The Dead Seas Read online

shows. He’s been talking about this place for weeks, however, so he must be certain that he’s right. This place must be full of riches itching for us to get our hands on them. We just need to do the dirty work.

  “Let’s get this over with,” I say to Chesrie, standing and holding my hand out to help her to her feet.

  We walk together to the edge of the boat. Anwir wades just beyond it, holding out his arms to carry us to shore so we don’t get wet. I’m not sure what to do at first. It’s not normal for us to get stuck so far out. Usually, I can simply lift my skirt and cross the water myself.

  “Just step forward, I’ll catch you,” he reassures.

  I do as he says and fall comfortably into his arms. He seems even stronger now than I’d thought him to be. His hold is firm as he moves through the water with little difficulty. I’ve never let him be this close to me, and it surprises me how much I enjoy it, like being protected by a watchful brother I never had but always wanted. When he sets me down on the beach, I’m slow to release him, to my surprise wishing that the distance had been much further.

  I watch as he does the same for my sister, who I can imagine enjoys the embrace in a different way than I did. Anwir has been with us for long enough that I think I’ll have a hard time saying goodbye when all of this is done, but I imagine it will be even harder for Chesrie to do so. Depending on how things go for us today, that farewell could be very soon.

  To my surprise, Chesrie is very quick to let go and find her feet when the two of them reach me. I study her, trying to figure out why she would react that way. Then it occurs to me. She must realize, too, that the goodbye is coming soon and doesn’t want to feel anything when we leave the coast for the mountains. That’s how she was able to stay afloat when Mother died, while I nearly drowned in my sorrow.

  “I’ll be here waiting as always,” Anwir calls out to us. “Just walk south along shore, the town’s about a mile away.”

  Chesrie doesn’t turn to acknowledge him, but I do, nodding my head. He then steps back out toward the water, I assume to pull the boat in closer for when we need to go. Chesrie avoids eye-contact with me as well, but I can see the red in her cheeks, something she’s probably trying to hide from both of us.

  “Being cold makes it just as obvious,” I say.

  “Whatever,” she scoffs as we walk swiftly across the sand.

  The mist remains just as chilly as it was on the boat, blanketing my exposed skin like dew on a leaf. The wind blowing in from the sea cools me further and makes my hairs stand on edge, driving me to walk even faster. Chesrie tries to keep up.

  “Hey, slow down,” she calls.

  “I just want to get inside where it’s warm,” I reply.

  That’s the first part of our plan. Anwir told us that near the center of the town is a large inn that also doubles as a place of social gathering. Many older gentlemen, he explained, go there to pass time. That should mean that at least one or two will be eager to meet some young ladies passing through harbor.

  “Yes, and we’ll be disgusting and sweaty when we get there if you keep this up.”

  I don’t say anything back, but I do lessen my pace. At the same moment, I see the edge of a boardwalk just ahead and the blurry outline of a building against the grey apparatus of fog that conceals it. The click of our shoes against the wood echoes loudly and makes me uneasy. I don’t want any attention drawn to us, at least not until we can get inside and gauge the feel of the town, but after we walk down a couple of streets, I realize that there’s no one around to gawk at us.

  “Where is everyone?” Chesrie puzzles.

  I’m unsure what to say and respond instead by looking at her with nervous eyes. We then quicken our pace once more toward further into town. The clatter of our footsteps becomes louder, echoing off the buildings and mist as though we are inside of a cave or walking the halls of a castle made from stone. My eyes shift around, frantically searching for anyone in hopes of bringing this ghostly place some semblance of life.

  At one point, I see what I think is a tall man leaned up against a building, but as we get closer, he becomes nothing more than a pile of sacks and narrowly-stacked boxes. With that disappointment, I accept in my mind that there is no one here. Something strange is going on, and we shouldn’t stick around to learn what.

  “There it is,” Chesrie says so quietly it’s almost a whisper.

  Emerging from the dark in front of us is a large structure that stands taller and wider than I’d expected from Anwir’s description of the place. This explains why he was so confident that we’d locate it with relative ease, but now that we’re here, I don’t want to go in.

  “We should go back,” I say anxiously.

  “Oh, nonsense,” Chesrie snaps. “I’m sure there will be people inside. Would you want to be out in such dreadful weather?”

  She steps ahead of me and up into the entryway, confidently swinging the door open for me. A faint brightness pours out from the open doorway, which is a welcome change, but I remain doubtful as I walk through it.

  “Can you point me in the direction of these people you’re talking about,” I criticize as she follows me in and closes the door behind us.

  The room is large and full of tables, but devoid of visitors. The ceilings are high and reach up into upper stories of the building, at least on one side. Stairs rise up at the edge of the room and disappear into a hallway, which I assume is where bedrooms are, since this place is also supposed to be an inn. To the opposite of us is an unattended bar with a window behind it showing another room, which I am guessing is the kitchen or storage. To our right is a fireplace, though very little heat is emanating from it since only small coals still burn in it.

  “Hello!” Chesrie calls out, her voice echoing right back through the still, lukewarm air.

  We wait a second, but no one replies. I watch Chesrie, hopeful that she will come to her senses and agree with me. A look of concern slowly spreads across her face, and it seems as though she is about to. To my chagrin, however, her eyes suddenly widen and appear only hungrier as she turns to me.

  “Even better if they’re not here,” she grins.

  “And what if they come back?” I question, though I find other possibilities much more frightening.

  “We’ll figure something out then. We have before.”

  “This isn’t normal, we should go ask Anwir if he maybe knows what could be going on.”

  “And tell him that we just wasted the perfect opportunity to get even more than we had planned on. Come on, Kelcie. This is our chance, our big prize. Think about the mountains.”

  I sigh with frustration, but I don’t know if I’m frustrated with her or myself. I want this life to be over, so why can’t I just suppress my apprehensiveness enough to finish it?

  “Okay,” I say, putting my hands to my face, something I do when I’m stressed.

  The makeup I’m wearing, which I had momentarily forgotten, smears a little. I remove my hands to see that some of it has rubbed off onto my palms and fingers.

  “Here,” Chesrie says while handing me a handkerchief, “at least you won’t have to wear that nasty stuff anymore.”

  I exhale a smile, hurriedly removing what plaster I can sense is there, but it is hard to do without a mirror. Chesrie steps closer and takes the handkerchief back, working very quickly until the skin on my face can finally breathe. Then we make our way across the room and get to work.

  The exhilarating rush of blood through my veins instantly replaces my anxiety with excitement. I am accustomed to this transformation and ease into it without problem. I’m always edgy before I start plundering through people’s belongings, but then when I’m actually in the act, I become sharp and focused. Despite the strangeness of our current circumstances, this time is no different.

  It doesn’t take very long to clear the large room of what scarce valuables are there, just a few coins behind the bar in a locked box, one Chesrie is able to easily pick open. We run up the stairs and go
through a few rooms, but they are void of any personal belongings. It makes me shudder at the thought of why everyone has gone missing, but I try to ignore it as we work our way out of the inn and into a nearby building.

  We enter cautiously only to find that it is dark and cold inside. The fireplace in this home hasn’t been used recently, at least not today. We creep up the stairs and into a bedroom. There, a large mirror has been fixed onto a table, a chair sitting in front of it. On the table lie open a couple of small, decorative boxes with necklaces draped over their sides.

  “That’s more like it,” Chesrie gasps.

  I grin as I watch her pick the contents out and place them into a large, hidden pocket inside of her coat. Meanwhile, I check the rest of the room, finding little else of worth.

  “Maybe we should split up,” she suggests.

  I swallow hard as a pang pulsates from my heart. The thought alone of wandering this place without Chesrie next to me makes my insides want to scream, but I try once more to suppress those feelings, though it becomes impossible when the echo of a light clicking sound on wood begins coming through a nearby window. I rush toward it and look down at the boardwalk. No one is there.

  “Or maybe not,” Chesrie says much quieter.

  Her eyes are on me, the smile she was previously wearing now completely gone. She gets up slowly and follows me as I walk with soft footsteps back out into the hallway and down the stairs. We