“But to disturb someone’s final resting place—” Johan broke off. He shook his head and crossed himself.
“I don’t see what the big deal is,” Bart offered.
“Thank you,” Sy said, emphasizing each word.
Johan exhaled heavily and leveled his eyes on Sy. His voice was a mix of frustration and pity. “The deal is,” he said softly, “we didn’t see a single gate after you took the bracelet. Not one.”
Sy stiffened. “It’s not like a gate’s guaranteed to flash. It’s all chance anyway. Pure luck.”
“Bad luck,” Johan shot back. “Which you brought upon us. You should have left it.”
“No,” Sy said. “I did the right thing. She deserves a cross.”
The argument felt stale, getting nowhere but here.
“Enough,” I snapped. “What’s done is done.” Rattled, I couldn’t stop staring at the cuff.
“What’s it made of?” Bart asked, his voice curious. Unsuspecting.
“Bone.”
Sy dropped the cuff like it was on fire.
I lurched forward. The brittle bone fell toward the charcoal rock, and just before the cuff hit and shattered, I caught it.
Johan was beside himself. “Holy Mary, Mother of God! Sy, are youtryingto bring us bad karma?” He ran both his hands through his hair, pulling at the roots.
Sy stared at the cuff in my hands, his mouth slightly open, as Johan spun to me. “Do you know who it belonged to?” he asked, his eyes wild and worried.
“Ramia,” I said quietly. “Her name was Ramia.”
Sy found his voice, but his eyes remained locked on the cuff. “Bone?” he asked. “Who carves stuff from bone?”
“Ramia,” I said.
“Yeah, I got that,” Sy said. “But, man, that’s messedup.”
I shrugged. “Ramia made the bone fish hooks, too.”And she had a disturbing knack for predicting people’s fate, including her own.I closed my eyes, blocking the memory of her prediction for me. “She left my third week here.”
“She didn’t get far,” Bart said at the same time Sy said, “That sucks.”
Suddenly I couldn’t wait to be rid of the bracelet. It felt heavy in my hands. “I’ll take care of this, okay?”
“You’ll bury it, right?” Johan’s eyes were twitchy.
“Definitely.”
Johan stood. “I’ll come with you. Sy, you come, too.” Johan’s tone left zero room for Sy to worm out. “We buried her, we should bury this, too. And we’ll pray.” Briefly, he turned to Bart and Miguel. “No offense, but you two should leave. Thad makes three, and right now we need all the luck a trinity can bring.”
Miguel didn’t need to be asked twice. Crossing himself repeatedly, he took off. Bart lingered, then left.
We walked in silence, past the Flower Field, to the burial ground. Johan and Sy used flat rocks to dig a hole. I wrapped the cloth around the bone like a shroud, then placed it in the hole, and Johan filled the tiny grave with dirt. The cloth disappeared, Nil reclaiming her own.
Untying a small sack from his waist, Johan shook out a handful of bleached coral. One by one, he placed pieces on the raw dirt until he’d formed a cross.
Still on his knees, he said, “Let’s pray.”
Eyes closed, I listened to Johan’s deep voice.
