room. Stephen froze. The heck was happening?

Adam grabbed Stephen’s arm and pushed him through the door with Shane and Kane at their tail. “Where did she say?” shouted Shane.

“Roof?” guessed Kane.

“Yeah, Kane, let’s go to the roof when Matthias is playing with lightning. You’re a genius,” Adam said, sarcasm dripping from his words. Yep. This was a dream. It had to be.

Adam led them through a maze of hallways before they were outside of the prison, staring at the moat. Stephen glanced at the others, wondering what their brilliant plan was here. “My friends,” Stephen said suddenly, his thoughts on Julie and Mason. “They’re still in prison.”

“Don’t worry about them, Stephen,” stated Adam. “Amaris and John are halfway there by now.”

“She took John? What was she thinking?” Shane complained. Or was it Kane? Which one was the girl?

“Well–” began Kane (Shane?), but Stephen interrupted, claiming that they should probably do something about escaping. They just stared at the water. Can Atlanteans not swim? Annoyed, Stephen jumped into the water and swam across.

“Stop!” they all shouted too late. Stephen was already in the water. He barely registered the heat. It pricked at his skin, but it was not that bad.

When Stephen made it to the land on the other side, he looked back at them. “How did you–”

“Are you coming or what?” Stephen wanted to know. Shrugging, they all jumped into the water and sawm across the moat. They peeled off some sort of protective suit when they reached Stephen.

“How did you­–” Stephen stopped listening when it started to snow around them, a frown appearing across his face. What kind of place was this? Its weather was more spontaneous than Colorado’s. Adam strode around like he was unfazed by the snow and began to lead them toward a city Stephen could barely see in the distance.

All the way, Kane and Shane argued about some girl named Amaris, who apparently brought some sick guy with her to rescue Stephen’s friends. At this news, Stephen spiked with anger. The fact that she was saving his friends with a guy who could fall over at any time did not help him trust her.

“She trusts John,” said Adam, silencing them both, “if she thinks he can do it, then he can do it. End of discussion.”

“Where’s Damon?” Shane immediately inquired. “He go back to the forest?” Stephen was mentally transported the map Julie had made. The forest stretched from the mountains to the castle in the west. Or the east. It was the west, he decided. It was the west.

“I think he’s helping with the lightning,” muttered Adam, completely annoyed.

“So, the Surface?” said Kane to Stephen as they trudged in the snow. He was only wearing Stephen’s superman t-shirt and jeans. Stephen was cold within minutes. “What’s that like?”

“It’s warmer,” Stephen mumbled.

Kane laughed like Stephen was joking and inquired what it really was like, but Stephen never answered. Stephen was too cold and his teeth began to chatter, he was not sure he had ever been so cold in all of his life.

Once they hit the city, Stephen figured they would stop at an inn or something, a place to rest. Instead, Adam walked to a stable yard and asked for four horses. The man working there said he only had carriages for rent at the moment. Adam seemed annoyed by this, but he paid the man for his discretion and took the carriage.

They climbed into a medieval looking carriage, and Stephen wondered why this place did not have any cars. Maybe he should tell them about the cars, see if they would jump on the opportunity. Maybe make some money or something. It took an hour, but they finally stopped in front of a pub called the Little Duck. Great. He could use a drink.