Chapter 22

For a long moment Eduard stood there in the doorway, staring into the swirling ash. The world seemed to fall off after a few scant feet—the ground ended three steps beyond the door, and nothing existed of the town draped in the volcano’s spew. Eduard could see no trees, no homes, no sludge-filled canals that ran as sluiceways alongside Anjer’s cobbled streets. He leaned out, flinching at the small stones that struck the top of his head, but even the sea had disappeared; the docks and ships that normally edged the town’s beach were nowhere in sight, and the lighthouse that stood like a pillar on the coastline had been swallowed whole.

As had Reza.

Despite the muffled cries and screams around him, Eduard had never felt so alone.

A young woman ran by, calling out in Javanese. Eduard stepped back, out of her way, but she noticed the movement and flung herself at him. “Tulung! Bapak, tulung kula. Sila, iya, tulung.”