A splinter of panic pierces my heart. The meteors are moving too fast—there is no way I can get to them both in time. I know that I can save them with the power of the Shield, but I need more time.

  The burning rocks are coming, coming faster. They will be here in seconds. What do I do? I am safe because of the Shield, but my parents are not. I can save them if they would only help by running to me.

  I yell again, urging them to run. They do not hear, or they choose not to.

  I realize I must choose. I can still save one of them. I must choose.

  I can't. My feet stay planted on the ground as if caught in invisible glue. My conscience will not allow me to choose between my parents. It is a choice that doesn't register properly in the brain—it is something that a child cannot, and should not, deal with.

  So I do nothing.

  The plummeting rocks of angry inferno are only feet above my parents, the moment of impact milliseconds away.

  Too late, I remember my second Gift. The Ice. Could it have stopped the meteors?

  My wail of pain and guilt is swallowed by the thunderous noise of twin explosions.

  For the third time since my strange story began, I awoke from my sleep in a pool of sweat, the horrors of a dream lingering in the air like haunted mist. This one was even more real than the others. Why? Why was I having these dreams? I didn't remember ever having nightmares before in my life.

  The stress. Maybe that's what it was. Going through such terrifying experiences did whacked-out things to the brain, and these dreams could have been a result.

  Still breathing heavily, I tried to go back to sleep. It would take awhile, but eventually I drifted off, this time without nightmares.

  It was odd that the dream and the picture incident with Rayna occurred on the same day, sandwiched between so many uneventful weeks. But other than those two things, there wasn't much worth noting or remembering. The days dragged, and the nights were dark and sad.

  Dad remained in his coma, Mom at his side constantly. The Shadow Ka didn't bother us, and the night watches got to the point where we didn't take them seriously anymore. But we continued them, just in case.

  The ocean had become my home, and I couldn't remember or imagine life without it. The storms, the waves, the rain, the smell, the sounds—it had all become a part of me. Keeping the cabin fever and insanity at bay was becoming more and more difficult, but we did everything we could think of to keep our minds and our bodies exercised. We played games, we vigorously cleaned the ship, we jogged in circles and did pushups and sit-ups, we taught each other things we'd learned in our different stages of life—we tried to keep busy.

  It wasn't all bad. Some days were more fun than others. My favorite memories were the soft golden glow of sunsets, sending hues of orange and red across the cloudy sky, and the camaraderie of our group, both family and friends. They made it bearable.

  But any way you look at it, there was no doubt that the seventieth day since we left Japan was one that brought a great deal of relief. It brought change, and change was what we needed more than anything else to stave off the madness and the monotony.

  That was the day we saw the huge gaping hole in the ocean.

  It was one of those sights that your brain has a difficult time accepting. What we saw in the water before us was impossible. And yet, with several sets of eyes serving as witnesses, it was undeniably real.

  We were fortunate to come upon the anomaly during the day, when Captain Tinkles could see it in plenty of time to stop the ship from running into it. It was his cry of alarm over the loudspeakers that brought us all up to the front of the yacht to look out upon the hole in the water. And although it made no sense until later, that's exactly what it was.

  A hole. An emptiness. An abyss in the water.

  The captain pulled up about fifty feet short from the edge of the hole. A sharp and defined point of the hole was closest to the ship, and then it stretched out like a “V” away from us for thirty or forty feet, until both sides turned sharply and came back together again, forming a perfect square, although it looked like a diamond from our vantage point.

  The water abruptly ended along each edge of the square, actually lapping against some unseen force, then plummeted downward in perfectly flat walls of water.

  It looked like someone had taken a massive, square-shaped tube of glass and placed it into the water, reaching all the way to the bottom of the ocean. The top of the glass would have risen well above the surface, because the waves in the water did not go cascading over the edges of the abyss, but repelled backward, just as if they were hitting a stone wall.

  If it was a glass building in the middle of nowhere, it was the cleanest in history, because we could not see any reflections or dirt. It looked for all the world like there was an invisible force-field holding back the water, just like in some old science fiction movie.

  “What could that possibly be?” asked Joseph.

  For several minutes we stared, craning our necks for a better view. The urge to peek over the edge and see how far down the thing went was nearly unbearable.

  I turned to Captain Tinkles. “Is that thing on the IDL?”

  “Yes it is,” he said. “According to my instruments it straddles the imaginary line right down the middle. And nothing in my records indicates anything should be here.”

  I don't know for sure what it was we were expecting, but that big hole had to be it. This had to be the Tower of Air. I said as much to the others.

  “You think that's the Tower?” asked Joseph. “It sure doesn't look like a tower to me. It looks like a big hole into another dimension or something. It's flat out freaky is what it is.”

  “Think about it. We're looking for something on the International Date Line. That's where we are.” I pointed toward the abyss. “This just happens to be something that defies any logic or sense from our own world. Do you really think it's a coincidence? This has to be it.”

  “Remember what it's called,” said Rayna. “The Tower of Air.”

  We said nothing, waiting for her to go on.

  “Well,” she said, “maybe that's exactly what this thing is—a tower of air. Maybe it's air pushing against the water, holding it back, like the world's biggest wind tunnel or something. I don't know, but I'm with Jimmy on this one—it has to be the Tower of Air.”

  No one argued.

  “Well, let's go check it out,” said Joseph.

  “Captain Tinkles,” I said, walking up to him. “Do you have a raft or something that a couple of us could take closer to the hole, so that we don't have to worry about endangering the yacht?”

  “Yes, yes, we do, of course we do. I'll go and prepare it.”

  I turned toward the others.

  “All right, who's coming with me?”

  Everyone wanted to go. But I insisted that it wasn't the smart thing to do, just in case something crazy happened. I told them that I was going for sure, and that two more could come with me. Everyone else had to stay on the yacht.

  “Well, I'm definitely going,” said Joseph. “So the rest of you will have to fight it out.”

  “I'm going as well.” This was Rayna.

  A chorus of arguments sprang up, everyone throwing out reasons why they in particular should go.

  “Hold it!” I yelled. “Come on, guys, if it's something really cool, you can all take turns going to see it.” I walked over to Rusty, and put my hand on his shoulder. “You stay here with Mom—I don't think we should leave her alone in case Dad wakes up or something and she needs help.”

  This brought complaints from not just Rusty, but Mom, too. Everyone started arguing again.

  “Fine,” I said. “I'll decide. Joseph and Rayna are coming with me. If everything is safe, we'll take others to see it later. Now, let's go.”

  Rusty punched me in the arm. “I think you forget that I'm your big brother, Jimmy.”

  Wondering why the Shield didn't stop him, then figuring it was because I deserved it, I said, “And I think you forget that I'm the one with the Shield and Ice, and you better be nice to me.”

  “All right, you two,” Mom said. “Stop your bickering, and let's get on with it.” She came up to me and gave me her offto-school hug. “Please be careful, son. I don't want to have to take care of you and Dad both.”

  “I will, Mom. Rusty, I promise I'll take you out to see it later.”

  “Whatever,” he said, and sulked off toward the cabins.

  Although I would not say it out loud, I made Rusty stay because I didn't want to take a chance of anything bad happening to him. I could only hope he'd understand eventually.

  With a heavy hurt in my gut, I motioned to Joseph and Rayna, and we headed for the raft.

  Nothing in my experience has ever matched the sheer intimidation of being in a small rubber raft in the middle of the ocean. It felt so odd, like we would be swallowed at any minute by the deep blue waters. It took several minutes before I could settle myself and calm down. I thought that perhaps my experience in saving Dad from drowning had created a phobia of water.

  Rayna and Joseph told me to sit up front while they used the wooden paddles provided by Captain Tinkles to row us toward the gaping abyss. The water was relatively calm, but the boat bobbed up and down with the great waves that were so large it was impossible to distinguish or mark them. My stomach was already beginning to turn, and I felt sad that if I did throw up, Tanaka would not be around to catch it for me.

  We didn't speak as we approached the invisible retaining wall; instead, we kept our eyes peeled for any indication of what it was we had discovered. A seething fear was growing inside me that some malicious beast would fly out of the depths of the hole and have us for supper.

  As we got closer, I could better make out the details of the anomaly. The two edges closest to us were sharply defined, ending abruptly against the barrier—the water really did appear to be sloshing up against a glass wall. Looking to the far side at the other two walls of the square hole, we could see the opposite perspective. Where the water hit the force-field, it flattened completely, then descended in a plane until it went beyond our field of vision. We were witnessing the largest aquarium in the world, and I couldn't help but wonder at how much money we could make off such a spectacular display.

  We came to within two feet, then stopped.

  “Reach out,” Joseph said. “See if there really is a wall there.”

  A nervous tension ran up my spine, like I was approaching the very edge of the roof on a seventy-floor building. My heart was beating in small, rapid explosions. My hands were sweaty and my eyes were watery. I had to squeeze them shut a time or two to clear my vision.

  I grasped a seam on the edge of the raft with a firm hold, then leaned out over the water toward the invisible wall. I held my other hand out, palm flat and facing forward, until it was just an inch or two in front of where the wall should be. Before I went further, I looked down, and almost fainted when I saw the descending walls of water ending in blackness far below. I shuddered, and looked back up at my hand.

  With exaggerated care, I moved my hand forward.

  It bumped into something invisible, but nothing like I would have expected—it rebounded, just slightly. It was solid, but soft, like touching a balloon that was filled to capacity with helium. I pushed again, this time a little harder, and it burst through the barrier. I gasped and had to catch myself with my legs and other hand or I would've fallen out of the raft.

  A tickling sensation surrounded my wrist in a perfect ring, in the exact spot where the barrier wall would be. I pulled my hand back out with no difficulty, then bounced it a couple of more times on the force field. I pulled back and sat down in the boat.

  “Man, that was weird,” I said.

  “Let me try,” Rayna said. She crawled over to the other side of the raft and stuck her hand out. It rebounded just a little like mine did, then she pushed her hand through, and wiggled her fingers on the other side. After a few seconds, she pulled it back and returned to her rowing position.

  “Joseph, you do it,” she said. “That way we'll all know what we're dealing with.”

  Joseph did as he was told, trying to act like he was obliging her when it was obvious he was dying to see what it felt like. When he'd finished, he had a huge grin on his face.

  “That is some kind of bizarre,” he said. “I don't think there's any doubt that this is it, friends. This is definitely the Tower of Air.”

  “What makes you so sure?” I asked.

  “Well, didn't you feel it? I think that's air that is repelling the water. Not some magic force field or invisible wall—I think it's just air. I don't know how in the world it works, but it's air. That's why it holds the water back, but with enough of a push you can go right through it.” He let out a huge sigh. “These Givers never cease to amaze, do they?”

  “Okay,” I said, “I'll agree that this is the Tower of Air. But what do we do now? I mean, yeah, it's cool and all that, but how is it supposed to help me get the Third Gift? I don't think I'm quite ready to squeeze through the barrier of air and fall to my death at the bottom of the—”

  Something caught my vision, cutting me short.

  “What?” asked Rayna.

  “What is that over there?” I said in reply.

  On the opposite wall from where we were currently bobbing in the water, there was an odd protrusion on the inside of the tower, jutting out from the wall of flat water toward us. It was impossible to tell exactly what it was, but it appeared regular and consistent in size. It started at the very top, near the surface where the water was breaking against the wall of air, and descended at an angle down into the depths of the tower, zigzagging back and forth until I lost sight of it, the wall on our side clipping it from my view.

  “Holy camoli,” I said, barely a whisper.

  “What?” Joseph and Rayna said at the same time, snapping me out of my dazed stare.

  “I think those are stairs over there.”

  We rowed the raft around the square Tower until we reached the other side. The only sound was the splash and swish as the paddles entered the water and pulled us along. We were too focused on the stairs, watching as they became clearer.

  They were made out of water.

  At least, that's what it looked like. Their color and consistency were exactly the same as the inner walls of the tower, meaning the force of the magic air was repelling and shaping the water into steps. Just as the walls looked like a huge aquarium, the stairs looked like they were made out of glass—an extension of the aquarium walls.

  I began to itch with excitement to try those steps and see what waited at the bottom. My earlier feelings of nausea, fear, and intimidation were fading, replaced by intense anticipation. I knew this was the Tower of Air, the place that old Farmer had told me held the Third Gift. The feeling inside of me was like Christmas morning times ten.

  I just couldn't wait to see what the Gift would be, although I was a little nervous considering the riddle I'd had to solve to get the Second Gift.

  As we rounded the final corner of the tower, the stairs slipped out of sight, obscured now by the edges of water. Joseph and Rayna did their best to guess where the topmost stair had been, and took the raft there. We approached the edge of the abyss, and it was difficult to ignore the frightening feeling the image brought to us, like those last seconds must feel before one goes over the Falls of Niagara.

  An unexpected wave pushed us into the wall of air. We bounced off just as if we'd hit a dock or a wall. It was so strange, our eyes refusing to believe what we were seeing. It looked like we should have toppled over the edge like a dare-devil in a wooden barrel, but it didn't happen.

  “Okay,” Joseph said, “although I certainly didn't mean to do that, at least now we know we're safe going along the edge. Jimmy, stick your head through the wall of air and see if you can spot the stairs.”

  I braced my hands on the raft and went for it. I put my head against the invisible barrier, and rubbed my hair against it. It gave a little, but I didn't pop through. Again, it was like rubbing my head against a giant balloon. I stopped, then more firmly pushed the top of my head against the wall. It slipped through—once it started it was as smooth as putting your head through the waterfall at one of those amusement parks. The tingling sensation that represented the actual substance of the wall tickled as it went down my face before settling on my neck.

  I looked around.

  “Just a few more feet that way,” I said, pointing to my right.

  I pulled my head out, and Rayna and Joseph rowed the boat to the spot I indicated. I poked through the wall of air again, and saw that we were directly over the first step. The stairs of repelled water led down to the right, then hit a landing where it jutted out from the wall further so that more stairs could zigzag back the other way. I wondered how deep the thing went.

  I popped out and told them I was ready to go. “One of you needs to stay with the raft, and I don't feel like another argument on who gets to go with me.”

  Joseph and Rayna looked at each other.

  “How about rock, paper, scissors?” Joseph asked.

  Rayna let out a little laugh, then agreed.

  Joseph won.

  “That's fine,” Rayna said. “But if something terrible happens, if you're not back in an hour or so, I'm coming after you.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” I said. The others waiting on the yacht were yelling at us, wondering what was going on. Joseph told them we had found stairs and were going to explore the tower. I couldn't imagine how anxious they felt having to watch from a distance.

  I sat on the edge of the raft, with Joseph supporting me from behind, and pushed both feet into the wall of air. They popped through and I felt them come down to rest on the top step. It wiggled slightly when I touched it.

  “Okay, push me through.”

  Joseph gave me a strong nudge and the rest of my body slid through the tower wall, the tingling sensation sweeping across my body until I was completely inside. The top landing where the stairs began was about five feet by five feet, and I was standing in the middle of it. The wiggling continued, like I'd just stepped onto a firm water bed, but it held.