Chapter 34

Three bodies, all male changelings, lay criss-cross atop each other. The hard time on trees had covered some of their limbs, indicating the bodies had been here for at least a day or two. The repugnant smell blanketed thin air.

Noah came to stand beside her, hands in his pocket when he spoke.

"Why do they smell like that?" He didn't ask anyone in particular.

"The ice doesn't dull the smell, does it?" Vasic hummed. He was kneeling next to them, opening and closing their eye lids as if he'd find something he previously missed.

"I can't smell anything but them. Who do you think would do this and leave it out here?" Simon fixed his eyes on Noah, expecting an answer somehow.

Noah decided it was time to tell them. Simon adorned no tin foil hat to be fooled by his diplomatic, non-answer answers.

"Last time this happened. It was five years ago. Rudrig decided to butcher three changelings who trespassed to set an example."

"That's barbaric." Vanessa hadn't realized she had spoken out loud.