Desperate Measures Read online

  It was Ani, paddling an outrigger canoe toward the shore. His long, thin frame was unmistakable, even from a distance.

  “Ani!” Jane called out, and ran back toward the water. Vanessa and Buzz were right behind her.

  If they couldn’t be with their brother right now, Ani was the next best thing. He knew what it was to be an outsider. He’d washed ashore on Shadow Island over a decade ago. He also spoke English. From the moment Vanessa and her siblings had landed here, Ani had done what he could for them while still keeping his loyalty to the Nukula. When they’d tried to leave from the western shore that very first day, it was Ani who stepped in to warn them, and to save them.

  Ani had also been there on Cloud Ridge at the end of Raku Nau. He’d watched as each of them grabbed a seccu, took a leap off the ridge, and began the final swim across the bay to the eastern shore. That meant he’d know what had happened to Carter.

  “Ani!” Vanessa yelled. “Over here!”

  Ani turned south then, and began paddling his outrigger parallel to the beach instead of toward it.

  “What’s he doing?” Buzz asked. “Ani! Come back!”

  He seemed to be headed for the island’s easternmost tip, a hundred yards or more down the shore. There was nothing but jungle that way. The only true landmark was an enormous palm tree that grew way out over the water.

  In fact, Vanessa realized, it was the biggest palm she’d ever seen. It dwarfed the other trees around it. A broad crown of fronds at the top shaded the shore from a hundred feet or more above the ground.

  “Ani!” Jane yelled next. “Please! We have to talk to you!”

  He looked over now and cocked his chin in the direction he was traveling. If they wanted to hear about Carter, their only choice was to follow along the beach. Several others had taken notice of Ani’s arrival, too, and began heading through the woods in the same direction. Some traveled on the ground; others went from tree to tree, in the Nukula manner.

  Vanessa, Buzz, and Jane took off running down the shore at the same time. As they headed toward the enormous tree, Vanessa heard someone shout out in a long, birdlike trill. The voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time, filling the air around them.

  “Look!” Buzz said. He was pointing at the jungle itself, near the huge palm. The foliage there had begun to shake. And then, incredibly, it all started to move.

  Vanessa kept up her pace, squinting to make sense of what she saw. The wall of green at the base of the palm was slowly sliding away, like some kind of giant screen door.

  Which was exactly what it was, she realized.

  This was the genius of the Nukula. They used camouflage in ways unlike anything she’d ever seen. In the village, a man-made ceiling of bamboo and greenery shadowed the tribe from passing planes. Here, the screen hid an entrance for canoes. It ran across a swift-moving channel that flowed out of the jungle and into the ocean. Ani had already turned that way and had begun to paddle inland.

  As they reached the channel, another call sounded out and the screen reversed direction. They were close enough now to see several young Nukula pushing it back into place. The screen was made from bamboo and natural foliage. The huge frame of it spanned the channel, coming to a rest against the giant palm’s trunk on one side and another large tree on the other. From the ocean, all anyone on a passing ship would see was a small river flowing out of dense jungle.

  “That . . . is . . . amazing,” Buzz said, speaking for all of them.

  But there was no time to stand around gawking. “Come on,” Vanessa said. “The sooner we get to Ani, the sooner we can get some answers.”

  They cut into the woods next, skirting the edge of the screen to head upstream after their friend. Their path took them right under the enormous palm. The inland side of the tree’s trunk was strung with a square lattice of vines, like a rope ladder. It was more camouflage, Vanessa saw, barely even visible from up close. The ladder rose all the way to the top, where a small hut was tucked under the palm’s enormous crown of fronds.

  It was a guard station, Vanessa realized. That’s where the voice had come from. It was all making sense now. This was the island’s most vulnerable spot. Ani had told them as much, before Raku Nau started.

  A small number of Nukula lived on this side of the island, protecting it for exactly the reason she and her siblings had been trying to get here. The most guarded place on the island was the only one that offered them any chance at all for escape. The odds were crazy. It was almost too much to think about.

  Almost, but not quite.

  Jane moved as fast as she could along the channel’s muddy bank. It was hard to be patient, picking her way over the roots and rocks, but the woods were too thick for running, and the channel’s current was too fast for swimming. It would only wash them back toward the ocean if they tried.

  She could see Ani now, a hundred feet inland, tethering his canoe to a tree on the left bank. Several other canoes were already moored there, and a low thatched hut sat nearby.

  Dozens of Nukula had already arrived at the same spot, including Mima. When she saw Jane, Buzz, and Vanessa coming, a rare smile lit up her face.

  Jane pushed through the crowd, but before any of them could reach Ani, an unfamiliar boy stepped in her way. A girl about the same age stood with him. Both wore fierce expressions.

  These were the eastern-shore guards, Jane realized. Both of them were barely older than the oldest Raku Nau runner. And neither wore the seccu. That meant they’d failed to complete Raku Nau when they had the chance.

  “Um-sha! Um-sha!” the boy said, waving them back.

  “We just want to talk to Ani—” Vanessa tried.

  “Um-sha!” the girl repeated, waving a sharpened stick in their faces.

  Mima was there now, too. She laid a hand on Jane’s shoulder. It seemed to say, Don’t push it.

  Soon, a man strode through the crowd toward the front, while everyone else made way. Jane recognized the shape of the man’s face and the heavy brows over his dark, staring eyes. They were the same as Chizo’s.

  This was Chizo’s father, the chief of the Nukula tribe. He was the one they called Laki.

  Back in the village, Laki dressed no differently than the others. Today, he wore a long cape made from overlapping leaves and strings of small shells. The leaves themselves had been coated in the three ceremonial colors of Raku Nau, like shingles of red, black, and white. On his head, he wore a band made from some kind of leather, with long narrow feathers hanging off the back.

  “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.”

  CHAPTER 4

  Soon, 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.