It had been three days since Joey had woken up with a pounding headache, and despite his best efforts, he still hadn’t managed to reach Esther. Finally, they’d agreed to meet at the hotel. The manager had practically pulled him by the arm the moment he’d arrived in uniform, dragging him to survey the bright graffiti splashed across the hotel’s once-pristine façade.

“What’s the mighty police force actually doing about this mess?”

“Mr. Pierre, I assure you, we’re doing everything we can to address the vandalism in the city.”

“Everything? More like nothing!”

Joey sympathized, but what could he do? These tangled, meaningless scribbles were cropping up all over town, more stubborn than weeds. Some called it a new art movement, but to Joey, it was just a headache with a paintbrush.

“Mr. Pierre, I understand your frustration. I have an important meeting with a guest, but I’ll return later to take your statement. Will that be alright?”

He settled in the restaurant area, the muffled sound of scrubbing against glass adding an odd rhythm to the room’s hushed murmurs. The once-spotless windows were now bruised with graffiti, and no amount of scrubbing seemed to erase the reminder of last night’s intrusions.

When Esther entered, he stood to greet her. She looked almost ghostly, her skin too pale, with shadows under her eyes as if she hadn’t slept in days.

“Esther. It’s good to see you. Are you alright? You look… tired.”

“I’m fine, Joey.” Her tone was light, but her tight grip on her bag betrayed her nerves. Something was definitely wrong.

“Take a seat. Are you still having headaches?”

“They’re better,” she replied with a small, sad smile.

Joey tried to brush it off, but his own headaches had barely let up. “Where have you been the past few days? I’ve tried to reach you.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I’ve been spending time near the lake.”

“The lake? Why?”

“It’s… a long story.” She pulled a flask from her bag and took a shaky sip of water.

“Esther, what do you remember from the Albatross?”

“Nothing. Just that I asked you for tea. After that, everything’s blank.”

“Same here.”

Esther reached into her rucksack and produced a scroll. “I need to show you something.” She unfurled a map across the table, beautifully detailed and precisely drawn. It showed the clines, branching from the center of the lake. In the middle, however, there was a thick, clumsily drawn circle with another inside it like an eye watching from the depths.

“Looks like a giant octopus,” Joey joked. “Did a kid get their hands on your precious map?”

Esther didn’t smile.

“Come on, it’s just a joke.”

“I drew the clines, Joey. But I didn’t draw that eye in the middle. The captain told me I was bleeding from the nose when they found us. You were bleeding from your nose and ear. And… you had a pen in your hand.”

“Wait. Are you saying… I drew that?”

“Yes. You forced yourself to draw this right before you passed out.”

They sat in silence, each lost in thought. Joey struggled to grasp the implications.

“Why would I do that?” he asked finally.

“Maybe you saw something. We saw something.”

“Did the captain mention anything unusual?”

Esther leaned back, her expression distant. “No. Nothing.”

“I agree, it’s strange. But why would only the two of us see something? There were at least fifty people on that Zeppelin.”

A waiter appeared, interrupting them. “Tea? Coffee? Water?”

“No, thank you,” they said in unison.

“Just bear with me for a second,” Esther began.

“Go ahead.”

“Let’s go over the events of the last month. First, we had a flash flood, unlike anything seen before in the lake. The equivalent of ninety cubic kilometers of water falls into the lake, causing the water level to rise. Yes?”

“Yes,” Joey nodded, following along.

“Then, we discover that the water in the lake has somehow reorganized itself into clines of freshwater and saltwater.”

“Right.”

“And finally,” she rummaged in her rucksack and pulled out a notebook, “there’s this.” She opened it to a drawing of a strange, unsettling creature. It looked insect-like, yet unlike anything Joey had seen. It resembled a beetle with one enormous eye, seven legs, and five antennae.

“What is that thing?” Joey asked.

“This is a newly discovered species in the lake. They’re calling it the cyclops-beetle,” Esther replied.

“I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“No one has,” she said. “This is why I’ve been at the lake for the past few days. I’ve been studying this creature. Have you heard of the miracle dives?”

“Who hasn’t? Marie even suggested I should go there for my headaches. I told her I don’t believe in quack cures and fountain-of-youth legends.” Joey laughed, but Esther’s serious gaze made him swallow his laughter.

“Wait, are you saying that…?”

“Yes, Joey. It’s true. I’ve seen it.”

“No. That’s impossible.”

“There’s a team from New Lisbon General collecting further data, but it’s real. The lake is healing people.”

“But how? How can this be?”

She tapped her finger on the drawing of the beetle. “It’s because of this, Joey. This is a completely new life form. I’m still studying its life cycle, but after it feeds along the shore, these beetles fall back into the water and undergo a metamorphosis. They dissolve into the water.”

“I don’t follow.”

“Joey, this thing is different from any other lifeform on Earth. These insects are changing the water, healing people.”

Joey shook his head, struggling to comprehend. “You can’t be serious, Esther. Do you know how insane this sounds? A bug that dissolves into water and heals people? You sound like a lunatic.” Joey could feel the sweat on his forehead; Esther was beginning to remind him of his mother when she’d started having strange delusions.

“I know it sounds far-fetched, but hear me out,” Esther continued. “Here’s my theory. There was a meteorite, or something, that fell into the lake. I don’t know why it didn’t cause a massive explosion or some cataclysm. But let’s assume that’s what happened. Imagine something was aboard the meteorite… something alive.” She pointed to the drawing again. Joey gulped, feeling a shiver run down his spine.

“Are you saying this is an alien?” he asked, voice low.

Esther nodded. “I’ve sent my findings to the Science Academy. They agree with my assessment. I’m heading to City Hall to make arrangements to quarantine the lake. We need to enclose these creatures and study them.”

“Wow. Alien life…” Joey’s mind was reeling. If this was true, it could be the discovery of the century.

“But… are you absolutely sure this thing is alien?”

“Look at it, Joey! It’s completely unlike anything else in nature. What animal dissolves into water like this? And here—” she pulled a jar from her bag, revealing a small black ball inside. “Take a look.”

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“What is it?”

“This is the corpse of a cyclops-beetle.”

“So?”

“Whenever you try to capture a cyclops-beetle, it commits suicide. The first one I tried to grab burst into flames, burning my hands.” She removed one glove to show scarred tissue. “I trapped this one in the jar and saw it burst into flames, so I put the jar aside and didn’t open it. But when I checked yesterday, I found the beetle’s remains still in the jar.”

“What? How? Why would you see the thing burn and then find it later in the jar?” Joey asked, increasingly unnerved. He felt like everything was leading up to something shocking, something Esther was about to reveal.

“I think this beetle has mental powers,” she said. “It can make us see things. The hallucination is powerful.” She held up her scarred hand again. “So powerful that my hands burned because I believed they were burning.”

Joey’s mind spun, barely able to process what she was saying.

“And what if,” she went on, “what if this wasn’t the only creature in the meteorite? What if something else fell in the lake? Something bigger, smarter? What if we saw it from the Albatross, and when it sensed us, instead of tricking us into seeing it burn, it just erased our memories?”

Joey’s face was pale. “Are you telling me you think a giant alien octopus fell into the lake, bringing these suicidal beetles along, and it has mind powers that can erase memories? Why would only the two of us be able to see it? Why didn’t the rest of the crew notice?”

“That’s the one thing that makes me doubt the theory,” she admitted.

“It’s… quite the theory.” Joey was struggling, caught between his gut feeling that something was here and the sheer absurdity of it all.

Esther let out a strained laugh, almost a groan. “I know. I just needed to say it out loud. It was driving me crazy, keeping it all to myself.”

“Don’t worry. We’ve both been through a lot, and we just left the hospital. Maybe our minds are trying to find a reason, some coping mechanism. After all, it’s been a strange time for the whole city.” Joey was struggling. His gut told him there was some merit to her theory, but it sounded so outlandish he couldn’t fully accept it.

“Well, we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other over the next few months. I’m one of the scientists assigned to study the cyclops beetle. I’ll be in town.”

“Where will your team stay?”

“We’ll set up camp somewhere along the lake shore.”

Joey hesitated, sorting through a mix of emotions, then forced himself to speak. “Why don’t you stay at the Silverlake Estate? It belonged to my father. There’s plenty of room for everyone. The staff there would be happy to have you, and I know my father would, too.”

For the first time that day, Esther’s tense expression softened into a warm smile. “Thank you, Joey. That’s very generous.” She stood up, gathering her things. “I need to get going. We’ve got a lot to arrange if we’re going to isolate the lake.”

“The miracle divers won’t be happy,” Joey noted.

“Don’t worry. The Science Academy has its ways. Take care, Joey.”

“You too, Esther.”

Joey watched her walk away, his mind still spinning with everything she’d shared. When she was out of sight, he exhaled, muttering to himself, “Good grief. An alien octopus with superpowers.” He laughed a bit too loudly, feeling a nervous shiver crawl up his spine.

*

Geoffrey looked at his silver pocket watch. Four o'clock. He then turned to the map hanging on his office wall, a satisfied smile spreading across his face. It was gratifying to see the results of his labor. Over the last few days, he’d exhausted every ounce of capital from loans and investors to buy up as much lakefront as possible.

Little red pins circled the lake on the map in an almost perfect ring, dotted here and there with yellow pins representing the stubborn or wealthy few who’d resisted his offers. But they were just minor hurdles in his grand plan. His desk drawer held the contracts and property titles to nearly all the land around the lake, leaving no room for future complaints.

He never could have owned all of this if not for the Flood. The lake producers, reeling from financial troubles and still haunted by the disaster, had practically handed him what had once been premium land. And now, the final piece of his plan was about to fall into place.

“Mr. Geoffrey,” came his secretary’s voice through the door, “Professor Esther Lincoln from the Science Academy has asked to see you as quickly as possible. She didn’t make an appointment. Should I…?”

“Let her in. Let her in. I am available now. And please, send for my lawyer as well,” he replied smoothly.

“Sure thing, Mr. Geoffrey.”

Professor Esther entered, sparing only a glance at him before her eyes fixed on his office wall. First, she looked at the painting of Ambyssus’ eye, her face tensing as she studied it. She couldn’t seem to look away from the otherworldly image, and Geoffrey felt a surge of pride, seeing her entranced by his work. Eventually, her gaze moved to the map of the lake, and her expression darkened as she noticed the pins encircling it.

“Mr. Geoffrey, I’ve been studying the creatures you showed me over the past few days,” she began.

“Yes? Fascinating things, aren’t they? Alien, even.” He said the last word with a smirk, relishing the surprise in her eyes. While she spoke, he poured himself a glass of apple cider, adding a splash of lake water from the flask in his pocket. So refreshing.

“For lack of a better word, yes. Mr. Geoffrey, I’ve already discussed this with my colleagues and visited the mayor’s office. This is a new species that requires immediate protection and isolation.”

“Of course, of course,” he replied, feigning innocence.

“The beetles’ life cycle begins in the lake. They lay eggs on the beach, and the larvae feed on trees near the shore before returning to the water. They never stray beyond the beach.”

“Really? A beetle that swims? How quaint,” he replied with mock sincerity, watching her jaw tighten as she resisted the urge to respond. Her annoyance only made provoking her more enjoyable—a Science Academy emissary eating from his hand.

“Under Article 5, subsection 3 of the Environmental Protection Act, as an ambassador of the Science Academy, I’m declaring the entire lake shore a natural park. The herds of sirenians will remain, but the Science Academy will monitor all production. We’re also appropriating a twenty-meter strip of land from the shore to be managed as a protected area. All landowners will be compensated accordingly.”

Her gaze returned to the map, her jaw set. “The mayor’s office informed me that you own ninety-four percent of the lake’s shore. Therefore, I wanted to inform you first. The Science Academy will compensate you with a hundred and thirty-three billion crowns based on current land values. We’ll draft new regulations to allow the sustainable raising of sea cows without disturbing the beetles’ habitat.”

“Very good! Very good! It’s a pity I’ll lose all the land I bought. And I had such plans,” he replied with exaggerated disappointment. “But I thank you immensely, Professor. Please convey my gratitude to the Academy.”

As she stood to leave, she hesitated, her back to him. “How long have you known about the beetles?”

“For some weeks.”

“And… what’s out there in the lake?”

His face remained impassive. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“I see.” She gave one last long glance at the painting and then stomped out of his office.

Geoffrey’s smile returned the moment she was gone. When he first discovered the beetles, he’d known he’d found a gold mine. The professor hadn’t mentioned it, but he understood more than she suspected. These weren’t merely beetles; they were an entirely new life form.

The knowledge came to Geoffrey’s mind, somehow clear and detailed, though he couldn’t remember precisely where he’d learned it. Once the beetles returned to the lake, they dissolved into the water, transforming into algae. Eventually, spores settled on the lake bed and grew into seagrass, releasing tiny seeds that floated to the surface, blossoming into feathery forms that would scatter on the wind, restarting the cycle. It was… perfect. And this creature, this entity, kept the lake’s environment balanced. Its existence promised untold riches.

Of course, brilliant as she was, she had yet to discover the remarkable substances produced at each life stage. For instance, a potion made by dissolving a beetle in lake water and combining it with the right ingredients could delay aging by up to thirty years. If the seeds were ground into a paste and mixed with the larvae's shells, they could cure cancer.

This knowledge had come to him in fragments, in whispers, leaving his mind as mysteriously as it arrived. He began feeling light-headed and gripped his desk as his vision swam, his shirt dampening with sweat. His gaze drifted to the painting of Ambyssus’ eye, and his hands trembled.

“Why?” he whispered, his voice trembling.

It was as if the painting itself responded, the voice filling his mind, soft and taunting. “Becaussse it’sss fun, Geoffrey. Isn’t this what you wanted? To be resspected? To ssstand at the top?”

“Not at the expense of others! Joey will be so disappointed when he finds out,” he whispered, voice edged with desperation.

“Joey, Joey, Joey,” the voice crooned mockingly. “He’s nobody. You are the one who matters now.”

“Now that you’ve won, will you set me free?” he begged, a note of desperation creeping into his voice.

“I haven’t won, dear Geoffrey. It’ss a tie.”

“What do you mean? You promised!”

“Hush, hush now, little Jeff. Come down. Go have some more water.”

“No, I don’t want to…” Geoffrey watched helplessly as his body moved on its own. He lifted the flask to his lips and drank deeply. A heavy calm spread over him, dulling his panic and washing away his earlier thoughts like ripples disappearing in the lake.

“Sir?”

“Oh? Debbie. What seems to be the matter?” He looked at his secretary, his voice startlingly calm.

“I heard you screaming, but since you weren’t supposed to have anyone here, I just came to check you were OK.”

“Yes, I’m fine. Just a little tired.” He paused, the false tranquility settling over him like a fog. “I think I’ll go lie down.”

*

“What are the whereabouts of the Black Merchant?” demanded the commissioner, his tone sharp.

“I told you, I don’t know!” Reggie protested in a whine, his stomach growling. He hadn’t eaten all day, and the commissioner and Joey had been interrogating him non-stop.

“Of course, you know, Reggie,” Joey interjected. “Everyone knows you’re a low-life leeching off bigger fish. Don’t tell me you didn’t have a hand in the crime spree four days ago.”

“I told ya everything I know,” Reggie protested, louder this time. “Now bring me my lawyer, or I’ll sue. I know my rights!” Joey and Commissioner Fabius exchanged glances. Joey glanced up at the clock in the interrogation room—3 p.m. They’d been at this for nearly 24 hours, and Reggie hadn’t budged.

Reggie was as cowardly as they came, a small-time criminal known to crack under pressure. In the past, he’d ratted out anyone he could to save his own skin. But this time, even with two officers leaning on him, his fear of whoever had hired him was greater.

Someone knocked on the glass.

“Don’t go anywhere, Reggie. We’ll be right back.” Joey’s tone was icy as he and the commissioner stepped out. A lieutenant was waiting for them in the hallway.

“Sir!” The lieutenant saluted.

“At ease, Lieutenant. What is it? I told you I didn’t want any interruptions.”

“Yes, sir. But you said to notify you if anything unusual happened in the city.”

The commissioner frowned, growing impatient. “What’s happened?”

“Well, Chief, we’re getting reports from all over the city—there’s an unusual amount of steam coming out of the sewers. And…some of the missing craftsmen have started reappearing around town.”

Fabius straightened, his attention suddenly razor-sharp. “The craftsmen? Where have they been?”

“Witnesses say they’ve been seen emerging from the sewers too.”

“The sewers?” Joey’s eyebrows shot up. They hadn’t even thought of looking down there.

“Lieutenant, take us there. Now.”

Just as they turned to leave, the ground shook beneath their feet. Boom. Then, another tremor, this one even stronger than the first. It was as if the entire city was groaning as cracks began forming in the plaster walls and dust trickled from the ceiling.

Joey looked to Fabius, a mix of dread and determination in his eyes. Whatever was happening, it wasn’t just a matter of the Black Merchant or some small-time crime ring. It was bigger. Much bigger.