Suddenly, the boat began to sputter. The engine choked and then went silent. They slowed down, drifting gently toward the nd that was slowly coming into view.

  "Argh, come on," Arada sighed. "We were so close." She grabbed the oar and started rowing manually.

  "Good thing it happened now," remarked Irgos. He checked behind them once more, but this time the water was genuinely quiet. Culex had long disappeared from sight. "If this had happened while he was after us, we'd be finished."

  "Unless I'd decided to use the magnetic belt sooner."

  Irgos still couldn't believe his sister's pn had worked. "So, how did you even come up with that?" he asked.

  "Remember what Aplin had said?" She gestured at Irgos's belt, which was still around his waist. "The belts mustn't come close to each other, or their 'magnetism' would get disrupted." She freed one hand from the paddle and slowly moved it toward her own waist to demonstrate. "But the hovers worked simirly: their magnetic force repels them from the water, letting them fly. So if one of the belts got too close…"

  "…it would go haywire," Irgos finished for her, now realizing how clever she was. "How did you think of that so fast?"

  Arada shrugged and pushed through the water again. "They say that in your st moments, your brain searches frantically through the past for a way out. Like an inbuilt survival mechanism. Apparently, that came in handy this time."

  They both fell silent, and Arada kept rowing. From afar, the nd looked like a green hill rising from the sea, but now, as they got closer, it appeared less round. Irgos could now see that the entire ndmass was covered with moss. As far as he could tell, there was no other vegetation.

  Arada paddled a few more strokes until the boat gently floated to the shore. Irgos also noticed how smoothly the moss transitioned into the green water pnts.

  Strange. Usually, these kinds of coasts are covered in sand.

  Suddenly, a rge wave surged behind them, giving the boat an extra push and shoving them right onto the nd.

  Irgos heard something scrape beneath the boat. Two of the bottom pnks suddenly cracked, and a sharp rock point pierced through the floor. Water seeped in, leaving a puddle behind.

  Arada sighed. "I'm afraid we'll have to continue on foot from here."

  They left the damaged boat and stepped onto the ground. More stones protruded from the moss.

  "The boat was probably too old anyway," said Irgos, who watched the sinking boat dejectedly.

  They walked up the mossy hill, but once they reached the top and saw their surroundings, their situation became clear.

  "What on earth?" Arada gasped.

  The mossy hill turned out to be a huge isnd—a lifeless lump in unknown waters. There was no sign of any living creatures, except for a few birds flying overhead or a group of insects riding the sea breeze.

  But that wasn't the reason for her reaction.

  Behind the isnd, a surreal sight had become visible, something they couldn't see from the small boat—the hill was blocking it from their view.

  In the distance, the sea continued, but strange towers rose above it. They had all sorts of shapes, from rectangur to triangur to round. Some buildings seemed like grids filled with gss. Others appeared to be entirely made of gss. The buildings were so tall it was hard to believe. Here and there, tops of dead trees peaked above the sea level. Symmetric metal constructions with chords spanning between them were scattered all around.

  "I-Is this… the Old World?" Irgos stammered.

  "Or what's left of it," she added. "The flood couldn't bring them down."

  Does that mean this was all dry nd once?

  Irgos couldn't believe it. How much lower would the sea level have had to be? What must have happened to bring everything to this state?

  To the right of the towers, there was something else. It was another piece of nd, much closer than the buildings. It seemed only a few kilometers away.

  "I think we should head there," Arada said, who had also noticed it. "We have to find a way to Aquinox."

  The wind took her hair as if to confirm her thoughts. They stood there for a moment, still captivated by the strange structures in the distance.

  "Can we rest for a bit, please?" Irgos began, realizing how tired, hungry, and frightened he was. His legs gave out, and he plopped down on the mossy ground.

  Arada stood motionless, staring bnkly ahead. She didn't answer his request.

  Emotion finally took over.

  After a while, she colpsed to her knees and buried her face in her hands.

  "APLIN!" she cried out. She broke into horrifying sobs.

  Irgos felt her sorrow. They had seen how Culex had lifted him into the air, leaving him hovering above the bridge.

  Does this mean he's trapped there forever?

  He had sacrificed himself so they could escape from Culex and the others. After that, everything had happened so quickly that they'd had no time to process anything.

  The idea of Aplin trapped in the air made him queasy. He felt lightheaded. With a dizzy head, he colpsed on the moss.

  * * *

  When Irgos opened his eyes again, the sun was directly overhead on the isnd.

  What happened?

  He hadn't slept, but he felt as if he'd been somewhere else. And his head felt incredibly full.

  "Ah, you're awake," his sister's voice said beside him.

  Irgos looked up. Arada was sitting on the moss, knees drawn close, quietly watching the waves dance around the isnd. Her eyes were still red from tears.

  Irgos looked at her questioningly.

  "You fainted," she expined without looking at him. "Probably too many impressions at once, I'd guess."

  Irgos nodded thoughtfully. He made a mental list of events since Overmore. It all began when Culex had murdered Arada's father, and his henchmen had destroyed their home. After that, they had fled wildly, encountering remnants of the Old World. The boneyard in Tusin, the jelly monster that nearly caught him, the situation in Ebrotown where Aplin had saved them from Culex's clutches. Then, their meeting in the sewer with the mysterious Old World resident, the giant mosquitoes—which Arada still knew nothing about—and Aplin's pn to burn down the bridge. Finally, the bizarre journey under the bridge and their escape via the Ebros with the hydrohover.

  And now we're stuck on some random isnd in the middle of nowhere. It's just too much to believe.

  Arada seemed to be over her crying fit, watching a seagull circle above the water, searching for its lunch.

  "How long have I been lying here?" he asked her.

  She shrugged. "No idea, I kind of lost count too," she said, shifting position. "Long enough for it to be afternoon, anyway." She looked up at the sun.

  The seagull skimmed over the water and snagged a small fish.

  Irgos sat up straight. He looked at his sister helplessly. "I can't believe our boat gave out when we needed it most."

  She absentmindedly twirled a strand of hair around her finger.

  "It's not really something we could control. The boat already looked rickety, and with those rocks, I'm not sure we could have prevented it."

  Irgos felt like the fish in the seagull's beak. Only in their case, the seagulls were fate, pying with them like it was a child's game.

  "Can't we just swim over there?" Irgos suggested, pointing to the other piece of nd. "It doesn't look that far to me."

  "Not a good idea," she answered immediately, nodding towards the water. "Remember what Aplin said?"

  The water had an unnatural color—a sort of fluorescent turquoise. Irgos recognized it instantly. It was the same yer he had seen near the bridge's end, about which Aplin had warned them not to make contact with.

  "Ah..." Irgos muttered, understanding. "Cold bloom."

  That expins why the water looks so different. It's not pure.

  He continued. "So... if our boat's gone and the isnd is surrounded by hostile bacteria... we're stuck here forever."

  A faint smile appeared on Arada's face. "Not forever. You've given me an idea."

  She paused, making Irgos wonder what she meant.

  "Do you remember how we used to go to the beach so often back in Overmore? We would spend hours and hours watching the sea. Observing when the water was at its highest, and how long it would take before the tide went out." She turned her head towards him. "I assume you still remember when the water was at its lowest?"

  Irgos nodded. "Usually, the lowest point was around eleven at night," he recalled.

  "Exactly. And I assume that will be the case here too."

  Irgos didn't understand where she was going with this.

  "We're currently on the receding side of the cycle, but tonight, the water will be at its lowest."

  "So?"

  Arada stood up.

  "Come on."

  They walked to the other side of the isnd, where the mainnd was visible across the way, with the enormous Old-World towers behind it. She stopped a few meters before the water's edge.

  "Some spots here are shallow. If we wait long enough, some areas might dry up, and we can walk across the seabed."

  Irgos thought back to the past. They had walked along the beach before, and in some pces, a sandbank would indeed appear at low tide.

  So it'll be the same here?

  Irgos also noticed that the seabed wasn't very far below the water's surface.

  That also expins why there's no sandy shore here. Because the water is receding.

  "So you want to wait until the water has dropped?" Irgos asked, now understanding her pn.

  "Exactly."

  "But that's still going to take a while."

  "Then we need to make sure we get enough rest and gather our energy now," she said, sitting back down on the moss. "We'll need it."

  "And quite a bit of it," Irgos agreed, watching the waves and settling down beside her.

  * * *

  As the sun moved across the sky, Arada and Irgos had little else to do but wait for the water to recede. They sat by the falling waterline, which gradually retreated throughout the afternoon. Bit by bit, the sea exposed more of the greenish blob beneath.

  Eventually, the first signs of the sandy bottom became visible.

  "This must be it," Arada said, half-cheerful. "Let it drop a bit more, and we can walk."

  Irgos took another deep breath, gathering courage for the crossing.

  "Do you know how tired I am?" he began.

  "Yeah, what about me?"

  "Since Culex destroyed our vilge, we've never had time to rest. Never. Even while we slept, there was always the fear he'd jump out from around the corner."

  Arada followed yet another seagull with her eyes. "He's just been pying games with us, you know. Until, finally, his hydrohover got stuck by magnets."

  Irgos was still ready for Culex to show up any moment. But that was unlikely now, as all the hovers had either exploded or broken down. They hadn't seen any other boats visible by the enormous barrier, so it seemed they were truly safe. For now.

  "Unless we get to Aquinox," he thought aloud.

  Arada looked at him questioningly.

  "Did you hear him, sis? He knows our destination."

  She sighed. "Yeah, well, tough luck. I'm not giving up now that we're so close. Did you see on the map how big that city was? There'll definitely be ways to stay unseen. Besides, do you remember what Aplin told us?"

  Irgos's memory of the events on the bridge was hazy.

  "He said... something about Aquinox being protected by walls. That no one could just get in."

  Arada folded her arms in confidence. "Exactly. Then it seems very likely that demonic scum like Culex can't get in there."

  "Well yeah, but then the same thing holds for us..."

  Irgos noticed again how the water had given up a strip of nd. The gentle glow of the setting sun caressed the waves, and its rays touched the tall Old World buildings in the distance. Their silhouettes were eerily outlined against the golden-pink light, as the st remnants of the past.

  And yet, something doesn't add up.

  "If Cura knew there were massive walls around Aquinox," he reasoned. "Why would he send us there if we can't get in anyway?"

  That left Arada speechless.

  "He also said that we'd find the person with the other half of the amulet there," he continued. "And that person is supposed to tell us more about the elixir, even though we don't have it anymore. But how are we gonna reach them if there's walls blocking our way?"

  The cool sea breeze rippled across their faces, almost as if branding their situation with yet more mysteries.

  "I don't know," Arada said after a long pause. "It had always seemed strange to me that Dad never told us more about the Old World. I regret not asking him more about his past, too. But now it's too te." She stared sadly into the distance, holding her grief in check.

  By now, more of the seabed was visible, emerging like a patchy cheese along the outskirts of the Ebros shorelines.

  Arada stood up. "It won't be long before the ground is walkable," she said. "I think the lowest point is going to come very soon. Once we can walk anywhere, we'll head straight for the other shore."

  Irgos walked with her down to the receding waterline.

  "When we're there, what's the first thing we do?"

  Arada studied the opposite shore. "We look for clues leading to Aquinox. It's the only direction we can go. We'll worry about those walls ter. Hopefully the people there will accept two scruffy teens who've traveled across nd and sea to get there."

  "But—"

  "What else would you suggest?" she interrupted. "We're exhausted, starving, and traumatized. But trust me, it's our best shot. We have to reach Aquinox before Culex does. Food, sleep, and rest can come ter."

  Irgos had no reply. As always, his sister was straightforward about these things and kept her emotions from bleeding through.

  But she was right.

  We have to find the other amulet along with that mystery person. It's our only chance to make sense of this chaos.