Sins of the Flesh (Half-Breed Series Book 2)

by Debra Dunbar

  She’d jump at the chance to walk away with Irix, but that wasn’t going to happen.

  “Are there any instances of Pele being tricked? Of her being appeased by something other than the originally promised offering? Besides throwing a gorgeous guy at her, that is?”

  Kai grimaced. “Yeah, there are stories of her being tricked, but they didn’t end well. Pele always finds out, and her revenge is brutal.”

  I felt a headache coming on. A goddess with no sense of humor, a hot temper, and a taste for other women’s husbands or lovers.

  “So what is the fire servant exactly? A minion of Pele’s? Some kind of manifestation?”

  “I’m assuming it’s one of the fire spears, wielded by her army. Legends say that notable warriors serve as ghost soldiers after they die. If you have an ancestor who is one, then you are safe. Otherwise, you should hide in your house when you hear the war drums and see fires on the hillsides.”

  Hayworth looked at us as if we were aliens. “I can’t have been the only one in the history of the Hawaiian islands to make this mistake. How do you natives send Pele back to her volcano to rest? And how do you deal with her ghost army?”

  “We grovel and ride out her temper tantrum. Pele doesn’t want to destroy the island and be left alone on a barren rock. I’m not saying she wouldn’t do it if she was suitably angry, but she’d feel bad about it afterward.”

  So the key was not to make her suitably angry. I.E. make sure she doesn’t get drenched with the fire sprinklers. I was going to need to find Pele – Cleo — and talk her off the ledge. Then hope that college mediation course was worth the tuition. But first I need to put some safeguards in place, just in case our temperamental goddess became angrier. Sort of a plan B. And possibly a plan C.

  “We’re going to do the protection ritual tonight, and a second ritual. I’ll e-mail Kristin and ask if she can’t come up with something that’s a reversal of the ritual in the book. We’ll do that one on the beach, in the exact same spot as the first one.”

  “And what do I do?” The farmer sounded reluctant, but I knew he’d do anything to safeguard his farm.

  “Gather as many pineapples as you can – diseased, healthy, it doesn’t matter. You’re going to help Kai set up the offering, and then you’re going to help me with the ritual.”

  He did the first ritual, there was a good chance he’d be able to make this one work – Lutheran or not.

  “What time did you do the original ritual?” I asked Hayworth.

  “Midnight.”

  Good. The fire protection ritual was at sunset. That gave us plenty of time to gather the materials for both rituals and get from one place to another.

  “So beach at midnight.” I waved a stern finger at Hayworth. “Be there early.”

  He nodded. I looked at the sun dipping lower as we walked back to Kai’s Jeep. This was going to be a hectic evening, gathering supplies and racing from one ritual to another. Hopefully one or both of them would work. Hopefully we’d send Pele back where she belonged. And hopefully we’d all survive.

  Chapter 24

  I felt vaguely car sick as my eyes went back and forth between the brochure and the map. Kai’s Jeep wasn’t ideal for navigation. I would rather we had taken Irix’s stolen BMW, but the location we were going to required a bit of off-road travel. Getting stuck wasn’t an option when we had to be back at the beach by midnight.

  Seven Sacred Pools sounded suitably powerful. I’d had to purchase a tour package from the taxi-driver’s tour company before they’d tell me exactly where the powerful magical spots were on the island, and which was the best for raising water energy.

  “You know it’s a scam.” Kai had been repeating variations on this theme since we’d left. “Ohe’o Gulch is beautiful, but there was nothing ‘sacred’ about it until marketing got hold of it and decided it would make the perfect tourist destination.”

  “We don’t have time to find someone who knows the ley lines and can show us the optimal spot for the ritual,” I explained once again. “Kristin said the ritual would work anywhere, but a place with powerful water magic would be best. Seven Sacred Pools of water? It’s better than doing this around the bathtub.”

  We were both a little short-tempered. Kai was irritated I hadn’t come to her for the sacred spot info. I was just irritated. It was a long shot that this ritual would work, and a longer shot that the one tonight would work. Part of me thought I should just save my energy for fighting off the firestorm Cleo was going to bitch-slap me with. Eventually. Why hadn’t the goddess come after me yet? When I’d flung her into the forest with a palm tree, she’d retaliated the same night. I hadn’t heard a peep out of her since last night. Where was she?

  And when was the big anvil of fire going to drop on my head?

  “Stop arguing.” Irix was clearly amused as he sat in the backseat and listened to our conversation. The Jeep wasn’t big, and he was wedged in with boxes and bags holding our supplies. As usual, he appeared relaxed and sexy, even with bags full of twigs and candles squashing him.

  We all grew silent as we passed the site of the ranch fire. The blackened fields seemed vaster than I remembered. The ranch house was still surrounded by massive Ti plants, a rough path hacked from door to road.

  Kai laughed. “You did that? You weren’t kidding. Wow, those people are going to have amazingly good luck with the size and density of their Ti plants.”

  “I hope so.”

  We rounded the corner and began a long climb, cliffs on one side and a gorgeous sunset over the ocean on the other.

  After a few jarring miles, Kai pulled into a small parking area. “We’ll hike in from here. You can actually see the lower pools from the road, but there’s no parking. Heck, there aren’t even shoulders on that section of the road.”

  We hopped out, each grabbing a box and slinging a few bags over our arms. This was going to suck, hiking in with all this crap. Worse would be hiking out in the dark with it all. It’s not like we could leave garbage behind in a national park.

  Half a mile seemed like a death march when lugging a box. The bags smacked against my legs with every step, and I stumbled over every rock and root, unable to see my feet past the damned box. I arrived winded and sweaty, my arms aching. Kai and Irix both looked as if they’d taken an easy stroll in the park. Clearly I needed to step up my workout routine.

  I dropped my box and gasped, sore muscles forgotten. No wonder thousands of tourists tromped up here each year. No wonder they called it ‘sacred’.

  The stream started up mountain, cascading in a series of waterfalls as it made its way to the sea. Lining either side of the stream was a wide wall of black lava, deep cracks dividing the surface into large geometric blocks. I reached down to touch the dark rock, marveling at the surface worn smooth by centuries of flash floods. Pele’s skin. Under the lush green ferns, the forests of bamboo, the grassy meadows was lava – old red lava and young black lava, pockmarked, rounded, ground to sand. This was her island. The very foundations of life here sprang from the lava of her creation. She didn’t need some silly, desperate farmer to give her this land. It was hers to begin with.

  What did she want?

  “We better set up.” Irix watched me expectantly, his face showing concern.

  “Yeah. Let’s get started.”

  The Ohe’o Gulch was more than just picturesque waterfalls. The seven pools were each beautiful and distinct. Some were barely more than large puddles, a resting place for fast water before it hurtled down another cliff. Others were deep ponds edged by tall rock faces perfect for cliff jumping. We’d selected one of the central pools, smaller but with a view of the lower pools and the setting sun over the ocean. Here the rock was flat and vegetation free – perfect for safe burning. It was also the easiest spot to get in and back out onto Hana Highway where we’d parked the car.

  We marked the center spot for our ritual, and Irix began to place the sticks for the fire. Birch, oak, maple, and cherry, along with
a cane of sugar, and the top of a pineapple. When Kristin had given me the supply list, I’d been worried we wouldn’t be able to find the non-native woods, but judging from the appearance, it seemed a home-improvement store was missing some of their flooring samples. Irix, my beloved klepto.

  I used a string and chalk to mark the circle. Once drawn, Kai pulled out her compass and placed bundles of wood at each of the four quarters. We stood inside the circle – well, Kai and I stood inside the circle since Irix had an understandable dislike of being in the center of one. As the sun touched the water on the horizon, I spread the salt around the circle and began the incantation. Kai lit the central fire then used a branch to light the southern bundle of wood.

  Southern spirits, gods of fire and might, give us dominion over flame and spark.

  Taking a burning branch from the south, Kai lit the western bundle.

  Western spirits, gods of water and song, give us dominion over flame and spark.

  We continued until all four quarters were lit. Then we sat. The fires crackled around us, shadows lengthening as the day gave way to dark. Night fell. Insects sang. Kai sat across from me, and in the firelight, I could swear I saw her ancestors in the ghostly shadows behind her. She was Hawaii just as much as the ground we sat on. Pele might have created these islands, but Kai was the life that grew from the barren rock.

  Her skin glowed like mahogany in the flickering light, her eyes as dark as the lava around us. I felt the tide of power rise from the ground, spiraling into us from the confines of the circle. I didn’t have to say a word. Kai silently rose, taking the pail of water we’d scooped from our sacred pool as she went to the edge of the circle.

  We control the flame. From smallest spark to raging fire, bend to our will and obey.

  One by one, Kai doused each fire with the sacred water while I repeated the incantation and directed the energy. Having made her circuit, Kai returned and poured the remaining water from her bucket onto the central fire. Smoke and steam erupted in a hiss, plunging us into darkness.

  And silence. Energy whirled around us, trapped in the circle. My eyes adjusted to the darkness, and I saw Kai, opposite the fire pit, an indistinct gray figure. We froze in a moment of reverence, and then I reached out and dragged my fingers across the salt and chalk.

  Insect song broke the silence, nearly deafening in contrast.

  “Did you feel anything?” Kai whispered. I felt like whispering too. It was like being in church. Our voices seemed a jarring disruption to this holy moment.

  Yes, I felt something. Although I wasn’t sure it was the right something. I just didn’t know enough about this magic stuff to tell. Once again, I wished Kristin or Jordan were here to guide me.

  “I don’t know if it worked, or how long it will last,” I murmured. “Time will tell.”

  Irix appeared beside me, silent as he put an arm around my shoulders. I felt his approval, his pride. Warmth spread through me. “You did good, elf-girl.”

  “One more to go.”

  We scoured the surface of the lava for any debris, using our cell phone lights to see, and packed everything into the cardboard boxes. The wet, charred bits of wood had soaked through the paper bags and boxes by the time we arrived at Kai’s Jeep, leaving black smudges across my waist and up my arms.

  We were silent on the ride back, the mood somber and thoughtful. I don’t know if it was the ritual, the deep dark of the still and moonless night, or the quiet of the landscape, but I could tell it weighed heavy on us all. I breathed a sigh of relief as we entered Lahaina with the bustle of tourists and the glow of streetlights. By the time we arrived back at the resort, everything felt normal – well, normal for a vacation where we’d spent more time dealing with a goddess and her fire minions than sunning on the beach.

  We took a quick break, agreeing to meet on the beach at eleven-thirty to prepare for the midnight ritual. I headed down early, sitting on the sand to watch the waves roll in and think about what the next few days might bring. If the fire-protection spell didn’t work, then we’d be glued to a police scanner, racing about Maui with little bottles of magic-fire-away. If it did work, Pele was going to be pissed. The moment one of her servants rebounded, she’d know. If the reversal spell worked, we could all relax, and if it didn’t, Pele would most likely come after me sometime soon.

  I was a half-demon with a price on my head, so I was pessimistic.

  “Cleo?” I whispered. I hadn’t sensed her around, and I was sitting next to the dreaded water, but I still hoped she could hear me. “Cleo, I’m sorry. Please, let’s talk.”

  Nothing. Time to try something different.

  “Pele, my sister, come and talk with me. I promise I won’t throw water at you if you don’t try to burn me.”

  A warm breeze ruffled my hair and sent strings of lights around the resort pool dancing, but there was no sign of the goddess. I sighed and marked the ritual site with neon, glow-in-the-dark chalk powder that Irix had picked up at a contractor supply shop. It didn’t look particularly sorcerer-worthy, but with moonrise on the other side of the island, I couldn’t guarantee we’d be able to see the outlines of the markings well enough to keep from scuffing sand over them or stepping over them altogether. Breaking the circle before the ritual was complete would be bad, bad news, according to Kristin. I only hoped none of the hotel guests noticed the intricate, glowing symbols and hexagram and thought we were a bunch of Satanists.

  Although, on Maui, nobody might care.

  I had a cheat sheet, because Kristin had gone on and on about grades of order, adeptus minor, Kabbalistic crosses, planetary powers, and balance energy stuff that sounded a lot like something an angel would say. This was so far out of my comfort zone that I needed to steady my hand as I drew the symbols. The ritual was nothing like the Wiccan ones I’d attended with my friends. Even the placement of the elements was different – according to zodiac alignment as opposed to the four quarters. After I’d drawn the circle, I placed the sign for fire in the east, earth in the south, air in the west, and water in the north. I’d never be able to remember which little squiggles meant what and would need to rely on my written notes read by dim starlight.

  Once the elements were drawn, I created the hexagram as two interlocked triangles – one representing fire and the other water. It was starting to make sense. Balance. Substitution of one energy for an equal amount of another. It sat well with my elven soul, reminding me that this type of magic, as well as what the elves practiced, all echoed the teachings of the angels.

  “We’re here.” The box Irix sat on the sand made a clink noise, and he took a few steps back from my intertwining lines of chalk dust. “That thing makes my skin crawl, and you haven’t even charged it yet.”

  How many times had he been summoned into something like this? Forced to do another’s bidding before he could return to Hel? I know he hated being anywhere near a summoning/banishing circle. The one Kristin had done in New Orleans when we’d needed to return to Hel had been fake, but this was the real deal. I paused and flexed my fingers, looking at the symbols and thinking of the power in these lines of chalk. To bring a being of spirit here, to trap them into service, to force them to return. I only hoped that Pele was subject to the same rules that governed angels and demons. And that I was doing this right.

  Kai stepped carefully over the glowing lines to hand me items from the box. We’d needed something to symbolize Maui, to consecrate and purify, to protect the island. Kai had picked out a kukui lei, the brown nuts polished to high gloss. We also needed something to symbolize Pele – a statue carved from Acacia Koa wood that had been harvested from the island. And, just in case, three crates of pineapples. If Pele showed up in a bad mood, we wanted to be prepared.

  I positioned the statue and the lei. Then Kai left the circle while I drew emblems for the planetary powers at each angle of the hexagram.

  Once the circle was complete, we stood, watching and waiting. At the very last moment, Hayworth arrived. The man
stood on the opposite side of the circle from Irix with his hands shoved deep into his pockets. I had no idea what I could have the farmer do in this ritual. It was so complex, I wasn’t even sure I would get it right.

  “Pineapple?”

  He handed it to me, leaning across the lines of chalk so as to not smudge them. I cringed as I took the fruit, feeling the blackened flesh where the fungus had taken hold. I placed it in the center where the sun symbol was, right next to the kukui lei and the Pele statue, to represent the initial offering.

  I took a deep breath and brought the energy up to the surface of my skin. Facing east, I held my left arm across my body and pointed upward with my right, feeling like I belonged on the magician Tarot card.

  “Yod. Nun. Resh. Yod.”

  I recited the zodiac signs from the hexagram along with their attributes, glancing occasionally at the paper that was barely legible in the glow of the chalk. My arms went out to my sides to form a cross with my body to make the sign of Osiris. Then I reversed with my left arm up and my right across my body, switching the paper to the other hand. Now I felt less like a Tarot card and more like a traffic cop.

  More arm movements, this time with some head rolls to accompany the zodiac invocations. I bit back a laugh, desperately wanting to shout out “Y. M. C. A.”.

  Finished with the calisthenics, I drew a hexagram in the air at each direction with my index finger. Kristin had said a wand worked best, but since I didn’t happen to have one of those handy, my finger would evidently suffice.

  Done. The energy still hummed through me, but it felt... flat. Was it supposed to feel like this? I sent a trickle of energy out around the circle. The symbols and lines lit up a brilliant white. The banishing space was charged and secure. Now it was time to work some magic. Squinting to read the unfamiliar language of the incantation, I traced the main hexagram with my finger and stooped to pick up the kukui lei, saying the words to protect the island. For the second time, I charged the main hexagram then picked up the Pele statue.