The freezing water was already up to my chest as I tried my best to right myself in the frothing pool. Joseph grabbed my hand.

“Let's get out of here!” he yelled.

He let go of my hand and we swam toward the tunnel that led back to the Tower. The passageway was filling up fast—there were only a few feet between its curved top and the rising waters. My entire body was exhausted, and I had to reach deep down to find the strength to keep moving.

“Joseph,” I said, spitting out salty water, “stay close to me. If it does collapse, the Shield will protect us somehow.”

“Okay,” he replied. He tread water for a second until I caught up with him, and then we continued on, side by side.

Just before we reached the entrance to the tunnel, a head popped up out of the water in front of us, blocking our way. The shock of it made my heart skip a beat, and I cried out in surprise. Then it registered in my head who it was.

“I have one last message for you,” the watery face of gleaming crystal said.

It was Scott.

“The Giver is okay,” he said. “He wanted you to know that. He cannot be touched in those special places where he meets you, and only hung around for as long as he did to help you. I sure hope you are grateful, Mr. Fincher.”

After recovering from the sight of a face springing up out of the water, we continued swimming. Scott floated alongside us. His head bobbed up and down to our right, speaking as we swam.

“The Giver wanted me to tell you one last time what you must do, because with a brain like yours, he knew you needed to be told more than once.”

It seemed like such an odd time for Scott to continue his smart aleck ways.

“Remember—go to the Northless Point, where there is no north, and enter the Blackness. Go through the nearest iron rings, find the Lady of the Storm, and she will direct you to the Dream Warden. You will only have fifty-six minutes. Good-bye!”

His head slipped under the water.

The strangeness of it all was lost in our panic to get out, but his message did help solidify the importance of Farmer's instructions, so I was grateful. I even had the thought that I would miss the watery creature.

We continued down the tunnel, our backs almost scraping its top now. The water had become almost unbearably cold, and I knew the Shield would kick in soon to protect me. But I had learned from my first spill into the ocean—to save my dad—that it was very difficult to move through the water when the Shield encased me. My brain was holding it off for as long as possible.

We swam on. My limbs begged me to stop, and I could see that Joseph was just as tired. The cold bit our skin like small daggers. Water went up my nose and down my throat, burning and choking.

We swam on.

We entered the Tower of Air.

I tried to touch my feet to the ground for a brief rest, but the water was too high. Exhausted, I did my best to tread water, although my head dipped down below the surface more than once. I looked around to take in our surroundings.

On every wall of the tower, millions of leaks sprayed forth water in varying degrees of strength, raining down on us in a mighty deluge. And then I noticed something that brought a wave of sick despair to my innards.

The stairs were gone.