Racing the Dark (18 page)

Manuku dropped the mirror. He didn't bother to check whether it had broken before he turned and fled.

Lana pulled her reed hat lower over her face and watched the water dribble in the puddle at the bottom of her boat. The day was overcast and the dense mist that covered the lake showed no signs of clearing. Lana sighed and grabbed the oars again. At least she wasn't likely to get lost-she had traveled this route so many times that she could find her way to the village merely by following the patterns of the reeds. When the mist was this thick, she liked to play at creating silly geas out of great puffs of air. A deep breath wasn't much of a sacrifice, but the air sprites seemed willing enough to take it in exchange for visions of mandagah swimming through the mist, or snakes slithering through her hair. Today, vaporous butterflies landed on her ears and fluttered on the top of her oars. But they dissolved when the boat rocked violently and two exquisitely thin, pale, webbed hands gripped the edge. Soon she saw Ino's unmistakable face, and his white hair seemed to shimmer hypnotically even in the fog's intense gloom. He did not leave the lake entirely, but instead floated with his head resting on his arms, draped over the side of her boat and dripping water in a steady stream. Lana felt too listless to even be mildly surprised.

"Something has changed, little diver," he said in the slippery, wet voice that she had grown used to.

"Has it?" she said. She knew by now that she had to be careful with Ino, especially when he was trying to tell her something important. Akua's geas was sensitive and clever, but in the delicate game they had been playing for the past few months, one of Lana's chief advantages was the meager dribble of half-formed hints she received from the water sprite. Despite her growing feeling that Akua was hiding something important from her, Lana had decided to trust the witch. She couldn't stand the implications of doubting her-not after she had finally settled into this life. She felt wary, she reasoned, because she hated to be kept in the dark by anyone, not because she felt that Akua would ever seriously harm her.

The sprite spat some water just past her face and for a fleeting moment she saw it form in the shape of a key, pointing toward the center of the lake. It splashed into the water on the other side of the boat with a brief ripple. "The lakeside storm is getting more powerful. For each favor, there is a sacrifice. With each sacrifice, its goal is more attainable."

Lana stared for a long time into Ino's unblinking silver eyes. Finally, she nodded. "I'll take care to avoid the storm," she said.

Ino smiled sadly. "But you can't, little diver," he said. "You can only make yourself powerful enough to meet it."

He dropped back over the side of her boat. Lana ignored her shiver of fear and grabbed the oars again. It was another slowgoing hour before she made it to the village.

The ship manager's office for the tiny harbor on the tributary doubled as a post station. Trade boats on their way to Okika City had stopped by there this morning, and Lana hoped that a letter from her parents had come with the delivery. Most of the people she passed on the muddy street were hunkered under their straw hats and barely spared her a glance. She was grateful-her association with Akua made them wary at the best of times, and she hadn't been back since she helped deliver that woman's baby. Noela, the wife of the dock manager, looked a little surprised when Lana walked inside the cramped front office and took off her hat, but her welcoming smile was only slightly more strained than usual.

"Lana! It's been so long, hasn't it? Here, let me see if anything came from Essel for you." She jumped off of the stool where she had been writing precise notes in her open ledger and took three steps to a large reed basket where the week's mail was sorted. She thumbed through them rapidly and then pulled out a set of papers, folded twice, tied with string and sealed with clear wax.

Noela stood up and handed Lana the letter. "Looks like it's from your mother. Let's see ... that's about thirty kaneka." After rummaging around in her pockets, Lana found the change and dropped the cheap stone coins into the box on the desk.

She had stuffed the letter inside her pockets and was putting on her rain hat when Noela cleared her throat nervously.

"Listen ... maybe someone should tell you this, Lana. No one around here really wants the witch coming back, not after what happened to Saulo. I don't think anyone will touch you-everyone knows you're a nice girl. But be careful, okay? If anyone gives you trouble, just get out of their way."

Lana stared at the older woman. Saulo? She must be referring to the man whose wife Lana had saved, but what had Akua done to him? Unable to think of any appropriate response, Lana thanked her and ran back outside. The rain had stopped and the sun was showing some signs of peeking through and clearing away the persistent fog-not as dense in the village as it was on her side of the lake, but maddening enough. Lana absentmindedly unfastened her hat and walked slowly through the streets, unable to avoid the mud that splashed onto her homespun socks and straw sandals. Conversations stopped as she walked by, and Lana grew uncomfortably aware of people's eyes on her back. Mindless village busybodies, Akua called them, preoccupied with other people's lives because they can't find enough interest in their own. Lana had laughed at the time, and then felt a little guilty after. But as the whispers grew louder, Lana thought that Akua had been right. She fumed inwardly-it was only natural for them to associate her with Akua, but couldn't they see that she had no effect on her mentor's actions? A man, a simple fisherman by his clothes and smell, bumped into her as they crossed paths and spat at her feet. Noela's warning suddenly took on ominous overtones-Lana wanted to get out of the town as quickly as possible. Still, she had some shopping to do before she could get back in her waiting boat. With no other defense, Lana raised her chin and held her shoulders back, daring any of the whispering people lining the streets to openly insult her. She had nearly made it to the general store unmolested when a sudden unnatural hush followed by the brief gurgle of a baby giggling made her turn around slowly. She recognized the woman immediately, although she looked considerably healthier than the pale, delirious expectant mother of two months ago. Tied to her back with a green and blue cloth-colors of good luck for a child of difficult birth-was an infant, blinking sleepily at his mother. She lightly kissed someone who stood in the entrance of one of the stores, and then stepped out into the street. After a moment, the man standing in the doorway called her name. She turned around. For a second her eyes caught hold of Lana's, but they left without the light of recognition. Of course, how could she recognize her? Though Lana had placed her own hands inside that woman's womb, they had never actually met. The thought made her feel inexpressibly sad-ever since Kali died, she had felt distant from people. Even the ones closest to her. The man stepped out onto the street, and she saw that he was walking with crutches. She felt another shock of recognition as he handed the woman a rain hat-it was Saulo. After the woman had gone on her way, he turned around and saw Lana. They stared at each other for a tense moment, and almost against her will Lana looked down to see what he had sacrificed for his wife and child.

His left foot was wrapped in bandages, but even so it was easy to tell that it was half gone.

Lana tasted bile and for a second she was afraid she might faint into the mud. Her vision was half-white when she sank to her knees with tears stinging her eyes. When Akua had talked about a sacrifice, she had never even imagined something on such a scale. Lana looked back up at the man, who was staring at her with a hard, unreadable expression.

She suddenly felt a harsh tug at her braid as a man much taller than her forced her up from the ground. "Should I get the bitch for you, Saulo?" the man asked, tugging on her braid so hard that Lana was forced to stand on her tiptoes. Although she gasped in pain, she found herself curiously unable to speak.

Saulo shook his head. "It's not her fault. Leave the girl aloneshe saved my wife and my baby."

The man reluctantly released her braid, but Lana still felt too horrified to move. Saulo gave her one last glance before making his slow way back inside the shop.

"Tell your master," the other man said, spinning Lana around to face him. He had a bulk to match his height, and she realized he had been using far less than his full strength to pull her from the ground. "Her favors come at too high a price. It's a cruel fate, Saulo's-for a cobbler to lose his foot."

The man stalked away. Lana swallowed, though her mouth had gone almost completely dry. Rather than think about the implications of what she had just seen-and risk being sick in the middle of these incredibly unsympathetic villagers-she walked the few yards to the general store.

There was no one inside but blind Apano, shelling green peas while humming an old tune quietly to himself. She and Apano had struck up an odd friendship since the first time she had visited the village-he was one of the few people she had met who had been born, like her, in the outer islands. His island had been near the outer fire shrine, where the salty water meant there hadn't been any divers, but talking to him still made her feel almost like she was home again. He was the only other person she had ever told about Kali. He wasn't that old, actually-probably only fifty-but he had lost his sight years earlier. The rumor was that Akua herself had blinded him in return for orchestrating the death of the pirate who had killed his parents when he was a teenager. Since Apano knew she was Akua's apprentice and had never shown her the slightest bit of resentment, Lana had always dismissed it as a rumor. Now she wasn't so sure.

"Lana?" he said, raising his head. "Is that you?"

Lana smiled. "How on earth can you tell, Apano? I haven't been here for months."

Apano opened another pod and let the peas drop into the pot between his legs. "I can't tell everybody, but I can always tell you. You feel different."

Lana sat next to him. "I saw Saulo today," she said.

Apano's hands slowed, but didn't stop shelling the peas. "He's holding up pretty well, considering. Probably because he's got his wife and baby boy to be thankful for."

To her surprise, Lana felt hot tears begin to slip from her eyes and onto her clenched fists. "I didn't know, Apa," she said softly.

He tossed away the pea pod. His hands were strong and darkened with freckles from long years of making the journeys between the islands. She had always found them comforting, and today it was a relief when he put them over her own.

"I know you didn't, child. She is very careful around you. Her sacrifices may be painful, but she always gives what she promises."

"Did ... did you get what she promised?"

Apano gave a brief, bitter smile that was unlike anything she had ever seen cross his usually gentle features. "Yes. I did."

Apano's daughter came rushing inside the store, her face flushed with excitement. "Dad, you won't believe this, but I heard that apprentice girl had the nerve to come back here after-" Her expression when she saw Lana was almost comical, but Lana didn't laugh.

"We have a guest, Kaila," Apano said mildly.

"What ... what do you want?" she asked after a brief moment. Her stomach was bulging with a pregnancy Lana hadn't noticed when she was last here two months ago. In fact, she looked like she was bearing twins, which would be hard on a woman with such a small frame.

Lana stood up. "Five pounds of sugar, five pounds of salt, and a small jar of honey. Then you can talk about me all you want."

The woman looked as though she wanted to say something else, but turned around and began filling up bags. Lana noticed that though she couldn't have been more than five months into her pregnancy, she moved like she was near term. Kaila handed her the bags and avoided meeting her eyes when Lana paid. As Lana was tying her purchases securely to her back, she decided to take a risk.

"It might be a hard birth," she said. "It looks like you have twins. If things start looking serious, you could ... send for me. I won't ask you for any sacrifices."

Kaila looked up sharply at Lana and put her hands over her belly protectively.

"Get out! I don't want you or your witch's help. Get out!" she rushed at Lana and pushed her back against the doorframe.

"Kaila, enough!" Apano's voice held such force that both of them froze and stared at him. "Lana was only offering to help. Give her back her money and apologize. Even if you feel sorry for Saulo, you can damn well do better than to pick on a girl who's just as much of a victim."

Kaila looked at Lana angrily, but she handed her back the money and muttered a half-hearted apology.

"Be careful, child," Apano told Lana as she was leaving. "Never think you can't end up on the wrong side of a sacrifice yourself."

Lana was drenched by the time she arrived back at the cottagethe skies had opened up just as she was over the center of the lake, and only Ino's help had managed to keep the small boat from flooding. She thought she might never stop shivering if she didn't get out of her wet clothes immediately, but she still hesitated a moment before the door. What she had experienced at the village made her feel tainted, and yet how could she confront Akua with it? Part of her wanted to scream at her mentor for doing something so coldhearted, but another, weaker, part of her only wanted to forget about it. After all, she couldn't do anything to help. It had always been clear who had the power in her relationship with Akua. If Akua kicked her out, where could she go? Her parents? But wasn't her mother the one who had given her away in the first place? Lana shook her head firmly. Leilani hadn't had a choice. Her mother would never have done it if she'd had a choice. Rain pelted her, and still she did not move. In the end, Akua solved the problem by opening the door for her.