Rives nodded. It took him a moment to speak. “Thanks,” he said.
We sat around, catching up. Ahmad was the life of the group. The dude was funny, I’d give him that. Like a stand-up comic, even when he was sitting down; he was just that tall. And after a few weeks in Nil City, he’d even added some weight.
But the biggest change was in Dex. Tan, with a few muscles, histats looked menacing now, and his vacant look was gone. He actually looked human, except for the ears. Now he sported twine hoops through the holes with shark’s teeth dangling like knives.
Jillian stood, covering her eyes as she looked out to sea. “Guys, do you see that? There’s something in the water.”
“Nothing ever washes up on Nil,” Charley murmured, briefly squinting at the sea before sliding her eyes to me. “You told me that my first day here.”
“This is a first,” I said.
Jillian was right. Somethingwasfloating in the water. Something that didn’t belong.
A body.
CHAPTER
51
CHARLEY
DAY 64, LATE MORNING
“Bart,” Rives said. “Or what’s left of him.”
Even though I wasn’t a Bart fan—and it was tough to find one after the Miguel debacle—it was awful to see him like this: pale and bloated, with one hand missing. I wondered how he ended up in the water, washing up here, and I wondered what killed him. It was another Nil mystery to add to the rest.
The fellas dragged Bart’s body onto the beach. There was no blood, which seemed strange. Jillian stood beside me, her nose crinkled like she smelled something bad. All I smelled was the ocean, thank goodness.
“The last time I saw Bart, he was talking to Talla.” Jillian paused. “Weird.”
“Totally weird,” I agreed.
Bart was dead; Talla was dead. And then there was poor Miguel, fate unknown. Heesham’s Search team had turned out to be a dadgum mess, and the only one still standing for sure was Heesham. He towered over the body, his size casting an enormous shadow over Bart’s corpse.
“Wonder what he ran from this time,” Heesham said, frowning.
“What?” Rives said sharply.
“Did you see those cuts on his back? Something sliced him up, man. Something with claws. Bart was in full retreat when it got him.”
“Now what?” Dex asked.
“Now we bury him,” Thad said. “Since Johan’s out on Search, same for Macy, I’ll lead the service, unless someone else wants the honors.” He looked around. No one volunteered. Not even Sy, Bart’s former roommate. The silence was telling.
“Then it’s settled,” Thad said. “I’ll handle the service.”
Now Sy spoke. “Uh, maybe we should send him back out to sea.” Now that he had everyone’s attention, Sy looked like he’d just swallowed some unripe redfruit and was trying not to choke. “You know, like an ocean burial.”
“You mean feed him to the fishes?” Rives asked, smiling slightly. “Make him shark bait?”
“No.” Thad shot Sy a sharp look. Rives may have been Leader, but Thad was still in charge. “We bury him. What Bart did doesn’t make it right for us not to treat his body with respect.”
“Just not near Talla.” Rives’s voice was hard. And that was the end of the discussion.
Bart was buried in a very poorly attended service, outside the City lines. He got two crosses: one on his grave, one on the Wall.
It wasn’t until later that I realized Bart had shown up at noon. If a gate had flashed, it wasn’t around here. Or if it was, we were all too busy looking at the water to see it.
