me beside my truck as I tried to slip away from the diminishing crowd.
“I did not see you when the EMTs arrived. Where did you go?”
“I didn’t go anywhere.”
He frowned at me. “You did. As you did on board the
Seawitch
. You were not where you were.”
I crossed my arms over my less-than-impressive chest—I’m not built to win any wet T-shirt contests—but I felt suddenly defensive in the beam of Solis’s intensity. “I didn’t actually
go
anywhere. I saw something and I had to take a closer look. And my way of taking a closer look . . . it’s complicated.”
I knew he wanted to say something else but he settled for, “What did you see?”
“Come and take a look for yourself.” I led him to the backyard again and pointed into the bowl of the dry fountain. “Does that look to you like what we saw on the boat down in that crew cabin?”
Solis knelt and studied the red-brown figure under the blown sand and dried grass. “Similar . . . the same encircling waves . . . But what lies at the center?” he added. He took a pen out of his pocket and poked the dried grass aside. A tiny spark of oily green energy flared and died out as he moved the detritus.
Small fragments of beach glass and shell rolled around the bottom of the cement bowl, playing hide-and-seek with the tiny twelve-pointed star drawn at the center of the figure. It wasn’t as complex as what we’d seen on
Seawitch
, but it was similar enough to claim kinship. “It doesn’t look like the same person made it, but it’s got to be related,” I said. “I think some of the grass and stones are part of the figure, but they’re out of place now, so we’ll never know exactly what it looked like.”
Solis grunted. “I shouldn’t have touched it.”
“You couldn’t have known.” But I took a photo of the revealed sigil with my little digital camera, anyhow.
“You did.”
“No, I didn’t. I saw something that looked familiar, but I’d have done the same thing. It just looks like trash. At least you didn’t touch it with your hands. That’s probably blood.”
“What else did you see?”
“Excuse me?”
Solis stood up. “You weren’t near the fountain when I tripped over you. What were you pursuing then?”
“Oh. Um . . . this will sound pretty loony.”
“I’m prepared for that.”
“All right. What I saw . . . might have been a dog.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Really. How did you see it? I saw no dog and I am hardly blind to something of that size.”
“Well, it was not exactly . . . here. I mean it was here, but only partially.”
Solis continued to stare at me without saying another word. His tight-clinging aura flicked out whips of aggravated orange and red, but he didn’t let it show on his face.
I sighed. I couldn’t have dodged this particular push coming to shove once I’d dived for the Grey aboard
Seawitch
, so I had no one to blame but myself for this corner I was in. I didn’t like it, however, and I wasn’t pleased to be risking this tenuous partnership so soon with the big reveal of just how freakish I was. “Do we have to do this here? It’s kind of public.”
“Where do you prefer? I tell you, I will not let this drop.”
I resisted an urge to roll my eyes. “So it’s better for me to get it over with. Yeah, yeah. I know. But you aren’t going to like my answers—that is what
I’m
telling
you
.”
“I understand.”
“My office?” I offered reluctantly.
He glanced at his watch. I did the same. It was five fifteen. He looked skeptical. “Closer will be better.”
I waved in the direction of the waterfront. “Something here? Not likely to be very private, though.”
“Agreed. But there is privacy to be found in the open. Let’s take a walk along the shore, then.”
I raised my eyebrows in amusement. “How romantic of you, Solis.”
He snorted and turned away. “At the boardwalk by the marina in five minutes.”
We drove separately to the parking
“I did not see you when the EMTs arrived. Where did you go?”
“I didn’t go anywhere.”
He frowned at me. “You did. As you did on board the
Seawitch
. You were not where you were.”
I crossed my arms over my less-than-impressive chest—I’m not built to win any wet T-shirt contests—but I felt suddenly defensive in the beam of Solis’s intensity. “I didn’t actually
go
anywhere. I saw something and I had to take a closer look. And my way of taking a closer look . . . it’s complicated.”
I knew he wanted to say something else but he settled for, “What did you see?”
“Come and take a look for yourself.” I led him to the backyard again and pointed into the bowl of the dry fountain. “Does that look to you like what we saw on the boat down in that crew cabin?”
Solis knelt and studied the red-brown figure under the blown sand and dried grass. “Similar . . . the same encircling waves . . . But what lies at the center?” he added. He took a pen out of his pocket and poked the dried grass aside. A tiny spark of oily green energy flared and died out as he moved the detritus.
Small fragments of beach glass and shell rolled around the bottom of the cement bowl, playing hide-and-seek with the tiny twelve-pointed star drawn at the center of the figure. It wasn’t as complex as what we’d seen on
Seawitch
, but it was similar enough to claim kinship. “It doesn’t look like the same person made it, but it’s got to be related,” I said. “I think some of the grass and stones are part of the figure, but they’re out of place now, so we’ll never know exactly what it looked like.”
Solis grunted. “I shouldn’t have touched it.”
“You couldn’t have known.” But I took a photo of the revealed sigil with my little digital camera, anyhow.
“You did.”
“No, I didn’t. I saw something that looked familiar, but I’d have done the same thing. It just looks like trash. At least you didn’t touch it with your hands. That’s probably blood.”
“What else did you see?”
“Excuse me?”
Solis stood up. “You weren’t near the fountain when I tripped over you. What were you pursuing then?”
“Oh. Um . . . this will sound pretty loony.”
“I’m prepared for that.”
“All right. What I saw . . . might have been a dog.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Really. How did you see it? I saw no dog and I am hardly blind to something of that size.”
“Well, it was not exactly . . . here. I mean it was here, but only partially.”
Solis continued to stare at me without saying another word. His tight-clinging aura flicked out whips of aggravated orange and red, but he didn’t let it show on his face.
I sighed. I couldn’t have dodged this particular push coming to shove once I’d dived for the Grey aboard
Seawitch
, so I had no one to blame but myself for this corner I was in. I didn’t like it, however, and I wasn’t pleased to be risking this tenuous partnership so soon with the big reveal of just how freakish I was. “Do we have to do this here? It’s kind of public.”
“Where do you prefer? I tell you, I will not let this drop.”
I resisted an urge to roll my eyes. “So it’s better for me to get it over with. Yeah, yeah. I know. But you aren’t going to like my answers—that is what
I’m
telling
you
.”
“I understand.”
“My office?” I offered reluctantly.
He glanced at his watch. I did the same. It was five fifteen. He looked skeptical. “Closer will be better.”
I waved in the direction of the waterfront. “Something here? Not likely to be very private, though.”
“Agreed. But there is privacy to be found in the open. Let’s take a walk along the shore, then.”
I raised my eyebrows in amusement. “How romantic of you, Solis.”
He snorted and turned away. “At the boardwalk by the marina in five minutes.”
We drove separately to the parking
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