Desperate Measures Page 6

  “You’re still choking him!” Vanessa screamed. But it didn’t do any good. Every step in Carter’s direction only made things worse. Mima seemed like a trapped animal, wild-eyed and unpredictable. This wasn’t the same Mima they’d known all during Raku Nau, Jane thought. Not anymore.

  Something very strange—and very wrong—was going on.

  Buzz took a step toward Mima with both hands held out to show he meant no harm. It was all beyond confusing. “Mima, what are you doing? Please, listen!” he said.

  “Fah!” she shouted again. No!

  “Be careful!” Vanessa called out, just as Mima lunged and Buzz jumped back.

  “What’s going on?” Carter asked. His voice was weak. He seemed too tired to struggle.

  “She wants the blood ring,” Jane said.

  “The what?” Carter asked.

  “It’s what they all came for,” Vanessa said. “But Mima! Just listen—”

  “She’s not listening,” Buzz said, and tried again. “Mima, please. You can keep him for now. Take the blood ring, whatever you have to do. Just let us talk to Carter.”

  The words spilled out, whether they were doing any good or not. Maybe she understood his tone, or his gestures, but it didn’t matter. She wasn’t letting anyone come close.

  Instead, she jerked her head in the direction of the tunnel.

  “Ekka-ko?” she asked, looking Jane right in the eye. It meant This way? But with the ko at the end, it was beyond confusing. Ko was for enemies. Ka was for friends. That much Buzz knew.

  Jane was sobbing as she answered. “Ah-ka-ah,” she said, meaning yes. “But, ekka-ka, Mima. Ekka-KA! We’re your friends! What are you doing?”

  Mima’s only response was to shove Carter back between the roots of the tree and toward the tunnel entrance. She never let go of the vine even as Carter half slid, half climbed inside. Not that their brother had the energy to run away, from the look of him.

  As soon as he’d disappeared into the tunnel, Mima dropped in behind Carter. She didn’t try to stop anyone from following. Buzz, Jane, and Vanessa hurried right after them, into the dark, along with several of the other Nukula. Aboveground, one of the other runners had already started working up a fire, hopefully for a torch they could all use.

  Meanwhile, Carter was Mima’s prisoner, and there was nothing they could do about it. The most they could hope for now was to try to stay as close as possible for the trip back to the eastern shore.

  After that, it was anyone’s guess.

  CHAPTER 11

  The return trip through the tunnel was more confusing than anything Buzz had experienced since their shipwreck on Nowhere Island. The small space filled up with bodies and voices in the dark, as half the group felt their way along behind Mima and Carter.

  Soon, several of the others showed up with torches to light the way. Buzz had never seen any flint or fire starters on the island. Not like on the survival shows he used to watch. But he had seen Nukula of every age start a fire with a vine and a stick about as easily as starting a lawn mower. It was amazing how quickly they were able to light up the tunnel.

  Still, the light was their only relief. Everything else was a crazy scramble, competing with the others to get near the front. From the sound of the Nukulas’ voices, it seemed as though they were all kissing up to Mima. She was going to wear the blood ring now, after all.

  Or maybe they were actually congratulating her. It was hard to tell without understanding the language. But nobody was trying to take Carter from her anymore. It seemed as though Ohzooka was officially over.

  Soon, the return trip turned into a run, and it got even harder to keep up. All Buzz, Jane, and Vanessa could do was shout to their brother from a distance. There was no time for making a new plan, no time for anything but trying to stay with the group.

  “Carter, are you okay?” Buzz called out.

  “I’m . . . okay!” Carter called back. But he didn’t sound okay. He sounded like the running was all he could manage. After that, Buzz and the girls stopped trying to get him to talk. It was awful, not being able to help him or even hear his voice.

  Fortunately, the run back was quick. Sooner than Buzz would have thought possible, they reached the ladder below the guard hut near the encampment. Mima pushed Carter up first and went right behind him, still holding the vine like a leash. Everyone else pushed and jostled to be the next ones out. The group streamed up through the hole in the ground, with Buzz and Vanessa somewhere in the middle.

  As soon as Buzz was outside, he turned back to look for Jane. He’d lost her in the shuffle to get out.

  “Buzz! Vanessa! Over here!” Jane yelled.

  He turned again and looked up the trail toward the main clearing. Jane was there, waving them on. She’d already squeezed through ahead of them.

  “Why am I even surprised?” he asked as they hurried after her. Jane knew how to use her size as an advantage, that was for sure. She could slip through practically anything unnoticed.

  “What do we do now?” she asked as they all continued up the trail.

  “What I want to know is what Mima’s thinking,” Vanessa said. “I don’t get it.”

  “You don’t?” Jane asked. “She’s making herself a leader in the tribe, that’s what.”

  “But she wouldn’t even have a seccu if it wasn’t for Carter!” Vanessa said.

  “I’m not excusing it, I’m just explaining,” Jane said. “At least it’s her and not someone else.”

  “It sure sounds like you’re excusing it,” Vanessa said.

  “Shut up, you guys,” Buzz said. It was nearly impossible not to lose patience, but they couldn’t afford that right now. The only solution was to keep their eyes open and see what they could make out of whatever happened next.

  The drums started up as Mima led the procession out of the woods and into the clearing, dragging Carter along beside her. Vanessa watched from several yards back while he stumbled along, still trying to keep pace.

  The feast had begun without them. The roasting boar from before now lay, half-carved, on a stone pile, keeping warm by the flames. People sat in groups, spread out around several smaller blazes in the clearing.

  Laki alone sat by the main fire, nearest the meat. He had a leaf bundle open on his knee, feeding himself with his hands, when he looked up and saw them coming.

  People jumped to their feet and came closer as Mima brought Carter straight to the chief. Vanessa felt Jane’s fingers intertwine with her own. Buzz stood close on the other side. There was no sign of Ani so far, and they watched, waiting to see what would happen.

  Laki stayed cross-legged on the ground as Mima pushed Carter down to kneel next to him. She didn’t say anything at all. She only reached over to cut the loop from Carter’s neck, as though she were dropping him off for Laki.

  But Laki stopped her with a hand on her arm. He said something to Mima that Vanessa couldn’t hear, and then handed her something. It dropped into her palm and he closed her fingers around it.

  The blood ring. That’s what it had to be, Vanessa thought. But Laki had made so little deal out of it. Something seemed off. Maybe it had to do with how the tribe had reacted when he took the ring from Chizo in the first place. Or how Laki had been eating alone when they’d come back.

  Whatever was going on, there was a definite feeling in the air that Laki no longer enjoyed the love and support of the Nukula as he had just a few days earlier. Even his face looked different—drawn, and sad, to Vanessa’s eyes.

  Whatever it was, Mima didn’t hesitate. She slipped the ring onto her own little finger while Laki continued to address her. He seemed to be giving some kind of instructions, because Mima picked up the vine next and pulled Carter back onto his feet.

  Laki motioned toward the far end of the clearing, beyond the light of the fires.

  “What do you
think he’s saying?” Jane asked at Vanessa’s side. Vanessa shook her head. Even with everything that had happened, it felt like some kind of bad dream now. As horrible as the last few weeks had been, they’d always stayed in charge of their own fate. Now, it was as though everything they’d fought for was being taken away from them, in a whole new way.

  A hand landed on her shoulder, and she flinched. It was Ani. The sight of his face flooded her with relief, and she threw her arms around him.

  “Ani! What’s happening? Please, tell us!” Vanessa said. “Where is Carter going?”

  “He will be bound and held for the night,” Ani said. “When the tribe has gone in the morning, the guards will let him out, and he will remain here.”

  “Carter!” Jane shouted.

  This was exactly what they’d been afraid of. It was all coming so fast.

  “When your brother ran off this afternoon, he forfeited his right to return to the village,” Ani said.

  “What do you mean, they’re holding him?” Vanessa asked. “Where? How?”

  “The guards have prepared a sand pit,” Ani said. “They will not hurt him. He will receive food and water. He will be kept there only through the night. But then you will have to say your good-byes.”

  “No,” Vanessa said. There was no question to it. Just—no.

  “We’re not letting him go in there,” Buzz said.

  Ani looked at them gravely. “I promise you that you have no choice,” he said.

  “I’ll go with him,” Vanessa said. “Buzz and Jane, you stay.”

  “No way!” Jane said.

  “That’s not going to happen,” Buzz said. “You said it yourself, Vanessa. We’re not getting separated again. Not ever.”

  “It does not matter,” Ani said. “You three are wearers of the seccu. It is not done this way.”

  “Fine,” Vanessa said. She reached up, untied the leather cord around her neck, and held out the stone. “Take it.”

  She pushed the seccu into Ani’s hand, then turned toward Laki.

  “We’re staying wherever our brother is staying,” Vanessa said. Her gaze traveled from Laki, to Ani, to the rest of the tribe as Ani translated quietly for the chief. Everyone was watching. “You can try to stop us, but it isn’t going to work. I don’t care what happens anymore. We’re not . . . splitting . . . up.”

  Her heart was racing, but she wasn’t scared. It didn’t feel brave, either. It was more about doing the only thing she knew to do.

  “This is a mistake,” Ani said.

  “If it is, then we’re all making it together,” Buzz said. He and Jane had already taken off their own seccu as well. All three of them walked over to stand with Carter.

  “You guys,” Carter mumbled out. “Don’t—”

  “Shut up,” Vanessa said. “We’re staying wherever you are.”

  “Ozo etta mi shinolaka,” Mima said. Several people laughed nervously.

  Vanessa looked into Mima’s eyes, searching for some kind of understanding. Mima only stared back, as unblinking as a stone.

  “What did she say?” Jane asked.

  “She said, ‘Blood runs deep,’” Ani answered. “It means the four of you are a family to the end.”

  “Yeah,” Vanessa said, putting out her hands to be tied. “She’s right about that.”

  CHAPTER 12

  The pit had been dug during Ohzooka. It was the same size and shape as the one on the western beach, where Vanessa had been trapped the first day. Jane looked down inside, but there was nothing to see, just a flat bottom and sand walls that gave way to dirt lower down. It was definitely too far to jump in or climb out.

  The pit sat at the far edge of the main clearing, in the direction of Trehila and the canoes. Two guards stuck tall torches in the ground all around it and lit them as Carter, Jane, Vanessa, and Buzz were lowered in, one by one, with a vine rope.

  As soon as Jane hit the bottom next to Carter, she threw her arms around him.

  “I’m so sorry!” she said.

  “What are you sorry for?” he asked.

  “You must have been so scared on your own!” she said. “At least the three of us have been together.”

  “I’m okay,” Carter said, playing it off the way he always did. But Jane could tell from the tightness in his voice that he felt otherwise. He blamed himself for all of this. If it hadn’t been for Carter’s sacrifice at the end of Raku Nau, they could have been gone by now.

  But none of that was worth saying out loud, Jane thought. It was behind them. And the truth was, she might have done the same thing.

  “Betzo!” someone said.

  Jane turned and saw it was Mima. She’d come down into the pit and was holding more of the thin vines they’d used during the marking ceremony.

  Ani stood at the top, along with Laki and several others. Everyone watched from above as Mima continued what seemed to be her job here. She’d captured Carter, and now she would bind all of them for the night.

  “You must all sit and have your hands tied,” Ani told them.

  “What for?” Buzz said. “It’s not like we can climb out.”

  Jane didn’t even hear the answer. She was staring at Mima, trying to get her to look back. Mima only kept her eyes down and wrapped Jane’s wrist with the vine, then tied it off. The whole thing was so confusing, she didn’t even know where to start. Mima had so quickly become a friend, even like a family member to them. This new change was just as sudden, but twice as perplexing.

  “Mima?” she said, more than once. But she never got an answer. She never even got a glance. Jane felt a lump in her throat, but her eyes stayed dry. There were simply no more tears to give.

  Soon, they were all sitting with their hands tied and their backs propped against the dirt walls. Mima used the vine to walk herself up and out of the pit, then pulled it up behind her. Not once did she look back.

  The next surprise came in the form of food and water. The guards dropped down four leaf bundles and two waterskins to share. It was awkward to eat with their hands tied in front of them, but nobody worried about that. There was no conversation, either. After forty-eight hours of starving, there was nothing they needed as much as this.

  Just the smell, much less the taste, of the meat and the stringy vegetables in the leaf packet was like a miracle. At home, it all would have tasted like nothing, Jane thought. They probably would have thrown the food away. But here, the idea of throwing away anything to eat was inconceivable.

  It was amazing what even a little food could do. Carter, especially, seemed to wake up from the trance they’d found him in. It was like watching him come back to life. Jane could have drunk gallons more water than they’d been given, too. Even so, she felt stronger than she had in days.

  And then, finally, the conversation began.

  There were questions first. Lots of questions. Carter listened as they explained what had happened without him, and how Ohzooka had been called after his escape.

  Then he told them about his own strange turn with Chizo. It had been Chizo himself who had pointed the way for Carter to run.

  “Maybe he was hoping you’d get lost in the jungle,” Buzz said.

  “Or worse,” Vanessa said.

  “I don’t know,” Carter told them, looking up. “It was weird. I could have really taken him out in that fight, and I didn’t. I think he was paying me back.”

  “Yeah, well . . .” Vanessa said, and held up her bound wrists. “I guess it almost worked. Thanks for nothing, Mima.”

  “I can’t believe she’d do this,” Jane said.

  “Don’t say that,” Carter told her. He looked up again, Jane noticed, but there was nothing to see. Just the starry sky and the back of one of the guards.

  “Why not?” Vanessa asked. “Listen, I get it. She had to do what she had to do. But meanwh
ile . . . well, never mind.”

  Vanessa sat back again and shut her mouth.

  “You can say it,” Jane told her. “We’re stuck. They’re going to try and take us away from Carter in the morning. And there’s nothing we can do about it now.”

  “Did Mima really need the blood ring that badly?” Buzz asked. “She already had the seccu.”

  “Listen,” Carter said. “We wouldn’t turn on each other, would we? Mima wouldn’t do that to us, either.”

  “What are you talking about?” Buzz shot back. “She just did!”

  “Omigosh, do you still like her?” Vanessa asked. “What’s wrong with you? This is about way more than a crush, Carter.”

  Carter didn’t take the bait. He kept his voice low. “I’m just saying, we’re going to be okay,” he told them.

  “How can you say that?” Buzz asked.

  “And why do you keep looking up?” Jane added.

  When she looked for herself, the guard had stepped away from the edge of the pit. She could hear him talking to the other one, nearby.

  Carter glanced up once more. Then he leaned forward and rolled to the side, showing them the dirt wall behind his back. It was too dark to see much in the pit, but Jane could tell something was there. It had been shoved into the soft earth, she saw, just before Carter moved back into place.

  When she looked up again, the guard was there, staring down at them.

  “What was that?” she asked Carter in a whisper.

  Carter looked around at each of them in turn. “This is what I’ve been trying to tell you,” he said quietly. “Right after Mima tied me up, she gave me her knife.”

  Carter laughed for the first time since he could remember. The wide eyes on all three of his siblings were clear, even in the dark pit.

  “I knew it!” Jane said. “I knew she couldn’t just turn her back on us.”

  “Why didn’t you say something?” Vanessa asked.

  “I just did,” Carter said.

  “But what does it mean?” Jane asked. “What are we supposed to do with it?”