Even the reporter would like that. It had the ring of a front-page headline.

Chapter 24.

Atlantis, the cavern Justice forced himself to do willingly what he'd fought against for hundreds of years. He opened the shields in his mind and released the Nereid half of his soul. At first his response was only silence, as if the Other mocked him.

As if he'd waited too long.

However, ever so gradually, power curled like liquid fire through the resistant spaces of his mind. Heat filled his body, sparkling and shimmering through his veins and arteries like champagne-filtered blood.

Finally. Finally you call to me, and invite me to demonstrate my power. The Nereid's voice resonated through his mind with the thundering of percussion drumming out a triumphant march.

"I call on you to share your power," Justice said aloud. "If we can't escape this cavern, it does you no more good than it does me."

Keely's forehead furrowed as she gazed up at him quizzically, and he realized what his half of the conversation must sound like.

"I'm not crazy; I'm only talking to myself," he offered. "The only way we'll get out of here is if the Nereid half of me can teach me powers I've never known. It wasn't an Atlantean gift that transported us down here. I'm not sure what I did or how I did it. The Nereid knows, and so I will learn."

"This is probably a subject for another time, but it doesn't seem all that healthy that you're talking about the other half of yourself in the third person. Of course, earlier you were referring to yourself as 'we,' so I guess it's all relative," she said, smiling weakly. "I'm good with whatever gets us out of here."

Justice smiled at her in a way that he hoped was reassuring, and then he closed his eyes and sank into the duality of his consciousness. Swirls and spirals of shimmering color danced in the darkness inside his mind, as if his Nereid half were a prism reflecting the brightest gemstones in the cavern.

Though he didn't understand the scope of the power released, he could certainly feel the magnitude of it. He'd always been possessed of superior usage of the Atlantean magics, but this was different. Darker. Not more powerful, but simply other. Clay shaped by a sculptor with mysterious intent.

His mind shuffled through the new concepts. New constructs. A different view of ordering the universe.

Matter transference. The knowledge and technique gleamed before him. It was so simple; of course he could do it. Of course he had done it.

Of course he could do it again.

It was a simple process. He offered up his being into the fabric of the universe. It was a loan-no more. A momentary return to the energy of creation. He pictured himself and Keely where he wanted them to be, and they would travel through the waves, as particles of that flow.

He could see it. He could hear it, touch it, taste it. Everywhere he looked, energy beams danced and played, sweeping through the fabric of life itself. It would be so easy to sink into the energy. To catch a ride.

He turned toward Keely and, truly seeing her, laughed, suddenly joyous. Brilliant oranges, yellows, and reds floated, sparkling, around her. She existed inside a kaleidoscope of all the colors of the sunset, crowned by the flame red of her hair. She was strength and wonder and innocence, and yet there were darker hues, as well. Flashes of sienna fading into deepest mahogany, indicative of some negativity. Pain in her past.

He had no reason to know it, but he did. He was no longer only Justice. Or even only Justice and Nereid. He was part of the web of all existence in the galaxy, and traveling within it would be as effortless as swimming in a quiet pool.

Not so easy as that, the Nereid cautioned. You cannot fall into that trap. Limitless possibilities exist to seduce the unwary. If you give yourself to the universe without reservation, there is the chance you'll never return.

Justice recoiled at the idea of limits, but then leashed his denial. Forced himself to listen to the Nereid.

Keely. He needed to protect Keely. Remove them both from this cavern in which they were trapped. Focus on the practical; the magical could wait. He turned to her. "I know how to do it. He told me, and it's so simple-well. It's simple once you have the knowing of it."

"You can really get us out of here?" Fragile hope shone on her face and for a moment he paused, stunned by her beauty.

"Yes. I would ask where you wish to go, but I believe one destination is mandatory. We have explanations to make. I have explanations to make. We'll go to the palace. It must be the beginning, although we don't yet know the ending."

Keely took a deep breath and nodded. "Part of me wants nothing more than to go home, have a hot bath, and drink a bottle or two of wine. But we need to tell the prince about the Star of Artemis and the Trident. All of Atlantis could be in serious danger if they try to ascend without the full set of gemstones."

He held out his hand and she twined her fingers in his, and a fountain of sparkling light merged into a geyser around them. Entranced by the hypnotic allure, he almost missed her next words.

"Just tell me this is safe," she said, attempting a smile. "I know we did it once before, but I can't help but feel a little bit like a guinea pig. I really don't want half of my atoms going to Borneo while the other half end up in the palace here in Atlantis. I watched Star Trek on DVD, you know. That transporter was not exactly reliable."

From somewhere in his past, he found an echo of humor that hadn't yet been beaten out of him by years of battle-or months in the Void. "I hear Borneo is nice this time of year."

Somehow, against all odds, Keely started laughing. Justice called to the magic of his Nereid ancestors and, holding her in his arms, he stepped off the edge of reality and into the tapestry of the universe. They dissolved into pure energy, and both halves of himself-Nereid and Atlantean-marveled at the brilliance of captured sunlight that he held so carefully in his arms.

Keely melted into nothingness, again-or maybe not. In some nearly indefinable way, this was different. She felt herself more an active participant in the process, although it certainly wasn't her bringing the magic. As a scientist, she tried to observe and catalog. Sensations, reactions, experience as experiment.

But the matter transference defied description. At least, it defied any rational description. Any sane explanation. Magic consumed her, swallowed her up. She could only hope it would spit her back out, whole, when she got to the other side.

Colors and sounds clashed around her, as though she'd taken a mind-altering drug and fallen into the middle of a symphony. It was beautiful and terrible; sensation piled upon sensation until she thought she would go mad.

And then it was over.

They fell, whether down or up was unimportant, but they fell out of the currents-out of the maelstrom-and back into reality. As they landed, ever so gently on their feet, in a room Keely hadn't seen in any of her visions, she wondered why reality suddenly seemed so dull.

Startled shouts rang around her, and before she could get her bearings, the business ends of two daggers and a sword were pointing in her direction. Pointing at Justice, actually.

Justice's arms tightened around her and then he moved to shield her so quickly that he was a blur.

"How dare you raise weapons against us?" His voice was little more than a growl, but she understood the words and intent clearly enough. She could see the trembling in his muscles that told her he was nearly incoherent with rage.

Keely knew she had to do something. The Atlanteans were threatening the fragile peace Justice had brokered with his Nereid half, and she wasn't going to stand for it.

She stepped out from behind him and held up her hands in surrender, looking toward Conlan, who stood slightly in front of Ven. "Hey, I come in peace. Keely McDermott, archaeologist. You invited me, remember?

"Thanks," she said, putting a hand on Justice's arm. He was making a low, bestial growling noise in his throat as he scanned the room, eyes narrowed and teeth bared. He looked exactly like the predator she'd thought him to be; but now she knew he was that and so much more.

After years of archaeology, Keely was no stranger to dealing with foreign governments. This one might be more foreign than any of the other ones she'd encountered, she thought with grim amusement, but the principle still held true.

The room was a simple one, bare of any trappings of royalty. This was a working space, it was clear. She glanced around, openly curious. "This is some kind of strategy room, isn't it?"

The prince's brother nodded, but still no one spoke. So much for small talk.

"Justice," she hissed, "I'm not making much headway here. You need to help me out."

Conlan and his brother slowly lowered their weapons, identical expressions of shock on their faces. They exchanged a glance she couldn't decipher, and then Ven tossed his sword on a table.

"You're here, and you're safe," Ven said fervently. "Thank the gods you're both safe."

Conlan bowed his head, and Keely saw his lips moving but couldn't hear the words. When he looked up, he smiled at Justice. "I, too, thank the gods that you have returned safely from the Void, my brother. And my apologies, Dr. McDermott. Are you well?" He sheathed his daggers and took a step toward her, and Justice's growl ratcheted up a notch to an actual snarl.

"I'm not hurt," she said. "Although I wouldn't turn down a hot meal and a bath. But we need to talk first. Justice is having a hard time, as you can see. I don't really understand it entirely but he had to make a deal with the Nereid half of himself in order to figure out this matter transference thing that allowed him to transport us here."

"From where? Where did you go?" Conlan ran a hand through his hair in a gesture of pure frustration. "We cannot begin to tell you how sorry we are for this. Certainly we did not mean for your visit to Atlantis to be marked by kidnapping. Are you sure you are unharmed?"

Keely noticed that Ven never took his eyes off Justice. Ven's pale face and tightly clenched jaw told her that he carried his own load of guilt over his brother's sacrifice to Anubisa.

Beside her, the growling noise abruptly shut off. "Are you so unconcerned for my welfare, Brother?" Justice asked, mockery in his roughened voice. "After four long months in the Void, do you not query after me?"

Keely saw the anguish that shadowed Conlan's face. He took a step forward, toward his brother, but Justice backed away, pulling her with him. "Forget it," he sneered. "We are unimpressed by your efforts on our behalf. We spent far too long as captive of the vampire goddess, but you know something about that, don't you, Conlan? She seems to have a preference for Atlantean princes, doesn't she? Even when one of them is the unwanted bastard who was never acknowledged by his own family."

"We never knew," Ven said through gritted teeth. "We never knew. Damnit, Justice, don't you know us better than that after hundreds of years fighting side by side? I've called you brother even not knowing about the blood tie. Could you possibly think that, knowing it, I'd do any differently? Any less?"

Keely noticed that Conlan was less direct. He studied Justice but said nothing, and he'd schooled his face to blankness.

"Must be something they teach you in prince school," Keely said, trying to lighten the unbelievable tension in the room. "That poker face."

Conlan laughed, surprising her. "You are the second woman to bring up poker in our war room in the space of a very short time. Perhaps this table would be more suited to games of cards, rather than games of countries and kings."

Justice put an arm around her and pulled her close. Only the knowledge that he was so near to losing control kept her there, in spite of her frustration at his caveman tactics.

She'd noticed the recurrence of the word "we" in what he'd said. The Nereid was growing stronger, then, and she wasn't sure she wanted to see what would happen if he took over.

"Aargh! Now I'm doing it," she said, glaring up at Justice. "I'm even thinking of you as two separate people. You need to get hold of yourself, or your selves, as best you can. We need to tell them about the Star."

Conlan jumped on it. "The Star? The Star of Artemis?"

Beside her, Justice drew in a deep, shuddering breath and seemed to gather his self-control along with the oxygen. "The Star, yes. The one that we've long been taught has the power to heal fractured minds. Its value was far greater than even we knew, however. We need to find the Star-we need to find all the lost gems of the Trident. Without them, Atlantis cannot rise."

Chapter 25.

Justice's words fell, echoing like falling stone in a newly unsealed tomb. He watched grimly as Ven and Conlan physically recoiled from their meaning.

Conlan recovered first. "What do you mean, Atlantis can't rise without all of the gems returned to the Trident? It cannot be true. When the ancients sent the gemstones to the seven corners of the globe, they had not discovered the portal at that time. If only the use of the gems together with the Trident would allow Atlantis to ascend to the surface, they had in effect just doomed the Seven Isles."

"There's no logic in it," Ven said. "Conlan is right. Without those gems, how could the ancients ever have hoped to return to the surface? It doesn't make sense, Dr. McDermott."

"I don't know," Keely said. "I don't know about logic, or your ancients, as you call them, or any of that. Politics has never been my forte. Maybe they saw the future and knew you'd find a way to travel to the surface. But I saw it in the vision, and my visions have never, ever been wrong. That sapphire must be in place in the Trident, along with all of the other gems, or you will destroy Atlantis when you try to ascend."

The skepticism was plain in their faces. They didn't know Keely. They hadn't seen her nearly crushed in the throes of one of her visions. They were going to need proof.

Even as everything in him balked at the idea, Justice realized that, in their place, he'd want the same.

But the Nereid inside him scoffed. Everything you do will always be less, to them. Why should they take your word for any of it?

Keely sighed, and her shoulders slumped. "You're not going to take this on faith, are you? You don't know me from Adam-or maybe from Poseidon would be the better expression-and you're going to want evidence."

The resignation in her defeated posture touched Justice deep inside, in a place he'd believed long buried. "No. No, they do not want or need evidence. Your word is good."

He folded his arms and confronted the men he still hadn't become accustomed to calling brothers. "You haven't seen her during a vision. You haven't heard the truth and the history that spills forth from her lips."

He put his hand behind his back and briefly touched the hilt of his sword. "She's an object reader, and she read my sword. She named it. It's called Poseidon's Fury, and our father gave it to me."

Ven and Conlan exchanged glances and suddenly he reached an unpleasant conclusion. They were unsurprised by the news.

"You knew? All these years, you knew?"

Conlan shook his head. "No, not that. We never knew that you were our brother. But the sword, yes, of course I'd seen my father with that sword. At first he told us he lost it, but then one day I saw a stringy little blue-haired boy carrying a sword that was far too big for him, and I recognized it."

"I wanted to take it away from you," Ven said, a faint grin playing at the edges of his mouth. "We were about the same size. I told Conlan I was going to kick your ass and take that sword back."

"But I was the wiser, as usual," Conlan interjected dryly. "I dragged Ven back home so that we could ask our father about it."

"What did he say?" Justice leaned forward, though he despised himself for his eagerness to hear even a single kind word from his long-dead father.

They looked uncomfortable. "Is it really the time to talk about the past, when Atlantis's future rests on the truth of Dr. McDermott's vision?"

Keely laughed, but it was a bitter sound. "Trust me, Your Highness. My visions are all about the past. And from what I've seen of what your father put Justice and his mother through, it's no wonder you don't want to talk about it."

"His mother? What do you know of his mother?" Ven asked.

"It was in my vision," Keely said. "I saw her, lying in pain-in labor with Justice-on the floor of what must be your throne room. Carved dolphins on the back of the throne?"

"Justice could've told you that. Hells, Liam could've told you that," Ven challenged.

Justice felt his tenuous grip on his temper fading. "You, who plan to wed a gem singer who stepped straight out of the waters of time, question the word of an object reader?" He looked from one to the other, realization dawning. "That's why you wanted her to come here as an archaeologist, isn't it? I wondered at the choice when you announced the list of invited scientists. What is there to excavate on the Seven Isles?"

Keely pulled free of his hold. "Is it true? Only for that?" Raw anger edged her voice. "Only for something I hate in myself? How did you even know?"

"As to how we knew, one of your colleagues on the Lupercale dig is a friend to Atlantis. As to the second, do you always hate your Gift, Keely McDermott?" Conlan's voice was gentle. "I would have thought it served you well in your chosen profession. Why would you choose to explore the past if you are so determined to deny yourself?"

Keely clenched her fists against her legs and slowly inhaled and exhaled a very deep breath. "Okay, I can't deal with this right now. I'm running on adrenaline and pancakes. Here's what you need to know."

She turned to Justice and looked up at him, a question in her eyes. He knew what she was asking and, although he despised the idea that his brothers would hear about the humiliation that had destroyed his childhood, he nodded assent.

"I think I need to sit down for this," Keely said.

Conlan hastened to indicate that she should sit, apologizing for his lack of manners. Justice remained at her side, sitting next to her on the battered couch that had seen so many planning sessions.

Almost without meaning to, he found himself taking her hand in his own. He needed the contact. Needed the warmth of her touch in order to endure the revelations she was about to give.

Conlan poured tall glasses of water from the tray sitting on a sideboard and carried them over. Keely took a long drink of the sparkling cold liquid, and then she began to talk. Quietly, concisely, and in chronological order, she told them of the visions she'd had. She began with the one Liam had forced upon her, of the Star of Artemis.

Ven interrupted at one point. "Nereus? But-"