The envelope showed up on a Tuesday, sea-blue and soft at the corners. The handwriting belonged to Theo, Mara's best friend from when she was eleven. Twenty years of silence, and now one line inside: "I found the map of Saltreach in my mom's attic. The lighthouse is still unfinished. Want to build it?" Mara sat down hard and read it three more times.

Mara grabbed her phone before she could talk herself out of it. The number on the back rang twice. "You actually called," Theo said, like he'd been holding his breath for days. "Saturday. Meet me at the old dock. Bring boots." Mara laughed for the first time in weeks and said yes.

Mara arrived at the dock to find it taped off and a town notice nailed to a post. The cliff where the lighthouse was meant to stand had been sold to a developer. Theo stood staring at the sign. "They're putting up a parking lot," he said quietly. "We have two weeks before they break ground."

With only days left, Theo and Mara worked through the nights to finish the tower before the bulldozers came. They beat the deadline by hours. When the developer arrived, the lighthouse stood lit and tall, and the whole village stood around it. "You can't tear down a landmark that's already shining," the mayor said. The developer left without a word.