Chapter 5

When I awaken, I hear whispers. Slowly, I open my eyes and find a group of unfamiliar people wearing masks. I scoot back, trying to get away from them. These people aren't part of the crew, and no one else should be down here, Atlantis sunk into the ocean thousands of years ago. The person in the center of the group takes off their mask.

It's a girl... A beautiful girl with black hair, silver eyes, and olive skin. I'm immediately drawn to her even though she'll most likely kill me. Her eyes sink down to my chest and my eyes follow, I apparently have a bleeding wound there, I must have got it when I fell out of the back of the truck.

I watch as she grabs the small crystal hanging from her neck, it starts to glow as soon as it comes in contact with her skin. I scoot farther away- she scowls at me and moves closer. She's wearing a skirt and a top that reveals her stomach. She puts the crystal against my wound, then covers it with her hand. What's going on? I wonder. When she pulls away, there's a glowing imprint of her hand, and when it fades away my wound is gone. Is she an angle? Am I dead?

I have no time to ask because as soon as I open my mouth to speak, the sound of an engine scares them away. "Wait!" I follow them all the way to the opening in the cave, but when I get through the hole they're gone. I look around and see the outline of a city in the distance. This is Atlantis! I realize that place is illuminated with light, even without a visible light source. I wonder where it is coming from.

Two of our trucks filled with the rest of the crew come out of the cave. Johanna jumps out of the first one. "This Atlantis?" She asks.

"I believe so," I say quietly.

"Great job," She punches my shoulder and I flinch away. "Hey, two for flinching." And she punches me again.

Everybody gets out of the trucks. "You did good, Peeta," says Doctor Aurelius. Then the group of the same people who circled me earlier jump out from the edge of the cliff holding weapons. "I take that back."

"Who are these guys?" Brutus demands.

The girl who healed my wound starts shouting at us in a different language and I try to piece together what she's saying. Maybe she knows other languages. Perhaps she knows one I know. I try to communicate with her in several different languages, and am finally able to understand her in French. "Parlez-vous francais?"

"Oui, monsieur"

I tell her who we are, where we come from, and why we are here. She seems to relax a little at this. The Atlanteans, behind her relax as well, and begin to greet us in several different languages.

"Buenos dias."

"Guten tag!"

I turn to the crew. "This is incredible."

"That they know all those languages?" Gale asks.

"Yes. Their language must be based on a root dialect. It's just like the Tower of Babel.

"Well, maybe they know English," says Brutus as he moves toward the Atlantean girl. "Hello, we come peacefully to explore this lost city."

She furrows her eyebrows at this then gestures behind her. "Welcome to the city of Atlantis." She leads us across a bridge and through the city, then into a palace where we find an old man sitting on a throne. This must be their King. "Father." She says, and I raise my eyebrow, this girl is a princess? "These people have come to explore the city," I look closer at him. He looks at us then back at her then they start speaking in a language I don't quite understand but I try to piece it together. The only thing I get from the conversation is that he doesn't want us here.

"What are they talking about?" Brutus asks me.

"I... I don't know." I shrug.

"Well whatever they're talking about, it doesn't sound any good." He moves toward the King. "Sir, we are peaceful explores here to observe this land."

The King laughs. "You say you are peaceful, yet you bring weapons."

"Sir," Brutus presses harder. "Our weapons, allow us to remove obstacles we might encounter on the way."

"There are some obstacles that cannot be removed with a mere show of force." The King looks at him. "I'm sorry, but we need to preserve our way of life-"

"Our way of life is dying!" His daughter exclaims.

"Silence Katniss!" The King says then looks back at us. "You need to leave."

"Sir, may I suggest that we stay here- just for the night. That would give us the time to rest and be ready to leave in the morning." says Brutus.

The King contemplates for a moment. "Very well," He finally agrees. "But only for today." Then the guards escort us out of the palace.

It's silent for a few minutes as we stand by some rock formations. I sigh and pull out the Shepherd's Journal and pretend to read it.

"Somebody need to talk to that Princess," says Cashmere. "Get her to show us around."

"But who should do it?" Johanna asks. "They'd need to have good people skills... someone who wouldn't scare her away, you know? And they would have to be able to speak the language."

"I volunteer Peeta," says Gale, and I look up from the journal. "Go on lover boy,"

So I close the book and walk back toward the palace. My palms start sweating for some reason, and I begin to dread having to talk to her. I try to sort out why I'm nervous to see her, but the only explanation I can come up with is because she's pretty. So I watch the palace doors from behind a rock, and wait for her to come outside.

Thank you guys for reading this chapter! Peeta is going to confront Katniss next chapter! Also, next week is my Spring Break and I'll be out of town with no internet, so I will not be updating Monday March 14th. Updates should be every Monday after that unless something comes up. Have a good day, and tell me what you think of this chapter in the reviews.