Jagged scars marred the smooth wood of the bucket. Something about it struck me as odd, though I couldn’t work out what exactly—
My eyes shifted to my brokenva’a, listless on its side. The other half of the frayed rope floated innocently on the water’s surface, tied to my outrigger.
My mouth snapped open; my blood ran cold.
Someone had tied a bucket of chum to my canoe—then threw a dead chicken in the water where I beached it.
Sand shuffled behind me, feet sending soft grain into my back. Kye paused before he rose to his feet, and though he didn’t touch me, I felt the nearness of his body as he leaned in and cleared his throat.
“You’re welcome, by the way.”
9
Ishould have answered.Mihaunaknew I owed Kye my gratitude. Probably an apology, too. But appreciation was the furthest thing from my mind as I pushed to my feet, my thoughts numb and my veins burning with cold blood.
Kye had stooped to pull on his pants, and my eyes swept the trees, certain I’d find someone watching us. The jellyfish, the reaper spider, the mulapo seeds—someone was trying to kill me.
With the dead chicken in the water, I knew who it was.
“Hey.” Kye’s voice carried softly behind me. “Are you alright?”
I barely heard him over the rush in my head. My feet bore me through the palms and ferns, my arms throwing branches aside as I ignored the trail, cutting my own path through the dense foliage.
Anger led me like a compass to Kimo’s house, vaguely aware Kye was tromping somewhere behind me. I spied Kimo as I neared his yard, standing with Nola, Naheso, and a few other islanders around the mound of stones that made his underground oven. They stopped speaking on my approach,their eyes widening as it became clear I aimed for them. Kimo turned to face me fully.
I shoved him.
His feet caught him mid-stumble, his gaze snapping to meet mine, full of sudden thunder.
“You foul, murdering—" I wasn’t prepared for how strong he was. Kimo struck back, his hands and arms like bolts of iron as he rammed into me, sending me crashing into the compact dirt. Whiplash lanced through my neck, a crack sending pain into my tailbone, but I clawed back to my feet as he thrust forward to push me again.
Kye caught him by the shoulder, though Kimo’s neck craned around Kye’s arm, his face flushed red with fury. “Have you gone mad, witch?” Kimo spat.
Ihadgone mad.
Anger swelled within me as I stalked forward. Hands caught my arms, stopping me in my tracks. “You tied a bucket of fish to my boat," I snarled, wrenching to escape the grip of whoever held me back. “You threw a dead chicken out from my beach!”
“My chicken is there,” he shouted, pointing to his smoking oven.
“Youliar.” I wrestled, realizing it was my uncle Naheso who grasped my arms. “I saw you plucking it in the water!”
“Maren,” Naheso’s voice murmured softly in my ear.
Kimo growled with his entire body in an attempt to shake Kye off. Knuckles white over Kimo’s shoulders, Kye angled his head just enough to watch me, his face like a closed trap over whatever thoughts loomed inside.
“My chicken is baking in my oven, demon!” Kimo shot back. Giving up against the hard wall of Kye, he took a step back, though his muscles fizzled with unspent energy.
“I watched you pluck it where I keep myva’a,” I said, though a certain smell of baked chicken roused my attention, the airtinged with the promise of something crispy and oily as wisps of smoke rose from Kimo’s oven.
The thought triggered a memory, one I'd been too caught up to consider until now. Kimo had been plucking his bird when I’d seen him on my beach earlier; it had been nearly devoid of feathers by the time I’d left him. The rotting thing in the water just now had been nearly intact—feathers and all.
Naheso’s fingers loosened as I dropped the tension in my body. I stood staring at them—every islander in Kimo’s yard, as well as countless others who had heard my shouts and wandered over. They gaped at me, their open expressions shocked and disturbed.
My eyes bounded from one face to the next. Kye’s voice reached me under the wild current in my head, saying words likesharkandcanoeandknife,his hands still holding Kimo’s shoulders, though the tension had released from his arms.
My anger hadn’t ebbed; it was blinding. It flared through my skin, crawling under my pores and into my bones as my gaze shifted around the growing number of islanders, searching for a face that showed less surprise than the others.
Kimo gave a humorless laugh. “Should have just let it eat her.”
