Magnolia spotted a spent shell casing in the dirt—a memento of the horrifying battle with the Sirens. Several militia soldiers had died along this path, torn open by the clawed beasts.
She tried to block out the memories and focus on being there for Rodger.
They were almost to the graveyard. A small group of people dressed in their finest clothes had gathered to pay final respects.
Dozens of bodies were wrapped in white cloth and laid neatly in a row near freshly dug graves. Shirtless men with shovels stood nearby, sweat dripping down their muscular bodies.
Rodger halted on the path, his lips quivering.
“I don’t know if I can do this,” he mumbled.
Magnolia tightened her grip on his hand. “You can. I’ll be right here with you.”
They walked out of the forest and around the newly dug graves.
Michael and Layla stood hand in hand at the front of the group. X was there, too, dressed in shorts and a wrinkled white shirt, half buttoned up and exposing the bandage over his chest. Unlike the last time she saw him on the docks, his skin had some color, but he still looked exhausted.
Standing behind him was the man they all once knew as Giraffe. Les towered over his wife and daughter. Samson was also here, staring ahead as if in a trance.
Both had come from the Shark’s Cage for the funerals and would be heading out as soon as they were over.
“Mags,” said a voice.
Sofia walked out of the group and gave Magnolia a hug.
“How are you doing?” Magnolia asked her.
“I’ll be better when I see Horn’s head on a stick,” Sofia replied coldly.
Rodger nodded. “Me, too.”
They weren’t the only ones who wanted revenge. Everyone standing in the crowd had lost a family member or good friend in the ambush—and not just sky people, either. Several Cazador civilians and soldiers had perished, but their bodies wouldn’t be laid to rest here; they would be given back to the sea.
Alberto, too, would be buried at sea. Magnolia thought of the quiet Hell Diver. Though she hadn’t known him well, she had liked him.
She walked with Rodger and saw the first of the corpses. Lieutenant Sloan’s body was wrapped alongside the remains they had recovered of Rhino. There wasn’t much of the deceased general—mostly bones, armor, and his spears. But unlike his Cazador brother and sisters, he was not to be returned to the ocean. Not yet.
Felipe and Mac stood in front of his burial plot. Mac tapped the soil with his cane and shook his head wearily.
X waited for more people to gather as the sun sank through the horizon. Torches went up across the rooftop, spreading a fiery glow over patrolling militia soldiers.
Sergeant Wynn and Colonel Forge were on the open water, just in case. They had already deployed the underwater sensors and repaired machine-gun nests and twenty-millimeter cannons on both rooftops.
If the skinwalkers returned, they would be ready this time.
At the sound of a scratchy voice, Magnolia looked up.
“We’ve gathered yet again to honor our lost loved ones,” X said. “And like I told the council and the Hell Divers earlier today, before this is over, we will gather again to bury more of our loved ones.”
Several people mumbled.
“How do we fight such evil, King Xavier?”
The voice belonged to Dom, the chef famous for his orange noodles.
“I heard the machines are coming,” someone else said.
Magnolia wasn’t sure how that had gotten out, but it was always only a matter of time. She fully expected X to curse and try to mitigate the rumors, but he spoke the truth.
“It’s possible they will come,” he said.
Chatter broke out through the crowd.
“But there is only one way to stop them,” X said. “Only one way to protect this place and ensure that the heavy sacrifice so many have made was not in vain.”
Wind rustled the branches of the trees. A chill ran through Magnolia, and she gripped Rodger’s hand tighter. X walked over to the graves with Miles trotting to keep up.
After looking at the burial plots, X turned back to his people.
“I thought about what to say tonight,” he said. “Something that would encourage us all to keep fighting and give us hope in the face of such terror. But what I’ve realized over my life is that hope and courage come from the person standing by your side and at your back.”
Magnolia looked to Rodger. She also looked over her shoulder, at Sofia.
“For me, hope always came from knowing there were other Hell Divers in the sky, and brave warriors like General Rhino, who would give their lives to save mine, as I would for them. Tonight, we must remember that we are in this together and that we will fight, together.”
Wind again whistled over his echoing voice.
“You have my blade,” a voice boomed. Mac tapped his cane on the dirt again.
“Mine, too.” Adrian, Dom’s son, stepped out of the crowd. “I will fight,” he said. “And so will my dad.”
“We dive so humanity survives, sir,” Edgar said through wired-together jaws.
“Rhino stood by your side, and now we do, too,” said another Barracuda.
Arlo said, “I’ve still got a nickname to earn. You know I’m in.”
“I’m with you to the end,” Magnolia said.
“Me, too,” said Rodger.
Les and Michael remained quiet.
She knew why. They both had made promises about the future to their families. But Layla and Katherine had to know they didn’t have a choice. The future of the sky people—perhaps of all humankind—depended on Hell Divers now more than ever.
“Your bravery and support remind me why I accepted this position in the first place,” X said. “Together, we will win this final fight, but first, we must lay our loved ones to rest.”
He motioned to several workers who stood by the freshly dug graves. One by one, they lowered the corpses into the soil. Magnolia and Rodger went to the plot where his parents would be buried side by side.
“I don’t even have a marker yet,” he said.
“I’ll help you make one,” she said. “Maybe you can teach me a thing or two about woodworking.”
People sobbed as the bodies were lowered into the dirt. X went with Miles over to Rhino’s grave.
Mac picked up the soot-blackened spears and locked the two halves together, making a single shaft. Then he handed it to X.
“Here, King Xavier,” said Mac. “You should have this.”
“I thought a Cazador warrior is supposed to be honored by being burned and dropped into the sea with his armor and weapon,” X said.
“They are,” Sofia said. “But without a ceremony first, Rhino will remain in purgatory.” She walked up to X. “Horn made sure of that by burning him without a ceremony,” she added. “The only way for Rhino to reach the afterlife now is for someone to kill Horn with this blade.”
X took the shaft from Mac. “He would want you to do this, King Xavier,” Mac said, looking at Sofia to make sure she understood.
Magnolia could smell the tension. The entire thing sounded ridiculous to her, but she respected their right to worship whatever they wanted, even big-ass mutant octopuses.
X lifted the spear in salute. “I’ll make sure he crosses the bridge,” he said. “I swear this to you, Sofia.”
She reached out and touched the blade, one of the last remaining keepsakes of her lover.
The workers finished lowering the bodies and started covering them with dirt. When they finished, family and friends walked up to drop flowers onto the mounds.
Magnolia went with Rodger to the two humps covering his parents. He let go of her hand and crouched in front of them.
“I’ll avenge you,” he said. “I’ll make you proud, Mom and Pop.”