Unforgiving.
“Will you?” Angela asked, breaking the spell.
And in that moment she knew. “Yes, I’ll stay.”
There was no other choice. Running away with her tail between her legs would never allow her to face the unthinkable and maybe move beyond it. That little piece of memory she had been mining for her whole life.
“Attagirl. You are stronger than you think. Remember that. And I’ll be here for you, whatever you need. Can you come up to the hospital in the morning?”
“Just tell me when.”
“Let’s do it early, say eight? That’ll give them enough time to run the interview on the mainland. I’ll have my agent reach out to Josh Brown and anyone else who’s here on the island.”
“I’ll be there.”
Minnow hung up and let out a long breath.
Nalu hadn’t been in his room when she called, so she went outside to see what Cliff was doing with the binoculars. She spotted him on the south end of the bay, sitting on a rock out on the point. She put on her rubber slippers and walked out there, careful not to twist an ankle on the rough and crumbly lava. In the still air, the briny smell of the brackish ponds filled her head. Every so often he would pick up the binoculars and scan the waters, then scan the sky.
When she got close, she said, “Can I help you?”
He didn’t turn. “No.”
She stood there for a few moments, debating whether to turn around and leave, but she was curious about what he was doing. And what he’d meant byho?ailona.
“Get ovah here,” he finally said.
Minnow noticed a line of smooth rocks and hopped from one to the next, then had to stretch her legs as far as she could to reach the high rock he was on, surrounded by water. To fall in would mean landing in a bed of black spinywana.
“What are you looking for?” she asked.
He patted a spot next to him. “Come, sit.”
She sat on a flat and worn place.
“Those?iwabirds that flew by are now way up the coast in the same spot we found the buoy. Can you see?”
She held a hand up over her eyes to lessen the glare but still couldn’t see anything. “No.”
Cliff grunted, then handed her the binocs. She swept across the sky a few times, then saw two black shapes circling, wings wide.
“Do you think they could be out there now, chumming?” she asked.
“The ‘iwabirds always come in close with the storms, but you can bet they’re checking out that buoy and maybe something left ovah floating in the area. Something we missed. Their eyesight is outta this world.”
A ridge of lava on the north side of the bay blocked the ocean from view.
“What did you mean byho‘ailona?” she asked.
“That we gotta pay attention.”
From the side, his features looked stronger, like a fierce warrior. Thick eyebrows, jaw jutting out. He kept his gaze on the water.
“To the birds?”
He nodded. “They warn of something to come. Somethinghauna—stinking. Something we must not back down from.”
Minnow felt her throat constrict. She had come so close to leaving,and now she worried about living through a shark hunt. Seeing one shark killed had wrecked her. Boatloads of them might push her over the edge. Hooks and hollow eyes, creatures never meant to leave the sea.
