Buzz Cut continued, “It is easy to get turned around.”
Three sharp raps on the floor, hard and like thunder, startled the both of us back to our corners.
“That’s enough,” Nana Ama barked, sending a glare that could melt metal at DNR so he melted back in line with Sheriff Lyle. She gave the reddening man a long and hard stare until he wilted beneath her. A five-foot woman able to make a man double her size cower in complete fear.
She returned her gaze to me, the hardness in her eyes melting away as my breathing hitched and I attempted to lock the monster back in the cage.
Naira wasn’t dead. Maybe she was out there floating in some high reedy inlet or passed out on a sandy beach in some area where people didn’t usually roam. But she wasn’t dead.
I thought about explaining, but Nana’s sharp head shake and quick flick of the wrist silenced me as it had done the officer who came with Lyle. Not here. Not in front of Naira’s parents. Her eyes shifted toward Naira’s mother, working through a fresh wave of tears, the other four kids gathering around her.
The last thing I’d done was walk away from her. She left thinking I never wanted to speak to her again. And for the past few daysI’d doubled down on that thought, ignoring her messages. The thought of how I’d acted over something as minor as going away to college was concrete gloves slamming into me so hard, I stumbled back toward the door. I had to leave. Had to get out of the room where everyone wanted me to believe my best friend was dead.
There was no air in this place. Everything became a blur. I spun on my heel and charged forward, pushing the people who’d gathered behind me, bottlenecking the doorway.
I pushed past them, unable to stand the way the house suddenly felt like it was closing in on me. There were too many eyes on me, watching for my reaction like I was on some show. The Ada Show, just like Naira had accused me of wanting.
I couldn’t think about putting her to rest.
The things we say, we speak into existence.
I managed to make it to my golf cart before my heart started racing. I clawed at my throat, unable to breathe in the thick humidity. I was falling, throwing out a hand to stop myself when an arm grabbed me by the waist, steadying me. Through blurry eyes I made out Sekou, hovering over me like a hanging rubber tree plant. I fell into him, letting him swallow me up in his arms.
It took him a moment to work up the ability to speak. Watching him try almost made me burst. “It’s okay. They’ll find her and we’ll be able to say goodbye…” He swallowed like he was taking down an impossible pill. It was impossible. Impossible to believe any of this was reality. “It’ll be okay.”
Except it wasn’t okay. It never would be.
I snatched myself away, looking at him with new eyes. “You think like they do? Like she’sgone, gone?” How could he ever think Naira was dead?
His face was slick with tears. He reached out to me, but each time I staggered back.
“Get away from me,” I said between heaves.
“Who doesn’t know the sea better than me?” he choked out. “And what it can do. God, look what it did to Elder Gilbert. I know it’s unbelievable, but don’t we gotta face facts?”
“I don’t gotta do shit,” I seethed.
Sekou was speaking nonsense. I wished he’d go back to his non-speaking self instead of telling me all of this. He grabbed at my arms, attempted to pull me into him.
I slapped him away. If he believed them, then Sekou could stay with the rest of them. I turned away, stumbling down the street like I’d downed a huge pitcher of the Garvey Brothers’ moonshine. I pushed past the people showing up to find out what’d happened, the news about Naira spreading through Golden Isle like wildfire that one of ours was lost.
She was lost becauseImade it that way. Nana always said that words spoken on the Isle held power. I should have known better. I’d seen Nana in action, walking the circumference of the island, chanting to fortify the protective links that made her feel safe, boiling poultices for the sick or wounded, and whispering blessings for those who asked, only to see them fully healed days later. Words held meaning, power here. And the last thing I’d said to Naira was to stay gone.
Now she was.
CHAPTER TEN
No one would listen to me. Not Lyle, who wanted to do things by the book since so many agencies and another family were involved. Not Nana Ama, who refused to connect Elder Gilbert’s death with Naira going missing. Not even Sekou, who couldn’t believe there was some sort of conspiracy or weird shit happening that Nana Ama and the elders didn’t want us to know.
Days had passed and there had been no word. Then a week, then two, then three. I was about to combust. Each night, another piece of hope chipped away. Each morning meant less chance of finding her alive. Each week meant the move from search to recovery to nothing.
“The longer we wait, the harder it’ll be to find her. She’s out there,” I told Sekou as we walked back to the Landing from the fishing dock where we’d found Elder Gilbert. I wanted to look for clues. Didn’t find any. Only thing there was a memorial built for him.
I held out because Sekou begged to give the cops a chance to find her and reminded me that Nana said that we were not to leavethe Isle. The rest of Naira’s research group had returned and we had to remain on the island. At least Naira’s death was still uncertain and not being mourned. Not yet.
“You really gotta chill, bro,” Sekou said under his breath. “They’re doing all they can.”
I kicked at the pebbles, wanting to do much more damage than that. “Are they? Because it looks to me like everyone’s given up on her.” Tears stung the backs of my eyes. “Some Kin we are. Just because Gilbert is gone doesn’t mean Naira is. Naira has a chance.”
