“It is amazing,” he agreed. “Just think of what has already happened to me, and to you—and both of us are able to do things that no humans have ever done before.”
“We’re freaks,” she said. “Circus freaks.”
“Moanna wants us to lead others,” Kimo said. “That’s why we’re the way we are.”
And Alicia wondered: When other humans were transformed, what would their special powers be? Maybe some would be the leaders of species, while others would only be able to swim in the sea like fish, and consume plankton and other nutrients from the water.
Only.
She smiled at the thought, because connecting with the ocean in that manner would be a glorious privilege for anyone who loved the sea, a wondrous thing by itself.
***
Chapter 5
Alicia’s apartment was small and old, but she liked its location above the Wanaao General Store—a popular hub of the community that was operated by Obidos Lisboa, an old man who had owned the business for almost half a century. She’d heard about the apartment from his son, Johnny, with whom she used to work at her grandfather’s aquatic park.
“You nice girl,” the elderly Portuguese man had said to her in his thick accent. “I give you good price.” And he did—a very reasonable rent by local standards.
It was a tidy little studio unit, clean and well-organized, with plenty of shelves and closets, and it came furnished, including some well-worn antiques that looked as if they had been brought over from Europe a long time ago. She particularly liked an intricately carved wooden armoire and a small, dark-oak dining room set, with a patina of marks and dents in the wood that seemed to be part of the design. Both appeared to be valuable antiques, and featured old-world craftsmanship.
Early this morning she’d been awakened by noises downstairs, when Mr. Lisboa held a meeting with his store staff and went over the things he wanted them to do. He had a deep, thickly-accented voice that traveled through the heating vents of the old building into her apartment, but Alicia was thankful for the place to live and was certain she would get used to the new routine. Besides, she and Kimo had so much to do outside that it didn’t matter too much where she slept and kept her things. Kimo even spoke of spending virtually all of his time in the ocean someday, a thought that intrigued her, but seemed impossible for her to accept. Yet, his desire to do that had to be considered in determining if their personal relationship would progress. So far they had only made love the one time, that magical night on the beach. Kimo had seemed a little shy around her afterward, with occasional displays of a childlike playfulness that she found charming.
Though the weather was clear now, it had rained heavily in the past hour, leaving the broad green fronds of palms dripping, and the branches of mango trees drooping low from the weight of the water clinging to them.
As she drove her small car on the bumpy washboard surface of the Wanaao Road, she passed Kimo just as he and Billie were opening the fruit stand. She and Kimo waved to each other. The driver’s window was down beside her, and she smelled the moist muskiness of the air, a combination of fallen, rotting fruit and decaying, wet vegetation on the ground. He knew where she was going; Alicia had mentioned the need to do it the evening before.
She crossed an old masonry and steel bridge over a waterfall, then saw a pair of ring-necked pheasants fly out of the bushes and soar into the air, a beautiful display of bronze, white, red, and green feathers. A short distance later she turned left onto the paved entrance of her grandfather’s property, marked by a lava and granite monument with a weathered wooden sign that read, ELLSWORTH RANCH HOTEL & RESORT, installed decades ago by her great grandfather and repaired many times.
This property was part of Alicia’s family heritage, but she felt estranged from it, and nervous about what she intended to do this morning. It would be a humbling experience, but for the sake of the ocean she was going to make the attempt anyway. In the larger scheme of things, her own feelings of discomfort did not matter.
Presently she saw the old man outside, wearing a big floppy straw hat and an elegant white suit. He was talking to two Japanese gardeners by one of the lush gardens surrounding the hotel complex. Magnificent purple, white, and red orchids were in bloom there, along with a spectacular bird of paradise that was a striking shade of bright orange.
Her grandfather noticed her when she got out of the car. As she walked toward him, one of the gardeners said something to him, but he didn’t answer, so the men returned to work.
“Good morning, Grandfather,” she said. Alicia wore a white blouse, tan shorts, and sandals. Her auburn hair was secured in a ponytail.
He stared at her, didn’t say anything. With his shoulders slumped and his drooping facial features, the elderly gentleman looked sad, though she could not see his eyes behind the dark sunglasses.
Motioning for her to walk with him on a garden path, he said, “I hear you’re renting an apartment over the general store.”
“It’s a little noisy sometimes, but I’m getting used to it. The rent is very good.”
“I see.”
“Grandfather, you’re not going to believe what I have to tell you, but something incredible has happened to me. I want you to listen for a while before saying anything, all right?”
He smiled ruefully. “It wouldn’t be the first time a woman has asked me to shut up. Your grandmother did it all the time.”
“I don’t mean it that way.” She remembered her late Grandmother Hermione Ellsworth, how aloof and stuffy she’d been during visits to California when Alicia was a little girl. The woman had died of a rare form of cancer when Alicia was only nine.
Now Alicia began what she wanted to say, telling her grandfather about the terrible plight of the ocean, how humans were fouling the waters with sewage and trash and oil, and that climate change caused by industrial and automobile emissions was contributing to the warming of the ocean and the deaths of coral reefs, and about the many species of sea life that had gone extinct (or were going extinct) from human-related causes, including overfishing.
Finally pausing, she looked up at him as they walked, and saw him nodding—probably because he’d heard it all before, and not because he agreed with the environmental issues she was raising. From somewhere in the background she heard the sound of helicopter rotors, as one of the tours departed or returned.
The two of them walked beneath an arbor of bougainvillea that led into the main botanical garden, filled with exotic tropical flowers from all over the world, splashes of color that looked as if the plants had been painted by the hand of a great master. Numerous quaint little foot bridges crossed over trickling manmade streams.
“I know this is similar to what Kimo and his mother said at the town hall meeting,” she said, “and I appreciate you continuing to listen, because I told you when I left I was going to be with Kimo, so you know where some of this information is coming from.”
“I’m always willing to listen to you,” he said, his voice filled with emotion. “Because I love you.”
“I appreciate that very much, Grandfather. I love you, too.” She squeezed his hand for a long moment as they walked, then let go.
They crossed an arched Japanese bridge, an antique structure that had been brought from the old country in parts, and rebuilt here. In the middle, the old man stopped to gaze out on a carp pond, one of his favorite places in the resort, a spot he sometimes visited when he wanted to calm himself. She wondered how many times he had gone here in the days since she left. Now he removed his sunglasses and buttoned them inside a shirt pocket, then leaned on the railing and gazed out on the water and the multi-hued carp swimming in it.
Alicia had considered not telling him about Moanna, or the special abilities she and Kimo had, because he wasn’t likely to believe any of that, and—even worse—he might think she had lost her mind. But she had to tell him the truth, the full truth—and then ask for his help. She took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself.
He looked at her with his intense blue eyes, and she could tell that he didn’t believe her. He twisted his face a little, but continued to hold his tongue.
“Kimo has gills in his body that the Sea Goddess gave him,” she said, “enabling him to remain underwater indefinitely. He can even dive very deep in the ocean, to the realm of Moanna—with no diving equipment.”
“More crazy Pohaku stuff,” Preston said. “There seems to be no limit to their tall tales.”
“The Pohakus are not crazy, and they’re not liars. Grandfather, I also received these swimming abilities from Moanna. Now I, like Kimo, can dive deep in the ocean, thousands of feet down, without any equipment.”
“You sound like you’re on drugs, Alicia.”
She tried to hold her temper. “You think so? Then look at this.” She lifted her hair out of the way, showing him behind one ear. “I have gills, just like Kimo. He was transformed by Moanna when he was a newborn, and she changed me a short while ago. Now Kimo and I are both hybrids, amphibians who can go on the land and in the sea, and we have other powers as well—he can heal sea creatures, and I can generate ocean waves.”
The old man looked behind her ear, touched the rough skin and flaps there, and then checked the other side as well. “Strange,” he said. “Very strange. But it doesn’t prove anything.”
“I can breathe underwater, Grandfather. I can even eat raw food from the ocean like other sea creatures do, such as the plankton that is almost invisible in the saltwater, which I can consume by filtering and processing it through my body while swimming.”
He shook his head in disbelief.
“Grandfather, I’m telling you all of this because Moanna wants us to recruit more humans from around the world to become hybrids like Kimo and me, for a campaign to restore the health of the ocean. She wants environmental scientists, oceanographers, marine biologists and anatomists, bacteriologists, anyone who cares about the ocean and has the ability to help. We have a list, and–“ Alicia paused, deciding not to tell him they were planning a demonstration to shut down as many Hawaiian beaches as possible, because he definitely would not like that.
“Do you realize how crazy this sounds?” he asked. He rolled his eyes. “Come on, those aren’t really gills behind your ears, are they?”
With a smile Alicia said, “It sounds crazy to me, too, even now after all that I’ve experienced. But I assure you, it’s all true. Everything I’ve told you is true.”
The old man looked pensive, chewed at his lower lip.
“It’s going to cost money to recruit the people we need,” she said, “to go and talk to them wherever they are in the world, to pay their expenses of bringing them back to Hawaii, and I thought, I mean I hoped, you would help.”
“Are you asking for an early inheritance?” His blue eyes flashed with displeasure.
Her heart raced. “Grandfather, I hope you will help us financially and offer us advice on how to handle things, based on your experience as a successful businessman. Some of the recruits will be concerned about their continuing expenses, the welfare of their families, and there are details we will have to work out. Others are wealthy in their own right, and will help us without the need for financing them.”
“Then get money from them, not from me. Don’t come to me with a harebrained scheme hatched by the Pohakus. They’re up to something, trying to take advantage of you, trying to take advantage of the Ellsworth name. If they can’t get my land, they want my name and money.”
“You’re wrong. Grandfather, this is your chance to do something good with your money, something really, really good, instead of just accumulating it for yourself and the rest of our family. I think it makes good business sense because it will make you famous in environmental circles, causing people to flock here and stay at the ranch. You could make some modifications to the resort, adding instructors to lecture on ocean ecology and take guests out on eco-ocean tours. It could be very popular. Grandfather, since Jeff and I came to Hawaii, you’ve tried to involve us in your business decisions, and here’s another one for our family to work out.”
“Crazy talk, crazy talk. And as for the ocean, I have enough problems with sea creatures at my beaches; they need to be killed, not helped.” He straightened and stood at his full height. Looking down on her he crossed his arms across his chest—like a barrier against anything she was saying.
Then, before he could react, she climbed through one of the railings and splashed into the pond, where she lay in the water with her face immersed. In the background, she heard his muffled voice, urging her to come out of the water.
Moments passed, and she felt strong hands pulling her out of the water—her grandfather. “Have you lost your mind?” he asked. He had waded into the pond, getting his white trousers wet.
She struggled to free herself from him, and finally he released his grip. She heard the gills behind her ears in transition, making slight, coarse noises as they expelled water and shut down, while her human lungs took over, breathing air.
Alicia saw one of the Japanese gardeners approaching on the path. Toshio Yamasaki, a shy little man in his middle years, looked very concerned.
Turning her head toward her grandfather, the young woman let one of the gills expel a little water toward him, but not on him. “Do you see that?” she asked. “I do have gills!”
But he shook his head. “This is all a clever, elaborate trick, designed to separate me from my money. I’m very disappointed in you, Alicia.”
“Then watch what I do next. Come with me.” Feeling very cross, she grabbed hold of one of his arms and led him toward the beach.
“Young woman, what are you doing?” He pulled free of her, but followed as she crossed the garden and walked out onto the white sand of the beach, where she removed her sandals. She noticed that the gardener had followed them, remaining at a slight distance, watching intently.
“This is my answer,” Alicia said. She waded out into the water, then began to swim, and summoned a wave, which lifted her up onto it. For several minutes she stood atop the wave and guided it around as if it were a motorboat, turning this way and that, going fast and slow. Finally, slipping off of it, she swam back ashore and stepped onto the beach.
“Now do you believe me?” she said, dripping water onto the sand. “Grandfather, won’t you help us? Won’t you please help our organization? The sea is in terrible peril!”
“It’s all a trick,” he insisted, shaking his head. “A sleight of hand pulled off by you and your cohorts.” He motioned toward the water. “They’re concealed out there beneath the surface, operating some sort of a hidden platform that you ride around on. And I don’t believe that gill nonsense, either. Your friends are wearing scuba gear.”
Scowling as she put her sandals back on, she said, “You’re wrong, Grandfather, as wrong as you can be.”
But he turned his back on her and strode toward the hotel, saying something to Toshio as he strode away.
For a long while, the gardener remained where he was, watching Alicia, as if guarding her against doing something rash to herself, or against going after the old man.
Finally, exasperated, she marched past him and got in her car.
***
Chapter 6
After a stint as an Army pilot in which he received medals for valor, Jeff had found himself out of work, and had gone into business with some old friends, selling marijuana, cocaine, and designer drugs. He never consumed any of the substances himself, only profited from them. It was a business he secretly continued on his own when his grandfather offered him and Alicia jobs at the ranch.
Except this was not school, and the consequences for failure were much bigger than blowing a test and getting a bad grade. If he failed this he would at least go to prison, and it could be worse than that. Depending upon the ultimate jurisdiction and charges, and the fact that people had died from the product, he could receive the death penalty.
Two police officers looked up from a couch as he entered his grandfather’s office. One of the officers, long-boned and leathery-faced, spoke first. “You’re Jeff Ellsworth?” he asked.
Nervously, Jeff nodded. He slipped into one of the plush, cushioned chairs fronting the desk where Preston Ellsworth III sat. The old man had a scowl on his face.
“We got a tip that drugs are being transported by helicopter on Loa’kai,” the officer said. “Do you know anything about that?”
Jeff shook his head, decided to push back to cover his fear. “Just because I’m a ‘copter pilot, you think I know who the bad guys are? The only thing I know about ‘copters and pilots around here involves the flights we run for tourists.”
“You’ve never been asked to transport illegal cargoes?” the other officer asked, a small, dark-skinned man.
Jeff shook his head. “Passengers only. Tourists on sightseeing and snorkeling trips.”
“You’ve never seen any suspicious activity that could be drug dealing? Think hard. We have nine dead so far from bad dope, and more in hospitals.”
Ocean: The Sea Warriors Page 3