“Yeah, one of them does,” Adam said. “What will it do to him?”

“Make him cold,” Bum said softly.

“That’s all?” Cindy asked hopefully. “It won’t kill him?”

Bum put his hand to his head. “You misunderstand me. It would be better if it did kill him. When I say it will make him cold, I mean it will make him like itself.”

Sally’s face fell. “You mean it will turn Watch into a monster?”

Bum spoke darkly. “By now it has already changed him. There is no Watch anymore. If you see him, he will try to change you.”

Adam felt his heart breaking. “But can Watch be changed back into a human?”

Bum rubbed his head. He appeared to be thinking hard about what to do.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t think so. These Cryo Creatures—they’re ancient, and their power is very great. We may all be doomed.” He nodded to the ground beside the ocean wall where he sat. “Make yourselves comfortable. I have a story to tell you. It isn’t a pleasant story, but you have to hear it if you’re to know what you’re dealing with.”

Adam sat, even though he desperately wanted to rush off and save Watch. “Can you give us the short version? We have to try to help Watch, no matter what you tell us.”

“You can help him most by listening for a few minutes,” Bum said. “But what I have to say—you don’t have to believe any of it if you don’t want to. I won’t care. You can just see the story as a myth. But I can tell you that I believe it.”

Bum paused to clear his throat. As he told his story, he stared out at the ocean.

“A long time ago the world was not as it is now. You have probably heard of the lost continent of Atlantis, which was located in the Atlantic Ocean. Atlantis really did exist. During the same time period there was another land that has since vanished. This one was in the Pacific Ocean and was called Lemuria, or Mu for short. It was twice the size of Atlantis. You may be surprised to know that parts of the West Coast were once parts of Mu. Spooksville, for example, used to be an eastern city of Mu. I have often thought that one of the reasons Spooksville is such an unusual place is because it really belongs to another time and place. But that’s a story for another time.