Armed with a net the Keeper had given me, I trekked down to the river.

"With the waterfall flow stopped," the Keeper had said, "the river's current is slowed . The souls will settle, and you will be able to touch them. But be careful - when the souls settle and seep into the ground, they will no longer be retrievable. But you needn't worry about that for now - there's time yet."

I saw the first soul I was going to save - a young girl with curly black hair, tan skin, her rosy lips just slightly parted. She was dressed in a brown and white tunic, which suggested she could be a farmer's daughter, or a baker's apprentice. Either way, she would be home soon.

I scooped her from the water and placed her gently on the grass. Then I stood, waiting, for what the Keeper said would happen.

Sure enough, her body solidified so it was no longer a translucent outline. Then it started flaking away in gold dust, the same way they'd left Aragonia.

The little girl was home.

I wiped my face with my Caval sleeve, now muddied and torn.

One down, hundreds to go.

I tackled the easy souls first: the ones drifting near the surface. The new ones who'd yet to settle in the river water and sink to the bottom.

The older ones were the ones the Keeper had been worried about.

"My net isn't long enough to haul them," she'd said. "You'll have to touch the river water. Every second counts, Ashling. Do not let it touch your skin for more than five seconds each time."

I was glad the Keeper had the hindsight to tell me this part of the rescue mission in confidence. Either I tackled this alone, or I'd have to knock the others out so they wouldn't have to do it.

I was glad I didn't have to knock anyone out.

Twenty souls later, about half an hour had passed, and my friends were sure to wonder what was taking me so long. The Keeper was on her way to tell them the job was almost done, and feed them a "refreshing energy drink" that would maintain their strength so they could maintain their posts to stop the waterfall flow.

One that would take their consciousness long enough for me to finish the job.

About fifty souls later, I heard the Keeper's soft footsteps plod through the bushes.

"It's done," she said softly. "They won't be up and walking for another five hours."

"Thank you. That should be all I need," I said, straightening my back and wincing at its soreness. "You know, I never found out your name."

The Keeper smiled. "Aishe." Wrinkles creased at the sides of her eyes. "Few know my name."

"I am honored," I said, bowing my head. "Aishe, could I ask for a favor, please?"

Her eyes saddened, as if she could read my mind. "Of course."

"If I - if this -" I swallowed as my voice started cracking. "If for some reason I don't make it, could you tell them not to mourn me, but instead remember me in the happiest way possible?" I blinked. "Would you do that for me?"

The Keeper smiled. "I will, Ashling." She paused. "Do you know why I told you how to reverse the refreshing, even after you stuck a dagger to my neck?"

My face grew hot from shame. "No."

"It was because I could tell, deep down, that nothing mattered more to you than getting your Kingdom back. That protecting you would only be harming you. Do you understand?"

I blinked tears away. "I do. Thank you. Sorry I threatened to kill you."

She laughed. "I understand. You were only driven by the purest form of love for your Kingdom and your loved ones." She touched my shoulder, and it sent a ripple of goosebumps down my arm. "You are a brave girl." Then she walked away.

I shrugged off the goosebumps and stretched out the soreness in my arms and shoulders.

There were souls to be saved.

There were about two hundred "easy" souls. I was careful to keep count so I knew how many more I had left. My arms were numb from fatigue, but something drove them to keep going.

The souls were getting harder and harder to reach. Several times I had to dip the net three-quarters into the water to reach them. I was careful to wipe the handle of any remnants of river water with a cloth Aishe gave me, yet several times I was stung from touching a droplet or two for longer than I should.

The river was long and winding. It seemed to circle the entire Keeper's Core, which consisted of various tropical fauna and flora. The animals living in the Core seemed to be immune to the river water. Several times I caught a bird or a squirrel sipping from the river, then darting off into a tree.

About three hours had passed. I was running out of time. I thought about running to the Keeper's control room and asking her to feed the others more water so they would stay passed out longer. But the control room was a distance away, and I had barely enough energy left in me to fish out three hundred more souls.

Finally, at four hundred and fifty, I began to see the souls of people that'd first disappeared. The royal caterer, a spunky, candy cane-thin woman with a spiky hairdo, was lying on the rocky bottom, her spiked hair getting distorted by water currents.

A jolt ran through my shaking limbs. Energy surged through me. Energy that had run dry a couple hours ago.

Tem.

I had known he would be one of the hard souls. He'd been one of the first to disappear. The last time I saw him, he had been drifting close to the ground.

I walked along the riverbed, looking for the last fifty souls I had to save. There were few left, and some were difficult to spot. My heart skipped a beat whenever I saw a soul, and it would fall when I saw that it wasn't Tem. But I got to my knees with my net anyway and fished it out.

"Ow," I gasped. One of the souls was so far down on the riverbed that the tips of my fingers had to graze the water. I scooped the soul out and dumped it on the ground.

Steam rose from my fingertips. I fumbled along my waist for the water bottle. Careful not to spill any while fumbling with the cap with my burning fingers, I took a gulp. The liquid stung my throat, it was so cool.

I felt the liquid land in my belly. Then the pain on my fingers eased. The steam dissipated, and I lay on the grass, panting.

From the corner of my eye, I saw the newly saved soul flaking into gold dust and rising into the cloudy blue sky.

Get up, chided the voice in my head. You've got more to save.

I sat up, resting my head on my knees. I checked to see the bottle was still full, tucked it under my Caval, and wiped the net off with a towel.

That was when I heard footsteps plodding through the bushes. These footsteps weren't the graceful, soft footsteps of a Keeper. These footsteps sounded urgent, angry.

I turned just in time to see Keenan's mop of raven black hair burst through the colorful foliage. His eyes were wide and bloodshot, his cheeks glowing red. His chest heaved as if he'd just run a marathon.

He eyed the net in my hand, and his eyes neared popped out of his face.

"How long have you been doing that?" he asked.

I straightened to meet his angry gaze. "A couple hours."

He narrowed his eyes. "What were you thinking? Why would you do this yourself?"

I felt a burst of anger. "I don't have the time nor energy to be lectured right now, Keenan. You shouldn't be awake."

"And thank the Stars I am!" he shouted for the first time in the five years I'd known him. "Or I might wake up and find you dead!"

"It was the only way," I said stubbornly. "Are the others -?"

"They're still out," he said. "I woke up before they did."

I felt relief. "Good."

"Now where do you get a net like that?" he demanded.

"Oh no." I shook my head. "I'm not dragging you down with me."

He squared his shoulders. "It's my Kingdom too."

I stared him in the eye for a few seconds, watching his jaw clench, unclench. His ocean-blue eyes were stormy. As I stared, they seemed to soften until they resembled a calm lake.

"Please let me help you," he said.

I shifted my gaze to the grass he stood on. "The Keeper will give you one."

"All right. Wait here. I'll be right back." He turned on his heel and called over his shoulder, "Don't do anything without me!"

I stood, slightly stunned, until he'd disappeared completely into the foliage. Perhaps it would be good to have help. Perhaps -

No. No one else must get hurt.

I picked up my net and trudged on, keeping my eyes trained on the flowing water. Hopefully the Keeper would have the sense to knock him out for me.