“Well, are you going to open it, Tadg?” Hasu asked eagerly.

“Not if he wants to keep his fingers,” Viola said.

“Actually,” Tadg told them, “there’s a way to make sure they don’t explode. My dad would just…”

Tadg lifted the Oystix toward his face and kissed it right on its crevice. Hasu slapped her hands to her mouth, scandalized. Barclay and Shazi both let out roars of laughter.

A long, phlegmy tongue slipped out between the cracks of the Oystix shell—like it was licking its lips. Then it popped open, revealing…

“Muskrats,” Cecily cursed. “It’s empty.”

Barclay swam over, hoping to also get a closer look at the slimy Beast. But then his Mark throbbed suddenly, and Barclay spotted something out of the corner of his eye. He turned. A long line of milky white stretched across the horizon, slowly drawing near.

Horror seeped through him. “H-hey, is that…”

Tadg frowned and looked to where Barclay was pointing. Then he paled. “The weeping tide.”

Far, far in the distance, a low shriek rumbled through the water.

Lochmordra was coming.

FIFTEEN

Everyone, get back to the boat,” Edwyn ordered. The apprentices swam frantically for the rowboat, groaning and oofing as they piled inside. No sooner did Barclay tumble on board than the weeping tide crept into the atoll, devouring whatever fish or Beasts floated on the water’s surface.

Tadg looked out to the Isle of Trowe in the distance. “We need to go there and help them. They’ll be the next island hit.”

“Definitely not,” Edwyn said. “What you’ll all be doing is staying out of danger—”

“That roar was still far. If Lochmordra is only just waking up, we still have twenty, maybe thirty minutes before he arrives,” Tadg said, making chills creep down Barclay’s spine. The roar had been so loud, but Lochmordra was that far away? “At least let us help evacuate.”

“I’m going to get Cyril,” Hasu said fiercely. Then a golden hexagon glowed behind her.

“Wait!” Shazi told her. “That’s too far. You’ll get—”

Hasu disappeared.

“Doesn’t she pass out if she travels long distances?” Viola asked with concern.

“Someone needs to warn Orla and the Guardians so that they can protect Trowe,” Tadg said. He turned back to Edwyn, fuming. “And I don’t care about the danger. You all can run away if you want, but I’ll swim there with Mar-Mar if I have to.”

After exploring the ruins of Glannock, the thought of encountering Lochmordra terrified Barclay. But if Tadg, who had faced the Legendary Beast before, who had lost his father to him, could sound so brave, then Barclay could muster up some courage as well. He wouldn’t let what happened to his parents in Dullshire happen to anyone in Trowe.

“We’re training to be Guardians,” Barclay pointed out. “How can we ever become them if we don’t learn how to help people?”