by Kealohilani
“Kendra?!” Lani exclaimed as Justin, Raoul, and she ran over to Kendra and finally noticed the two other people who were still lying on the ground nearby.
“And Kara?!” Justin added. “And who’s that other dude?”
“What are you guys doing here?” Raoul asked.
Kendra answered while she and Justin shook Erik and Kara awake.
“I don’t know what we’re doing here. And this ‘dude’ is Erik. I met him on a study-abroad trip in Italy and found out that he lived like only fifteen minutes away from us in California the whole time!”
“Nice to meet you,” Erik yawned, with a groggy voice as he sat up and offered his hand to Justin.
Justin shook Erik’s hand and helped him up as he answered, “Nice to meet you too… Man, your shirt is really loud.”
“So I’ve heard. The fashion po-po must have a quota today… Is it morning?!”
“The last thing I remember,” Kendra began, “I got off the phone with Lani, and Erik got off the phone with Kara… and we were on the canoe tour at the Polynesian Cultural Center and then… we were here… How is this possible?”
Lani answered Kendra in a placid tone, hoping to help her friends stay calm, “I don’t know. We were on the Tower of Terror and then just like you said— we were here.”
“Henri and I were by the Eiffel Tower last I knew. He was about to show me the Paris Opera House…”
“Dang it! My phone isn’t working!” Justin complained, tapping it a little harder than he should. “No bars. No GPS. Nada. But according to the time we’ve only been out for maybe fifteen minutes or so. It’s only 9 p.m. and still July tenth.”
Kendra pulled her phone out of her fanny pack and looked at it. “The sky doesn’t look like 9 p.m. and mine is showing three in the afternoon, which would also be about fifteen minutes since I last checked in Hawai‘i. Also July tenth.”
“It doesn’t look like 3 p.m. either, by the way,” scoffed Justin.
“3 a.m. on July eleventh,” Kara added, looking at her phone. “I think that’s what time it was in Paris with Henri… we were having so much fun, I really didn’t notice the time…” She watched as her battery went from one percent to zero and her phone shut off entirely. She placed it back in her little pine green sequin handbag and snapped it shut.
“Mine’s dead,” stated Raoul, who didn’t bother to get his phone out of his pocket. “It died right before we got on the Tower of Terror ride.”
“Same here,” Erik remarked. “Right before we got on the canoe though.”
Lani tried to get her phone to turn on. “That’s strange.”
“What is?” Justin asked.
“I had ninety percent battery when I called Kendra. But my phone won’t even turn on.”
“So all of our phones think it’s only been about fifteen minutes but yours is completely drained?”
“Not to mention our phones are showing three different time zones even though we’re all obviously in the same spot now,” Kendra pointed out.
“We have no bars. So our phones are still on the last time zone we were in,” Justin explained. “But before we ran out of signal, our phones should have been adjusting time zones as we traveled— however the heck that happened. And Lani’s phone is the only one that makes sense if there’s been enough time to get all six of us together from three different places on the planet. Unless you want to believe that Lani’s phone is the one that is messed up.”
Kara started to cry.
“This is way bizarre guys,” was all that Erik could manage to say, as he looked around with wide eyes.
“I know! I’m really starting to freak out here!” Kara squeaked.
“I know it’s hard, but try to stay calm, Kara. Nothing good can come of freaking out. Now let’s think… You guys were in Hawai‘i. Kara was in France,” Lani put her arm around Kara and then indicated Justin and Raoul as she continued, “and we were in Florida. Now somehow… Justin, what does your watch say please?”
Justin got it out of his pocket. “It says six, because I had it set for California time.”
“Thank you. That makes sense. So somehow, in a grand total of maybe about fifteen minutes from the time Kendra and I hung up the phone— when we were six thousand miles apart— somehow in that small amount of time we all ended up in the same place… wherever this is.”
“You’re making a lot of assumptions there, sugar bunny,” said Justin. “All of our clocks could be wrong and there are literally thousands of sci-fi explanations for this. Time travel. Wormholes. Teleportation. Our phones being in time dilation fields that didn’t affect yours. We could all be unconscious, having a shared delusion brought on by some freaky technology the government is testing. I could go on.”
“Grow up, Justin,” Kendra grumbled with an irritated sigh. “This isn’t a comic book. This is serious!”
“I know! I am serious! Wait…” Justin looked at his pocket watch again and his eyes widened. “It says it’s 6 a.m. on July eleventh! What the what?!”
“Sounds like your watch matches my phone then,” Lani observed.
“But how is ANY of this possible?” Kendra demanded.
“I blame aliens!” shouted Justin as he began to laugh hysterically.
Lani shook her head and smiled slightly as he put his watch back into his pocket. Laughing was always Justin’s response to stress. He laughed when things were scary. He laughed in the doctor’s office when he got shots. He simply laughed whenever things became too much.
“This is no time for jokes!” Raoul’s quick retort and very serious tone made Lani want to laugh as well, just because it was so Raoul.
“Sorrrrreee!” Justin exclaimed.
“This really does not seem possible. Maybe one of us is dreaming. OUCH!” Kendra screamed as Erik pinched her, with a smirk on his face.
“You’re welcome,” Erik grinned.
“Did I ask you to pinch me? I don’t think so, Erik! Anyways it was a better guess than ALIENS!”
“Whoa, calm down,” Erik said, slightly scared.
“Hey can you guys do this with your fingers?” Raoul asked, making his right pinky finger and left thumb point the same direction with all the other fingers balled into a fist and then switching abruptly to make his right thumb and left pinky point the same direction with all the other fingers pulled into a fist and repeating the process over and over and faster and faster.
“Stop doing that, Raoul!” Kendra demanded.
“HEY! My aliens theory is more plausible than your dream idea now, Kendra!”
Lani sighed. She had half-hoped Raoul’s distraction technique would work— but deep down she had known it would not. Kendra, Erik, Justin, and Kara were all now hopelessly mired in their arguing, while Raoul tried to break up the fight.
Lani tried to gently pull Justin back, but he wouldn’t budge. When that failed, she tried to quietly guide Raoul out of the fray— but he too could not be moved. Lani had tried to assist in Raoul’s peacekeeping efforts between Kendra and Justin enough times before to know better than to try to do anything more about it now.
She exhaled softly in defeat. Anytime Kendra and Justin went at it, Kara would get involved, and then the situation was virtually unstoppable. Apparently their newer friend Erik didn’t mind getting involved either— as he was being just as loud as the rest of them.
Raoul was tense— as he always was in these situations— while he tried to remind everyone that they were all friends and that fighting did nothing. Lani sighed once more and walked a little ways away— strolling around the edges of the clearing to look at the tranquil forest— as the battle raged on between Kendra and Justin.
“HOW IS ALIENS MORE PLAUSIBLE THAN A DREAM?”
“WELL WE ALL KNOW YOU’RE AWAKE NOW, DON’T WE? I’M SURE YOU’RE A MUCH NICER PERSON IN YOUR DREAMS! I DON’T KNOW! MAYBE THE ALIENS WANTED A BUNCH OF ADOPTED KIDS TO RUN EXPERIMENTS ON!”
“GROW UP, JUSTIN! YOU’RE SO STUPID! YOU AND ME AND LANI AR
E THE ONLY ADOPTED ONES SO THAT MAKES NO SENSE AT ALL!”
“NO, YOU GROW UP! ALIENS MAKE MORE SENSE THAN ANYTHING!”
“THIS IS PROBABLY ALL YOUR FAULT!”
“YEAH— I SECRETLY MOVED US ALL THOUSANDS OF MILES IN TWO SECONDS JUST TO GET YOU MAD!”
“IT WOULDN’T BE THE FIRST TIME YOU HAD A DUMB IDEA!”
“THINK ABOUT IT! HOW COULD I DO THAT? I DON’T HAVE MAGICAL POWERS!”
“UNLESS YOU COUNT BEING ANNOYING AS ONE, YOU’RE RIGHT!”
“DON’T EVEN GO THERE, KENDRA!”
A purple bioluminescent butterfly caught Lani’s attention as it flitted past her and into the trees. She heard her friends yelling as she took her first step into the forest and continued to explore. Kara and Erik kept supporting their side with “Yeah!” and “Uh-huh.” It was the girls vs. the boys.
Lani could also hear Raoul, in the loudest quiet voice he had, saying things like, “Come on you guys, stop arguing.” She was astonished by their complete lack of curiosity.
Their voices became more distant as Lani ventured further into the dimly-lit woods, after the enchanting glowing butterfly. The light was growing stronger now and she knew she would be able to find them again. Even if she did get lost, she could always just follow the noise of the argument.
Back in the clearing, her friends were so caught up in their boisterous bickering that they were completely unaware of being methodically surrounded. With weapons ready, thirty people were hidden skillfully behind the trees, logs, and bushes that encompassed the small glade. They watched while the strangers in front of them continued to fight.
A slight movement in the trees caught the eye of the leader of the armed group. He looked away from the five strangely-attired people and briefly saw a young female heading off deeper into the woods. He left quietly to follow her.
A tall woman with a ponytail of ebony ringlets reached for his arm to stop him— but he was gone too quickly. She sighed and returned her attention to the loud strangers. Signaling her people, she jumped out from behind her tree. She stood with her bow drawn back, ready to fire three arrows at once.
“Surrender!”
At Arante’s command, the others of Jharate’s party came out of hiding in a circle around the friends— weapons drawn. The dispute stopped immediately as the five stunned and now silent friends slowly raised their hands into the air. Justin’s mouth was open. The eyes of the others were wide. They all stepped back slowly and huddled together.
“Tie their hands and take them to camp! Once you arrive there, bind their feet as well. Move out!”
Arante’s cool clear voice resonated in everyone’s ears. The five friends remained silent and cast uncertain sideways glances at each other as their arms were pulled down in front of them and bound tightly. Once all of their hands had been bound, they worked hard not to stumble as they were marched off in the direction of the camp. Arante, however, did not follow her people. She turned and sprinted off into the trees.
Lani froze in place as she realized that the perfect silence of the forest around her meant that the arguing had stopped. She turned around abruptly to go back to her friends and jumped at the sight of a stranger standing right in front of her. Her hand flew to her heart and she inhaled sharply. He had been so quiet that Lani had not heard him at all, even though she had been focused on listening.
Her eyes were wide, and every muscle in her body was tense as she regarded him— but then she saw his face. How could this be possible? It was still too dark to be certain… She knew that face. But how?
Lani was positive she had never been wherever she was at this moment before— and equally positive that she had never met this man prior to this moment— and yet there was something so familiar about him. She relaxed and her face softened. She stared intently into his eyes and the corners of her mouth turned up slightly.
The man had stopped dead in his tracks as well. He looked surprised that she had caught him. He said nothing. He simply stared at her with a flat expression. His eyes watched her every reaction as if searching her features for something that would identify her.
She wondered what he was thinking or feeling as she stood there— still staring at him. It felt to her as if the whole world had stopped around them. Neither one moved or made a sound.
Lani gasped in fright as she felt a hand roughly wrench her left arm behind her back. In that same instant a knife was pressed carefully against her throat. Her instincts fought each other— and her neck felt immense tension— as she tried to both stay away from the blade and keep perfectly still at the same time. Her breathing continued on in strained shallow inhales and exhales. Her free hand instinctively grasped her assailant’s arm, to try to keep the blade from piercing her skin.
“You ought to be more careful, Cousin. You are the last of your line. We cannot afford to have you killed in the forest by some pretty little assassin.”
The woman’s voice was cold and full of irritation. Lani wanted to speak up and insist that she was not an assassin— but her voice had deserted her. Instead, she remained as still as possible— pleading, with her eyes alone, for mercy from the man.
He looked away from her gaze and turned his focus to the woman behind Lani. His expression hardened and his jaw set firmly as he addressed her.
“I had the situation under control, Cousin. I am my father’s son, after all. Take her to the camp with the others. I will meet you there.”
“As you wish, Your Highness.”
The man ignored the woman’s angry tone. He turned suddenly, and silently vanished into the trees. His disappearance was so quick that Lani thought his exit was more like that of a ghost, rather than that of a man.
As the knife lowered from her throat, Lani stared at the spot where the man had stood. Her mind wandered back to the moment they had just shared. She wasn’t sure what it had meant— or even exactly what had happened. It had felt peaceful and exhilarating. Quiet and explosive. Soothing and yet awakening. It hadn’t felt possible at all— and yet, it had happened.
“Move!”
Her attacker’s forceful tone brought Lani’s mind back to her current situation. In the midst of her musing, she hadn’t even noticed that her hands had already been tied behind her back.
Lani wondered what her fate would be. But for some reason that she couldn’t explain— she was not particularly worried. She had a feeling that whoever that man was, he would not hurt her.
A Dash of Stockholm Syndrome
Chapter Eleven
Lani and the others sat in complete silence against a fallen tree, with their hands and feet bound tightly. Terrifying thoughts galloped through their minds, which manifested in their worried expressions as they shifted nervously.
Lani, however, was quite still— with a serene expression on her face and a far-off look in her eyes— her thoughts focused on the man she had come across in the forest. She was dying to know who he was and trying to understand why she was so sure that she knew him. There was something mysterious and wonderful about him that she simply could not figure out.
Arante sat nearby, keeping a watchful eye on them at all times, sharpening her dagger methodically all the while. Her expression was emotionless and stern— and her eyes held a promise to harm the first one with the audacity to cause trouble.
However, every once in a while, her face seemed to soften slightly into a quizzical gaze as she looked at Erik. Erik hoped he wasn’t imagining things, but every so often he swore he caught a slight smile on her beautiful face that he barely even dared to dream was for him.
Time passed by slowly, and nearly felt as if it were stuck at times. The trees above were tall and thick, and the breeze gently whispered through them. Every now and again a leaf would fall, floating down to the ground slowly— more slowly than seemed possible. The sun was high in the sky and through the canopy of branches and leaves shaded the area sufficiently enough to make it comfortable, there was now adequate light to see well.
Aft
er a while, Arante left off sharpening her dagger and made her way to the pile of stuff they had taken from Lani and her friends. She opened Kara’s handbag first.
Kara watched as Arante took out her California driver’s license, her passport, a tube of Dusty Mauve Anastasia Beverly Hills lipstick, a crystal glass nail file, her mascara, her mirrored powder compact, lip gloss, makeup remover wipes, her backup pair of diamond earrings, a small tin of mints, her dead rhinestone-studded phone, and finally, a mini-bottle of Tabasco hot sauce— only to put them back exactly as she had found them. Arante’s expression remained stone-cold and emotionless.
Next, Arante grabbed Kendra’s fanny pack from the pile. She held it every which way, examining it— finally finding the zipper and opening it. Again, without emotion, she rifled through the contents. First came Kendra’s phone, which Kendra noticed had apparently died— since the screen remained black despite Arante’s fiddling with the buttons on the sides and the bottom of the phone. Then came a tube of sunscreen, a pair of sunglasses, and her wallet.
Arante searched through the wallet and looked at the driver’s license, credit cards, and cash. Carefully putting each item back after inspecting it— rather than throwing it out— just as she had done with Kara’s things.
The map of the Polynesian Cultural Center was opened and studied on both sides. It was the first time Kendra thought she maybe detected a hint of surprise or confusion on Arante’s face. But it was gone so quickly, Kendra wondered if she had imagined it.
Satisfied that she had searched through everything in Kendra’s fanny pack, Arante grabbed Erik’s backpack. Out came a package of beef jerky, two water bottles, his wallet, a pair of blue board shorts, a brush, hairspray, a Los Angeles Angels baseball hat, a golden pineapple keychain, a wooden surfboard keychain, a miniature wooden pineapple, Erik’s dead phone, an actual pineapple, li hing mui powder, a beef manapua, red li hing mui fruit snacks, a spam musubi from the Hau‘ula 7-Eleven, a small bottle of spicy kimchi, li-hing-mui-covered gummy bears, a purple Chinese finger trap, a silver slinky, a shrink-wrapped package of sea shells, an I-heart-Hawai‘i T-Shirt size small for one of his sisters, a T-shirt reading “Someone I love went to Hawai‘i and all I got was this T-Shirt” size large for his dad— and Jonn’s Pokemon wallet, which Jonn had asked Erik to hold for him.
