Second Heart: Bones of Eden Page 8

  “Everyone get to the canoes!” Sugar yelled. “Quickly. We have to get out onto the water.”

  The Elikai dogs, small and lean, were gathering together, barking at the approaching lizards. Around the camp, the remaining Elikai were scrambling for weapons and sprinting across the sand to the canoes.

  As Fox had warned, more of the lizards were emerging from the bushes. Some with mud on them, but most not. There were more than Sugar had imagined was possible. How could so many big creatures arrive on the island so quickly?

  He shoved one of the canoes into the water, barely checking for crocodiles and sharks. Around him, the other Elikai did the same, pushing out away from the shore, into the deeper water near the reef. The lizards swarmed through the village, killing anything that was too slow to escape them. Young dogs, chickens and a bamboo cage of live piglets. They ripped through the stone walls of the Elikai houses, eating anything that was almost like food. They swarmed on the smokehouse and the storage hut, gorging themselves on carefully hoarded supplies that were intended to last the Elikai all of the wet season.

  “No! They’re eating everything!” Dog was beside himself.

  Sugar could see the devastation on his brothers’ faces. The anger, the fear. He felt faint. Overwhelmed. It had all happened so fast. He’d been scaling fish. He’d been thinking about Charlie and if Tare would come home with India or not. Now there was nothing to come back to. Now everything was being ripped apart and eaten before his eyes. What was he going to do? How was he going to feed his brothers and keep them safe?

  They had nowhere to go.

  “Sugar. Sugar!”

  Someone was shaking him. He looked at Dog, only vaguely aware of his brother’s fingers digging into his arm.

  “What are we going to do? They’re destroying everything!”

  Sugar shook his head. There was nothing. Nothing at all they could do about it.

  Chapter Eight

  When there was nothing left of the village but broken buildings and massive goannas squabbling over bits of nothing, Sugar led the Elikai as they paddled away. They landed on the Vanishing Beaches where they could see everything and there would be no surprises. They pulled their canoes onto the wet sand and took stock of what they had and who was missing.

  Tare, Xícara and Zebra had not returned, but everyone else was there. Fox’s had been the only other hunting party out that day. They had few supplies. Most brothers had grabbed weapons, but few had thought to grab water and none had brought any food or furs. They had only the grass skirts they were wearing and the plastic bottles that had been left in the canoes.

  “We can’t stay here,” Romeo said, looking around at the barren strip of sand. “We need shelter. If those things find us in the night...”

  “We have to go to Pinnacle Island,” Dog said. “We can barricade ourselves in the caves.”

  “With no food?” Sugar asked. “And no water? The rains are not here yet, brother. We cannot quench thirst with the torrent outside like we do in the summer.”

  “Can’t we go back?” Love said. “They ate everything. They won’t stay there, will they? We should get the dogs and all our things.”

  Romeo shook his head. “No, there’s only one place we can go.”

  “Where?” Fox demanded. “There is nowhere.”

  “There is the Varekai,” Romeo countered. “They have shelter, food and water. We can go to them.”

  Sugar shook his head. “They won’t help us.”

  “They might,” Romeo said. “If I am the one to ask.”

  William stepped up to Romeo’s side, defensive and concerned. “You? No. You can’t go to them alone. What if something happened to you?”

  “He’s right,” Fox said. “If they capture Romeo, we have no females at all.”

  William bristled. “That’s not what I meant!”

  “You think they will listen to you?” Sugar asked Romeo, ignoring Fox and William.

  Romeo nodded. “I know them. They were my sisters. I know what to say to them.”

  “Say it, then,” Sugar said grimly. “We’re all relying on you now.”

  * * *

  Romeo paddled slowly toward the Varekai camp. Sugar had wanted her to take at least one of the others, and William had been beside himself when she had said no. She had conceded to have Fox follow her and stay moored in the channel, watching but never coming ashore.

  He wouldn’t have been her first choice, because he would be quick to assume the worst. However, it was a tolerable compromise.

  The Varekai were waiting for her when she reached the shore. Her sisters. She felt it for the first time—the calling of true gender. William had woken something in her and maybe, in time, she could accept what she was. It wasn’t going to make life any easier, being caught between the two tribes, being a sister in a clan of brothers. There was just no point denying it anymore.

  She could see them for what they were. “Hes” and “shes.” Brothers and sisters. Men and women.

  “Sister.” They all stared at her as she stepped onto the sand, and it was Charlie who stepped forward, tentative and a little wide-eyed. “You came back. You finally came back.”

  “Don’t misunderstand,” she said. “I’m here to talk, then I am going back to my brothers. Or bringing them here.”

  There were looks of alarm and some worried murmurs from the tribe. Charlie frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “We have seen the creatures that killed Juliet. There isn’t just one, there are dozens. They swarmed the Elikai village and destroyed it. We have no food and no shelter, and I am here to beg for your assistance.”

  “Why didn’t Sugar come?” Charlie asked. “Is she hurt?”

  “He’s fine. We’re still missing Tare, Zebra and Xícara, though.”

  “Tare is with India,” Charlie said. “They’ve been in the orchard for a few hours. She is safe.”

  Romeo sighed. “He, Charlie. Tare is a he. You’re a she, I’m a she, he’s a he.”

  “You’re confusing me.”

  “It doesn’t matter. Will you help us?”

  “What exactly do you think we can do?” Charlie said with a shrug. “I suppose we can give you some food, but...”

  “We want to come here tonight. The Elikai. We want to shelter in the Varekai village.”

  There was an outcry from the gathered Varekai.

  “No.” Charlie looked adamant. “No, they cannot come here.”

  “We need your help.” Romeo scanned the faces of her sisters until she found Whiskey. “I need your help. You owe me.”

  Whiskey shifted uneasily, moving her weight from one foot to another. She looked away. She looked at Romeo, then the sky, then Charlie, then her feet. Romeo pressed. “Whiskey, you owe me.”

  “This is different,” Whiskey said, not willing to meet her gaze, lip curled with distaste.

  “How is it different? The Elikai are my brothers. They might all die tonight. You tell them. You tell Charlie to let them come here.”

  Charlie was looking between them. “What’s this about?”

  Whiskey met Romeo’s gaze, and a silent thought passed between them, singular and clear. They would never tell. They would never say it out loud, what had happened in Eden. They would, to some degree, always hate one another. Not for what had occurred, but because the other was still alive to know about it. To remember.

  “Romeo is right,” Whiskey said slowly. She had to force the words out, like admitting someone else was right was physically painful for her. “We need the Elikai, like the hens need roosters. We can’t let them die. We can shelter them here.”

  “You’re mad,” Charlie said grimly. “All the Elikai, in our village? They could overpower us. If this is a ruse to wipe us out, it would be successful.”

&
nbsp; “It’s no ruse,” Romeo said. “We just lost everything we have. All our summer supplies have been destroyed. Charlie, we need you. Sugar needs you.”

  Charlie flinched a little, looking over the tribe, gauging expressions.

  “What is happening here?” India and Tare appeared between the trees.

  “Romeo!” Tare said happily. “Come to join the party?”

  “Where have you been?” Romeo demanded.

  “Busy,” Tare said with a smug look.

  “Well you’re about to get a whole lot busier,” she snapped.

  “Romeo says the Elikai camp has been destroyed. They have no food, and they wish to come here tonight, for shelter,” Charlie explained.

  “Well then, we have no choice,” India said, as if it was already decided.

  “Um, I think we do,” Bravo said. “They’re big. And dangerous.”

  India put an arm around Tare. “Does she look dangerous?”

  “She looks like an idiot,” Whiskey muttered.

  Romeo thought Tare looked worried. The urgency of the situation was setting in. India padded up to Charlie’s side. She kept her voice low, but Romeo could still make out most of what she said.

  “This could be a good opportunity. Maybe some bonds will be forged. Maybe some Varekai will fall pregnant. Let them come.”

  Charlie shook her head, then sighed. “You’re sure?”

  India nodded, and Charlie turned to Whiskey. “And you’re sure?”

  Whiskey looked to Romeo; Romeo nodded a little—a silent promise: I will forgive you.

  It was a lie.

  Whiskey nodded. “Yes. I believe we should assist the Elikai.”

  “Okay.” She turned to Romeo. “Tell Sugar we will protect them tonight. But they must lay down their weapons in their canoes. Knives only in my camp.”

  Romeo nodded. “Sugar will agree to that. We will be back shortly.”

  She paddled out so her canoe was level with Fox’s, and together they started back toward the sandbank.

  “What did he say?” Fox asked.

  “Charlie?”

  “Whiskey.”

  “I forced her to agree.”

  He arched an eyebrow. “How?”

  “She owed me.”

  “So they said yes?”

  “Charlie agreed because Whiskey and India were both for it. Tare’s there. India’s climbing him like a tree.”

  “Now if we can only find—Look!” Fox pointed to a canoe far ahead of them, vanishing behind an island.

  Romeo cupped her hands around her mouth. “Cooooeeee!”

  There was a long pause, then Zebra called back. “Cooooee!”

  She and Fox began to paddle, rushing to catch up with their missing brothers. “There you are!” Romeo said. “We thought you were dead!”

  “Romeo! Fox!” Zebra called, waving his arms. “There’s all these giant—”

  “We know,” Fox called back. “The village is overrun. All the Elikai are going to stay in the Varekai village tonight.”

  Xícara and Zebra conferred. “We were just with Tango,” Zebra said.

  “You’ve been gone all day. What were you doing?” Romeo demanded.

  “Playing with Tango’s dog. It’s the ugliest thing I ever saw.”

  Fox rolled his eyes. “Follow us, okay?”

  Whiskey watched the Elikai paddling their canoes into the shore. They looked tired, shocked and uncertain. Not that she could blame them. She could not imagine losing all of the Varekai supplies.

  She looked for Fox. The others held no interest for her. She felt a little sorry for them, but was aware of them in only the vaguest way. She knew their names and recognized their faces from conflicts and the stealing game.

  It was only Fox who mattered.

  She was talking to Zebra, looking a little more stoic than some of her sisters, hair shining in the firelight. But of course, Fox was stronger than them, that was why Whiskey had picked her.

  She didn’t approach the Elikai. She considered, but decided she preferred to watch from a distance. The way Fox moved, her sleek muscles, the way she looked at the other Varekai, the way she handled this adversity.

  The Varekai had done what they could to make room for the Elikai, but there had been nothing in place to accommodate a sudden doubling of the tribe’s number. The Varekai had squished together, as many in a hut as would fit, leaving as many empty as possible—but it still wasn’t close to enough.

  The Elikai had laid down mats and furs under the most sheltering of trees instead, and put up tarps in the branches to protect from any unexpected showers. Nets hung down around them. Pretend walls, giving a pretend sense of privacy.

  The two tribes were eyeing each other warily, speaking only when necessary. India and Tare were doing most of the communicating, directing Elikai to huts and beds and organizing a system that allowed the Elikai to approach the cooking fires and get food without any conflict.

  The Elikai were used to one huge fire pit, and the many smaller ones around the Varekai camp were disorientating for them. They didn’t know where they should go or who they should ask.

  Charlie was not being helpful at all, sulking in her tent, and Whiskey suspected that perhaps she should do something to facilitate this merger. However, it was more entertaining and just a touch satisfying to watch India struggle.

  “So, here we are.”

  Fox had slipped up beside her while she was distracted, and she was instantly annoyed she hadn’t noticed the Elikai creeping up on her.

  “You begging like dogs, we gracefully hosting you,” Whiskey countered.

  Fox rolled her eyes. “You never stop, do you?”

  “Tomorrow is our moon ceremony. If you have not rebuilt by then, you will have to be here for it, or all huddle on the beach for the night.”

  “I can’t see us getting months of work done in a day, no,” she mused. “Tare told us about it. Your ceremony. He said you all bleed from your shells and beat drums and burn things. He said he thought you were going to bleed to death.”

  “I suffer the most pain. I lose the most blood,” Whiskey agreed. “Because I am the best hunter.”

  “I’m not sure if it can be a curse from the spirits and a ‘symptom’ of reproduction.”

  She glanced at her. “Why not?”

  Fox shrugged. “So the theory is, if you don’t bleed, you’re pregnant?”

  Whiskey nodded grimly.

  “I think I’m glad I’ll be here for that. To see for myself.”

  Fox was watching the fires, watching her sisters, watching everyone but Whiskey. Everything between them was complicated. Fox had only made it more complicated when she had approached Whiskey during the hunt, talking when they should not be talking. Showing none of the hostility that was expected between them. Whiskey didn’t know what to make of that. She had been ready for them to be enemies, but now it seemed like the Elikai wanted them to be something else. Friends, perhaps. Allies. Partners.

  Whiskey had seen how Tare and India were. They looked at each other with an unreserved yearning and affection. The way they moved, the way they talked when they were together.

  It terrified Whiskey. She couldn’t see it when Fox looked at her. But what if everyone else saw a yearning in her when she looked at the Elikai? Imagining the humiliation made her feel sick. She didn’t want anyone to know how she felt. It was shameful. Disgusting.

  “And if I do, we’ll try again?” Whiskey asked.

  “That was the deal.”

  Whiskey felt the heat rise inside her, but quashed it down.

  “Until then, you should probably stick to your own kind,” she said, and it came out harsher than she intended.

  Fox nodded, apparently unconcerned, and
started to move away from her.

  “Fox,” she said. The Elikai glanced back. “I’m sorry those creatures attacked your village. I’m sorry for what you lost.”

  Fox nodded and padded away. Whiskey sighed.

  * * *

  “They’re megalania,” India said. He was sitting with Tare and Sugar, talking about the giant goannas.

  “How do you know that?” Sugar asked. The witchdoctor seemed to be full of all sorts of useful and unexpected information.

  “When Tare and I were on the mainland, we saw pictures of them on the entrance to the megafauna zoo. Kenny, the world’s largest megalania. There was a picture. Well, a drawing. They kept them in the zoo, I guess, and sometime in the world before, they all got out. They must have bred, and now they’re coming here from the mainland.”

  Sugar frowned. “But why now? It doesn’t make any sense.”

  India chewed his lip a moment. “Fox said they ate the crocodile eggs. Could they have followed her? Maybe they’re like dogs. Maybe they were hunting her.”

  “Does that mean they’ll leave now?” Tare asked.

  India shrugged. “We can hope.”

  “Even if they do, we still have a very big problem.” Fear sat heavy in Sugar’s gut. “The rains will start this week or next. The Elikai have no food and nothing to go back to when the storms are done. Most of our hunting and bedding supplies are gone. If the megalania don’t go, if they follow us up the mountain, we’ll be trapped in the caves.”

  He trailed off, and they all exchanged uneasy looks.

  “We need a solution before then,” India said.

  “We,” Sugar said thoughtfully.

  “Yes.” India’s tone was firm. “And you’re the one who needs to make sure it’s ‘we’ and not ‘us’ and ‘them.’”

  The Varekai got to his feet, pausing to kiss Tare on the forehead, then padded away.

  Sugar sighed and leaned back, unused to seeing trees and branches overhead at night. It was too easy to imagine spiders and ants falling on his face. He shuddered and sat up again.