Prologue

Grady walked along the beachline in silence, listening to his companions argue about the upcoming swim meet. Normally he would have chimed in, but there was a strange heaviness on him tonight. He didn’t want to talk. He didn’t even want to be out here, really. But Tobey had insisted, and Grady had hoped the sea air would clear his head.

He’d had no such luck.

Something was coming. He could feel it in the stormy air, the grey clouds looming above. The fog was twisting into strange shapes, pulling away from him as if it didn’t want to touch him. As if he was already marked out for some other fate.

“Grady?” Tobey said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Grady? I asked if you were excited about the swim meet. With a girl like Sea, we might have a chance this year, don’t you think?”

Grady shook his head. “Sorry,” he said. “Just lost in thought, I guess.”

“That’s unlike you.” Zale snorted. “Since when do you enjoy thinking?”

“Since now.” Grady glared at him. “There’s something going on. Can’t you feel it in the air? Haar…isn’t safe. You know it’s not.”

“You’re letting the weather get to you.” Tobey shoved him playfully. “The storm’ll clear up, and then you’ll laugh about your strange sense of foreboding.”

Grady bit his lip. “No, I don’t think so,” he said.

Kicking off his sandals, he wandered into the shallow water. The waves pushed gently against his legs, shining with the electric blue light of the firefish. Tobey suddenly looked nervous. “The ocean can be dangerous at night,” he said, taking a step toward Grady. “Mrs. Zaki says we should stay out of the water after dark.”

Grady squinted. “Do you see that? Out past the seawall?”

Tobey took another step toward him. Zale stayed back, watching them with a strange look in his eyes. “See what?” Tobey asked.

“There! It’s gone now.” Grady watched the water, his sense of foreboding growing by the second. “Maybe you’re right, Tobs. I think we should get out of here.”

But it was far too late. Grady knew that, even as he scrambled backwards in an attempt at escape.

The water rose up like a furious monster of the deep. Grady screamed. Tobey was already screaming. Grady slipped in the shallow water, and felt the waves tugging him deeper.

Tobey’s screams stopped abruptly, as he disappeared under the water.

Grady caught Zale’s eyes, the younger boy still standing on the beach. “Help!” he yelled. He could feel something grasping his leg, with a deadly tight grip. “Help us!”

But Zale didn’t move. Frozen by fear or by some other motive, it didn’t matter.

Grady was dragged underwater, and his world went black.

Chapter 1

Thunder shook the very foundations of the little house by the beach, and Cecilia Michelle Lewis huddled deeper under the covers, wishing she were asleep.

Outside, waves crashed against the rocky shore, so loud that Cecilia could hear it from her bedroom. She shivered. This made her think of her mama’s tales of typhoons in the Philippines—how the waters could rise so quickly. She might be in Connecticut, but typhoons were still possible, right?

Lightning shot through her vision, making the world white for a split second before returning it to darkness. Her kitten, resting against her feet, mewed in alarm.

“Shh. It’s okay, Adobo. It’s just thunder,” she whispered, more to reassure herself than the kitten. “The thunder can’t hurt us.”

She shivered as another crash of thunder followed the flash of lightning.

“Singkamas?”

Cecilia sat up. “Mama? What are you doing here?”

She could make out her mama’s silhouette in the dark as she approached Cecilia’s bed. “Big storm tonight, isn’t it?” her mama asked as she sat down beside Cecilia. “I was worried about you, Singkamas. You would always get so scared of the thunder when you were little.”

“Well, I’m not scared now,” Cecilia lied. “At least…not much.”

“I see.” Cecilia knew that her mama was smiling. “Well, I just thought you might want a little company.”

Cecilia sighed. “I’m twelve, mama. I think I’m getting a little too old for this kind of thing.”

“You’re never too old for finfolk, Singkamas.”

Cecilia hesitated. “Okay,” she said finally. “But just for tonight.”

She snuggled down under the covers again, and pulled Adobo close to her.

Her mama nestled beside them. “Once upon a time, humans and finfolk lived in harmony,” she whispered.

Almost immediately, Cecilia felt herself calming down. The warmth of the blankets enfolded her, and her mama’s voice seemed more powerful than the thunder outside. She had heard this story so many times that she had it memorized. But she never got bored of it. The words were still as magical as they had ever been.

“What are finfolk?” she asked, grinning. She knew exactly what the answer was going to be, but it didn’t matter. What mattered was the story.

Her mama laughed and answered patiently, like she always did. “Finfolk, of course, are the man-fish creatures that rule the sea. Everyone knows that. They’re tricksters and shapeshifters. They can take human form and walk on the land, like ordinary people. And sometimes they bless brave humans by taking them to visit under the sea. You see, the finfolk’s city is incredibly beautiful, and just one glimpse of it could make a human happy for the rest of their life.”

The city seemed to shine before Cecilia’s eyes, all lit with jewels and flicking fish tails. If she reached out, she could almost touch it, almost taste the salt on her tongue and hear the muted sounds of an underwater world. She could almost believe that it was real.

Her mama tucked the blanket tighter around Cecilia, her voice turning suddenly serious. “But although finfolk and humans were friends at first, their peace could not last forever. For the humans were greedy, and wanted to take all the jewels and pearls that made the finfolk’s city so beautiful. That made the finfolk angry, and soon, the two peoples were at war.

“The finfolk were forced to hide themselves from the humans, so that they could be safe. And the humans eventually forgot about the finfolk—all except for a very few, special people.” Her mama tapped Cecilia’s nose with a smile. “And sometimes, the finfolk show themselves to those people. Maybe you’ll be one of the lucky ones, little singkamas.”

That was what her parents always called her. Singkamas—their little white turnip.

“The finfolk live on, you know,” she finished. “And they still reward the brave of heart.”

“Thanks, mama,” Cecilia whispered.

“Anytime, Singkamas. Any time at all.”

Her mama kissed her gently on the forehead, then slipped out of the room.

When Cecilia woke up, the rain had stopped, and the world out her window looked fresh and bright.

It was one of those lazy summer days that she liked so much. She may have been homeschooled, but she still enjoyed summer break as much as anyone else. A few months when she didn’t have to worry about biology. Yuck.

She changed and ran a brush through her tangled mess of black hair, then walked downstairs slowly, Adobo following her like a little black shadow. Then she smelled a familiar aroma, and smiled. “Papa!” she called, taking the last few steps two at a time. “Did you make pancakes?”

Her papa laughed as she sat down at the dining table. “Just for you, Singkamas.”

“What’s the special occasion?” Cecilia asked, narrowing her eyes. Her papa nearly always made a Filipino breakfast—rice, fish, or pandesal. Pancakes, her favourite American breakfast, always meant something was going on.

Her mama came into the house, holding the mail. “What are you talking about? No special occasion. We just wanted to show you how much we appreciate you, dear.”

Cecilia raised an eyebrow. “So it’s a bad special occasion, then. Otherwise you’d tell me straight out.”

“You’re too smart for your own good, Singkamas,” her papa sighed, setting a plate of pancakes in front of her. “I wish you would put this much energy into your biology studies. You’d have discovered the next species of bioluminescent dinoflagellates by now. And speaking of bioluminescent dinoflagellates…did you know there’s a school named after them?”

“Yes, papa, I know. You and mama tell me about Biolumi-something Dinoflappywing High all the time. It’s where you went to school, it has a great biology program, and the principal is weird. What does that have to do with anything?”

Her mama and papa exchanged sheepish glances. “Well…” her mama began.

But Cecilia had already realized what was going on. “No. I don’t believe it. You’re…you’re not sending me to boarding school, are you? No. I won’t go. I refuse.”

“Just hear us out, Singkamas,” said her papa. “First of all, he’s a headmaster, not a principal. And second of all, it’s Bioluminescent Dinoflagellate High.”

“I don’t care,” Cecilia said firmly. “Homeschooling is working fine! Why do I need to go off to some other school?”

“You’re going to be twelve this year, Cecilia,” her mama said. “You can’t keep blowing up driftwood fences and causing incidents involving sharks. Eventually, you’re going to have to learn real stuff. More than your papa and I can teach you. BiDi High has some great teachers, and wonderful kids. And they allow pets, so you can even take Adobo with you! You’re going to have so much fun there. I promise.”

“You can’t promise that,” Cecilia sulked. “And besides, you’re acting like this BiDi High is some prestigious school. I know you and papa went there, but I also know that it doesn’t have great credentials. There are blackouts, half the teachers aren’t qualified, and…there have been a lot of weird things going on there recently.”

“Ah, so I see you’ve done your research.” Her papa raised an eyebrow. “I suppose you know where it is, then.”

“Yeah, it’s on the island of Haar.”

Her parents waited patiently for her to realize what she had just said.

Cecilia repeated the words to herself softly. “It’s on the island of Haar. Of course! I—” She stuttered. “I—you’re tricking me! You’re trying to make me want to go there!”

“That would be an upside, I admit,” her papa said, chuckling. “But we really do want you to be happy, Singkamas. We both know you’d love it there. The swimming curriculum is top-notch, and the library is great too. And I know you’ve always been interested in Haar.”

There was no doubt about that. “What if I don’t like it?” Cecilia asked slowly, still suspicious of the deal. “You two are a little biased, after all.”

“Just try it out for a year,” her mama said. “We’ll enroll you for this year, and you can see how you like it. If you’re not interested…we’ll figure something else out. We really do want you to be happy, Singkamas. But we would like you to give it a shot.”

Cecilia hesitated. She couldn’t help feeling a little bit betrayed by her parents: they had ganged up on her, then bribed her with pancakes and the promise of mysteries. They really knew what she liked.

But on the other hand…she had always begged them to take her to Haar. The island was the center of so much mystery, so much controversy. She had read all the stories, all the legends, all the newspaper clippings and all the crazy conspiracy theories online. Could she really pass up the chance to get a first-hand view?

She took another thoughtful bite of pancake. “Fine,” she said finally. “But only for a year. That’s all the time I need to uncover Haar’s secrets. And then we’ll be back to homeschooling.”

Her parents gave each other knowing glances. “Whatever you say, Singkamas,” her papa said sweetly. “If you’re not happy with BiDi High at the end of the school year, we won’t force you to keep going there. But until then…you should get packing. We leave in a week.”

Chapter 2

Cecilia had always felt a little out of place, even with her parents. Sure, she shared her papa’s gangly limbs, and her mama’s purple eyes.

But other than that, her appearance and her interests were incredibly different from them. Her papa was an expert in biology, while Cecilia didn’t know the difference between a mitochondria and a hypochondriac. Her mama could cook, and play practically any instrument.

Her parents were incredible—they were special, and the good kind of special.

Cecilia, on the other hand, was the bad kind of special.

She paced the beachline as she usually did on summer mornings, wondering if she would ever feel like she fit in. Adobo walked beside her, jumping to catch the little shells that washed up on the beach, and mewing at menacing clumps of seaweed.

Cecilia left for Haar and BiDi High today—her luggage was already packed, waiting in the driveway. But until she boarded the boat for her new school, she wanted to enjoy every minute she had with her hometown.

It wasn’t as if she had any friends to say goodbye to. She had acquaintances—Cora and Myah, and Garrett. But they weren’t her friends, not really. They wouldn’t care that she was leaving. All they did was tease her about her purple eyes and her obsession with Scottish legends, anyway.

“Cecilia! Hey, Cecilia! Hi!”

Cecilia looked up. “Oh. Hey, Garrett.” She smiled slightly. So someone had come to say goodbye to her, at least.

Garrett came to a skidding stop in front of her. “What’s our rock-skipping record?” he asked. “It’s urgent. I told Myah it was nine, but then I second-guessed myself.”

“It’s ten,” Cecilia said. “Remember, that day with the sunset? I said it would be a good day for setting a new record, and we stayed out here until past eleven o’clock trying to get it.”

“Huh. I didn’t remember.” Garrett shrugged. “Anyway, thanks. See ya.”

Then he ran off again.

Cecilia sighed as she sat down in the sand, watching Garrett run off into the distance, until he disappeared.

Of course he didn’t care. Nobody cared that she was leaving. Even her parents didn’t seem very concerned about it—they weren’t even going with her to the school. She’d be entering BiDi High alone.

She tossed a rock half-heartedly into the lapping water, not even bothering to try skipping it. “It doesn’t matter,” she said softly. “I don’t need friends. I’m going to Haar today, and I’m going to figure out what’s going on there, and then I’m going to publish an article about it and get famous for my investigation skills. I’ll be recruited by some fancy college, get a scholarship, and graduate top of my class. Then I’ll spend the rest of my life researching the world’s mysteries. No friends needed.”

It was a fairly foolproof plan, Cecilia decided. She needed to focus on her goal, not on people like Garrett.

She pulled her notebook out of her pocket—the little navy blue one with spiral binding along the top. She flipped through it, glancing over everything she already knew. She had the details of Haar pretty much memorized, but it still calmed her down to see the facts written in her neat, boxy handwriting.

Haar was an island a few miles off the coast of Connecticut, barely visible as a grey lump from where she sat. It was always inexplicably foggy; it probably had something to do with the way the waves hit the shore, but no one really understood it. Somewhere on the tiny, rocky island was BiDi High, a strange but well-loved school. And in that school, kids had been going missing.

It had been happening for years now. Eddy and Rip were the most famous—the two boys had disappeared for months before they showed up on Haar’s shore. They claimed to have hijacked a boat and gotten lost on the nearby archipelago of tiny islands. But for months? How had they even survived?

But there had been others before them. All turning up eventually, but with unlikely excuses for their disappearances. And coupled with the fog, and the strange stories that tourists told…well, something strange was definitely going on.

In other words, the island of Haar was a complete mystery. And Cecilia loved a good mystery.

She sighed, closing the notebook and standing up. Soon, very soon, that mystery would be hers. And in the meantime, she should get ready to leave.

She walked back to the house slowly, carrying Adobo and humming a catchy Filipino tune about vegetables.

The ferry for Haar left in about an hour. Cecilia had been planning to head to her room and check her suitcase before she headed out, but her papa intercepted her on the way upstairs.

“Did you say goodbye to all your friends, Singkamas? You’re leaving pretty soon.”

“Papa, for the last time, I don’t have any friends. I saw Garrett, but he doesn’t even know I’m leaving. No one does.”

“What about those girls?” Mr. Lewis furrowed his brow. “Katy and Mary, or something like that?”

“Cora and Myah,” Cecilia sighed. “I think they’re at some ballet competition. Anway, they don’t care whether I stay here or not. They’ll probably feel happy that they’re not obliged to hang out with me anymore.”

Her papa sighed, and hesitated before he spoke again. “Want to take a walk before we leave, Sing-Sing?”

Cecilia knew where this was going. He wanted to give her the talk—about how much fun she was going to have, how she was supposed to make friends and enjoy herself. And right now, going to school was the last thing she wanted to think about.

But she also knew that she wasn’t going to see her papa again for several months. And she was going to miss him. No matter how crazy he was sometimes.

“All right,” she said. “We can walk for a few minutes. But then I have to make sure I’m at the docks for the ferry.”

“Of course,” her papa said. “We’ll make sure you don’t miss your boat.”

They followed the familiar path down toward the beach. “You know you’re going to have fun this year, right, Cecilia?” her papa asked sternly.

“I know,” Cecilia groaned, kicking at the sand. “It’ll be great, and I’ll make tons of friends, and magically become good at biology.” She rolled her eyes.

“Hey, I thought you were excited to go to school! Find out about the mysteries of Haar and all that. Who knows, maybe you’ll even see a finfolk. Or a duwende. Or an elf.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “I mean, they’re scientific impossibilities, whichever way you look at it. Do you think they’ll be the shoemaking kind, or the toymaking kind?” He shrugged. “Who knows? The stories may be true.”

“Papa.” Cecilia glared at him. “You don’t have to pretend to believe in magic. I know you don’t. That doesn’t mean you have to tease me about it.”

Mr. Lewis smiled, hugging her. “I’m just joking around, honey. I’ve got nothing against elves, or anything else.” He paused. “And I hope you have a wonderful year at Bioluminescent Dinoflagellate High, despite how you feel about it now. Your mother and I will miss you so much.”

He gave Cecilia one more squeeze, then he glanced at his watch. “Oh boy, we should get going,” he said. “It would be a very bad start to the school year if you missed your ferry.”

The next half hour was a blur of final preparations and goodbyes. Cecilia made sure she had all her things, hoisted her backpack over her shoulder, and hugged her mama and papa one last time. “Make sure you write to us,” Mrs. Lewis said. “Every day.”

“Or at least once a week,” her papa amended. “I’m sure you’ll be busy.”

“Text us when you get there.”

“Do you remember the directions to Headmaster Kikiam’s office? Should I write them down?”

“Do you have all your clothes? You brought extra pairs of socks?”

“Tell me if you get to observe any bioluminescent dinoflagellates! I haven’t seen one in years.”

Cecilia cut her parents off before they could say anything else. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. I have my socks, I have my phone. I’ll let you know about the plankton, papa. Now I really have to go.”

There was inevitably another round of hugging and crying. Then, finally, Cecilia left her house behind her and started walking toward the docks.

She had an overfull backpack, a rolling suitcase, and a cat carrier. Her papa had offered to help her carry everything down to the ferry, but she preferred doing it by herself. She had to get used to doing things alone.

The ferry was pulling up just as she arrived at the docks, where fishing boats and family skiffs floated in the shallow water. The ferry that travelled to and from Haar was larger than most of the other boats along the shore. Although with its peeling brown paint, rumbling engine, and ancient captain, it didn’t seem particularly safe, either.

Cecilia took a deep breath, turning to look back at the town. Her town.

“Don’t worry,” she whispered to Adobo, who sat glumly in his carrier. “We’re coming back. School will be over before we know it. And until then…we’re going on a pretty big adventure, aren’t we?”

A rough voice called from the direction of the ferry. “Are you getting on, lassie, or what? We have a schedule to keep.”

Cecilia turned to the wizened boat captain. “Sorry, I’m coming,” she said, stumbling up the gangplank with her bags.

She had barely sat down when the engine rumbled especially loudly, and the boat lurched forward. “All right,” she repeated to herself. “Here we go.”

Chapter 3

Cecilia peered ahead, hoping to catch some glimpse of the island that would be her home for the next year. But there was a thick, low-hanging fog coming up over the sea, making Cecilia’s destination invisible.

Still, it was there, she reminded herself. Somewhere in the distance was the tiny island of Haar. And on it was Bioluminescent Dinoflagellate High. Its secrets would be hers before her parents could say “I told you so.”

Cecilia fingered the notebook in her pocket as she let her gaze wander across the ferry. Haar wasn’t a particularly popular destination, and only a few people sat in the seats around her.

Several giggling girls were near the front of the ferry, already dressed in Bioluminescent Dinoflagellate High’s blue and white uniform. “Lucy! You didn’t!” one of them squealed. “Tobey’s going to kill you this year!”

One of the other girls answered, her words barely intelligible through her laughter. “Oh, she did. She walked up and said it right to his face. Then she dropped the ball on the ground and walked away.”

Cecilia sighed and averted her eyes from the group. On her very long List of Hated Things, squealing girls were near the top. Probably somewhere between chemistry experiments and shark attacks. She had imagined that on an island as mysterious as Haar, she would be able to escape them. But no luck there, it seemed.

On the other side of the ferry, a pair of boys stood at the railing. They took turns spitting into the ocean, leaning dangerously far out over the water until their mother yanked them back.

A freckled boy sat near them, pulling rocks out of a bag one by one and setting them in his lap. “Twenty-two. Twenty-three. Twenty-four,” he muttered under his breath, with a trace of a British accent. “Where in the Oort Cloud could my iron pyrite have gone?”

Cecilia grimaced again. Scientific words were just as prominent on her List as giggling girls.

She scanned the boat once more with curiosity. To her surprise, her eyes fell on one person whom she hadn’t spotted before.

The young Asian man sat alone in his own corner of the ferry. Against the blue of the sky and the sea, his purple eyes stood out brilliantly.

Cecilia’s heart stopped for a moment.

She blinked once, then again, wondering if it was just a trick of the light. She knew that the sun on the sea could cause strange mirages sometimes. The blue-green of the water reflected onto everything, sometimes making colours look different. But there was no doubt about it. The man’s eyes were as purple as they got.

He was muttering under his breath, flapping a newspaper in one hand as though fanning himself, although Connecticut was windy and cool in September. He was wearing a green checkered skirt—a kilt, Cecilia realized.

She set Adobo’s carrier down on the seat next to her. The kitten mewed, glaring at her with his wide green eyes.

But Cecilia ignored Adobo’s pleas to be petted again. She had known that Haar was paranormal—it was the reason she’d wanted to go there in the first place—but she hadn’t expected something so strange so early. And somehow, this seemed bigger than the things she’d read about or even imagined.

There was something more ominous about such a coincidence. She had only seen two other pairs of purple eyes—her mama’s, and her own.

Cecilia inhaled slowly. This was the time for action, not fear. So she pulled her small reporter notebook, the navy blue one with a spiral binding along the top, out of her pocket.

It was time to get some answers.

The boat’s deck swayed under her feet as Cecilia stood up, but she kept her balance. Growing up on the shores of Connecticut had given her plenty of experience with boats, if nothing else.

As she approached, the man finally turned to look at her. His purple eyes were even more striking up close: paler than Cecilia’s and her mama’s, like sun-touched storm clouds. His voice was the low rumble of thunder. “Can I help you, miss?”

Cecilia bit her lip, unsure of how to begin. Walking on boats was one thing; starting conversations was a whole other matter, and one she had much less experience with. “I’m Cecilia,” she said finally. “Cecilia Lewis.” Introducing herself seemed like a good place to begin.

The man gave her outstretched hand one firm shake. “Pleasure to meet you, Cecilia Lewis.”

Cecilia scrutinized him, looking for any family resemblance. He was clearly Asian—but not Filipino, like her mama was. Maybe Chinese. If they were related, Cecilia decided, it could only be distantly.

The man waved at the twisting fog, which had deepened around them even as they spoke. “The fog’s been getting worse these days, hasn’t it?” he said softly. “It never stretched this far a few years ago. But I suppose times are changing.”

He hoisted himself up onto the metal railing that protected passengers from falling off the ferry. He swung his legs over, his sandals almost skimming the water. “Speaking of changing times, you’re very bold, aren’t you? Folk should really be more careful. Too dangerous to be approaching strangers.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Cecilia said. The fog was closing in, turning the people around her into mere silhouettes. The island of Haar, looming ahead of them, was a vague shadow of stony outcroppings. Only the man stayed in sharp focus in front of her, as if the rising sea mist refused to touch him. “I just wanted to know if we might be related. Since, you know, the eyes…”

She gestured to her own irises, but his frown deepened. “Listen, I wish you the best of luck and all. But you’re obviously prying into things that it would be best to avoid. Curiosity killed the catfish, as they say.” He smirked at his own joke. “Just keep your nose in your own business, and you’ll be fine. May the firefish give you strength, Cecilia.”

His purple eyes shone like beacons against the white curtain of fog closing in around them. He smoothed his kilt, and winked at her.

Then he jumped off the boat.

Cecilia held in a scream, her eyes searching the water. She was certain that he hadn’t fallen—the way he’d slipped into the ocean felt deliberate. But Haar was still far off, and Connecticut’s shoreline was out of sight behind them. There was no land near enough to swim to.

Unless…

The fog was thick, and the water was murky, too murky to tell what was going on beneath. The last few bubbles and ripples faded, and nothing surfaced.

And maybe it was Cecilia’s imagination, but she thought she saw the fluke of a tail catch the light somewhere in the water’s depths. She knew there were dolphins in this area, and some big fish, too. But her mama’s stories echoed in her head.

She walked back to her seat in the back of the boat, fighting through the cloaking fog. She knew that she was jumping to conclusions—there was no reason for the man to be anything other than what he claimed to be.

Then again, Haar was known for mysterious creatures.

She sat down and gave one last glance out at the water. Still no sign of him. Just the quiet wash of waves against the boat’s hull. The girls were still giggling, the boys were still spitting. No one seemed to have noticed what had just occurred. And obviously no one’s minds were spinning like Cecilia’s was.

Adobo mewed again, putting his head up to the bars so Cecilia could scratch him behind the ears. Then she took a sip from her water bottle, pulled out her notebook, and began to write.

She noted down every detail she could remember about the man with the purple eyes. She described Haar, too, as it became clearer and clearer through the fog. Before she knew it, the ferry had lurched to a stop once more, and the island stood in front of her.

Gathering her things, Cecilia stood up and followed the other passengers off the boat. The ground, like that on the mainland, was mostly pebbles, interspersed with sand. She shifted her footing in the gravel, getting used to the steadiness of land after the rocking of the ferry.

It was too late to turn back now.

The ferry had already rumbled into the mist again, back towards the mainland. Ahead of her, Cecilia could make out a huge stone building. BiDi High. It blended in with the rocky cliffs perfectly, as if it had grown straight out of them.

The fog was thicker than ever, swirling around Cecilia, obscuring the rest of the world. The only thing that reminded her she wasn’t alone was the occasional shriek of laughter from one of the ferry girls. The giggles sounded less annoying and more eerie now, echoing off of Haar’s rocky cliffs.

Cecilia took a cautious step forward, then another. She thought she saw a flicker of movement to her left, but when she turned, it was only the fog, twisting into strange shapes.

Goosebumps ran down Cecilia’s arms. “Just my imagination,” she muttered aloud, adjusting her hold on Adobo’s carrier. It made her less scared to hear her own voice break the silence.

The rusty iron gates in front of her said “Bioluminescent Dinoflagellate High” in big capital letters. She stepped through them, into a large courtyard framed by walls on three sides. A dilapidated mermaid—or perhaps finfolk—fountain occupied the center of the courtyard. The fog was too thick to see much else.

Suddenly, someone tapped her on the shoulder. Cecilia spun around, tightening her grip on her water bottle.

“Did you see that guy jump off the boat?”

It was the boy who had been counting rocks on the ferry. Cecilia released the breath she had been holding, and tried to make it look like she hadn’t been about to hit him with her water bottle.

“Well? Did you?” The boy was about her age, with a few freckles scattered across his face. He was abnormally average to look at—muddy hazel eyes, short brown hair, and a slightly crooked smile. He spoke with a hint of a British accent. “He was right next to you—you must have seen him. Unless I was hallucinating, which is always a possibility. I mean, I could be hallucinating right now. Maybe I’m just talking to the air. That would be interesting, but it would probably end up being inconvenient. People might think I was strange, you know? Talking when no one’s there. I mean, I do that all the time, but still—”

“I don’t think I’m a hallucination,” Cecilia interrupted, raising an eyebrow and slipping her water bottle into the pocket of her backpack. “And yeah, I saw him. He was talking to me before he jumped off.” She decided not to mention finfolk—she had made that mistake enough times on the mainland. People didn’t believe in old Scottish legends. Best to pretend that she felt the same way.

“Okay, good, so I wasn’t hallucinating,” the boy continued. “Probably for the best. Was there anything odd about him? Besides his eyes, I mean? Speaking of which, nice eyes. Are you two related? ‘Cause I have never seen anyone else with purple eyes. And now there’s two of you! Do you know why he jumped off the boat?”

Cecilia blinked at the barrage of questions, unsure which of them to answer. “I don’t think we’re related,” she said finally. “At least, I don’t know him.”

“I see.” The boy rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “And my iron pyrite’s missing, too. Which can mean only one thing: this guy was a thief.”

“A thief?” Cecilia set down Adobo’s carrier and fumbled in her pocket for her notebook and pencil. Here was the information she had been waiting for. And any information she could get was worthwhile, even if it meant trying to navigate a conversation with this extremely talkative boy. “Can you explain to me everything you know about him?” she asked. “The guy who jumped off the boat, I mean.”

“Sure.” He grinned when he saw her notebook. “Oh, cool, are you a reporter? Or a spy? Are you going to use this information to overthrow the government? ‘Cause I don’t mind. You can tell me. And I’m super good at keeping secrets. Well, not really. Never mind, forget I said anything. That’s off the record. Can I start by introducing myself? I’ve always wanted to introduce myself to a reporter.”

Cecilia blinked. Maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea. “Um, sure. Go ahead—”

“Allow me to introduce myself,” he interrupted with a smile. “The name’s Fergus Davidson. You can call me Ferg, if you want. But most people don’t. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss…”

“Lewis. Cecilia Lewis.”

“Miss Lewis. Now, about this purple-eyed man. Basically, I was on the ferry, and he was sitting near me. He was just staring out at the water, barely moving. Like a statue. Or a fly—well, a dead one, obviously. Meanwhile, I took out my rock collection to make sure that nothing was missing, since I had dropped the bag on the way onto the boat. I checked five times, and there was no doubt about it: my iron pyrite was missing.”

“I see.” Cecilia wondered if Fergus might be mildly crazy. “And did you check to see if this…iron had fallen out onto the boat somewhere?”

“Nope,” Fergus said. “Because it was obvious that this man had stolen it! He had one hand in his pocket, and he was looking at me sideways, like this.” He moved to stand beside Cecilia, and slowly turned his head to look at her, his eyes narrowed. Then he jumped back to where he’d been standing before. “I was going to go over and accuse him. But then you started talking to him, and then he jumped off the boat. To make a quick getaway, you know. He could tell I was on to him.”

Cecilia took a deep breath. “So you’re saying that the only things you really know about him are that he sat near you, talked to me, and then jumped off the boat?”

Fergus thought for a moment, then nodded. “Yep. But trust me, he’s a thief. And not a very smart one, either—any decent robber would be able to tell the difference between iron pyrite and real gold.”

“Well, sorry you lost your rock,” Cecilia said. “I hope it shows up.”

Fergus kept talking before she could escape the conversation. “Iron pyrite isn’t actually a rock. It’s a metal. I mean, it’s kind of obvious, since it has ‘iron’ in the name. I only have it in my rock collection because I don’t have a metal collection yet. It’s fool’s gold. Which is probably why he stole it.”

“Right. Of course.” Cecilia nodded. She had no idea what the string of words that had just come out of Fergus’s mouth meant. She only knew that he was being no help at all. “Well, I’d better go find my dorm room and all that,” she said quickly. “See you around, Fergus.” She tucked her notebook and pencil back into her pocket and picked up Adobo’s carrier.

“Yeah, my mom is probably looking for me,” said Fergus as she turned away. “See you at school, Sea! Oh, can I call you Sea? Cecilia just takes so long to say….”

His words faded as he left in the opposite direction, back towards the ferry. Cecilia breathed a sigh of relief as quiet reigned once more in the courtyard. Talking was not her strong suit, and it was nice to be alone with her thoughts again.

But she also shivered a little as she looked back at Fergus’s retreating form, disappearing into the fog. Then she glanced back up at the huge stone building in front of her. And she couldn’t help wishing that someone, anyone, even Fergus, were there to guide her through it.