Chapter 9

After the children had gathered up their meagre possessions, Mrs. Francis herded them into rows, with each older child holding hands with a younger one. The Guards took up positions along the line, forming a protective escort with Mimi, Cara, and Mr. Kipling in the lead. When the chaotic mass of children was finally in a rough semblance of order, Mimi signalled to Xnasos and Xnasha that they were ready. The babble of excited conversation died down to an expectant hush as the Hollow Mountain refugees turned their attention to their hosts.

The Atlanteans faced the glowing dome, its surface smooth and glassy. It was closed and had been since just after the Atlanteans had departed from it. Now Xnasos approached the dome, moving across the metal gangplank until he stood directly in front of the weird object. He reached out, laid a hand on its surface, and uttered a series of words in his own language. The dome responded. The light pulsed brighter and the dome shuddered. A deep thrumming vibration filled the chamber so strongly that Mimi could feel it resonating in her chest. The children sighed in wonder as a section of the dome slid back with a smooth hiss until there was a slice out of the sphere. Golden light spilled over the faces of the spectators. Mimi had to admit it was pretty impressive— until the slice ground to a halt when the opening was only a metre wide.

“How embarrassing!” Xnasos groaned, kicking the dome in frustration. “It’s stuck! Oh, what a piece of rubbish!”

“I’m surprised it opened at all,” Xnasha said, exasperated. “We haven’t any idea how any of our technology really works. Everything was built centuries ago and we’ve lost the manuals. Even if we had them, we probably wouldn’t be able to read the ancient language, so it’s hard to do routine maintenance. We’ll have to squeeze!” Xnasha shook her head and squeezed through the opening. Once through, she stuck her head back into the gap. “Come on. It’s a tight fit, but you’ll manage.” With that, she disappeared into the luminous dome.

Mimi shared a nervous glance with Cara, who shrugged and said, “Scared?”

Mimi scowled and stepped through the gap.

She found herself at the top of a wide stairway made of the weird glowing material. The stairway was long, leading down farther than Mimi could see. The walls and ceiling joined overhead in a smooth arch of the same stuff. The light was bright but not painful to look at. Xnasha stood on the steps below, beckoning and smiling. Mimi started down after her.

Mimi walked carefully down the stairs and found herself in a wide corridor. The floor was paved with huge pink flag-stones covered with carvings of tiny shelled sea creatures, sea horses, and fish. On closer examination, the creatures weren’t carved into the rock but actually embedded in it, fossils of ancient living things entombed forever in the stone.

“So beautiful,” Mimi whispered. She’d seen fossils before, but never so many in one place. She looked to either side and saw that the walls were made of the same material. Mimi traced the curling tail of a crablike creature, her mouth hanging open in wonder.

“You’re easily impressed,” Xnasha laughed. “Wait until you see the city!” The Atlantean reached out her gnarled hand and grasped Mimi’s elbow. “Come! It isn’t far!”

Mimi looked behind her up the stair to make sure the others were following. Mrs. Francis was having difficulty negotiating the narrow opening. One Atlantean gently tugged her arm while another pushed firmly from the other side.

“Really,” Mrs. Francis fumed.

Mimi couldn’t help but laugh despite the housekeeper’s obvious discomfort. Leaving Mrs. Francis in the care of the Atlanteans, Mimi let Xnasha pull her along.

The passage led on for the better part of a kilometre, slanting ever so slightly downward. The air was surprisingly fresh with a salty tang, more wholesome than she had expected any underground passage to be. Xnasha pointed at fossils as they went along, keeping up a running commentary. “Those are trilobites. They’ve been stuck in the rock for millions of years … there’s a sardine. Oh, and that one just became extinct a couple of decades ago. What a shame!” Mimi took the time to examine her companion more closely.

Xnasha was female, although her short, stocky frame was anything but feminine. Her nose was thick and bony, but it gave strength to her face. Her mouth was wide and thin, and her eyes were a very pale blue with flecks of green. Her pale hair, more white than blonde, was worn long, and wound in its tresses were fragments of coral, shark teeth, and shells.

“This is the Hall of Entry,” Xnasha said, running her hand along the cool pink surface of the stone as they followed the corridor. “Down this hall, kings of the surface would come to ask our advice, beg for our help, ask us for trade.” Xnasha smiled sadly and let her hand drop. “A long time ago. Now I doubt that anyone knows we exist or thinks we’re anything more than a legend.” Her eyes brightened. “Ah, we’re here.”

The corridor ended in a metal door. It might have originally been shiny, but years had coated it with a thick layer of black tarnish. The carvings on the surface were still clear: tangled fronds of seaweed intertwined in complicated relief covering the entire surface and two dolphins leaping over a giant shell in the centre. The door was vast, more than ten metres high.

“The mighty Dolphin Gate!” Xnasos and the others caught up with Mimi and Xnasha, gathering beside them. He sighed sadly while running his hand over the ornate metal. “Cast in a single slab of silver. Beautiful, isn’t it? We really knew how to build in those days. We really ought to give it a good clean one day …”

“Why bother?” Xnasha said irritably. “No one ever sees it. We never leave this place and no one ever visits.” Mimi sensed frustration in the little woman, as if the isolation of Atlantis was a bone of contention often picked over between brother and sister. Xnasos stared daggers at his sister. Sensing his displeasure, Xnasha shrugged. “Frankly, I don’t think there’s enough silver polish in all of Atlantis to make it shine as it once did.”

“Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try,” Xnasos said under his breath. Shaking his head, he reached up with his staff and tapped the centre of the shell. “Fendictus Blort!” The door split down a previously invisible seam, its two halves swinging silently inward. The children gasped.

“Oh, that’s nothing,” Xnasos chuckled. “Don’t just stand there with your mouths open like a bunch of groupers!⁴⁵ Come in! Come in!”

He strode forward through the mighty gate. After a moment’s hesitation, Mimi and Cara followed him, leading the rest of the Hollow Mountain refugees.

Mimi stepped through the gate, blinking in the sudden glow of sunlight overhead. She stopped short and let her eyes adjust, but when they had, she almost refused to believe them.

Considering all the amazing adventures Mimi had enjoyed up to this point in our story, you might not credit that she could still be amazed. Sadly, you would be underestimating the human capacity for wonder. She had never seen anything so beautiful in her short life. Granted, her early experiences had been severely limited: she grew up in a tiny Texas town and then travel led straight to the remote and miserable wasteland that was Windcity. Still, she had trekked across the Arctic ice and witnessed the glory of the northern lights. She had soared via airship across the North Atlantic and watched the sun rise over the grey ocean waves. She had lived within the Hollow Mountain, the product of centuries of brilliant human engineers.

None of those sights could have prepared her for the majesty of Atlantis. She found herself standing in a huge paved square. The flagstones were fashioned from the same stone as the corridor, irregular in shape and fitted together with painstaking precision like a giant jigsaw puzzle. The musical rush of water drew Mimi’s eye to the centre of the square, where a fountain towered above her. Crystal-clear water gushed up towards the sky in a single, graceful column to then fall in glittering drops into a circular pool below. A mist of cool droplets moistened Mimi’s upturned face, gently caressing her skin. At the base of the fountain, a stone cluster of dolphins, octopi, shellfish, and mermaids sheltered under the broad arms of a man with a giant fork in his hand pointing high at the ceiling. The statue’s face was grim and bearded, a layer of grime darkening the recesses of his features, making him seem dour and serious.

“Hettakarus,” Xnasha said. “You know him as Neptune, god of the sea!”

“My great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather,” Xnasos said, puffing out his chest. “He was a mighty king in his day. Built most of what you see around you.” He spread his arms wide to indicate the towering structures crowding in around the square. “The city of Atlantis.”

Mimi stood dumbfounded, taking in the impossible city. Proud marble towers and colonnades lined the square. She looked to Cara and found her companion similarly impressed. Vast porches of stone carved to look like fronds of seaweed braced broad marble balconies. The towers stood at odd angles and were of varying sizes, lending the whole city a strangely natural feel, as if it had grown out of the seabed rather than having been built by humans. Thousands of windows faced onto the square. Some of them held beautiful panes of stained glass, but an equal number were gaping and empty, their panes shattered.

On closer inspection Mimi saw that many of the towers were cracked and leaning precariously. Some had already fallen into neighbouring structures, leaving stumps like rotting teeth in the otherwise beautiful skyline.

The more Mimi looked, the more she saw signs of decrepitude and rot. The magnificent buildings were in desperate need of maintenance, as if this whole civilization had seen better days.

Arranged around the square, a crowd of Atlanteans stood watching them. Their pale eyes and drawn faces did not look friendly. Mimi smiled at them and waved. They merely stared back, eyes filled with suspicion.

Mimi was so mesmerized by the vista before her that she hadn’t noticed the arrival of Mrs. Francis until the housekeeper spoke.

“Oh my word!” Mrs. Francis cried. “Look at the sky!”

Mimi followed the housekeeper’s gaze and couldn’t help but gasp in wonder. She hadn’t registered the sky as anything unusual because, as a surface-dweller, she always assumed there was a sky overhead. The sky above Atlantis wasn’t a sky at all but a crystal dome that covered the entire city. The crystal was completely transparent, tinted a soft blue by the sea above it. Schools of colourful fish lazed by like clouds of stars illuminated by a soft glow that emanated from the crystal barrier. The schools scattered as the cold, pale body of a shark waded through their formation, its bullet head thrashing side to side in an attempt to snap up slowpokes in its razor-sharp jaws.

“Ain’t that a sight to make ya sit down hard and stand up quick?”

“You have a strange way of speaking.” Xnasha laughed.

“Yeah.” Mimi smiled. “I’ve been told that b’fore.”

The other children from the Hollow Mountain arrived at the gate and began to file in. They looked about at the bizarre undersea city. From the legendary home inside the Hollow Mountain, they had fled to find themselves in another hidden, mythical land. Their faces registered the confusion and awe at their new surroundings.

The children’s reaction was predictable. What Mimi didn’t expect was the Atlanteans’ reaction to the children. They stared as the refugees flooded into the square. From their open-mouthed, wide-eyed reaction Mimi guessed they’d never seen so many surface-dwellers before. The Atlanteans began to whisper among themselves in their own language. Mimi tugged at Xnasha’s sleeve.

“What’s with them?”

Xnasha smiled. “It has been a long time since they have seen any children. We don’t know why, but we can’t seem to have any of our own. I was the last child born and that was more than three hundred of your years ago.”

Now it was Mimi’s turn to gape in astonishment. Being a child herself, she found it hard to judge how old adults were relative to herself.⁴⁶ She had guessed that Xnasha was an adult, maybe as old as her mother when her mother had died. Her mother had just celebrated her thirtieth birthday when the tapir⁴⁷ had plummeted from the sky and taken her life. So far, all the Atlanteans had pale white hair and their stunted stature made them appear older, but never would she have imagined she was off by several centuries. “That ain’t possible! How can ya possibly be so old? It ain’t natural.”

“It’s natural for us. We age differently from you. It has something to do with the environment we live in and our diet, too. And, of course, the Crystal Fountain in the temple.”

She pointed towards a large, imposing building directly across the square. The temple was held up by ancient stone columns carved in the shape of human figures. The figures were inlaid with coloured gemstones that almost made them seem alive. An archway pierced the front of the building, flanked by armed Atlantean guards wearing heavy plate armour and holding long spears. The archway glowed with a soft pearly light that spilled down the steps, bathing the paving stones with luminescence.

“Temple? Crystal Fountain?”

“Enough!” Xnasos snapped, cutting off any further explanation. Xnasha waited for her brother to turn away before winking and smiling secretively at Mimi. “Later,” she whispered. “I’ll show you after you’ve rested.”

Mimi returned her attention to the group. Now the Atlanteans were moving timidly forward, approaching the children with caution as if afraid these tiny beings might be figments of their imagination, prone to dissolving into air at the slightest touch.

The Hollow Mountain refugees, for their part, were wary of these odd creatures. Cara and the remaining Royal Swiss Guards took up defensive postures, watching the strangers approach. Mrs. Francis tried to look menacing but failed spectacularly. Mr. Kipling stood with his arm around his new wife’s shoulders and his free hand resting on the hilt of his sabre. The children didn’t know what to do. After the long day they’d had, many were practically dead on their feet. The younger ones hid behind the legs of the older children and peered at the Atlanteans with trepidation.

Mimi caught Cara’s eye and gave a quick shake of her head. Cara lowered her fighting stick and the other Guards followed her lead.

One Atlantean, a woman with bright silver wire woven through her hair, approached a small girl about four years old. The woman knelt so that she seemed less frightening and smiled.

“My name is Axandra,” she said in a soothing, friendly tone. “Who are you?”

The little girl stared for a moment in silence. Screwing up her courage, she said, “My name is Nicolette.”

“Nicolette,” Axandra said, savouring the word. “A strange and lovely name. Hello, Nicolette.”

“Hello,” said Nicolette. Then, shaking off her trepidation, she announced in a very loud voice, “I’m hungry.”

The spell was broken. Everyone laughed, Atlanteans and Hollow Mountainers alike. All suspicion and wariness were dispelled. Xnasos raised his staff and called for silence.

“Of course you are hungry,” Xnasos said. “You have had a long journey and a terrible heartbreak. But have no fear, you are welcome here in the realm of Atlantis. We will honour the pact made with the King of Switzerland. No enemy can reach you here. Tonight we will feast and celebrate the meeting of our two peoples. Our realm has missed the sound of children’s laughter for too long.”

He addressed his own people: “Make room in your homes for our guests. Bring food and drink and set tables for a feast.”

To the Hollow Mountainers, he said, “Eat and rest for a while. You are welcome among us. When you are refreshed, we will discuss our course of action in the council chamber of the Temple of the Crystal Fountain. Tonight, let no worry cloud your minds. You are safe here. As in the days of old, when Atlantis ruled the world, my forefathers swore that—”

Xnasha interrupted him. “Enough of your speechifying, brother. They need food, not words.”

Xnasos raised his hands and tugged at his white hair in frustration. “Why can’t I make one little speech? How often do I get to make a speech?”

“Once is too often,” Xnasha retorted.

Xnasos grumbled to himself and waved his staff. “Prepare the feast.”

The Atlanteans hurried to their tasks as the Hollow Mountain children chattered excitedly, discussing their newfound refuge.

HOURS LATER, Mimi finally lay back in a comfortable bed in the house of Xnasos and Xnasha after a long night of merriment and feasting under the great dome of the sea. At first it had been quite disconcerting to sit at the long trestle tables laden with fish, prawns,⁴⁸ shellfish, and seaweed salads heavily laced with salt and strange spices while the weight of the ocean loomed above, but she soon grew comfortable in the company of the Atlanteans. The odd folk were quite taken with the children, chatting and singing to them as they ate, telling them wondrous tales of the distant past, of great machines and beautiful ships that sailed above and below the sea. They played music on harps, pipes fashioned from the shells of sea creatures, and bizarre stringed instruments with bows of ivory and twine wound from sea plants. Everywhere Mimi looked, children ate and laughed happily as their hosts looked after their every need.

The music of the Atlanteans fell weirdly on her ear, reminiscent of waves and the cries of sea animals, sad and slow and complex. Mimi studied the Atlanteans, watching their clever little faces and hands as they played, and sensed an underlying sadness, a loneliness born of isolation in their underwater home. Xnasha, courteous and friendly, sat at Mimi’s side, asking many, many questions about the surface world.

Xnasha asked very funny questions: she wanted to know what the sun looked like, what the wind felt like. What did a tree smell like? Had Mimi ever seen grass? Was it true that there were millions of people on the surface and that they rode on the backs of animals and in machines over the land and even in the air? Xnasos frowned at Xnasha’s open curiosity from his place at Mimi’s other elbow. Mimi answered every question as best she could. She realized that the Atlanteans’ knowledge of the upper world was quite detailed, considering they hadn’t ventured there in what seemed like centuries or even thousands of years. Xnasha deflected Mimi’s own questions, saying, “Tomorrow. You will hear everything tomorrow. Don’t worry, there’s plenty of time for us to bore you tomorrow.”

Finally, having eaten her fill of the delicious food, drunk all the clear, cold, slightly bitter watered wine⁴⁹ she felt she could hold, and even sampled the ice cream made from whale milk, Mimi began to yawn uncontrollably. The feast broke up and the children were taken to the homes of the people who would shelter them for the night.

Mimi followed Xnasos and Xnasha to a stone house just off the square. The furnishings were beautifully carved from ivory and dark wood. Xnasha took her to a bedroom on the upper floor. They walked along a hallway, passing other rooms that looked as though they hadn’t been used in years, dust thick on the floor. Xnasha took her into a room with a balcony that looked out over the square where the people of Atlantis were busy cleaning up after the celebration. A bed was set out for her on the balcony, and a small table held a basin of hot water for washing. Xnasha bid Mimi good night.

Mimi splashed her face with water but had no energy for a more thorough bath. She stripped off her filthy Guards uniform and let it fall to the floor, putting on a fluffy robe Xnasha had set out for her. She fell into bed and pulled the soft blanket (woven from seaweed) up to her chin.

The air was warm and a light breeze wafted over her as she gazed up into the ocean overhead. Her eyes were heavy. She was glad of the safety and the food and the new friends. Tomorrow, she would make plans. They had to find Parveen and Aidan. They had to rescue the other children. She wondered where Hamish X was right now.

“He can take care of himself, wherever he is,” she mumbled. “I just hope Parveen is okay.”

And with a last thought of her little friend, she fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.