The last stop on the route was at the very edge of the island. The jetty was right next to the lock—now closed to keep the water level in the canal high enough for the boats.
The two Pengali girls got off and vanished into a dark street. Their glowing tails were the last I saw of them.
“Get off here, or go back,” the driver said to me, in heavily accented Coldi.
“No, we’ll get off.” Thayu gave him some of the money pearls and we stepped onto the jetty. The boat turned around and zoomed back in the direction from which we had come, leaving us alone on the deserted street with the moonlight reflecting off the marshlands.
“Hmmm,” Thayu said. “I’d have expected there to be a station here. Or some taxis.”
Clearly, there weren’t any.
“Where are we?”
She pulled out her reader and showed me
