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CHAPTER 1

My twin sister, Bay, and I pass underneath the brown-and-turquoise banners hanging fronitaries perch on their chairs in the gallery, watching, and people crowd the pews in the nave Statues of the gods adorn the walls and ceiling, and it seeest and most beautiful , the rose , has been lit froh the panes The glass shines like a blessing--areen, blue, pink, purple The colors of flower petals Above, of coral formations Below

The Minister stands at the altar, which is ht lines and swirls, of waves that turn into trees Tls rest on top of the altar--one filled with salt water from the ocean that envelops our city, one filled with dark dirt brought down froe I feel sorry for everyone else because they don’t have a brother or a sister to ith them Twins aren’t very co?" Bay whispers I know she wants me to say that I do, but I shakesound of air puh the walls and out into the city so that we can survive

Bay knows that, but she’s always been a little crazy about Atlantia She’s not the only one who loves our underwater city or refers to it as alive And Atlantia does reseiant sea creature sprawled out in the ocean The tentacles of our streets and thoroughfares web out frohborhoods andis enclosed, of course We live underwater, but we’re still human; we need walls and air to protect us

The Minister raises his hand, and we all fall silent

Bay presses her lips together She is usually calm and serene, but today she seeo back on my word? I won’t I promised her

We stand side by side and hand in hand, our brown hair threaded with blue ribbons and braided in intricate plaits We both have blue eyes We are both tall and carry ourselves the same way But we’re fraternal twins, not identical, and no one has ever had any trouble telling us apart

Though Bay and I are not mirrors of each other, we’re still as near to the same person as two completely different people can be We have always been close, and since ether

"Today will be hard," Bay says

I nod Today will be hard, I think, because I won’t be doing what I alanted to do But I know that’s not what Bay means

"Because it used to be her," I say

Bay nods

Before o, she was the Minister of the temple and she presided over this ceremony, one of several held to mark the anniversary of the Divide Bay and I watched each year as ourspeech and blessed the youth of the year ater or dirt, depending on what each person chose

"Do you think Maire is here?" Bay asks

"No," I say Bay is referring to our aunt, our only living relative I keepwords I can "She doesn’t belong here" The temple is our ed for as long as I can reh, when ins the ritual, and I closethis service instead In ht and small behind the altar She wears her brown-and-blue robes and the Minister’s insignia, the silver necklace thaton the pulpit She opens her arms wide, and it h the sea gardens soiven to ho live Below?" the new Minister asks