Desperate Measures Page 8

  Jane didn’t think—she moved. She jumped out of the canoe and ran up the bank to where the vine was tied off to a tree. If she could cut it from this end, that would be at least fifteen feet of rope they could bring with them.

  She grabbed the vine near the tree trunk and spiraled her hand around it, until it was tight on her wrist. Then she gripped it hard and reached with the other hand to cut the whole thing free.

  “Jane!” Vanessa called. “Where are you?”

  “Here I come!” she said. “Get ready!”

  “We got you!” Carter yelled. “Don’t worry!”

  Too late, Jane thought.

  Here went everything. She sawed into the vine several times with the edge of the blade. The vine tore, but held. She sawed even harder—once, twice, three times—and then it popped.

  The outrigger’s response was immediate. It turned on the current, away from the other boats, and started downstream. Jane ran and then stumbled down the bank to catch up. She threw the knife into the canoe and dove to get inside, a fraction too late. Instead, she hit the water. The rope snapped tight on her wrist and yanked her downstream, towing her behind the canoe toward the others.

  Everything was a dark blur of movement and water. Jane reached and pulled herself higher on the vine as it continued along the channel. It was like climbing sideways toward the boat, hand over hand, working against the water, the momentum, all of it.

  With the next pull, she felt something solid. It was the side of the boat. She reached up again, grabbed on, and heaved herself inside. The whole thing nearly tipped over as she did, just before she landed on her back in the well of the canoe.

  “JANE! NOW!” Vanessa’s voice came right away.

  Jane sprang back up and looked around. The enormous screen was straight ahead and approaching fast. The whole thing was crooked now, half in the water and half out. She saw the others, too. Carter and Vanessa hung off the gate itself, with Buzz and Mima holding something out from the shore. It was a big piece of bamboo. She recognized it just as the canoe crashed into it, knocking the pole right out of Buzz’s and Mima’s hands.

  “NO!” Buzz yelled. “Vanessa! Get her!”

  The canoe shimmied on the water and cut toward the bank. Vanessa was straight ahead now. Carter was off to the side, too far to reach.

  Vanessa dropped even lower to hang by her knees. Jane stood up to get to her, but the boat was too unsteady and she fell right back down again.

  “Buzz, get in the boat!” Carter yelled.

  “I can’t!” he said. “It’s too far! This was a mistake!”

  “I’ve got her!” Vanessa screamed. “Get up, Jane! Give me your hand!”

  Jane popped back up in the wobbling canoe and reached as high as she could for Vanessa’s grasp.

  Vanessa squeezed the bamboo gate tightly with her legs. Her knees were either going to hold, or they weren’t. There was no time to change position.

  She stretched her hands down toward Jane’s as her little sister and the canoe rushed under her. Their fingers found one another and locked together.

  “I’ve got you!” she said.

  Her knuckles strained and cracked from the tight grip. Jane screamed out in pain.

  Still, it wasn’t going to be enough. Vanessa groaned, digging for the strength to hold on. If she let go to get a better grip, Jane would wash away. But they couldn’t stay like this, either.

  “CARTER!” she yelled.

  “I’m coming!” he said. He was close but not there yet.

  Jane had her feet hooked into the canoe’s frame now. The current was pulling on it, like gravity toward the ocean.

  “Just let go of the boat!” Vanessa said. “Forget about it!”

  “No! We can do this!” Jane screamed back. Her eyes were wide with fear, but she wasn’t letting go.

  “CARTER! NOW!” Vanessa said.

  “I’m here!” he said. He flipped down next to her. “Jane, give me your hand!”

  Jane turned to look at him. Then she pulled one hand free from Vanessa’s grip and reached his way.

  “Wait! Don’t!” Vanessa shouted, but it was too late. Before Carter could grab her, Jane’s other hand slipped free. Vanessa felt their fingers untangle, and she could only watch as Jane fell back once more. The last thing she saw was Jane’s head hitting the side of the canoe, hard.

  “JANE!” she screamed.

  Jane didn’t answer.

  “JANE!”

  Already, the current had carried her past the screen, through the mouth of the channel, and out toward the dark ocean beyond.

  CHAPTER 15

  Carter jumped from the giant frame down to the bank and ran toward the shore, calling his sister’s name as the canoe slipped away.

  He didn’t get far. Mima was right there, pulling him back before he even reached the beach.

  “What are you doing? We have to get her!” he yelled.

  “Mima, let him go!” Vanessa said.

  “Fah!” Mima answered, and pointed straight up instead of out toward the boat. “Trehila! Trehila!” she said.

  Carter looked up. The trunk of the enormous palm was right over their heads, where it curved like a one-way bridge above the ocean. In the tree’s crown, the guard hut sat at the farthest point over the water—and also well ahead of the canoe itself.

  “She’s right!” Vanessa said. “We’ll never swim fast enough to catch up, but if we hurry—”

  “We can jump from up there!” Carter said.

  There was no time to weigh options. And Mima’s instincts had never steered them wrong. They were already moving toward the base of the tree, with Mima in the lead.

  “What about Chizo?” Vanessa asked. “We don’t know if he’s still up there.”

  “It’ll be okay,” Carter said.

  “How do you know?” Vanessa asked.

  The other Nukula had reached the boat depot now. They were starting to make their way downstream. Carter could hear them and see the torches coming closer.

  “It’ll have to be,” he said, and started up the ladder behind Mima.

  “And what about the jump?” Buzz said. “That’s almost a hundred feet up. We’ve never done anything like that. Not even close.”

  “That’ll have to be okay, too,” Carter said grimly. And he kept on climbing.

  Vanessa was twenty feet off the ground before she had to slow down at all. The ladder was lashed to the trunk, and the climbing was easy so far. Now she practically had Carter’s heels in her face with every step.

  “Go, go, go, go, go!” she said. “We have to hurry!”

  “I am!” Carter said.

  Mima led the way, and she moved faster than any of them. She quickly put some distance between herself and their group, while Vanessa, Carter, and Buzz worked to keep up.

  Gradually, the tree curved out toward the water. It grew at an impossible angle, as if it were too huge and proud ever to go down.

  As they passed the treetops of the forest around them, the trunk thinned, and the climbing got harder. Vanessa kept her body pressed close to the ladder, and to the tree itself. It was turning into less of a climb and more of a pull as she dragged herself along.

  The vines of the ladder started to get in the way, too. Vanessa’s foot caught in one of the rungs, and she lurched out over the side of the trunk.

  Suddenly, she was looking straight down. They were already far higher than she had even realized. The ocean below was just a flat expanse of black, except near the shore, where the fires lit up the water.

  “There she is!” Vanessa said as she spotted the canoe.

  Jane was on her back, and barely stirring. The canoe had slowed, but it wasn’t stopping and it wasn’t changing direction. Every second took it farther away from the island.

  “Jane!” she yelled.
“Jane! Up here!”

  “Nessa?” Jane called out. Just the sound of her weak voice through the night air was a relief. At least Jane was conscious.

  “We’re coming! Just stay put!” Vanessa yelled back. The only thing to do now was to keep climbing.

  Slowly—horribly slowly—they progressed toward the top. The tree continued to curve until it had all but flattened out near the end, where the guard hut waited.

  Vanessa stayed low, pulling herself along, bumping over the vine rungs and the rough bark. The trunk was barely as wide as her body now, and a fall felt much more likely. All it would take was one more slip like the last one.

  “Buzz? Are you okay?” she called back, without looking.

  “Unh,” was all Buzz answered. It was a yes, but even words were too much of an effort right now.

  “Almost there!” Carter called out.

  Vanessa risked a quick glance ahead. Maybe thirty feet in front of her, the guard hut stood against a backdrop of Trehila’s enormous fronds. Mima was nearly to it. Carter was right behind her.

  And there on the platform stood Chizo, watching them approach.

  CHAPTER 16

  Carter wished he was ahead of Mima. But at least he was ahead of Vanessa and Buzz. If one of the three of them was going to risk facing Chizo first, it was going to be him.

  Chizo held a spear out to keep Mima from leaving the ladder or standing up on the hut’s platform. She stayed low, clinging to the trunk the same way Carter was doing. A hundred feet of air beneath him looked like twice as much as it had from the ground. His heart thudded right into the wood with a fast, steady rhythm.

  Mima stayed where she was. The pointed end of Chizo’s weapon was nearly between her eyes. She said something in Nukula, but Chizo didn’t move or speak in return.

  Carter stole another look straight down. Jane and the canoe were almost directly under them now, and still drifting. She was about to pass them by.

  “There’s no time!” he said between clenched teeth. And there wasn’t. But there also wasn’t anything he could do to make this go faster. He could only watch and wait to see what happened.

  Mima slowly let go of the ladder to reach up toward Chizo with one hand. “Mima, NO!” Carter screamed. All it would take from Chizo now was one push, and she’d be gone. What was she thinking?

  Chizo reached out, but his spear was down. His hand closed around Mima’s wrist, and he bent closer to look at something on her hand. That’s what it seemed like, anyway. None of it was making any sense.

  “It’s the blood ring!” Vanessa yelled from behind. “She’s showing it to him! But Mima! Please hurry! Jane’s drifting away!”

  “Mima!” Carter called out again.

  “Ah-ka-ah!” she answered. Already she was moving onto the platform as Chizo made way.

  Carter pressed his hands onto either side of the trunk and dragged himself the last several feet as fast as he could. Chizo did nothing to stop him as he stood up on the platform, but he moved in close. His face practically pressed into Carter’s, as close as his spear had been to Mima a moment ago.

  Carter held his breath. What was this?

  When Chizo reached up to touch his shoulder, Carter braced himself. It seemed as though Chizo was about to throw him off the platform. If he did, it would at least be enough warning for Buzz and Vanessa to turn back.

  Instead, Chizo only moved him aside. He reached out and helped Vanessa take the last step onto the platform. Then Vanessa did the same for Buzz.

  It seemed as though maybe a debt had been paid. Carter’s thoughts went back to their fight that morning, and the way he’d stepped away from Chizo instead of finishing him like he could have. Or maybe this had something to do with the blood ring. Maybe Mima had promised Chizo something—or even threatened him with her new authority. Whatever had happened, there was no time to figure it out.

  “Where is she?” Vanessa asked, crossing to the far side of the platform. Mima was already there, looking straight down and calling Jane’s name.

  Carter and Buzz came right behind. The whole platform was no more than fifteen feet across, with a roof on one side and a natural covering of fronds on the other. It was also open to the water below.

  “There!” Vanessa said.

  Carter saw Jane, waiting in the canoe and looking up at them. The fires on the shore provided just enough light to see by. But the drop was impossible.

  The idea of making this jump seemed crazy, Carter thought. It was beyond anything they’d ever done, or even imagined having to do. But meanwhile, Jane was drifting farther and farther from the island. Literally every second counted right now.

  Which is what told Carter he needed to do this.

  He would do it.

  They all would.

  Vanessa tensed as Chizo pushed past her on the platform. He said something to Mima in a tone that sounded urgent but not angry. A moment later, he was gone, letting himself off the platform to climb back down.

  Several of the other Nukula had reached the base of Trehila by now. Maybe Chizo was going to meet them. Or even block them from climbing. There was no knowing, but she was grateful for whatever he could do.

  Now it was time to go. She turned to Mima and looked into her eyes. In the dark, it was hard to see if there was any emotion there, but probably not. Mima was never one to show what she was feeling.

  “Mima . . .” Vanessa said. She wished she had the Nukula words to communicate even a small amount of what she wanted to say. Still, she kept going. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have doubted you. Thank you so much!”

  “Stop talking and keep moving!” Buzz said. He took her by the arm and steered her toward the edge of the platform.

  Vanessa refocused on the water below. Jane was still there. She was close enough to reach, but she wouldn’t be for long. The current continued to carry her away.

  “We can do this,” Vanessa told Buzz. She was telling herself, too, she realized. There was no time. Not even for courage.

  This was it. The jump was a complete unknown. A bad bet here wasn’t just going to hurt them. It could end everything. But all Vanessa had to do was look down once more and see Jane alone in that canoe. Then it didn’t feel like a decision at all.

  “I’ll go first,” Carter said.

  “No,” Vanessa told him.

  She caught a glimpse of the resistance in his eyes, just before she turned, took a step off the platform, and pushed away with the other foot, into a free fall.

  Buzz followed Vanessa like there was a rope between them, pulling him right off the platform.

  He fell.

  And fell.

  The air rushed out of his lungs. His heartbeat overwhelmed everything else as his vision grayed and blurred. It seemed to go on forever, but was also somehow over in a blink. His brain registered the need to get his feet beneath him—his toes pointed—as he slammed into the ocean with a violent crash that gave way to a cocoon of water in nearly the same moment.

  Buzz felt the water but saw nothing, heard nothing. He barely even sensed anything. Did he black out? He didn’t know. But suddenly, his head was out of the water again. He was blinking, wondering where he was. And then just as fast, he remembered.

  “Buzz!” Vanessa yelled. “This way!”

  The canoe was there. He saw it before he saw Vanessa. But then she came into view, too. She was in the water, holding on to the side of the boat and waving him over.

  Jane was sitting up high in the canoe with a coil of vine rope on her arm. She had it held out over the water, ready to throw his way like a lifeline.

  “Buzz! Catch!” she said. “I’ll pull you in!”

  CHAPTER 17

  Carter’s emotions were overwhelming. He’d never felt so many things at the same time in his life. And the whole idea of saying good-bye to Mima had jus
t been compressed into a matter of seconds. It was going to be over as fast as that—as if it had never happened.

  “Thank you!” he said. There were tears in his eyes, and he threw his arms around Mima. It was something he’d never done before. “You saved our lives. We love you, Mima,” he said in her ear. He knew she couldn’t understand. But maybe she felt it.

  “And I always will,” he choked out. “I’ll never forget you. Ever.”

  Mima didn’t pull away. Her body was stiff, but she reached up to touch him gently on the arm. Carter hated to let go. Still, the need to leave was everything right now. Even more important than Mima.

  “Good-bye,” he said, choking out the word as he stepped back.

  “Goot-bye,” she answered. There was no knowing what would happen to her after this. But now that she had the blood ring, she was probably going to run the tribe one day.

  “And thank you,” Carter said. “Ratta, Mima. Ratta.”

  “Carter!” a voice came from below. It was Vanessa. Her shout cut through everything else. He looked all the way down to the water, where the outrigger had moved far out from shore. Maybe too far. He’d have to swim for it.

  “Ratta, Car-tare,” Mima said, and pointed the way he had to go. “Ekka-ka! Betzo, Buzz, Jane, Ba-nessa!”

  He looked at her one more time. He took three big strides back from the edge and lowered his center of gravity like pressing into a starting block. Then Carter pushed off into a sprint that took him across the platform and straight out into the night air.

  It was terrifying for Jane, watching each of them jump, and then fall, from the top of Trehila. Carter plummeted, then hit the water at a scary angle—and nowhere near close enough to the canoe.

  Buzz and Vanessa were already back paddling hard. Jane leaned over the edge and used her hands in the water, for whatever good it did. Finally, the canoe moved closer to Carter. When they came near enough, she threw the rope out and they pulled him in the last several yards.