Chapter Two:

True to what he had said, Michael Thompson sent the expedition out exactly a week later. The plan, according to him, was simple: Take a drive over to Athens, take a plane from there to Gibraltar, Spain, take a boat and find Atlantis. From the way he spoke, it sounded as if he thought the whole thing would only take a week or two. He swore time and again that Thomas Fringes knew exactly where everything was. The trio of younger people had quite a debate about that. Katherine was truly out to find Atlantis and get the elixir; Jay and Marco were only along for the pay.

Reaching Gibraltar, a hot, dry city, the ten had found that their ship had not yet come in and had all stood around. Eventually, a few of their party had wandered off. Michael Thompson had not only chosen a party to escort them not only around Gibraltar, but to take them out on the ship in the Atlantic as well. Jay, Marco, and Katherine stood, leaning against a large wooden crate and trying to fan themselves off as they looked along the cracked road to the city. Katherine had taken out one of her books and was trying to use it as a fan, but it was too heavy and she often had to give her wrist a rest. Fringes, his assistant, Billy Simpson, and Renny were all trying to supervise the placement of their luggage. It was a hard job; everyone but Jay and Marco had brought at least three suitcases with them.

Christine, as it so happened, was sitting on the largest suitcase they had, which also happened to be her own. "I hate this sun," she said again. "It's making my hair frizz."

"On the bright side," Katherine told Jay and Marco much too happily, "at least we can't see it. Covered up or no, it's still disgusting."

The subject of the abuse glared at her from beneath a large, round, black and white hat but didn't say anything. Christine tried to pass it off as sophistication which withheld her from making a catty remark, but everyone present could tell she was just simply too hot and exhausted to use the energy.

Jay and Marco, however, had plenty of energy, and they exchanged looks. For the past few days, Katherine had been speaking to them only civilly when she was saying something mean about Christine. And they had come to learn that if they let Katherine insult them and just ignored her, she was likely to simply leave in a huff. Michael had told them that himself.

Jay had finally found out from one of the servants in Michael's home that Katherine had originally intended to head the expedition, but Michael had handed the job over to Renny, someone Katherine apparently despised. Christine had found out what Michael had done and couldn't resist rubbing it in at every opportunity, which kept Katherine from speaking to her and instead telling her witty insults to Jay and Marco instead.

"Ahoy, mates of our jolly crew, I think we 'ave got ourselves a bloody jolly good deal 'ere, if I do say so myself."

"Oh, shut up, Dave," said the girl behind him. Her name was Lucy, and she was a young woman about five years older than Katherine with disobedient dirty-blond hair, permanently tanned skin from too many days outside, and soft hazel eyes that seemed to stand out like ice in her face. She was obviously exasperated. "You aren't even British- you're from Florida, for God's sake."

Dave, a tall man with dark hair and eyes set in a chiseled face, tipped his baseball cap at her with a wink. "So? I find it doesn't do me harm with the ladies. Isn't that right, Miss?" he asked Katherine, wriggling his eyebrows.

Katherine turned away in disgust.

Behind her, Dave shrugged and turned to the first woman who passed by who wasn't part of the expedition. "'Ello, miss. Are you married?"

The woman hung around long enough to give him a lesson in colorful language and then walked away, her face only half as red as her words had been.

"Well," Dave said, flustered and once again speaking in his flat American dialect. He took off his Mets baseball cap and slapped it back on his head indignantly. "Welcome to Spain, huh?"

Renny came over. Katherine turned to study and critique his way of doing things. "That's nine of us," he said. He grinned at Katherine, and she narrowed her eyes. "Who are we missing?"

"Castor something-I-can't-pronounce," Lucy said promptly. Katherine had learned quickly on the flight over that she had an excellent memory.

Lucy's words stopped her cold. "Castor?" she asked. The hot air seemed suddenly nonexistent. She didn't notice the three strands of hair that which the hot breeze used to tickle her nose. Her heart alternated between pounding in her ears and not pounding at all. I thought I'd gotten rid of him! she cried. Her vision cleared enough that she saw Christine, and the world came rushing back to her. I've been had, she thought bitterly.

Christine smiled with all the warmth of ice, amused. "Oh, yes. I almost forgot, dear," she said, her voice betraying the happy giddiness she was trying to conceal. "Your father wanted me to give this to you. When I went to your room that fateful morning, I thought you were truly sweet on that boy, and I thought that I should mention it to your father, seeing as how I would be so happy to see you settled and happy with someone you loved. He seemed very taken with the idea of your taking up with a single boy for more than a week." She handed Katherine an envelope, the sides bulging.

Katherine took the envelope and weighed it in one hand. It wasn't very heavy. She opened it, pulling out a white sheet of paper and pleased to find that the envelope hadn't been opened beforehand. If it had been, only the letter would have been there- if that.

"How much did Dad pay you to make sure you didn't open this?" she asked Christine.

"A few thousand dollars, no more," Christine said, reclining one the luggage and giving her another cold smile.

"Hmm," Katherine said. She unfolded the letter and turned to keep Marco, who had just then decided to wander behind her, from reading its contents.

Dear Katherine,

If you got this, I suppose it means that Christine didn't open it. Don't worry; I wasn't going to pay her anyway.

She says you've taken up with this boy Castor. I decided to let him tag along on the expedition to see how things turn out. But, I have also taken into consideration that you don't truly love this boy, nor like him. You told me so yourself. Christine says that's your way of pushing people away and keeping from growing up and settling down or some-such jargon. If it isn't, well, we'll just have to wait and see. I've enclosed a token of apology in here. I hope you get and accept it.

Your mother found this necklace on a dig four or five miles out of Thebes. Seeing as how the museum wouldn't accept it because the piece wasn't "Egyptian" (those crazy museum people- what can you say), she kept it for herself. She wore it till the day she died. It was one of her favorite pieces. SO, if you wear this, I'll know I've been forgiven.

Love,

Dad

Katherine sighed and stuck the letter in the back pocket of her jean shorts. She opened the envelope once again and pulled out the necklace. She gazed at it in surprise and shock. The chain was gold, and at the end of it was a small golden circle, a thick line spiraling out from the center. Here and there were small holes, some filled by jewels, others empty. Katherine looked at the back, in which an inscription had been written between the lines of the spiral. She ran a finger over the symbols which she recognized as a very ancient form of Greek. She read them, deciphering slowly- it was a very old version of the language. She read it through and said it aloud, testing it on her tongue and liking the sound of it. Finally, she'd translated it roughly to "With love and protection to the Keeper."

"Oh, my God," Christine said, seeing the sunlight flicker off the medallion. "If I'd known that was in there, I would have opened it up immediately. Geez."

Katherine, glaring at her, put the necklace around her neck and held it in one hand protectively. "Actually," she said, hoping to throw Christine off, "even the museums wouldn't accept it."

"Oh." Christine turned away, uninterested.

"You've got to be kidding," Jay said, his eyes wide as he looked at it. "Do you know how much that thing is worth?"

"Not much," Katherine said, sensing trouble. She gave Jay a meaningful look, which he apparently didn't see.

"A few thousand dollars," Marco said, staring at the her hand as if he could see through it. "Maybe even a few million." Katherine looked at Christine, who was now paying full attention. "Girl, you need to let me hook you up."

"Later," Katherine said quickly. She had been distracted and was now staring at someone she had wished she would never see again. Someone last week she had prayed would never be seen by any girl with half her wits still intact.

Castor was walking over.

He still had his toothy grin, though why he made it so toothy, she would never know. His teeth were not his best attributes. Neither was his nose, or face, or looks, or character, or- or- or shoe size- The list went on.

As soon as he was about to call out to her, she turned and looked quickly from Jay to Marco and back again. Marco wasn't her type. Both she and Castor knew that already. He'd see through it in a second. Jay, on the other hand...

She rubbed her amulet and whispered, "Mom, help me out." In a flash, she was pulling Jay's chin down and kissing his full on the lips. Once done, without waiting to find out if Castor had seen, she smacked her lips together quickly, swallowed, and walked to the end of the dock, where a ship had just pulled in, her head held high.

Oh, this trip was going to be so much fun.

* * *

"Women are just crazy, man," Marco said as he and Jay watched the silver snakes of bubbles slither and foam away in the aft of Titanic Jr, the large ocean yacht which Michael Thompson had bought especially for the expedition.. "Kissing you and not me," Marco muttered.

"Don't get all hyped up about it," Jay told him, licking his lips. "It wasn't the greatest kiss of all time."

"Yeah, sure," Marco said, unconvinced. "That's why you've been licking your lips ever since."

"The food, man. Good sauce."

"Mientes, hombre. La muchacha tiene tu-"

"I'm not lying," Jay said, losing patience quickly. "And she doesn't have anything of mine."

Katherine resurfaced from below deck just then, peering into the shadows. "Just you guys?" she asked.

Jay nodded and waved her out. She'd been acting like a scared rabbit the entire time they'd been on the boat, though whom she was running from he hadn't quite figured out.

"Good," she said. She walked over and sat down. "Now, tell me. Do either of you think it's a bad omen that this ship is called the Titanic Jr.?"

"Yeah, now that you mention it," Marco said. "Any icebergs out here?"

"If the Titanic could find one, I'm sure we can manage if you want you badly enough," Jay said.

"No, thank you."

Katherine rubbed her medallion, in deep thought. "Do you think it's up there? Somewhere near Titanic? No, that couldn't be it. Then all of those expeditions in search of the Titanic would have found it."

"Question," Jay said. He leaned back in his chair as Katherine looked at him. "We're looking for the elixir, right? Is it going to be already made or is it the formula?"

"We don't quite know yet, really."

"Then how are we supposed to find it? It's been in Atlantis for thousands of years, in case you haven't thought of that. How's it supposed to have survived?"

"I don't know. All I really know is that my dad is going to die if I don't get it to him."

"He looked pretty healthy to me," Marco said, tossing pieces of ice into the water. He'd already made enough puddles by tossing them on the deck.

"Well, what do you know?" Katherine spat at him. Marco looked at her. The witch is back, he thought. "You two have been living on the streets as scoundrels for years, probably. Marco, I could hear you screaming all the way down the hall when they tried to cut your hair. And you," she said to Jay, "were sweaty, dirty, smelly, and utterly disgusting." Frowning, she got up to leave, not seeing Castor walk out of a door and spot her. Grinning, he began to walk to them.

Jay grabbed her hand and stood up with her. "Then you'll probably find this really disgusting, too, right?" And with that, he hugged her and kissed her as she had kissed him earlier, ignoring her trying to get away by holding her arms, and ignoring Marco's hoots. When he finally pulled away, he grinned at her and said, "Castor was watching."

"You-" she spat. She tried to slap him. He caught her hand and pulled her toward him. She slipped in one of the puddles from Marco's ice cubes and fell heavily.

Jay and Marco apparently couldn't help themselves. They busted out laughing.

Katherine struggled to stand and stomped on the deck. "That's it!" she said. "I'm leaving."

"Feel free," Jay said, grinning. "No one's keeping you."

"Oh, I ought to-" Instead of trying to slap him again, Katherine balled her fists together and stomped away.

"Spoiled brat," Jay said with a leer.

"Yeah. It's funny, you know," Marco said as he looked out over the water.

"What's funny?"

"Castor stopped coming and left as soon as you two started, but you kept kissing her."

"So? Payback."

"Uh-huh. Right. All I'm saying is that she'd better be able to hook me up with some of her friends."

"Oh, shut up."

Of all the things! Well- well- Jay could just go to Hades, that's what! Or if she so wanted, she'd send him down to Neptune and Davy Jones's Locker!

And suddenly, something tugged hard on her arm, pulling her overboard. "Oof!" she managed to yelp. Then she fell in someone's arms, and she quickly realized she was in a smaller, lighter speedboat, being held by someone she didn't recognize. She promptly began hitting him. "Let me go!" she shouted. "I swear I'll-"

The person promptly dropped her.

"How dare you drop me like that!" Katherine demanded, trying to stand up.

"You wanted down, didn't you?" the man said, kneeling in front of her and clamping a hand over her mouth. With another hand, he took out a gun and held it pointed towards her chin. She could feel the point digging into her jaw. "Now, don't say anything," he said. "Is that understood?"

Swallowing, she nodded.

"Good," the man said. "Jackson, step on it."

Katherine jumped up. "Jay! Marco! NOW!" The man was up a split second behind her, pulling her back and trying to cover her mouth. "Help!" she shouted.

* * *

"Did you hear something?" Jay asked.

"Yeah. I heard myself speaking," Marco said. "That was probably what you heard. But did you know that if you actually truly listen and think about what you hear, you can actually make out words and understand what's being said?"

Jay held up a hand to silence him. "That!" he said a few seconds later. "It sounded like someone shouting."

Marco strained to hear, but he still couldn't hear anything. Right as he was about to say so, he heard "Jay! Marco! NOW!" and leaned back, reclining in his chair. "It's Katherine the Wicked Witch of the World," he said sleepily. "We aren't her servants or anything. Let's stay here and enjoy the view. Even if it is boring."

And then the two heard the sound of a speedboat, previously hidden under the sound of the engines. They looked over the railing in time to see the boat speed past, a man wrestling Katherine to the floor.

"Hope you got your gun," Jay told Marco. His own gun was already in his hand.

"A gun," Marco said, whipping his out. "Never leave home without it."

Together they fired at the ship, high-fiving each other when they hit the boat, and colliding into each other when the boat started firing back.

"Ow!" they said in unison.

"Get back!" Jay shouted as the people in the speedboat almost hit him. He rolled away and turned to pull Marco back with him. They lay on the deck, panting, as Castor came running up, with Christine and Renny in his wake.

"What happened?" Castor said.

"They took Katherine," Jay said breathlessly. He sat up and watched the speedboat disappear in the distance. Marco sat up beside him, punched him lightly in the shoulder, and nodded to show his thanks as he gasped for breath.

"Oh, good," Christine said. Everyone looked at her in shock. "What?" Christine said innocently. "I for one am glad to be rid of the little brat. And now we've got more food to go around, too. Oh, and who wants her room?"

Lucy and Dave came running from the other side of the boat.

"What happened?" Dave demanded. "We were down below with Fringes and we heard shots."

"And we found this on the deck," Lucy said, holding up a small, brown canvas sack.

Jay held his hand up for it, and Lucy tossed it to him right as Renny said, "Here, let me see that."

Jay ignored Renny as the man repeated himself and opened up the bag. There was a slip of paper in it. He read it curiously. "The map for the girl. East dock, dock 180, eleven tomorrow night."

When he was done, he handed it to Marco. Marco read it, nodded, and handed it back. Jay handed it to Renny, who read it and ran his hands through his hair. "All right," he finally said. "Who has the map?"

No one moved.

"It says here, 'the map for the girl.' I need the map."

"Do we have to make a deal?" Christine asked, stroking his cheek.

"Thompson will send my head rolling if anything happens to his daughter." He pulled Christine's hand away. "So we make the deal. Now, who's got the map?"

Once again, no one answered.

"Who's got the map?" Renny asked, beginning to get angry.

Everyone exchanged looks.

"Who?" Renny shouted. "Who's got the map?"

"Are we there yet?" Marco asked. "Are we there yet?"

"Can I drive?" Jay said, taking it up.

"I'm hungry," Marco whined.

"I have to go to the baaaaaaaathroooooooooooooom," Jay said. They laughed.

Renny set his hands on his hips. "All right. You two think this is so funny, you go tomorrow night and get that Katherine snob out of there, hear me?"

Jay shrugged. "That's what we're getting paid for."

Marco looked somewhat horrified, but a kick from Jay got him to nod reluctantly. Jay gave Renny a mock salute as the man walked away.

After he and Christine had left, Lucy said, "That man is going to be awful. Whatever could have possessed Thompson to hire him?"

"I don't know," Jay said, "but I bet we could find out."

Lucy grinned evilly. "I'm on it."

"I want to find out who that Christine woman is," Dave said, watching Christine's rear waggle. Lucy hit him on his arm. "Right," Dave said. "We'll go research those two, see what we can find."

As they walked away, already in deep conversation about their plan, Castor said, "I wish to help."

Jay nodded, frowning slightly. "What can you do?" he asked. "I mean, no offense, but your English is awful."

"Yes. So I have heard. So is my Greek. I did not go to school as boy. I grow up on streets, like you." Marco and Jay exchanged looks. There was no way this boy could have had the same life they'd had on the streets. "I know how to shoot a gun. I wish to help. That is enough, yes?"

Jay thought and finally shrugged. Their odds weren't good. At least one more person helping them would make it a bit better.

This decided, the three separated, and Marco and Jay went to their stateroom, where Jay shrugged off his jacket and checked for holes. Marco looked in the mirror to make sure his T-shirt was all right.

"What the hell?" Jay asked. "Oh, no. No. Not that." He turned the pocket of his jacket over and started shaking it.

"What is it?" Marco asked, watching him.

"The trinket. It fell. It must have broke when we fell on the deck."

"We didn't fall on the deck. We dropped to the deck. It was a planned reaction. What do you mean, it's broken?"

"I mean," Jay said, as bits and pieces of metal fell out, "that it's broken."

Marco stared at the box, his eyes wide. "Oh, no. Our bargaining piece..."

"You don't have to tell me," Jay snapped. He reached into the pocket to get the rest out and blinked. "What the-" He pulled out a folded piece of paper. It still looked fresh. The folds didn't come apart as he unfolded it.

"What's that?" Marco asked, coming over to see.

"A map," Jay said.

* * *

"Oh, you are so busted," Katherine said. "Wait until my dad hears about this." She sat in the back of the boathouse, her hands tied behind her to a pipe.

The man knelt in front of her. This person was different. Slightly fat, and with all the signs of someone who had wasted the best years of his life away in books. She had already started calling him Nedry, after the geek in "Jurassic Park." He started reaching for her chest.

"Hey!" she shouted indignantly. "Listen, creep, I'd get away-"

She went silent as he lifted up her medallion, looking at it curiously. He ran his fingers over it. "With care and protection for the keeper, huh?" he leered, looking at her. She frowned, immediately thinking that a shower would be nice. He pulled hard on the medallion, trying to snap the chain. She shrieked in pain.

"Stop that!" another man said softly, hurriedly. "Someone might hear."

"It won't come off," Nedry whined, pulling on it harder. Katherine whimpered.

The man jumped down from the box he'd been standing watch on and shoved Nedry out of the way, catching the medallion as it fell down. Unlike Nedry, he didn't pull on the chain, he simply studied the medallion. Katherine breathed in raggedly, her eyes stinging, and the skin on her neck red and raw. The man said softly, "Don't worry, girl. It's all right. You're the keeper. Nothing can harm you as long as you wear this."

"Oh?" Nedry asked. "Try hanging. It happened to that dog with the Hope Diamond."

"Ignore him," the man said, seeing Katherine's eyes turn cold and venomous as she looked at Nedry. "My name is Asio. Anything you wish, just let me know, all right?"

Katherine nodded. "I wish to be loose and back with my friends," she said, shoving her chin out.

Asio grinned sadly. "Regrettably, you need ruby red slippers for that."

Katherine growled deep in her throat but didn't say anything.

"Whoa," Nedry said as Asio began walking back to his post. "You're saying we gotta keep this broad around."

"Yes," Asio said. He went back to his post and stood there silently. He nearly moved forward when Nedry stroked Katherine's cheek, but the stones in the medallion seemed to shimmer for a second, and then Nedry pulled his hand away, screaming, as the flesh on his hand sizzled.

Katherine, although she didn't understand what was going on, sighed in relief. Thank you, Mom, she thought. Eventually, boredom beat out worry, and she fell asleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Hey all. Thanks for reading. I should have stuff for this story and the story itself on my site soon. I'm going to try and put pictures in too! *knows it'll never work* *shrugs* Well, you never know. Anyway, thanks for reading!