C asper gathered up a rucksack in the corner by her M16, and I led the way back out of the visitor center. We cut down the first street, where the cobblestones changed to bricks and eventually asphalt. Once we made it down to the crosswalk, I stopped at the edge of the street and looked behind us. The backs of Main Street’s buildings weren’t so uniform as the front. Decks and balconies protruded at irregular intervals, giving way to a mixture of wood and iron stairs.
At the highest point on more than one building, I could see soldiers making ready. Most of them milled along the balconies, but a few had braved the rooftops. I wasn’t sure if they were taking up posts there. At least one was adjusting what appeared to be a telescope, and I suspected it was a camera, too.
“What are they placing on the roofs?” I asked.
“Cameras,” Casper said.
We continued down the street, and about the time we made it to the entrance to the park where Graybeard was docked, I began to think we should have driven. Saint Charles’s Main Street was not terribly long, but in the heat with the cobblestones, it could wear you out.
We passed the roundabout and had almost reached the docks when Casper paused. “That is somewhat more intimidating up close.” Her gaze climbed the bone masts of Graybeard’s warship, lingering on the ship’s cabin, before sweeping back down toward the skull of the harbinger on the bow.
“Come on,” I said. “You need to meet the parrot.”
“I thought Foster was joking about that,” Casper said.
“Oh no,” I said. “He talks through a parrot. A dead parrot, but I guess it’s an undead parrot. I’m probably not helping this, am I?”
Casper didn’t answer. I looked back, and the look on her face said it all. Her lips were pulled tight, and her eyes narrowed.
“Just don’t shoot him, and I’m sure you’ll get along fine.”
Zola blew out a breath and smacked her forehead, pulling the wrinkles out of her skin as I suspected she tried to control her temper.
“Right then,” I said. “Let’s go meet the captain.”
Casper followed us onto the wooden docks, her boots much quieter than my own clunky footfalls. I wondered if it was the material of her footwear, or if her training was just that good. Casper jumped when a pale bony hand reached out of the water, and one of Graybeard’s crew hurdled the railing, clattering to a stop a few feet in front of us. The skeleton rapped his forearms together, creating that familiar staccato that the crew used to communicate.
“Graybeard will be here soon?” I asked.
The skeleton nodded and dropped into the river once more.
“Was that Morse code?” Casper asked, taking a tentative step to the railing before peering down into the waters. The skeleton rose to the surface and raised a hand in greeting. Casper waved back hesitantly, and the shadowy skull vanished beneath the waters.
“You brought a guest,” Graybeard said, his voice booming from the deck of the ship above us.
“Oh my god,” Casper said.
“Lass,” the parrot said before the skeleton tipped its hat.
“Let’s not feed his ego,” Zola said.
“How does his beard stay on?” Casper asked.
“Ye likely need to ask the two necromancers what stand beside you.”
I grinned at the parrot. “Casper, Graybeard, Graybeard, Casper.”
“I thought Park was leading you. Or did you cut out his heart and take his ship?”
“What? No.” A confused look crossed Casper’s face.
Graybeard sagged against the railing. “The military folk have no humor.”
“Now now,” I said. “Let’s try not to scare off your new best friend.”
The parrot danced on Graybeard shoulder. “A friend, eh?”
“She’s the sniper some of your sailors saved. And she has rounds able to put down a water witch.”
The skeleton straightened out and took a few steps to the plank, before descending that stretch of bone and sinew. “Perhaps I judged ye too quickly.”
Graybeard’s skeleton wasn’t short, and with the hat on top, he cut a rather imposing figure. The parrot knew it, and I shook my head as he stepped ever closer to Casper, leaning over the young sniper.
“Does your crew communicate with Morse code?” Casper asked. If she felt any hesitation in the presence of the old pirate, she hid it completely.
“Why do you be asking?”
“Because I’m fairly certain the fine crewman that we met on the dock summoned you here by calling you a dingy piece of roadkill.”
Graybeard’s ship erupted in a clatter of bones and rhythmic staccato laughter. The teeth of two dozen skulls chattered together, before beating on the railings in an overwhelming tide of Morse code.
Casper grinned up at them. “It’s a pleasure to meet you all.”
“Aye,” Graybeard muttered. “’Tis indeed how they communicate.”
Casper smiled at the bird, and said, “I can tell they have great respect for you. I’ve served with enough units to know, to recognize that kind of respect.”
“Well then, Miss Casper, what mad plan of Park’s do you bring?”
“Not Park’s plan,” she said. “My plan.”
The skeleton ran its bony fingers through its beard, while the parrot cocked its head. Casper ran down the idea, leaving out any extraneous detail, and only giving Graybeard what he needed to know to both understand and execute it, should he choose. I was impressed. She’d taken a rambling conversation with Park, and distilled it down to a few distinct orders. But she didn’t deliver them like orders, and there would be no way for Graybeard to be insulted by it. Although I suspected Graybeard’s crew would allow him to be insulted by it.
“I like your cut, lass. I like your cut.”
Casper beat out a rapid staccato on the railing of the dock, and Graybeard released a haunting laugh.
“What was that?” I asked.
“She says I look good for a dead man.”
“You are nicely feathered,” I said.
The parrot’s glowing eyes shifted to me, and he deadpanned, “It’s more likely me beard.”
“How will you signal us?” Zola asked. “If there’s a sighting of the water witches?”
“If it is but one water witch,” Graybeard said, “I doubt I’ll be signaling you at all. But if we see more, there will be no mistaking the signal.”
Some of the crew chattered up on the deck of the Bone Sails.
“A horn?” Casper asked, looking up at one of the crewmen.
“The boys are right,” Graybeard said. “You’ll hear the horn.”
“A horn?” I asked. “You’re riding on a ship made from a harbinger’s skull, and your early warning system is a horn?”
“Aye.”
I pursed my lips and nodded. “Fair enough.”
“It’s been a pleasure, sir,” Casper said, bringing our introduction to Graybeard to an end. “I have to check on my squad. My superiors have placed them down by the river, and I’m afraid they’re in danger there. Can you help us?”
“I’m afraid they’re in danger everywhere, lass,” Graybeard said. “Should’ve picked a different profession, if they did not wish to be in danger.” Graybeard stared upriver, and the parrot danced on the skeleton’s shoulder. “Reckon I could send another bag of bones your way. Might be helping you stay alert, and give me a better view of things.”
Casper shot him a sideways smile. “Just don’t steal any of my squad away for your crew. If you do that kind of thing.”
“Not for a very long time. A very long time indeed.”
“Thank you.”
We were halfway up the dock when Graybeard shouted after us. “Boy! You might want to be considering cleaning out some dust bunnies.”
I looked back at the parrot and nodded. Jasper had crossed my mind too, but if we were going to recruit the dragon, I had to be sure that Vicky was safe. And right now, I couldn’t be sure. We didn’t know where the water witches were coming from, or if they would strike Saint Charles. We still had Rivercene and Falias as likely targets, and our friends were in danger at both of them.
We made our way back up the dock and up to the little park before we began crossing a wooden bridge over the creek. The trees and branches intertwined overhead, creating a shadowy canopy that hid most of the light from above, but I could still make out a turtle and the ripples of the water.
“Look at the size of that turtle,” I said.
“I’ve seen larger,” Zola said as she leaned on the railing.
“Even here?” I asked.
She frowned for a moment, and then shook her head. “I suppose not.”
Casper tugged on my sleeve. I turned to look at her, and she cocked her head to the side, gesturing for me to walk with her. I did, following her to the edge of the bridge.
“There’s something in the water,” she whispered.
“What do you mean?” I asked, shrugging my shoulders to readjust the excessively heavy backpack hanging off them.
“Look toward the center of the creek, directly in line with the turtle. There’s an impression in the mud that shouldn’t be there.”
I figured Casper was being somewhat paranoid, which was pretty understandable after the events of the previous day. I sidled up beside Zola and glanced into the distance before letting my gaze slowly roll across the creek bottom. If we hadn’t had the rains, and the level of the creek hadn’t been so high, it might have been easier to spot.
Casper had been wrong, but she’d also been right. Water flowed everywhere except for one spot. Before I could turn to say anything to Zola, movement exploded in the water below us, and whatever had been there was gone.
“I suppose my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me,” Zola said.
“No,” Casper said. “It’s gone now.”
“We need to tell Graybeard,” I said.
“Give me a sec,” Casper said. “I’m quite sure they’ll be able to hear this.” She rapped on the railing of the bridge, beating out an organized pattern with a baton she’d pulled from her belt. Graybeard’s crew responded in moments. The hollow clack of bones banging together sounded a moment before the drums on Graybeard’s ship came to life.
“What the hell is that?” Casper asked.
“Creepy ass drums,” I said. “They’re likely creepier when that thing’s floating on a sea of fire, though.”
Casper blinked at me.
“They got the message,” I said. “Let’s get down to your troops. We need to warn Aeros too. Foster and Aideen need to be ready.”
I had my phone out and was texting Sam as we hurried back across the paths, passing a large statue of Lewis and Clark, and finally returning to the part of the Katy Trail that cut through the riverfront.
Something’s here already.
It only took a moment for Sam to respond, but I’d be lying if each passing second didn’t fray my nerves just a little bit. I breathed a sigh of relief at her response, and slid my phone back into my pocket.
“The vampires are coming.”
“Let’s pick up the pace,” Casper said.
“Will Aeros hear us from here?” I asked Zola.
“Ah’m quite sure that Aeros heard the drums,” Zola said. “If Graybeard’s on alert, Aeros will be too.”
Doubt bored into my mind. We were warning these men of the water witches, but what if the attack came from elsewhere? Or came from something else entirely? If the dark-touched descended on these people, it wouldn’t matter what kind of munitions they had. They were all going to die. And there would be very little we could do about it. The dark-touched were brutally, efficiently murderous. It was all we could do to keep ourselves alive, and maybe divert them from the commoners, which would leave a whole lot of people to die.
“We haven’t briefed him about the dark-touched,” I said.
Casper frowned at me. “You mean the vampires you can only kill through the eye?”
“Who told you that?”
“Aideen gave us the rundown. Last night. And Foster told us about the harbingers, and I have to say, hearing about them from the fairy was a hell of a lot scarier than seeing them on film. And knowing that the hull of Graybeard’s ship is carved from a skull , is frankly horrifying.”
“Yeah,” I agreed.
We passed the pavilion close to some old train cars, before Casper broke away from the paved trail, and led us down into the churning mass of national guardsmen. She greeted a few, and avoided some others, while Zola and I drew some strange looks from several of the soldiers. I suspected that meant that these weren’t Casper’s crew because her squad seemed quite familiar with us. And I would’ve thought that whatever company they came from would be familiar with us, too.
“Friendly greetings,” I said.
“You and your friends have a reputation,” Casper said. “Most of these people have probably been briefed about how dangerous you are. The rest have seen you in action. No training can prepare them for that.”
I looked at Zola “We have a reputation.”
“Pay attention to the task at hand, boy.”
“What the hell,” Casper said. “Ranger Rick is here, and he should still be at the hospital.”
I followed her line of sight, and found the Army Ranger closer to the river. “Did you just call him Ranger Rick?”
Casper glanced back at me and said, “No.” Her tone was deadly serious, and I couldn’t detect the lie at all. For some reason, that amused me greatly.