This time, I woke up in a soft bed. It took me a moment to realise it wasn't my own since my mind was all fuzzy. When I tried to sit up, I was pushed back down. My cousin was glaring down at me. I offered him a small smile and a weak wave. His glare only intensified. I slowly slipped further under the blankets.

Strangely, he managed to pull himself together. [Yes, it was strange! You usually just go off at me.] Arthur sat on the side of the bed, rubbing his hands over his face. It's something he does when he doesn't know what to say. After a few minutes of quiet, he managed to find the words. "Are you sure I don't need to put you in a mental ward?"

"Ha. Ha. Ha." I managed to sit up properly.

"Did you at least find something helpful?"

I sighed. "No idea. I didn't really understand what happened."

We both glanced towards Lydia who was floating in a corner. She looked so distant, like she had also been in her own memory with me. If anything, seen what she had gone through brought up more questions than answers! What was the crystal barrier? Who was attacking the people there? Why were the spirits destroying the city? Was that how Lydia died? There was one thing I wanted to know more than anything, but I felt that was a more personal question for Lydia.

For some reason, I found myself glancing towards the window. The sun had long since set. I gaped. "How long was I out for?"

"Many hours." Arthur ran a hand through his hair. "Let's just say your five days became four days since it's almost the middle of the night." He gave me an accusing glare. "I told you what would happen if you did that again!"

I half-cringed and half-smiled, my voice going a little higher than usual. "I'm not in hospital?" I asked with a small shrug and nervous smile. When his glare only continued, I slipped under the blankets again. He ripped them off me. I hissed. "Now it's cold." He threw the blankets onto my head before standing.

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By the time I had untangled myself, Arthur was in his bed and seemed to be out cold. I stood, walking to his bed. I poked him several times. No reaction at all. I sighed, leaning over him to flick off the light above his bed. I wasn't tired at all after my apparently hours-long sleep. A quick check of the time on my phone told me it was getting close to two in the morning. No wonder he's sleeping like the dead. I gave Lydia a sidelong glance. Speaking of the dead.

I went to sit beside her hovering form. "Who's Ryan?"

I could swear her face went from black to red in a heartbeat, before slowly returning to normal. "He was . . . you know."

I nodded, hoping I had thought the right thing. "Have you seen him since you died?"

She shook her head, moving to hover with her legs crossed beside me. "The Spirit World is a massive place. There are many people I haven't see since that day."

I nodded again. "Drowing or head trauma?" Her confused look made me word it differently. "Did you die from drowing or when the stone whacked you in the head?"

Lydia frowned slightly. "I think the stone, but I honestly don't remember."

"Ah." We sat in silence for a while, the both of us thinking. I was the one to speak next. "I'm not sure I understand what was happening," I told her. "All that stuff about an enemy and a crystal barrier, it was very confusing. What's the story there?"

A sigh. "Our enemy doesn't exist anymore, even in the form of stories. You won't find any record of them. All I know is that, one day, they simply vanished. It was like the gods snapped their fingers and . . ." She mimicked a small explosion with her hands.

"Poof," I finished.

"They were known as the Seshobi back then. I can't even think of a modern race that I can compare them to," she said with a small smile. It vanished as fast as it had come. "They wanted the Sesc'Biweta - Crystal Barrier," she translated for my benefit.

I was, in a way, transfixed by the sound of the Atlantean language. It was the first time I had ever heard her use it.

Lydia must have realised this. In a way, she looked guilty. "I don't usually speak the language. No one here remembers it."

She seemed to take a deep breath, which was strange considering she was dead. "What is it?"

"The Sesc'Biweta was used to communicate with the dead. A way to say goodbye for those who never got the chance, if that makes sense." She ran a hand through her hair nervously. "We didn't realise how powerful it was. By the time we did figure it out, we were already under attack by the first wave of Seshobi warriors."