Zak slapped a button on the wall, and the door shut in Tash’s face.
Wrong approach, Tash decided.
She wondered whether he was simply in shock from the death of his new friend. She could understand if he was upset about Kairn. It was terrible when anyone died, but to have it happen to such a happy, friendly person was even worse. And he was Zak’s first real friend in awhile. It made sense. Still, it wasn’t like Zak to shut himself away when he was upset, even at something like that.
Maybe he was angry that no one believed his story about the zombies. But how could anyone believe him? Who had ever heard of the dead coming back to life? Besides, even if Zak believed his own story, he was too stubborn and independent to let someone else’s opinion depress him. He’d just ignore them.
It had to be something else about his adventure in the cemetery. But what?
Deevee came out of Uncle Hoole’s room and stopped beside Tash. “Still no luck in exhuming our buried young Zak?”
“Exhume,” Tash said, ignoring Deevee’s poor taste in jokes. “That means to dig up, right?”
“Ah, I see our lessons are paying off at last,” Deevee replied.
“This is no time for jokes, Deevee.”
The droid gave his mechanical version of a shrug. “Not to worry. Before you know it, Zak will rise up like the dead of the Necropolitan legends. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to continue Master Hoole’s search for a suitable ship.”
Tash repeated Deevee’s words to herself “Like the dead
of
the Necropolitan legends.” Like Zak, Tash had heard the stories about people who visited the Crypt of the Ancients, hoping to bring people back from the dead.
Is that what Zak had wanted to do?
“I guess it didn’t work, did it?” she called through the door. “Trying to bring Mom and Dad back, I mean.”
There was a pause. Then the door opened and Zak let her in. “You didn’t go into that cemetery just because someone dared you, did you?” Tash guessed. “You went in because you thought there was some way to bring Mom and Dad back. “
Zak reddened. “Yeah. Pretty stupid, huh?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “If I thought there was some way to get them back, I’d try it, too. But, Zak, even Kairn said that story’s just a legend.”
It’s not a legend, Zak thought. I saw it happen. The dead can come back!
However, he knew Tash wouldn’t believe him. She and Deevee and Uncle Hoole thought he was imagining things. Out loud, he said, “Maybe you’re right, Tash.”
Tash grinned. “Hey, I’m always right!”
Tash left Zak’s room feeling like she’d helped him-at least a little. He was obviously very bothered. What had started as one scary nightmare had turned into a series of delusions about walking corpses. But she was confident that he would snap out of it.
Tash headed for her room down the hall. As she did, she passed by Uncle Hoole’s room. The door was closed, but the sound of conversation leaked through.
Conversation? Hadn’t Deevee gone off to look at starships? Who would Uncle Hoole be talking to?
Curious, Tash listened closely, and her eyes grew wide with surprise.
“In any case, that is my proposal,” came the voice of Uncle Hoole.
“I’ll consider it,” replied another voice.
The voice of Boba Fett.
CHAPTER 9
By midday Tash was kicking herself for not opening Uncle Hoole’s door right then and there. But she had been too surprised. Why was a respectable scientist like Uncle Hoole talking to a notorious bounty hunter like Boba Fett?
By the time she had recovered her wits, the voices were approaching the door, and Tash had barely scrambled around a corner before Hoole’s door slid open. She caught only a glimpse of the armored assassin striding out of Hoole’s quarters.
They had to attend Kairn’s funeral that afternoon. “The funeral rites of Necropolis are most impressive,” Deevee said on the way to the cemetery. “I wish I could attend! Unfortunately my search for a reliable starship dealer continues. Otherwise I wouldn’t miss the funeral. It should be
most interesting to watch.”
“Deevee!” Tash scolded. “This isn’t a field trip. It’s a solemn occasion. “
That it was.
A great many people turned out for the funeral. Zak and Tash weren’t surprised that Kairn had so many friends.
At the cemetery gates, the crowd gathered around an elegantly carved coffin. Necropolitan symbols were carved into its lid, and Zak noticed that although the coffin lid was shut, there was a large bolt on it that had not yet been locked.
Next to the coffin, a small, closed tent had been erected. Zak could not see inside, but he heard someone sobbing.