Deep below the ocean's surface, a foam cloud hides the enchanted glass villages of the Lumins. By delivering their glass gems to Humans, these creatures maintain the delicate balance between Worlds. When a black-hearted crab, Sarwen, decides to cle...
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Kora's eyes tried to adjust to the dimness of her surroundings, but it was hard to do when it was so dark. Shelby must have covered her with his cloud bag. Chill marks sprinkled her arms as the surface of the cool Jetty cove floor tickled her webbed feet. Breathing in a full breath, she was thankful that she had somehow averted the barracuda.
"Stun him!" a deep voice bounced off the cove's tightly curved walls, but sounded far away. Still activity and noise, then a sudden stillness.
"What happened? Where am I?" whispered Kora, hoping it was safe to speak.
"Shhhhh," replied Dusk. Kora let out a sigh of relief. If Dusk was here, then surely Shelby was also. They waited for someone to send the all clear whistle, but no one did.
As they waited in silence, Kora's mind began to drift. What was she going to do if she could not stop glowing? She wouldn't be able to be a Cloud Collector anymore, that's for certain. Which wouldn't be such a bad thing.
Kora loved being a Lumin, and until recently she had thought that she loved her work. It was hard to want to be a Collector when you had a sister like Lunia. The Transporters got to deliver sea glass to Humans, the most honored job in all of the Jettisons.
Learning about other worlds was by far one of the most fascinating subjects, but they never taught it in school. Learning about Humans was considered an on-the-job training and Lumin culture only shared the knowledge of Humans with those in charge of Transporting. Kora had always felt left out as Lunia was selected and trained to Transport. She remembered when she had first learned about Humans at all, a few years ago. She had snuck into Lunia's bulb to borrow a book one evening and found new fusings all over Lunia's bulb. These creatures looked a lot like Mermaids, but without the scales and fins. She had no idea how they could be so large, as she had overheard Lunia talk about. Over fifty times the size of a Lumin!
Much to her delight, Lunia loved to talk to her about her experiences with Humans. They would lie awake and discuss all the different types of deliveries she made. "There eyes grow wider, and they nearly distrust their excitement when they first see the beach glass gems," Lunia once tried to explain. "Many of them, who call themselves 'Beachcombers', will spend hours just for the chance to find one of our gems."
Kora loved to lie on her back at night, staring at outlines of etched Human faces shining on the bulb's surface and lit by the subtle glow of evening embers. Imagining the Human's expressions as they combed the sandy beaches looking for gems amazed her. She marveled at their patience and determination. She imagined if she was one of them, she would probably give up hope if she did not find a gem quickly.
"The best delivery I ever made was with this one little girl," Lunia pointed to one of the etchings, "she had been looking by herself for hours, and found nothing. She must have been only five years old. She was certain there was beach glass there for her, she just had to wait for it to appear. She had practically given up, she was going up to the shore for dinner, and I placed it just in time. A brilliant red glass gem, in the shape of a heart. You should have seen the energy she emitted, Kora! She lit up almost as brightly as our own glow. She danced in a circle and giggled and went to show her mother."
"Oh that is lovely," sighed Kora longingly. "How amazing to have brought her so much joy."
Lunia picked up a piece of glass she had sitting on her bedside. "Look at this piece, Kora," she said, holding up a piece of green glass, perfectly softened and weathered from the Vitrum. "There is something special about our glass that even I don't quite understand," Lunia admitted.
"It's the way that it allows light to reflect off of it, and shine through it, that allows the Humans to see it with their eyes. But sometimes, the strangest thing happens. I might place a piece of glass and a Human will just not see it. No matter how many pieces I put in front of their eyes, they can't see the light shining off of it, even when they are looking straight at it."
"Maybe its because they don't really want to see them?"
"Maybe, I don't know for certain," remarked Lunia. "It's rare that we get to hand place the glass gems. These days, we'll use the Glavalator to calculate the right placement in the sand for them to appear."
"So you don't always know if the Humans get our glass?" Kora asked surprised.
"Not by watching, no, but we trust the Glavalator's ability to time it correctly," Lunia explained. "Sometimes, I can aim the Glavalator's mirror just so and I get to see their reactions from the Transport Station. It makes it all worth it."
As Shelby pulled his Cloud sack off her head, Kora's pleasant memory came to an abrupt halt.
"What's going on?" she asked, still slightly distracted by her pleasant memory. "Thank you for saving me." She reached out and gave Shelby a huge hug as Shelby nodded confirmation.
"I hope Derth got it," Dusk said. "But I don't know what to do about your glow. Can't you just turn it off?"
"I've been trying to," said Kora. "I don't know why I can't control it like usual."
"Well, we can't leave until you turn it off," said Dusk, impatiently sliding back and forth on the cove floor.
Kora looked at Shelby, he shrugged his shoulders, poked her in the stomach and smiled wryly. They started to giggle, but Dusk glared at them until they stopped. Sometimes he could be so serious!
"Look over there," Kora pointed at an opening in the cove. "Should we go check it out? Maybe it goes somewhere."
Shelby shook his head and Dusk echoed his thoughts, "No way, let's just wait for Derth to come get us."
Just then, Derth's head appeared from above the cove entrance looking down in on the inhabitants with scorn.
"The barracuda is gone. Stunned him and he eventually left. Someone could have died just then," he glared at Kora. "Would you kindly turn off your glow?"
"I can't."
"What do you mean you can't?" Derth demanded. "All Lumin's can control their glow."
"I know, and usually I can," sighed Kora, "but all of the sudden it just turned on at full power and I can't get it to turn off."
"Well, how are we going to get you back home?" Derth was increasingly annoyed by the inconvenience. He started pacing next to Dusk.
"Could you stop that pacing, you two, it's making me nervous," said Kora.
"You should be nervous!" said Derth. "Well, we have to do something."
Shelby threw his sack back over Kora's head.
"Hey!" she called out, "Stop that."
"You'll just have to be carried back in that," Derth said. He picked her up and flung her over his shoulders.
"Put me down!" exclaimed Kora. She was not a fan of being lugged around in a dark bag.
"Shhhhh," said Derth, "relax we are not going to hurt you."
Kora tried to wiggle a bit, but finally resigned to being lugged back to the Alamar Jettison in total darkness.
