by Cathryn Cade
Now to make it worthwhile. She swallowed hard as her lunch threatened to come back up her throat, and locked her wobbly knees.
“Nani.” Bella looked around her. That had not been the forest voices but a real one.
She stood among the palms clustered on the east end of the camp. She could see Camille and the others through the trees. They’d obviously seen her land too, because two of the thugs were walking this way, guns at the ready.
“Nani. Here.”
Bella turned, peering into the shadows behind a cluster of palms. Her heart lifted. “Frank!”
He was crouched behind the palms, the automatic weapon across his thighs. He had a bloodstained bandanna tied around his head, and his once-white Hawaiian Dive T-shirt was stained with blood and dirt, but he managed a crooked smile as she scurried toward him.
Bella took his outstretched hand, squeezing it with both of hers. “Oh, you’re alive. I hoped you were when we saw the cave was empty.”
“Yeah, but no time for that. Where’s Joel?”
“He’s up there.” She pointed up the mountain. “Probably cussing me out right now.”
“Get down,” Frank hissed. “They’re coming. You get behind me. There’s a full magazine in this thing. We can hold them off ’til the Ho’omalus get here.”
Bella dropped to her knees, but then Camille’s voice echoed through the trees again.
“I saw you come down, Miss Ho’omalu. Come out, come out. If you make my men look for you, your little friend won’t like it.”
The next sound through the megaphone was a muffled cry of pain. Cassie.
Bella scrambled to her feet. “I have to go out there.”
“No.” Frank reached for her. But he wavered and sank back to his haunches, his face pale.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “Be safe, Frank.”
The two armed musclemen, Baldy and an equally burly man with skin so dark it nearly matched his black Hawaiian shirt, were waiting for her when she stepped out between the trees. The dark-skinned man stepped forward, but Baldy stopped him.
“She said not to touch the girl.” Baldy gestured with his weapon, indicating that Bella should walk before him to the open area before the beach.
Bella had nearly reached the edge of the trees when she heard a rattle of palm fronds behind her, and then a thud of impact, followed by a grunt.
She whirled to see Joel crouched atop the black man, a thick vine dangling behind him. Joel lifted one arm and punched the man on the side of his head with a solid thunk. As Baldy turned to look, Joel sat back on his haunches, his victim’s gun in his grasp, aimed at Baldy.
“Bella, get over here,” Joel ordered.
“Move, and I shoot her,” Baldy said. Bella saw that his weapon was now trained on her. He smiled at Joel, revealing a metal tooth with a large gem that glinted in the sun. “Yeah, even if you get me, your girlfriend still gets it. Tough choice, huh, Action Boy?”
“Shit!” Joel dropped the weapon and stood up.
Baldy nodded. “Good choice. Now move it, over there with your friends. Not you,” he warned Bella. “You go where she tells you.”
As Bella watched Joel walk out into the sunshine to join Camille and her crew, fury filled her, nearly burning through her fear. And over her head, the palm trees began to sway, their fronds rattling like sabers.
Ignoring the armed men, she stalked toward the woman in white who waited arrogantly on the lava shelf before the trees, hands on her hips. Li hovered close behind her, one arm around Cassie, his shining knife blade at her throat. A thin rivulet of bright blood trickled down her slender, pale throat, and she was crying silently, her sunburned face hopeless.
“Let her go,” Bella demanded, her voice shaking with anger. “Your quarrel is with me. Very well, I’m here. Let her go.”
Camille tipped her head, her face shaded by a wide-brimmed purple hat. “Oh, so dramatic. Well, little Miss Ho’omalu,” she spat. “Make me.”
Bella stared back at her, and for the first time, she let her rage flow through her, let it go. The trees around the camp began to sway, their trunks creaking and groaning. The fig and ohia trees waved their branches, and the palms rattled harder, drowning out the surf.
Camille held up one hand before her face as a palm branch sailed by, narrowly missing her, and the brim of her hat lifted in the wind. “Well?” she demanded. “I’m waiting.”
The woman didn’t know, Bella realized. She couldn’t see that this was not an ocean wind; it was Bella herself causing this commotion. Turning toward the cliff, Bella fixed her gaze on one of the dangling vines and beckoned with all her might. She had to do more, make a big enough commotion that Camille and her men would be distracted.
To Bella’s shock, the vine tore free of the cliff and writhed down the dark rock. Full of triumph, hardly daring to hope for more, Bella turned and pointed her arm at Li. “Take him.”
The vine sailed through the air, between the lashing trees, and smacked the Asian across the face. He flew backward, eyes wide with terror. Cassie slumped to the ground, hand to her throat, but Bella hardly noticed as the vine writhed around Li’s body. It fell across him in heavy lengths.
Vengefully, Bella snapped her fingers at the palm over his head. A huge coconut fell from the tree, striking him directly on the face. He jerked once and was still.
Camille turned on Bella, white with fury, her eyes wild. “You—” she growled. “Denas was right. I didn’t believe him when he told me there was something weird about your family…that they used some supernatural power to take Stefan. But you’re doing this. I know you are.”
She gestured at her men, beckoning them forward.
“Get her,” Camille shouted at her men. “No, better yet, get him!” She pointed one thin arm at Joel, and Baldy leapt forward behind Joel, pressing the barrel of his weapon into Joel’s back.
“Leave him alone,” Bella warned. “Or I will do much worse. “ What that might be, she had no idea.
Camille turned on her. Then her face relaxed, and she actually smiled. Mimicking Bella’s snap of her fingers, she held out her hand. The nearest thug handed her a small insulated carafe.
“But you see,” Camille said to her. “Soon you won’t be a problem, because you’re going to drink what I give you, or Chase will shoot your lover. He won’t survive at that range, dear.”
“No,” Joel said sharply. He grunted, jerking forward as Baldy shoved him with the barrel of the weapon. The man he’d punched grabbed Joel by the arm, his face twisted with the promise of vengeance. Joel ignored him. “Don’t, Bella.”
“What is it?” Bella asked, staring at the thermos. Sickening dread spread inside her, because she was sure she already knew.
“Oh, just a little something my chemists made up especially for Hawaii,” Camille gloated. “You remember. We call it Kona Kula, Kona Diamonds. Very appropriate, I think, as its worth is that of diamonds.”
She watched Bella, her light eyes shaded under her fashionably tilted straw hat. “What a choice, hmm? Watch your lover die, his blood spewing over this beach, or sacrifice yourself. Die, or perhaps live, irreparably damaged from the very drug that the Ho’omalus killed my brothers over.”
“Bella! No!” Joel roared, struggling to break free of the men who held him. A third man grabbed him, and they held him, though not without a struggle.
“Oh, she‘s going to drink it,” Camille crooned. “And do you know why? Because, as I’ve watched her, I’ve learned all about little Miss Ho’omalu. She’s a good girl and always tries her best to please. Please her mama, please her new daddy and his family.”
Bella struggled to stand straight and tall, to show no emotion, no vulnerability. God, the woman had actually had people spying on her. She knew all the painful points to zing her arrows in, knew how to jab, as if she held Li’s knife in her hands. But let her talk; let her fling her sharp blades. Let her try to finish the grinding humiliation she’d begun on the Hypnautique. Every moment counted.
“Doesn’t want to displease anyone,” Camille went on. “Or lose her job. Please her employers at their stupid little sporting goods company. Well, do what I tell you, good girl, and your friends will live. And you might too, who knows.”
“No,” Joel pleaded hoarsely. “No, Bella. Give it to me, you bitch. I’ll drink it. Not her.”
Camille ignored him, and so did Bella, their gazes locked.
The woman was right.
Bella was going to drink it. But not for the reason Camille gave. But because if she obeyed Camille, the drug would take at least a little while to take effect, and watching her would delay Camille, keep her from killing the others. And by the time Bella was unconscious, or dead, her ohana would be there. She could feel them coming, a deep knowing in her very bones.
Yes, the Ho’omalus were coming as fast as they could. And they would save Joel and Frank and the others.
Not her, but that didn’t matter. Sometimes a person, even a good girl, got the chance to do something heroic, and this was hers. And even though she was shaking in her sandals, ready to pee her bikini bottoms, she was going to do something much more worthwhile than hawking swimsuits and shoes.
“No, Bella,” Joel shouted, struggling again. “She lies. Don’t do it. It’s poison.”
Bella smiled at him, with her mouth, with her eyes, her heart. “It will be all right,” she said.
And then she held out her hand and accepted the cup. It looked like some kind of herbal tea, smelled of some dank garden weed.
She took one drink and nearly choked on the bitter brew. Another and then gagged, finally swallowing. The cup fell from her hand, splashing the rest of its contents on her legs and bare feet.
Lifting her head, Bella gazed at her captor. Camille watched her avidly, her eyes wide and greedy, lips parted, her teeth showing like those of a shark closing in on her prey.
And then the world began to spin in great dizzying sweeps. Bella staggered and, no longer in control of her limbs, tried to right herself. As a dull roar sounded in her ears, the ground swept up and hit her hard, her face smacking into the rock.
Shouting echoed, from a long way away. The earth shook under her—no, that was her body shaking, her teeth chattering, heart pounding so hard she opened her mouth to scream as terror swallowed her whole.
A woman composed of dark fire, edged in the dark red glitter of flame, rose from the ground before her, her terrible eyes burning into Bella’s and her mouth opening to devour her whole. She spoke, and her words were like thunder, rattling Bella’s bones and the foundations of the islands. “E ala mai, ho’omalu! Rise, warrior. Rise…or die.”
And around her, the trees approached, reaching out with their sharp limbs and razor-tipped leaves, ready to devour whatever the goddess left of her. No longer her friends, they waited, horrid predators.
Bella jerked onto her back, straining, choking, as her heart tried to burst and her brain spun and burned until she was exhausted, and fell back, her head flopping dully to one side.
Someone kicked her, a sharp toe in her ribs. That hated voice echoed over her, through her.
“Look at you now, Miss Ho’omalu. Not so pretty now, are you? Rolling in the dirt like a common addict.”
But Bella ignored her as, through her lashes, she saw more strange things. The forest around her was moving. Murmurs drowned out Camille’s voice.
“Rise, little sister. E ala mai, ho’omalu. Rise, warrior wahine.”
Her eyes widened. The fiery woman beckoned, her burning eyes fastened on Bella, no longer threatening but commanding. And yes, those were people stepping out of the threatening trees, emerging from them like shadows. Hawaiians, shimmering out of the hard-edged brilliance that now illuminated the forest, large and dark, dressed in simple kapa-cloth skirts, their long, dark hair caught back with plaited crowns. Their liquid eyes, her eyes, were fastened on her, and they too beckoned to her, urging her to her feet.
Bella rolled over, moving drunkenly, escaping another kick from those sharp toes, and wobbled to her hands and knees, her wondering eyes fastened on the old ones, who waited.
“I see you,” she mumbled. “I hear you.”
“E ala mai, ho’omalu,” they called, more sternly now. “You must call your forest.”
Bella closed her eyes and sucked in a deep, shuddering breath.
As she did so, something wondrous happened. Power flowed into her. She opened her eyes and took another breath, watching as golden streamers flew through the air like pollen on the wind, into her mouth and nose. Yes, the power of her forest was coming into her.
“‘Oe mâkaukau,” the forest people told her. “You are ready. Take the kupua and use it, wahine. Use it to save us all.”
Save them all. Bella focused her gaze and saw Joel staring at her, his beloved face contorted with fear for her. She smiled at him, her love and reassurance in her eyes.
And then she pushed herself to her feet, wavering a little as she found her feet. The power was almost more than she could contain. She gazed down wonderingly at her hands, watching the strands that swayed from her fingertips as she moved them, almost more than she could resist. She wanted to cast them indiscriminately, play with them, create havoc, chaos.
Camille Helman smiled her shark’s smile, and sauntered closer. “My, you’re tougher than I thought. Having a nice trip, Bella?”
Bella focused on her, frowning as she remembered. Yes, this puny haole woman was at the epicenter of this foul storm. How best to deal with her.
Bella turned and mirrored Camille’s movements, prowling gracefully, so that they moved in a circle. Only Bella was now stalking the other woman, her confidence growing as the other Hawaiians faded, and she felt their power come into her with each breath she took.
“I? I am fine,” she said, her voice at once deeper and softer than her usual tones. It echoed around the clearing, and she watched with satisfaction as the men clustered around the edges stared at her. “But you—you are going to be very sorry, haole spider. Sorry that you brought your drugs and your foul web to my island.”
Camille laughed, and Baldy laughed with her.
Bella laughed too, a soft, terrible sound. She reached up with the golden strands of power, found another vine, a young green one, and brought it flying down through the air with a sharp gesture. Crouching, Baldy stepped back, the barrel of his gun rising.
Camille turned, her laughter dying in her throat as the vine slashed around Li’s feet and dragged the unconscious man high into the air, dangling him like a fly in a spider’s web from the tallest tree in the small area.
As he swung through the air, he woke and struggled wildly, screaming in a horrible, choked voice. His face was suffused with blood, his eyes wild.
Bella’s laughter rippled through the hot, still air like leaves rippling in the wind. Turning back to the group now watching in various stages of horror, she focused on the nearest gunman. “You,” she said. “You are next.”
He stumbled backward, shaking his head, his mouth working.
Bella held up her hands before her, dreamily watching the gold streamers pour from them. “You sought to kill me,” she said to Camille. “To maim me. But you have given me a gift. Your drug has made me stronger, brought my powers from behind my inhibitions and fears.”
She held up her arms, and with a rushing murmur of sound, blossoms began to fly down from the forest, filling the air with drifts of color and bloom. As Camille and her men gaped, and even Cassie lifted her head from the sand to squint, the flowers settled around Bella, wreathing her head with a bouffant crown of blossom and her neck with a lei, her wrists with bracelets of blooms.
“You see?” She tipped back her head, the wonder of it pouring through her. “I am Ho’omalu. And I reign here. You do not.”
“Kill her!” Camille shrieked. “Enough. Kill her.”
A sharp burst of gunfire blasted through the clearing. Icy-hot pain shot through Bella’s right arm, but she shook it off like the s
ting of a wasp. She must get the innocent ones out of the way.
Bella waved her hand, and the palm fronds under Cassie tugged her down the beach, out of the way.
Then she turned toward Joel, ready to sweep him to safety. But Baldy’s weapon swept away from Joel, the black mouth appearing over Joel’s shoulder, pointed at her. Joel moved like lightning. With a roar, he knocked the gun aside just as it went off, bullets spraying from the short barrel. Ice bit through Bella again, this time her thigh. She swayed, sucking in a deep breath to draw the power in and fight off the pain that burned now, tearing at her with gnashing teeth.
The black man leapt, and Joel went down, his long legs flying out from under him.
Bella hit Baldy with a blinding gust of blossoms and branches, making him stumble backward, weapon silent.
Gunfire rang out again, this time from behind Bella. A hole in the center of his forehead, Baldy sprawled backward, falling over Joel and his struggling opponent, and Bella struck him with another blast of branches, this time knocking him into the water.
Rolling over, Joel punched his opponent, and the man went limp, arms and legs sprawled on the sand.
“Bella! You’re hit.” Joel leapt to his feet, his gaze on Bella. But a fifth burst of gunfire rattled through the clearing. Joel jerked, and then fell to one knee, his eyes wide with shock, mouth opening as he lifted a hand to his side.
“No.” Bella’s voice thundered through the air. She slashed her hands toward the gunman who had just emerged from the raft, the slender bartender from the yacht. He screamed as two vines slashed down and wrapped around him, dragging him up into the trees with Li.
“You!” Bella turned on Camille, who crouched in the center of it all, watching in panic as her men fell. “You dare to touch my kane nohea. Now you’ll die.”
“No—no, I’m not done here,” Camille cried. She turned, searching wildly for her men.
Another burst of gunfire blasted from behind Bella, and Camille screamed, clutching her arm. Blood seeped from her fingers. “Kill her,” Camille shrieked again.
