The Battle for Sanctuary: The Titan's Legacy: Vol: 2 (Volume 2) Read Free

the
low edge of the basin, pushed himself up to the rim.
    Once on the edge of the
basin, Justin found the footing to be fairly secure. The soft soles
of his sneakers sank a bit into the sharp rim and he could stretch up
and grab the next rim without too much difficulty. Being taller than
five-four would help right about now, he thought. Then with a grunt,
he pulled his body up to the next tier, hooked an arm over the top
and dragged himself up.
    In the echoing quiet of
the large chamber, he heard a snide comment from someone; it sounded
like Dominic. Aaron made a hissing reply that Justin was sure he
wasn't meant to hear but the still air carried the words nonetheless.
    “ He's
doing this partly because of your whining, idiot. Now shut the hell
up!”
    Justin smiled to himself
as he struggled to balance on the second level of the fountain. For
some reason, Aaron's support gave him a boost of energy and he found
his balance, reached up to grab the third basin's edge and yanked
himself up even higher.
    The basins held bits of
rock and mounds of dust but little else. Certainly water hadn't
touched them in centuries. As he pulled himself up to the third tier,
he noted almost absently how lucky it was that the rim of these
higher basins were free of the titanium etching. The stone was quite
sharp and Justin realized that his hands would be cut wide open by
now if it wasn't for his dense Titan body structure.
    By the time he had
reached the fifth basin, Justin was sweating and breathing heavily.
Although the structure tilted to the side somewhat, there had been no
shaking or shifting of the fountain as he climbed; at least so far.
But the basins were getting smaller the higher he climbed and his
arms were aching from pulling himself up and over the edge of each
one.
    He sat down and dangled
his legs over the rim. Looking down, he could see the group of teens
below. They were indistinct in the darkness of the room but he
spotted the pale faces looking up at him. He waved briefly as he
caught his breath and several of them waved back.
    Justin guessed that he
was about forty feet up at this point. The ceiling must be close now,
he thought and carefully stood up and turned around to face the next
basin above him.
    He was surprised to see
that he had been correct. The next tier was indeed the last one and
the rough expanse of the cracked and pitted ceiling loomed over it.
The sight gave him renewed strength and he reached up one last time
to grasp the edge of the basin, and slowly pulled himself into the
final bowl.
    He lay back for a few
minutes, just looking up at the ceiling that was perhaps five feet
over his head, and then around the inside of the small basin. In the
center of the bowl a round hole, clogged with pebbles and grit,
showed where the water had once flowed up from below to cascade down
to the rest of the fountain.
    Justin finally stood up
and examined the ceiling more carefully. Seen close-up, he was
surprised to find layers of mold, gray enough that it blended in with
the stone it was attached to, covering the ceiling and stretching out
for many yards. Why would the ceiling have mold on it? he wondered.
    He raised his arm and ran
his fingers over the mold. It was dry and desiccated, but as he
scratched at it, chunks of dried fungus began to break off and rain
down on him, causing him to turn his head away and sneeze violently.
He shook his head, blinked several times and looked up again.
    The layers of mold
underneath the dried layer looked darker than the one on top. But
Justin ignored that as he saw something that made him catch his
breath.
    There, directly above the
center of the bowl he stood on, was a rune set flush into the
ceiling. He felt a rush of excitement. The rune looked exactly like
the many others he had seen in Sanctuary, the ones that you pushed to
open doors. He'd been right! He shook his head in disbelief. I think
this may be a first for me, he thought. A lucky guess that actually
was lucky!
    He was