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stubbornly silent, always at the helm night and day, his back to Alec. He never, as far as Alec could tell, even slept or ate. He just stood there watching the sea in his tall leather boots and black leather coat, his scarlet silks draped over his shoulder, wearing a cape with its curious insignia. With his short, brown beard and flashing green eyes that stared at the waves as if they were one with them, the mystery around him only deepened.
    Alec stared out at the unusual Sea of Tears, with its light aqua color, and he felt overcome with an urgency to know where he was being taken. Unable to stand the silence any longer, he turned to Sovos, desperate for answers.
    “Why me?” Alec asked, breaking the silence, trying yet again, determined this time for an answer. “Why choose me from that entire city? Why was I the one meant to survive? You could have saved a hundred people more important than me.”
    Alec waited, but Sovos remained silent, his back to him, studying the sea.
    Alec decided to try another route.
    “Where are we going?” Alec asked yet again. “And how is this ship able to sail so fast? What is it made of?”
    Alec watched the man’s back. Minutes passed.
    Finally, the man shook his head, his back still turned.
    “You are going where you are meant to go, where you are meant to be. I chose you because we need you, and no other.”
    Alec wondered.
    “Need me for what?” Alec pressed.
    “To destroy Pandesia.”
    “Why me?” Alec asked. “How can I possibly help?”
    “All will be clear once we arrive,” Sovos replied.
    “Arrive where?” Alec pressed, frustrated. “My friends are in Escalon. People I love. A girl.”
    “I am sorry,” Sovos sighed, “but no one is left back there. All that you once knew and loved is gone.”
    There came a long silence, and amidst the whistling of the wind, Alec prayed he was wrong—yet deep down he felt he was right. How could life change so quickly? he wondered.
    “Yet you are alive,” Sovos continued, “and that is a very precious gift. Do not squander it. You can help many others, if you pass the test.”
    Alec furrowed his brow.
    “What test?” he asked.
    Sovos finally turned and looked at him, his eyes piercing.
    “If you are the one,” he said, “our cause will fall on your shoulders; if not, we shall have no use for you.”
    Alec tried to understand.
    “We’ve been sailing for days now and have gotten nowhere,” Alec observed. “Just deeper into the sea. I can’t even see Escalon anymore.”
    The man smirked.
    “And where do you think we’re going?” he asked.
    Alec shrugged.
    “It appears we sail northeast. Perhaps somewhere toward Marda.”
    Alec studied the horizon, exasperated.
    Finally, Sovos replied.
    “How wrong you are, young one,” he replied. “How wrong indeed.”
    Sovos turned back to the helm as a strong gust of wind rose up, the boat riding into the whitecaps of the ocean. Alec look beyond him, and as he did, for the first time, he was startled to spot a shape on the horizon.
    He hurried forward, filled with excitement as he gripped the rail.
    In the distance there slowly emerged a landmass, just beginning to take shape. The land seemed to sparkle, as if made of diamonds. Alec raised a hand to his eyes, peering, wondering what it could possibly be. What island could exist out here in the middle of nowhere? He wracked his brain, but could remember no land on the maps. Was it some country he had never heard of?
    “What is it?” Alec asked in a rush, staring out in anticipation.
    Sovos turned, and for the first time since Alec had met him, he smiled wide.
    “Welcome, my friend,” he said, “to the Lost Isles.”
     
     

CHAPTER SEVEN
     
     
    Aidan stood bound to a post, unable to move, while he watched his father, kneeling a few feet before him, flanked by Pandesian soldiers. They stood, swords raised, holding them over his head.
    “NO!” Aidan shrieked.
    He tried to break free, to rush forward and spare his father,