Now, next to me, Mamma is softly breathing, her dark hair spilling over her pillow.
I watch the room lighten and hear the rustling noises draw closer. Footsteps creep along the walkway between the outside staircase and the walkway to the master bedroom tree.
Who is that? All my senses go on high alert.
Slipping out of bed, I kneel on the rug next to the door. Someone is crouching on the opposite side of the wall next to the bedroom door. I can see cracks of daylight filtering through the bamboo — and the shadow of a person.
Hardly daring to breathe, I wait and watch. Who can it be? Riley playing a joke? Hardly. She’ll probably sleep until noon.
A scratching noise comes next and suddenly I see an object being pushed through the slits of the bamboo. Something wooden with a golden burnish.
The stick comes into view, inch by inch, and now I see a leaping fish, sea drops glistening on its carved wooden scales, sprays of stars and a sliver of moon etched into the other side.
My heart flutters just like a butterfly.
The stick slides through until the whole piece is in view, the end of it held on the other side by someone I can hear breathing. I wonder if his heart is pounding as hard as mine.
I wait. He waits.
A laugh tickles my throat as I finally reach out and grasp the stick, pulling it toward me. I think my heart is gonna burst right out of my chest any minute.
Once the stick is through, I hold it in my hands, studying the beautifully carved pictures. It’s still warm from someone’s pocket. I run my fingers along each nick and groove and deeply cut line. And I know that I will treasure this.
The shadow still waits, so I get down on the floor and lie on my stomach, peeking through the bamboo. The shadow has big brown eyes. He finally whispers, “Tie the stick into your hair, Miss Tara. Then I’ll know for sure.”
“Okay, I will,” I whisper back.
When Mamma gets up, she helps me wash my hair. I dry it on the balcony in the sea breeze. Then she helps me wrap my Pantene Princess hair around the love stick, knotting it in swirls so it stays tight on the back of my head.
Mamma finds a bouquet of red hibiscus on the dining room table and inserts a big red flower above my ear. “It’s perfect,” she says as we admire the effect in the hall mirror. “I think you’re an island girl now.”
“I’m so glad you’re here, Mamma,” I tell her as we stare at each other in the glass.
“Me, too, Tara. I think I needed to get out of that house for a while. Been suffocating me ever since your daddy left. This island is like a breath of fresh air.”
“It’s sea air. Literally!” I add, and we laugh together. For the first time in a long, long time.
Everything feels almost perfect. Almost. I only wish Grammy Claire were here to see me dressed up with Eloni’s beautiful stick in my hair.
Later that morning, Eloni and I sit side by side on the beach of Nipwisipwis Lagoon inside the Beautiful Empty. Which isn’t empty at all when there are thousands of butterflies swirling overhead. “The Giant Pinks never showed up yesterday,” I tell him. “When Riley and I got to the grotto in the dune buggy, we never saw them. Do you think they’re dead? Did Butler Reginald capture them before we got there?”
Waves lap the shore in a soothing motion. The sea caresses the island like a mother stroking her child. I can’t stop thinking about Key Number Eleven — the key to the box where the new will is hidden. Plus the envelope thick with Grammy Claire’s secret research. I gotta get to the bank. I wonder if Alvios will take me in his taxi. Tafko might drive me to town himself. Eloni has been telling me how worried his quiet older brother has been about me and Riley. After the gunfire, he’d darted off into the trees, chasing after Mr. Masako.
Eloni touches my hair where I’ve tied his carefully crafted stick, and his eyes smile. “I like your flower,” he says.
“Thank you,” I say, feeling prim and shy.
He scoops up a handful of sand and lets it sift through his fingers. “Maybe it was the day the Giant Pinks left to go to their new island.”
“Do you think they knew they had to leave? Did they know someone was going to kill them? Harvest them?”
He looks thoughtful. “We don’t know what they think. No nipwisipwis can talk — yet.” He grins and I can’t help smiling back. What if there really was a butterfly that could communicate — or talk!
“Did the police find Grammy Claire’s treasure chest?”
“Tafko found it broken on the beach. Don’t worry. Everything is still there. The envelopes and key. He rescued it and we got it hidden. But you have to come to my family’s party tonight to get it.”
I glance at him. “Another party?”
“To celebrate your life. And that the butterflies are safe now.”
We smile at each other, and I look away and start sifting sand myself. Bury my toes in the warmth of it, feeling pebbly, itchy sand go right up my swimsuit under my new sundress. But I don’t care anymore. The island almost swallowed me last night. It’s part of me forever now.
Eloni bumps my shoulder with his. “Come for a boat ride with me and Tafko and my grandfather?”
I stare at those dark brown eyes, and my stomach leaps into my throat. “You know where the secret island is, don’t you?”
He gazes back at me, and then he leans in to whisper, “Yes, Miss Tara, I do!”
I clap my hands over my mouth. “You’ve been there with Grammy Claire, haven’t you?”
Eloni doesn’t answer. He just heaps a big glob of sand over my toes. Which need a fresh coat of nail polish and more glittery stars. They look pathetic, but I don’t care about that, either, at the moment.
“Oh, my gosh,” I hiss, staring out at the blue, blue ocean shimmering under the sun. “I have to go! Now! Today! I have to see them again. We have to keep them safe!”
“They will be safe, Miss Tara. My people will help to keep them safe.”
A breeze lifts the hair off my neck and I raise my face to the salty, beautiful sky. I’m going to Grammy Claire’s secret butterfly island! “How far away is it?”
“Not gonna tell,” he says, copying my bayou accent. “Pack food. And another one of those swimsuits.”
I turn my head, frowning. Then my gut drops and I clutch Eloni’s arm. “Look! Over there! That’s — that’s Madame See!”
“Who?”
“Madame See! She’s been following us. She stole Grammy Claire’s money! Why didn’t the police arrest her? She was in the grotto last night; I saw her myself! I thought she was going to jail! She was spying and planning to kill me with Butler Reginald!”
“Why do you think that? That woman called the police while my grandfather got the men in my village to rescue you. She had a cell phone. How do you know her?”
“I thought you knew her!”
“Nope. Never saw her before last night.”
“She was with Butler Reginald at Grammy Claire’s house in Louisiana! Then she secretly came back here.”
Eloni lies back on his beach towel. “Maybe she’s a scientist, too.”
I watch the strange woman stand near the water. She’s only about a hundred yards away now, and my stomach tightens. I wouldn’t trust her as far as I could throw her. Even if she did call the police, she’s still a thief. And a liar.
Narrowing my eyes, I continue studying her. Why does Madame See wear those ugly black shoes to the beach? Doesn’t she own a pair of flip-flops? She must be hot in all those clothes.
I watch the woman scratch her neck. She looks sweaty and uncomfortable. Is she waiting to steal more money — or steal the butterflies? Maybe she’s actually been a spy for Butler Reginald all along.
Beyond her, out on the water, a diving boat sails, cutting across the waves, the ship filled with tourists. I listen to the ocean and sometimes it feels like it’s talking to me. I want to lie back on my towel, enjoy the sun. Open up the picnic basket Mamma packed for us. Eloni said he’d build a bonfire and we
’d roast hot dogs and marshmallows for lunch as soon as Riley and Mamma get here.
My eyes cut back to Madame See.
She stands stock-still at the shoreline. She’s looking out to sea. I wonder if she came from China or Hong Kong. I wonder if she’s homesick and just trying to get back to her family. Doesn’t matter. I’m not gonna feel sorry for her!
As I’m watching, she raises her right leg and rubs the side of her foot along her left leg. Like she’s scratching an itch. Then she rests her foot there, standing just like a stork.
Wind ripples the water.
Goose bumps rise along my arms.
Madame See rubs her foot along her leg once more. “Oh, my gosh, oh, my gosh, oh, my gosh!” I let out in a gigantic, almighty breath.
“Hey, ready to go swimming?” Eloni asks.
I don’t answer. I leap to my feet, tearing straight for Madame See as fast as I can. My flip-flops go flying out from under my feet. My hair whips straight out like a flag as I pound the sand with my bare toes.
I reach the woman in about five seconds flat. And grab her arm and whirl her around to face me. Then I grab her hat and rip it off her head.
I pull at her sweater, yanking it halfway down her arm.
Then I touch her short black hair.
And pull. Hard.
The wig slides off her head and falls to the beach.
Long, silvery gray hair tumbles down her shoulders. Pantene Princess hair turned gray.
I’ve never stood this close to Madame Erial See before. She was always just a shadow in the kitchen. Quiet as a mouse. Hovering, watching. She really was a spy.
But her eyes aren’t black at all.
Her eyes are blue, the very same color as mine.
I reach out and touch her hair, and it feels just like mine, too. Soft and silky, but without any sucked-on ends.
Madame See smiles softly, her eyes crinkling at me. “My dearest Tara,” she whispers. “Oh, how I’ve missed you!”
“Grammy Claire, it’s you! It was you all this time!” I throw myself into her arms and great big sobs wrench out of my chest. My throat is raw and painful as she clutches me back, tight as can be. My arms clasp her neck, but I still can’t seem to get close enough as she whirls me around on the sand. “You’re not dead! You’re alive! We gave you a — a funeral!” Then I run my hands along her arms and touch her hair. “How can you be alive?”
She gives me a wry smile. “Because I’m smarter than Reginald Godwin, that’s why!”
“What kind of a name is Erial See?” I burst out as another avalanche of tears floods my face. My nose starts running, but all I can do is keep on hugging her. We fall to the sand, hugging and laughing.
Grammy Claire gives a snort. “It’s my name, silly girl. And I know you’re smart enough to figure it out.”
My mind instantly turns her words around. Erial See. That’s how I’d heard it from Butler Reginald, but he’d never spelled it out. Heck, he didn’t even know it himself! Erial See. Or Erial C. — backward — was Claire. For Grammy Claire.
“But why?” I ask. “Why?”
We sit at the water’s edge, soft waves rushing over our toes. Tears keep spilling out of my eyes as she strokes my hair. I think my heart is going to leap out of my chest every time I look at her. “I had to do all this crazy scheming and lying and sneaking around for the nipwisipwis. I had to find out who was stealing my research, and who was killing them. There were so many suspects. After a couple of strange ‘accidents’ in my laboratory and tampering with my dune buggy, I knew it was only a matter of time before somebody actually succeeded in killing me. Somebody who didn’t want to save the nipwisipwis. Somebody who only wanted the wealth they could get from them.
“So I hurriedly wrote those last letters. And staged a car accident with the help of my insurance company and Bayou Bridge’s sheriff, your best friend’s father.”
My eyes widen. “You mean Alyson’s daddy? Sheriff Granger?”
“The one and only. He was an enormous help to keep everything hushed up and out of the news. Just about did me in when I thought of you and Riley and your mamma grieving so horribly, but I finally had to go through with it — if I didn’t want you truly mourning my murder down the road.”
I rest my head in the crook of her neck and weep some more. She was here all along. In the shadows. Watching over us.
“You got Mamma to come, too, didn’t you?”
Grammy Claire shakes her head. “No, Tara, that was you. You wrote the letter to my old friend’s daughter Mirage Allemond. Mirage helped your mamma get some medicine and a dose of prayer. Then Mirage, along with her daughter, Shelby Jayne, helped your mamma pack her luggage and took her to the airport. That was your doing, my strong, wise granddaughter.”
“But Mamma said she got a letter from you.”
“After she arrived here. It was waiting for her at the tree house. The message told her to immediately go to the butterfly grotto, along with a map.”
Tears fill up my eyes again so I can’t hardly see no more.
“Saddest part is learning that my trusted attorney and friend was working behind my back all this time. Greed and envy are dangerous traits. But the butterflies fought back.”
“What do you mean?”
“The nipwisipwis are amazing creatures, Tara. Each species has its own uniquely special ability. They follow those with a pure heart. Those who love unconditionally.”
“Is that why the Giant Pinks left this island? Because they knew Butler Reginald wanted to kill them?”
“That’s my theory. Reginald decided he wanted to control the nipwisipwis. He produced a false will, had it signed, deceived everyone, even me — until yesterday. I knew there was someone, but I wasn’t sure exactly who it was. My keys and letters to you were also a trap. To lure in the person who was trying to hurt me and the nipwisipwis.”
“You found some dead Pinks in your laboratory, didn’t you?” I ask her, realizing that it was Butler Reginald who killed the Giant Pink back home to run tests on it or take its DNA for himself. “I saw you that night. In the hall. I was hiding behind the clock.”
Grammy Claire laughs. “I was busy following Butler Reginald, but he faked me out and I never actually caught him doing anything wrong. That’s when I spent far too long suspecting Tafko or Alvios or Mr. Masako.”
“And I was too busy watching you,” I tell her. “I guess some of those noises were actually Butler Reginald all along.” Butler Reginald stole my two thousand dollars! “He took the money so Riley and I couldn’t escape once we were on the island.”
“He needed you and those keys desperately, Tara. Eternal youth — eternal life — is a coveted commodity. Those who seek it must do so carefully. And the nipwisipwis instinctively know to save themselves. They were here to help the island people, who revere them and hold them sacred.”
I try to take in everything she’s telling me, but it’s so overwhelming. I think about Butler Reginald now spending his days in the local jail. Then a trial and prison.
“He tried to drown me and Riley — and he was the one that sabotaged those stairs that almost killed Riley, too.” I swipe my hands across my eyes. “I want to help you, Grammy Claire. I want to save the Giant Pinks. Teach me what to do. I knew they were smart and wonderful and magical the moment the first purple butterfly flew into my room.”
My grandmother looks startled. “They came to you? The nipwisipwis found you?”
“The first butterfly came the day after your funeral. Flew right into my bedroom window. The purple-and-yellow one — the one that makes angel music.”
“Oh!” Grammy Claire chokes out, and then she begins to weep herself, tears rolling down her beautiful, wrinkled cheeks.
“What is it?” I grip her arm, frightened. “What’s wrong? Why are you crying?”
Grammy Claire pulls me close, and I can feel her trembling. “I asked the nipwisipwis to watch over you. The day I left the island. And the day I left my old home, n
ot knowing if I’d ever return. And they did.” She sounds completely overwhelmed. “They came to you — they really came!”
“Grammy Claire, what does it mean?” I think about the purple butterfly, the transparent butterfly, and the Giant Pink that flew into my grandmother’s bedroom window.
“It means they heard me. They understood. And they found you. They have even more capabilities than I realized.”
I want to cry and laugh with happiness. Excitement bubbles up my throat. Mamma and Riley are at the tree house, and I want them to be here with us, to share everything with them. I have a feeling we’re not flying back home in two days any more. The tree house still belongs to Head Lepidoptera Scientist Professor Claire, and the whole summer is ahead of me. To spend with Grammy Claire. With my family. And with Eloni.
Something fizzy and stupendous shoots straight up my spine. “What do we do now?”
“Get your shoes and your shorts, my dear, because we’re going to take a voyage across the ocean. To a place you will not believe. A place of dreams. An island inhabited by the nipwisipwis.” My grandmother pulls me to my feet and turns me around. An outrigger canoe has pulled up along the shoreline, just beyond the waves.
“Eloni!” she calls across the beach. “Hurry!”
Eloni races over, kicking up sand as if he’s just been waiting for permission to join us. “Professor Claire! It’s you, it’s you! Today is the happiest day of my life!”
“Yes, it’s really me, my dear boy.” He starts to bow to her, but my grandmother tsks her tongue and grabs him in a big hug. When she releases him, I see tears in both their eyes.
“Do you remember the way?” Grammy Claire asks.
Eloni’s face shines. “Yes, Professor Claire, I know the way. It’s the island of all things beautiful, the home of eternity.”
“Then let’s make sure the Giant Pinks have arrived safely. We need to get back tonight, you know.”
“Why?” I ask as I glance between them.
Eloni takes my fingers in his for a moment. “We’re having a party, remember? I found a purple orchid for your hair, too.”
I feel my face lighting up into the biggest smile of my life.
When the Butterflies Came Page 22