The Tears of Nero (The Halo Group Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

was the only one.”
    “Nope,” Edward confirmed.  “You weren’t.  Our gracious host saw fit to include a picture of my dead wife and son.  They were killed in a car accident a little over a year ago.”
    “That’s terrible,” Sadie said.  “Mine was a picture of my stepfather.”
    Sadie didn’t elaborate, leaving everyone to form their own conclusion about what made her memory so difficult to bear.
    “I had a picture of the alcoholic husband who used to beat me every night before stumbling off to bed,” Kelly said.  “What about you two?” she gestured toward Henry and Franklin. 
    “A picture of my sweet Margaret,” Henry said, choking up at the thought.  “I was married to her for fifty-two years and would have stayed married to her forever if the Lord had given me the chance.  I spent nearly a year watching the cancer eat away at her until there was nothing left.  Finally she was gone.”
    Everybody turned to Franklin expecting him to tell what had been in his invitation.  Instead, he looked at the ground and kicked at the sand.  “I’d rather not discuss mine right now,” he said in a quiet voice.  “Let’s say it was bad and leave it at that.”
    “Fair enough,” Edward said.  “Let’s focus on what to do about our little predicament here instead.  Why don’t we spread out and have a look around?  We’ll all stay where we can see each other.  If someone finds something, all they have to do is yell.”
    “What if a homicidal maniac steps out of the jungle with a machete?” Franklin asked, not bothering to hide the sarcasm in his voice.
    “Try not to get cut,” Sadie said, flashing a fake smile. 
    “Everybody be careful,” Edward added.  “We don’t know who or what we’re up against.”
    Soon everyone was leaving their mark in the sand.  Footprints fanned out in five different directions as the group went their separate ways looking for answers.  Under normal circumstances, the beach would have seemed like paradise, but viewing this scene through fearful eyes cast everything in a sinister tint.  Edward walked up the treeline and searched the edge of the jungle, scanning the shadows for anything substantial.  Sadie and Kelly walked north up the beach, taking off their heels and letting the waves suck the sand out from between their toes.  Henry, meanwhile, went south, stopping every now and then to pick up a shell and throw it out into the blue currents, remembering how his dear Margaret used to love the beach and how he‘d always pretended to like it too because he knew it made her so happy.  Never one to do more than he absolutely had to, Franklin half-heartedly searched the immediate surroundings.
    As his mind wandered, he paced back and forth across the sand, not really searching for anything.  That was when he tripped and fell on his face.  Confused at first, Franklin lifted himself up, spit out a mouthful of sand, and brushed himself off.  He looked for what had caused him to fall.  A sharp corner of something jutted out of the ground.  Thinking it might be important, Franklin began to dig, raking sand away with his fingers.  As he uncovered more and more of the object, he realized it was a box of some sort.  “Over here,” he yelled.  “Everybody come quick!  I think I’ve found something.”
    The group converged on Franklin’s location and discovered what had him so excited.  It was a chest like the kind found aboard a pirate ship.  It was encrusted with barnacles and covered in a thick carpet of seaweed.  Bands of oxidized steel wrapped around the ancient box, holding it together.  Once it might have glimmered in the noonday sun.  Now, everything that wasn’t rusted was covered in a thick green coating of ocean muck. 
    “I’ll bet there’s gold inside,” Sadie said, her eyes lighting up at the prospect.
    “Don’t be naive,” Franklin said.  “I’m sure someone didn’t kidnap us and dump us out on this island so they could