The vessel left the harbour just before the sun came up.
It was not a ship. Aldo said it was a research boat, borrowed from a friend who owed him a favour. The boat had some spots, and the engine made a weird noise when it started. It was working. It would take us where we needed to go.
Kael stood at the front of the boat watching the land get smaller and smaller. Behind him the others were getting comfortable in the room below: Maya, Raka, Kirana and Lina.
Lina said, "You should get some rest."
Kael said, "I cannot."
Lina did not say anything. She just stood next to him, her shoulder touching his as they looked at the water.
Above them the stars were starting to fade. The sun was coming up. Some stars were still visible. Stars that Kael had never seen before. They were faint. They were there.
Kael had been watching these stars since we left. They were not like stars. They did not move. They just stayed in one place like they were attached to something other than the sky.
Aldo said, "You see them."
Kael turned around. Aldo was standing behind him looking at the stars. He looked older and more tired.
Aldo said, "Your grandfather saw these stars too. The first time he came to these waters. He spent years studying them trying to figure out what they meant."
Kael asked, "What are they?"
Aldo did not answer away. He walked to the front of the boat. Held onto the railing as the wind blew.
Aldo said, "They are like signs. The same signs your grandfather used to find the temple to find Aegis. To find—"
He. Pointed to a faint star. "That is Core. The centre of the lock. Your grandfather found it on his trip to the Trench. He tried to catch it. He failed."
Kael looked at the star and the light pulsing in the dark. "Why did he fail?"
Aldo did not say anything for a time. The boat. The water hit the side.
Aldo finally said, "Because something was already awake." The creature in the temple was sleeping, waiting… The thing in the trench, the one guarding Core, has been awake for twenty years since your grandfather opened the door."
He turned to Kael. His face was pale. His hands were shaking.
Aldo said, "Your grandfather came back three times, Kael. Each time he went deeper. Each time he tried to take something… Each time he came back with less."
Kael asked, "Less what?"
Aldo said, "Less of himself." His voice was barely audible. "He gave something to that thing. Something he never got back. When he came home this time, he was not the same man. He was —"
Aldo stopped. "He was the man who swept his porch every morning, who drank tea from a broken cup, who told stories of heroes… Inside there was nothing left."
Kael felt a chill. Not from the wind. From something deeper. "He gave his soul. Just like he wrote in the note."
Aldo did not say anything.
The morning came slowly.
The stars. The sky changed from black to grey to blue. The star Aldo pointed out Core was still there. It was faint. It was pulsing with a light that did not belong to the sun.
Kael stayed at the front of the boat. He would not sleep. He could not.
Lina brought him food. He did not eat.
Maya stood next to him, her silver bracelet quiet for once. She said nothing, just looking at the water, the sky and the star that should not be there.
Maya asked, "How do you know where to go?"
Kael pointed to the star. "That is the sign. Core. When it lines up with the Trench—"
Maya asked, "When?"
Kael looked at the sky at the star pulsing in the morning light. "Aldo said we have twenty-three hours. We must be in the spot before it moves."
Maya looked at the stars, the water and the deep below. ". If we miss it?"
Kael did not answer.
By noon the land was gone. Only water and sky were left. Only the star that remained.
Aldo called Kael to the room. There was a table with charts on it. Not normal charts. These were maps of the sky and the sea connected in ways that did not make sense.
Aldo said, "Sit."
Kael sat down.
Aldo unrolled a chart across the table. It showed stars that were not in any book. The ones his grandfather had found. The ones that moved with the tides and currents connected to something in the earth.
Aldo said, "Your grandfather spent years studying these stars. He called them the Tide Stars. They do not follow the rules of stars. They move with the water the moons pull, with something."
He pointed to a group of stars near the centre. Five stars that made a pattern Kael had never seen. Like a hand reaching down.
Aldo said, "This is the pattern that unlocks the door. When these stars line up with the trench, the door opens. It only lasts for a moment. If you are not in the spot, you will miss it."
Kael asked, "How do I know where to be?"
Aldo slid another chart across the table. This one showed the sea and the trench. The lines were wrong. The depths were incorrect. Some areas on this chart did not exist on any map.
Aldo said, "Your grandfather found the trench by following the stars. He would stand at the front of the boat, look at the stars and tell the captain where to go. The stars do not point to a place. They move. You must move with them."
Kael looked at the charts, the stars, the sea and the patterns that seemed to shift as he looked.
Kael said, "I do not know how to read this."
Aldo looked at him. His pale blue eyes were tired. There was something else. Something like hope.
Aldo said, "Your grandfather did not either. Not at first… He learned… You will too."
He pushed the chart toward Kael. "The stars are in your blood, Kael. The same blood that let you open the door in the temple. The same blood that let you see what others could not. The stars will talk to you. You just have to listen."
Kael looked at the chart, the stars moving with the tide, the patterns his grandfather had spent years understanding.
He closed his eyes.
For a brief moment he felt it. Not the stars. Not the sea. Something older. Something that had been waiting for him since before he was born.
His grandfather's voice echoed. Not in his ears but in his blood in his bones.
"Follow the stars. They will guide you where you need to go."
Kael opened his eyes. The chart was still there. The stars were still moving. Now he could see it. Not the patterns. Not the calculations. Something deeper.
He pointed to a place on the chart. "Here."
Aldo looked at his finger, at Kael, and then at the sky through the small window.
Aldo said, "Yes. There."
The afternoon passed quietly.
Kael stood at the front of the boat watching the stars that did not fade. The sun was still high. He could see them. Faint, but there.
Behind him the others were getting ready. Raka checked the gear. Kirana studied the charts. Maya sat with her silver bracelet, her eyes closed, silently saying words.
Lina. Lina was beside him, her hand in his.
Lina asked, "Do you hear them?"
Kael did not need to ask who she meant. "Yes."
Lina was quiet for a moment. Then she said, "They are louder now. Closer. They know we are coming."
Kael looked at the water. Dark. Deep. Endless.
Kael asked, "Are you scared?"
Lina did not answer. Her grip on his hand tightened. "I am afraid of what I will find down there. What I will learn about myself. What I will
They were really close now. The lights were shining brighter. The pattern was almost done; it was in place.
"How longer do we have to wait?" Maya asked.
Kael looked up at the sky, at the stars, at the beat of the core, in the dark.
"We have six hours," he said.
Then there was silence. The ship moved smoothly over the water; the stars moved across the night sky. Somewhere below eleven thousand metres down the thing was waiting.
The thing that had been waiting for twenty years was still waiting.
The thing that would not wait longer, the core was getting impatient.