Chapter Twenty Two: Reconnecting

Vinny's POV

The trip down to Atlantis, while almost as long as the time before, was much easier. Tia's absence was felt, I had been the only one who knew before we shipped off that she had left. Mr. Whitmore and Mole were the only ones who weren't surprised, Whitmore merely shaking his head at the news and Mole saying 'Elle pense qu'elle peut sauver le monde' before adding 'She'll be fine, she's done this before.' While it was not shocking that Tia had gone on her own in the potentially dangerous situations, it was still concerning. She was not the same woman that she was when she found me in Turkey or even the same one when we left for Atlantis, there was more for her to lose if something were to happen. There was nothing we could do about it, if she were, until we reached Norway. I just had to trust she had everything handled.

Tia's POV

It had been a while since I had been back to Norway. Even as gloomy and downtrodden as this seaside town was, there was still some beauty still left in it. The people, the few who were left, were still as friendly as I remembered them to be, except for the mayor. He did not like the fact that I was there and he wanted me gone. Not that I heeded him; if I had had listened to every uncomfortable person who wanted me out of their town, I wouldn't have a business. However, as time went on and I tried to research, I was left with no results. There had been no archives or history of the town. No one wanted to talk, especially not to me. It was like they had been silenced. The few who did speak were gone shortly after. There was a dark presence looming over the village, which had seemed more supernatural than a monster and it had something to do with cantankerous old mayor. One thing left me questioning, however. What happened to the people reaching out? There was one person who I hadn't spoken to yet, the inn keeper. Although at this point, I was unsure if I should speak with her. What good would it do if she disappeared too? At this point, I was left with nothing else to do until the others arrived. Maybe it would have been better if I had waited to come with the others. There was nothing I could do about it now.

Sighing, I reached over to my book on the nightstand. Might as well distract myself with the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, it was better than trying to sleep.

Milo's POV

"Wait, what?" I interrupted Audrey, she had been filling me in on everything that had transpired in the past few years before we headed into dinner. "Tia's working with Mole?"

"And she has a kid." Audrey added.

Unable to hide my confusion and slight disgust, I questioned, "With Mole?"

"No, with Vinny." She responded. That made more sense, at least they finally together.

"I'm glad they got together."

Audrey shook her head and then proceeded to tell me what she knew of what had happened between the two of them. I shook my head, nothing had ever seemed easy between the two of them.

"And they just got back on speaking terms with each other." Audrey finished, "Outside of that, you haven't missed too much."

That had been a confusing understatement, how did it get like this? What had made her leave in the first place? There was something that had been missing from Audrey's account of the events. How did it go from a party to her disappearing and then coming back with a kid? I made a note to talk to Tia about what had happened. She had been in love with him for so many years, what changed? Why'd she leave?

Soon we were told the food was prepared and we were called to join dinner with the others.

"Your grandfather would be proud of you, Milo." Mr. Whitmore told me shortly after we sat down to dinner, "Not only did you find a lost empire, you probably saved the world from Rourke's plans for the crystal, and now you're helping restore Atlantis to its former glory. That's quite a resume for a cartographer."

"I just wish he could be here to see all this," I smiled, "And to meet Kida." I added placing my hand on hers, staring deep into her eyes. Remembering there were other people around us, I changed the topic to the slight elephant in the room: Why they were there. Not that I wasn't happy to see them, but after so many years, why would they show up now? If it were for a reunion, which I doubt, Tia would have been here and they would have said that by now.

Mr. Whitmore's face fell before he answered with a sigh, "I'm afraid you're right, there's trouble on the surface. Already have my doctor, digger, demolition expert, mechanic; each the top of their field."

"Where's your linguist?" I asked about Tia.

"She's there trying to figure out what's going on." Mr. Whitmore answered and then got to the point of where he was originally getting to, "I came here for the one expert I didn't have: an expert on Atlantis."

"But why would you need-"

"Several cargo ships have gone down in the North Atlantic, the survivors say it was a sea monster." Mr. Whitmore explained.

"We thought it might be your watch dog at the front door." Sweet added.

"The leviathan?" Kida questioned.

"Right, that's one big sea monster." Vinny said, "In the water, that's the last thing you want to see. Except maybe my Aunt Rose in a swimsuit; sweet woman, but very large boned."

"I'm glad it knew we were friends this time." Audrey stated.

"But there could be other's out there." Kida stood, "My father had many such machines created. He used to magic and powers of the crystal to expand the boarders of Atlantis. That war nearly destroyed the world."

"Well it looks like his war may not be over."

"Then Milo and I will go with you to the surface and end it." Kida stated. I tried to talk her out of it, she couldn't leave. She was the queen, she was supposed to oversee restoration. It was one thing for me to go, I wasn't quite as needed as she was. However, her mind was made up, noting that the repairs were well underway and that the counselors could tend to the everyday matters. She wanted to go up because she had felt guilty for her father's decisions and wanted to understand them.

Vinny's POV

It wasn't too long after Milo and Kida agreed to come with us that we all dispersed. Most went to explore the city while they could while Packard and I tried to get a hold of Tia to get an update of what was going on and to let her know we were heading out that way. After a half an hour, we were able to get to her.

"I don't know how much help we're really going to be here, no one's talking and the one's that end up saying something disappear. It's creepy. This whole town has this eerie feeling to it. I don't know what's going on here, but there's something wrong here. I shouldn't have left on my own. The ma-"

Before she could finish her warning, the connection cut off.

"I don't think we're going to be able to get her again." Packard told me, "There's connection's dead. I'm surprised we were able to get to her."

I shook my head, "Someone should have gone with her."

"Why didn't you?"

"It's complicated."

"It's not as complicated as you make it." Packard stood and left.

The next morning we headed out to board the ship to go meet up with Tia in Norway.