Jason nodded, and in that moment, I knew he wanted to avoid the City as much as I did.
We cut inland, took the path through the cliff, then popped out near the Bay. The first clump of redfruit trees was loaded, but the fruit was still green, so we kept walking. Sand crunched under ourfeet, like an endless stretch of broken shark’s teeth. Chunkier than the white sand near the City, this sand was as black as night, as black as death. Classic Nil beauty.
“It’s mighty quiet,” Jason commented, his head on a swivel.
I stopped immediately. “Hold up,” I said, raising one hand.
We stood perfectly still. Without our footfalls, the beach was cemetery quiet. Possibly Nil-up-to-something quiet. I swept the air, then the trees, looking for movement.Eyes wide open.
Up ahead, a bush jerked and snapped back, a motion too sharp to be wind.
“Jason,” I said, pulling my knife, “movement. Ten meters, straight ahead. Come to my other side, okay?”
Jason moved immediately. “Person?” he whispered. “Or animal?”
Person, place, thing, or animal?my mind asked. A game I played as a kid. Not so fun on Nil. I’d take person over animal any day, and both over a thing. Like I’d figured out early on, it was the things that could kill you. Place was the only category not in question. That answer was always Nil.
“Don’t know,” I said. “Something. Maybe nothing.”
Walking again, I kept my eyes trained on the spot where I’d seen movement.
The same bush swayed. A definite movement, more like a parting. My fingers choked down on my knife.
“Something’s coming,” I told Jason.
The bush shifted sideways, and a figure stepped out. A girl. Tall, lean. Long legs, long muscles. Great shoulders. Full lips. Even though she looked island-thin, she was hands-down the most gorgeous girl I’d ever seen.
And she was wearing Kevin’s clothes.
CHAPTER
9
CHARLEY
DAY 12, LATE MORNING
When I stepped onto the sand, I got my first good look at the boys.
Each one carried a brown net—I felt a sharp pang of net envy right then—and a gourd strung across one shoulder. Both wore shorts made of the same white material as mine; neither wore shirts or shoes. And both were really tan, without any body fat. Considering my own nutritional predicament, I could see why. The shorter one had curly brown hair and freckles. His nose was peeling, badly. He looked fifteen, at most.
I was captivated by the taller boy.
He looked eighteen, maybe nineteen. Blessed with high cheekbones and sandy blond hair that brushed his broad shoulders, he looked like he’d just stepped off the cover of a cheesy romance novel in the grocery store book section. Definitely human, and totally hot.
He stared at me like I was a ghost. His stance next to the younger boy was protective. I thought of the goat-killer, then noticing his slightly raised hand clutching a knife, abruptly I thought,Maybe he’s wary of me.For a second, I saw myself through his eyes: gaunt, sunburned, not a speck of makeup, looking like some six-foot wild childfrom the bush after twelve days of oceanside camping. I was a tropical freak show.
“Hey,” I said, trying to smile. It seemed I’d forgotten how to form one. I made an effort to wave and look less threatening, but ended up feeling like a goofball as neither boy smiled.
The shorter one pointed his spear at me. “Those are Kevin’s clothes.” His dark eyes were accusing.
The taller boy reached out and gently lowered the first boy’s spear. “Did you see him?” he asked. “A guy? Dark hair, about your height?” He rested his hand on the younger boy’s shoulder, and his voice softened. “Or his body?”
They think I stole these clothes! From a dead body!
Horrified, my words spilled out in a rush. “No! I didn’t see anyone! I mean, y’all are the first people I’ve seen! I found these clothes, in a pile, way back there”—I waved my arm wildly toward the red desert, then grabbed my top as it slipped. I’d grown so skinny, there wasn’t much to keep it up—“in the middle of a red rock field.”
Relief washed over the boys’ faces like sunlight. They grinned at each other, and the taller boy clapped the shorter one on the back as the short one threw a fist-pump and shouted, “Yes!” Then, as if they’d just remembered I was there, they turned back to me.
