Arthur and I were sitting on the lounge in my house, watching Lydia float back and forth in front of us. It was like she was pacing, trying to figure out how to word what she was going to tell us. In the years we had known Lydia, she had never told either of us her backstory. I had asked a few times, but she made it clear it was something she didn't want to talk about. I had let it go. This was the first time it had been mentioned since then.

"So, are we just gonna sit around all day, or –"

I whacked my cousin's arm as Lydia started to speak. "I told you that I have been here for about ten thousand years, haven't I?" We nodded. "I came from a city that no longer exists. Atlantis."

"Atlantis!" I exclaimed. "That was real?" I jumped up and pointed at my cousin. "I so told you!"

He pulled me back onto the lounge. "Down, girl. Cool your conspiracy theorist arse."

"Yes, it was real." Lydia seemed to be pulling at her hair. "The story written by Plato is rather . . . questionable." She glanced at us. "Though that is where most of your modern-day theories come from."

"In other words, history was wrong, and Atlantis is in the Sahara Desert?" I asked in a horrid attempt to crack a smile out of my old friend.

It worked, Lydia having a small laugh. "No, no, nothing like that. I mean the story of what happened while the city was thriving. Before it fell beneath the waves."

This time, Arthur was the one to ask a question. "So, the scroll is Atlantean?"

"Yes." Lydia held the scroll up to us, the black symbols stark against the yellow paper. "In short, this is a message I came across when I was younger and, well, still alive. At least, I think it is."

"What does it say?"

Lydia place the scroll gently on the ground, myself and Arthur coming closer as she began to point things out. She started at the top right of the scroll, tracing a finger across the top and down until she reached another symbol, before continuing down. Her finger stopped at each of the strange symbols. I guessed she was reading them since she seemed to be muttering to herself. Something about trying to figure out how to explain things.

"Well?" I was beginning to get impatient.

"I was right," she murmured. "This is the one!"

"Lydia!"

She shot upright, her eyes flaring white as they did when she was surprised or scared. "Right. Sorry." She gestured to the scroll. "This is a warning. In your language, it says –"

"Wait!" We turned to Arthur who ran off suddenly. A loud crash followed by swearing made us cringe. When my cousin came back, he was holding a pen and notepad. As much as I hated to admit it, that was probably a smart idea. "Okay," he said, "Go ahead."

"It says, 'This is a warning to all those seeking the spirits; the world which we can never know in life. Every ten millennia, on the three nights of the blood moon, the Veil is at its weakest. This is the time where the undead cross into our world; the world of the living. If you wish to find this world, I advise that you do not. Even so, I must record how to find it in case the day should come that the worlds merge.'"

I yawned. "This is long and boring. Skip to the location."

Arthur glared at me. "This stuff could be important, cuz."

I groaned but gestured for Lydia to continue, sending my cousin an 'I'll get you later' look.

"'You must follow the lines of energy to a convergence point. That is where the Veil will first break, giving a glimpse into the world beyond. It will appear as a hole in the world but be warned. If you choose to enter, you can never return. The doorway will close once the blood moon has passed, a day after it is at its fullest.'" Lydia lowered the scroll. "That's where it stops."

"That's it!" I groaned, flopping back until I was half laying on my cousin. "That tells us literally nothing." I rubbed my face with my hands in frustration. "If I ever come across the guy who wrote that, they are dead."

"Hate to break it to you, space girl, but they're already dead," Arthur muttered, pushing me off him and onto the floor. He took the scroll from Lydia's hands and rolled it out on the floor, snapping a photo of it and his notes on his phone. I felt my pocket buzz as he sent the pictures to me. "Just in case," he said with a wink.

"What do we do now?" Lydia asked, carefully rolling up the scroll.

"Check when the next blood moon is?" Arthur opened a webpage on his phone and began typing. His eyes widened after pressing search. "This could be a problem."

"What?" I rolled to my feet and peaked over his shoulder. The date for the next blood moon stood out in bold." February 1st. Two weeks? No, that's not even two weeks. "Yep," I agreed, "That is going to be quite a problem."