Free Time Hunters and the Spear of Fate, The by Carl Ashmore

own.’
    ‘What did you find out?’ Becky asked.
    Uncle Percy’s face ignited like a
child’s. ‘Enough to make me believe in the existence of Atlantis.’
    ‘And what does the Spear have to do
with all of this?’ Joe asked.
    ‘According to Larac’s interpretation
of The Sonchis Scroll,’ Uncle Percy replied, ‘the Spear of Fate lay at the very
heart of everything. Not only did the Atlanteans worship it as a deific symbol,
but they believed it acted as a kind of battery that fed the island itself.’
    ‘I don’t understand,’ Becky said.
    ‘Larac said the Spear’s energy gave
Atlantis its own bionetwork, its own ecosystem, its own unique, indigenous
wildlife and vegetation. It also claimed that Atlanteans were …’ He hesitated.
‘Different from normal humans, stronger, brighter …’ His face darkened. ‘A
master race, if you will. In short, The Sonchis Scroll said the Spear of Fate
made Atlantis like nowhere else on Earth…’
    Becky made an almost undetectable
squeak as she tried to process Uncle Percy’s words.
    Joe, on the other hand, didn’t look convinced
at all. ‘It all sounds a bit Wacko Jacko to me.’
    Uncle Percy looked baffled. ‘And by
that you mean?’
    ‘Spuzzified, nutso, out there with
the fishes.’
    Becky could see Uncle Percy hadn’t a
clue what Joe was getting at. ‘Farfetched,’ she clarified.
    Uncle Percy smiled, but his face
didn’t radiate happiness. If anything, he looked sadder than ever.  ‘If
you’d have said all this to me six months ago, I would’ve agreed
wholeheartedly. Now, I don’t know what to think...’
    ‘So what did happen to Atlantis?’ Joe
asked.
    ‘Who knows for certain,’ Uncle Percy
replied. ‘But the Scroll claimed the Spear was stolen and smuggled away from
the island, its absence causing a cataclysmic event which resulted in the
island being destroyed forever.’
    ‘So what happened to the Spear? Joe
asked impatiently.
    ‘Again, no one knows for sure. There
have been rumours of a magical Spear appearing at various junctures in history,
but it’s all just conjecture. Certainly, my investigations found nothing that
could turn these ‘ rumours ’ into any tangible reality. Very soon, I
realised I’d hit something of a brick wall. It was only when I visited Miriam
Potts this afternoon that things began to piece themselves together.’
    ‘Why?’ Becky asked. ‘What things?’
    ‘I need to go to GITT HQ to check everyone’s
returned safely, but meet me in one hour in Bowen Library and I’ll show you
something that makes Miriam Potts just about the bravest person I’ve ever met.’
    ‘Why? What did she do?’ Becky asked.
    Uncle Percy’s face fell into shadow
from the strip light above.  ‘You’ll see…’ He appeared to choose his next
words very carefully. ‘However, there’s something I need you to do for me -
whatever happens, you mustn’t let Maria know you’re going to the library, not
at this time of night. As a matter of fact, it would be better if you don’t
mention the library at all this Christmas. The last thing I want is her
snooping around in there, and now she and Barbie are such good chums, I would
be careful what you say to her, too.’
    ‘Why?’ Becky asked, confused.
    ‘Because I’m storing certain items
in there that would make Maria very upset. Very upset, indeed.’
    He paused for a moment.
    ‘Let’s be honest, if she knew what
I’d got in there the shock would probably kill her…’
    *
    Goose bumps the size of eggs dotted
Becky’s body, as she and Joe walked soundlessly along the path to the Hall,
snow crunching beneath their feet. All around was oil-black now, but for the
kitchen light, which glowed a deep, welcoming orange.
    ‘Crazy night, eh?’ Joe said.
    But Becky didn’t hear him. Her mind
was spinning in all directions. Images of the last hour whizzed in and out of
her head like bees in a hive: the revulsion she felt at seeing Drake’s
Hologram; the Megalodon attack; the Spear of