Return to Atlantis


 
 Return to Atlantis
 Kate O&Hearn
 Author of the Pegasus Series
 
 
 
 
 
 For Jill B., wherever you are—
 I’m sorry I didn’t do more to stop the bullying
 
 
 
 
 
 1
 “NO!” RILEY HOWLED. “LET US go! my dad needs to stay in the water!”
 “Riley…?”
 Riley woke with a start and felt hot and disoriented. She could still feel the dream wrapped around her as tightly as her sheets were. It was terrible, and she felt so helpless.
 Her mother was at her door and entered her room. She sat on the side of the bed. “It’s over, baby, it was just a dream.”
 Riley was panting as she sat up and untangled herself. “That wasn’t a dream, it was a nightmare.”
 “Was it Mada again?” her mother asked.
 Riley shook her head. “No, I—I was with Dad and Galina. We were riding the Leviathan and having so much fun. But then the Coast Guard came. They shot the Leviathan with a harpoon and then threw nets over us to catch us. We couldn’t get away. Dad was screaming and trying to stay in the water, but the men didn’t care….”
 Her mother hugged her tightly. “I’m sure your dad is fine. That was just a bad dream because you’re worried about the detectives’ visit this morning.”
 Riley’s breathing was returning to normal as she calmed down. “When will it end? Mom, they’ve asked us the same questions over and over again. They asked them in Florida when we arrived. And they asked them again when we got home. And now they’re coming back. When will they finally leave us alone?”
 “Soon,” her mother said. “They have to make sure everything fits. Don’t forget, your father had a large insurance policy. They could be looking for some kind of foul play. We know the truth, but they don’t. They can’t ever know.”
 “Could they think Alfie and I killed Dad and Aunt Mary?”
 “I’m sure they don’t think that. But there are concerns about what happened.” Her mother brushed hair out of Riley’s eyes. “Remember, you and Alfie were gone over six months. There are a lot of questions about your dad, Mary, and the Event Horizon. No one can figure out how you managed to survive alone at sea for so long. Not to mention Maggie’s blood in Miss Pigglesworth’s cabin. So just stick to the story, don’t elaborate, and you’ll be fine.” She got off the bed. “They’ll be here soon. Get up and get dressed; I want to talk to you and Alfie one more time to make sure your stories remain the same.”
 When her mother left, Riley climbed from her bed. She looked at the clock. It was almost eight, and the police detectives were due at nine. There wasn’t time for a shower if she wanted to talk with Alfie about what they were going to say.
 Riley never imagined that escaping Atlantis would cause so much trouble. It became a media circus when everyone heard about their “miraculous survival.” All the networks, newspapers, and magazines wanted interviews with them to talk about their time alone on the ocean.
 When there weren’t television crews waiting to talk to them, there were the police and investigators asking question after question, as though they somehow believed that Riley and Alfie had done something wrong. Riley’s mother said that the media was always looking for a juicy story, even if they had to make one up. It was Maggie’s blood in the cabin that caused the real trouble, despite it being proven not to be human. But it wasn’t animal either. The investigators were especially interested in that.
 The problem was they could never tell the truth—that the blood came from a leopard-woman named Maggie who had been badly wounded in a fight with a tiger-man while they were trying to leave Atlantis. And that they hadn’t been lost at sea at all. Instead they’d spent over half a year on a mysterious island filled with strange people who were slowly turning into animals. Where gargoyles and mermaids were real, and a monstrous sea serpent called the Leviathan patrolled the waters around Atlantis while dangerous unicorns protected the land….
 “Riley!” her mother called from downstairs.
 “Coming,” Riley called back.
 By the time Riley made it downstairs, Alfie was already there. “Hey, Shorty,” he said. Alfie tried to sound casual, but he was as nervous as she was.
 “Hey, Creep.”
 “Sit down, Riley,” her mother, Beverly, said. “Let’s go through it all again.”
 
 The police detectives arrived promptly at nine. Riley and Alfie had been through this so many times before. But they had to do it all again because any time there was a mysterious death at sea, it had to be thoroughly investigated.
 They all gathered in the dining room and sat at the table.
 “You are welcome to have your attorneys here,” the lead detective said as he pulled out his tape recorder and a notebook.
 Riley was about to speak when her mother said, “Do they need attorneys? Are you accusing these children of something?”
 “Not at all,” the female detective said. “We’re just letting you know your rights.”
 “We don’t need lawyers,” Riley said, “because we didn’t do anything wrong.”
 “Of course,” the woman said. “Now, why don’t you tell us what happened?”
 Riley took a deep breath and started to speak. “We’d been on the Event Horizon for two weeks. Dad was making a record of the humpbacks we saw.”
 “Whales?” the male detective asked.
 “No, humpback elephants,” Alfie said sarcastically.
 “Alfie,” Beverly warned.
 “What?” Alfie demanded. He stood up angrily. “We keep telling everyone what happened, but they won’t believe us! A storm came out of nowhere. The ocean turned wild. Then this big sailboat hit us. It wrecked our boat and threw us all in the water. Then Riley and me managed to get aboard the sailboat, but we couldn’t