“Yes. You could say that,” she carefully responded. She returned his smile and ran her fingers through her long blonde hair.

  Pallid tried not to roll his eyes at her obvious flirtation. Subtlety wasn’t her strong point, and the man would be sure to take advantage of that. She was too innocent for her own good. She had no idea what the men in this city would love to do to her.

  “I can always show you around,” the man offered. “That is, if your companion doesn’t mind.”

  “My companion?”

  “Yes. Not the Infer, but the other one. You’re intimate with him, I assume.”

  Pallid noticed Katherine’s startled gasp. He lifted an eyebrow in surprise. She was apparently wiser than her younger sister to the lifestyle the people on Atlantis enjoyed.

  “Oh, no. I am a virgin,” Amanda protested, not realizing this would appeal to the man’s lustful desires even more.

  “We really must be going,” Pallid interrupted as he took her arm and started walking away.

  “Why? Shouldn’t we get to know the people who live here?” Amanda asked, her eyes wide in surprise.

  “You should let her interact with the people of this city,” the man agreed, stepping in front of her and Pallid. “I don’t mind sharing her with you, if that’s what you’re worried about. I am very open-minded.”

  “Are you implying what I think you are?” Jake asked in disgust. “Is this the kind of society Atlantis enjoyed?”

  “I don’t understand.” Amanda shook her head, bewildered.

  “Just because you’re an outsider, it doesn’t mean you have the right to judge us,” the man spat at Jake, clenching his fist.

  “I think it’d be best if we stop before things get ugly,” Pallid said, glancing at the man’s tight jaw. If he didn’t speak up, things would get bad…and fast. “As an Infer, I am regarded with more esteem than a civilian like you,” he told the man. “The leaders will side with me if I bring my case before them.”

  The man understood Pallid’s threat. Turning to Amanda, he said, “If you decide to leave your group of friends, I’ll be around.”

  “She won’t be looking for you,” Pallid blandly replied as he walked past him, holding firmly onto Amanda’s arm so she wouldn’t protest.

  The man left, aggravated.

  “What is your problem?” Amanda snapped, yanking her arm out of his grasp. “I can make my own decisions you know.”

  “You have no idea what that man wanted,” Pallid said. “He wanted to have sex with you.”

  She gasped. “No, he didn’t. He just wanted to talk.”

  “It was obvious, Amanda,” Katherine said, losing her patience with her sister. “We all saw it. Not every man you come across is going to treat you with the respect that men on Raz will. This is a different planet, and there are different rules here. Mom warned us of these things. Weren’t you listening?”

  “But I’m the Queen of Raz. I can defend myself if I need to.”

  “You’d be surprised at how quickly things can get bad,” Pallid warned. “Sometimes events catch you off guard and you’re not able to react in time. Bad things do happen, even to the Queen of Raz. You must proceed with caution.”

  “I have been trained to fight since I was a little girl. I won’t be caught off guard,” Amanda replied.

  “I seriously doubt that.”

  “I don’t think I like you,” she decided, crossing her arms.

  “Did I ask you to?” He waved aside her reply before she could make it. “My job is to save Earth from possible destruction, and the Augurs told me you were a part of that. If what I hope to do can prevent the fact that you have to be here, then that’s all the better.” He turned his back to her and began walking.

  “What do you mean by that?” she asked. “What are you planning?”

  “Something to keep you off guard,” he replied.

  Katherine laughed.

  “What is so funny?” Amanda demanded.

  “For the first time in your life, you finally met someone you can’t win over by your good looks and charm,” she said.

  Katherine and Jake walked past her so they could keep up with Pallid.

  “Wait for me!” Amanda cried when she realized they were willing to leave her by herself in the busy city. She quickly ran up to them.

  “Jake, would you mind doing me a favor?” Pallid asked.

  “What is it?” he wondered.

  “Would you ask someone what today’s date is? I need to know what day and year it is so I can recall what happened at this time in history.”

  “That’s simple enough,” Jake replied.

  Pallid slowed down long enough for him to ask an attractive young woman the date.

  She smiled widely at Jake as she told him.

  Pallid heard the woman tell Jake it was the 28th day of the month of Zeus, 1588 in the year of Atlantis. As she was still talking to Jake, Pallid’s attention shifted to a group of women who were pointing to Katherine. Uh oh. This meant trouble.

  “I’ll be right back,” he told Amanda and Katherine.

  They didn’t say anything as he walked up to the group of women. “Greetings, ladies. I noticed you’ve taken an interest in my friend. Perhaps I can ease your curiosity?”

  The five women looked startled he’d actually confronted him, so he gave them time to recover.

  “We don’t mean to be rude, Infer,” a brunette said after clearing her throat. “We were wondering if that poor unfortunate woman with the green dress has had a chance to receive beautification treatments?”

  “It’s not that we’re saying she’s ugly,” another brunette clarified. “We just want to maintain our standards of perfection here.”

  Pallid glanced at Katherine. She was pretty, but she wasn’t up to their standards. He already knew Jake and Amanda were adequate. How he wished he had thought to cover Katherine’s face.

  “Plastic surgery might work well,” the woman suggested.

  “My friend is not a resident of this city,” he quickly assured them. “She is merely a visitor who will be here no longer than a couple of days. I will find a veil for her and cover her face as soon as I get to a clothing store.”

  “A beautification treatment might help her anyway. That way when she returns to her home, she will be much happier.”

  “The poor thing really needs it,” another woman added.

  “I will make the suggestion to her and let her make the decision,” he lied. “And thank you, ladies, for your concern for her. I’m sure she will appreciate it.”

  They seemed pleased with his words, so they left.

  He breathed a sigh of relief. He walked back to Jake, Katherine and Amanda.

  “What was that about?” Amanda asked. “Were those women trying to get you to have sex with them?”

  “No,” he replied. “The rules are different for Infers. We are only allowed to be intimate with the Infer the leaders pair us up with. If we had relations outside our kind, then our line wouldn’t remain pure.”

  “But my mother said your kind was incapable of reproducing among yourselves,” Amanda said.

  He considered her comment. It was true. That was the glitch in the leaders’ design. “Some things are more important.”

  “Like?”

  “Love.”

  “On Raz, the queen’s top priority is to have a daughter,” Katherine said. “If there is no one to replace her, then the planet will die.”

  “So you’re saying survival is more important than love?” Pallid asked.

  “The queen’s first duty is to her people. Her feelings come second. Sometimes she has to sacrifice her desires to save the lives of others.”

  “That is a very noble attitude. I sense your father taught you that.” Pallid subconsciously touched the Stone of Immortality that was carefully hidden in the tip of his cane. “But isn’t it even better when you can have love and save the world?”

  She didn’t say anything, but her slight nod told him she agreed.

  “Your mother and father had that privilege,” he reflected. “Come. We need to find a veil for you.”

  Startled by the change in subject, Katherine asked, “A veil for me? Why?”

  He paused. He didn’t want to upset her, but he didn’t see that he had a choice if he was to be honest with her.

  Jake’s eyes lit up with understanding. “She would be one of the people condemned to the Underworld, wouldn’t she?”

  She blinked. “The Underworld? What’s that?”

  “Katherine,” Pallid began, “the leaders who rule this place are extremely superficial. They force their idea of beauty upon all of their citizens.” He could tell she was struggling to make sense of what he was saying. He hated to do this. She seemed like such a sweet person. “It’s nothing against you,” he softly told her. “If anything, it’s a reflection on the leaders. They praise beauty and shun any type of imperfection. You are an attractive woman, but you don’t quite meet the leaders’ requirements for their idea of acceptability.” The hurt look in her eyes made him wince.

  “The leaders are also the Olympian gods and goddesses,” Katherine replied, stunned.

  He nodded.

  She turned to Amanda, and her voice took a sharp edge to it as her bitterness surfaced. “I can imagine their relief when you became queen instead of me.”

  Amanda’s eyes widened.

  “She passes their qualifications, doesn’t she?” Katherine continued. She glanced at Jake. “And he does, too, doesn’t he? So I’m the only one who needs to hide my looks.”

  “This is ridiculous,” Jake said, shaking his head. “There’s nothing wrong with the way you look.”

  “I agree with you,” Pallid responded. “But I didn’t make the rules here. There is Hestia’s Code, and it specifically says that if you are a visitor staying no longer than a week, you may pass through Atlantis, but you have to wear a veil if you do not meet the leaders’ guidelines on beauty. The veils are free.”

  “How generous of them,” Katherine spat.

  “I don’t blame you for being upset. We just have to bide our time for a couple of days until I can take care of business. Then we can get out of here.”

  “But in the meantime, I will be a social outcast.”

  He shrugged, not knowing what to tell her. Nothing he could say or do would help.

  “Maybe I should send you back to Raz,” Amanda offered her sister.

  “Why? I’m not exactly popular there either,” she replied in frustration. “I don’t belong anywhere.”

  “That’s not true,” Amanda began. “You can be of great service to me.”

  Katherine blanched.

  “I didn’t mean it to sound like that. I just meant you’ve been trained, as I have, to rule Raz. If something happens to me before I have a daughter, you will rule in my place.”

  After a long and tense moment of silence, Katherine asked Pallid, “Where is this Underworld?”

  “You don’t belong there,” Jake protested. “No one belongs there.”

  “That’s where undesirables go. Of course, I belong there.”

  “Don’t do this,” Pallid pleaded. “Just take the veil.”

  “I won’t. I can’t,” Katherine said. “I won’t hide who I am.”

  “Take her back to Raz,” Pallid told Amanda. “The Underworld is a horrible place.”

  Amanda nodded but Katherine was quicker and more determined than they could imagine. She took out the Book of Spells. “I can get there without your help.”

  “Then take me with you,” Jake spoke up.

  “I don’t want your protection.”

  “Maybe I need someone to protect.”

  Pallid was surprised by Jake’s insistence, but given what Jake had just been through with the discovery of his mother’s secret, he could understand why Jake wanted to think of someone other than himself for a change.

  Katherine looked as if she was ready to protest, but then she relented. “Alright.” Turning to Pallid and Amanda, she said, “Come for us when you’re done.”

  Amanda began to argue, but Pallid put his hand on her arm to stop her. “We’ll do as you say,” he agreed. “But if you’d rather go to the Underworld without that book, you can do so. Jake, you remember where I said the entrance is.”

  Jake nodded. “I remember.”

  “Using any type of magic might create a disturbance in this city since the leaders frown upon it. They prefer to be the only ones with the power to do anything.”

  “I don’t care much for this place,” Katherine said as she put the book safely back into her pocket. “And I care even less for the leaders.”

  Pallid and Amanda watched as Katherine and Jake left for the Underworld.

  “You shouldn’t have stopped me,” Amanda said when they were alone. “I am the queen, and I can do more for her than that Earthling can.”

  “He cares for her,” Pallid told her. “I think it would be good for her to be appreciated for who she is for a change.”

  “I appreciate her. She’s my sister.”

  He sighed. She didn’t understand. He guessed she’d spent her entire life outshining her sister, and further more, he guessed no man had ever chosen Katherine over her before. From the brief time he’d spent with the sisters, he was well aware Katherine had been used to being second best. The reminder that she wasn’t as pretty as Amanda must have been a blow to her ego. She needed someone who could make her feel important.

  “We have to go to the arc,” he finally said.

  “Fine,” she reluctantly agreed as she followed him.

  ***

  Present Day

  At the Top of the Arc

  Imitation of the city of Atlantis

  Planet: Aug

  Gaius frowned at the latest development on Earth. This wasn’t what he had anticipated for the Infer to do. He didn’t realize the Queen of Raz would send her group to Atlantis’ past. He realized her magic took them there, and for some reason, this would help her destroy the city, but it became apparent that the Infer’s plans were no longer in line with the queen’s.

  Gaius walked over to the large mirror, which was a bigger version of the mirror the Infer carried with him. Gaius needed to see the implications of what the Infer had just decided to do. Touching the mirror, he asked, “What will happen now that the Infer has changed his plans?”

  The scene that appeared on the screen displayed Atlantis, still a flourishing civilization.

  “What Earth year is this?” he spoke aloud.

  The answer showed him 2048 AD.

  “What are the conditions of the other nations?”

  The screen displayed a global view of the Earth, and it was obvious the other nations followed the lead from Atlantis. Every other leader on Earth was in submission to the leaders on Atlantis, who remained immortal while everyone else went through the natural course of life and death.

  Then the screen narrowed its view on various popular locations on the globe, and one big city after another showed an exact replica of Atlantis: Paris, Jerusalem, Tokyo, Washington D.C., Buenos Aires, Egypt, and many other cities were the same.

  The leaders in those various cities also wore the same clothes the Atlantian leaders did. Everything was the same. The people even looked alike. All of them were perfect. There was no imperfection or elderly among them. Everyone was full of youth and energy. They smiled, but he noted a lingering sadness beneath the surface.

  “Certainly, these aren’t all the people on Earth,” he thought aloud. Bringing his attention back to the mirror, he asked, “Are these the only inhabitants on Earth?”

  The screen showed him many Underworlds across the globe. So that was where the elderly, handicapped, and other imperfect people went. He noted that their condition was filled with misery and despair. They were confined to underground chambers on Earth where sunlight never graced their dwellings. It was a morbid state of affairs.

  So life would continue, as it had thousands of years ago in Atlantis. The rest of the world would follow the leaders and embrace their quest for perfection, but the injustice overwhelmed him.

  And in that moment, he understood the Augurs’ intention when they allowed the leaders to create the ideal Augur: Avar. Avar’s pride eventually caused a terrible war that led to Atlantis’ sinking into the ocean. The Augurs were unable to promote justice for those confined to the Underworld, so they allowed the leaders to create an Augur so obsessed with himself that he insisted on being the head leader. And Zeus would never allow anyone to take his place, even if such an event was foretold.

  “Why are you showing me this particular year?” Gaius asked. “Is there something significant that happens?”

  This time the scene that appeared in front of him was of Atlantis’ six leaders who sat around a table in their meeting room near the top of the arc.

  “We have a big problem,” Zeus announced at the head of the table. “There is a rebellion going on in the Underworlds. The people dwelling there want to live above the ground.”

  “Hades, are you doing nothing to subdue them?” Hera asked, turning to him.

  “They are too numerous for me to adequately take care of,” Hades growled. “Don’t you think I’ve already tried to calm them down? Do you think it’s pleasant down there? I don’t like being there any more than they do.”

  Zeus shook his head. “But there is no other place for them up here.”

  “Why not?” Hestia asked. “Surely, we can consult the Augurs on how to improve our technology so that we can at least make them bearable to look at. Or we could force them to cover up their imperfection.”

  “How do you cover up someone in a wheelchair?” Hera pressed.

  “Confine them to their house,” Hestia said.

  “And when they want to come out, then what do we do with them?” Hera added.

  “Why haven’t we developed the cure for paralysis yet? We’ve had thousands of years to do that,” Hestia replied.

  “As nice as that would be, we’ve had to focus our efforts on more important details,” Zeus explained. “We need to make sure the other nations cooperate with us.”