Spirits of Ash and Foam (33 page)

From the lobby, Fred Kim watched his family ascend, until they vanished from view. Then he started to cry. Without shame. Alonso stepped forward, offering a reassuring smile and a reassuring hand on Mr. Kim's shoulder. Fred smiled back at him and wiped his eyes on his sleeve. He crossed the lobby to follow the other Kims—then stopped. He turned back toward Rain and pulled out his wallet. “I still owe you money,” he said.

Rain shook her head. “I'm just glad they're safe.”

“Thank you, but one thing really has nothing to do with the…”

“I couldn't. Really.”

Alonso beamed proudly at his daughter. Iris, who had been on an emotional tightrope for days, now sniffed and dabbed at her own eyes—and resisted the urge to hug her daughter, knowing it would embarrass her in front of her friends.

“Really,” Rain repeated. She saw 'Bastian raise an eyebrow. Both knew she felt too guilty over exposing the Kimlets to Aycayia in the first place to take any money. Camera or no camera.

Fred Kim finally took no for an answer. Or perhaps he just couldn't wait to rejoin his family. He said, “Well, thank you,” turned on his heel, and practically bounded up the stairs.

Deputy Constable Viento turned to her boss. “Now what?”

Jean-Marc didn't answer right away. He was looking at the teens and asked, “Where have you four been?”

Rain looked at Renée, who stood there, smiling pleasantly. Then Miranda said, “We were on one of my father's boats trying to help with the search.” Charlie nodded. So did Rain. Renée said nothing.

Constable Thibideaux seemed to think about this. Then he nodded, turned to Viento and belatedly answered her question. “We look for these smugglers. I'd lay odds they've already left for the mainland, but we put out a description of this Aycayia—”

“Which description? The woman in the seaweed bikini or the manatee?”

Even Jean-Marc chuckled at that. “Yeah, I don't hold out a lot of hope for success here. And frankly, I'm not going to pull out all the stops to find a woman who ultimately rescued these kids, took care of them and then sent them home. But you and Stabler do your best.”

“Not you?” Mariah Viento asked, surprised he was delegating.

“I've got to coordinate with Vector Control. They arrived this afternoon to deal with the mosquito problem on Sycorax. They want to set up early, before dawn tomorrow.”

The constables then took their leave, shaking hands with Alonso and Iris, then exiting out the front door.

Tall and awkward, Judith Vendaval stood in the middle of the lobby at loose ends. She said, “Well, I should probably, um…” She trailed off.

Iris grasped her hands. “Please, join us for dinner?”

“I don't want to put you out. I know it's not included in—”

“It would be my pleasure. I mean, I haven't started
anything
yet, but if you can wait forty-five minutes, we'll have a feast, I swear.”

“Can I help? Or at least watch? Local fare is part of what I write about.”

“Sure, I'm happy to put you to work,” Iris said.

“Putting people to work is one of her talents,” Rain sassed.

Iris gave her daughter a
watch it, kid
look, but it came with another smile. Then she invited Charlie, Miranda and Renée to stay as well—if it was all right with their parents. They all accepted. Even Renée.

“Then I'll put you to work, too.”

Rain said, “Told you,” as Iris led a procession into the dining room toward the kitchen. Rain held back and grabbed her father by his wrist to stop him.

“I have to tell you something,” she said.

'Bastian perked up, wondering just how much his granddaughter was about to spill.

Alonso stopped, turned and waited.

She took a deep breath and said, “I lost your camera. I borrowed it without asking, and I lost it.”

“I … When was this?”

“When we were out with the Kims, and you let us go diving. I wanted to get some pictures of the manatee. But, well, I … got startled … by a dolphin. And I dropped it. And I couldn't find it.”

“And why didn't you say something?”

“Um, you may not like this answer.”

“Probably not.”

“I was going to replace it without telling you.”

“Hope I didn't notice.”

“Yeah.”

“What changed your mind?”

“Well, for starters, I don't have enough money. Yet!”

“That's why you were babysitting.”

“Yeah. But I couldn't take their money, not after—”

“No, I understand that. I was proud of you for that. Not so proud of you right now, maybe. But I'm glad you finally spoke up.”

“I
will
replace it, Dad. I swear.”

“No, I'll replace the camera. You'll pay me back.”

“Okay. I just don't have—”

“I'll take it out of your allowance, which means
no
allowance for the foreseeable future.”

She sighed. “Right.”

“Okay.” He bent down and kissed the top of her head. “Let's go get in the way in the kitchen.”

“I'll be right there.” She knew she had gotten off easy.

He smiled and entered the dining room, leaving Rain alone with her ghosts.

Cash sauntered up. “We ready to deal with my thing now?”

Since her dad was still in earshot, Rain merely nodded.

'Bastian said, “We'll meet on Sycorax tomorrow at sunset. Rain'll bring me over in the
zemi.
But you'll want to hop the ferry tonight or before dawn tomorrow morning.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Cash said, “I don't wanna go back there. And neither does she. They want to
kill
her.”

“I have to go back,” Rain whispered. “Can't let anyone else get hurt because I'm not doing my job.”

'Bastian said to Cash, “And if
your
job is to protect her, you need to be there too.”

“We don't know if that's my job.”

“Why else are you still here?”

“I don't know!”
Cash shouted. Both Rain and 'Bastian flinched, but neither bothered shushing him. They just gave him dirty looks, and he lowered his head, appropriately chastened. “All right, I'll be there,” he said. Then, out of nowhere, “So … is your mom a good cook?”

Rain shrugged and nodded again.

“Great,” Cash said. “Then let's hit the kitchen. I may not be able to eat, but I can smell any food I see.”

'Bastian nodded too, but then shook his head. “Yeah, but it's torture sometimes.”

“'Course it is,” Cash said, “but in this afterlife, you take what you can get.”

The three of them went to join the others in the crowded kitchen.

Meantime, Maq and I were hitching back from Windward. It had been a long way to go to drop a nail on East Beach Road. But I think it was worth it.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

NONFRONTATION

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18

When the bell rang at the end of English, and as everyone was racing to leave, Mrs. Beachum raised her voice above the clamor to remind Rain she had an oral report due in history tomorrow morning on the Taíno
cacique.
Rain nodded; she thought about saying something clever about the “research” she had already done but—fearing Mrs. B might ask follow-up questions—kept her mouth shut.

That morning, Rain had come downstairs to find no one in the kitchen. She'd crossed through the dining room to the lobby, which was again crowded with luggage, Caciques, Kims and Timo. The Kims were checking out—three days early.
But who could blame them?
Certainly not Iris or Alonso, despite the loss of income the early departure represented. With a nudge from his wife, Fred Kim offered to pay for the extra days, but Rain's parents wouldn't hear of it.

Rain had knelt down to say good-bye to the Kimlets. She knew that even now she wasn't their favorite, but Wendy, John and Michael still gave her big hugs andbigger hugs for Charlie and the biggest hugs for Miranda. (Rain took some satisfaction in knowing there were no hugs for Renée.) Then Wendy did something very grown-up. She took Rain's head in her small hands, tilted it down and kissed her gently on the forehead. Esther Kim noticed this benediction and was about to comment, until Michael said, “Aycayia taught her that.” That served to remind Esther she wanted off the Ghosts as soon as mortally possible, and she began ushering her family and Timo out the door.

She paused long enough for Fred to shake Alonso's hand, and for Esther to embrace Iris, and for both to offer their thanks. Rain had held the door open for them, and Esther kissed Rain on the cheek and whispered, “Thank you, Rain.”

A few minutes later they were gone. Rain's parents headed for the kitchen, but Rain stopped, spotting Michael's yellow shovel on the floor of the lobby. She went to the window, sure the Kims would soon be back for it any second. But they didn't come back. And Rain soon realized they'd probably never come back. And that was okay, because she was also fairly certain that Michael didn't need the shovel anymore. Still, she kept it. During English, she drew a crude picture of a manatee on it. It would be Aycayia's
zemi
now. It didn't belong in the Cache, but she'd keep it on the old Spanish desk in her room.

At the lockers, Rain confirmed with Miranda and Charlie that—after orchestra—they'd head back to Mr. Guerrero's study to do more research. Rain would wait for them in the air-conditioned school library, getting her other homework done. (There wasn't enough time to get to the Cache and back.) Renée, “unfortunately,” had her shift at K.C.F. and wouldn't be able to join them.

Rain and Renée watched Miranda and Charlie go—then turned to face each other.

“So, really,” Rain said, “what do you want?”

“Sugar—”

“No. No sugar, Renée. I'll take it unsweetened.”

Renée smirked out loud and thought about it for a while.
What did she want?
“Well, we could start with the truth. You knew those kids would be on Sycorax—nowhere near Windward—and had us looking there on purpose.” She nearly said “on porpoise” but decided it wasn't her style. “I don't know what the dolphins had to do with it. But something was up over there, and you've lied about it to everyone else, including, oh, I don't know … the kids' parents, your parents and the Ghost Patrol.”

“I just wanted to get them back safely.”

“I get that. I do. I saw those kids with their mom and dad. You did a good thing. But first you did a bad thing. And that's the piece I'm missing.”

“You wouldn't believe me if I told you,” Rain said with confidence, knowing Renée had heard the truth already from Michael the night before and hadn't believed a word of it.

“Well, I wouldn't
trust
you if you told me. Let's put it that way.”

“So…”

“So, I don't know. Not yet, anyway. I'm not busting you. But I'm not letting this go, either. I'll figure it out eventually. I'll get it from Charlie or from Miranda. Or you'll make a mistake, and I'll get it from you.”

“Get what? What do you think we're even talking about?”

Renée frowned. Then she took a step forward and said, “It doesn't matter what. But I'm gonna mess you up over it. You and Charlie and Miranda.”

“You know Miranda legitimately likes you. She thinks you guys are friends.”

“No thanks to you.”

“Exactly. We've tried to warn her off, but she won't be warned off. So why not just be her friend and leave her out of this?”

“You know I can't do that.”

“Why? Do you even remember what she did to piss you off?”

“Yes!”

“And it's petty, right?”

“Doesn't matter. Can't let it go.”

“Yes, you can.”

“No. I can't,” Renée said. And Rain saw it. Something hard as flint in Renée that couldn't let go of any perceived slight. Ever.

“Okay, so…”

“Yeah.” They turned and went their separate ways.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

SURFING FOR EPIPHANIES

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18

They took the ferry across this time (Miranda said Ariel was busy flying Mr. Guerrero to Miami), but that was all right. Huddled together, alone at the back, they watched San Próspero recede while reviewing what little they knew. Rain retold Naborías' Mosquito Boy legend, which creeped Miranda out. (Not that it made Charlie or even Rain feel particularly warm or shiny.) But it also served to remind Miranda that the other two were keeping things from her. She had been part of the whole Aycayia thing from the beginning, because she had witnessed Aycayia's first transformation, but this …

“What exactly are we trying to achieve here?” she asked.

“What do you mean?” Charlie asked back.

“Well, I take it we're not helping Rain prep her oral report.”

“That's part of it,” Rain said defensively, then more sheepishly, “A little part.”

“A very little part.”

Rain exhaled. She looked at Charlie, who shrugged. Then she turned to Miranda and decided—with some relief—to spill at least a few of her beans. “Okay, here's the thing. I'm a
cacique
on my father's side and a
bohique
on my mother's. That means I'm the Searcher.”

“What's a Searcher?”

Charlie jumped in. “We're not a hundred percent sure yet. But we know Rain needs to search out a
zemi.
”

“And we think this particular
zemi
will have something to do with Mosquito Boy,” Rain stated, feeling more and more sure she was correct. “Something that'll stop his attacks.”