Irgos took a rge sip from the water bottle.

  Finally, water. Now just some food.

  "Should I refill it for tonight?" asked his sister, who y sprawled on her sleeping bag. She ying with the cord of the 'super goggles' she'd found in one of the drawers of the bedroom desk: two long, heavy tubes with thick gss that could magnify distant objects when you looked through them.

  "Go ahead," he replied. "Then we'll definitely have enough to drink. I'll e with you, though. I really don't want to stay here alone."

  They walked out of the , heading toward the ke.

  Irgos thought back to their hike that afternoon. Ever sihey'd left Tusin, they'd walked non-stop, mostly along tree-covered roads. But by te afternoon, they'd e across the same wide road as the night before. It was about a three-hour walk from there to where they were now—a small farmhouse oskirts of Ebrotown. You could already see the vilge over the fields. They'd decided to spend the night here and explore Ebrotown for food tomorrow.

  Sigh. Food.

  It wasn't easy to walk on ay stomach, especially when you were used to eating well every day ba Overmore. But today, they were focused oing as far away from their home pce as possible. They didn't want to waste time on searg for food, only oing and sleeping.

  Beyond a few barren fields y a small goon surrounded by some vegetation. As Arada crouched down to refill the water bottle, Irgos gazed off into the distance.

  The setting sun cast long shadows of scattered trees across the grassnds. The sky was filled with the familiar glow of evening. The weather seemed to be the exact opposite of yesterday.

  Irgos still couldn't believe they had spent twenty-four hours in the Old World already.

  Whetle was full and they were heading back toward their shelter, she checked in on him.

  "You okay?"

  Irgos hough it was short and tense.

  "Make sure to rest well tonight," she enced him. "We he energy."

  Irgos knew she was right, but he'd found it hard to sleep st night.

  A new question surfaced in his mind. "Ohing I don't get. H-how you stay so... uhm..." He searched for the words. "...calm, cool-headed... sharp? After everything we've been through. What's your secret?"

  A cautious smile appeared ohin lips. "Two secrets, maybe," she began. "First, I want revenge on the man who killed my father." Her smile disappeared, repced by narrowed eyes and a frown. "Sed, it's our duty to reach Aquinox. We have to find the oh the other amulet. And I want answers."

  They returo the . It wasn't much bigger than the average living blocks in Overmore, with many simirities. Irghe two rooms as a living room and a bedroom. In the living room, he saw a lot of familiar furniture from Overmore: to the left of the front door stood a worn-out armchair aher sofa—both pitch bck—rotting with age. But there were also things he'd never seen before. In the seating area, a shiny, bck, thin s hung on the wall, clearly some kind of Old World artifact. In the back of the room was a high table with various ets and strange maes with buttons, which could be pressed but did nothing. The only familiar object was something resembling the stove from Overmore's kits. Was this how people made food in the Old World?

  On the right side was a door leading to the bedroom. In the er was a brown, made-up bed that had bee Irgos's sleeping spot since Arada preferred to try out the sleeping bag. Ba Overmore, she also slept better with her mattress as close to the ground as possible.

  Across from the bed was a wide, slightly lighter brown desk with a mysterious object: it had the shape of an upside-down L with some kind of gss pear. o the bed stood a rge, bck wardrobe full of clothes.

  Good thing it's summer, thought Irgos. Otherwise, we'd really hose.

  He flopped onto the bed. Arada slipped into her sleeping bag o him. The st rays of the su in through the window.

  A strange rumbling from Arada's stomach broke the silence.

  "Sorry," she said ily. "My body isn't made of iron."

  Irgos's stomach seemed ready to chime in, too. "I really 't sleep like this."

  "Just try. If you 't fall asleep, at least rest well. Then we keep going tomorrow."

  He nodded. It was a strange feeling, being tired yet uo sleep.

  Is it from ing? The impressions of the new Old World? The stress of a murderous gang on our heels?

  Or maybe all of it?

  Just like yesterday, Arada was out like a light. He tried his best to rex and follow her example.

  But it just wasn't w.

  The longer he y there, the busier his mind became. The past twenty-four hours buzzed like mosquitoes around his head. He could still hear the Master's voice eg in his mind.

  Isn't it o enjoy yourself before everything goes down?

  I could sense another presehere are two of them.

  Wait a sed.

  Irgos's heart pounded in his chest whehought back to the particur sentence he'd said.

  The Master 'sense' people?

  He was overwhelmed by an invisible hand squeezing his throat. His mind raced.

  If he's so eager to catch us and 'sense' where people are, why hasn't he caught up to us?

  Something didn't add up.

  Irgos turned on his side, looking straight at the sleeping Arada. In the dim light through the window, her fair, freckled face looked a bit gray. But her red hair, spread over her purple 'jacket pillow,' always kept its color, no matter the light. Her breathing was steady. So steady, it even calmed him.

  Maybe I'm just overthinking.

  He closed his eyes, trying to fall asleep with the thought of lying beside her.

  * * *

  In vain.

  It was already getting light outside, but Irgos hadn't closed his eyes once.

  o him, Arada was still lying in the same position as st night. At least she could do it.

  Let's try one more time.

  He focused on the sounds he heard. His breathing and that of his sister. The faint rustle of a soft breeze. The creaks of the wooden . The chirping of birds. Footsteps through the grass.

  Footsteps?

  At that exaent, a shadow flew past the window and then disappeared.

  He shot up instantly, his heartbeat doubling.

  We're in trouble.

  He crouched o his sister and begaly shaking her.

  "Sis. Psst, sis."

  One by one, she opened her eyes. "Huh?"

  "I hear something. Someone's sneaking around the house."

  She was instantly awake. She took the knife from her backpad gripped it tightly.

  "How many of them?" she whispered.

  "I don't know." Irgos held his hand to his mouth to keep as quiet as possible. "I only heard one."

  "You're sure you didn't imagi?"

  "Positive."

  She hesitated for a moment. "Stay here," she gestured to the room. "I want to know where they're at."

  Carefully, without making a sound, she opehe door just enough to slip through.

  She moved into the other room. Irgos pressed himself against the wall to stay out of sight of the window.

  He waited and waited. The rush of adrenaliretched time. But the silence worried him most.

  After waiting for about ten minutes—his rough estimate—he couldn't stand it any longer. He followed in her footsteps and cautiously peeked into the other room. No one. Only the outer door was ajar.

  He walked into the living room, moving as quietly as possible toward the door. Suddenly, the souurned. It was unmistakably the sound of someone running through the grass. The periodic rustling, followed by short pauses. Getting faster and louder.

  Sweat covered his forehead. Sis doesn't run like that, he thought. Then he realized the unusual way of running. This wasn't a human, but—

  At that moment, the outer door burst open, and the creature lu him. It was so fast that Irgos didn't even have time to look at the intruder. Long cws pushed him to the ground, and he felt prickly, long tendrils brush against his face. A sed ter, there was the sound of footsteps on the floor, followed by a soft thud from the side, and his attacker rolled off him.

  A panting Arada stood o him. In her right hand, she held the knife, dripping with a sticky, reddish-brown liquid. Only now did he uand what she had done.

  To his left y the lifeless jelly monster in a pool of that same red liquid, slowly spreading from a rge wound in its neck. It had a human-like body, but with much thinner limbs. Its skin had an unnatural color: a mix of brown, fluorest green, and a hint of turquoise. The hands a had only two or three long, cwed fingers. But the head was a different story entirely.

  There were no eyes, ears, nose, or mouth. In pce of a face ing void, where millions of long, thin bck tendrils writhed and twisted. The back of the head was bald, repced by scaly lumps, bumps, and protrusions.

  Irgos shuddered. It had been a long time since he had st seen one of these monsters.

  "Baside," Arada urged. "I don't know how many more there are."

  They returo the bedroom and barricaded the door with the desk. Theayed silent for at least five minutes, listening for any more signs of intruders.

  "I shouldn't have arrived a sed ter," Arada said with relief, once she felt sure they were safe. But her expression ged when she looked at him.

  She winced. "It got you," she said, somewhere between shod sadness.

  Only then did Irgos realize he tasted blood. He turo look at his refle in the window. Between his nose and upper lip ran a long, horizontal red streak. Blood was still trig down, dripping over his lips.

  "Those tendrils," Arada said, ed. "It must have happened when it fell on you." She opehe wardrobe and found a handkerchief.

  "Let me take a look," she said, turning him around by his shoulder.

  Irgos sat on the bed, and his sister crouched beside him. She dabbed the handkerchief under his nose, holding it long enough to stop the bleeding. When she finished, Irgos looked at his refle in the window again. The bleeding had stopped, but the jelly monster had left a strange red streak across his face.

  "Good thing I was on time. Who knows what could've happeo you," she said more to herself than to him.

  Irgos searched for words but couldn't say anything.

  "I...I thought something had happeo you," he finally said. "Why did you take so long?"

  "I couldn't find the intruder," she replied. "I walked around the house several times, but I didn't e across a first, I didn't realize it was a jelly monster. Not until I heard its sprint. That's when I k must've smelled you, so I went after it." She paused. "I really thought I was too te when I saw it lying on you. I didn't hesitate for a sed before striking."

  Irgos forced a pained smile.

  "We should get going. I have no idea how many jelly monsters live around here."