Luther was still reading when the group came back from the water.
He had worked through forty pages, which was fewer than he would have managed at home because the sound of the sea was distracting in a way he found he did not entirely mind.
Selena appeared beside him at some point and sat down without asking. He had come to understand this was simply how she operated.
"You're not reading," she said.
"Intermittently."
"What's wrong with the book."
"Nothing. I keep looking at the sea."
She looked at the sea too. The afternoon had turned it a deeper blue.
"When did you leave the programme," she said.
"Twelve years ago. They assessed me as unsuitable during the militarisation phase." He set the book down. "I was grateful at the time. It took more years to understand that the gratitude itself was the thing they hadn't managed to take."
Selena looked at the water.
"You've been alone in this for twelve years," she said. "Watching. Building the file. Waiting."
