Desperate Measures (3 page)

“He's got to be wondering what happened to Chizo,” Buzz said.

“I think everyone's wondering that,” Jane said.

Chizo had been a favorite to finish
Raku Nau.
The entire tribe had expected him to be chief one day. But now, of course, that could never be. He would forever belong to the group of Nukula who failed to earn a
seccu
.

Ani stayed calm, answering Laki's questions without any emotion in his voice. Before long, Laki turned and called out to the two guards nearest Jane.

“Tinata eh fasto Chizo!”
he said.
“Sha-hia!”

Without a pause, both guards ran down the bank. At the water's edge, they dove, side by side, into the channel, where the current carried them off. Within seconds they'd reached the mouth of the channel,
swum under the green screen, and disappeared toward the ocean on the other side.

“They're going to get Chizo,” Jane said. “Aren't they?”

“I bet you're right,” Buzz said.

“But . . . why?” Jane asked.

“I have no idea,” Vanessa said.

“Maybe being chief's son means you get an automatic
seccu
,” Buzz said bitterly.

“Maybe,” Jane said, but the dark look on Laki's face told her otherwise.

Without another word, Laki strode back up the bank and into the lone hut next to the channel. Most Nukula dwellings were built into the trees, but not this one. It sat directly on the ground.

As Jane watched, Laki bent down and lifted up a section of the hut's bamboo floor. The section was big enough to block her view through the door, but it soon dropped back into place. And when it did, Laki was gone.

“Did he just go
down
?” Buzz asked.

“There must be a cellar,” Vanessa said.

“Or a tunnel,” Jane said. It was hard to put anything past the Nukula. They were incredible engineers. The question was, where would that tunnel lead?

“Ani!”
Vanessa shouted out.

All the others except for Mima had begun to leave. Jane pushed through the departing crowd with Vanessa and Buzz to reach Ani on the nearly deserted bank.

“Where's Carter?” Vanessa asked.

“What happened to him?” Jane asked. “Is he okay?”

“He will be fine,” Ani said. He pointed for them to follow the rest of the tribe. A trail cut through the woods here, and everyone was headed back toward the main clearing.

“What do you mean—fine?” Jane said, trying not to shout. “Ani! What happened?”

“I will explain what I can,” he told them. “But come. It is crucial that you stay with the tribe. Now, more than ever.”

Buzz walked double time along the trail to keep up with Ani's long stride. He peered left and right, into
the dense greenery around them, as they went. It was amazing how fast the jungle could swallow you up, like some kind of living beast. A few quick steps off the path were all it would take.

“Ani, can you tell us?” Vanessa repeated from behind. “What happened to Carter?”

“And what happens now?” Buzz asked.

Ani answered without slowing. “Your brother stopped Chizo from completing the course,” he said. “And he allowed Mima to finish ahead of him.”

Mima turned at the sound of her own name. She seemed to sense what they were talking about. It looked as though she wanted to cry but didn't know how.

“Now Laki has sent for his son,” Ani continued. “Chizo's conflict with your brother has cost the tribe a future chief. The leadership will pass to someone else. And Chizo will be exiled to
Trehila
.”

“
Trehila?
” Jane asked.

Ani pointed back in the direction of the giant palm. “It is the outermost guard post for the island,” he said.

“And what happens to Carter now? And to all of us?” Vanessa asked.

“You will be welcome in the village, but Carter's life will not be as easy. He will share a hut with the
otana
—those who do not finish
Raku Nau.
Without the
seccu
, his role in the tribe will be that of helper, and worker,” Ani told them.

Buzz felt the tears on his cheeks before he knew he was crying. It was all coming so fast.

“That isn't fair!” he said. “We're supposed to stick together!”

“What you know as fair and unfair is different here. There is no dishonor in being
otana.
All roles are important to the Nukula,” Ani said. “But you will not see Carter again until you return to the village. Your best choice now is to become members of this tribe, as I once did.”

The idea of it took Buzz's breath away. He stopped with his hands on his knees.

“Buzz?” Jane asked.

“Ani?”
someone called from ahead.
“Ekka-ka?”

When Buzz looked up, one of the women at the back of the crowd was staring at them. They were lagging behind, and the other Nukula seemed to have noticed.

“
Ah-ka-ah
,” Ani called back with a wave. Then he continued on the trail and gestured for Vanessa, Buzz, Jane, and Mima to follow.

“What do we do?” Jane asked.

“I don't think we have a choice,” Vanessa said. “We stick with the tribe. At least, until we see Carter again.”

Buzz nodded and took a deep breath. “Vanessa's right. We have to find him before we can do anything else. But then we'll figure something out,” he said quietly. “With or without Ani's help.”

S
oon, they came to the main clearing. People were preparing food and cracking coconuts around the fire, where a skewered boar steamed and spat juices into the flames. A small circle of drummers provided a constant, jangling beat that filled the air.

Bum-bum, bum-bum-ba-DUM-bum . . .

Bum-bum, bum-bum-ba-DUM-bum . . .

For Jane, it all felt strangely familiar—the sense of celebration, the smell of the food, and, most of all, the drums. That thumping rhythm carried her mind back to a day not so long ago, even if it felt like forever. It
was the day they'd all become one family: Mom and Dad's wedding.

Just three months earlier, Jane and Carter's mother had married Buzz and Vanessa's father in a small ceremony in the backyard of the new house in Evanston. Everyone had been given a job. For Jane, it was carrying the rings up the aisle, where they all stood together until the last “I do.”

After the ceremony, a band played into the night. It was good music, fun music. The percussionist had even let Jane sit in and pound away on the bongos for a couple of songs.

Bum-bum, bum-bum-ba-DUM-bum . . .

Bum-bum, bum-bum-ba-DUM-bum . . .

Looking back, it was strange to think about the nightmare that lay ahead of them that day. There was the shipwreck on Uncle Dexter's boat. The thirteen days of surviving on Nowhere Island. And then their near-rescue, when Mom and Dad found them with the help of a private search operation.

They'd been
so close
to going home again. But then one rogue current was all it had taken to snatch that
chance away. The four kids had been swept out to sea in their life raft, faster than anyone ever would have imagined. The night they spent tossing over the waves before landing on Shadow Island had been as endless as any Jane could remember.

Now here they were, fighting to get back out to sea again. The idea of returning to the open ocean was terrifying, but it was also their best chance of rescue. The only thing scarier was thinking about never seeing Mom and Dad again.

Bum-bum, bum-bum-ba-DUM-bum . . .

Bum-bum, bum-bum-ba-DUM-bum—

“Jane?” Vanessa called. “Keep up!”

Jane blinked out of her waking dream. Vanessa was waiting for her, and watching with tired eyes. Her sister seemed just as exhausted as Jane felt. But what did it matter? Buzz was right. There was no changing what had happened, and no use looking back. The only useful thoughts now were about putting one foot in front of the other.

“I'm coming,” she said.

From the main clearing, Ani led them up a second
trail, away from the celebration. All of the other
Raku Nau
winners and their families were already heading that way.

Before long, another hut loomed into view. The trail ended at its doorway, where two more guards were stationed. The hut itself was far too small to hold everyone who had already come this way, Jane noticed. And that could only mean one thing.

Sure enough, as they stepped inside, Jane saw a square hole in the bamboo floor where a trapdoor had been raised. Beneath it, a ladder descended into a dark hole. The line of people ahead of them had already started down. A flickering light from someone's torch showed dirt walls and timber supports below the floor, but nothing else.

“Where are we going?” Vanessa asked.

“To the marking ceremony,” Ani told them. “It is the last act of those who run
Raku Nau.
You should prepare yourselves.”

“Prepare how?” Buzz asked.

“With strong minds,” Ani said, and tapped his fists in the Nukula manner.

Jane had learned the gesture from Mima, and returned it to Ani. She curved her fingers into fists, turned her knuckles inward, and knocked them together with a double tap. As far as she could tell, it meant
be strong
.

And so she would. They all would. Not that they had much choice.

Vanessa led the way down the ladder ahead of Buzz and Jane.

The air cooled as she came into a crowded, low-ceilinged tunnel. The earthen walls were supported with raw timber, and the tunnel itself smelled like dirt. Straight ahead, a torch in one of the elders' hands showed some kind of wooden door. Behind them, in the other direction, there was nothing but darkness.

“Where does that go?” she asked, but nobody answered.

“Ani?” Jane said.

“I'm here,” he said from somewhere in the dark.

With that, the door swung open, wider and higher
than Vanessa ever would have guessed. Soft daylight spilled into the tunnel from the room beyond.

They moved with the group into a large round chamber. Laki and two elders were already inside, tending three large stone pots over a fire in the middle of the room.

Vanessa took in as many details as she could. The ceiling was domed, made from another lattice of foliage-covered bamboo. It bulged into the jungle itself, like a fifty-foot-wide skylight, overgrown with leaves and vines that hung down nearly to the floor.

There were three other tunnels, too. It seemed clear that Laki had come from the one on the right. It pointed back in the direction of the canoes and
Trehila.
The other two openings went to the west and north. It all laid out in Vanessa's mind like a half-finished map.

While Laki supervised, the elders used long sticks to lift the steaming pots off the flame and set them onto the dirt. Next to that, a stack of woven-frond mats sat with a pile of thin, stringy vines.

Everyone seemed to know what to do. All of the other
seccu
winners moved in single file around the circular
room to form a wide ring.
Raku Nau
had begun with a fire circle. Now it would end with one, too.

Slowly, the adult family members stepped into the circle and turned to face their own loved ones. Ani, who had been speaking with Laki, now came to do the same.

As he faced Vanessa, Jane, Buzz, and Mima, a lump rose up Vanessa's throat. Ani wasn't their father, and Mima wasn't their sister, but they were as close to family as it was possible to have found in this short, bizarre time on Shadow Island.

“Thank you,” she whispered to Ani. Mima squinted at her, and seemed confused by the emotion.

“Hold up the hand you used to claim the
seccu
on Cloud Ridge,” Ani said, and then repeated it in Nukula for Mima. Vanessa and Buzz raised their right hands; Jane raised her left. And Mima had already bent down to pick up one of the frond mats.

“Now face me,” Ani told Vanessa. “You first.”

The other adults were using the vines to tie screens around their own children's arms. Jane knelt down to help Mima while Ani began to do the same for Vanessa.

“What are we doing, exactly?” Vanessa asked.

“You will choose a color,” Ani said, and indicated the still-bubbling pots. Each one held a different liquid—deep black, bloodred, and milky white. They were the colors of
Raku Nau.
“Then you will place your
seccu
arm into the dye,” he continued. “Red signifies fire. Black signifies earth. White signifies the trees. All of these give life to the Nukula.”

Vanessa stared at the steaming liquids. The vine- and-frond wrapping pinched her skin as Ani knotted it down, but that was the least of her worries. It was hard to concentrate.

“Red,” Buzz answered. “For fire.”

Jane nodded in agreement. Fire it was. They would all do the same.

Already, several others had dunked their wrapped arms into one pot or another. Their faces were fixed, but not calm. Two of them, a boy and a girl, stood gritting their teeth, up to their armpits in the hot red dye.

Vanessa held a shaking fist over the red pot and tried to clear her mind. It was the same feeling as watching a dark storm roll in across the Pacific. There was no avoiding this now, only getting through it.

With a fast move, she plunged her whole arm into the cauldron. The liquid was hotter than any shower she'd ever taken, and she shuddered from the pain. Everything inside her said
pull back.
But with Laki and the others observing, she didn't dare.

The vinegary smell of the dye made her eyes water, too. She blinked several times, fighting off the dizziness, and locked her knees to keep from stumbling over.

“How long should I do this?” she asked.

“As long as you can,” Ani answered, while he tied on Buzz's mat. “In the eyes of the Nukula, you are now adults. The choice is yours.”

Vanessa took a breath and let it out. How many times had she wanted to be treated like an adult back home? More than she could remember. But that was no comfort at all right now. The only thing that mattered was gutting through this and putting it behind them.

For Buzz's sake. For Jane's.

And for Carter's.

Carter was the first to hear the messengers as they
approached. He'd been following at the back of the line of
Raku Nau
losers, out of the gorge, down from Cloud Ridge, and into the jungle heading west. The sound of the drums from the eastern shore had begun to fade behind them.

But now—a voice.

“Betta! Eh Laki, betta!”

He turned around to see two young Nukula, drip-ping wet and running toward them. Their faces were unfamiliar.

“Hey!” Carter called out to the front of the line. “Hold up!”

A few people turned around. The elder who had brought them this far barked out an order, bringing the line to a stop. Then she doubled back to greet the incoming strangers.

After a short conversation, the elder turned and called out to the group again.

“Chizo!”
she said.
“Ekka-ko!”

Ko?
In the Nukula language,
ko
was used to address an enemy. That much Carter knew from his time on the island. Something very strange was going on, but
what? Why would Chizo be an enemy to the tribe?

Still, Chizo didn't pause. He jogged right past Carter to where the messengers were waiting. A moment later, the group of three turned and headed uphill, back toward Cloud Ridge.

Everyone else broke from the line then, following after Chizo and calling out. Only Carter stayed put.

Before Chizo disappeared around a bend in the trail, he stopped and turned back, long enough to knock his knuckles together as the Nukula often did. The others all returned the gesture.

And as they did, Chizo looked straight at Carter, across the fifty yards of ground between them.

Carter's nerves went electric. It was force of habit. Chizo had tried to destroy Carter's chances in
Raku Nau
from the start. But there was no hatred in his eyes now. All Chizo did was raise his chin as if he were saying good-bye. Or maybe to indicate something behind Carter.

When Carter turned to look, there was nothing to see but empty jungle. What was that about?

And then he realized. Or at least, he had an idea.
Chizo was showing him a way to escape, wasn't he? Everyone else was still half a football field away. Even the elder had turned her back for the moment.

Was it some kind of trick? Or was Chizo paying Carter back for the mercy he'd shown on the floor of the gorge? Carter could have easily won that fight, but instead, he'd stepped off.

Now, his mind was spinning with new possibilities. The fastest way to reach Buzz, Jane, and Vanessa on the eastern shore was to head up and over Cloud Ridge. That was the way Chizo and the messengers would go.

But it couldn't be the only way, Carter thought. This was an island, after all. What would happen if he headed
around
Cloud Ridge to the north? Worst-case scenario, he'd hit the ocean and use the shoreline to guide him east, toward the sound of the drums.

He had to try, anyway. Any second, the others would turn back and the chance would be gone. That meant he had to disappear. And he had to do it right now.

Without another thought, Carter sprinted into the jungle.