“I don’t know. Sarona said she would call me with instructions. I guess we just have to wait.”
We found a little café to sit in out of the sun but we didn’t have to wait for long. All of us were startled when the phone rang. “Hello?”
“Welcome to the friendly islands of Tonga. I hear you brought not one but TWO boyfriends with you. How lovely.” Her next words confirmed all my fears about Jason’s fiancé and the woman who had befriended Simone, making herself an integral part of our lives over the last few months. “I’m sure that Lesina will be happy to see her fiancé’s love for her is so powerful that it has brought him all the way here.”
I didn’t want to hear any more about Lesina. Because her name was second on my incinerate list. “Is Teuila alright?”
“That depends. Did you bring the Bone?”
“Yes. What do you want me to do now?”
“You’ll need to charter a sea plane. Tonga has one hundred and seventy islands and I want you to go to one called Tofua. There is a large crater lake in the center where the seaplane will land. Go there and wait for my phone call.” She laughed coldly, “I hope you’re prepared to rough it. Tofua is uninhabited.”
I ended the call, and the other two looked at me expectantly. “So what are we supposed to do?”
“Charter a seaplane and fly to an uninhabited island called Tofua.” Quickly I googled our destination, trying to get as many clues as possible for what could be in store for us.
“What does Google – the source of all wisdom – say about Tofua?” asked Daniel.
“It’s small – only fifty-six square kilometers – and it’s one of Tonga’s live volcanoes.”
All three of us thought of the same thing at once. Jason voiced it first, “But that doesn’t make sense. That makes it an ideal location for Leila, her powers will be amplified with the proximity of a volcano. Sarona knows that. Why would she want you anywhere near an active volcano?”
I kept reading the geographical description. “She also knows that I’m useless in water. There’s a four kilometer wide caldera right next to the volcano, occupied by a freshwater crater lake that’s about 250 meters deep. Salamasina warned us that Sarona could have vasa loloa on her side. Maybe she’s planning to drown me.”
It wasn’t a convincing joke and neither of them thought it was funny. For a few minutes no one spoke, and then Daniel took charge. “Come on. We’ll need to get a few supplies before we fly out. It’s past midday already so I’m guessing that we’ll be spending at least one night on this island.”
We got directions to a place we could charter a plane and then bought a few essentials before going to the dock where our ride waited. It was tiny. Barely enough room for the three of us and the pilot. I felt sick just looking at it bobbing there on the ocean. We sat in single row seats and I gripped Daniel’s shoulder tightly as the plane took off with a stomach-dropping leap. Please don’t let us crash. Please don’t let us crash. Flying was never a pleasant experience for me, and squished into an airborne sardine can was even worse. Xavier the pilot was French and regaled us with stories of his twenty years spent living in Tonga ‘the most beautiful islands in the world’ and pointed out sights of interest. I didn’t look at any of them because I had my eyes tightly shut the whole trip. Not until he said, “There she is – Tofua.” Then I opened my eyes and looked down.
The island was tiny – a flat-topped volcanic center with a steep and rocky shoreline all the way around. Xavier yelled over the engines to point out a cluster of desolate structures. “That’s Hokula, an abandoned settlement where people used to live before they moved to the adjacent Kotu Island. A lot of Tofua’s slopes are planted with kava, and villagers from Kotu will come to tend the plantations and harvest the kava.”
We came into view of a stunning expanse of blue-black in the center of the island. Beside it, billows of smoke and steam issued from a volcanic cone. “I’m taking it down now. Hang on everyone.”
I shut my eyes again while Xavier landed the plane on the lake and I kept them shut until we had come to a complete stop. The only motion was a gentle rocking of the craft on water. Daniel’s voice was encouraging, “Hey, we’re here. Come on, I’ll help you out.”
Feeling a little queasy, I allowed him to half lift me from my seat. Hands on my waist, he swung me out of the seaplane and settled me on dry land. Immovable, solid, familiar, beloved land. I resisted the urge to drop to my knees and kiss it in celebratory gratitude that we were still alive. I had learned something new today. Me and seaplanes don’t go together.
Xavier was still talking a mile a minute about the view, “Isn’t it amazing here? Nothing else like it on earth.”
I looked around and had to agree that it was breathtaking. In a very rugged, desolate, and wild sort of way. The lake stretched forever and the looming volcanic peak stared down at us with foreboding. To our right was a cliff drop to the booming ocean below. There was nothing else here but sky, earth, and air. No people, no town, no houses, cars … nothing. His charter concluded, Xavier asked, “So when do you want me to come back and get you?”
For one ridiculous moment I wanted to beg him to take me back right now. Don’t leave us here! But then I gave myself a mental shake. Don’t be ridiculous, Leila. Teuila needed my help. And Sarona – whatever she was up to – needed to be stopped. And Lesina? She needed to get the stuffing flamed out of her. With those motivating thoughts, I was able to smile when Daniel asked the pilot to “come back in two days or sooner if we call you.” We stood and watched as Xavier took his plane to the sky again, leaving us truly alone on Tofua island.
Or maybe not truly alone – because somewhere out there, Sarona was waiting for us.
We took a vote about what we should do next. I wanted to sit right there next to our bags, put up a fire wall of protection around us and wait for Sarona to show up. Daniel and Jason wanted to scope out the island, ‘evaluate the terrain’ and ‘establish Sarona’s location.’ Much to my disgust, I was outvoted. And what exacerbated my disgust was the fact that both of them had regressed to thinking they were special ops soldiers in a wilderness scenario. Or at least that’s what their conversation sounded like to me.
“We need to assess the terrain, identify the ideal location for an encounter with Sarona and her troops,” was Jason’s bright idea.
Daniel’s wasn’t much better. “I agree, but first we should check out if Sarona’s here and see if we can find any weaknesses in her location.”Somebody didn’t play enough army games when they were little. I sat down on my backpack and wished they would just get on with it. Mosquitoes were having a party checking out the new blood on the island, and standing around being a blood cocktail was really beginning to annoy me. And then all special ops conversations were suspended. Because Sarona and her telesā arrived.
I saw them first and scrambled to my feet. Two women I did not know emerged from the trees about fifty meters away. Even from this distance I could see they were twins. Thick, wiry black hair that fell past their shoulders, dark eyes, and unsmiling red lips. Both wore fitted blue shift dresses that clearly showed the tattoo patterns on their arms and legs. I knew they were telesā. I could sense it. But what kind? Each of them walked along the edges of the caldera, keeping their distance until they stood at parallel ends of the cliff. Waiting. Watching. Both Jason and Daniel moved to stand in front of me, and I resisted the urge to shove them out of the way. If anyone needed shielding, it would be the two of them. But it was very thoughtful of them and I really shouldn’t be complaining. I peered around Daniel’s shoulder in time to see Sarona walk out from the shaded forest. And walking beside her was Teuila. Alive and well. And smiling?
She saw me at the same time and her face lit up with – surprise? “Leila! What are you doing here?”
She ran lightly towards me and I tensed, waiting for the trick, the attack, for Sarona to do something awful. But nothing happened. I pushed past Daniel and Jason, ignored their warning, and met Teuila h
alfway across the caldera. A fierce hug. “Are you alright? I’ve been so worried about you.”
She laughed. “Yes, I’m great. Did you get my message? I have so much to tell you, so many good things.”
I interrupted her chatter, still keeping a careful eye on Sarona, who hadn’t moved from her position by the trees. “Wait a minute. What’s going on here. What are you doing with Sarona? Aren’t you her prisoner?”
Confusion clouded her eyes, “No. Why would I be her prisoner? Lesina invited me here. Sarona’s amazing. Do you know that telesā are real? It’s true. And I’m one of them. And so is Lesina. Sarona and her sisters have asked me to join them, and Sarona is going to teach me how to control my Gift with plants and trees. I never have to go back and stay with my mother again.”
“Teuila, your mother is very worried about you. She thinks that you’ve run away, that you might be hurt somewhere. I’ve come to take you home.”
Her smile died and she took a step backwards. “I don’t want to go back there. My mother wants me to live with that man again. I won’t do it. Sarona has offered me a better life and I’m taking it. My home is with her and the telesā.”
Now Sarona acted. She laughed with confident ease, standing there in her trademark vivid green. She called out to me, “She speaks truth, Leila. In her old life, she was a victim without a voice, without a choice. With me, she will be strong and ferocious in her power and beauty. She will speak with the voice of the trees. Why would she choose her old life over that kind of power?”
Eyes narrowed, I tensed and quietly called for fire to be ready and waiting. Something was not right here. I felt Jason and Daniel come up behind me, strength and support. I called out to Sarona, “Why did you tell me she had been forced here? Why did you bring us here?”
Her reply was mocking, “For a joyous reunion. We are family, are we not? And the family that plays together, stays together.” Three more people joined Sarona now from the forest and stood in a row beside her. A dark, lean form – Keahi. Even from this distance, my fire core leapt to see him. I wondered, could he feel it too? There was another telesā I did not know – striking in vivid red with a single streak of white through her black hair. And then Lesina. Hesitant – she refused to meet our gaze. Seeing her was like a dagger thrust targeted at Jason. I felt him recoil beside me. And I ached on his behalf for the pain he surely must be feeling. With her team arrayed beside her, Sarona continued, “Did you bring the Bone?”
“Yes. But it was meant as a trade for Teuila’s freedom.” I turned to the young girl in front of me, whispered, “Teuila, you don’t know Sarona like I do. She’s evil, I can’t think of any other word to describe her. Her sisterhood is not the place for you. Come back with me to Samoa and I can train you to use your Gift. I can help you.”
“Can you kill my mother’s boyfriend for me?” She demanded. “Can you make sure my mother never works as a prostitute again and never brings home men who hurt me? Can you do all those things?” She paused, and her eyes flashed as she backed away from me, “No, I don’t think you can. I choose Sarona. I choose freedom.” She walked away and stood with the other telesā arraigned against us.
Sarona called out. “I’m sorry that particular reunion didn’t work out like you wanted.”
I ignored her and directed my venom at another. “Keahi, this isn’t right, bringing a child like Teuila into this. She had friends who cared about her back at the Center.” He remained impassive, and I tried another line of appeal, “Sarona can’t help you with your fire.”
He smiled that hateful leering grin. “That’s where you’re wrong.” He slid his arms around Sarona’s waist and kissed her on the mouth. For a blurred moment, their bodies were joined as one and then a flash of lightning lit up the clear sky above us. Sarona stepped out of the embrace and lightning channeled through Keahi, lighting him up like a match. Sparks, cinders, flames. Keahi was alight. Exultant and triumphant. My heart sank. I could feel his power through my own links to fanua afi and his control had grown a little. Which meant his capability for destruction had intensified. A lot. The odds were slowly shifting in this battle and I didn’t like it. Yes, Daniel was vasa loloa but he was new to his Gift and had little or no experience with controlling it. I could not count on his ocean power today. It was too soon for him.
Sarona was impatient. “Enough of this. Give me the Bone.”
Daniel moved to stand by my side and took my hand in his. A smile, a reminder. As long as we are together, we can endure anything. Jason stood at our flank, numb and silent. Daniel asked, “What will happen if we give it to you?”
Sarona’s reply was swift, “Then I won’t kill your girlfriend slowly. I’ll take her out quick and clean.” She shouted, “Now!”
Everything that happened next seemed to move in slow motion. With my core link to fanua afi, I felt Keahi combust a flame cannon, even before I saw it. But it was too fast for me to block, or avoid. A raging ball of fire burst from his hands and hit me full force in the chest. One instant I had air and the next I was gasping as it was forced from me. Fire was everywhere. Instinctively, my body flamed but too late, I was knocked off my feet and thrown twenty meters back. Over the edge of the cliff. I was flying. Then I was falling. And then, I was drowning. Black water pulled me, churned me, tossed me. Swim to the light, Leila. I broke free from the ocean’s clutches and drew in huge, gasping breaths. My first and only thoughts were for Daniel. Where is he? What are they doing to him?
FOURTEEN
Neither Daniel nor Jason could react fast enough as Keahi’s maelstrom of fire barreled into Leila and took her over the edge of the cliff.
“No!” Daniel shouted. He spun round to run after Leila, to dive into the wild surf below, but too late, Sarona had him encircled by a whip wire of lightning. He froze in place, with the crackling energy only a hairsbreadth from his flesh.
“Not so fast. I’ve got plans for your girlfriend that don’t include you.” A flick of her wrist and Jason was blasted backwards with a direct lightning bolt hit. “You too, surfer boy. You’re not going anywhere.” She did not see Lesina flinch as Jason skidded along the graveled ground and came to a jarring halt against a cluster of rocks.
A stunned Teuila shouted, “What are you doing? Stop it.”
“Silence girl.” Sarona snapped, before issuing a command for the twin sisters who stood sentry on the cliffside. “Summon it now. Before she can recover and reach land. Hurry.”
The two women in blue moved to clasp hands. A deep breath, eyes closed, wind whipping through their hair. Their tattoos glowed with an iridescent cobalt hue as they sang in unison. “What are they doing Elena?” a fearful Teuila asked the telesā dressed in red.
“They are reciting the chant of the octopus, Ko e lave Kia Feke.”
The song intensified, and there was a dreadful hush of anticipation. Still nothing. Sarona was furious with the delay. “Dammit, where is it? You assured me that you could summon it. Look, the girl is swimming to the rocks now. You must be quick before she reaches land.”
Daniel’s heart leapt at her words. Leila was alive. She was swimming to safety. And once she touched land, she would be unstoppable. None of them would be able to hurt her. There was still hope.
Across the caldera, Jason stirred and slowly lifted his head. Noting his movement, Sarona barked out a command to Lesina. “Watch that one. Better yet, go restrain him.”
Lesina walked to where Jason lay, a whispered command, and a coil of lightning was in her hands. But she paused and into that moment, Jason spoke, “You’re telesā matagi.”
Casting a glance at Sarona who was caught up with studying the ocean, Lesina nodded and knelt beside him. A curt command. “You better sit up. It will be less painful for you if you are upright when I put these chains on you.”
There was blood trickling from a gash on his forehead, and he winced as he sat up. But he did not try to struggle as she carefully wound the livid wire around his body. Every time it brushed against hi
s skin, it stung with volts of electrical energy and each time he flinched, her hands shook even more. She whispered, “Why did you come here? I meant what I said in my note. Everything between us was a lie.”
There was only certainty in Jason’s voice, “Maybe for you. But not for me. My love for you is the truest thing I’ve ever known.”
He cried out in pain as Lesina tugged at the wire viciously, and the smell of singed flesh filled the air, “Stop saying that. I drugged you with a telesā elixir designed to induce feelings of euphoric happiness, and a state of obsession mimicking those emotions aroused when one believes they are in love. That’s all love really is. A chemical reaction. All I did was give you the right mix of chemicals every day.”
Jason gritted his teeth as live electricity cut deeper with her every word. “When did you stop giving me the elixir then?”
“A week ago.”
“So how do you explain my feelings of euphoria and excitement when I saw you walk out of that forest? How do you explain why, when you’re torturing me right now, all I want to do is kiss you and bring back that smile I love so much?”
Lesina sunk her face into her hands, released the lightning wire, sobbed. “Stop it. Please stop it. I can’t do this. I am telesā, covenanted to Sarona.”
Jason raised a gentle hand to her cheek, tenderly capturing a runaway tear. “This is not who you are Lesina. The woman I first met on a busy day in her office who laughed at my lame jokes and offered to give me directions to the National Park? That’s who you are. The woman I fell in love with and then, after only two weeks, knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with? I don’t know who was crazier – the person who proposed or the person who said yes.” A Jason trademark grin. “That’s who you are. The woman who has defined joy for me.”
And then Lesina’s tears were flowing freely. “No, I’m not that woman. I’m sorry I betrayed you and Leila. All of you. I’m sorry I hurt you. I don’t love you like that. I’m not that woman, Jason.”
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