"Okay, lets go then." He says opening the door for me.
I head out first and once we make it to ground level I allow him to lead me in silence. My heart is pounding with anxiety. I'm not sure what I'm going to arrive to when we get back to the campsite.
Once we get closer Kao breaks the silence. "When we get there do you want me to explain what happened?"
"Um, well, I was hoping that we can part ways before we get there."
Kao spins around so fast that I literally run straight into his chest. I jump back startled. He stares at me with furious eyes, "You think I'm going to leave you alone? My brother is out there. He is going to hunt you down. There is no way I'm leaving you alone. You will be killed before the end of the day tomorrow. Or you will become one of them."
I feel the heat flame up in my cheeks as anger surges through me. "I didn't ask you to protect me Kao! I can deal with this on my own, I don’t need you to try to play hero. After all, less than a week ago you were the one trying to murder me! You were the one who turned your brother into a Night Marcher! Why should I trust you?"
His eyes widen in surprise, as if he's not used to being yelled at by women. What catches me off guard though, is that there's no anger in his expression. "I'm not asking you to trust me Emma. I'm telling you that I will not be leaving you alone. Yes, my brother is a Night Marcher because of me. The least I can do is help the woman he sacrificed himself for."
I stare at him trying to search his eyes for the truth. His words say that he's genuinely interested in helping me, but the tone he portrays hints at being artificial. I can see nothing in his black eyes that tell of his true motives. I don't know what to believe. How can this Kao that stands in front of me, be the same Kao that murdered Kai's fiancé so many years ago? Kai told me that he's selfish and evil. A person can't change who they are, can they? I don't know what to believe, but I can tell that Kao's going to stand firm on his decision to stick around. "Fine." I say.
He nods and starts walking again. I simply follow in silence.
Chapter 9
When we arrive at the campsite I find Kaylee sitting near the fire, her head in her hands. Tristan is nowhere in sight. "Kaylee!" I yell to her and start running. She looks up; her face is red and swollen with tears.
"Oh my gosh, Emma!" She says, tears of relief springing from her eyes. She runs and meets me halfway and we crush into one another hugging with all our might.
We both cry for a few minutes holding each other. "I'm sorry Kaylee." I say whole-heartedly.
She pulls away and searches my eyes. "What in the world happened Emma? Tristan is out making one more round before we were going to call the police. What the…!" She turns on her heal looking in Kao's direction. Her expression is so boiling hot with anger that you could probably fry an egg on her. She stomps forward to where Kao is standing.
I continue standing emotionless, as if the whole scene is playing out in slow motion. The piercing sound of flesh hitting flesh rings out in the air as Kaylee smacks Kao straight across the face. My eyes open wide in shock, "Kaylee!"
"You bastard! You took her! You better not have hurt her! I will freaking kill you if you laid a hand on her!" She rears her hand back to hit him again but I grab it just in the nick of time. Not that I didn't enjoy watching Kaylee smack Kao but he really doesn't deserve it in this instance.
She whirls around to face me, "Emma, what did he do to you?"
"He didn't do anything Kaylee, at least not today. He helped me." I say looking over Kaylee's shoulder at Kao. Thankfully he doesn't look pissed off, he just looks a little surprised and perhaps amused while he rubs the side of his face.
"He helped you?" She asks jabbing her finger in his direction.
"Yeah, he did. He saved me from...from Kai." Saying it out loud brings tears back to my eyes. "I...I looked at him in the eyes Kaylee. I was trying to shake him out of the Night Marcher trance, but it didn't work."
"She struck the curse, again." Kao chimes in.
Kaylee turns sideways so she can look at both of us. She doesn't show an ounce of regret for having slapped Kao. She asks, "Again?"
"Yes, the urge to follow through with his mission will consume Kai now. It's probably running through his blood, a need so strong that it can only be quenched through her blood, her sacrifice." Kao says it all like a man who knows intimately what Kai is going through.
I start shaking from the thought of what I caused. "It's a huge mess." I say quietly.
"A freaking hot mess! What are we going to do?" Kaylee asks looking from Kao to me. She notices my shaking and pulls me close to her. "Don't worry honey, we will get this all figured out."
"I'm not sure how we can fix this now Kaylee. I only came back to tell you that I've got to leave you here with Tristan. It's not safe me being around you while Kai is hunting me." I jump when a hand flies onto my shoulder from behind me.
"To hell you will!" Tristan says angrily. He spins me around to face him. "Where in the world were you?" His face is red hot with fury.
"I uh..." Words aren't forming in my brain. I have never seen Tristan look this angry and it being directed towards me really sets me back.
"Give her a break Tristan! She's been through a lot." Kaylee says stepping up to stand next to me. She always has my back.
"No offense Kaylee, but I'm talking to Emma." He looks back at me; his aquamarine eyes are set into a hard stone like stare. "I have been running around this island looking for you in a panic. Every horrific possibility of what could have happened to you flashed across my mind. I want answers now! Where were you?"
It takes a lot for me to keep from tearing up at his harsh tone, but I will myself to keep a straight face. I have been crying way too much lately, in fact, I think I've cried more than enough to last me the rest of my lifetime. I need to be strong if I want to get through this. I stick my chin up in the air stubbornly, "You don't have to yell at me Tristan, seriously!"
His eye brows furrow together as he says, "Emma, you ran away yet again! How do you expect me to react to your every other day disappearing acts?"
"Ouch Tristan!" I say seriously cut by his words. "I wasn't trying to disappear. I ran away yes, I don't know how to process all of this." I make a huge circling motion with my arms. "We keep fighting, I feel like everything is all my fault and that I'm having to apologize all of the time Tristan. There's just too much going on right now. I can't handle it!"
Tristan's features soften a bit. "I know it's a lot Emma, but I'm trying to help you and keep you safe at the same time."
"Ha! You obviously aren't doing the best job." Kao chimes in from behind me. I turn around to see Kao staring smugly at Tristan with his hands crossed over his chest.
Tristan's eyes lock onto him, his jaw clenching in anger. He looks like he's just now noticing Kao's presence. "And you are?" Tristan says in a disgusted tone.
"I'm the one who did keep her safe this time. My name is Kao, it's a pleasure to meet you." Kao says cockily.
Tristan nearly knocks me over when he lunges at Kao. I jump back in surprise and watch as Tristan punches Kao in the face then pushes him to the ground. They end up in a jumbled mess of flailing limbs on the forest floor. Tristan and Kao matching each other blow for blow.
Kaylee and I both yell out in unison, "STOP!" To our surprise they both comply, rolling away from one another. I run over to Tristan who has the makings of a black eye forming. I don't even look back at Kao. To be honest, I think he deserved anything he got, goading Tristan like that. I grab Tristan's hand and help him up from the ground.
"Seriously boys?" Kaylee says looking back and forth from Tristan to Kao. "Let's play nice okay? He helped Emma, we don't need to be pummeling Kao now even though his comment certainly deserved a good WWF brawl."
"Oh yeah? He helped Emma before or after he tried to kill her? Huh?" Tristan spurts out pissed off.
"After." I say a little incredulously. A hysterical laugh bubbles up at the absurdity of the situation. I break ou
t in all out laughter as everyone turns to look at me like I lost it.
Kaylee doesn't stare at me for long until she breaks out in a full out cackle. "Yeah, it does sound pretty ridiculous when you say it out loud."
Tristan and Kao don't join in though, they continue giving each other the stink eye. I decide it's best to just go ahead and pull Tristan to the side and explain what happened to him privately. "Let's talk," I say grabbing Tristan and pulling him towards the picnic bench away from Kaylee and Kao.
I eye Kaylee as we walk away, silently asking her if she's okay with being alone with Kao. She nods back to me.
We sit down across from each other on the bench. I figure it's best to put a small bit of distance between the two of us. I start in on telling him what happened. I tell him every detail except how I truly felt when I saw Kai. I don't know how to explain that to Tristan without hurting him. How do I tell a man that bared his heart to me and told me that he loves me that I may very well be in love with someone else? What I feel for Tristan could be love, I care so deeply for him. What I feel for Kai seeps deeper filling in all of the crevices of my broken heart. Just seeing him again confirmed for me that what I feel for him is not an infatuation or a simple crush. I felt something big and having him torn away from me once again made my heart feel as if it had collapsed in on itself. No, I can't explain that to Tristan right now. I know that eventually I will have to, but right now I have too much going on to go there. I will however place more distance between us, at least until I sort everything out. I will not lead Tristan on.
After I finish telling Tristan almost everything he asks, "So he's coming after you? The man that took your place?"
I nod carefully. "He doesn't want to Tristan, but I don't think he can help himself. He expressed so much control but it wasn't enough. For every move the curse made him make, he countered it with his own desire not to harm me."
"Yeah, I get that Emma, but you have to stay away from him. It's not safe." He says concerned.
"I know. That's why I also need to stay away from Kaylee and you. I don't want you both to be in danger because of me. I‘ll find a way to correct this." I say determined.
"Not a chance! We are in this together and you will not run away." He says sternly.
I stare him down, hoping I can convince him with my eyes to let me go, but he doesn't give. "What about Kaylee? We need to keep her safe." I say.
"We can send her back to Texas." Tristan says simply.
"Ha, no way!" Kaylee chimes in from behind Tristan. I don't know how long she’s been standing there. "I'm not leaving Emma."
"Kaylee, please. I just need to know you’re safe. If you want to stay on the island we can get you a hotel room." She doesn't let down her glare so I continue, "Or a room at one of the resorts. You know, the ones with one of those fancy spas. You can meet a nice cabana boy..." Her glare turns harder and she throws her fisted hands on her hips. "Fine, but you have to stay back!" I say defeated. It's funny how Kaylee can win an entire argument without chiding in.
"Fine I‘ll stay back, after all you are the superhero Emma." Kaylee chimes in happy that she won the argument so quickly. There is, however, a slight hint of sarcasm in her voice.
I look around and thankfully don't see Kao anywhere nearby. I turn my glare towards Kaylee because of her blurted out statement. I hadn't told Tristan about my healing ability.
She covers her tracks quickly catching on to why I was glaring at her. "I mean you obviously keep escaping these crazed Night Marchers."
Tristan thankfully doesn't question her declaration. He chides in, "Well, she may have escaped but she's still not safe. We need to find a way to break the curse, and quickly." He looks around and continues, "Speaking of crazed Night Marchers, where is Kao?" He spits out Kao's name as if the word tastes like bile on his tongue.
Kaylee looks behind her, "He said he had to go. I'm not sure where he went."
"Well, hopefully he won't come back." Tristan says.
I nod in agreement. We all lapse into a moment of silence as the night's emotions catch up with us. During that silence I hear an odd chain of noises not too far off in the woods. The only way I can describe it is that it sounds like rocks being clicked together in some sort of Morse code. Both Tristan and Kaylee look around as well so I can tell that I'm not the only one who is hearing the odd clicking.
"What do you think that is?" Kaylee asks a little unsure and nervous.
"I'm not sure." Tristan says. He holds up his index finger for a moment while straining his ears to try and hear it better.
The clicking starts to intensify. "I think we should go check it out," I say.
Tristan looks at me worried, "I’ll go check it out. You two stay here."
"Absolutely not! We’re coming along." I say stubbornly. When Tristan opens his mouth to argue I cut him off saying, "It's just some clicking noises Tristan. I doubt any big evil spirits are trying to lure us into the woods. Plus, we are better off sticking together."
My last addition seems to satisfy him and he gestures for us to head out in search of where the noise is coming from. We start making our way into the woods. Tristan holds back branches as Kaylee and I make our way forward through the overgrown brush.
The clicking sound is not very consistent so it's hard for us to get our bearings on which way to go. It's as if the source of the clicking is getting tired at certain points and then at other points there's a burst of energy and the clicking intensifies. We continue walking, sometimes changing directions, when one of us thinks we here it get louder.
"Wait." Tristan whispers holding up his hand. We all stop walking at once and listen.
"It’s stopped." I say quietly. We stay silent for what seems like several minutes and right as we are about to turn around and try to make our way back to camp we hear a guttural wail. The ground shakes ever so slightly as if the earth itself is crying out. The cries sound like they are coming from a woman and whoever it is must be in complete agony. With a sickening feeling in my stomach I start running in the direction of the tormented howls. I can hear Tristan and Kaylee struggling to keep up behind me. Tree limbs scratch at my face, but I don't notice them much. My mind is too focused on the gut wrenching cries emanating from someone that is now only yards from me. I break out into a very small clearing to find a Menehune leaning over something weeping so hard that their whole body shakes in agony.
I hold my hand up to Tristan and Kaylee asking them to stay back as I move into the clearing. When I approach the Menehune she turns around. I gasp in shock. "Eve!"
The last time I saw Eve, Adam's wife, she was walking me home sharing all of the town gossip. She was always so full of spunk and character when I saw her. This Eve looks a thousand times different. Her delicate frame looks haggard and tired. Bags appear under her eyes and her light brown hair is frayed all about around her face. Tears stream down her tiny cheeks as she looks up at me.
"Emma..." She looks down again sniffling, "He's...He's gone." She breaks down and falls to the floor, her body so small and delicate like a doll.
That's when I see him. The world seems to tilt on it's axis and an overwhelming feeling to either faint or throw up overcomes me as I look at Adam's lifeless body lying on the forest floor next to Eve's shaking torso. I run over to put my arm around Eve. I feel like a giant touching her. I try my best to focus only on her and not on Adam's vacant eyes and tattered body. I had made a decision to try and not cry anymore but this is not a moment that I can hold true to that decision. I weep with Eve. I stay there by Eve for a long while, just hoping that by being near her comforts her. I don’t ask questions and I don’t say a word. I just let her cry and mourn her loss.
Eve sits up several minutes later just long enough to pull two sticks out from her pocket. She hits them together making a rhythmic clanking sound. When she finishes she allows the sticks to fall from her hands, as if they were too heavy for her to hold any longer. She then sinks back down and buries her face in Adam's breath
less chest. She cries silently and I sit behind her stroking her back and her hair trying to provide a small ounce of solace.
A moment later I hear some rustling in the woods up ahead and I move in front of Eve ready to protect her from whatever is coming. I see Tristan tense up from the corner of my eyes. I hold my hand up stopping him from revealing himself as a group of three Menehunes push through the limbs of the forest. They stop in their tracks when they see Eve on the forest floor next to a lifeless Adam. I see that one of the Menehunes is Paul, and the other one I don’t recognize. Paul removes his hat and places it over his heart in reverence.
I watch as Eve dries her eyes blinking back the rogue tears that continue to try and escape. She sits up from the forest floor and turns towards me. Her expression has changed from that of agony and despair, to one of conviction and anger. I’m a little startled by this sudden change, but I figure if that’s the way she grieves, then more power to her.
“Paul, I need you and Tom to gather up Adam.” She chokes slightly when she says his name. She musters up her strength and continues. “I need you to take him back to the cave and prepare his body. Right now, I have some unfinished business to attend to.” She looks back down at Adam one last time and runs her finger along his cheek then kisses the top of his head and squeezes his hand gently. She closes his eyes making him look more peaceful. She leans into Adams ear and speaks words only meant for him to hear and then with restitute she stands. “Emma, I want to ask what you’re doing out here, but I don’t have the strength. I need to go and meet with the Elders to discuss what just took place. It seems like I have some pieces to the puzzle, but some things just aren’t clear as of yet. Regardless, we haven’t had a Menehune die in several hundred years and this is not something we take lightly.” Eve nervously rubs her hands together as she continues. “I would like to meet with you tomorrow to discuss some things. With Kai being…gone…I don’t have a human to help. We are in the midst of a war brewing and I want to make sure I have all my ducks in a row. You just might be the link we will need to be able to avenge Adam’s death.”
Redemption (Night Marchers #2) Written by: Rebecca Gober and Courtney Nuckels Page 11
