by S. S. Segran
Nal shifted on the divan to rest her elbows on her knees, head hanging. Her black-and-ginger hair curtained her face. “I know it seems as though this is the only way that knowledge could have gotten to the harbinger, but perhaps Elder Ashack was wrong.”
“If he was, I do not think it would have cost him his life.”
They fell silent. Huyani wasn’t sure what the other girl was thinking; on her part, she was still trying to piece together this strange, vexing puzzle.
“Do you think,” Nal said after a few minutes, “that perhaps one of the guards may be colluding with Hutar?”
Huyani needed a moment to process the question; Nal was the staunchest advocate when it came to finding the good in Hutar, more so than even Nageau. “Do you suspect he might be working with the harbinger after all?”
“I do not know what to think. I am emotionally spent. And I cannot help but wonder, had I not decided to befriend Hutar, would all of this still have happened? Or could it have been avoided?”
“You have a lovely, tender heart, Nal, but I must be honest: I do not think you guard it well. You have feelings for Hutar, do you not?”
“There is good in him, I can see it!” Nal snapped. “If he would just take my hand, I can get him there.”
Huyani reached forward to cup her face, just as she had during the storm Nal had so adamantly wanted to brave. The girl dissolved at her touch, stifling her sobs. “I know,” she choked. “I am a fool.”
“It can be hard to tell when we need to continue helping those we care about, and when we need to step back. It is a difficult lesson to learn the more attached we are to the person.” Huyani brushed Nal’s tears away. “However, you do raise an interesting point about the guards. I will look into this.”
Nal wiped her nose. “Let me assist you.” Before Huyani could decline, she added, “I know I should be the last person involved with this, seeing as everything might be my fault. But if I really am to blame, I want to make amends. Please, let me help.”
Huyani folded her hands in her lap, studying Nal for a long moment. She half-expected her to squirm, but Nal’s jaw was set, the tears drying on her cheeks.
“Alright,” she said, rising from the divan. “But if I see an issue occurring because of your attachment to Hutar, you will remove yourself from the investigation without argument.”
Nal’s smile was filled with gratitude. “That sounds more than fair. Thank you, Huyani.”
“You are welcome. Now, come, we have guards to interrogate.”
It took little over a day of nonstop driving to reach Gibraltar. The friends and Victor had acquired another old truck after scouring Geneva—this one with a backseat—leaving the other one at the Lodge with the Vaughns. The Scourgers had moved out of the area, but that still meant the group had to take side streets and roundabout routes to evade the beasts in other cities, as well as to avoid roads jammed with abandoned vehicles.
Chief had remained at the Lodge with the twins and Anya, the latter of whom threw a fit when she found out Victor was leaving again. Having the wolfdog around placated her some, but she was still in tears when Victor left with the friends. Tegan had seen a flash of pain in the man’s eyes when he’d had to close the door on her.
Aari and Kody had gone digging for maps in the Lodge, but the ones found were all old and faded, so instead the group filched some from deserted tourist shops as they traveled from Switzerland to France, and into Spain.
Using physical maps caused some frustration among the friends, primarily when it was Victor’s turn to rest in the backseat and one of them had to take the wheel with another alongside navigating. There had been grumbles about missing the internet and maps on their phones, these occurring all the more whenever they took a wrong turn or followed an incorrect sign.
Tegan, currently in the driver’s seat, took in the view of palm trees listing in the blustery wind on either side of the road. It was midmorning and the sky was a peculiar gray, as if deciding whether or not it wanted to storm. The famous Rock had been visible for some time now, the monolithic mass that crowned the tip of the peninsula steadily growing larger as the truck approached the border of the two-and-a-half square mile British territory. The slopes were mostly green, much to her surprise. From afar and in the dimness, it had appeared barren. From the backseat, there was an occasional snore from the boys and the Sentry who were properly conked out after their shifts.
“Here’s the problem,” Mariah said, looking over the map splayed across the dashboard and her lap. “We know Oten wrote in his journal that he and his aunt had turned into a bay and he ended up on a sandy beach after being pushed ashore. There’s only one bay around here—Gibraltar Bay—but he lived centuries and centuries ago. For all we know, everything around here could have been a beach at that time.”
Tegan’s mouth puckered. “I wish the Elders could figure out what Oten meant when he said he saw something after waking up on land. How hard can it be to decipher someone’s writing?”
Mariah shrugged. “All I’m going to say is, have you seen our guys’ handwriting? And that’s at our age.”
“Nngh, good point. Though to be fair, my own handwriting is pretty terrible.”
The road they trundled over was clear of cars, but when they got to a big roundabout, they saw the jam. And the bodies.
There had been so many bodies throughout the journey.
Mariah kept her gaze pointedly fixed on the map. Turning the wheel, Tegan pulled the truck onto the sidewalk and drove until it got too narrow and she was forced to plow a couple of cars aside to get onto the wide expanse of dirt on the other side of the road. The scraping and juddering jostled the boys and Victor awake.
“Oy,” Aari complained, groggy. “Why are we playing bumper cars with our ride?”
“We’re already here, so you might as well get up.” Mariah pointed at a wide tear in the fence that surrounded a parking lot filled with trucks of all sizes. “Teegs, keep going straight, then take a left. You won’t have to go through the passport control station that way.”
Tegan cut through and bumped over a few barrier curbs, eliciting groans from Aari and Kody who were trying to squeeze in more shuteye. Once she was past the border, she turned back onto the main road.
“Dude, are we crossing a runway?” Kody turned his ballcap backward to see better, the last vestiges of drowsiness leaving him. “This is so cool.”
Tegan frowned, bringing the truck to a halt before entering the city proper. “I don’t think we’ll be able to drive around here. It’s too tightly packed. And I really don’t want to drive over victims that might be on the roads.”
“Probably best to go on foot,” Victor said.
With the truck parked facing northward for a quick getaway if needed, they grabbed their bags and trooped through the streets. Mariah led the way into what their map called the North District with Tegan beside her while Victor bought up the rear, a handgun strapped to his thigh and the hunting rifle from the Lodge slung across his shoulder.
They passed a couple of empty gas stations and office buildings before coming to another roundabout. The Rock loomed to their left, and Tegan admired it as they trekked on. Cream-colored apartments rose on either side of the road, varying in dimensions and generally well-kept. More tropical trees swayed in the wind, unconcerned that the city was practically dead. Curiously, although there were bloodstains on the ground, Tegan was yet to see a body.
“Where exactly are we going?” Aari asked after a few minutes.
“To take a leak,” Kody said decisively. “I had way too much water during that last stretch.” He bent down to pick up a brochure from an overturned rack in front one of the shops. “And I think I know exactly where I’m gonna do it. C’mon!”
“We’re not going with you for that!” Mariah protested.
“Trust me, you’ll wanna to see this place!”
Unwilling to be separated, Tegan and the others took off after him as he followed a map on the pamphlet
. It didn’t take long for them to arrive at a mixed-use marina. Kody drew to a halt on one of the piers, fists planted on his hips triumphantly.
“Oh, you have got to be kidding,” Tegan murmured, coming up beside him.
The berths were all filled with boats—and on those boats, people. Living, breathing, cooking from the back of their vessels using portable grills with gas tanks. They looked tired, but Tegan was glad to see weary survivors rather than dead citizens.
“When I saw that they had a marina here, I figured some people would’ve taken shelter where the Scourgers couldn’t get to them. Glad I was right.” Kody bounced on his toes, arms waving wildly. “Hey! Hi! Hello!” he boomed, his voice carrying over the water.
A number of heads turned their way; a few shouts erupted and hands waved back before beckoning them over.
Kody grinned. “Now this is a nice start to our Christmas Day.”
They hurried down to the docks. A sun-kissed couple, perhaps in their mid-twenties, invited them aboard their sailboat, introducing themselves as Joseph and Danielle. Tegan’s ears pricked. There was a clear British influence in their accents with a touch of something else, most likely Spanish. She found it pleasant.
Once names had been exchanged all around, their hosts invited them for a breakfast of steaming fish and prawns.
“I would absolutely love to,” Kody said, holding up his pamphlet, “but I read that there’s a floating hotel here and I would like to check out its bathrooms.”
Joseph smiled, eyes crinkling as the wind toyed with his dark hair. In that moment, he looked like a younger version of Tegan’s father and she was wracked by longing. What she’d do to snuggle into one of his hugs.
“You just want an excuse to check out the Sunborn,” Joseph said. “Fair warning, it will be crowded. People have claimed all the rooms on board.”
Once Kody got the directions, he skipped off with his trusty staff. The group sat themselves at the stern of the boat and greedily dug into the fresh-caught meal. Danielle gazed at them with intrigue. She was about Tegan’s height, with a toned build and a smattering of freckles across her cheeks and nose. Her dark blonde hair was tied in a low ponytail and she wore a white cap.
“If I may be honest,” she ventured, “it’s a real sight seeing visitors at this particular point in time.”
Victor’s lips twitched upward for a second. “If I may be honest, we haven’t seen this many people grouped in one place who are alive and well.”
Joseph plunked down beside Danielle. “It was the first thought many of us had when those animals came tearing through the streets a few nights ago. Taking to the water, I mean. The problem was, they came up from the port, so we couldn’t get to the boats right away. Many of us headed up the Rock, others tried to lose those things in the underground tunnels. It was shambles.” He shook his head. “We had eight thousand people living here, down from thirty-three thousand after the virus hit. We’re at maybe a thousand now.”
“Seven thousand people were killed?” Mariah whispered, paling.
“No,” Danielle said, shooting a frown at Joseph. “Some escaped to Spain. We don’t know what happened to them after that.”
Joseph rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Sorry. Sometimes I don’t get my full thought out. We did lose many people to those animals, though. Once they moved out of here, those of us who’d escaped on boats came back to clean things up and mourn our friends and families.”
Danielle leaned into him. “We had to have sea burials. There’s just no room for proper graves. But we don’t need to dwell on those details.” She nodded at the friends. “How’s the meal?”
“So good,” Mariah gushed. “We haven’t had anything fresh in a while.”
“Is that so,” Victor said dryly.
“Aside from the deer you bagged before we left Geneva! Which was delicious! Thank you again!”
Victor exhaled hard through his nose.
“Geneva?” Danielle said. “What brings you all the way down here from Geneva? That couldn’t have been an easy trip.”
“We’re looking for a friend,” Aari supplied. Tegan stuffed her face with a huge prawn to conceal her smirk. He wasn’t lying, really; there were just a few more steps they had to take first before hopefully locating said friend.
The boat tilted slightly as Kody climbed back on board. Joseph handed over a plate of food he’d kept aside just for him. “How was the Sunborn?”
“Super luxurious. It was weirdly comforting being in there when everything outside is so . . . well, you know.” Kody tucked into the fish, savoring it. “This tastes amazing. Thanks, guys.”
As they chatted, Tegan allowed her attention to drift to the shoreline. We’re on the eastern shore of the Bay of Gibraltar, but which side did Oten end up on?
She waited until a natural lull ended the conversation. “I was wondering, how many sand beaches do you guys have? It was hard to tell on the map.”
“There are six,” Joseph replied. “The longer ones are on the Atlantic side of the Rock.”
Those would face open water, Tegan thought. Not what we’re looking for. “What about the ones here?” she asked.
“I think most of these beaches are reclaimed land, which would explain why it’s sandier on the sea-facing ones.”
Tegan’s mouth formed an “O.” She turned to the others. “So it wouldn’t be here, then.”
“Actually,” Victor said, hazel eyes flicking to her, “we may be entirely on the wrong side of the bay.”
“What?” Mariah exclaimed.
The Sentry tapped his temple pointedly. “I feel like there’s a small voice in my head saying that the view from our destination should show the bay in the foreground with the Rock as the backdrop. We’re supposed be in a bigger cove, but there isn’t one here.”
Realization dawned on the friends. Aari hurriedly pulled one of the maps from Mariah’s backpack. He scanned it, then rapped his knuckle on a particular spot. “There, on the western shore, diagonally across from where we are. It’s called Playa de Getares and it’s the only thing that looks like a sizeable cove.”
“More driving,” Tegan grumped. “It looks like it’s going to take about an hour to get there, and we don’t know if we’ll run into more trouble on the way.”
Kody peered over, checking the distance between their current location and their new destination using the scale at the bottom of the map. “If we went by boat, we’d get there a lot faster. It’s only about five, six miles by water.”
“Is this about the friend you’re looking for?” Danielle looked up at Joseph. “We can ferry them over, don’t you think?”
“Of course,” he said. “Unless you wanted to do this yourself. We’re happy to help, but we don’t want to impose.”
Tegan and the others looked at one another, hesitating. Victor set his plate aside. “We might be there for a while, so it’s probably best if we went ourselves. We should get going, though. Burning daylight.”
“You don’t have to drive all the way over,” Joseph told them. “There are a few boats that haven’t been claimed since the chaos. How about we get you one?”
“That would be a great help, thank you.”
Joseph and Danielle disembarked, trotting down the pier in search of a suitable vessel. Mariah twisted the edges of the map. “Um, does anyone here know how to drive a boat?”
“Yes,” Victor said. He pulled out four small travel bottles from his bag and filled them with rytèrni from a bigger one. Gareth and Deverell had made a batch primarily to expedite Mariah’s recovery during their travel, but also as important sustenance for the group to keep up their abilities if they expanded too much of their energy too fast.
Victor capped all four bottles, then tossed them underhand to the friends. “Drink up. We don’t know what we’ll need to do when we get to Playa de Getares. Better to be prepared.”
Tegan caught hers and took a long sip. She’d never been able to describe exactly what rytèrni
tasted like. It was cooling, and somewhat sweet, but also carried with it a kick that danced robustly on her tongue.
Their hosts returned with Danelle jangling a key from her hand. “We got you a speedboat!” she said, beaming. “So, who’s driving?”
“This—is—a—very—rough—ride!” Aari yelled as they sped across the Bay of Gibraltar, striking one wave after another. He wasn’t one to get seasick, but the constant slamming of the nineteen-foot bowrider against choppy waters made him feel as though he was being hit in the gut with a metal bat over and over.
The wind had picked up as they’d pulled out of the marina, blasting their hair back, and the clouds had blackened, thrumming with the anticipation of rainfall. It should have only taken them fifteen minutes to travel the six miles to Playa de Getares near the mouth of the bay, but the finicky weather had forced them to adjust their pace.
Aari sat at the open bow of the older vessel with Kody beside him. For his part, Kody seemed to be enjoying the ride, looking for all the world as if he were slipping into a contented, meditative trance. The girls were hunkered behind Victor as he piloted the boat standing up, all three of them under the hardtop that covered the helm and passenger seats. Tegan had gone into the novasphere in search of marine life, and Mariah was idly toying with her abilities by levitating their anchor.
They approached the cove just as the first drops fell from the sky. When they were within a hundred yards of the beach, Victor killed the engine and removed the rifle from his back, leaning it against the seat beside him. The anchor floated over to Kody. He grabbed it and checked to make sure that one end of its chain was secured to the boat, then dropped it over the side with a splash. “Alright. What now?”
“The Elders are pretty sure that this was where Oten ended up,” Tegan replied. “Now, it’s my turn. I checked out the strait just outside the bay and I can call in either a dolphin or a whale.”
