We rowed the raft around the square Tower until we reached the other side. The only sound was the splash and swish as the paddles entered the water and pulled us along. We were too focused on the stairs, watching as they became clearer.

They were made out of water.

At least, that's what it looked like. Their color and consistency were exactly the same as the inner walls of the tower, meaning the force of the magic air was repelling and shaping the water into steps. Just as the walls looked like a huge aquarium, the stairs looked like they were made out of glass—an extension of the aquarium walls.

I began to itch with excitement to try those steps and see what waited at the bottom. My earlier feelings of nausea, fear, and intimidation were fading, replaced by intense anticipation. I knew this was the Tower of Air, the place that old Farmer had told me held the Third Gift. The feeling inside of me was like Christmas morning times ten.

I just couldn't wait to see what the Gift would be, although I was a little nervous considering the riddle I'd had to solve to get the Second Gift.

As we rounded the final corner of the tower, the stairs slipped out of sight, obscured now by the edges of water. Joseph and Rayna did their best to guess where the topmost stair had been, and took the raft there. We approached the edge of the abyss, and it was difficult to ignore the frightening feeling the image brought to us, like those last seconds must feel before one goes over the Falls of Niagara.

An unexpected wave pushed us into the wall of air. We bounced off just as if we'd hit a dock or a wall. It was so strange, our eyes refusing to believe what we were seeing. It looked like we should have toppled over the edge like a dare-devil in a wooden barrel, but it didn't happen.

“Okay,” Joseph said, “although I certainly didn't mean to do that, at least now we know we're safe going along the edge. Jimmy, stick your head through the wall of air and see if you can spot the stairs.”

I braced my hands on the raft and went for it. I put my head against the invisible barrier, and rubbed my hair against it. It gave a little, but I didn't pop through. Again, it was like rubbing my head against a giant balloon. I stopped, then more firmly pushed the top of my head against the wall. It slipped through—once it started it was as smooth as putting your head through the waterfall at one of those amusement parks. The tingling sensation that represented the actual substance of the wall tickled as it went down my face before settling on my neck.

I looked around.

“Just a few more feet that way,” I said, pointing to my right.

I pulled my head out, and Rayna and Joseph rowed the boat to the spot I indicated. I poked through the wall of air again, and saw that we were directly over the first step. The stairs of repelled water led down to the right, then hit a landing where it jutted out from the wall further so that more stairs could zigzag back the other way. I wondered how deep the thing went.

I popped out and told them I was ready to go. “One of you needs to stay with the raft, and I don't feel like another argument on who gets to go with me.”

Joseph and Rayna looked at each other.

“How about rock, paper, scissors?” Joseph asked.

Rayna let out a little laugh, then agreed.

Joseph won.

“That's fine,” Rayna said. “But if something terrible happens, if you're not back in an hour or so, I'm coming after you.”

“Sounds like a plan,” I said. The others waiting on the yacht were yelling at us, wondering what was going on. Joseph told them we had found stairs and were going to explore the tower. I couldn't imagine how anxious they felt having to watch from a distance.

I sat on the edge of the raft, with Joseph supporting me from behind, and pushed both feet into the wall of air. They popped through and I felt them come down to rest on the top step. It wiggled slightly when I touched it.

“Okay, push me through.”

Joseph gave me a strong nudge and the rest of my body slid through the tower wall, the tingling sensation sweeping across my body until I was completely inside. The top landing where the stairs began was about five feet by five feet, and I was standing in the middle of it. The wiggling continued, like I'd just stepped onto a firm water bed, but it held.

I knelt down closer to the floor of water, and put my hand on it, palm flat. The sensation was different from this side—there was no feeling of a rubber balloon. It had the firm feel of a wall, but felt very wet, just as it would if you touched normal water. I brought my hand away and it was indeed soaking wet. So were the bottoms of my shoes.

Joseph's feet came through and almost knocked me on the head, and then his body followed. I couldn't help but wonder what the Shield would have done if he had hit me with his foot.

“Wow,” Joseph said. “This is unbelievable. I just can't … this is amazing!”

“Touch the water,” I said.

Joseph knelt down and did so, then stood and looked at his wet hand.

“This has got to be one of the weirdest things I've ever experienced, and don't forget, I've been through some crazy stuff in the Blackness.”

We now had a perfect view of the Tower of Air's interior, and it was awesome. It now had much more of a feeling of being inside a building, a true tower. The repelled walls of water shot downward in four flat planes, going from a brilliant, sparkling blue at the top to a dark, lightless color toward the bottom.

Looking down, it reminded me of a drawing I had done for my mom when I was in first or second grade. I had been sketching a tunnel, and I'd done it by connecting straight lines from each corner of the page to the corners of a small square in the middle of the page. That's what it looked like, peering over the edge of the stairs toward the bottom of the enormous tower.

Joseph had his backpack, and I was glad we'd remembered to bring flashlights, because it looked like we would need them when we reached the bottom. It was going to be quite a trip by the looks of it.

“Shall we?” asked Joseph.

“Let's do it.”

I turned and waved at Rayna.

“Please be careful,” she said. “I will come after you if I don't see you soon.”

Her words took me back, because for some reason I thought we wouldn't be able to talk through the walls of air. But there was no muffling or distortion of her words, and she had obviously heard our entire conversation so far.

“Whoa,” I said. “I don't know why, really, but I thought I wouldn't be able to hear you.” I looked back and glanced over the edge toward the bottom of the tower again, then turned back to Rayna. “You better give us more than an hour, it looks like a long trip down.”

“Two hours,” she said. “That is the most I will give you. And please, if anything goes wrong, please yell for me—maybe it will echo off the walls. Or, better yet, shoot a ball of Ice up here or something. I will be here, watching.”

“Thanks, Rayna. We should be okay. Remember, our only problem at the Pointing Finger was Raspy tricking us.”

“Ummm, did you forget the earthquake and eruption of the volcano?” she said.

“Oh. Yeah. Okay, keep watch then.”

I patted Joseph on the shoulder, and we began the long trip down the flight of steps—a staircase of salty water. I went first, with Joseph right behind me. After weeks and weeks of wearisome voyage at sea, we were finally in the Tower of Air. A thousand squishy steps below us, the Third Gift waited.

We hoped.