“No, keep quiet. We’ll have a look.”
She led the way over small dunes with dense, tall patches of beach grass sprouting upward. “Watch out for the stickers.” Aerity pointed to the thorny tangle of brush growing close to the ground.
They neared the stone and wood building, which Aerity knew to have entrances on all sides, some open to the elements after the doors had been battered away by storm winds. Another burst of sea breeze brought an unpleasant whiff of death, and the girls covered their mouths and noses.
“Must be a dead gull,” Aerity said.
“More like a hundred of them.” Vixie waved the air in front of her face.
“I’ll check the warehouse side and meet you around back,” Wyneth said. Aerity nodded and took Vixie by the arm, keeping her close when she looked as if she wanted to dart ahead, her eyes alight with adventure.
Stepping carefully onto the stone entryway, Aerity peered up at the overhang, which seemed solid. Gazing into the dim entry sent Aerity into a tailspin of nostalgia—the desk that was once used to check-in trade goods, and the open area to the side for keeping files of data. The girls used to play here, pretending to be queens of different lands bringing their foreign goods to barter. It looked the very same, if not smaller.
There was no sign of their guard.
“He must be around back,” Aerity whispered. At one time, all large shipments were brought to the back entrance with its wide, warehouse door.
“Why are we whispering?” Vixie whispered.
“I don’t know. I’m . . . nervous or something.”
Vixie mimicked Aerity’s quiet footing around the side of the building. When they got to a pile of cut wood, Aerity stopped.
Why was there a neat pile of wood on this barren island?
Aerity’s heart picked up speed. She wasn’t afraid of traveling persons, like vagabonds and gypsies—their own mother had been one for sixteen years—but what if outlawed criminals had taken up residence here? They needed to find their guard and Wyneth and get out of there. They could send a group of soldiers out to check the premises later. Aerity pressed a finger to her lips and Vixie nodded, frowning down at the woodpile, then peering around suspiciously. The island was so quiet. Whoever had been there must have ventured away.
As they turned the corner to the side of the building, the scents of decay became so strong that both girls covered their mouths and noses. They approached an open doorway. Aerity pressed a hand back at Vixie to keep her sister there, while she slowly peeked into the dim room, heart hammering.
Tables lined the room, laden with . . . animals? Or, rather, animal parts. Aerity was appalled, a sickening feeling traveling through her. What was going on here? She saw no people, but one of the animals, something that looked like a crocodile’s head attached to a bear’s body, actually looked to be breathing, though it lay very still.
Aerity whipped her head back around and stood against the wall outside the door, fighting for breaths. A sense of danger blanketed her. When Vixie poked her arm, Aerity shook her head and hissed through her teeth. “We have to find Wyn and get out of here! Right now!”
She took Vixie’s hand, and they crept quickly past the gruesome room toward the corner that would take them to the back of the building. Vixie slowed to a stop, peering in with wide eyes. In a panic, Aerity yanked her sister with too much force. Vixie stumbled and cried out quietly as she fell into debris of cut stones and warped metal.
“Vixie!” Aerity bent over and pulled her sister back by the waist, helping her sit in the dirt. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to make you . . .” She lost her voice when she saw the gash down Vixie’s shin and the blood that seeped down to her feet. Aerity’s first flustered thought was to run for Mrs. Rathbrook. Stupid. They were on an island, alone!
“Perhaps if we roll your trousers down.” Aerity pulled the tight material around her sister’s knee, but as she unrolled it and the fabric touched the wound, Vixie shook her head and pushed her hands away.
“No, please!”
“It could help hinder the blood flow.”
“It hurts.”
“Okay.” Aerity chewed her lip. “Do you think you can swim?”
“I can try.” She winced sharply when she attempted to stand.
“Maybe you should stay here while I go back for help.”
Vixie whimpered and glanced back at the doorway behind her. “I don’t want to stay here. What’s going on in that room?”