Part 34 (1/2)

”But”-Lilly sat up on her elbows-”you heard what I said. I never saw the siren. I'm sorry I lied.”

”It's okay,” I said. ”I'm just glad you're here.” I thought to lean in and kiss her again. Started to- ”What's this siren you keep talking about?” asked Leech. I glanced at him and saw that he had a little smirk, like he knew he'd been interrupting. Having him around all the time was going to get old fast.

”You know,” I said to him. ”The blue girl, the vision. Underwater, or in the temple.” Leech's brow scrunched. ”You might have seen her somewhere different,” I added.

”Or,” said Leech, ”I have no idea what you're talking about. I just grew gills and knew how to draw maps of the world the way it looked ten thousand years ago. I never saw anything like your siren girl. You sure she wasn't some little fantasy of yours?”

”I didn't make her up,” I said, but now I had to wonder. Was I really the only one seeing her? And so was she even real? ”Hey,” I said to Lilly, ”if Leech hasn't seen her either, maybe she's just a part of my awakening. You might still be the third Atlantean.”

”Maybe,” said Lilly, ”but I've never felt like one. Not the way you have. The way both of you know know things? That hasn't happened to me.” things? That hasn't happened to me.”

”Well, but, maybe it will, the closer we get.”

Lilly just shrugged. She sat up and closed her eyes at the breeze. ”Man, this air is so dry. Sweet-smelling, too. Free air. I love it.”

She turned toward me. We kissed. It was already a little familiar, the taste of it, the movements, and that only made it better.

”Ugh, this is going to be unbearable,” Leech groaned.

We kept kissing just to spite him but then stopped because we could feel him watching.

”Um... ,” said Leech.

Lilly pulled away. ”What?”

”I'm not going to kiss either of you,” he said, ”but thanks for coming back for me.”

”Sure,” I said.

Leech's expression darkened. ”I thought I knew Paul. He was so patient with me. We'd been working on those maps for years, me drawing down in that navigation room. I thought I was important, like part of the team. But then when you guys found that skull, it was like everything changed. He had me try to talk to it, or whatever you do, and when I said it didn't work, he hooked me up to those machines like I was one of his lab rats or something.”

”We know the feeling,” I said. I also thought back on how Leech had acted toward me, and realized that at least some of it was because he'd been feeling left out himself, something I could relate to.

Lilly was gazing out behind us. ”You can't even see it,” she said. ”It was my whole world, for so long, and now it's not even on the horizon.” She sighed. ”Feels good.”

”Yeah.” I wasn't sure what I felt. We'd escaped, but that only meant that we didn't know what came next.

”Good luck, guys,” Lilly said quietly. I figured she was thinking of Evan, Marco, and Aliah.

”I'm sure they'll get out,” I said, but I also realized that if Aaron wasn't on our side, that south hatch might never have been open.

”Yeah,” said Lilly. ”We have some contacts in the city that could help them. I'm not worried. They're my people.”

I rubbed her back as her gaze stayed distant.

”They're gonna be after us,” said Leech. I'd had that thought, too. ”Paul and his team. We're the key to his entire plan, and he's not going to stop until he has us.”

”Do you know what the Paintbrush of the G.o.ds is?” I asked him.

Leech shrugged. ”Not specifics. Only that it's something Paul thinks can save the world, or whatever.”

”What if he's right?” Lilly asked.

”Then we find out on our own,” I said. ”We find Atlantis, the Heart of the Terra, and we decide.”