—So the mages also have their weapons— commented Erica, once they left the building.

Liliana looked at Arturo, since he didn't talk much, she had to look at him to see what he was thinking. The boy was playing with his fingers, looking at the ground and walking fast.

—Are you excited?— she guessed.

He looked at her with wide eyes and a boyish grin on his face.

—Yes. The very idea of increasing the efficiency of magic use is spectacular. On top of that, there are several types... I'm looking forward to investigate it thoroughly.

Liliana gave him a smile, she was pleased to see him like that.

They quickly headed to the port, from where they could see the island. There were some ships, boats and flying boats parked.

—Shouldn't we go back to the hotel to go with our ship?— Liliana asked.

—No, it's too far away— said Erica, lazily— I'm sure there's a boat leaving in a while, isn't that better?

—Good idea!— cheered Liliana— I'll go and ask right away.

She went straight to talk to the nearest noni. Erica ran a hand over her head in surprise.

—I was actually going to suggest that we sneak in without being seen... but I guess she prefers that way.

—Of course.

A short time later, Liliana arrived with a pot-bellied, toasted-skinned noni.

—This gentleman will take us there— she said.

—Hello, you are going to the island, aren't you— confirmed the man— I am Guerek, a fisherman. In exchange for taking you there, I would like to ask you a favor— he then frowned, as if the next topic would bring back bad memories— my son went to explore the island a few days ago and got lost there. I would like to ask you to look for him along with whatever you are going to do, please.

—Of course!— Erica readily agreed.

—And you haven't looked for him?— asked Arturo, skeptical.

—I have— explained the noni— but... no matter how hard I look, I can't find it, nor have I found a cane. You're not from here, are you? Well, I'll tell you something about that island; it is said to be a spiritual place, which only opens its secrets to mages. You are a mage, aren't you?

Then Guerek took Arturo by the shoulders, almost begging him with his voice. The boy nodded.

—Please find my son. The police couldn't, the mages at the science and magic center don't pay attention to me, I have no choice.

—Yes, of course I will— Arturo agreed, surprised by the fisherman's plight.

—Thank you, thank you very much— said Guerek, hugging Arturo with his strong noni arms.

The boy hung for a few moments from his red biceps, not knowing what to say, until the man put him down and led them to his boat; a tiny boat where no more than three nonis could fit. Fortunately they were three humans and one noni, so they sat down with no problem.

—Are you kids ready?— asked Guerek.

—Set sail!— commanded Erica— Let's go full speed ahead!

Her friends looked at her. Suddenly she had formed an eye patch and a fake scar with her timitio. Finally she put a sailor's hat on her head.

—Where did you get that?— Liliana wondered.

—Papel had it in its mouth— she explained, before the animal perched on her head and proudly stuck out his chest— he must have stolen it from some sailor in the port.

—What? Papel, that's wrong— Liliana reprimanded him.

Arturo just looked at him with suspicion, but Papel didn't care, because he was an animal. Distracted, he began to run around the boat and Erica's shoulders. Finally the noni started the old engine. The boat set off for the island.

------------------------------------------

A few minutes after setting off, about halfway there, a strange fog suddenly surrounded them. The island became a silhouette in the distance and then vanished behind the curtain of vapor.

—No! Not again!— cried Guerek.

—What is it?— asked Liliana.

But she had no chance to answer. Suddenly a huge tentacle rose into the air, higher than a lamp post, and fell on them like a wave.

—Let me go!— yelled Erica.

The moment the tentacle fell on them, the girl jumped to catch it with her shoulder protected in timitio, however as she did so she realized that the tentacle was full of thorns, long and sharp as daggers. With her timitio armor she managed to protect her neck, but some of the thorns managed to bury themselves in her shoulder, making her scream in pain.

Liliana immediately jumped after her. With Brontes she cut the tentacle as if it were air. Then they both fell into the boat with a crash along with the piece of tentacle, which they threw into the sea.

—We must continue— announced Guerek, giving full power to the engine.

Liliana crouched down next to Erica, who was bleeding profusely from her shoulder. Arturo examined the situation in a few seconds and decided to give a couple of instructions.

—Liliana, protect us from the monster— he commanded— I'll take care of Erica.

She did not want to leave her side, but then she realized that it was Arturo who was giving her orders. Arturo didn't do that unless he knew exactly was he was doing and it was necessary. Somewhat relieved, she handed Erica to him and stood up, ready for any counterattack from the monster. The mage, in the meantime, removed Erica's shirt to check her wound, cleaned it with his hand, as they were not carrying clean water, and used his own clothes to bandage it as best he could. The boat was moving a lot and the clothes were not the best bandage, but it was what they had for the moment. They moved forward again. Despite the fog, the island began to come into view, they were not so far away. Then what no one expected happened.

Out of nowhere, a rumble shook the boat: one of the tentacles was holding the side of the ship. Before they could react, it began to shake them back and forth, so hard that they barely held on. They spun around several times, until Erica suddenly stood up, jumped towards the tentacle and buried a timitio dagger in it. It let go of the boat all at once and the momentum sent them flying towards the island. The boat spun in midair and crashed into some rocks, followed closely by Guerek. Arturo, in the air, took control of the rocks on the shore; he increased their volume to decrease their density several times. By the time he and the girls impacted, they bounced as if crashing into a mountain of cardboard boxes.

The four of them found themselves on the coarse sandy ground, among several pieces of wood from the wrecked boat. Liliana and Arturo had only a few scrapes and superficial wounds. Erica could stand up with her wound, because in addition to the bandage, her timitio helped keep the blood inside her body. Guerek didn't look too good; he had broken a few bones on impact and was bleeding profusely.

Arturo immediately went to tend to him, while the girls watched out to sea in case the monster decided to return. To their luck, the tentacles plunged into the sea and did not come back out.

—And no one knows why people disappear?— said Erica— What do the police say about that thing?

—I had heard about that monster— indicated the noni, while Arturo treated his wounds with the little he had at hand— I didn't think it was true, those things don't usually come to the cities, at least I had never seen one in such an inhabited area.

The boy stood up, thinking.

—First of all, we should go inside the island, the monster can attack us easily if we stay here.

The mage tried to lift the noni by making a floating platform with the sand under him, but the sand fell off immediately.

—What's wrong?— asked the fisherman, puzzled.

—You're lacking energy?— Erica guessed.

—No, no, it's just...— but he wasn't sure.

Quickly a hypothesis popped into his head. He concentrated on a place where there was no one to lift his own weight in sand, but the same thing happened; the grains of sand fell like water in his hands.

—What is it, Arturo?— asked Liliana.

—Is it me or is it the sand?— he asked himself, too focused on his thoughts to pay attention to the rest.

He quickly left the discarded sand to pay attention to one of the inflated rocks. He concentrated on them to control them and with a hand gesture and a specific thought, he compressed them. He then pulled one out to spin it in the air.

—No, my magic is fine. It's the sand.

—Arturo!— yelled Erica.

The boy came out of his reverie.

—Yes?

—We have to take Guerek inland, now.

The boy was surprised that he had forgotten an instruction he himself had given, and nodded.

—Y-yes. Let's do it.

The noni's body was in a bad state, they couldn't just drag it and Arturo couldn't form a smooth platform where they were. There was no concrete or hard ground. They had to carry him between the three of them. Erica held his hips with her good arm, providing most of the strength, while Liliana held his good arm to drive him and Arturo held his legs. Thus, with much effort they managed to advance a few tens of meters. They climbed up a hill and left him resting under some trees, on the blue grass.

—We will bring help, stay here— asked Arturo.

—Don't forget my son, please— he begged.

—Calm down, old man. You are not going to die or anything. We will bring you your son— Erica assured him.

The children walked away to discuss their situation. At that point they had no idea where the staff or any of the people who had disappeared on the island might be buried, so they decided to go looking on their own.

—We should split up to cover more ground— suggested Erica.

—No!— Liliana yelled— Stop telling us to split up! We have to stay together!

This made the brika laugh.

—I know, I know. I don't feel like searching alone either.

The girls looked at Arturo, but found him lost in thought just as before.

—What's the matter with you? You've been quieter than usual— observed Erica.

—Ah...—the boy realized that they were talking to him, so he came out of his reverie— I was thinking about the sand. I couldn't control it completely. I think it became more difficult for me, because the grains of sand are not attached to each other, they behave like a flow...— then he opened his eyes wide— That's it! The grains of sand are a flow!

—Arturo.

—It's not enough for me to control them all at the same time, I have to lift each grain separately... ah, but that's too much. How do I do it, then?

—Arturo!— Erica called out to him.

—Ah? Ah, excuse me.

—Oh, gee, Arturo, is it so bad for you that you can't control the sand? It's no big deal either, you don't need to lose your head.

—I'm sorry, I just don't understand...— he said, before going back into his reverie.

Erica sighed, fed up. Then she looked at Liliana to ask for help, but she dismissed the matter with a wave of her hand.

—Let it go, he'll get over it in a while— she said— he's always been like that.

—Ha— she mused, curious— Then it's our turn. We have to look for that famous cane and the lost people.

—It seems so, although I don't know where to start.

The path they were on at that moment turned to the left. They followed the path, but Arturo turned in the opposite direction, into a clump of trees and bushes.

—Arturo, that's not the way!— called Erica.

But the boy lost himself in the bushes and shrubs.

—He didn't even hear me!— she pleaded.

The girls turned around to help Arturo find his way. They crossed the trees and bushes, and found him walking up the hill.

—Arturo! What are you doing?!— called Erica— Come here!

Then the boy turned around in surprise.

—What are you talking about? It's this way.

—What?!— the girls exclaimed.

But the boy continued, so they had to catch up with him to ask for explanations.

—What do you mean, it's this way?— asked Liliana.

—Well, a mysterious melody on an uninhabited island is a pretty suspicious clue, don't you think?

—Melody?— repeated the two of them, disgruntled.

—What melody?— asked Erica.

The boy turned around, confused.

—Can't you hear it? It sounds at intervals — he raised a finger to indicate them to pay attention — here it goes again, listen.

The girls were silent, but heard nothing.

—Isn't it strange?— asked Arturo.

Liliana and Erica looked at each other, a little worried and a little dismayed. They both thought about the possibility that Arturo was going crazy for some reason, but they preferred to bet on the other possibility, that something strange was happening on that island that neither of them could understand at the moment.

—Let's go, we are close!— urged Arturo.

The boy continued walking to the top of the hill, where there was a large, old tree, with thick roots covering a large area. He approached the tree, stepping over the roots, and laid his ear against the trunk.

—It's not coming from inside— he assured.

He circled the tree, but the melody was not behind it, nor to the side. It was coming from the tree, but he had already verified that it was not from inside. Then he looked up.

—Of course, it must be from above!— he surmised.

He immediately formed a platform with a bit of earth, just enough to carry him upright on his own, and climbed up into the branches of the tree. Carefully, he approached the center covered by a curtain of branches. There he saw something that caught his eye; a sphere of green light was at one of the major intersections of the trunk, near the center of the tree's canopy. It just sat there, hovering above the wood with a metal apparatus. There was no doubt, the melody came from that sphere.

—I found it!— declared Arturo.

He reached out for the ball of light to take it, but then he disappeared in a beam of light.