by Kealohilani
“What do you mean, my mother?”
“A spell is turning you from Lani. Your actions this day are not worthy of you. You must fight. Fight it and win. Bar your heart to all evil influences— and humble yourself before the woman you love— for it is your heart that has been attacked. It would grieve your father and me to see you lose her.”
“She broke my heart…”
“I know, Jharate. Lani was under the influence of a powerful curse she could not have foreseen or detected. And now you have broken her heart because you are cursed in the same way.”
“I…” Jharate closed his mouth.
“You are causing tenfold the pain to her that she ever inflicted upon you. She gave up a year of her life to save your own! What more proof of love do you require?”
Jharate heaved a heavy sigh and lowered his gaze momentarily.
“I trust you, Mother. And I trust Father. I will speak with her when I awake.”
“You will have more happiness than you imagine could be contained within yourself if you will use your love to break free.”
“Thank you for your wisdom and guidance.”
“You can triumph over this hateful spell, Jharate.” Karsenia placed one hand on his cheek. “However, you cannot stay here with me any longer at this time.”
“I wish to stay.”
“I know. Alas, it is not right for you to do so. Your place is with the living and with the woman you love. Go and sleep now. You will need your strength to fight this curse. Remember, always, that I am with you and that I love you, Jharate.”
“I love you, Mother. Tell Father I love him as well.”
The vision faded away into nothingness and he plunged into a deeper sleep.
Lani’s eyes fluttered open. Everyone around her was sleeping soundly.
She groaned quietly without meaning to. Her entire body felt awful. It was infinitely worse than the effects of a bad flu. She wondered how far they had traveled and how she had gotten here.
Her moan awakened both Raoul and Drakne simultaneously.
Drakne snapped his fingers and his mattress, pillows, and blankets disappeared as he deactivated his sleeping shield. He stood up and leaned against the rock wall of the tunnel— watching Lani, and Raoul, who was now kneeling at her side. She tried to get up, but grimaced and lay back down again.
“No, don’t try to move yet,” Raoul instructed.
He grabbed the canteen Jaresh had given him and unscrewed the cap. He gently raised her head up and held the canteen softly against her lips.
“Here, drink this medicine. You have been out cold for hours.”
Lani drank it slowly. Her eyes opened in surprise as she realized how good it tasted. She had braced herself for some foul-smelling, bitter-tasting brew. But this was heavenly!
It tasted like a drink she loved that was made from red hibiscus flowers— a little like fruit punch. As she finished all she could manage, Raoul gradually lowered her head and screwed the cap back on the canteen.
“Did I really give up a year of my life, or was that a crazy dream?”
“You really did. You’re amazing.”
“I’ve never felt anything like it,” she whispered.
“I can’t imagine what having a year of life taken from you would feel like,” Raoul replied in a reverent tone.
“Let’s just say I don’t ever want you to find out,” she answered with a small laugh.
She cringed as the laugh shot a jolt of pain through her entire body. Lani stayed very still until enough of the pain subsided. Her face became very serious and she looked deeply into Raoul’s eyes.
“I don’t regret it.”
“I knew you wouldn’t. Some of us aren’t as forgiving as you are though.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, Arante slapped Jharate— twice,” Raoul held up two fingers, “Kendra decked him, and after that I tripped him accidentally.” Raoul made air quotes.
“Oh no. You guys shouldn’t have done that! But I know your hearts were in the right place.”
“Yeah, well he deserves a lot more where that came from! You sacrificed a year of your life for him and all he does is walk away from you!”
Raoul glared at Jharate, who was staring back.
“I know,” Lani sighed.
The full realization hit her like a head-on collision at ninety miles per hour. Not even the sacrifice of a full year of her life had been enough for Jharate to return to her. She would have done it all over again even if she knew the result would be the same— but she had let herself dream that he would love her again.
Lani blinked in surprise as she saw Jharate walking directly toward her. Had he heard what she had said about not regretting it? Even more startling was the fact that he was actually looking at her and not Raoul.
“May I inquire as to how you are feeling?” Jharate asked awkwardly.
“Would you like the polite conversation answer, or the truth?”
“I always prefer the truth.”
“I feel horrible. Thank you for asking.”
Lani tried to keep her face from expressing the complete shock that she felt at the fact that he was speaking to her at all. That took so much effort that she didn’t know what else to say. An uncomfortable silence followed while she tried to think of something to ask him.
“How are you?”
“I am… I would like to tell you… What I want to say is… Thank you for saving my life. I truly appreciate it.”
“You would have done the same. It was only one year. The siren would have killed you.”
Jharate opened his mouth as if he would speak again, but turned and walked away abruptly— picking up one of the torches as he left.
A slight rush of air whooshed across Drakne’s face as Jharate passed within inches of him in his hasty exit. He was glad he had awakened in time. Had Drakne not already let his protective shield down Jharate would have walked right into it and Drakne would have been discovered.
Lani was still looking at the spot where Jharate had stood just seconds ago, feeling more than confused. Had Jharate forgiven her? Was he trying to come back to her and didn’t know how? Or was he just trying to appease his conscience by thanking her? Either way, the fact that he had addressed her at all had to be a good sign, didn’t it?
Drakne was also uncertain as to what Jharate had just done. He watched Jharate carefully as he prepared for the day’s trek. Drakne decided it would be wise to keep him under close surveillance. Jharate might be finding a way out of his spell. Although, for the sake of research, it might be good to see if he could get out of it on his own.
Staycation
No, no, no, uh-uh!” Justin refused, insistently.
“But I don’t want to be a bother,” Lani insisted back.
“Are you kidding me?! You just saved all of our lives and you’re worried about being a bother?!”
“But—”
“No buts,” Raoul stated. “We’re helping you. Besides, you can’t even sit up on your own.”
“Listen to the man, sugar bunny. You don’t have a choice.”
Lani sighed and smiled at the same time.
“You guys are the best. Alright, I’ll let you help me.”
“Chaah! Only ‘cuz you don’t have another option,” Justin laughed. “What in the Hello Kitty are you wearing?” Justin asked as he caught a glimpse of Erik.
“What?”
“How do you still have those board shorts and that stupid Hawai’i T-shirt I saw Arante taking out of your backpack when we first got here? I thought you lost it in the fire!”
“The sanctuary gave it back. Cool, right?!”
“You and I have very different definitions of cool.”
“At least it’s not that bright red and orange coyote-ugly aloha shirt with all the pineapples and palm trees he’s been wearing the last two months,” Kendra cut in. “That hideous thing didn’t even fade!”
Erik smiled and defiantly put on his Los Angeles Angels baseball
cap.
“My eyes!” Justin exclaimed. “The flesh! It burns!”
“Dodgers fan— be gone!” Erik retorted, holding his two fingers out like a cross toward Justin.
Justin hissed like vampire and Erik laughed.
“You’re just jealous ‘cuz I’m prepared for the warm pools and you have to go swim in your clothes,” Erik taunted.
“What magic word do you use to get rid of a kook?” Justin asked as though earnestly trying to remember a spell. “Depart? Vamoose? Abracadabra? Avada Kedavra?”
“Hey!”
“If anyone’s going to Avada-Kedavra him, it’s going to be me,” Kendra snorted.
“Hashtag haters gonna hate.” Erik swaggered away like a runway model and found Arante. Lani laughed. Kendra got back to what she was doing and so did Justin and Raoul.
“Wrap your arms around our shoulders.”
Lani did as Raoul instructed and her two friends lifted her to her feet and helped her to walk. The herbal remedy was already helping her to feel better and was probably the reason she was up at all. However, it had only been a few hours since she had taken it and she was still extremely weak.
Justin shot sideways glances at her from time to time to see how she was doing and more importantly to check to see if she was catching on to what he was really doing— using his power on her to artificially take some of the gravity off of her body.
He hoped she wouldn’t notice. He knew that if she figured out his little secret that she would worry about her need for help draining his energy and she didn’t need that additional stress.
Jharate made no other attempt to speak with Lani— or even to make eye contact with her— throughout the rest of their trek through the never-ending tunnel. Not that she had really been expecting him to— but there was always that hope lingering in the back of her mind.
At long last, she saw a pinprick of light in the distance ahead. She felt a little stronger and a little happier as the small dot of light slowly grew into an exit. As they got closer and closer to leaving the tunnel behind them, each step she took made her smile grow wider and her heart beat with expectation— until they finally reached the way out.
Exiting the cave after being inside it for so long was an odd sensation. Lani had lost all track of time in its mysterious darkness. But now there was real light again. The sun was on its way back down, but still bright. She sighed happily as she felt its warming touch on her skin.
“I’m guessing from the sun’s relative position that it’s about four in the afternoon right now,” Justin remarked.
“How do you know that?” Lani asked.
“Well until the lake killed my pocket watch, I kept looking at it every morning. Wait— if Kook has his stuff back, maybe I should see if the sanctuary gave me my watch back! It might be in the piles of stuff on the supply stretchers somewhere…
“Anyway, back when I was looking at my watch every day, I was surprised to find that the sun kept rising at the same hour each day. So wherever Alamea is, it must be in the same relative position to its sun as Earth is to ours— because we have a nearly identical twenty-four-hour day.”
“That’s really cool, Justin,” Lani complimented.
“Geek test! You passed,” Raoul quipped with a laugh.
“This from a guy who has had a ‘word of the day’ emailed to him every day since high school,” Justin retorted with a smirk.
“Hey! How else would I have learned the word flummoxing? I love that word. It’s so much fun to say. Flummoxing. Flummoxing. Flummoxing!”
“Yes, and without that word, one of my favorite videos would have never been made. You remember ‘Flummoxing Boy’ Justin?” Lani laughed.
“Who could forget it? Man, I haven’t seen that in years! I can still see Raoul’s face coming up into view with the shades and the Ricky Martin song behind him. Ha, ha!”
“I know, right? And I love that he made it while he was grounded too. His parents probably didn’t even realize that they weren’t really punishing him ‘cuz he still had his video camera.”
“Hey! All they said is that I couldn’t leave the house! I didn’t! So I was still being a good son.”
“Technically,” Justin snorted, as they noticed Arante climbing up to perch on a rock. Before she started talking, Justin started quietly singing, “Announcements, announcements, announcements. A horrible way to die. A horrible way to die. A horrible death, to be talked to death! A horrible death to die!”
Only Lani and Raoul could hear him. Lani laughed, politely. But Raoul had to work very hard to stifle his laughter when Arante began to speak, just as Justin finished his silly little camp song.
“Ah-hem! Everyone get busy and set up camp for the night and then— enjoy!”
Several cheers sounded in response to this order.
“We don’t have long before dark anyway and it’s the last bit of relaxation we’re going to get before Destavnia. We’re beyond the half-way point of the pass now, which should put us in Zenastra in a little over a week-and-a-half if all goes well. So use this time wisely to strengthen yourselves in case we have a run-in with Drakne and his men once we get there.”
“Yes, make sure you save all of your strength ‘in case’ you run into Drakne,” Drakne chuckled darkly.
“Dismissed!” Arante commanded, cheerfully.
As the rebels spread out to set up camp for the night, Lani, Raoul, and Justin were able to better see their surroundings. The large pool just outside of the cave was exactly as Arante had described.
Cool water cascaded gently from a small waterfall into the lava-heated water. Palm trees and ferns and other tropical-looking plants grew around the largest of the interconnected warm pools— perhaps because of the steamy environment and volcanic soil.
They contrasted sharply with the rest of the stark and dreary mountain pass. Lani took a deep breath to draw in the fresh air. Lani was sure she wasn’t the only one who had become sick of the sight of pure rock, which made the crystal pool in front of her a glorious oasis in the desert.
Arante dove headfirst into the glossy warm pool. The dive was perfect, and she took off like a torpedo in the shallow waters. When she surfaced she turned back to Erik.
“What are you waiting for?”
Erik grinned, threw his hat and shirt off into a tropical flowering bush, and hurtled into the water in a single bound— landing close enough to deluge Arante with his splash. When he surfaced he embraced her and pulled her down with him for a passionate underwater kiss.
“That totally makes it so we can’t see you, Erik,” Justin muttered under his breath as he rolled his eyes.
“Let them be,” Lani suggested softly.
“I hear that a lot lately.”
Kendra didn’t have to be invited. She jumped in feet first and proceeded to swim around happily— enjoying the feeling of weightlessness.
“It’s so warm!” Kendra called back before diving below the surface and swimming further away.
Raoul and Justin slowly helped Lani to the water’s edge. Raoul made sure Justin had her before slipping into the water. He checked— several times— to confirm that both he and Lani would be able to touch the bottom.
When he was sure that the situation was safe, he reached his hands up to help her in. Justin levitated her carefully into Raoul’s arms. Lani squealed quietly in surprise.
“It’s like I’m flying!” she giggled. “That was awesome!”
“Right?! But then again— you always knew I was awesome, sugar bunny.”
“That I did,” Lani beamed.
Raoul rolled his eyes but let it pass. He gently helped Lani to stand in the water— keeping his arm around her shoulders. Overprotecting her with every action, he made sure she wouldn’t so much as stub her toe. The instant that Justin was sure that Raoul had Lani, he backed up about twenty feet, and stood poised like a runner at the starting line.
“Three… two… one… BONZAI!”
Justin took off like a bullet
and— with a flying leap over his friends’ heads— hit the water in a massive cannonball. Justin’s splash was so large that it completely doused Jharate before he had even put a toe in the water.
Jharate stood there— expressionless for a moment— water dripping down his face. He dove in. Lani laughed in spite of everything.
Others in the camp soon followed— until everyone was in the water.
Everyone except Drakne. Absolutely not, he thought, as though he had been invited. He hated water. He had always had a fear of drowning. And he loathed how powerless being in water made him feel.
He strolled over to a large boulder far enough away to be out of the splash zone, but with a vantage point that wouldn’t allow any of them out of his sight. There, he sat down to watch the rebel morons have their fun. Your fun will not last long.
“Kendra, think fast!” Justin exclaimed.
“What?”
Justin telekinetically created a large wave that rushed towards Kendra. She screamed and activated a dome-shaped shield to protect herself— watching in awe as the underbelly of the wave crossed over her shield.
“Dude! That was so cool! But I’m still gonna get you back for that!”
“Cha right! I’d like to see you try!”
“Oh it’s on!”
Kendra formed a rectangular shield in the water and shoved it forward quickly, shooting a giant wall of water at Justin, who used his telekinesis to make it part around him, laughing maniacally the whole time.
“Missed me, missed me, now you gotta kiss me! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!”
“In your dreams, Justin!”
“I think you mean in your dreams!”
Lani and Raoul laughed happily as the epic water fight continued to rage between Kendra and Justin at the far end of the main pool— as did all who were watching. The two gifts were so equally matched that it was impossible to figure out who was winning— but the show was spectacular.
Giant crashing sprays of mist. Rushing clashing waves. Colliding wakes. Absolutely beautiful chaos.
The spectacle continued for about thirty-five minutes— ending only once Kendra placed a permanent spherical shield around herself that encompassed enough water within it for her to float on her back in complete safety.
