Ocean's Kiss

by Lani Wendt Young

  She’d walked off his boat and out of his life and he’d been glad to see her go. His one regret? That they hadn’t had children. That he didn’t have a son, a daughter to share his life with.

  Now to find out he’d had a son all these years? Who had grown to manhood without him? Raised by someone else on a distant island? A boy who believed his father had abandoned him and so he nurtured a hate so deep and so strong that the venom of it had been a physical blow to Ronan’s chest.

  Ronan felt cheated. He was angry. At the world. At God. At the people who had raised Daniel and stolen all the years Ronan could never get back.

  But most of all, Ronan was angry at a dead woman.

  “Fuck you Moanasina!” he shouted out at the black ocean. “You took everything from me!” In a fit of rage, he drew his arm back and threw a still full can out into the darkness. The distant splash didn’t make him feel any better.

  He imagined he heard her laugh. Yes, but did you die?

  He turned to go below deck. Back to sleep. When something hit him on the back of the head and then fell to the floor with a clang.

  “What the hell?”

  He looked down. At his feet was the can he had thrown far out to sea. Someone, or something had thrown it back.

  Then he was pelted on all sides by an onslaught of missiles. Empty beer cans. He raised his arms to cover his face, to fend them off, tripped and fell to his knees in an intoxicated haze. He looked out in the direction where he’d thrown the cans.

  The water glinted in the moon light, scattering rays of silver on the hull of the boat. At first Ronan didn’t see it. A flash of silver. And then another. His eyes strained against the darkness. What was it?

  He heard a gurgling sound in the distance, sensed movement in the water. Ronan pulled himself to stand, peered into the murky depths, scanning the surface of the sea. And that’s when he saw it. A spinning whirl of white in the deep.

  The small whirlpool stirred beneath the surface. A pearl of white light centered in the middle. The pool churned, slow, almost graceful at first as luminescent bubbles gleamed within. Silver mist curled forth from its center, billowing into the night sky. The whirlpool began to churn faster, sounding loud in the night. Foam frothed at its edges. The boat rocked and Ronan clung to the railing. He was about to go start up the engine, when something broke through the water, emerged from the eye of the whirlpool.

  A person. A woman.

  Her skin gleamed in the darkness, an eerie blue-green, like scales? Her long hair trailed on the waves. She stood on the surface of the water, a haze of shimmering mist following her every movement. She started walking towards the boat and each step left silver footprints that glowed luminescent in the darkness. He couldn’t make out her features because she wore some kind of helmet that covered her face. But he could see her eyes. She stared directly at him with a gaze that spoke of menace. Cold dread slithered inside his belly as she came closer, and his every instinct screamed DANGER. But just like in his dream, he couldn’t move. Couldn’t run.

  She was beside the boat now, and the churning water raised her up so she stood level with him. Ronan staggered back as everything spun around him. This can’t be real. It’s the alcohol.

  The water pillar moved her closer and now Ronan and the stranger stood eye to eye. He still couldn’t see her face but a sudden certainty washed over him. I know you. At the same time, he thought he saw a similar flash of recognition in those silver eyes.

  Then he heard Kirei’s voice. “Uncle? Are you okay?” Footsteps as she came up from below deck.

  Immediately the woman turned to leave, gliding back to the whirlpool and sinking deeper under the water with each step.

  “Wait, come back!” Ronan shouted after her, but she didn’t stop. She didn’t turn back. There was only thing to do. He climbed up on the railing and dived into the water. When he surfaced, there was no sign of her. But he wouldn’t give up. He swam towards the spot he had last seen her, where the whirlpool had first appeared. But the water was still and lifeless. He tread water, looking all around, hoping for some sign, some remnant of her.

  Nothing. She was gone.

  “Uncle Ronan! Hang on, I’m coming!” Kirei’s panicked shout brought him back to his surroundings. Back to his senses. What am I doing? A wave of shame came over him. Drunk and delusional out in the harbor?

  “I’m okay,” he yelled as he started to swim back to the boat. Kirei helped him back on board and brought towels. And a mug of something hot.

  “Coffee,” she said primly with a pointed glance at the beer cans scattered all over the deck. “You need it.”

  He took the mug, and the rebuke, without any argument. But as she fussed over him, he had to ask. “Did you see her?”

  “Did I see who?”

  “There was a woman walking on the water. She was all lit up in silver light.”

  Kirei frowned. “Walking on the water. Like Jesus? You’ve had way too much beer.”

  “So you didn’t see anything?” Ronan was insistent. He had to be sure.

  “No I didn’t. Because there was nobody out there, and most definitely nobody walking on water. Come on, you need to go sleep it off. I’ll clean up this mess.”

  Ronan nodded, contrite. “Hey Kirei? I’m sorry. This was really stupid of me. I’m a shit uncle. And I’d make a terrible father.”

  His niece wasn’t going to let him off easy. “Yes it was stupid. And dangerous. And foolish. A very bad example.” Then her eyes softened. “But you’re an amazing uncle. And Daniel would be very lucky to have you as a father.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  Several days later and Daniel was hard at work with the welders, when he had a visitor. A beautifully dressed visitor, resplendent in fuchsia. Simone.

  “Dahling?!” The trilling call came over the whine of the grinder. “Yoohoo Daniel!”

  Daniel paused, raising his face mask so he could smile at his oldest best friend. “What you doing here?” He took off his helmet and gloves, laying them down on the workbench before making his way towards the entrance. “Stay there. I’ll come to you. There’s too much in here you could get hurt on. Lots of steel everywhere…”

  Simone waved aside his concerns, but waited at the door anyway, offering her cheek for Daniel’s kiss. “Oh you know I like hard, pointy things. The more dangerous the better!”

  Daniel rolled his eyes as he knew Simone expected him to. “Yeah, well trust me, there’s nothing fun about cutting your leg open on a jagged I-beam.”

  “Then one of your boys would have have to carry me to safety, wouldn’t they? With me pressed against their naked, sweaty chest as I cling for comfort and reassurance to their rippling muscles,” said Simone lightly.

  But Daniel could sense that Simone’s heart wasn’t into their usual banter. Confirmed when Simone gave him an uneasy smile and said, “Is there somewhere we can talk?”

  “Sure. My office.”

  Once the door closed behind them, Simone wasted no time. “Remember that time Leila jumped into a volcano with that nuclear battery?”

  “Yes. Can’t forget something like that.”

  “And then she like…died? And you got her body out of the sea?”

  Daniel winced. Even now, two years later, the memory hurt. Remembering how close he’d come to losing the woman he loved, the sense of helplessness as he had held her in his arms, the destruction wrought on her charred body. So his reply to Simone was harsh. “Yeah. What about it?”

  Simone got up and started pacing the office, wringing their hands and muttering under their breath.

  “Simone, what’s going on?” demanded Daniel. “Out with it.”

  Simone stopped still. “Sorry. It’s just that it’s weird. Like everything that happens when Leila’s around.” A deep breath. “You said that a woman helped you heal her? Some kind of mermaid siren fish woman?”

  “Yes. But you’re the only one who knows that. We agreed we wouldn’t talk about it to anyone, remember?”r />
  Simone waved his cautions away with impatience. “Yeah, yeah I know. This woman, she said she was your mother, right?”

  “Not quite. She said she was my mother once-upon-a-time. A long time ago.”

  “What does that even mean?”

  “I don’t know,” said Daniel. “I gave up trying to make sense of it a long time ago. Why?”

  “You need to try and figure it out because I think she may be back,” said Simone.

  “What do you mean?” said Daniel. “Where?”

  “Checking out your Daddy’s boat.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I spent the morning with Kirei – Ronan’s niece? We’re collaborating on a fashion photo shoot. It’s going to be amazing. I’m having the legend of Apaula and Vaea as my muse for this one, and I’m making a dress out of ti leaves and we’re staging it in the rainforest, and…” Catching sight of Daniel’s face, Simone pulled back on track. “Sorry. Got sidetracked. Anyway, Kirei was telling me that she’s worried about her uncle because he hasn’t been sleeping. Nightmares, and she thinks he’s walking in his sleep. Not something you want to be doing when you live on a boat. Just imagine, there you are in the great wide ocean, thousands of miles away from anything, you sleepwalk, and fall overboard in the dead of night and nobody hears you! Ugh!”

  Daniel gritted his teeth. “Simone, if you don’t get to the point quick? I might have to choke it out of you. Please.”

  “Yes. Right. Kirei said that after their dinner with you and Leila – I’m so proud of you by the way for giving your Dad a chance – but we’re not talking about father issues right now. After her dinner, Kirei said she was just falling asleep when she heard Ronan shouting from up on deck and then a splash as he went over the side. She dashed up there, thinking he’d fallen. But he’d jumped. He was swimming after something, after someone. Kirei didn’t see anyone but Ronan said there was a woman walking on the water. He kept asking her if she’d seen her. She also said he’d been drinking a truckload of beer and that’s why he was delusional. But it reminded me about the woman you saw. And I thought, maybe Ronan did see a fish woman?”

  “What did she look like?” said Daniel.

  “Kirei didn’t see the woman.”

  “Yes, but what did Ronan say she looked like?” insisted Daniel. “Did he recognize her?”

  “He didn’t see her face. All he said to Kirei is that she was silver moonlight on the water. Which makes no sense, but there you go. Maybe it was the beer. Maybe he cracked his head? Hmmm…such a handsome head too!” sighed Simone. “Or maybe finding he has a long lost son has pushed him into a nervous breakdown?”

  But Daniel wasn’t listening. Because he was remembering a woman who looked like silver moonlight on the water. A woman who had saved first him and then Leila. He could no longer push aside what he knew to be true.

  His mother was alive. Not quite human or earthly or mortal. But alive all the same. Only what did she want from them? Why was she here now? And what did Ronan know of her?

  That night, Daniel woke to the certainty that something, or someone, was in the workshop. Someone who didn’t belong there. He and Leila were sleeping at his grandparent’s house. He’d needed to work overtime and he didn’t like her to stay at their home alone. Instead Leila had worked on her university applications in Mama’s kitchen, while he welded until past ten. Now, the neighbor’s dogs were barking the crazy panicked way they did when strangers went by. Or when the cat from across the road sauntered past. It could just be the cat Daniel… Not wanting to scare Leila, he slipped from the bed and quietly made his way out of the house, picking up the sapelu he kept by the kitchen door. Just in case.

  It was a hot sweltering night. The kind of humidity that smothered you the minute you stepped outside of air conditioning. Daniel tread lightly to the roller doors of the workshop, and then along the side of the building to the side doors. He knew he’d locked them before leaving work, but the side door was now unlocked and ajar. Immediately he went into high alert defensive mode, every nerve tensed and on fire. He brandished the sapelu as he slowly, quietly peered inside the dark depths of the building. No sound. No movement. Nothing out of the ordinary. He reached out and flipped a switch, flooding the interior with harsh light.

  “Who’s here?” he called out.

  Nothing. He searched the building, even going through the office and the break room. No sign of anyone. Puzzled, he went back downstairs and that’s when he saw it. On the cement floor of the main fabrication area, was a gleaming set of wet footprints, going from the door, through the workshop and to the storage room. He followed the prints, poised and ready for attack, remembering a long ago day when the warehouse had been the site of a Telesā ambush. But there was no intruder to be found. Just more footprints.

  Daniel walked out onto the driveway. It was a full moon and the silver orb hung low and heavy in the sky. Moonlight pooled at his feet – and by the steps down to the sandy path – was a tangle of dark green seaweed. He bent and picked it up. The limu was still wet from the ocean.

  The question lingered. How did it get there? It seemed the intruder had been searching for something. But what?

  Daniel looked back over his shoulder, into the workshop. Was it possible? Could someone know what was hidden there?

  In the quiet of the night, he heard it. That soft yet urgent voice. The call. Sometimes it came to him on the distant roar of the surf on the reef, insistent and continual. Other times it came on the salt breeze, a winding delicate thing. Sometimes it was threatening, a jagged bolt of lightning tearing open the damask cloth of night ocean, a promise of danger. Sometimes it was only a feeling of comfort and peace. But increasingly, it spoke.

  ‘My child. Come to me.’

  If anyone had asked him, Daniel wouldn’t have been able to say with any certainty where the whispering came from. Was it the sea that beckoned? Calling to a Gift that no longer lived within him? Or was it the weapon buried deep underground in his workshop?

  It was Talei who had given him the Tangaloa Bone. Gathered up the pieces immediately after the battle, and hid them. Yes, there had been questions in the aftermath, and searching carried out by the few Telesā who remained after Pele’s deadly rampage. But when no sign of the Bone had been found, they concluded that it had been destroyed in the same annihilation that killed Pele.

  Daniel smiled grimly. He didn’t know what was more ridiculous. Anyone believing that Pele the fire goddess had truly been killed. Or that the Bone could have been destroyed. Once you had felt the touch of a god, then you glimpsed eternity and knew they could never die. Never end. No matter how hard you fought. No matter how much you wished it.

  Talei had waited until he was out of hospital. And then on a day when he was alone, she had brought the Bone to him.

  “Why me?!” he’d demanded. Unwilling to touch it, he only stared at the pieces of the Bone that lay on his kitchen table, wrapped in thick tapa cloth. “I don’t want it.”

  “It has to be you,” said Talei.

  “No it doesn’t. Give it to the Telesā. Any one of them would kill to get their hands on it.”

  Talei rolled her eyes. “Which is exactly why we can’t give it to them.” She frowned and the room got serious, really fast. “The Bone, it has a voice. I don’t know how to explain it. It speaks to me. Even though I’m not Telesā, perhaps because I’m Dravuki, I can hear it. Even though I don’t want to. It’s faint. But it’s there. Calling me with promises of its power. That’s why you have to take it.”

  “Because I’m a man?” Daniel’s laugh had no humor in it.

  “No. Because the Telesā gift is dead in you.” She gave him an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry. But it’s true. And hopefully it means you’re immune to it. Who else can look after it? Keahi? Simone?”

  He had to admit neither were an option. And though he tried, he couldn’t think of who else to offload the equivalent in power of several nuclear bombs.

  “What
am I supposed to do with it?”

  Talei flashed him a triumphant smile, tinged with relief. In that moment he realized she’d been afraid he would refuse. Because she was afraid - of the Bone? Why? He shoved the thoughts aside and focused on the problem at hand.

  “Take it back to Pulotu and ask the aitu of the underworld to guard it again? You’ll have to apologize for us stealing it first!”

  “Haha very funny,” grumped Daniel.

  They shared a moment of memory and Talei went serious again. “You saved my life that day.”

  “You saved me back, remember?” countered Daniel. “You saved ALL of us. So we’re even.”

  “Thanks Daniel. For taking this.” A nod to the Bone pieces. “It feels right that you should have them.”

  Daniel didn’t read much into her words. But later, after some koko and panipopo, as Talei was leaving, she paused, indecision at war on her face.

  “What is it?” prompted Daniel. “It’s not like you to struggle over whether or not to say what’s on your mind! Usually we can’t get you to shut up.”

  Talei laughed and took a swing at him which he ducked easily. The lightness in mood seemed to reassure her. “You know my mother was an Oracle. Even though she’s gone now, I still hear her sometimes. She sends me messages. Dreams…I don’t know how to explain it in a way that doesn’t sound crazy.”

  “You don’t have to convince me. It’s not crazy,” said Daniel. “I was there that day, when her prophecy saved us all, remember?”

  Encouraged she went on. “You’re going to need the Bone one day. Soon. I don’t know why. But you will.”

  Daniel frowned. “No I won’t. We’re done with all that. You said it yourself remember? The Telesā gift is dead in me.”

  “Yes the ocean in you is gone. But she who gave it to you hasn’t forgotten who you are. She may be lost but you are not lost to her.”