I followed him, trudging through swampy ground. The mud was thick and wet and covered in green slime—it was also much deeper than I thought it would be. When I stepped down into it, I sank halfway up to my calf.

  “It’s a little… hard to walk,” I shouted after him, though he was doing just fine. He turned back to look at me just as I stomped down hard, sending algae rolling across the mud.

  “Wait! Stop!” he yelled, splashing toward me and pointing to the green slime. “Watch out for the Grogs.”

  “What’s a—”

  And then I saw them. It wasn’t algae at all. The little slimy balls were actually tiny creatures—bulbous and squishy—that hopped away from me, scared and fast, as I plowed through. The closer I looked, the more I realized that what had seemed like rolling waves across the surface of the swamp were actually fleeing swarms of bright green Grogs.

  We walked forward—but now I was looking much closer at the mud. I followed Jonquil’s path, avoiding trampling any unsuspecting animals.

  This place is so much nicer than the real world, I thought. Even with all its monsters, everything about it was so magical and interesting. Maybe I’ll just never go back to the real world. This could be my true home. The thought came easy, as if Jo herself were whispering in my ear.

  “Uh-oh.” Jonquil stopped suddenly, pulling a chain out from under his shirt.

  “What is it?”

  He was looking down at his necklace—three bulbs on a chain. One was filled with purple smoke, one with green, and one with brown. The purple smoke was glowing. He winced, lifting it off his chest as if it burned.

  “That’s Fleck. We have to go.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “This is her smoke. It only lights up like this when she’s using a lot of it at once,” he answered, tossing me a thin brown mask from his pocket. “Quick, put this on. We’re entering the city.”

  “Where is she?”

  But he didn’t answer, throwing on a green mask of his own and breaking into a fast run. I followed as closely as I could, my short legs having to do twice the work of his long ones.

  We tore across the cemetery and then through the city, where the revelries of the party had not ended, where two kids running as fast as they could hardly seemed strange.

  “Look at the cute itty-bitty!” A woman dancing in the street grabbed my hand to spin me as we ran past, but Jonquil pulled me away.

  “We don’t have time! The smoke is getting hotter!”

  He ran up metal stairs, all the way to a building stack. I followed, out of breath.

  We skidded across the roof. My foot slipped, and he caught me. It would have been a long fall.

  We kept running—down a fire escape, then up another building.

  We were avoiding the party. I could see guards in the street. They wore the same yellow velvet of the Smoke Keeper, but they weren’t as tall, thin, or scary. They did carry long sticks with pointy knives at the end, though.

  I realized it was better that we were up on top of the buildings and out of sight than on the ground near the guards.

  We didn’t stop running until we reached the cliffs overlooking the Mire. From there it was obvious where we had to go.

  A group of people had gathered on the shore. I could hear the hum of their chatter from all the way up.

  “No good, no good” was all Jonquil muttered before beginning his rapid descent down the cliff’s face. He expertly slid and hopped over the crevices. I followed but was far clumsier. I was tired, too, breathing hard. I didn’t run that much in PE.

  By the time I hit the beach, Jonquil was gone and the crowd had grown much louder. “Jonquil!” I shouted, but I didn’t think he could hear me.

  I weaved my way through the gigantic forms of the sleeping Islets. As I reached the crowd, growing wider by the second, I managed to hear snippets of what they said.

  “… just appeared!”

  “… angry-looking thing.”

  “Is it dangerous?”

  “… Smoke Keeper is on his way.”

  The last one shot me through the chest. The Smoke Keeper? Here?

  Fleck’s warnings about being spirited away had chilled my blood, and I didn’t want anything like that to happen to my new friends.

  I tried to tune in to what everyone was saying:

  “They say it has different magic.”

  “But how? Those kinds of people don’t exist anymore, do they?”

  Oh no.

  A wave of panic hit me. Someone had found Fleck.

  I forced myself through the crowd until I collided with a wide back.

  Rubbing my head, I looked up, half expecting to see the Smoke Keeper. Instead, it was Jonquil, staring wide-eyed.

  And in the middle of the circle of people was the last person I would have expected.

  “Jeremiah?”

  He wore a baggy T-shirt and sweatpants. Pajamas?

  “Do you know this… thing?” The question came from a tall, round-bellied man who was holding Jeremiah in place—kneeling on the ground, his hands behind his back. He looked up at me, wincing. His face clouded in confusion and anger.

  “Rosemary? I’m dreaming about Rosemary? Ugh.” He spat on the ground between tired, heaving breaths.

  Wow, Jeremiah can recognize me even when I’m wearing a mask. Do bullies have radar for me or something?

  “So, you do know him?” the man snarled at me. I took a step back. I was unable to speak, unable to break my eyes away from Jeremiah.

  How is he even here? Unless…

  Then I spotted the thin line of swirling energy trailing from his left pants pocket.

  The watch chain.

  I felt my pocket for where the watch should have been, but it was empty. My heart pounded.

  Oh no. Did he steal it from me at the slumber party?

  The very idea that he might have taken it, laid even a single finger on it, filled me with anger. Jo had left it to me, trusted me with it.

  “Grab her, too.”

  A woman in a long-tailed coat tried to snatch my arm, but Jonquil stepped between us. He pretended it was an accident as he gazed upward, hand over his eyes, looking at something. A second bulb on his necklace had begun to glow a faint green.

  “I’m not his fr-friend, I swear,” I stuttered, backing away from the oncoming townspeople.

  Jeremiah, even with his hands behind his back, snorted, “Well, that’s for sure.”

  The agreement seemed to pacify the crowd some, though they continued to loom over me. I glanced at Jonquil, who was looking at me from the corner of his eye. The rounded muscle of his arm twitched, tense.

  “Who is he, then?”

  “He appeared on the beach out of nowhere!”

  “I saw him causing a ruckus!”

  “Who is he?”

  They were all staring at me. The whole crowd, quiet, waiting, growing.

  “He’s, um… uh… I don’t know,” I finally said, tearing my eyes away from his crouched form.

  A hushed murmur shot through the crowd. I hoped they believed me. Even if Jeremiah was really here, he would wake up and be fine, but if I somehow outed Jonquil, Scape, or Fleck, they were bound to be in a lot more trouble. We just had to stick it out until one of us woke—at least, I hoped I could wake up.

  Can I return home without the watch?

  My panic was interrupted by Jeremiah.

  “Why would I dream about you? Seriously? I went to bed to get away from all you dumb girls.” Jeremiah was glaring at me from the ground. Even here he was insufferable.

  “It appears as though he knows you, does it not?”

  At the very sound of that voice, the skin on my back began to prickle, sending tingles up and down my spine. It was him. The Smoke Keeper.

  “Ew! He’s even grosser than Rosey!”

  The Smoke Keeper looked away from me and to Jeremiah. I scuttled backward. He approached him swiftly. Even Jeremiah looked frightened by the Smoke Keeper, though he recovered just as quickly.

  “You don’t scare me. Hear that? This is my dream.”

  The Smoke Keeper’s head rotated to me, expression remaining exactly the same.

  “A dream. Is that right?” He turned to the boy. “You’re not from here, are you?”

  The crowd had remained silent, but a quiet whisper rose as soon as Jeremiah spoke.

  “From this stupid place? Yeah, no. I’m from the real world.”

  “Interesting, interesting, interesting…”

  The Smoke Keeper walked to me, the knobs of his knees and elbows jutting out like a bird’s. I backed away from him, heart hammering in my chest.

  Wake up.

  He leaned over me, eyes staring into mine. He wheezed a rattling breath.

  Jo’s warning sounded in my brain: “All you hear is a long death rattle, and then it’s too late.”

  “People aren’t supposed to come here from other worlds.”

  The whispers intensified.

  The Smoke Keeper reached out a bony hand, but I kept backing away.

  He didn’t follow me. Instead, he turned to Jeremiah, who was screaming, “All you freaks better let me go!”

  “Thank you. I will take that boy now.”

  The Smoke Keeper took Jeremiah’s hands, holding them in a vice grip. His face now pale, Jeremiah fought to rip his arms away.

  “Whoa—I said, let me go.”

  But he was no match for the Smoke Keeper, who hauled him over one shoulder, then saluted to the crowd. “Thank you all ever so much for your service. The Wall will be fed today.”

  The crowd saluted back to him in a mass of raised hands, many adjusting the masks on their faces as if to make certain they were still there.

  The Smoke Keeper turned, giving me one last look with a smile, his long yellow teeth ending in their jagged points. Then he turned, yanking Jeremiah after him.

  A sick little feeling of satisfaction tickled my stomach as I watched Jeremiah kick and scream, unable to get away from the Smoke Keeper’s tight grip as he dragged him up the mountain.

  Then I felt Jonquil bend down to my ear, whispering. “Quick, think of something. We have to save him.”

  Ugh, let the Smoke Keeper have him, I wanted to say. He would probably wake up the next morning after a well-deserved nightmare.

  But what if he doesn’t wake up? What if the Smoke Keeper does kill him?

  I stared up at Jonquil, feeling helpless. He didn’t look back, only winced, clutching at the purple bulb.

  Then he looked down at me with a half smile. “Never mind. I think they heard.”

  “What—”

  But before I could even finish my thought, I heard the scream. I spun around to see a large, glowing green orb falling from the sky. As it came closer, I saw there was a person crouched inside.

  “Scape!”

  I nearly ran for them when I felt Jonquil pull me back. “Just wait.”

  Scape plummeted, surrounded by a glowing energy sphere, and was heading straight for the Smoke Keeper—no, the cliff behind him. The Smoke Keeper stopped to look, Jeremiah still kicking and screaming over his shoulder.

  “Now!” I couldn’t hear Scape well, but I could see the shape of their mouth and hear the dulled shout as they raised a finger and closed their eyes.

  Moments before Scape hit the ground, I saw a bronze shape soaring above. It looked like a large bird with wide, sharp wings that glinted in the sun.

  From it shot what looked to be an arrow, glowing purple.

  That must be Fleck.

  As it soared through the air, however, the glow dissipated and the arrow grew larger and larger.

  In the last seconds onlookers fled toward the city, but the Smoke Keeper was trapped below the cliffside.

  Boom.

  The tip of the massive arrow, as thick as a light post, connected with Scape’s shield, sending the sphere flying at the cliff. There was a mighty crack when Scape hit the rock, then the cliff began to slide. Big rocks were falling to the ground, straight toward Jeremiah and the Smoke Keeper.

  “We have to get Scape,” I whispered.

  “They’re fine,” Jonquil said.

  I watched, unable to move, as the dust settled at the base of the cliff. I heard a cough. Then someone stood.

  It was Jeremiah, his eyes wide and hair sticking up every which way. He looked like a baby bird that had fallen out of a tree.

  Normally, I would have laughed, but then another figure rose beside him. The Smoke Keeper’s neck was bent at a funny angle, like it was broken, and his left foot was turned… backward.

  Crack. He snapped his neck into place with a turn of his head.

  Slam. He kicked his foot against the rock, spinning it back around.

  Then he wheezed a rattling breath, blue smoke pouring from his mouth.

  He really isn’t alive, is he? This one-hundred-year-old monster can’t be killed.

  “Jeremiah! Run!”

  Jeremiah heard me and took a step, but the Smoke Keeper shot a hand forward, grabbing him. From a deep, low voice in his throat, he growled, “The Wall is hungry.”

  But before they could get away again, the bronze bird swooped down, crashing into the Smoke Keeper.

  Fleck leaped off the bird’s back as it exploded in purple smoke.

  “Go, go, go!”

  Fleck, carrying a tired Scape, ran forward, followed closely by me, Jonquil, and Jeremiah.

  “This is so weird!” Jeremiah yelled.

  “Just do whatever I tell you, okay?” I shouted as we ran.

  But as soon as we reached the edge of the shore, we saw that the entire city was blocked by a line of soldiers, their bayonets pointed right at us.

  We were trapped.

  “Worst dream ever!” Jeremiah squealed.

  Meanwhile, Fleck handed Scape to Jonquil, then snatched a white tile block from her belt. She carved quickly.

  I heard Jeremiah’s gasp as purple light flooded out from the center of the block. A small boat appeared, outlined in glowing purple. It grew larger and larger until it looked like a real boat, made from all white.

  “Come on!” Jonquil pushed me from behind. I stumbled toward the boat. We clambered on. The ship bobbed into the Mire.

  I looked back to see a crowd of guards carrying something large and shadowy, but I hardly had time to watch as our boat rocked from side to side. I worried it might spill us into the boiling water below.

  “Stop that! What do you think you’re doing?” Fleck shouted.

  I spun around to see Jeremiah trying to jump over the side of the boat, Fleck wrestling with him.

  “You’re going to get us all killed!” she said.

  “I have to wake up!” he screamed back. “Let go!”

  “Stop!” I hollered. “I can explain!” I grabbed Jeremiah by the shoulders, pulling him farther onto the ship. “This place isn’t a dream, Jeremiah, it’s real.”

  “Yeah, okay,” he said, rolling his eyes as he turned back to the lip of the boat.

  “No, really,” I said, yanking him toward me. “You took my watch, didn’t you?”

  Jeremiah spun around to face me. “Is that what this is about? Am I dreaming about you because I feel guilty? Look, I didn’t even draw on your face like everyone else did. I just saw the watch on the ground, and, well, you know, it was in my house! Finders keepers!”

  He tried to pull away again, but I snatched his arm.

  “Stop. Listen to me,” I ground out. I was never this brave in the real world, but somehow here, with my hands firmly upon him—one push away from the burning Mire—I felt powerful.

  Then I pinched his cheek with my nails. Hard.

  “Ow! What is your problem?”

  “Can you usually feel pain in a dream?”

  His eyes went wide as he sputtered, “N-no, b-but… ugh!” He pushed me back, striding toward the middle of the boat and plopping onto the floor. “This is stupid!”

  I crouched beside him. “I know you don’t believe me, but… trust me, please.”

  “Why should I?” he growled.

  “Because I really don’t like you, and I’m trying to help you anyway.”

  His eyes softened a little, and he was about to say something when Jonquil’s booming voice interrupted. “How much longer will the boat hold, Fleck?”

  I turned to see Jonquil on the floor with Scape, whose eyes were half-open.

  “I think I can take it a bit farther,” Fleck shouted back to Jonquil. She was squinting, concentrating hard as she steered the sail.

  In the darkness of the fog I could see the purple reflection in the orbs on Jonquil’s and Scape’s necks. They both had smoke necklaces.

  Then I saw something else.

  “We’ll have to get to the graveyard before they figure out where we’re going,” Fleck continued.

  “We’ll never make it,” Jonquil replied.

  “Hey, you guys?” I tried to interrupt, pointing to the growing dark shape behind us. They ignored me.

  “Well, what are we supposed to do? There will be guards all over the beach!”

  “I think it’s…” As I pointed, my finger shook.

  “If we get caught by the soldiers,” Fleck shouted, “then all five of us will be thrown into the Wall!”

  “The Smoke Keeper!” I screamed, loud enough for everyone to hear. They all quieted and followed my finger, pointing into the fog.

  Just visible in the distance was a large ship made from pitch-black wood. It was being carried through the air by rows and rows of Mireflies, tied to the ship with rope.

  Just like in Jo’s stories. Just like in my painting! But these Mireflies weren’t on fire, their black wings pumping up and down frantically.

  The Smoke Keeper stood at the front of the vessel.

  “What do we do?” I cried.

  All of a sudden I felt dizzy. A loud hum filled my ears. I couldn’t hear what everyone was shouting.

  But the sky was growing brighter. I could see through the fog, as if something were illuminating us.

  Then I remembered what it was.

  I turned. The Wall rose behind us, impossibly tall, a swirl of glowing smoke.

  “Turn! Turn!” Jonquil’s shriek pierced through the hum, and I saw Fleck mouth back, “I can’t.”

  We were heading straight for it. The Wall on one end and the Smoke Keeper closing in on us from the other.

  Moments before we were about to crash, the boat creaked away, running alongside the Wall. But we were too close. I could feel my vision growing blurry and my head fuzzy.