Homegoing was supposed to be about celebrating one’s life, but this one felt like a fraud.
How were we sending Naira off in peace? Or Luke, for that matter? There were too many unanswered questions.
Even if Naira was gone I wouldn’t stop looking for answers.
Nana said I never achieved the Light because I didn’t really want it. I never accepted it. That was why it was more important than ever that I become strong and Lighted, so that I could find Naira’s killer and make them pay.
Thursday, the day of our Harvest Festival, hit different this year. It was nearly 11:00A.M.and Hailey was probably still asleep. But an idea had made its way into my mind and wouldn’t let go. I jumped out of bed, more excited than I’d felt in forever,and quickly got dressed. The weather was supposed to be great for an early August day, and the water may be a little cool, but it would still be nice. I slipped into my swimsuit, then pulled on a pair of cutoffs, a loose-fitting peasant shirt, and flip-flops.
I bumped along the skinny network of dirt paths crisscrossing from my house in the private area of the island where the Kin lived, past the Gathering Tree, and through our front gates. I turned onto the public roads toward the marina, running through my mental checklist of good hosting. Yesterday, I showed Hailey around the public areas of the island and around Freeman’s Port where the day visitors came and went. Today, I’d make it more of a private tour with just Hailey and me. So she could see some parts of what made the Isle so special and beautiful. And I had to admit to myself that I kind of wanted her all to myself for a little bit before tonight, when we wouldn’t be together at all.
I knocked on the door to Hailey’s guest cabin. It took her a few minutes to answer. When she finally did open the door, I jumped a little because Hailey looked like hell warmed over. Her dark hair and bangs were all over the place, and her makeup was smeared like thick stage makeup. I guess after our late night, she didn’t have the energy to wash her face.
She jumped, too, when she saw my reaction. Her hand flew to her face.
“Don’t look at me!” she squealed in an octave higher than I expected. It actually stung in my eardrum a little, like when there was really bad feedback from a mic being too close to an amp.
I averted my eyes on command, looking down at the dustyrose-pink nail polish on my toes. I’d applied a fresh coat yesterday before the ceremony, in Naira’s honor.
“Sorry! I just came so we can have a picnic.” I pointed in the general area of my parked cart, where a huge wicker basket sat in the back seat with a blanket and towels… and necessary sunscreen, because skin health and all.
Hailey craned her neck around me as if she didn’t believe it was really daytime already. Her hands rubbed her face, creating raccoon eyes from her leftover makeup. I tried not to laugh.
“Really?”
“Really. So go get dressed already.”
Hailey abandoned the front door, her long legs sticking out of a long black shirt. She slammed the bathroom door behind her, rattling the tiny cabin.
I called through the closed door, “Swimsuit too, if you brought one!”
For someone who wasn’t a morning person, Hailey dressed fast, and we were soon in my cart, bumping along the trails to one of my favorite places on the island, one of several inlets off the Calibogue Sound. It was in one of the private areas, deep within the forest and away from gen pop, or the island’s general population of locals and tourists. It was also a quiet spot that the other Kin didn’t visit much either, which was fine by me when I needed to just get away and be me without a bunch of eyes and their expectations on me.
When we got there, it was empty. None of the fishermen had made it up this way to get catch that wasn’t already run throughby others. If they’d been there, it was before dawn, as that was the prime time to get your catch for the day.
I liked the way the inlet curved into a U and how the beach was so far below sea level that the cliffs towered over on either side, making it like an open cavern of lush landscape beneath a perfect light blue sky. The long, lazy S of the waterway opened out into the expanse of sea, making me feel like a little fish in a large pond instead of the other way around.
“This is beautiful,” Hailey said. She slid her dark glasses down the bridge of her nose, taking it all in. She had spent the last twenty minutes complaining about the bugs and the animals rustling too close for her comfort, but now she looked around her, overwhelmed. “I mean the whole island is beautiful, but this place is…” She didn’t need to finish because I knew what she meant.
“I know,” I said.
We set up under the line of trees, just before they ended and the beach began. It was shady with dappled sunlight filtering through the open pockets between the branches and leaves. A breeze coming in from the sea and the heat rising from the sunbaked sand made a perfect mixture to keep the bugs Hailey was worried about, and the heat that would melt her, at bay—and soon she and I were leaned back, stuffed from an assortment of charcuterie I put together along with other stuff I found in our fridge: a small container of Nana Ama’s mac and cheese that still tasted delicious even though it wasn’t bubbly hot, and Ms. Mae’s famous homemade cake, so moist I suspected it came from a box. To top it off, I pulled out my very own bottle of the Garvey Brothers’ peach moonshine.
I laughed at Hailey as she took a deep swallow of the moonshine, thinking she could handle it because she’d been to all the clubs along the coast and up north. Tell that to the coughing and sputtering that ensued after only one gulp.
“I thought you could ‘handle your liquor,’” I mimicked when my laughter died down—though the giggles remained, and every time I looked at her watering eyes, I nearly erupted in them.
“This isn’t liquor,” she said, holding the bottle out in front of her so she could inspect it with one narrowed eye. “This is something radioactive.”
“Told you it would put you on your ass.”
She handed the clear bottle back to me, looking at me through her lashes. “I like knowing you’re thinking of my ass.”
I’d been taking a small sip of the moonshine and choked when she said it. I blinked at her, wondering if she was for real or if it was the ’shine talking. I’d brought the not-for-public-consumption version and she’d taken a big hit of it.
“Yeah right,” I mumbled, playing off the way my stomach flip-flopped every time we made eye contact. Maybe I’d had too much ’shine myself. I was feeling lightheaded, I think. Or something. I let the bottle down, stretching out on the blanket to lie on my back with my hands folded behind my head.
“I like you this way.” Hailey’s voiced lowered and she scooched toward me. She propped her head up in her hand as she faced me, looking down at me. “You’re different here. Not on a mission like in Charleston. And not on duty like you are here. In this moment, you’re totally relaxed. You look totally different.”
