“Who said I was dead?” He shook his head and the movement made him wince. “Ouch. Last thing I remember they were zapping you with lightning and I couldn’t do anything about it. I couldn’t help you. Some boyfriend I turned out to be.”
“Are you kidding? I’m the girlfriend with a psycho family who stabbed you and threw you into the ocean for the sharks.”
Bewilderment furrowed his brow. “They did? I don’t remember that. So where are they?”
I shrugged. “Gone. All of them.” I didn’t want to dwell on what had happened. On what Nafanua had done for me. There would be plenty of time for that later. And time to figure out what to do about Sarona. I looked back to the rock field where it had all taken place and was disconcerted to see that Sarona was gone. With bated breath, I quickly scanned the area all around us, but in vain. No sign of her. What did that mean for the future? I didn’t have time to think about it though, Daniel wanted answers.
“How did you do it? What happened? How did I get here?” He half sat up and looked around and then hastily averted his eyes. “Umm, Leila?”
“Yeah?”
“Did you know you were naked?”
“No I’m not!” I folded my arms over my curtain of hair. “I’m covered. A bit. We just escape from the jaws of telesā death and the first thing you do is notice my lack of clothes?! Stop looking at me.”
He laughed and brought his face level with mine. “I’m not. Looking at your body, I mean. Because I’m too busy looking into your eyes. So I can make very, very sure – that this is real. That you’re real.” His eyes turned serious. “I thought we’d lost each other tonight.” His lips captured mine and into our kiss I poured all the sweet relief and joy of finding him alive. When he finally pulled away, it was with his crooked smile that I loved so much. “Yes, you’re definitely real.” A quick glance downward. “And you’re very naked.”
“Daniel! You promised.”
“Sorry. I can’t help myself …”
“Don’t look. Or I’ll never speak to you again!” He just laughed at the weak threat. I looked around and spied a ragged piece of cloth half buried in the sand amidst other debris. I sent a silent prayer of thanks out to whoever was dumping their rubbish on this beach and pulled at the flimsy piece of fabric. It was half of an old lavalava, enough to drape around my hips. My hair would have to be enough for the top. Somewhat dressed, I went to help Daniel stand.
“Come on, let’s get out of here. You’re hurt and I want Mama to take a look at you.” Because you’re supposed to be dead … my brain screamed silently. Slowly, we made our way along the beach towards the distant road. Daniel limping and half leaning on my shoulder. Every part of me ached but every part of me rejoiced. The sisterhood were defeated. Jason was alive. Daniel and I were alive. And together.
At the spread of black rocks where fire had met lightning, I paused for a moment. Dustings of ash swirled in the wind. Remnants of Nafanua and her sisters? I wasn’t sure how I felt about her sacrifice for me. Yes, she had chosen me in death. But I would much rather she had chosen me in life. Daniel looked down at me and his voice was soft with concern, “Are you okay?”
I nodded. “Yeah. Fine. Let’s go.”
Once more, I looked back at the black ocean. The dolphins were gone. Like they had never been. Was it all just a wild dream? A fire- and trauma-induced fantasy? I snuck a glance back down at Daniel’s thigh. No. The crest birthmark was still there. Defiantly silver. What did it all mean? I thought back to the night in Salamasina’s garden when I had revealed my fire gifts to her. Her reaction. The glimpses she had given me into her past. She would know what this birthmark meant. Surely. The question was, whether or not she would be willing to share the answers with me.
But for now, Daniel walked beside me. And I knew that the covenant of love between us was unbreakable.
For now, that would be enough.
The End.
Watch out for the second book in the ‘Telesa’ series by Lani Wendt Young, coming in March 2012.
WHEN WATER BURNS.
The promise of the day ahead was a fiery lightness that lit up my every step. A whole day with Daniel. Just us two at the beach. It would be the first time I had seen him since he had finished getting his full body tattoo done. The requisite two weeks of isolation and healing time was completed and I was eager to be with him. Texts and phone calls were a poor replacement for the real thing. Daniel’s smile. His laugh. The crinkle of his green eyes as they would dance teasingly at me. I wanted to soar and sing with the anticipation alone of the picnic we had planned. I had cajoled the sour Aunty Matile into teaching me how to make her banana muffins – and then earned her sniff of disdain when I ‘polluted’ her recipe with handfuls of chocolate chips. It was a wickedly delicious recipe and the first sampling bite had me smiling. Yes! Not bad Leila I muttered to myself as I assembled ham sandwiches and packed everything into a cooler with sliced fruit. Daniel was bringing Diet Coke and some of his grandmother’s coconut buns. I was checking off my beach supplies when I heard his truck pull up out front.
A foolish smile was plastered on my face as I ran to the door. A quick good bye to Matile who was still ignoring me and the evil chocolate chips. And then a breathless halt on the verandah at the sight of Daniel coming up the steps. A wry smile as the thought crossed my mind – would this boy ever have an ‘off’ day? A bad hair day? A fat day? A I’m-so-ugly-I-don’t-want-to-go-out-day? He stood there smiling at me and I hoped he couldn’t hear my thoughts that screamed of delight. Love. Bliss. Adoration. Ugh, I was sickening. But look at him, who wouldn’t be a mass of mush at the sight of him? Khaki shorts, white t-shirt, dark sunglasses raised over his sea green eyes. My gaze went to his legs where the bands of black patterning peered from his shorts. I could not shake the worry about all the possible things that could go wrong with a body tattoo. Catching the direction of my gaze, he stopped in his tracks to bend down and fold up the hem of his shorts. “See? I told you they were fine. So, what do you think?” He mocked striking a supermodel pose. I pretended to look pensive, hands on my hips and shaking my head.
“Hmmm, I’m not sure. I need to get a better look. Can you please turn around and pull your pants down so me and the whole world can get a better look at your bum?”
He pretended to look shocked. “Hey, don’t even joke about it or else I will!”
I laughed and my happiness surprised me with tears that I had to blink away. The joking faded, his eyes softened and he quickly took the final steps towards me, pausing to look behind me to ensure the coast was clear before taking me in his arms. A whisper in my ear – is this okay? I didn’t care whether aunty Matile was watching, I held him close, breathing in his scent and hiding my slight tears in his sleeve. My voice was a hushed whisper. “Oh Daniel, it’s so good to see you. I’ve missed you so much.”
There was answering emotion in his reply. “Me too.”
I could have stood there in his arms forever but a minute was all I was going to get. As swiftly as it had begun he released me and bent to take the bag and the cooler to the truck.
“Is this everything?”
I contented myself with the reminder that we would have the whole day together far away from everyone as I followed after him to the truck.
“Yup. That’s it. Did you get all the drinks?”
His quick grin gave me chills. “Yes, three Diet Cokes for the coke addict,”shaking his head. “You know that stuff is like nuclear waste, don’t you?”
I groaned, slamming the door with an extra flourish, rolling my eyes. “Yeah yeah so you keep telling me. I like my insides polluted with nuclear waste thank you very much.”
He laughed. And his laugh had me sighing with contentment. It had been too long since I had laughed with the one I loved. In the car, Daniel turned on the radio as we started the 45minute drive to the beach on the other side of the island. Samoa’s musical answer to everything – Bob Marley wailed No woman, no cry…
He turned to me with a mischievous smile. “Bob sure got it right didn’t he?”
“Huh?”
“Women. Always making us cry.”
I just rolled my eyes at him. He laughed and started singing along with the chorus, “NO woman no cry, little darling, don’t dry your tears…”
I shook my head but didn’t disturb him. I could listen to him sing forever. Even if it was a song that was making fun of me. The drive to Lefaga beach went quickly and it wasn’t long before we were pulling off the main road and down a bumpy sandy track towards the ocean. Once in sight of the sea, we turned and started driving slowly along the parallel road past village houses and beach fales. Still he didn’t stop the truck, not until we had come to the very end of the track did he pull up beside a thicket of mangrove trees.The nearest house was a half mile away and the little slip of sandy beach was completely empty. We both got out of the truck and I turned shining eyes towards Daniel as he began unpacking our cooler from the back. “It’s beautiful Daniel. And private.”
He shrugged as he heftily put the cooler on his shoulder “Yeah, but the problem with that is there’s no water, no taps for us to clean off afterwards but you said you wanted to rough it today. So here you have it, nothing but sand, sea and sun and bugs and mosquitoes and dirt and sweat. Ugh.”
I laughed at his lack of enthusiasm. “Oh don’t be such a spoilt baby. It’ll be great. Come on.” I took his free hand and pulled him with me towards the beach where we found a shady spot for the cooler under a tree.
He unrolled the mat and stretched back on it with a pleased sigh. “Ah, that’s better. This is how I like the beach, looking at it from the shade.”
I ignored him as I rifled through my backpack looking for a hair tie. Daniels truck had no air conditioning and it was a relief to peel off my sweaty t-shirt, leaving only the black bikini top and cut off denim shorts. “Are you coming in?” He wrinkled his nose and shook his head. “Nah. No thanks. You go ahead. I’ll hang out here.”
“Aw, come on!” He shook his head in refusal again. I didn’t push the issue though, knowing his sensitivity about his mother and her drowning. “Okay, I’ll just have a quick dip to cool off. Don’t eat all the muffins before I get back…or else.” With that mild threat, I waded out into the azure water, lugging an inflatable tire Daniel had brought and launched myself into the silken warmth of blue. “Yoohoo! This is beeeyootiful. You’re missing out!”
But Daniel was now dozing in the shade and there was no answer. I swam further out until the water was too deep to stand and then pulled myself up on to the tire and lay back to soak in the sun. Could there be a day more perfect than this one? I luxuriated in the chance to just BE with Daniel, hang out and do normal things with him. We had spent so little time together where we were NOT either fighting for our lives or fighting over whether or not it was safe for us to be together. I was determined that today would be the first of many days that would be blissfully ordinary.
I don’t know how long I floated along like that, lulled by the warm sun and the gentle sway of the ocean, but when I felt a slight shiver down my spine, I sat up. Uh oh. The current had taken me further out than I had expected, further out than my second-rate swimming skills felt comfortable with. I was now closer to where waves crashed on the reef than I was to the faraway shore. I could no longer make out Daniel’s shape underneath the trees. Dammnit, good one Leila. I sat up and started paddling my way back to the beach, kicking with my legs to help spur me along. That’s when I felt it. An ice cold tingle of my skin a sharp contrast to the silken blue warmth of the water lapping around me. I felt a presence. A something - threatening, darkening coming towards me. My heart pounded as I clutched the inner tube tightly, wishing I was safe on shore. Stop it Leila, just quit it, youre being ridiculous. But not even my grandmother’s favourite phrase could stop the rising panic that had me turning wildly in all directions to see what hidden threat had me silently screaming.
I couldn’t see anything. The sun glinted on the diamond water. The golden line of sand beckoned. A soft breeze played in the coconut trees lining the shore. I looked back at the ocean, scanning the blue for anything out of the ordinary. All seemed well – on the surface. Then from far away, Daniel shouted, and the fear in his voice confirmed the wild panic within me.
“Leila! Leila! Don’t move. I’m coming. Don’t move!”
Daniel was running along the beach towards me, then several splashing steps into the water and he dived. Strong and sure he surged through the water with quick even strokes. He was a powerful swimmer and amidst my ragged breathing of fearfulness, I heard myself exclaim in surprise. “Damn, he’s a good swimmer.” He was like liquid in the water, the gaping distance between us was nothing to him and his pace never slowed. It seemed like bare moments and he was beside me in the water, one arm looped around the inner tube while he half-turned to look out over the ocean.
“What is it Daniel?” I grabbed onto his shoulder, feeling foolish in my inexplicable fear. I longed for him to laugh, to brush away my concerns as, foolish imaginings. Instead, his reply was quiet and low, his eyes darting in all directions, searching.
“Just keep still. Very still. Try not to move. It’s circling.”
“What is? Daniel – tell me – what is it?” My question was a piercing whisper. I didn’t know why I felt the need to whisper. And I already knew the answer to my question, only I was hoping that I was wrong.
“Shark. A big one.”
He spoke the words I knew he would, but every fibre of his being was focusing on the water, as he twisted his body this way and that, eyes darting back and forth.
I choked back a sob.As if being quieter would somehow make us invisible to the most deadly hunter in the ocean. As if. I’d seen Jaws. I knew what was coming. I didn’t need the theme music. The pounding of my heart was crescendo enough. I threw a searching gaze back to the shore. Was there any way anyone could help us? The deserted beach stretched away in the blue-gold afternoon. My earlier thrill at having the day to ourselves now mocked me. We were alone. In the ocean. Too far out from the shore thanks to my day dreaming. Alone without any weapons of any kind. Not that weapons ever seemed to help shark attack victims in all the horror movies I’d seen. Funny. They’d never seemed that scary when one lived in Maryland and only sniffed the ocean twice a year. Now? Here I was with the love of my life about to get ripped to pieces in the water. I started to shake, my teeth chattering as if we were in the midst of the arctic instead of the glorious Pacific. Daniel threw me a concerned glance, unwilling to take his eyes off the waters around us.
With one arm guiding the tube, he shielded me with his body, muttering under his breath as if talking to himself. “He’s trying to decide. What angle he’ll come in on. Which side will be the best point of attack. Trying to figure out which of us is the weaker. Hmm…should I take out the stronger element first? Or pick off the smaller prey? Circling. Doesn’t want to let us too far. But still not worried. Knows hes got the advantage no matter what.”
In the midst of my terror, I paused as confusion added itself to the mix. What the hell was Daniel talking about? Was he losing it? I grabbed his shoulder.
“Daniel? What are we going to do?” I could barely make sense because my teeth were chattering so much.I was cold in the midst of a screaming hot day. I tried to think about flames. And rage. But I knew from past experience that all the fear in the world could not make me summon fire when I was in the ocean. We were going to die. Daniel was going to die. And useless, hopeless me was going to let it happen. His voice in my ear disrupted my thoughts.
“Leila listen to me. I need you to slowly and carefully paddle to shore. Do you hear me? Don’t splash too much. Just move real slow through the water on the tube. I’m going to draw him off. Go now. Go!” Before I could process the full import of his words and argue with them, he shoved the tube away from him and towards the shore. From nowhere, a massive wave lifted the tube and started it rushing thr
ough the water without me even beginning to paddle. I threw a terrified glance over my shoulder back to where Daniel waited in the water. He had his back to me as he tread water and for the first time I saw it. Clearly. The dark shape in the water. Moving almost lazily as it knifed towards him. And still he did not move.
“Daniel!” the scream tore from me without thought. “No!”
He turned his head, green eyes speaking to me across the water, as he stretched out his arm towards me. Another impossible wave seemed to emanate from where he swayed in the water, rushing me further away from him and to safety. What’s happening? Where are these waves coming from? Vainly I tried to halt the current but it swept the inner tube along relentlessly. There was only one thing to do. I heaved my body off the tire and splashed back into the ocean. The tube swirled away in the foam, happy to be rid of my dead weight. I had no plan. No brilliant ideas. I just knew that there was no way I was leaving Daniel out there to face a shark alone. But now the water wasn’t my friend. I was no match for the strange current that only seemed to have one goal. To sweep me along to the shore – no matter what. Even if it meant taking me upside down with a mouth full of water.
Telesa - The Covenant Keeper Page 52
