Chapter 2

Okay, so seems like I did good with this idea so, I'm gonna continue the story.

As Jonny saw Jessie beginning to stir, he sighed in relief. "Hey there, Sleeping Beauty. Glad to see you're awake."

The girl sat up, looked around and frowned in confusion. "Jonny? What's going on? Where are we?"

"Well, it's kinda a complicated story, so there's some waffles and milk here if you wanna eat while I explain everything."

Jessie nodded and fixed herself a plate as the blond, young man began explaining everything she had missed. The girl finally shook her head as it all sank in. "Do you have any idea how difficult to believe all of this is?"

"Yeah. But, I'm not messing with you. It all happened and appears to be true."

"Are you sure we can trust this Mei girl? She is one of Dr. Zin's daughters, after all."

Jonny crossed his arms over his chest and took a moment before answering. "I think so. If she wanted to hurt us, she could've done so while we were sleeping."

A knock on the door interrupted the conversation. The door opened to show Mei. "Are you done eating? Oh, Jessie, I'm glad to see you are awake."

Jessie hesitated for a bit before nodding. "Thanks."

The girl gave a gentle smile and inclined her head. "So you two know, we'll be landing soon."

As Mei took their dishes and shut the door, Jessie shook her head. "It's so disconcerting."

Jonny laughed. "Yeah. Part of me wants to not trust her, but I don't know. She seems genuine in wanting to help us and stop her sisters."

~~~~~~~~~~JQ~~~~~~~~~~

After landing and being shown to neighboring rooms, Jonny and Jessie were able to freshen up and borrow clothes from the temple. Jonny knocked on the door to the room Jessie was in. It was a few minutes before the girl opened the door.

"You hear anything yet?" She inquired.

"Not yet. From what I understood the head priest here is consulting with someone known as an oracle. Mei said she'd let us know how things turned out after the meeting."

Jessie leaned against the bed and crossed her arms. "Yeah. Speaking of Mei, I have a lot of questions for her. And not just concerning our family."

Her companion gave her a quizzical look. "Oh?"

"Jonny, come on, think about it. How'd these guys know where we were? And our names? It makes me uneasy."

A knock on the door stopped Jonny before he could respond. "Jonny? Jessie? Are you two in there?" Mei asked before opening the door.

"We are. Come on in."

Jessie watched as the door opened and their new friend entered. "Just in time. I have some questions I'd like answered."

Still in her ninja like attire, Mei sat on a nearby chair and folded her hands in her lap. "I'm at your disposal. Ask me anything you need to know."

"Our names and where we were diving. How'd you know?"

"We have spies in the government here as well as the law enforcement and museums. Once our spies heard that Dr. Quest and Race were abducted we looked for anyone connected with them who may be targeted next. After finding out about you, Jonny and Hadji being here, our spies at the harbor reported your location. From there, I was sent to let you know what had happened as well as warn you about the probability of you three being targeted next. We had planned to escort all three of you here but we arrived too late."

Jonny cleared his throat, "Now that that's out of the way, what happened in the meeting?"

Mei took a deep breath before she spoke. "Well, the Oracle and Head Priest have decided to bring the remaining two pieces of the map to Atlantis here in order to protect them. From there, we'll try to find out where your family is and mount a rescue operation."

"So where are these map pieces?"

"One is in the ruins of the city of Troy. Even after being defeated in the Trojan War, the resting chamber of that map piece remained hidden. The other is located in the Labyrinth in Knossos."

Jessie looked up as something occurred to her. "You said they took off with our boat, right?"

Mei nodded. "Yes, why?"

"We have tracking devices installed into all of our vehicles. If I can link up on a computer with the Quest Compound's database, I can track the Questor."

The other girl's eyes lit up. "We do have a computer here you can try. Would you mind staying here and trying to connect with your compound while I lead a group after the map pieces? We really don't have time to wait on retrieving them."

Jonny looked at Jessie, "I'll go along to help recover the map pieces. Jess, hardly needs my help on the technological end and I'll get anxious if I stay behind."

The red haired girl nodded her understanding. "Be careful."

"Always." He grinned before following Mei out of the room.

"You two seem very close." The girl noted as they walked.

"Yeah. We're still getting used to how much closer we've recently become."

Stopping briefly, she spoke to a temple worker, "The young lady in the guest room needs our computer. Can you show her to it, please?"

"Of course, Mei." She nodded.

They continued out of the temple where a sleek, black convertible waited for them. As Jonny admired the car, Mei fished the keys out of her pocket. "We'll be heading for the harbor and on to the ruins of Troy."

As the rode along, Jonny had to ask a few questions he found himself wondering. "If your people know where the map pieces were all this time, why didn't they collect them before now?"

"The elders felt it would be too tempting having the whole map there. That some might stray from what the teachings say in favor of possible financial gain."

"The elders? What like the priest and the oracle?"

"No. Our founders. Legends state that none survived Atlantis's sinking. That's not so. The founders of our temple were the survivors. That's how they knew what was in the city."

The boy stared at his companion. "Ya know, ever since we met, you've been telling me some pretty hard to believe things."

Mei laughed. "Yeah. I half expected you to call me a liar right off the bat."

Jonny grinned. "Nah. After seeing aliens, the Jersey Devil, and a few other things I'm not at liberty to discuss, I figure I can give you the benefit of the doubt."

"Jonny," Mei sighed as she stopped the car at their destination, "I need you to make me a promise."

"What kind of promise?"

"I need you to swear to me that the mission comes first while we're retrieving the map pieces. If I'm captured or injured, leave me behind and escape. Get the map back to the temple."

The young man stared at her. "Mei …."

She looked back at him somberly. "I mean it, Jonny. Under no circumstances are my sisters to reach their goal."

~~~~~~~~~~JQ~~~~~~~~~~

Jessie thanked the temple maiden as she started the computer and set to logging into the Quest Compound's main database. Without wasting a moment, the girl logged in and brought up the data for the Questor's location. "Gotcha." She grinned before printing off the results of her search.

All right, that's all for this chapter. Please, let me know what you think. All reviews are welcomed. And till next time, laters :)