Free Guardian of Atlantis (The Children of Atlantis) by Annie Rachel Cole

with desks for students. The rest was filled with piles of boxes and books. File cabinets lined the far wall. A large old wood desk s at in the center of the chaos and i t was covered with stacks of papers and file folders.
    Raven watched the old man shuffle through papers on his desk, mumbling to himself as he did it. Something was vaguely familiar about him. Raven closed her eyes and thought back to the day she spent with her dad in the land of the giants. Her bottom lip quivered. Thinking about her dad made her realize just how much she really missed him. A memory flashed. There was an old man, who entertained her with stories. “You were the one who told me all those stories, weren’t you?”
    “Ah, yes.” A smile lit up the old man’s face. “Douglas loved you very much. Like you were his own daughter.”
    Raven blinked several times hoping to stop the tears threatening her eyes. “No, it’s not true,” she whispered. She felt dizzy. Her worse fear was becoming a reality.
    “Every morning before class Douglas would stop by for a cup of coffee. We had such lovely talks. He was worried about you. About your future that is. But I told him not to worry. E verything would be fine. Fate and destiny, you know.” He frowned. “Then after he turned up dead, and Suzanne ran away with you, I wond ered. I don’t blame her for what she did . I think she somehow knew, here,” he pointed to his heart, “you would never really be just her child. But she loved you so much.”
    “No.” Raven shook her head. “Did you know this?” she accused Leslie and the others.
    “I swear we didn’t,” Leslie paled slightly.
    “They don’t know. But you do. I see it in your eyes. You’ve met your real mother. Haven’t you?” Professor Snyder gave Raven a sorrowful look. “I’m sorry. Your life is no longer yours. You’re special. Others, besides Marley, will be after you and the power you hold.”
    Raven shook her head. “You’re mistaken. I’m not special. I’m. Not. Special.”
    “No, dear child. I’m not mistaken. You have in you a power that can rival Zeus’s and it scares him. And you have the key codes to Atlantis. This he and others want.” Professor Snyder moved a stack of papers from the corner of his desk and sat down.
    “What’s so special about a myth? Atlantis isn’t real. Is it?” Raven wanted to believe it was just a story , that all of the stuff happening to her was just a nightmare.
    “Atlantis is as real as you are.” The old man’s eyes twinkled.
    “Great! That’s what I was afraid you’d say,” muttered Raven. “All those stories you t old me years ago, they were true. Weren’t they?”
    A smile spread across Professor Snyder’s face. “You remember. I wondered if you would. And to answer your question, yes. Those were not fictional stories.”
    Raven looked from the teacher to her three new friends. “If the wrong people get their hands on Atlantis, what will happen?” she quietly asked.
    “Zeus’s first battle to take Atlantis almost destroyed an entire continent. If any of the wrong people get access to Atlantis, no one will be safe. Not the descendant s of Atlantians. Not the Altered Ones. Not the humans. The power of Atlantis in the wrong hands will result in the total destruction of this world. You can’t let it fall into the wrong hands.”
    “Geez! When you put it that way, it sounds so—so bleak.” Raven paced back and forth. “Bad guys plus Atlantis equals really bad things. That’s all you had to say.” She stopped and turned to face Professor Snyder. “And I’m it? The only one standing between them and Atlantis?” She shook her head. “We’r e in so much trouble. Wait! Mom kne w about this? Is this why we kept moving all these years?”
    “No, she didn’t know, not initially. But I suspect she read Douglas’s journals,” said Professor Snyder.
    “How do I know who I’m fighting against? How do I know it’s not you I should be worried about? My