Island of Fire

“That’s why,” Sky said softly, reading Alex’s mind. “I can’t leave Crow. We live and die together. I took that oath when I took him with me from Warbler.”

Alex and Sky followed behind Simber, Carina, and Crow. Alex glanced at Sky with admiration. “That’s pretty noble of you,” he said.

“He’s the only family I have now.”

Alex wondered what she meant, but he didn’t dare ask. It felt personal.

She touched his elbow. “I’m sorry I kissed you,” she said softly. “That was . . . weird. I know that you and Lani are . . . whatever. It was just—I wanted to feel like—” She sighed. “Oh, never mind. I know you and Lani . . . you know. And not me, and that’s okay, because I’m not sure about . . . things . . . either. So you don’t have to, like, feel bad.” She blushed, fingering the scars at her throat.

Alex looked down, feeling strange and empty inside. A sort of airy rushing sound batted him around his ears, almost making him dizzy. But when he remembered to breathe, his brain went back to Mr. Today and how he’d seemed destined to be alone. “Don’t worry,” Alex said, trying to sound cheerful. “I already forgot about it.” But it was the biggest lie he’d ever told. So big that saying it made his skin hurt.

“Oh,” Sky said. “Good.” Then she added, “Me too.” And she was silent.

They climbed over rocks and globs of seaweed and tiny pools of water, looking for any clues that would indicate why a ship would want to come here. After a quarter of an hour they reached a long, flat piece of land with some vegetation and wet sand. Several planks of rotting wood stuck out of the dirt. Alex pointed to it. “Could someone have lived here once? It looks like the frame of a house.”

“That’s what I was thinking,” Carina said.

There was a rivulet coming off the side of the mountain, washing away some of the sand. Alex put his finger in it and tasted. “This is freshwater,” he mused. He didn’t understand where it could possibly have come from.

Crow ran ahead, climbing some of the rocks to see if he could find the origin of the stream.

“Stay close,” Sky warned.

“I’m just going right here,” Crow said. “There’s a flat spot and a little pond.” He hopped up and looked around. Carina followed him.

Alex frowned. He wasn’t sure they’d find any clues about ships in a place where ships couldn’t get to. He gazed around the flat spot, and then went to the edge of it, where waves lapped the shore, and peered into the water.

A fish jumped almost under his nose. “Whoa,” he said, and he stepped back, laughing at himself. It jumped again in almost the same place, which was strange, and then Alex saw it had a hook in its mouth attached to a line of fishing wire. The fish sank straight down, as if it was being pulled, and disappeared.

He whirled around to tell the others, but before he could say anything, Carina gave a shout and Crow gasped.

A Face in the

Stream

W

hat’s happening?” Alex said, and he ran for the rocks where everyone else had already gathered.

“A person!” Crow said. “I saw a person!” “Are you sure it wasn’t your reflection?” Sky asked him. “ I’m sure it wasn’t his reflection. I saw it too,” Carina said. She knelt down at the edge of the shallow pool of water, stuck her arm in, and pushed the wet sand away from the bottom. Sky and Alex stood behind her, looking over her shoulder. Simber opted to watch from above.

As Carina slid the sand to the side, she revealed the water’s bed. It wasn’t the black rock that made up almost the entire island. Not this part. The bottom of the pool was clear, like a window.

Crow put his face near the water. “I can see down in there!” he said with a loud whisper. “There are people moving around, way down at the bottom!”

Carina made room for Alex and Sky. It was like they were standing on top of a glass box, or a skylight on the roof of a tall building. They could look through this window and see the glass walls with fish swimming outside the sides.

“It’s like an aquarium,” Alex said, breathless. “Only the water is on the outside, and the glass encases a dry world.” He looked up at Simber. “It’s a reverse aquarium.”

“Look,” Sky said, pointing. “Here, on an upper level. There’s a garden.”

“And there’s a playground at the bottom too,” Crow said.

“See the little kids jumping around?”

“It’s really light down there,” Carina mused, “so there must

be more skylights like this one. And there are walkways and

little rooms on this upper level too. But look—see how the

volcano runs down the center of it all?”

“That must be theirrr sourrrce of heat,” Simber said. “And

the sun, I suppose.”

The five watched the people, oblivious to the ceiling visitors

in their busyness, scurry around far below.

Alex pointed wordlessly to the floor directly below them

as a sliding glass door opened, making a sheet of water pour

into the reverse aquarium. Someone walked in through the

water wearing a strange mask. The door slid shut again. All

the water that had come in disappeared through a grate in the

floor, none of it flowing to the floors below.

The person was carrying a string of fish on a hook. He took his