The Battle for Sanctuary: The Titan's Legacy: Vol: 2 (Volume 2) by J.J. Thompson Page A

said she was ready to enter
the interior of the island.
    “ Everyone
set to go?” she asked. A chorus of 'yeahs!' was the
overwhelming answer and Maria laughed and rolled her eyes. There was
a general sigh of relief among them all, as they were finally going
to get away from the water's edge. Justin was more than tired of
staring at the lake after all they'd been through.
    “ Okay
then,” Maria said briskly. “Here we go.” And she
turned directly into the trees, found a fairly open path that led
inland and started off.
    The marching order was
pretty much the same as the one they had used when crossing the lake
bed, but everyone kept close to the person in front of them, as the
tree growth was very thick and it was hard to keep each other in
sight.
    Ten minutes in, Maria
stopped abruptly and Dominic and Jason bumped into her as they all
came to an uneven halt.
    “ Could
you give us some warning, Maria?” Dominic said with irritation.
    Maria didn't answer; she
just pointed over their heads to the tops of the trees. “I'm no
expert, but those look like bananas!”
    “ What?”
Everyone looked up eagerly. “Yeah, they're definitely bananas,
Maria!” Dominic agreed enthusiastically.
    “ But
what are banana trees doing in the middle of an underground lake?”
Yolanda muttered curiously.
    Aaron spoke up. “Above
us in Sanctuary, the Arboretum is loaded with fruit trees; apples,
pears, blueberries, they're all there. So maybe when this level was
being used they grew bananas down here and they've just continued to
grow.”
    “ Who
cares why they're here.” Dominic sounded impatient. “The
point is, they're food and we're starving. Now, who's a good
climber?”
    After a brief discussion,
Richard claimed to be the best at climbing, saying that he'd helped
his father gather mangoes in his native India when he was younger.
    “ And
the mango trees are way bigger than these banana trees,”
Richard said confidently.
    “ Well,
that's great, Richard,” Maria said with an encouraging smile.
“But it's a long way down and, Titan or not, I still wouldn't
want to see you fall from up there, so please be careful.”
    Richard just grinned
widely. Then he winked at his friend Jason, who looked a bit nervous,
and got ready for the climb.
    He handed his shirt to
Jason, took off his shoes and socks, 'for a good grip', and started
climbing a likely-looking tree that seemed to have several bunches of
bananas just waiting to be picked.
    The group of teens
watched nervously as Richard carefully climbed the long serrated stem
of the tree. He was at the top very quickly and looked down and
waved.
    “ I
don't have anything sharp to cut this whole bunch off,” he
called down. “So I'll just pluck some off and toss them down,
okay?”
    “ Sounds
good, Richard,” Maria answered. Richard waved again and soon
there was a veritable rain of bananas falling from the tree.
    Justin couldn't believe
how many bananas were in that one bunch. Once Richard had dropped
three dozen or so, Maria let him know that it was enough, at least
for now. He climbed down quickly, a banana in each pocket and safely
dropped to the ground.
    They all patted him on
the back and Jason ruffled his hair in appreciation. Richard just
shrugged, saying it was nothing and they all began to eat for the
first time in two days.
    “ Slowly
guys,” Maria cautioned as she saw some of them wolfing down the
fruit. “There's lots and you haven't eaten in days.” Her
voice became stern. “It would be a shame if Richard had climbed
up there for the bananas just you could thank him by throwing up his
hard work.”
    Justin heard Dominic
mutter “Yes mother,” but he was relieved to see the
others slowing down a bit. The bananas weren't all totally ripe but
they tasted like heaven to Justin. He chewed them slowly because he
was enjoying simply tasting food for the first time in ages.
Surprisingly, after his fourth helping, he felt full. Some of the
others seemed to have had their