The Guardians of Island X by Rachelle Delaney

Author:Rachelle Delaney [Delaney, Rachelle]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781101581360
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2012-07-05T04:00:00+00:00

“I’ve never been to a funeral for a person before,” Smitty confided to Jem. “Much less one for an animal.” Only an hour had passed since the pig had been killed, and already the two stood waist-deep in the grave they were digging for it.

Jem stopped to wipe away the sweat trickling into his eyes. “Much less one for a pig.”

“Sure is a shame,” said Smitty.

“Hey, Smit, when was the last time you saw Uncle Finn and Thomas?” Jem leaned on his shovel, which Tim had brought up from the Hop on one of his visits.

“Hmm.” Smitty stopped digging. “I’d say yesterday morning. Maybe a few hours before the spying mission. Why? Did they go looking for bromly-things?”

“I don’t know.” Jem sighed and started digging again. “I guess they must have. But you’d think they would have told me.”

Smitty clicked his tongue against his teeth. “I’ll bet they’re just off exploring. They’ll be back any minute now. Maybe Thomas’ll have grown feathers this time!”

“Yeah. Probably.” Jem forced a smile, although he wasn’t convinced. “Nice shot today, by the way.”

“What’s that?”

“Your arrow. The one that pinned the King’s Man to the tree.”

“My arrow?” Smitty repeated, looking confused. “Really? I thought I missed.”

“Missed?”

“Uh-huh. I took a shot, but I was pretty far away, and I thought it flew straight into the dirt. But you say it pinned the King’s Man to a tree?”

“Well, yes,” Jem said, puzzled. “Didn’t you see?” Smitty shook his head. “It was a perfect shot.”

“Huh.” Smitty considered this, then grinned. “Guess I’m more talented than I give myself credit for. Jolly!”

“I guess…” The story didn’t quite add up, but they had no time to discuss it further. The funeral was about to begin.

The funeral had been Ronagh’s idea. Or rather, Ronagh’s command. After her tears had dried and her sniffles subsided, she took on the role of funeral director. No one dared argue. Scarlet insisted they bury the body, since burning it would attract attention. So they chose a spot downwind of the clearing.

Scarlet now stood off to the side, watching the funeral preparations and looking as dejected as Jem had ever seen her. Once the grave was dug, he went to stand beside her.

At first she said nothing. Then, finally, she tore her eyes away from the Lost Souls rolling the corpse into the pit. “They’re furious, Fitz.”

“The pigs?” He looked over at the band, which had gathered for the ceremony.

She nodded.

“At us?” Jem swallowed hard.

Scarlet sighed. “At everyone and everything. They won’t help us again. They don’t even want us to ask.”

Jem thought about this for a moment. “Well, I don’t blame them. But this pig wasn’t killed in battle. He was killed because—”

“Because those biscuit-eating King’s Men think they own the whole world and can do whatever they please!” A voice piped up behind them. They turned to see Monty stamping his foot on the grass.

“They’re worse than biscuit-eaters!” Edwin spat. “They’re bacon-eaters.”

A few Lost Souls nodded and murmured in agreement.

“They’re Enemy Number One,” Gil proclaimed.

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