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

what to expect, she didn’t think the hallway would be this empty, even with the time bubble thing .  As she moved away from Professor Snyder’s classroom, the hall grew dimmer. “I really wish they would pay their light bill,” said Raven. She drew in a deep breath, let it out slowly and headed down the darkening hallway. “And do some cleaning down here.”
    Her footsteps echoed through the empty hallway. Raven paused. The dead quiet reminded her of walking in the cemetery on a moonless night. “Great thing to think about now,” she whispered to herself. “Might as well say, HERE I AM! COME GET ME!” she said a little louder than she meant too.
    Clapping a hand over her mouth, she listened. The quiet was almost deafening, but a faint noise slipped in. Raven concentrated on it, but she couldn’t make any sense of it.
    The time bubble.
    That had to be the answer.
    Pressing her body against the nearest wall, she looked around, making sure she wasn’t being followed by anyone. The hall was clear, but the muffled noise was still there.
    Raven slid along the hall until she came to a set of stairs. Hoping they went to the first floor, she crept up stairs one cautious step at a time. At the top, she paused to get a look at her surroundings. The noise was louder but still muffled.
    “This is ridiculous,” grumbled Raven. She hit the wall with her fist. “Ouch!” She cradled her hand. “That was stupid.” She brushed a tear off her cheek. Looking around Raven saw an old tarnished, copper plaque on the door just a few feet from the top of the stairs, from where she stood, she couldn’t read what it said.
    The door didn’t look like any of the doors in the rest of the building. It was wooden like the others, but a weird ornate pattern was cut into the wood, covering most of lower half of the door. Multi-colored flakes of faded paint clung to the design, though the rest of the door appeared to have been black at one time or another. Something dark covered the window in the upper half of the door, preventing anyone from looking inside, but it didn’t hide the beautiful stained glass picture nestled in the center of the clear glass—a full silver moon shining down on blue water. A strange addition to a door in a school building, but it called to Rave n , drawing her to it.
    Raven traced the engraved letters on the tarnished plaque.
     
    ART
    ROOM 103
     
    She turned her head slightly sideways and chewed on her bottom lip. Her fingertips slid to the carved wood. Slowly she traced the intricate pattern, feeling the wood, feeling the cuts made into the wood, the pattern slowly started taking shape in her mind’s eye. Raven’s eyelids grew heavier. She stifled a yawn. A wave of pure energy pulled at her.
    “Did you see all those men in black go into the office?” said a voice from close to the entrance to the hallway Raven was in.
    Raven’s eyes jerked open and her hand fell away from the door. She took a couple of steps backwards. The energy pulled at her. “No.” Raven felt a power surge around her.
    “Yeah, really strange. Don’t you think?” said another voice.
    “I’m wondering why they’re here,” said the first voice. The voices were louder and less muffled.
    The energy surge grew. The sound of glass shattering surrounded Raven, and the next instant, she was thrown against the wall behind her. The force of the impact knocked the air out of her lungs. Stunned, Raven slid to the floor, while black dots danced across her vision. It took a moment to get enough air in her lungs so she could breathe easier.
    The black dots faded away. Raven looked around, expecting to see evidence of some kind of blast. Her heart skipped a beat. There was no evidence of a blast, not even a smudge mark, just her aching body. The strange art room door was gone, vanished as if it had never been there.
    Raven pushed herself off the floor. She stood, letting her legs adjust to having her weight back on them. “Crazy. Just