A change in the air draws me out of my stupor. The atmosphere feels heavier and has an odd odor to it that I can't identify. "What's that smell?" I ask Jonah, who's still holding my hand.

"The Usuóko Ocean," Dathid answers.

"The ocean!" For the first time, my heart is racing with anticipation, not fear. I never in my wildest dreams thought I would ever see the ocean. I mean, I've seen it on television but I never believed I'd see it in person. I strain to hear the waves, but it's silent with the exception of birds calling to each other.

We're still deep in the trees, so we must be pretty far away. The ground is changing, though. The deep carpet of pine needles is thinning, revealing sapphire sand underneath. My heart is pounding rapidly. I'm so eager to see the ocean that I want to run to it as fast as I can. Dathid and Jonah don't look that enthused, but I might actually explode with excitement.

When the trees finally thin out, a tall grass-like plant replaces them. It's dense, and so tall it's over Jonah's head. Dathid's in front of us, chopping the grass down with his sword. It's making traversing the grass easier but not by much because it's still thick and up to my knees. My desire to see the ocean is the only thing that's keeping me moving.

When Dathid steps out of the grassy forest, revealing the dark sky beyond, I try to run to the opening but trip. Fortunately, Jonah's reflexes are honed enough to catch me before I impale myself on the thick grassy stalks. I slowly walk the rest of the way out, but Jonah won't let go of my arm. I think he's afraid I may try to run again.

Thousands of stars sprinkled across the dark plum sky greet me as I step from the grass. It's like I just stepped off the space station. The planets are just rings of light, and the moons and sun are dim shadows of what they were in Manahata. There's no visible boundary where the sky ends and the ocean begins. The water is completely still, like a pool that's reflecting back the surrealistic painting above. Silver, mirror-like water stretches along the shore, marking where the ocean meets the sand.

A few tears drop from my eyes as the depth of being one of the few humans who will ever see such beauty reaches my soul. I'm so happy that I decided to come on this journey because I got to see this. It all seems worth it.

Lenox lands in front of me. We're on friendlier terms now, but he's still big and could hurt me by accident. He's waiting for me to do something. I reach up, pat his nose, and tell him he's a good boy. He runs off. Did I do the right thing or the wrong thing? Someone should tell me what to do with him.

I follow him to the edge of the shoreline. The silver water is so still it looks solid. There's an energy to it, like it's alive. I can't stop staring at it, almost as if it's calling to me.

Jonah and Dathid are talking about something, but I'm not paying attention as I stare out across the smooth water. It's silver, but as it goes out deeper, it darkens and reflects the evening sky. The silver just fades into an abyss. The end of the world. Everything and nothing.

Dathid claps me on the shoulder and I nearly jump out of my skin. "Lenox and I will take good care of each other while you're gone."

"Wait, you're not coming?" It's nice having a soldier with us, even if he's scary.

"We're creatures of the air."

That explained nothing. Now I'm glad he's not going.

Jonah reaches for my hand and guides me toward the water. I pull back as forcefully as I can. "Wait. I thought there would be a boat. I can't swim. Voyage means boat!"

I can't breathe. I'm pulling against him, but he won't let go of my hand. I yank harder and still he doesn't move. I stop pulling. That was stupid. Jonah hasn't moved. I just had a fight with myself. He smiles, but before he can talk me into anything, I interrupt him. "Seriously, I can't swim!" I don't want to cry in front of everybody again.

Jonah waits to make sure I'm done talking before he says slowly, "Trust me, Agatha. You're safe, and swimming isn't necessary." He takes a step, but my feet refuse to move. I've lost control of my legs. Even if I wanted to go, I couldn't. "Agatha, the water is less than three inches deep. You couldn't drown even if you wanted to."

He's right. I can at least go up to my waist. It's the ocean! When will I ever have this chance again? Maybe the boat, or some giant fish they use as a boat, will come once we're in deeper water. I squeeze Jonah's hand tightly, close my eyes and take a step.

My foot doesn't get wet.

My eyes fly open. I stare down at my feet. Have I stepped into the water? How is water not wet?

He pulls me out a few more steps.

"I'm walking on the water! This is so awesome. Look at me!" I laugh and bounce on the water. With each step, my foot sinks but there's a bouncy resistance that encourages me to jump around, which I do with great glee. I hop, and laugh, and jump around Jonah, just to watch him bounce.

"Come on, Jonah, you have to jump with me. It's not fun jumping alone!"

"Yeah, Jonah, hop around!" Dathid yells from the shore.

"You seem to be having plenty of fun without my participation," Jonah says calmly.

I bounce, laugh, and plead with him to join me.

Jonah groans. "Okay, one bounce." He jumps up and lands so hard that I shoot several feet into the air and land flat on my back in a fit of laughter. He offers me a hand. "That's why you don't ask someone three times your size to bounce with you."

"Lesson learned," I say through giggles.

We walk for what feels like forever. Dathid and Lenox have long since disappeared over the horizon, and I grew weary of the bouncing ages ago. I'm encased in nothingness: not a bird, not a boat, nothing but my own reflection on a silvery water island surrounded by all of space.

It's so empty. It makes me long for the constant noise of the city. Jonah and I haven't spoken for hours. That's just his nature, though. He doesn't need conversation. It's nice because I never know what to say.

We're companionably silent until my stomach does a flip when he grabs my arm. "The water is thin here. We should be careful."

"I'm going to drown!" I say over my pounding heartbeat.

"No, we'll stay on top of the water. But the creatures of the deep can break through here, so we have to be cautious."

"Creatures? I want to go back."

"Agatha, I don't want to explain this one. I'm here to protect you. You're safe, but we must be more careful and watchful."

"You know what? I don't really need this voyage. I'm good. I'll do it. I'll get your key." I probably could've been more convincing if my voice wasn't so shaky, but I'm serious; I'll do whatever they want if Jonah will just turn around.

"Agatha, look down."

I do and fall to my knees. The silver is gone and the water is so clear and vivid, I can see all the way to the bottom far below. It's like I'm on top of a well-lit, bottomless aquarium. There are mountains of colorfully radiant corals of every configuration that wash the surrounding water in a rainbow of light. Feeding off the coral are large schools of fish of every hue and shape imaginable. Just below my knees is a group of small creatures that look like harvest-gold cucumbers with long terracotta whiskers protruding above their wide mouths that are opening and closing as if they're trying to talk to me. They're watching me with bulbous yellow eyes, and I want to say something to them.

"Wow!" is all I come up with.

Jonah lifts me back to my feet and the cucumber-fish follow us.

"This place just gets more and more amazing. Can we swim in that? Can we go down there? Do you have scuba gear?"

"Yes, yes, no," Jonah says, keeping up with my rapid-fire questioning.

"How do you get there? What's that? And that over there?"

Jonah doesn't answer anymore, he just smiles as I keep firing questions at him.

"Do you see that?"

It takes him a moment before he realizes that I expect an answer to that one.

"What's that? It's so beautiful."

"That's a kraken."

"Wow." The kraken looks like an octopus with more legs. Its brilliant teal suction cups glow on giant orange tentacles and make it light up like a neon sign.

"Wow!" I repeat. As it swims, brilliant chartreuse lines glide down its orange body like it's moving under a nonexistent light. "They should put that in an aquarium. People need to see that."

Jonah chuckles. "You don't read a lot of history, do you?"

"What's so funny?"

"People have seen kraken. They stifled your shipping industry for ages."

"Wait, krakens used to be on Earth?"

"Didn't you ever see a movie or read a book about a giant multi-tentacled creature attacking a ship?"

"Oh. Yeah. Okay. Yes. That was a kraken? I thought it was a giant octopus."

"Any giant octopi bring down a ship lately?"

"Use any sarcasm lately?" I fire back and he laughs. "Obviously not. I'm just saying that I thought it was a movie thing. I didn't realize that they're real and that they're curra. I'd love to paint that on my bedroom wall. You know, the movies don't do them justice. They're so pretty. Hollywood made them ugly and mauve."

The kraken swims under us and I grab Jonah's arm. "Wait! How big is that thing?"

He pats my hand. "He's deep, and you're much too small for him to bother with. You can just enjoy his beauty."

I relax and watch the world beneath my feet for hours. There's so much. I could study this place forever. However, my legs grow weary and the view below becomes boring in its sameness.

"How much longer?" I whine. "We've been walking for almost a full day."

"Not much. We're almost there. Do you want me to carry you?"

His suggestion causes my whole body to tense. No one has ever offered to carry me before. I decline, but after taking a few more steps, I change my mind.

He lifts me easily into his arms and I'm asleep a few minutes later.