"Sand, sand, sand, and oh, Mina," Emmett said, "look, more sand."

Mina turned a page in her journal. Her inkpot had cracked somewhere along their journey. The blue ink had seeped and slipped, smudging her map and the detailed notes she had taken.

She sighed, wiping her stained fingers on her skirts. "Do you have a grievance against sand?"

"Yes!"—Emmett leant over the rim of the hot-air balloon basket—"It's bloody everywhere!" he shouted.

His voice carried, echoing out among the endless waves of bronzed, sun-scorched dunes.

By the count of her pocket watch, they had only left Viciras mere hours ago. But the sun’s arid heat and the burn from the balloons’ fires appeared to slow down time, stretching it out into what felt like a painful, agonising week.

"I hope you haven't forgotten that it was you who landed us in this predicament," Mina said.

Sweat collected on Emmett's forehead, and he dabbed it away. “Yes, thank you, Miss Mina. I haven't forgotten. I simply don't spend my precious time dwelling on the past."

"What is it that you do then? Besides thieving, of course, and commandeering private expeditions."

Mina understood she was being bitter, petty. But, her journal had transformed unexpectedly into an ocean painter's pallet, and instead of heading towards Galona, Emmett’s impulsive actions had forced them further north to The Barrens—The Land Of Death and Drought.

"Stand beside you and look pretty?" Emmett quipped.

Under her goggles, Mina‘s eye twitched, and she turned away. She took a sip of warm water from her flask, drowning the hurricane of swelling, disgruntled words.

Mina squinted, and her chest fluttered. Beyond the sand—and as Emmett had expertly pointed out—more sand, Mina caught a swirl of an unusual colour.

She had read about mirages, heard horror stories of unprepared travellers, those who had lost their way beneath the burning sun. Their tired minds began picturing phantom pools of crystal water or gleaming cities of glass, driving them mad and ravenous with longing.

Lifting her goggles, Mina peered through her brass telescope.

"What did you call that?” Emmett asked. “That bring-em-closer device?"

"A long telescope."

"Tele...telesc—" Emmett waved a dismissive hand, and the balloon basket tremored as he slumped himself on the floor. "I'll stick to 'bring-em-closer'. It makes more sense."

"Of course. The description that scoundrel gave us..." Mina began, and Emmett popped a ruby red drop of a cherry into his mouth. "He described the cave in the image of a giant human skull, yes? And a vast cavity of sand at the base of the jaw?"

"That he did, Mina."

“Well then,”—Mina kicked his boot—”I believe we are there.”

Emmett dropped the cherry between his fingers and clambered to his feet. He snatched the telescope placing it over the top of his own goggles.

"Holy Saint's, Mina!" he swore. “We found it! Grab your bag, get ready to jump!”

"Pardon?"

"To jump. It's the fastest way down.” From the other side of the basket, Emmett yanked two bags from the small wooden chest. He handed one of the bags to Mina, and a boyish grin, one of devilish mischief, and one Mina certainly wasn't in favour of, curled at the edges of his lips. “We have a jewel to find."

"Statistically, I’d agree. But..."

"The scariest part is the jump, Mina," he said. And Mina agreed to that point too, but the thought of abandoning the balloon also brought about a particular strain of dread.

Emmett fastened a handkerchief around his mouth and swung his long legs over the basket, hauling himself up. “And don't forget to bend your knees."

And with a sharp salute, he had gone—a rock plummeting to the unforgiving ground below.

“Reckless, idiotic maniac!” Mina shouted after him.

She strapped her bag to her back. Uncurled the parachutes cord. Tightened her hair into a bun at the nape of her neck. She took a breath and repositioned her goggles. Sweat clung to her body like an unwanted second skin—how desperately she needed a bath—and with one last glance at the safety of the balloon, Mina jumped, the skull of sand just a deathly fall away.