Racing the Dark (23 page)

"Sorry I didn't wait for you," she said, sucking on the end of the pine stick.

"Far be it from me to keep you from breakfast. So, is it as good as you thought?"

Lana stood up. "It's the best thing I've ever tasted ... well, maybe except for Mama's grouper. You want one?" she said, holding out another roll. Akua shrugged and took it. She chewed for a long time after she bit into it, her expression one of intense concentration.

"Well?" Lana said.

Akua laughed. "You're always so earnest ..." she said. "It's spicy, but good. Better than I thought. So maybe there are a few things you can teach me, too." She took another bite and nodded. "Well, let's go. We should get to the market district before the noonday rush."

The two left the docks together, munching on fried dough and laughing. They looked so happy together that many people looked at them and smiled, thinking that they might be mother and daughter. The few who noticed Akua's missing right arm turned away abruptly, unaccountably chilled.

Pua walked slowly through the narrow streets on the edge of the market district, absentmindedly peeling and eating the sweet roasted chestnuts she had bought near the waterfall. She had been walking through Ialo since dawn, remembering what it had been like the first time she and her sister Makani had traveled here, more than thirty years ago. Back then the houses hadn't been crowded so close together and the market district hadn't spilled into the bay, but the spirit solstice paintings had dazzled her just as much-decorating their houses was a ritual as well as a hobby for most of the residents of this oddly devout city. She and Makani had traveled here as two would-be adventurers, leaving their small community in the outer islands to explore the world. They had been planning to see Essel, maybe even the inner islands, but they never made it past Ialo. On their way to the inn one night, they had noticed something unusual by the docks. A line of girls, conical straw hats pulled low over their faces, were holding paper lanterns that swayed in rhythm with their feet as they shuffled forward onto a barge. In the dark, the girls looked like a sedate procession of gigantic fireflies. Three water temple officiates, dressed in the blue silk robes of their rank, stood at the head of the boat, silently surveying the girls as they lined up in front of them. She and Makani stared at each other for a surprised moment, and then walked closer to the tail end of the line. In the far back, two girls were arguing fiercely with each other.

"I don't want to go," the shorter one whispered. She pulled off her hat. "I won't go. You can't make me."

"We don't have a choice, Lia. Mama will kill us if we don't go," the taller one said, but Pua thought that she sounded like she agreed with her sister.

To Pua's surprise, Makani broke away from her and walked in front of the two girls, who stopped their whispered argument abruptly.

"I'm sorry, but ... what is this?" Makani asked, gesturing toward the barge.

Makani's beauty always stunned people the first time she met them. After a few moments the younger one finally found her voice. "It's ... for the water shrine. The guardian. We dive in the pool shallow as a thimble and deeper than the ocean and the water guardian will pick one of us for his wife." She frowned. "But I don't want to do it!"

The older one stared at her sister in frustration. "Well, we have to. If we don't hurry up, they're going to leave without us. Oh, come on, Lia, please don't cry!"

"Do you think ... what if you give us your clothes and lanterns and we go for you? We can meet here afterwards, and no one will ever know." Makani spoke breathlessly, and Pua could tell that she was determined to find some way onto that boat. Makani was like that-whenever she got an idea, it was impossible to resist her.

"But ... but we're not wearing any clothes under these," the older sister said, gesturing toward their navy blue wool robes. "For the diving."

Makani nodded, and then looked around. A few of the girls in the back of the line were looking at them curiously. Pua guessed that they only had about two minutes before everyone would file onto the boat. Makani began walking purposefully away from the group, toward a large ship. After a moment's hesitation Pua and the two sisters followed her behind the hull, where they were hidden from the other's eyes.

"Quickly," Makani said as she undid the long row of buttons down her shirt. Pua smiled to herself and began undoing her own buttons-traveling with Makani was certainly interesting. The younger sister grinned and then pulled her robe off over her head.

The older sister fingered the tight weave of Makani's leibo as she put them on. "You know, I've seen these..." she looked up suddenly. "Are you a diver?"

Makani nodded. "Or I was, anyway. How did you two get picked to do this?"

"The temple interviewed almost everybody ... I don't really know why they picked us, but when they sent us the invitation, our mother ... well, we couldn't get out of it."

Makani tied the hat under her chin and gripped the lantern. "Is there anything else we should know?"

The older sister handed Makani and Pua two tiny wooden figurines carved in the shape of a thin fish. "These are your passes. You don't have much time left. We'll meet you back here at dawn. Good luck."

Pua and Makani waved at them and then sprinted back to the procession just as the last girls were filing onto the barge. Two temple officiates standing near the back looked at them strangely, but didn't say anything. Pua stood as the barge was slowly poled across the bay, wondering what would happen inside the bluepainted walls of the water temple.

It felt as though they had descended into the bowels of the earththe staircase to the pool continued interminably until the air became so damp Pua found herself fighting incipient claustrophobia. They finally emerged in a cave, lit eerily by their bobbing lanterns and two torches on the walls. At the opposite end of the small cave sat a massive wooden door, carved in intricate bas-relief. The officiates made them all unstrap their sandals and leave them by the staircase. The floor was damp but warm, and Pua was aware of a strange energy beneath it, almost like the tremors before an earthquake. Two people by the door hauled it open with a brass ring. The groan of the rusty hinges echoed like screams off the damp walls. When she and Makani walked through the entryway Pua felt a pang of disquiet for the first time. What were they doing here? Wouldn't the water spirit find them out? They had grown up in the shadow of the outer water shrine, though, and perhaps Makani couldn't believe that its guardian would ever do anything to hurt them.

The room they entered was at least four times the size of the antechamber, and the wavering shadows cut by their swaying lanterns even more imposing. At its center was a roughly circular pool of water with a smooth surface that reflected their faces as easily as glass. The officiates ordered them to stand around the pool. One by one, each girl removed her robe, tossed in a wooden figurine, muttered a prayer of supplication and jumped into the water. Some surfaced almost immediately, looking bewildered when the other girls helped them up. Some remained under the water for what must have seemed like an amazingly long time to people who hadn't grown up around divers. A few jumped to find that the water suddenly only splashed around their toes. Those girls blushed especially red and ran quickly back to their place in the circle. When Makani's turn came, she calmly removed her hat and robe and tossed the little figurine in the water. She sucked air into her lungs with special diver's breaths, gave Pua a tight smile, and jumped into the water. For the first three or four minutes afterwards, when the whispers began, Pua remained confident. After seven minutes, however, terror began to slowly drip into her stomach-no one could hold her breath this long, not even a diver. Makani must have drowned.

Pua let out a high-pitched wail and sank to her knees. The water guardian had punished them for sneaking in on his ceremony and had killed her sister. She suddenly noticed the bottom hem of an officiate's blue robe and a finger peremptorily tapping her shoulder. Pua looked up slowly, wiping her face.

"Stand up, girl," the woman said, hauling Pua up by the arm. "Was she your sister?"

Pua nodded silently and the woman frowned. "You don't look familiar ... what are your names? Who interviewed you?"

Pua's heart began racing so fast she was afraid she might faint. Behind the woman she noticed that a few girls had attempted to jump into the pool, but the water had suddenly turned shallow. Her sister was trapped. The woman interrogating her turned around also.

"Great Kai," she muttered and then faced Pua again. "Show me your figurine." With trembling fingers, Pua dropped the fish into the woman's hand. The woman stared at it for a few moments and then clenched her fist angrily. "We sent these to the postmaster's daughters! What did you do to them?"

Suddenly there were hands gripping her from behind and Pua let out a helpless bleat of fear. "We ... traded. They didn't want to go, so we traded," she said, clenching her teeth as they wrenched her shoulder painfully.

The woman shut her eyes briefly. "You traded. If you've angered the guardian-" She broke off when she noticed a commotion behind her. The water started to churn violently, splashing waves on the feet of the girls surrounding it. In a sudden spray of steam and water, Makani practically flew out of the pool, her long black hair inexplicably dry. Rippling arms of water held her in the air for a moment and then lowered her gently onto the pool. The tiny figurine was strung around her neck on a strand of riverweed, but it had been transformed from rough wood into a shimmering opalescent white, like a mandagah jewel. Makani had an expression in her eyes Pua had never seen before-distant, but ecstatic. She walked carefully across the water of the pool-it didn't splash around her toes like it had before, but each step she took rippled outward. Pua raced toward her and caught her before she collapsed on the ground.

"I thought we were going to explore, Pua, but I guess we're going back," she said softly.

"That's okay," Pua said.

The next day, a boat bound for the outer islands held rather unusual cargo: Pua and the water guardian's new bride.

Thinking about how much her life had changed that one night, Pua wondered for the first time why Makani had been so sure she would travel to the water shrine with her. Then she smiled wryly- Makani had always known how much of an influence she had over her little sister. If Makani were still alive, Pua would still probably follow her wherever she went. But Makani had died five years after giving birth to little Kai, and nothing could have convinced Pua to leave him then. So she had continued on in that strange place with only a little boy and a grieving, half-human man for company. Ali'ikai and Pua had always had an understanding, and after Makani's death that understanding had deepened into something like friendship. Twenty-five years after Makani's death, Pua still sometimes felt a pain in her chest when she thought of her sister, but she knew that her grief was nothing compared to his. He had shut himself off after she died. He was distant toward everyone, even his own son. Pua had realized that if she didn't care for Kai, no one would. And so she had become "Mama Pua," and spent every day hoping that she could be as good a mother as her sister.

Pua had taken Kai to Ialo one time before the change. He had played in the streets like a normal little boy, stuffing his face with chestnuts and fried dough rolls and giggling uncontrollably at the antics of a street magician. Walking down the same streets two decades later, she still had the strangest impression that she could hear his voice calling her name, telling her about some food just up the road. But Kai was an adult now, and sometimes she wondered if he was entirely lost to her.

The reason why she had come was this: Kai, who was never angry and always unfailingly polite to everyone, had been in black rage after an argument with his father. He had begged her to go to Ialo and buy supplies and clothes that would make him look as normal as possible during his pilgrimage to the inner water shrine. Just before she left, he had confided to her that he was halfafraid the death or fire spirits had found some way to weaken their bonds-too many ominous things had changed in the past six years for the terrifying possibility to be dismissed. The wind spirit had broken free five hundred years earlier, but she remembered enough of the legendary tales of death and destruction in that event's aftermath to be very afraid. She had finished buying supplies the other day, but she knew that as soon as she returned Kai would leave, and she wasn't sure if she would ever see him again. So she spent her days walking the streets, haunted by memories.

The market district was especially crowded this morning, probably because it was the last Market Day before the beginning of the solstice. People were out buying charms and house-dolls for the new year and dragging last year's charms and dolls to the nearby temple, where they would be burned on Solstice Evening. Pua wandered aimlessly through the crowded dirt roads, stopping to look at nearly everything-including what a young man with a puckered scar over his right eye claimed were the mummified remains of a mermaid. About an hour after noon her stomach began rumbling again and she cast about for a food vendor. She realized that she had wandered into the grubbier part of market district, nearer to the docks. There were some interesting wares on display, but no food, since the vendors were afraid of light fingers. She was rounding a corner onto a road that would take her back to a busier street when she noticed a young woman displaying a necklace that glinted familiarly.