Warriors of Poseidon 04 - Atlantis Unmasked

with very wide eyes. “We don‟t exactly leave tips with priceless ancient gold coins, Alaric,” she said, retrieving them. “I‟ll get this one.”
     
    She placed a few of the green bills on the table and then walked over and held out his coins. “I thought I had a hard time with converting money. Sheesh! Why don‟t you keep these and we‟ll get you some proper currency?”
     
    “Please retain those coins for payment for our breakfast,” he said, his pride stung a little.
    “You will be able to convert them into the proper form, I trust?”
     
    She waved to the servant who was rushing over to their table, no doubt to clean the table or count the green papers. It was a strange system.
     
    Alaric followed Michelle onto the sidewalk for the walk back to the fort and shortened his stride enough to keep pace with her. He could not vanish into thin air on a busy street filled with wandering humans without causing her to offer uncomfortable explanations to any passersby.
     
    “Alaric, truly, these coins must be worth a fortune,” she said, staring down at them.
    “Please take them back for important things.”
     
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    “Your rebel cause is important, is it not?” He narrowed his eyes at a group of loudly singing young men who were approaching them from the opposite direction. The men abruptly quit emitting the horrible noise and stumbled to the edge of the road to allow Alaric and Michelle to pass.
     
    She turned her head right and left, staring at the men, then glanced up at Alaric, grinning. “It‟s a gift, isn‟t it? That ability to make the masses of humanity part like the Red Sea before you. And, yes, our cause is very important. Vital. We‟re so thankful you—”
     
    He strode out into the street to cross to the other sidewalk, contemplating the destruction a well-placed energy sphere could cause to the cretin who squealed to a stop, honking his horn at them.
     
    “I need no thanks. I was merely inquiring. Give the coins to Grace so she may purchase supplies.”
     
    She grabbed his arm and pressed closer to his side as the vehicle moved past them with another offensive squealing noise. He contemplated the effect a small tidal wave would have on the fool, but refrained.
     
    “Ah, Alaric, you don‟t happen to know anything about crosswalks or stoplights, do you?”
     
    He shrugged. “We clearly had the greater need to cross; the imbecile in the vehicle was wasting precious planetary resources by driving that enormous truck.”
     
    She sighed. “Red light, green light? Means nothing. Okay, breakfast with you is a life-threatening experience. So noted. Also, thank you for the coins. Grace would puff up with pride and say no, thanks, but I happen to know she‟s very worried about funds for food and arms. So I‟ll just accept on her behalf. I know a friend of a friend who‟s a coin guy. We‟ll see what we can get.”
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    As they approached the front gates of the fort, she tugged on his arm. “Wait. These aren‟t some super secret Atlantean coins that will look like forgeries to a numismatist who doesn‟t believe in Atlantis, are they?”
     
    He shook his head. “Greek, Roman. Maybe some Spanish. We never really used coins in Atlantis; what few we minted were for ceremonial usage and are never used for currency.”
     
    “Oh, naturally,” she said, grinning again. “One day I hope to come visit you in Atlantis.”
     
    “One day I hope that you shall. Now I must leave. Please give Alexios the message that I go to find Quinn but will return in time for the meeting.”
     
    “You bet. Good luck.” She held up her arms and hugged him again, then started toward the fort. He leapt into the air, transforming into mist, and focused on connecting with Quinn. West. She was somewhere . . . west. And she was in trouble.
     
    With Quinn, safety wasn‟t even an illusion. It was an impossibility.
     
    Alexios watched Grace circle around the trainee, checking to see that he had the bow properly positioned, helping him hold the arrow just so. He felt his jaw clenching at the sight of her touching the man and forced himself to relax. Simply because he‟d come to the momentous decision that he would try to move forward—take that leap out of the darkness—did not mean that the world would magically fall in line.
     
    Besides, the man was prematurely balding and had