• CHAPTER ONE
    Ian walked out of the dojo, his ears ringing from the sound of clashing swords.

    His sword arm was cut badly and he had a lump on his head the size of an egg. Ian traveled quickly through the underwater tunnel, stopping only to skim his finger along the cool glass. As he moved forward, some fish gathered at his finger.

    Each side tunnel he passed led to another home in the underwater world. Ian counted fifteen tunnels to his own. He walked down the steps and to his house. Ian’s house reminded him of a bubble. It was big and round, and made of mostly clear glass.

    He opened the big double doors and walked inside. “I’m home!” Ian yelled. He heard his little sister running down the stairs and he opened his arms.

    When she came around the corner, she jumped gracefully into his strong arms. “Hey, Ian,” she said.

    “Hey, Dylan, how was school?” he asked her.

    “Pretty good,” she said, “we learned a new spell and I was the best!”

    Ian was proud to have her as a little sister. She was very smart, but only in things related to magic. Ian had once tried to teach her a basic move with a sword, but it took her a day just to find the proper hold. She had never finished learning it.

    “What spell?” Ian asked. He really was curious. While Dylan’s future was that of a witch’s, he was a warrior, and couldn’t do magic that wasn’t his magic swordsman talent.

    “Pisces veni. It makes fish come to you. We got to practice it out in the tunnels. And guess what else?”

    “What, Dyl?” Ian grinned widely, stifled a laugh; she talked fast and talked a lot.

    “Daddy got me a new wand ‘cause I have such good grades. Wanna see?”

    “’Course I do.”

    She jumped out of his arms, grabbed Ian’s hand, and ran with him up the stairs. Dylan dragged him to her room and took a leather case off her desk.

    “Here it is,” she said, and she opened the box.

    Ian’s jaw dropped open in amazement. It was beautiful. Girly, yes, but beautiful. The wand was long and white, and had little jewels encrusted in its surface. When she held it, the wand sparkled. She waved it lightly and muttered something under her breath. Her bed was suddenly made, her room clean, and a scent of freshness filled the air.

    “Now that you’re done making me jealous,” Ian said, “could you fix my arm?” He pointed to the deep cut on his right arm.

    “Yeah, I’ll do it, but there’s gonna be a light scar. You also need to pay me.”

    “WHAT???! I’m your brother, Dyl, come on, cut me some slack.”

    “Okay, how about you let me practice all my spells that involve people on you. Even if I haven’t perfected them yet.”

    “Oh, ok,” Ian relented. He figured that she was good enough at spells to not mess up too much.

    Dylan ran her wand along his deep cut and then flicked it lightly. “All better,” she said.

    Ian looked. She was right. The only thing there that was proof of his injury was a long scar, pale white against his tan skin. “Could you fix the massive lump on my head too? For free?” Ian asked, hoping she would agree.

    “All right,” she said, “only because it’s so small.” She tapped it twice with her wand and the pain and lump instantly left him.

    “Thanks Dyl,” he said. “Hey, listen, Jake’s comin’ over for a little bit and I know you like him. I’ll be sure to tell him that you were the one to fix my arm.”

    Dylan punched her older brother. Hard. “Sure, why don’t you yell it to the world.”

    “Hey! Your sisterly love is getting painful. Be careful of my sword arm.”

    “Ha! Yeah, right!” she punched him even harder.

    There was a loud knock on the door. “Don’t break it!” Ian yelled as he ran down the stairs to meet his friend.

    Before Ian had time to turn the handle of the front door though, he was thrown back. The door was suddenly open and his friend Jake towered above him. “Hey, squirt, how’s it goin’?”

    “Pretty good. Wanna go now? If we get hurt Dylan will heal us. She’s really good,” Ian showed Jake his arm.

    “Nice. Let’s go. Dylan may not want to watch though, it could get rough,” Jake said, winking at Ian’s little sister.

    “I think I’ll come,” she said in the high voice she used when talking to him, “You might need some on-the-spot healing.”

    Ian took her small hand and led she and Jake into their personal dojo that was built into the house. He took off his tight muscle shirt and threw it in the corner. Jake did the same. They wore only jean-like pants so as not to tear the cloth that was so valuable to this underwater world. It was very hard to go above ground in order to get the supplies to make clothes.

    This place was the lost city of Atlantis, and the only world most citizens had ever known. Scientists a long time ago had found the city again. Once the air above ground became too polluted to live in, the World Council expanded Atlantis to cover almost the entire ocean floor, and evacuated every human on earth to live in it. It took years and years, but once pollution got so bad everyone above ground had to wear oxygen masks, it sped up. The Council lived in the only part that was the original Atlantis.

    Ian took his most prized possession, his sword, off the hook on the wall. His sword had a silver blade with a black hilt. It had red designs going up the whole blade. When he held it in his hand, it fit perfectly. He had inherited this sword from one of his ancient ancestors, who was a samurai. Now, he was barely Japanese at all, but had the fighting in his blood.

    Not only was Ian a master sword fighter, he had mastered every martial art. “On guard,” he said. He and Jake barely touched their swords together, but positioned them in a cross.

    Just as the boys were about to begin, Ian’s dad bursted into the room. “I thought I heard you boys come down here,” Laurence said. “Next time you’re going to fight, invite me.” Laurence was tall, with slicked back blond hair and baby blue eyes. He always wore a suit, and didn’t have one ounce of magic blood in him.

    The different classes were based on the amount of magic you had in
    you. The witches and wizards’ blood was pure magic, the beast tamers had about half magic blood, and the fighters had only a quarter or less of magical blood. Then there were the Inanivis, or Empty Powers. These people were pure human, just like Laurence.

    “Laurence,” Ian said, “we always ask you to come. You’re just busy most of the time. We gave up.” Ian called his parents by their first names. Unlike Dylan, he wasn’t comfortable enough to call them Mom and Dad.

    “Well today I’m not. Let’s begin.”

    “Alright… on guard,” Ian said again.

    It was a good match. Jake always gave Ian a challenge. Every time Ian lunged, Jake would block it. It was the same when Jake attacked, too.

    By the end, the two strong boys were exhausted. Neither had won. Both were completely cut up however.

    Dylan ran to Jake, wand in hand, and began healing him. Ian noticed that she seemed to pretend to mess up and had to do it again on the cuts around Jake’s chest. Once the giddy girl was done, she walked to Ian with a straight face and mended him much more quickly.

    “Thanks, Dyl,” Jake said.

    Dylan grinned and began to tell him about the features of her wand.

    While they were doing that, Ian eyed his father suspiciously. Laurence seemed cheerier than usual, and Ian was pretty sure he knew why.

    “Laurence, where’s Katie?” he asked. Katie was his beautiful mother.

    “She’s on a business trip,” he replied.

    “For how long?” Ian asked.

    “A few months.” Laurence answered.

    Ian raised his eyebrows. To that, his dad nodded. They didn’t like Dylan to know what Katie did on “business trips.” The woman was a fighter, like Ian. But Katie was different. On these trips, she was going to the more rural areas of the tunnels, and spying. Any person that she discovered to be speaking out against the government, she killed. Katie didn’t even wait for them to fall asleep.

    This time, however, she was told that it was, in fact, her ex-boyfriend that was said to be committing the treason. The World Council stated that only two boyfriends or girlfriends were allowed in a lifetime, and one had to end up being your spouse. This man was Katie’s first one, and without him alive, Laurence could be sure she would never leave him.
    Ian knew that his father thought Katie would never disobey World Council and decide not to kill the man, but Ian wasn’t so sure.

    Just then, Jake walked over to Ian. “I have to go. My mom’s
    expecting me at eight.” It was already 7:45.

    “Bye man,” Ian said, and walked with Jake and Dylan to the door.

    Jake walked out the door and slammed it much harder than a normal person would think was possible. Ian cringed as he heard delicate glass shatter in another room.