“So any guesses what it is?” Cade called out, his voice hoarse from heavy breathing.

For a moment there was no reply, only the panting of the others as they staggered on like zombies.

Then Scott’s voice piped up.

“All I’ve got is a triangle shape that smells like death,” he said. “Maybe … Yoshi’s underwear?”

It was a poor joke, but it elicited a laugh from the others.

“Joke’s on you,” Yoshi called out. “I haven’t worn any for months.”

Another laugh, this time more heartfelt.

“Seriously though,” Cade said. “Let’s guess.”

Silence. Then:

“Another fort?” Amber said. “Maybe one full of bodies after a battle. I mean, we’ve got Fort Caroline and Jomsborg. Why not another?”

Cade considered it.

“Would have to be a pretty crappy fort for them to want to go to Fort Caroline instead,” he said. “But I hear you on the bodies part.”

“It has to be a place with a roof, right?” Trix asked. “If the Romans considered making it their base. Like a church, with the triangle shape? Like, the Vikings raided English churches all the time, killed all the monks. Maybe Abaddon stuck with the Viking theme.”

“Right,” Cade said. “Could be.”

He thought for a moment. “I’d love it if it was a modern building,” he said. “From our time. Or even post–First World War. Imagine how much better things would be if we had actual guns?”

Bea gave a bitter laugh. “I think Abaddon likes to watch us bleed.”

Cade didn’t doubt that. But he could dream.

The black smudge grew larger and clearer with each mile they traveled. It was gray brown in color and shaped like a leaning shard poking from the ground.

It was only when they were a hundred feet away that Cade recognized it for what it was.

A ship.

CHAPTER

20

The ship was a rusted hulk, broken down the middle with its back half-flat along the ground. Its front end pointed upward, as if it had fallen from the sky and bent from the impact before tipping back and resting.

So this was their triangle. A five-hundred-foot metal ship. Modern, perhaps. It was hard to say; the thing was so rusted that no lettering or detail remained.

And the smell. It hit them like a physical wall, leaving their eyes watering and nostrils stinging.

“That’s not dead bodies,” Cade choked.

“I think this is worse,” Scott groaned.

It was no wonder the Romans had abandoned this place. There was no getting used to that.

The odor was strangely similar to that of the cesspit, but more chemical in nature, like rotten eggs. But it gave Cade hope in some strange way. The smell was unusual. And unusual meant this thing had been abandoned here for a reason.

“How do we get in?” Scott asked, dropping the handholds of the sled and rubbing his cracked, blistered hands.

Cade jogged closer, curiosity fueling his aching body. There was a huge rent down the ship’s middle, a crack yawning like a jagged mouth. As he approached, the miasma in the air seemed to thicken, and he held a sleeve up to his nose.