Chapter 14: Atlantis

    "Will, you just made your test a whole lot tougher!" Tracey snaps.

    I stomp my scaly feet and glare at him. Oh, really? Personally, I think it grew a lot tougher when this dawg gone claxton came between Maddie and me.

    Tracey grabs her and pulls her out of the way when the pedestal suddenly spins like a dreidel. Sliding to the edge of the cliff, it reveals a secret entrance to all three of us. That entrance is where the pedestal used to be.

    An explosion of water erupts from the hole and smacks into us like a tsunami. It knocks all of us off the cliff. We plummet toward the Ocean, and the sphere falls with us. Tracey pops his merman tail. Together, we crash into the rough Ocean.

    I spin toward another forest of seaweed, but I quickly shake out my head. My eyes land on Maddie. 

    She clutches her neck and kicks her legs. 

    Oh, right! She can't breathe underwater! As quick as a flash, I hurry to her and scoop her up on my head. I burst out of the Ocean.

    On my head, Maddie coughs water out of her lungs. She pulls her hair out of her face. "Will, what have you done?" she shrieks.

    Honestly, I have no idea. I just do not like the idea of a claxton bossing me around. I do not need people to look out for me, not after seven full years of living on my own.

    Tracey soon appears next to Maddie and I, and he grabs hold of my neck. "Hold on tight!" he yells.

    I notice a familiar sight. What Maddie, Tracey, and I are looking at is the whirlpool that tried to kill me before. It surrounds all three of us.

    Tracey tightens his grip on me. "The whirlpool will get us to Atlantis."

    What? So the attempted murder was actually the Ocean's way of trying to pull me to the lost city?

    Tracey sprinkles Maddie with a little bit of his magic. "Maddie," he says, "I'm putting a spell on you that will temporarily allow you to breathe underwater. Will, you need to take care of her."

    Are you kidding, dude? Of course, I'll take care of her! Maddie drops from my head, but I catch her in my paws. She and I close our eyes and hug each other when the whirlpool starts to suck us under.

    Memories of days on my island flush through my head. For a year after Mom and Dad abandoned me, I would wait at the shoreline for them. There was one day in particular that piqued my interest.

***

    I hiked up a hill to the island's highest cliff. A single palm tree rested on it. I placed my small hand on the tree's trunk and stared at the Bermuda Triangle's turquoise water. 

    A flock of seagulls soared toward the fiery sunset on the horizon. 

    I waved at them, but then I thought I saw a shadow in the water. A smile stretched across my face. "Mom! Dad!" Excited, I transformed into a dragon and hurried to what caught my attention. "Mom! Dad!" I roared. 

    The water under my body leaped into the warm atmosphere. 

    I stopped over the shadow, but sadness replaced my excitement when I realized that it wasn't my parents at all but a sunken ship. I decided that day that they were never going to return. I was alone in the world... literally.

    The full moon shimmered on my scales that night as I rested on my front on my island's hook, with my tail curved around my back legs and thighs. Staring at the endless Ocean, I batted a few shells with my front paw. There was nothing left for me. My parents had me, and then they decided to get rid of me.

***

    "Will, Will, are you okay?" Maddie pokes my cheek. I soon realize that the flashback was part of a dream. The whirlpool knocked me out.

    I slowly open my eyes. For a second, my world is blurry, but then my vision clears.

    Maddie gives me my shell. "You lost this when the whirlpool sucked us down." Thanks to Tracey's spell, she can breathe and talk underwater. She and I are resting on some sand with different-colored seaweed around us. Bubbles pass by our heads. 

    I scoop up my shell in my jaw. Where are we? I mentally ask.

    Maddie can somehow read my face. She turns my head and points forward. "Look."

    My blue eyes widen. I cannot believe what I'm looking at! The gate to Atlantis is a stone, circular structure with a pearl in its center. Behind it and the rocks that border it are old, cracked buildings, colosseums, etc. Some of the buildings sit on top of a few rock towers. It's cold down here, but that's because we're near the bottom of the Ocean.

    Tracey is at Atlantis's gate. He raps it with his knuckle. "Uncle Poseidon?" he calls. "I've brought you the Water Dragon and human."

    Oh great. I wobble to my feet and shake out my head and body.

    Tracey looks over his shoulder at me. "Sorry, Will, but as punishment for breaking the rules, you must now endure Poseidon's test." He slips his hand into a pocket in his tail and pulls out the sphere. "I will give this to you only when you do."

    Right when he says that, the gate to Atlantis creaks open. The first thing I see is a long, cobblestone pathway that leads to a single colosseum at the very back of the sunken city. Compared to the rest of the buildings, it is very scruffy-looking. It has cracked columns. Some columns are missing altogether.

    "Where's the other dragon?" I ask Tracey. I can't see him anywhere.

    He places his hands behind his back and flicks his tail. It kicks up sand. "I can't tell you, Will," he calmly says.

    "What trap are you pulling us into this time?" I question.

    He shrugs and replies, "None."

    Maddie, who obviously can't understand dragon and claxton language, glances between Tracey and me. "Oh, you're done," she sarcastically says.

    I give her a funny look. There is a part of me that does not want to enter Atlantis, but another part says that I will receive answers if I do–answers to why Mom and Dad left me and why I was considered such a weakling in the Clan. If I had any hope of seeing them again, I had to do this.

    Next to me, Maddie says, "Will, it's okay." She grasps my paw. "I'm here for you. This is my fault. I should have never removed the sphere from the pedestal."

    Chuckling, Tracey swims to us. His black hair sways in the ocean-like curtains. "You really shouldn't have, but now thinking about it, Maddie, I'm glad you did."

    Both she and I give him a funny look.

    Tracey shrugs. "This is very similar to what I had to do to prove myself a worthy member of the merpeople, but it doesn't mean I'm no longer a fairy. Rather, I'm a merfairy. Not only that, but I am also Merlin the Great's apprentice." He stops short at these words and looks himself up and down. "Speaking of which, I think it is time for me to transform."

    Transform? What's he talking about? Maddie and I carefully watch him. Both of us are curious about what's going to happen next.

    Tracey backs away from Maddie and I, and he tosses his hands into the watery air. "Tracey! Pupil of Merlin the Great! Let's do this thing!" 

    Magic green throwing stars appear in between his palms and circle him. As soon as they leave his body, his appearance changes. He is now wearing a fully black, sweater-like turtleneck, black jeans with white, pinstriped patches on his hips, tall, black rubber boots, and a belt. Over his face is a dark green ninja mouth mask. He crosses his arms over his chest. Flexing one arm, a black, fingerless glove with a gold buckle appears over it. It reaches for his upper arm. A second glove appears over his other one.

    The claxton closes his eyes and lets the magic push him to the side. He acts out a boomerang twirl. During the process, green and purple fins pop up on the backs of his legs. A long, gold-trimmed, green vest throws itself on top of his turtleneck and jeans. It reaches for his femurs. The mask falls from Tracey's face and hangs in front of his collarbone. He guides his stars to his back, and they circle it. Then just like that, he pops a pair of fairy wings! They are large and shaped like a mash between costate shells and oval-shaped leaves. They have purple borders and sport different shades of green.

    Maddie and I's jaws drop. Holy smokes, this adventure just got so much cooler!

    Tracey gestures for us to follow him. His wings flap behind him. "Let's go. Atlantis is waiting. Will, your clan is going to accept you back. Trust me."

    Maddie and I exchange looks with one another. We take a deep breath, and then we follow Tracey into the lost city.