OCEAN OF JOY

ettled over the coast like a forgotten lullaby. By morning, the sea was once again ca

methin

hing it. She'd barely slept. Each time she closed her eyes, the figure on the beach ha

e. Your mother's journey began ther

of answers. Her mother's entries had become increasingly cryptic toward the end-filled wit

ril

aw it in the dream again-the door beneath the sea, the whispering vaul

s again. Th

d under her arm and the shell in her pocket. Her grandmother w

t the lighthouse," she sa

ted. "How di

he scent of lemongrass and ginger filling the room. "Because I saw it in

ng," Aanya said, stepp

one tends to it. No one dares. People here say it's haunted. Others say it's simply too old, too

d she do

e came home soaked, shaking, like she'd seen something she couldn't

rming in her throat. "Then

ightened. "You don't hav

Aanya said, her voice stea

-

salt-twisted trees. The path to it had nearly disappeared, overgrown and treacherous, but Aanya was d

s from a thousand storms. The lantern room at the top was broken,

t called

he reached for the handle, th

ken windows. The spiral staircase wound up like a shell's core, steep and narrow. But somethin

ell in her pocket vibrated sof

ed open

htly to her chest. Her feet landed on stone, slick with moisture. The air was cooler here, and as her

th bioluminescent moss. She followed it, each step ech

tunnel opened

a ga

ng water. Around it stood statues-six in total-each worn down by time but distinctly human.

a stone table. Upon i

The book was newer than her mother's, its leather still sup

moth

could stop what is coming. The Drowned Archive is awakening. They are memories

nly partially understood. You are a Listener. Y

storm. It was a summoning. The o

the pool shimmered brighter, res

e's door. He walks between the world of sand and

eath c

in the

oak that shimmere

the K

re were no windows. The statues trembled. The water in th

hen-a

delibera

above. Fr

eyes wide, as a voi

anymore, Aanya. The

adder with adrenaline coursing through her veins. She emerged into

g was ha

thin

l to her chest, her mother's w

since she arrived, sh

st her mother'

as h

-