When the lake in Jeziorna dried up, there was a Noise at night. Maja was fourteen years old and had a walkie-talkie from her grandfather's walkie-talkie club. She sat by the window, listening to the crackling noise, as if someone was scraping with a metal spoon. Among the noises she hit a rhythm, three short, two long, three again. Then someone whispered into the ether: Maya, over, and the waves went silent. Father had the night shift, so the flat was deaf and still. The next day she persuaded Olek, a cousin from the neighbouring street, to move over the bottom. The sun was scorching the mud and the reeds rustled as they descended the cracked slabs. In the middle was a rusty pole with a lever, a former measuring station. The walkie-talkie whined, the pointer jumped, and Maja squeezed her headphones until her knuckles turned white. On frequency 4825 someone was persistently tapping a code, repeating their names. Olek looked around anxiously and picked up a yellow warning triangle from the mud. Underneath it was a shiny doorknob, as if someone had hidden a cellar door here. The door gave way, revealing a narrow staircase and a chill that smelled of copper and dust. They descended, drawing arrows in chalk on the handrail to easily return later. Below ground, a low room waited with a desk, maps and a calendar from the year of the flood. A microphone with a dented grid hung on the wall, and a lamp twinkled. Maja found a checkered notebook, the first page signed: Echo Station, access restricted. In the margin was a note: If you're reading this, it means that the Scum is back. Olek flipped the page and shook his eyes at the list of coordinates and street names. At the end was added their school and the date of today, stamped in. A murmur came from the loudspeaker, then a metallic voice repeated: Open the gate, five minutes. The walls trembled, as if something far away had moved beneath the cracked earth. A red light on the desk lit up and the floor let loose a thin trickle of water. Maja tightened her fingers on the radio knob, feeling the warmth as if someone was holding from underneath. Above them, a hatch slammed, someone jerked the chain, and the echo counted three steps. Olek turned off the torch, with only the display glowing in the darkness, and then a whisper sounded just above them.