Second Heart: Bones of Eden Read online

  “He was going to keep you, Fox. Then you would have been forced to have sex with all of them.”

  “Somehow I think I would have survived.” Fox rolled his eyes. Tare snorted in amusement.

  “The point,” Fox continued, “is that while Whiskey is insane, and utterly out of line, at least he was doing something.”

  “Hey!” Tare protested. “I was doing something. I was very happy doing something until you all came along and started yelling about war again.”

  “Okay, okay.” Sugar held up his hands. “But we still need some kind of plan. Some goal. If we’re going to negotiate with Charlie, we have to know what we want and what we’re willing to settle for. They’re not going to make this easy.”

  “I’d like to make a suggestion,” Fox said. “I’ve been giving it some thought. And, well, talking to Whiskey really clarified my ideas.”

  Sugar gave him a flat look. “You went to a Varekai to brainstorm ideas on how to negotiate with a Varekai?”

  “I’m not you,” Fox said, and Sugar turned red. “Whiskey was able to point out some flaws in my original concept. It’s a little more complicated now, but...”

  “Just tell us already,” Tare said. “You always waffle on.”

  “I do not!”

  “Ignore him,” Sugar said patiently. “Tell me your idea.”

  “I think we should trade sex with the Varekai for the Elikai offspring. They keep the Varekai, and we get the Elikai. However, as they’re going to be too fat to hunt, we’re going to have to do it for them, in the later stages of pregnancy. We give them food to cover what they can’t catch.”

  “I feel like we’re getting ripped off in that deal,” Tare muttered.

  “It’s fair,” Fox insisted. “We have to work a little harder, but we get brothers. We need brothers. This gives both tribes new members. It solves all the problems.”

  Sugar sighed, considering. “I think it solves some of the problems. But maybe not all. I don’t think having two tribes is in our best interest.”

  Tare and Fox both stared at him.

  “What?” Tare asked, hesitantly.

  “I think we should consider being one tribe. Working together. Sharing the babies.”

  Fox scoffed. “We can’t live with the Varekai. That’s crazy.”

  “We live with Romeo,” Sugar reminded them. “We love Romeo as a brother. He hunts with us. He is one of us. If he can integrate, we can all do it. Tare, I want you to convince India to come here. To live with us.”

  “What?” Tare stared some more. His first instinct was to say no, but then he imagined it. India here with him, all the time. Sharing a hut, sharing a bed, hunting and fishing together. India would plant a garden and teach the Elikai to farm. His healing powers would benefit all of them. Tare would never have to go a day without seeing him. “I don’t think he will come. He loves his brothers. He is loyal to the Varekai.”

  “Ask. Convince him. If he comes over to us, maybe the others will. Maybe I can talk Charlie into it.”

  “And who will be leader?” Fox asked flatly. “Him or you?”

  “We can have two leaders,” Sugar said, a little defensively.

  “Can we? Or will we just be two tribes then, living on top of one another instead of on opposite sides of the isles? It’s not going to work like that, Sugar. One tribe, one leader.”

  “We outnumber them a little, though,” Tare said cheerily. “If it came to a vote, Sugar would win.”

  Sugar looked doubtful. “Somehow, I don’t think the Varekai would stay. No, Fox is right. I think it’s the best idea, but it’s still flawed. I need to think about it more. I need to iron out some kinks before I try and pitch it to the tribe, or to Charlie.”

  “But in the meantime?” Fox asked.

  Sugar sighed. “Tare, I still think you should try and bring India here. And I will talk to Charlie. Beg for another truce. One without kidnapping, but maybe one with trade. Commerce is better than war.”

  “Good.” Fox got to his feet.

  Tare brightened. “Does this mean I can see India again?”

  “Yes, but after I’ve spoken to Charlie. One funeral is enough for this month.”

  * * *

  Romeo sat curled on the floor of the hut he had been sharing with Love. He was off gathering, and Romeo was alone, wishing there was a breeze to whisper through the open door and cool him. Juliet was dead. Her funeral would be done by now. Another funeral that Romeo had not attended. Another sister he had not said goodbye to. He tried not to think about before, when “he” was a “she” and everyone around him had been a sister. He tried to pretend that it didn’t matter, that he was Elikai now and the Varekai were the enemy, but the truth was that he would never see Juliet again. She would never smile or laugh or welcome Romeo home. It was then, and only then, that Romeo realized that he always planned to go back to them one day. He always imagined that he would see all their faces and hear all their voices, that he would be a sister again and everything would be okay.

  But, in that fantasy, November was alive again. They were all alive again. And that was never going to happen. Those things couldn’t be undone.

  And the Varekai couldn’t go back and make up for what had happened, so Romeo still couldn’t forgive them.

  He had an urge, just for a moment, to forget all of it. To run down to the beach, take a canoe and go to the Varekai village. He would forgive them, hug them all, cry and greet them as sisters. They would all rejoice then, and maybe the constant ache would fade.

  But then what? Reality was much more complicated. Would Romeo live with the Varekai or the Elikai? Perhaps his sisters would not be glad to see him at all. It had been a long time. Maybe they just saw him as the enemy now.

  A shadow passed over the door, and William slipped into the hut. He sat beside Romeo, not touching, but still close. He smelled of warm skin, salt water and coconut. He offered half a shell to Romeo, the white flesh still wet with milk. “Here.”

  Romeo accepted, digging out a bone knife to pry away the coconut flesh and popping finger-sized slices into his mouth.

  “I’m sorry,” William said. “About your sister.” He said the word carefully, as if it could bite him.

  “Juliet,” Romeo said quietly.

  “Yeah. I’m sorry he’s dead.”

  “I didn’t get to say goodbye.”

  Tentatively, William put his arm around his shoulders. Romeo rested his head so it was touching William’s cheek. He felt William’s faint sigh, the slight tilt of his head toward him.

  “You’ve never told me why,” William said. “Why you didn’t go back to them.”

  “I won’t,” Romeo said, hearing the bitterness in his own voice. “I can’t. You don’t want to know.”

  “I want you to be happy. I think if you shared with someone, it would be easier. Then you’d know someone understood.”

  “Maybe you won’t understand.”

  “I care about you. I understand it hurts you.”

  “The Varekai are not like the Elikai. Maybe you’ll never realize how different they are. I’ve seen both sides. I know what both tribes are really like.”

  William sighed. “You were never with them after the world was born. Maybe they changed.”

  “No. William, Elikai are stronger than Varekai. Physically, they are more powerful. You’re all a little scared of them, but if you put that aside, they’re much more fragile. Light bones, light frames. You could throw them around, break them like they were toys.”

  “You’re not so weak.”

  “Weaker than you think, probably. Besides, I’m a small Elikai, but I’m not a small Varekai. I’m almost as tall as Whiskey and just as strong.”

  William shook his head. “No. Whiskey is terrifying. He’s bigger than you. A l
ot bigger.”

  “No.” Romeo was silent for a moment. “It’s just how you perceive her. Put us side by side and you’ll see it. How small they are.”

  “So you think we shouldn’t be afraid of them?”

  Romeo gave a bitter laugh. “You misunderstand completely, William. It’s just, everything about how the Elikai see the Varekai is wrong. They’re small, but you all think they’re big. They’re monsters, but you all think they’re like you.”

  “Tare says India is sweet. Kind. He adores him.”

  “Yes, he would die for her. He would give up everything to protect her. She wouldn’t do the same.”

  “You don’t think he loves him?”

  “I think a Varekai will do anything to survive. Varekai are more powerful than Elikai in the mind. They are willing to go to any length, sacrifice anything. Where an Elikai would give in and die, a Varekai will keep fighting. If an Elikai is swallowed by a snake, he suffocates. A Varekai would eat her way out.”

  William looked briefly horrified, then shuddered a little. “You’re talking about yourself, you know. You are Varekai. Regardless of where you live and who you call brother. So it can’t be true. You wouldn’t kill me to save yourself. We’re brothers. I know you.”

  “Do you?” For a long moment, William held his gaze, but then he looked away. He looked uncertain and unhappy, but he hadn’t taken his arm off Romeo’s shoulder.

  “So, you say they’re dangerous?”

  Romeo nodded. “Too dangerous. If all the Elikai fall in love, the Varekai will be in control. Tare would do whatever India told him. Sugar can barely face Charlie without losing half his brain function. It’s hard to believe it, but Fox hasn’t said anything about war or killing Whiskey since she kidnapped him. He should have been baying for blood, but he just looks thoughtful and hunts, as if nothing happened.”

  William nodded. “He is acting weird.”

  “And—” Romeo waited until William met his gaze, “—I wonder what you would do for me?”

  William blushed, then looked hurt, then faintly resigned. “You wouldn’t make me do anything dangerous. You’re my brother. I trust you.”

  Romeo sighed. William was missing the point. They all were. “That’s pretty much what I thought you’d say. And what Tare probably says to India.”

  William drew a love heart in the fur of the pelts they were sitting on. “Don’t Varekai love?”

  “Yes. Of course.”

  “Do they love the same as us?”

  “I think so. I can’t be sure. I’m not some kind of empath. But it’s just... An Elikai’s instinct is to protect, and a Varekai’s is to survive. The Elikai are used to everyone looking out for one another, and they think if we’re friends with the Varekai, it will be the same.”

  “It doesn’t mean we can’t live together,” William said. “I mean, we have to. To make more brothers. We need to find a way. You can help. You know about both tribes, you can advise Sugar on boundaries and new rules so that everyone is protected.”

  Romeo was quiet. Relieved, he realized, to have William there, with his arm safely around Romeo’s shoulders. He didn’t want to face these thoughts alone anymore. He didn’t want to miss and hate his sisters at the same time. He didn’t want to be afraid.

  “I’ll protect you,” Romeo said. “From the Varekai. Even if everyone else is a moron. If you start to fall in love with one, I’ll cut out your eyes or something.”

  William smiled to himself. “Um, maybe slightly less help than that, okay? Maybe help me in a way that doesn’t involve maiming me. Besides, you really don’t have to worry about me falling for one of them.”

  They met each other’s gaze, and Romeo smiled.

  Chapter Four

  Eden had been colder than the outside world, but they had all been given warmer clothes. The teachers had taught them sewing from a young age. First they would feed the hemp or wool into a machine that processed the fibers, making threads that were then woven into sheets of cloth. They were taught to measure and cut, to follow the patterns in books and to create their own. Sometimes they had been allowed to make dyes with plants like turmeric or beet. They had all been proud of their patterns and designs, marching around in the impractical costumes they had created for themselves. Clothes had been a necessity then, though they had all bathed in the open, in big tubs in the middle of their child-sized mock village. Now they had pared it down to the bare practicalities. Armors for hunting, binding to support heavy breasts, short skirts to keep insects away from tender places.

  The teachers, Charlie decided, had thought those machines would still work after they were gone. They had been preparing the Varekai for the world beyond Eden and for a time there were no teachers—that much was clear. Why everything in Eden had stopped working was still a mystery. There were a lot of mysteries. There were many things Charlie was certain they could learn if they went back to Eden.

  She’d been suggesting they go back almost since the day they left. It was not a popular idea. Whatever Eden had begun as, it had finished as a deathtrap. Too many of the Varekai thought it was haunted. They didn’t see the potential gain if they went back. Charlie did. She could go, but the truth was the channel was too strong for one person to navigate alone. They would need one of the big canoes, and several paddlers, to get there and back safely. It was frustrating. It had been frustrating going to the mainland to rescue Tare and India and not being able to go to Eden when it was just a few hundred meters up the beach.

  The Varekai village was quiet. The hunters and gatherers were out in their canoes or tending the gardens the Varekai maintained in the forest. Two bitches with seven pups between them were sleeping in the shade, their offspring chasing one another in circles or occasionally just flopping down to sleep in the dirt. These were small litters. The bitches could produce nine or ten fawn-colored pups each. It seemed lately there had been more mutations than normal, and more stillborn pups. They’d lost one of the healthy ones to a snake a few days ago, and another had died mysteriously, probably from eating a poisonous bug or plant.

  Charlie was starting to think the issue might have something to do with the genetics of the dogs themselves. They had learned about genes growing yellow and green beans in Eden. Then it had all been about traits, recessive and dominant. Important lessons, the teachers had insisted, but ones that had been cut short by the birth of the world. Maybe if Charlie could go back to Eden, she could find the old lessons, read the texts they hadn’t got to yet, and find out what she needed to do to weed out the bad traits. The chickens were still fine. There were virtually no deformed chickens. But then it was the same in the wild. The birds always seemed healthy. It was the crocodiles and pigs and goats that grew tumors and deformities. Mammals and reptiles.

  More mysteries. More answers they might find at Eden.

  Whiskey slipped from her tent. Why hadn’t she left hours ago with the other hunters? Normally Charlie would be out hunting too, leaving Delta and Kilo, the village’s best cooks, to smoke the meats and watch the chickens for the day. Whiskey was hardly ever in the village when the sun was up.

  She padded over to join Charlie, sitting down beside her and picking up the fine rope and a bone needle to help mend the fishing net on Charlie’s lap.

  “I spoke to Fox.”

  “When?” Charlie thought perhaps she should have been mad. Her orders had been quite explicit. But being angry with Whiskey was like being angry with a storm.

  “The morning after Juliet died. She found me killing the boar and approached me.”

  Charlie stopped mending. “Did she attack you?”

  “No. She doesn’t seem to hold any grudges. She helped me dress the meat, and I gave her a piglet. Well, technically she killed it. It was hers by right. Anyway.”

  “Yes?”

  “She had an interest
ing proposition. She wanted to offer me a trade.”

  “You? After you kidnapped her?”

  “I was suspicious too. She’s more interested in baby Elikai, though. The Elikai want to trade sex for any Elikai offspring. I said it was not a fair trade, and she offered to hunt on my behalf. To bring me enough food to cover what I would normally catch and any extra I need because I’m eating more.”

  “When does she think she’ll have time to hunt for her own tribe?”

  Whiskey shrugged. “Not my concern.”

  “You think it’s a good idea?”

  “I think it’s an idea. I didn’t say I thought it was a good one. I’m telling you because you’re the tribe leader and you deserve to know she spoke to me and what she said.”

  Charlie fell silent for a moment. “It’s not the worst deal...”

  “If we have an Elikai, we don’t need to trade with them.”

  “If we’re all pregnant like bitch dogs, we can’t hunt. We’ll just lie around, groaning about how hot it is and eating like we have worms.”

  Whiskey chewed her lip. “If half of us... No, I see the issue. We want to breed from the strongest Varekai to get the strongest sisters. That means the best hunters will be the fat ones.”

  “All the sisters will get a chance to have babies, Whiskey. It’s not going to be a competition for the best of us to win. Everyone contributes to the tribe, not just the hunters.”

  Whiskey scoffed but didn’t argue. “It’s in your hands. You’re the one who has to deal with Sugar, and our sisters will follow your lead.”

  “Will you?” Charlie studied her sister.

  “We’ll see.”

  “I—” Charlie hesitated. “I would like to go to Eden.”

  Whiskey gave her a sharp look. “Why?”

  “There’s a lot we can learn there. About Varekai and Elikai. About where babies come from. About genetics and breeding. Things we need to know. Surely you’ve noticed we’re keeping less pups? I think there’s a problem.”

  Whiskey snorted. “It’s in your head. The dogs are fine. That bitch who got gored the other day is doing well. I had to tie her up so she didn’t follow the pack today. She’ll be healed in a week. You can’t say there is a problem with my dogs.”