Jason felt it before he understood what it was.
It was their third dawn on the island. Kaelen was asleep against a boulder with his axe across his knees. The Ant King sat at the water's edge, watching the sea. Thalion stood at the end of the rocks where Coral usually surfaced, pretending he wasn't waiting for her.
Then the Marrow went tight in Jason's chest.
"A tear," it said. "South, along the coast. Under the water."
It felt wet. Cold. Salt and crushing pressure, and something hungry moving in the dark. Beneath it all was a smell Jason remembered from Thalion's broken mind.
Thalion had smelled it too. His face had gone the colour of old milk.
"That's them," he said hoarsely. "That's their sea."
Kaelen jolted awake. "Whose sea?"
"The realm that ate me," Thalion whispered. "Ossaru."
Jason was already looking south, to where grey rooftops clustered around a distant bay.
"There's a town down there," he said quietly.
