Desmond's heart sank, sank straight through his chest and into the pit of his stomach. He and Arrluk stared down at the creature, holding their breath, but it merely shifted again and fell still, and a stream of bubbles erupted from its horrid mouth, over which hung two enormous, gleaming pincers.

Desmond sighed in relief.

"May I help you, boys?"

He started and almost screamed out again, but managed to stifle his cry by clamping a hand over his mouth. He and Arrluk whirled around, but they saw nothing but a blank stretch of water. The voice seemed to have spoken from the depths itself — but then, out of nowhere, a large stream of bubbles materialized in front of them and took shape, forming itself into a vaguely humanoid pink blob. It resembled a cartoonish snowman, with no arms or legs, but two large dots for eyes and a thin line across it's lower face for a mouth. It smiled benignly at them; Kato began to whimper, which gave Desmond the impression that this strange bubble-man was much more than it seemed.

"Er . . . hello," Arrluk said tentatively.

"Hello, Prince of Tethyia."

Arrluk blinked. "How did you —?"

"And hello to you, too, Desmond Brookes."

Desmond gaped at him. It was odd, though not completely impossible, for this creature, whatever it was, to know the name of the Prince of a large, well-known underwater country. But how on earth did it know his?

"Who are you?" Desmond asked him.

"I am less of a who, and more of a what, and what I am is the guardian of the Trident. Though for conversation's sake, you may call me Magorian."

"So you appeared because you thought we were going to take it?" Desmond asked. Magorian did not answer.

"Can you tell us what's happening here?" Arrluk asked, gesturing at the beasts below. "Those are the ancient Kaijus, aren't they?"

"Why yes, yes they are!" Magorian said brightly. Arrluk blanched.

"But — what are they doing here?"

"You mean you haven't guessed, Prince of Tethyia?" Magorian said. "The Silent Sea is the Kaijus' prison."

"Prison?" Desmond asked.

"Yes, prison. As your friend told you, the Kaijus were defeated and locked away eons ago. This is where they were locked away."

"But why are they . . . you know?" Desmond said. "Did they get tired trying to break out and drift off? Or is this some kind of weird hibernation?"

Magorian laughed. "Kaijus do not hibernate, dear boy. Believe me, that would have solved plenty of problems back in the day. No, they are under the effects of ancient magic."

"Just like the Silent Sea," Arrluk said. Magorian turned towards him, looking curious. "That's why this place is so quiet, isn't it? Because of the magic cast upon it?"

Magorian beamed. "Indeed, indeed, Prince Arrluk! The Trident's magic is maintaining the everlasting serenity of this particular stretch of water. In part, as I'm sure you could have guessed, to placate the Kaijus. Nobody likes too much noise when they're sleeping, eh?" He laughed again and gave Desmond a cheery wink. "It is also, however, doing something else. Can you tell me what it is, Mr. Brookes?"

"Oh, uh . . ." Desmond thought, his eyes roaming around the water for some kind of clue. They landed on the Kaijus again, and he mentally chided himself for not seeing it before now. "Them," he said quietly. "It's keeping them asleep."

"Precisely!" Magorian beamed more widely. "You can see, now, how delicate a system this is? It's why the Sea was made as it was."

"What do you mean?" Arrluk asked.

"The Silent Sea is devoid of any form of disturbance whatsoever. No fish, no rocks, no breed of Thalassians, no waves, not even a single ripple in the water. It is a perfectly still mass, which makes it much worse than any raging ocean. You would think a storm would be the worst enemy a sailor could encounter. But you have no idea what the complete lack of opposition can do.

"The absense of any form of life is, as you may have seen, deeply unnerving. The endless stretch of silence, the lack of any prospect of escape, it is enough to drive people mad. Forces them to take their own lives, or to simply drift on forever, broken."

A chill ran up Desmond's spine at the very thought.

"But that didn't happen to us," Arrluk said.

"Well, no, you haven't been here long enough, have you?" Magorian said. "Though you were certainly well on your way, weren't you? And besides, there are greater powers at play. The two of you are important. You are being watched by powers higher than yourselves."

"A god?" Arrluk gasped, eyes widening. "A god is looking out for us? Why? Who is it?"

Again, Magorian made no reply but to continue smiling his mysterious smile.

"You're not going to tell us, are you?" Arrluk said in a resigned voice.

"All in all," Magorian continued, as though he had not heard the Prince's reply, "you are needed out of here, alive."

"So you know how to get out then?" Desmond asked quickly.

"I do. And so do you."

Desmond cast a sideways look at Arrluk. He could tell that the other was thinking the same thing as he was: at the same time, both turned to look at the gleaming bronze Trident, floating above the resting Kaijus. Arrluk turned back to face Magorian.

"How?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"How can we take it, when you said yourself that it is what is maintaining the Silent Sea? That it is what is keeping the Kaijus dormant?"

Magorian smiled his widest yet. "Ah, that is the problem, isn't it? Here, you have a choice to make, Prince of Tethyia. Removing the Trident will grant you a way out of the Silent Sea and allow you to continue with your quest to Amphitrite's Star. But if you do so, the Kaijus will wake?"

Desmond glanced at Arrluk again; he looked terrified.

"How long?" Desmond asked.

"Whatever do you mean?" Magorian asked innocently.

"You know," Desmond said firmly, and Magorian smiled again.

"Six days. Six of your earth days before the last vestiges of the Trident's magic fade, and the Kaijus awaken."

"We can't," Arrluk said, after a short pause. "We can't. The Kaijus will ravage the entire sea, and there'd be no way to defeat them."

"There is a way to avoid that situation altogether, you know?" Magorian said.

"And what's that?" Desmond asked, watching him intently.

"If the Trident is replaced before such time that the beasts fully wake, its magic, in their weakened state, will be able to return them to sleep once again. If you miss that window, you lose that chance. So the question is simple: will you be able to complete your quest within six days?"

Again, Desmond's eyes met Arrluk's, though this time they were silently pleading. The risk was enormous, but this was their only way out of the Silent Sea. His only way to bring Kayla and Ethan back to safety, which he had promised he would. The only way to see his family again. How could he not take it?

They did not get the chance to speak further, because just then Magorian spoke up again. "I'm supposed to tell you boys one more thing, so listen closely, it is very important."

There was a short silence, in which Desmond glared at him, knowing perfectly well that he was only doing this for dramatic effect.

"Only one of you can take the Trident," he said at last.

"That's it?" Desmond said, relieved. He had been expecting some awful twist, but this was nothing. Of course he had known this. It was glaringly obvious that only one person could wield it at a time. "Yeah, no doubt about that," he said dryly. "It's not exactly a four-handed grip."

"You misunderstand me." Magorian's voice was toneless now, a flat, expressionless drone. "I didn't mean that only one of you will be allowed to carry it from hereon. I meant that only one of you will be able to take it at all.

"The Trident is imbued with only the most powerful, and most ancient of all sea magic. It is not a question of just pulling it out of the water. The Trident will respond to one of you as intended. The other, it will destroy."

"What?" Arrluk gasped.

"What is more," Magorian continued, "the decision as to who must try to claim it must be made before you attempt it, of course. Because you will only have the one chance. If you choose incorrectly, and the wrong person touches the Trident, not only will you be vaporized, the other will lose the chance to remove it as well."

"You're insane!" Desmond said, more alarmed than he was angry now. "How're we supposed to get that right on the first try?"

"Well . . . that is up to you now, isn't it?" Magorian said, his smile returning. "You will have to make this decision on your own, unfortunately. I cannot assist you any further. Goodbye, Prince of Tethyia. Desmond Brookes."

He vanished in a cloud of bubbles.

There was a long silence, heavy with unease. Here it was, a way out of the Silent Sea, exactly what they had set out for. Yet the accompanying risks were almost unbearable to think about. Only one chance to properly activate the Trident's power, with failure resulting in a loss of the opportunity completely and death of the one who had tried to claim it; and success meaning the horrendous beasts below would stir, creatures that, according to Arrluk, and based on Desmond's own heavily biased observations, could certainly eradicate all life in the sea — and on earth as well, if they were somehow able to escape the confines of the water.

But they had to. Death was almost certain in either option, yet they couldn't simply sit back and do nothing. Arrluk was silent as well, lost in his own thoughts. They seemed to be as painful as Desmond's, because his expression was one of anguish.

"It's you," Desmond said bracingly. "Of course it's you. Prince of the Sea, sorcerer-in-training, leader of the quest to prevent sea-wide disaster — how could it not be you? Listen, go get the Trident, we find our friends and get out of this dump, finish the quest and then replace the Trident before Uglies Number One-Four can stop drawing z's." He put on a reassuring smile and raised his arm. Arrluk, however, his face still averted, said, "No."

"Sorry?" Desmond said, sure he had misheard.

"No," Arrluk repeated, still in that same quiet voice.

"What do you mean, no!" Desmond burst out, reminding himself forcibly of King Ashay. "Listen, we have a responsibility to our friends and to our families. We have to get out of here, otherwise who knows what might happen. So get the Trident and —"

Arrluk turned to him with a faint smile and said, "I cannot touch."

"What are you —?"

"All this time I've been thinking, not about this particular situation, no. About you. What purpose, exactly, you would serve. Finding the Ophiotaurus is one thing, of course. But what else could there be? I was interested in you, but I was also, if I'm being honest, a bit jealous."

"You're jealous of me?" Desmond said in disbelief. "But you're a Prince!"

"Exactly. And because of that, my life was already decided for me. From the moment I was born I was locked under strict regulations, carefully groomed to fulfill my purpose of taking the throne and leading my country forward."

Desmond gaped at him, confused by his tone. "So . . . you don't want to be a prince?"

"No, I'm quite fond of my position," he said earnestly. "And I'm ready to take the throne, as soon as it is necessary. But don't you see? These are things I have to do. Not because I necessarily want to, but because I was born to. You, on the other hand, are free to live your life as you see fit. Choices of where you go, what you can do, who you will be, even who you choose to befriend . . . they're all yours to make."

"Okay . . . okay, but . . . how does any of this weigh in with you not being able to take the Trident?"

"Because I'm not supposed to," he said simply. "My duties, my entire life, have been mapped out for me, and it is my responsibility to follow them through. But this is where the concept of choice comes in, something you are allowed to appreciate. You made the choice to come with me, when I met you in Bozeman Beach. You made the choice to stay, to follow me on this winding journey. I do not have that luxury. The Oracle specifically requested me, told me that I must do these things.

"But you. . . . You are allowed to question. Do you wish not to accept the risks, to sacrifice yourself and your companions to ensure the safety of the world beyond this sphere? Or will you take those risks, because you have the chance to save both? That choice is not one for me. It has been ingrained in me throughout all my years to do not what is best for me, but what is best for my people. The choice is clear for me: I don't have one. I would choose my people, without a second thought, because that is what I was conditioned to do. So you see the problem now, don't you? It's not much of a choice if your actions were already decided long before you had the chance to make them. But you are still mulling it over.

"You saw what happened in Ashay's court. I fell to pieces the moment my strategy failed. The moment Ashay decided to continue pressing, because I didn't expect it to happen. But you took charge, you adapted, and you led us out of harm's way."

"And brought us to this!" Desmond pointed at the Kaijus.

Arrluk laughed. "And here you have another choice. Will you take charge again, or leave it be?"

Desmond stared at him. He had thought that it was obvious which choice he should make. But now . . . A whole world, or us? . . . His thoughts drifted to his friends again, their whole lives ahead of them, as Ethan had said. . . . They drifted to his family, his parents, grandparents, and younger siblings, who were probably petrified with worry. . . . They drifted to Arrluk's own father, who was expecting — hoping — for them to return. . . .

"Whatever you decide," Arrluk said gently, "I will follow."

Desmond turned and swam over to the Trident, the sole object holding not only the Silent Sea, but the fate of the entire realm, together. He closed his eyes and floated there for a few minutes in silence, thinking, Arrluk waiting wordlessly behind him. He came to his decision. His eyes opened slowly, raking the length of the bronze instrument before, a moment later, his hands clasped around the shaft.

As soon as his fingers touched the metal, he felt a surge of energy in his fingertips, and immediately the thought rose across his mind that they had got it wrong, that he was not meant to be the one to claim it — that he was going to die. . . . Then the sudden flare died down, replaced by a pleasant coolness and a faint humming in the metal, which was now glowing bright blue. He could feel something in the Trident, something ancient, immense, akin to the feel of the very water around him, as though the power of the sea itself flowed through it. . . . Reveling in this miraculous development, Desmond turned to face Arrluk. He had expected the Prince to look awed, or shocked, but to his slight surprise, Arrluk merely smiled and nodded.

Before Desmond could speak, the Trident pinged again, and this time a tremor ran through the water. The ground below them shifted violently, and as they looked down, eyes drawn to the sight as if magnetically attracted, they saw a visible shiver run through all four Kaijus, but none woke.

Magorian's words came back him, bringing him sharply back to reality and hardening his resolve. Desmond met Arrluk's eyes again, and an understanding seemed to pass between them. "Six days," he said.

"Six days," Arrluk repeated. "Not a moment to waste."

Desmond swam back over to Kato, climbed atop her, and he and Arrluk surged upwards. They took one last glance at the resting monsters before they crashed through whatever invisible, magical threshold separated the Kaijus' black-and-purple prison and the brilliantly blue stretch of water that they had been drifting in for nearly an hour. Desmond suddenly became aware that the water around them was no longer serene. It was flowing, and quite vigorously at that. As they erupted upwards, the Neptune's Treasure presented itself to view, hovering seventy feet above, with Jino, Duat, Kayla, and Ethan all swimming frantically around it, examining their severed seaweed tethers with worried expressions.

It was Kayla who noticed them first. "There they are!" she screamed, pointing. The four of them dove to meet them halfway.

"Prince Arrluk!" Jino said, looking relieved. He opened his mouth to speak further, but at that moment, his and Duat's eyes flickered to the Trident burning in Desmond's hands and their mouths fell open in a mixture of shock and wonder.

"Woah. What the heck is that?" Ethan said.

"Trident of Neptune," Desmond said casually. "Listen, we have to get out of here, we're on a much stricter time limit now."

"What do you mean?" Kayla asked. "What happened to you two? You were gone for three hours —"

"We'll tell you all about it later," Desmond said, disregarding his surprise that time had gotten away from them like that. He glanced again at the Trident, feeling the stormy presence inside swirling more violently, and then at Arrluk, who nodded. "For now —" He pointed the Trident at the water above and a beam of piercing blue light erupted from it, shooting into the waves to form a gigantic portal. "We have a Star to find."