Her glow flickers in the darkness. I can tell she is agitated. My sister floats in her glowing globe, wringing her soft, delicate hands. She is telling me not to go, but I have already made up my mind. I want to go with Maelfesto. Sis wears mother’s old shell necklace, and she pulls it off better than I ever could. She has always been the prettier of the two of us. Even her long amber hairs make me jealous. She is almost too perfect, especially for a little sister.

I wonder if he notices.

Maelfesto nudges me and gives me a wink with one of his red eyes. He doesn’t have a globe like me and Sis. His long, smooth black body is naked to the waters of the Fissure. He excites me with his strangeness. He flashes an obscene pattern on the lights that go up and down his back. They flash brilliant yellows, reds, and greens in the soft glow of the globes. We both laugh. We tell Sis that we’ll be alright.

Sis sighs, sending bubbles up towards the ice far above, and warns me that Papa might find out. I laugh and tell her he won’t notice. In the far end of my mind I grow nervous, because I know how much Papa doesn’t want me to go off into the waters around the Fissure. But I’ll be with Maelfesto.

We swim away, leaving Sis behind, heading further into the cold dark waters. Maelfesto swims upward and I follow his eel-like body, my eyes always on his backlights, the only thing that distinguishes him from the darkness. I feel as if my globe is too bright, so I dim it.

He looks back, catching my eye, and swims up to my globe, its soft light illuminating his face. He flashes me a quick, fierce grin of his needle-like teeth, and swims playfully around my globe, coming just close enough without touching it. I want him to enter it and hold me in his arms, but I don’t tell him my thoughts. We reach the ice without realizing it, and float awkwardly for a second.

I ask him why he has brought me here. I have no idea how he will respond. He flashes me another grin, and his eyes twinkle. He says he has something to show me. He says my name, Jaz, with such softness. My globe flickers briefly.

We swim along under the ice. I feel like a criminal. We come to a quick stop with a flicker of light from Maelfesto. My globe lights up with anticipation.

I ask him what it is, shivering for no reason. He drifts closer. Without taking his eyes off the thing, he tells me he doesn’t know.

Before us is a strange, metallic arm-like thing descending from the ice above. A metallic box is attached to the arm, and a giant black eye stares at us. It could only have come from the surface, as impossible as that seems. Nothing exists outside the ice that covers the endless sea.

I drift closer, reaching a hand towards the object. Maelfesto warns me not to, but it’s too late. I touch it and it sends a tingling sensation up my arms and through my hairs. I jerk back, my globe flashing urgent. We race away, my heart pounding in my head. All I can think about is the Fissure.

When the warm waters of the Fissure begin to surround us, I can see my father’s globe in the distance. It shines bright with anger. We stop, and I tell Mael that he should go. I can’t look him in the eyes.

He stammers, trying to say something. I look up, and he reaches a hand towards me, but quickly drops it to his side. He gives a quick nod, and slinks away, a pattern I have never seen before flashing on his back. I think it is beautiful.

I drift down towards my father, my globe betraying my shame. I don’t even know why I feel this way. My father is floating before me, his globe bright, his auburn hairs kept short. His arms are crossed in front of him, and he shakes his head. He is a strong man.

He asks me with disgust if I was with Maelfesto. I tell him the truth. He tells me to stay away from Mael’s kind, tells me that they are liars, cheaters, and thieves. He looks up towards the ice, and warns me that my globe only protects me from the cold. He tells me there are other things out there that can harm me. I have heard it all before, so I stop listening. He ends it by sending me to my chamber.

I hate Papa. Maelfesto is better than most of us in the Fissure, even if he doesn’t have a globe. But most of all, I can’t get that strange thing in the ice out of my head. I look at my hand where I touched it, thinking about it, till everyone settles down for sleep.

I leave silently, and I am surprised to see Maelfesto waiting outside the Fissure. We stare at each other for a moment. He tells me that he couldn’t sleep. I flash my agreement on my globe.

Wordlessly, we swim upwards to the strange object in the ice. About halfway there, he reaches through my globe and takes my hand. It makes me feel safer. I smile in the darkness, so he doesn’t see.

We arrive and it is in the same position as before, cold and emotionless. I wonder who put it there. We drift closer, peering into the black eye, hands clutching tighter. Just knowing the other is there makes it all safe. We stare at it for about five minutes, but nothing happens. I am a little disappointed and glad at the same time. Maelfesto cracks a joke to ease the tension.

We are both surprised when it moves. It is just a small movement, a seeming blink of the eye, and the arm shifts just a bit, but it sends our hearts pounding. I want to leave, but somehow can’t. I want to see what happens.

I look over at Maelfesto, and the ice breaks over our heads. We both scream, and I have somehow lost his hand. Bright light, the brightest I have ever seen, envelopes us and I am blinded. Where is Maelfesto? Something grabs my globe and I am pulled upward.

I hear him call out my name with so much anguish in his voice. I want to hold him close, but I can’t see him in the light. I call out to him, but already the ice has enclosed me, and I know he can’t hear me. I want the water, I want my father.

Suddenly it is so cold it takes my breath away, even through the globe. I feel nothing brush my hairs, and I am in the hand of a giant. He looks at me through a giant mirrored eye, and I look past him to see a giant globe of swirling reds and yellows, set in a cold black sea filled with many tiny twinkling lights. It is beautiful. It reminds me of Maelfesto.

I realize I can’t breathe, but for some reason I can only think of how I didn’t say good-bye to anyone. The giant’s hands close over me and I cannot see anything at all.

Frank Etzler is a junior Biological Sciences and Anthropology major and a Literary writer for Generation.