OCEAN OF JOY

cottage, her clothes damp with cave moisture, her skin salty with fear. She clutched

porch, shelling peas into a

ighthouse," she sa

"There's more down there than anyone know

's?" the old

ible was coming. She called it the Dro

The sea murmured in the distance

what it is?

hive is where the sea stores memory. Pain. Loss. It doesn't forget. Sometimes, the ocean releases

allowed.

dmother said so

anya whispered, "She said to find the Keeper.

stiffened. "Th

at

't seen before. "The sea is choosing again. You've a

old

nd walked back inside, murmurin

-

ating like a beacon, and the two journals sat open beside her, their pages pul

the world of sand and sea. Trust h

t was what followed him-the rising tid

ore dawn, drawn a

ime itself moved differently here. Mist curled around her

na

an

tu

fog. His cloak shimmered like wet scales, and though his ho

e back,"

ke stone submerged in water. "You were n

thudded. "You'

dded

hive?" she asked. "And w

ace was not monstrous-only weathered, like driftwood carved

ive wants," he said. "I

nd the shell in Aan

ast, submerged memory of every soul lost to the ocean.

Return? You mea

them, they are awake now. And your mother tried to stop them from crossing

htened. "She didn

d. "She gave herself to the Arc

d Aanya's ey

an calls a Conduit. The line between memory and reality thins in your

ked up. The

, the truth sinking deeper than

your mother began. Before the Archive breaches its

?" she r

rn through others. If they succeed, the bala

ckened with

eam. You will see what your mother saw. Follow

at

ready fading

, but only the wi

-

l between the journals. The air buzzed with unseen energy, and as

th blue fire. From the sea rose great shapes-half-shadow, half-memory. She saw faces-her

ose from

place lost. The tide will tak

use. The flame above flic

a gasp, dren

ne of the journals ha

circled i

he drowned isle. The key i

She grabbed a pen and scri

re

lost

olding beneath her feet.

was run

-