Ride the Moon: An Anthology (23 page)

Maia shrugged.
The water pressures have shifted. The land above will be underwater by moonrise
. She tilted her head upward.
The southwestern tip's already flooded
.

The roadblock! “How much time is left?'

Maybe six hours. Not my fault. Who took a long time to get here?

Lani scrambled for her phone and pressed one.

“Aloha, Kaikamahine.” That age old mother-daughter greeting chimed the sweetest note.

“Mama!” Lani spilled the entire story and then pointed her phone camera at Maia.

The sea dragon extended a claw and waved.

Lani clicked send. “What should I do, Mama?”

“Get everyone off that island.”

“How can four million people evacuate in a few hours?” Who would believe her? She had no proof.

“Surely they have an evacuation plan? Most islands do, dear. Even way up there.”

“But there's no time.”

“Well, there is another way. If the dragon's pearl, that's Maia's soul stone, is returned to a sea dragon, legend says that could mitigate the weather effects caused by its removal.”

“Will that stop the flooding?” Lani asked Maia.

The dragon's shrug was startlingly unconcerned.
Might. Might not.

“You must place it on her forehead before the moon sets,” her mother said. “Fail, and not only will the island be flooded, but...Maia could die.”

“The moon rose just after sunset.” Lani checked her cell clock. “That leaves less than five hours. How can I find this stone that quickly?”

“Ko'u aniani
,” her mother and Maia said.

The familiar words reverberated. As a little girl, Lani had daydreamed about this ritual that involved a guardian and a dragon mingling blood. The cuts could be on hands, feet or any other similar parts.
Ko'u aniani
literally meant “my mirror.”

Her mother indicated they should speak privately.

Lani moved to the pool's far edge. “What Mama?”

“Take another look at Maia's wound.”

She checked over her shoulder. Though the kelp patch had crusted, at its lower edge blood still dripped. She touched her forehead. “Everyone would see it.”

“It will save hurting her a second time. More importantly, it will give you the strongest connection to that stone, making it easier to locate. But there is a dire consequence, Lani.”

“The scar?”

“The parts used define a bond, Kaikamahine.” Her mother's voice gentled. “Using the spot where her soul stone rested will bind your souls far past this current crisis. You will never be truly free again.”

Lani's world closed in and she disconnected the call. This is how she'd felt a month after high school graduation. As if all those who loved her clung like lodestones. She knelt and skimmed a finger in the water. In her reflection, her boss checked his watch and then snapped,
Focus, Aloha
.

How odd that she'd run four hundred odd miles from home, yet ended up taking on a similar role to the one she'd abandoned. Guarding others. That's because she hadn't run from the idea of serving. Rather it was the idea of serving something that did not exist. But Maia was real enough. As were her co-workers and everyone else on the island who needed her now more than ever.

In one swift move, she stood and returned to Maia. Without hesitation, she tapped her forehead. “Slash me here.”

Maia did hesitate, her pain-filled gaze widening behind her glasses. Then, without a word, she used her sharp claw.

Lani cringed but the pain was minuscule compared to what Maia had gone through, was going through.

The dragon shifted backwards before crouching. She then ripped off her patch and lowered her head.

Maia's rounded nose was slippery to climb. Lani grabbed the glasses to steady herself and leaned toward the jagged bloody depression. Her stomach churned with acrid rage at whoever had injured this gentle creature. And then together, they became
Ko'u aniani
.

Maia dropped Lani off near where she'd abandoned her Fiat. From there, Lani's new connection to the dragon's pearl drew her straight to downtown Victoria. Once she passed Sooke, the roads were bare except for emergency vehicles.

Even though they'd physically parted, Maia's presence remained as a shadow on Lani's soul and the tiny scratch on her forehead throbbed like the stump of an amputated limb, proclaiming she and Maia were now one. What hurt the dragon hurt Lani. She could also sense exactly which secluded cove the sea dragon had retreated to in order to await Lani's return and knew the dragon was worried.

“I'll get that stone back to you, Maia, I promise.”

Lani's newly formed link transmitted other odd sensations. Air pressure shifts. Waves crashing all across the island. Most disconcerting of all, the moon's magnetic ebb and flow was like the slow
thud-thud
of a heartbeat.

She turned on the radio to distract herself. The stations warned people in Sooke to head for higher elevations but there wasn't anywhere on the island high enough.

She stepped on the pedal, running every stoplight from uptown to downtown until she screeched to a halt by a three-story brick building that shone like a beacon to her heightened senses.

Maia's stone was somewhere inside this place, the city's new emergency site. She cruised looking for a free parking spot. Was that a helicopter pad in the back? Why the pearl would be here was a mystery. As was a clear plan on how to retrieve and return it to Maia in... two hours and twenty-two minutes.

Giving up on this last chance to perform a law-abiding gesture, she double-parked near the front entrance behind an apple-red SUV hybrid. The parking spot was labelled “Commander Ace Stanton.”

Hoping to look official, Lani shrugged on her safety vest and hardhat. It worked. People rushed in and out the front doors but paid her no attention. She raced for the back stairs. Her connection guided her like a built-in GPS.

She stopped before a half-glass door. The brass plate read “Command and Control.” Past the glass were two men and a woman arguing loud enough to be heard outside.

Too much to ask that the stone be stored in a deserted basement?

She tried the handle. Locked. She rapped three times.

The harried middle-aged man and a coiffed woman ignored Lani in favour of getting into each other's face.

A younger guy, two inches taller than Lani and wearing a tailored suit that hung loose on his slender frame responded. He opened the door a sliver and his gaze went straight to her wounded forehead.

“I need to come inside,” she said.

He met her gaze with a frown. “Mr. Stanton can't be disturbed.”

“This can't wait.” Lani shoved the door open and strode in. He stumbled back giving little resistance.

Inside, she found a desk, steel filing cabinets and a waist-high chart table with numerous cubbies that housed charts. She sensed that in one of those openings was one pissed-off treasure. The stone thrummed an “about-time” welcome. Apparently, it had inherited Maia's temperament.

Lani had taken less than four steps toward the table when Mr. Suit blocked her. “You're not allowed in here.”

“Cody, stand down.” Stanton came over to confront her. “What's this about?

“I'm here for the dragon's pearl.”

He turned to the other woman with a frown. “Grace, is she your friend?”

The woman hurried over. “I've never met her before, Ace. How do you know about the pearl?”

Cody edged toward the chart table with a guilty slither and Lani's blood pressure shot up. She clenched her fists to keep from thumping this ignorant fool for what he'd done to Maia.

“Give it to me,” she said in a soft tone that she hoped promised mayhem if he didn't instantly obey.

“Wait a minute.” Stanton extended a protective arm. “What makes you think this pearl is here?”

“I feel its presence.”

“Then you must be a guardian.” Grace spoke in an awed voice. “You're a descendant of a fisherman, aren't you?”

Lani ignored her in favour of the commander. As angry as she was, she had little time to waste. “That stone is causing the flooding, sir. If you want to save this island, give it to me and let me leave.”

He weighed her words and then turned to Grace with a raised eyebrow.

“I believe her, Ace,” she said. “I'm sorry I accused you of stealing the pearl, but you're the only one I told about the dragon sighting.”

He gave Cody a grim look. “And I told you. You actually stole this stone from a sea dragon?”

Lani grabbed Cody's arms. “There's blood on your hands.”

A picture of shame, he looked at his hands. Seeing his spotless fingertips, he pulled back. “You're trying to trick me.” He sounded brave but his wide eyes suggested fear. “One thing is true, Ace. That stone does affect the weather.” He inched closer to his boss. “Imagine if we could figure out how it works. We could become famous. I brought it here to show you.”

“Our role is to help people, not endanger them so we can be heroes. If you don't believe that, you don't belong on my team.” Ace shoved him back. “Now, give her the stone.”

Cody's shoulders dropped. He swallowed, then turned and reached into the chart table and pulled out a large cloth-covered bundle. The sea's pungent aroma wafted from the bloody material. After a slight hesitation, he handed it to Lani.

She hugged the heavy stone, inhaling the salty scent of Maia, and sweet relief overwhelmed her. Then doubt crept in. She pushed the cloth aside to reveal a gorgeous breadfruit-sized pearl that easily weighed ten pounds. How could this scrawny young man have gouged out this treasure? “You didn't steal this, did you?”

He gave a surprised start and then shook his head. “Ever since Ace told me about the dragon, I've been combing the west coast beaches. Last night, as it grew dark, I was about to leave when a creature rose up. So cool, it wore glasses!”

“Oh, really?” Grace said.

“Go on, Cody,” Stanton said.

“Then it reached into its forehead and tore out that stone. Blood spurted everywhere. When it thrust the pearl into my hands, I panicked and came here. I wanted to tell you, but I didn't think you'd believe me that I didn't hurt that animal.”

“I don't believe you,” Grace said. “Why would any creature harm itself?”

“She did it for me.” Lani touched her forehead.
To connect with me.
She swung around. “I have to get this back if we're to save this island.”
And Maia
.

“Let me fly you!” Stanton ran after her. “It'll give us a chance to talk.”

The moon was dangerously low on the horizon by the time Ace, along with Grace and Cody, flew Lani to where Maia waited. The moment she spotted the dragon, the helicopter dipped and Lani leapt out. Maia caught her before she hit the water and settled her on her nose.

Lani placed the soul stone over Maia's wound. Instantly, the hole sucked the pearl inward and the surrounding skin contracted until only a sliver of white winked in dawn's first light.

The constant ache on Lani's forehead eased. She stepped back and repositioned the glasses she'd dislodged.

As bonding gifts go
, Maia said, this is decent.
Better even than your great-grandmother's gift of my spectacles.

“I'm glad.” Lani turned her ring, recognizing its hum as an echo of Maia's stone. So many things suddenly made sense but one concern remained. Maia had almost destroyed Vancouver Island.

I'm sorry
. The dragon's words sounded heartfelt.

“For what?”

“For endangering your people.”

Lani breathed a sigh of relief. So she did understand that what she did was wrong. “I'm sorry, too. Am I forgiven for not visiting sooner?”

Depends. Can we go home to Hawaii?

“To visit, maybe, but this island is now my home.” The whirring helicopter above drew her gaze.

Grace and Cody leaned out to wave. Ace saluted her.

“Maia, if you're truly sorry, there is a way we can make amends.”

How?

“There's been lots of media chatter lately about weather disasters around the world. With your ability to perceive oncoming weather changes, we could warn people to prepare for an emergency. Save lives. It would mean more travelling, though.”

Maia didn't hesitate.
Where Lani goes, so does Maia.

Overhead, clouds drifted apart to reveal a brightening blue sky. Low on the horizon, the moon's dark side shifted into a more contented position.

Ambrose sits alone in utter darkness, no one but fear for company as he prepares for the culmination of his ambitions. It's been years since he felt fear; it's been years since he felt anything. That was one of the demands of the quest: let nothing distract him from his single-mindedness, not love, not hatred, not regret, not fear. So in a way, it's nice to feel again, even if it does set his teeth on edge and send his pulse racing.

There's no reason for the fear, of course. He knows the potion will work. Years of research and millions of dollars have ensured that. But the moisture that should coat his tongue and throat still slicks his palms and forehead instead. Ambrose scrubs his hands on his bare thighs; his grip must be firm, sure. The timing of this experiment is so crucial to its success; the merest half-millisecond hesitation caused by a slip of the knife would be disastrous—and he doesn't want to die.

Which is entirely the point. He sits here, naked and alone in the dark of night in a house nobody wanted on a rug nobody loved because he is about to reach the pinnacle of his ambitions, and finally, at last, escape the clutches of death forever. Shame he has to die to do it.

Ambrose takes a deep breath and feels for the knife to his right and the stone goblet to his left. Careful not to spill the precious liquid, he raises the goblet to his lips, fingers wrapped around stone so smooth it feels wet. Or is that sweat again? In his other hand he clutches the knife, simple wooden hilt roughing his skin, and presses the blade to his throat. It's cold and somehow it tickles.