The Land with No Shadows

What is the land with no shadows?

The land with no shadows is a place where nothing ever casts a shadow. The sky is as pale as milk. It is the opposite of every place Vela has ever visited.

This is Noon’s land.

What will you find there?

An endless white ocean stretches in every direction. Floating in it is the island of dark, the very last little island of dark. Vela’s friends huddled there together, holding on.

Far across the white is the tower of mirrors. Its mirrors bounce the light from one to the next, until everything is one blinding blaze, and you can see a hundred of yourself.

At the very top of the tower is the Sun Clock. It is as wide as a lake, and it ticks like slow thunder.

Why is this place so dangerous?

Everything that only exists in the dark fades away out in the glare. With every clunk of the Sun Clock, another of Vela’s places disappeared: the forest, the Night Sea, the Snow Mountain, Hollow House.

How did Vela find her way?

There is one hour that Noon’s clock does not know how to count. When the clocks go back, one o’clock happens twice. In that second one o’clock, a thread of dark appeared across the white floor, thin as a thread and soft as a shadow. Only Vela could see it.

Try this tonight

Shadows need light and dark together. Hold up your hand near a lamp and make a shadow. What shape can you make?