Page 69 of Monster's Pet

The white-blue lines were mesmerizing, flickering slightly as they wrapped around the world. There were three layers; one in the air, one on land, and the last below the surface. Wehad visited Atlantis below the surface of water, but it, like both Easter Island and here, had been on the land layer.

I traced the lines with a golden thread of magic before peeling it off and flattening it against the wall. What I saw made my eyes open wide. “Ummm, Professor?” I said hesitantly, not looking away from my magic.

“Just a mo—” He cut himself off abruptly. “How did you do that?”

“I don’t know! I just wanted to see the ley lines in two dimensions!”

“Show me.” The professor snapped his fingers and my magical pattern transferred to a piece of paper.

I repeated the magic I had done, waited until Professor Akhtar approved it, and moved back over to the cleared wall. I pressed the three-dimensional world against it, starting with Antarctica, and kept going until the entire thread was against the wall.

Aiden joined us. “It’s the golden ratio,” he said.

“A spiral, like a seashell, or the galaxy,” I said in awe.

Professor Akhtar was tracing the line with a finger. “This explains why we’re seeing those anomalies, Aiden. Why Atlantis is worse off than Easter Island, and why we’re so drained up here on Northumberland Island. See, we’re way over here on one of the arms. Easter Island is in the center. We’re looking for a connection point closer to, but past, Atlantis…”

“There,” I said, pointing at a golden dot.

“Where is that?” Aiden asked. “We haven’t calculated it yet.”

“Siobhan, will you do the honors?” Professor Akhtar said with a twinkle in his eye.

I marked the spot and then peeled the magic off the wall and draped it back over the hologram.

“Australia?” Aiden asked, surprised. “What’s in the middle of Australia?”

“The desert,” I replied. “Lots of magical creatures, if I remember correctly. Generally, the ones that don’t like being around people.”

“You’ll find the largest population of phoenixes in Central Australia,” our professor put in. “I think we need to make another field trip. We need to prepare. We’ll go next Saturday. I want a complete work-up on what we’ll find there, animal, vegetable, and mineral, both magical and mundane. I’ll complete the magical density report and present it to Headmistress Blackthorn to get approval. Any questions?”

“No, sir,” Aiden said.

“Great. Go get dinner. I’ve got work to do,” he said in dismissal.

CHAPTER 19

We werethe first of our friend group to make it to the cafeteria, so we claimed our table and started eating. The rest of them trickled in slowly, until finally our table was the loudest one in the room, everyone asking about our trip to Atlantis, and us catching up on everything that had happened while we had been gone.

“We might have a lead on the ley line mystery,” I announced. The chatter around table quieted. “We discovered that the Atlantean ley lines were present, but slightly lessened. We theorized that there was a magical dam somewhere. So Professor Akhtar, Aiden, and I went to Easter Island to get a reading, and then they threw the numbers into math equations that made my head spin.”

Everyone laughed.

“So where is it?” Una asked, leaning forward eagerly.

“In the middle of Australia.”

Silence met that declaration.

“But why?” Rhiannon said quietly.

“I have no idea. That’s what we plan on finding out.”

Aiden added, “Professor Akhtar is writing a report to present to Headmistress Blackthorn, requesting permission to go and check it out.”

“You know…” Hazel said quietly.

We all turned to look at her, and she flushed a dark green.

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