The Guardians of Island X (14 page)

“Smelly wild pig!” the admiral exclaimed, then lowered his voice again. “This isn’t a game, Scarlet. This is serious.”

Scarlet took a deep breath to calm her temper. “Father. I need your help. This is more important than your man getting pegged to a tree.”

He raised his eyebrows. “What is it?”

She paused, then blurted out, “I need you to teach me the Islander language again.”

“You need…what?” He looked bewildered. “Why?
Scarlet, I don’t remember any of that. It’s gone.” He said the last two words as if each one weighed a ton, then looked away.

“Look, this is important. Couldn’t you at least try?” She considered telling him about the Islander children but decided against it. What if he wanted to see them? That would just frighten them even more.

“Try? No, I can’t try. It’s a waste of time!”

“Please? I know that if you thought hard—”

He shook his head. “No. There’s nothing left in me. I don’t remember.”

“It
is
in you,” Scarlet insisted, not caring that she was raising her voice. “I found memories inside me even though you tried to erase them all. Blimey, Father, I had even forgotten my own mother!”

The admiral spun to face her. “Don’t you bring her into this! I won’t talk about her.”

“Well, I—”

“You don’t understand.” His voice was hard and jagged like his face. “You can’t begin to understand what it’s like knowing that you were the reason your wife and her entire family, her entire
village
died.”

Scarlet froze. “What? What are you talking about?”

He turned away again, and his shoulders sagged.

“
You
didn’t do it, Father,” Scarlet whispered, her anger fading fast. “You didn’t bring the fever yourself.”

He rubbed his forehead. “It doesn’t matter whether it was me or the next King’s Man or all of us. I was part of the problem. And I have to live with that every day.”

Scarlet wanted to reach for his hand, but he looked so full of anguish, so old, that it seemed like a single touch might shatter him. So she could only stand there until finally he straightened and turned back to her.

“I can’t remember,” he said. “And I can’t be here any more. I have to get off the island.”

“You mean you’re moving your men?”

“I mean I’m leaving the tropics.”

Scarlet started. “I’m sorry?”

“I’m retiring. I told my men this morning. I’m going back to the Old World.”

Scarlet could only stare. She’d now officially received too much information for one day.

“And I expect you to meet me here tomorrow. Spend one more night with your friends if you must.”

“My…”

“You’ll meet me here tomorrow. We’ll leave promptly.”

Leave? For the Old World? Scarlet’s jaw dropped. “But…I can’t come with you.”

“Now
that
is not up to you,” he said curtly. “As my daughter, you’ll do as you’re told.”

Scarlet felt dizzy. “I can’t,” she said again. “This is my home. My crew is here and—”

“Your crew? Scarlet, be serious. You may have spent the last few years playing with some street children, but that’s not how you’re going to live from now on.”

“Playing with street children!” Scarlet cried. “How dare you! My mates are the bravest, most tireless—” she stopped, partly because she was about to give away
their identity and partly because she was fairly certain her brain was about to explode.

“I leave tomorrow,” said the admiral. “I trust you’ll be here to meet me.”

Then he turned and walked back to his camp, leaving Scarlet utterly speechless.

Scarlet staggered away from the clearing, feeling as if she’d just been run over by a schooner. She wasn’t sure what was more disturbing: her father assuming she’d pack up and return to the Old World or her father blaming himself for the Islanders’ deaths.

All these years he’d been carrying that awful guilt. Scarlet couldn’t begin to imagine what that felt like. No wonder he didn’t want to rustle up old memories.

And yet, she wondered, did that excuse him for trying to forget? And forcing her to forget, too? She wasn’t sure.

After a while she stopped and looked around to determine just where she was. This business of relying on the island to direct her was just plain tiresome. She really had to get back to the Lost Souls. She’d been gone the better part of the day, and they’d be getting antsy by now.

“Speaking of antsy,” she said as her eyes fell on a familiar line of leaf-cutter ants. “Maybe if I followed—”

“Captain!” Jem’s voice floated through the trees.

“Fitz!” Scarlet cried, looking up. “Where are you?”

“Right here.” He popped out from behind a nearby tree, wearing a grin she wouldn’t have expected on someone who’d made the discovery of a lifetime but couldn’t convince his mates it had happened.

“Tell me you have good news. I
need
good news.”

Jem shook his head. “I don’t have good news, Scarlet.
I have
great
news. I think I’ve finally got it.”

“Got what?” The sight of a happy crew member filled Scarlet with such hope that she was able to crack a joke. “No, let me guess. The cure for baldness.”

“Better.”

“Feather beds for everyone!”

“Uh-uh. I know where the Islanders live.”

Scarlet gasped. “What? Where? How did you figure it out?”

“Well, I went back to the clearing and consulted my map. And I noticed something I drew yesterday morning. A clue!”

“What?” Scarlet was dying to know.

“Liam’s squash helmet.”

“Liam’s squash…” She shook her head, mystified.

“The Islanders must grow them!” Jem jabbed a finger in the air.

Scarlet gasped. “You think so?”

Jem nodded, whipping out his map and unfurling it with a flourish. “Now all we have to do is find the squash. And by my calculations, it’s this way.” He turned and marched off. Scarlet followed, reflecting that maybe a map wasn’t such a bad thing to have around.

A few minutes later, they came upon the root she’d tripped over twice. (Thankfully, this time she avoided it.)

“Here’s the root. So the squash should be right…there.” Jem pointed to some short plants with jagged leaves. The tree canopy was thinner there, so the sun could speckle them with its late-afternoon light.

Scarlet stared at the plants, and after a moment she
realized that they were growing in distinct rows.

“It’s a garden!” She kneeled to part the leaves, revealing two bright-orange gourds. Suddenly, memories of roasted vegetables flashed through her brain. Of course the Islanders gardened! “You’re brilliant, Fitz.”

“Thanks.” He blushed. “So I guess their house can’t be far away…”

They spun slowly, surveying the jungle around them.

Scarlet gasped. “Would you look at that?”

Jem gaped. “Sink me! Now
there’s
a tree house.”

A small, sturdy hut perched in the branches of an enormous tree some fifteen yards off the ground. Its roof was covered in big, flat leaves that helped it blend into its surroundings.

“
That
is exactly what we need,” said Jem. “I wonder if they’re home.”

He didn’t have to wonder long. A face soon appeared in the doorway, then the little boy popped out. After looking around cautiously, he grinned at Scarlet and Jem and unrolled a swinging ladder made of vines. He scrambled down the ladder to the jungle floor and trotted over to see them.

“Well, that’s one warm welcome,” Scarlet said. “Now I wonder where…”

“Kapu!” A shrill voice reverberated through the trees, and suddenly the boy’s sister was sprinting their way, looking as if she might slay them on the spot. Scarlet and Jem threw their arms in the air. The boy slowed to a stop and looked nervously between them and his sister.

“Oh!” Scarlet cried, for suddenly her brain was
flooded with the strongest, clearest feeling of distress—one she’d felt only once before. “Shivers,” she whispered as she looked at the girl. “That was
you
I felt when the pig was killed! But how…?”

The girl’s fists were clenched so tightly that her knuckles had turned white. Scarlet could practically hear her heart thudding.

I can’t believe it
, she thought.
I can channel the Islanders even more clearly than the animals. Then maybe this means…

Squeezing her eyes shut, she tried her best to reach the children through her thoughts.
We’re not here to hurt you
, she told them silently.
Please. We’re here to help.

The boy and girl looked startled. They looked at each other, then at Scarlet. Then the boy said something to his sister, whose fists slowly unclenched.

“What just happened?” Jem whispered. Scarlet didn’t answer; she was holding her breath.

The boy said something else, and the girl shook her head. They spoke some more, then fell silent, staring hard at each other. It was as fierce a staring contest as Scarlet had ever seen—even worse than the ones she used to have with Lucas. After a minute or two, the girl broke first, looking away from her brother and Scarlet and Jem.

The boy turned to Scarlet and Jem with a satisfied smile, poked himself in the chest, and said, “Kapu.” Then he poked his sister in the ribs and said, “Sina.”

“Ow!” the girl cried. She nailed her brother in the arm.

“Sina and Kapu.” Scarlet said their names out loud,
hoping that they’d trigger a memory. But nothing came to mind.

“This tree house”—Jem pointed—“is amazing!”

Kapu nodded, grabbed Jem’s sleeve, and led him toward it. Sina stepped forward as if to protest, then sighed and let the boys go. She folded her arms across her chest and glowered.

Upon reaching the big tree, Kapu scaled the swinging ladder and motioned for Jem to follow.

Jem hooted. “Can you believe this?” he called back to Scarlet, then he grabbed the ladder and climbed up after Kapu.

Scarlet felt relieved. He was a good sort, this Kapu. She wanted to go, too, but Sina wasn’t moving, so she stayed put.

A warm breeze wove through the trees, bringing with it a waft of spice. Scarlet sniffed deeply. “That’s jolly,” she said for the sake of conversation, even if Sina couldn’t understand.

Sina only grunted.

“Right.” Scarlet looked around for something else to talk about, and her eyes settled on some sticks leaning against a tree trunk. Each one was forked about halfway up, and Scarlet studied them for a moment before it suddenly came to her. “Stilts!”

Sina looked at her sharply.

“Stilts!” Scarlet repeated, gesturing toward them. “You walk on them, right?” She attempted to mime what that would look like. Sina only stared until Scarlet began to feel rather ridiculous and stopped miming.

Suddenly, Sina grasped Scarlet’s wrist and yanked her toward the stilts. She grabbed a six-foot-long pair for herself and thrust a similar pair at Scarlet. Steadying herself against a tree, she settled her feet into the footholds halfway up the stick.

Thinking that this would be a rather inconvenient time to break her neck, Scarlet followed suit. She secured her feet, said a quick prayer to whichever Islander spirits were watching, then let go of the tree.

She wobbled, but didn’t fall. “Okay,” she gasped, and took a shaky step forward. The next step felt steadier, and with the third she was practically a stilt master. “Hey!” she shouted to Sina, who stood a few yards away. “Hey, I can do this!”

For the first time, Sina smiled. Then she produced a ball made of leaves wrapped in twine. And without a word of warning, she lobbed it straight at Scarlet.

“Ack!” Scarlet caught it, wobbled dangerously, then straightened. “Ha-ha!” She tossed the ball back. Still grinning, Sina threw it again—harder this time.

“Oh yeah?” Scarlet hurled it back. “You think you can beat me at—”

And that’s when it came to her.

“Tapo,”
she said. The Islander word for their game.

Sina dropped the ball and froze. After a long moment, she began to nod—slowly, then faster. Then she took two giant steps toward Scarlet, reached out, and grabbed her hand.
“Tapo!”

Scarlet searched every corner of her brain but couldn’t find any more words. She closed her eyes and tried her
best to tell Sina that she couldn’t remember anything more.

After a long moment, a response slipped into her brain and announced itself with amazing clarity.

I’ll teach you.

Scarlet opened her eyes. Smiling, the older girl pointed to a nearby tree and told Scarlet its name. Then she did the same with the garden and the tree house. Soon they were running around on their stilts, Sina pointing and shouting out words, and Scarlet shouting them back, slowly beginning to relearn her first language. Within minutes they had a language all their own—a curious, wonderful mixture of words and shared thoughts.

They were so absorbed in it that they almost trampled Kapu and Jem, who’d descended from the tree house.

Sina called something down to Kapu, and his eyes lit up. Scarlet could tell his response meant something along the lines of “I knew it all along.”

Jem squinted up at Scarlet. “I didn’t know you could walk on stilts.”

“Me neither, Fitz!” She laughed as she and Sina both climbed down. “I never would have guessed.”

“Huh.” He looked puzzled. “Well, anyway, you really should see this tree house, Captain. The design is flawless. Do you think they’d come back to camp and show us how it’s done?”

“Good question.” Scarlet smiled, eager to show off her new skill. “I’ll ask.” Through a mixture of words and thoughts, Scarlet asked the Islanders to accompany them back to camp.

Jem jumped at the sound of the Islander words leaving Scarlet’s mouth. Then he shook his head. “I think I could be friends with you for a lifetime and never get used to your surprises.”

The Islanders were deep in conversation. Kapu seemed eager to go, Sina less so.

“Please?” Scarlet asked her. “You’ll really like the crew. And we sure could use your help.”

Sina hesitated. “But they’re so…Old World.”

“But they’re also children, and they’re jolly,” Scarlet assured her. “They won’t hurt you. If anything, they’ll adore you.” She hoped Smitty wouldn’t be wearing one of his island warrior getups when they arrived.