“Well,” she said at last, “hopefully he doesn’t just find me exceptionally rude after I bring up the topic of his dead friend.”
She’d expected that Andre might organize for her to speak to his father on an upcoming rest day. It didn’t occur to her that the middle-aged guard might approach her in front of the other trainees. She was therefore thrown when he swam up to her in the dining hall over lunch the following week.
“Trainee Merletta?” he asked, his tone crisp.
She rose from her seat, greeting him with what poise she could. She had no need to ask who he was. His resemblance to Andre was striking, down to the crimson tail.
“I understand from Andre that you wanted to know about August, and the other guards who died from land sickness.” The guard’s eyes flicked to his son, sitting next to Sage, then back to Merletta. “I had business in the Center this morning, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to come by.”
Merletta swallowed, trying to keep the panic off her face. She could see Oliver watching her with narrowed eyes, and even Lorraine had let her impassive mask slip. Merletta hadn’t asked Andre to keep her request quiet—that would surely have made him suspicious. But she hadn’t banked on her inquiries becoming quite so public. The merman wasn’t speaking especially loudly, but it was inevitable that at least the other trainees would hear everything.
“I, uh…yes, sir,” she said. “I’m just trying to better understand the ailment. I’d never heard of it before.”
“Neither had I,” said Andre’s father frankly. “And I’ve been a guard for over twenty years. It is extremely rare that any of us are exposed to it.” He assessed her with his gaze. “Second year, aren’t you? Preparing for the guard test shortly? Very understandable that you’d want more information about the risks.”
“Can you tell me what the symptoms were?” Merletta asked quickly, not correcting his assumption about why she was interested. “And how long after their return from the surface the land sickness kicked in? We’ve learned about it in class, but it’s not the same as an eye-witness account. I understand from Andre that you…that you saw your friend, while he was unwell.”
The older merman nodded calmly, showing no sign of any pain he felt on discussing his friend’s death. “I spoke with him in the early stages. He’d begun to experience delusions. Thought I was a shark at one point, and rushed at me with his spear. Well, he thought it was his spear, but fortunately for me it was actually just a strand of seaweed from his curtains.” He shook his head. “One of my oldest friends, and he didn’t recognize me.”
“How long after he came back was this?” Merletta asked.
Andre’s father considered. “A day, perhaps a day and a half.”
Merletta couldn’t help raising an eyebrow. “Surprisingly long delay, isn’t it?”
The guard shrugged. “There are many substances that build up in the body over time. I suspect the ailment was already at work, but it took that long to build to such a dramatic level.”
“And then he was violently ill?” Merletta asked.
“So I’ve been told,” said Andre’s father. “I didn’t see him in that stage. I went to report his condition to my superior, and the next thing I heard he was gone. It was very sudden. I didn’t even get to see his body, because there was some concern that the illness might be contagious. We held a funeral, of course, but without his body.”
Merletta’s mind churned, contemplating all the possible implications of this detail. Would it have been obvious from the bodies that the guards didn’t die from an illness?
“How did you know he was dead, then?” she asked, forgetting to be sensitive in her distraction.
“August’s superior told me,” said Andre’s father simply. “We all received official notice of their passing.”
“Who’s that?” Merletta asked.
The guard raised an eyebrow. “August’s superior? August was an experienced patrol leader. He reported directly to Skulssted’s head guard.”
Merletta frowned to herself. Skulssted’s head guard definitely sounded like a senior enough position that he might conceivably be trusted with secrets that Andre’s father wouldn’t have. But would he really sacrifice the lives of several of his own guards for those secrets? Either way, she would have to paddle very carefully if she decided to approach him for more information.
She thanked both Andre and his father, but her heart was heavy as the older merman swam away. She was uneasily aware of the other trainees’ curiosity. Even Sage looked taken aback—Merletta hadn’t told her about her conversation with Andre. She hadn’t wanted to involve Sage in her investigations, for her friend’s safety. She gave Sage an apologetic look that promised an explanation later, and returned to her breakfast.
But she was so abstracted she barely noticed what she ate. She wasn’t any closer to knowing what had actually happened, but she at least knew that the story wasn’t completely a lie. The guards really had experienced some kind of hallucination. She didn’t doubt Andre’s father’s account, and he’d known August well enough to recognize that the other guard’s behavior was delusional.
But she had very good reason to know that the hallucinations couldn’t have been caused by proximity to land. And she’d never heard of such an ailment before. The question was, what caused it? And, assuming someone had been trying to get rid of the guards, how did they expose all of them to it, and no one else?
The matter occupied her thoughts for the rest of the meal. But not so much that she failed to feel Oliver’s shrewd gaze boring into her.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“I’m going to regret coming with you, aren’t I?” There was a rueful note in Bianca’s voice as she gazed out at the ocean, her expression long-suffering.
“Of course not,” Heath said innocently, turning to his cousin. “Why would you regret it?”
“Because you’re definitely up to something,” Brody’s voice cut in.