Dangerous Depths

by Colleen Coble

  She sniffed. “That smells wonderful, Tûtû. We’re hungry.”

  “Aloha kakah’aka,” she said in the traditional morning greeting. “Sit down, eat.” Ipo bustled toward them with a huge white apron wrapped around her. The ties went around her twice, and she’d tied them in the front. She plunked down the plates of food.

  Bane pulled the chair out for Ipo. “Sit down, Tûtû. You’ve worked hard all morning.”

  “You take care of yourself, and let me handle breakfast.” Ipo went to the refrigerator and took out a pitcher of juice. She poured it into three mismatched glasses and placed them on the table before finally sitting down.

  Bane sipped the strawberry-guava nectar. “Um, good.” He took a big gulp of the sweet juice. He could drink a gallon of the stuff. “So where are we going today?”

  She gave him a pained look. “You shall see. But not until after breakfast.”

  “Playing hard to get, huh?” He winked at Leia, who returned his smile. She still looked a little wan. Her eyes were red, and he wondered if she’d been crying. But that didn’t make sense. Unless her grandmother had been mean to her again. He knew it was a symptom of Ipo’s illness that her sweet nature sometimes turned on a dime, and she forgot how much she loved her family, but it was wear-ing. He shot Leia a questioning look, but she turned her head away.

  “I shall take you only,” Ipo announced. “I told Leia she must stay here. I cannot trust the treasure to a haole.” She turned a smile toward her granddaughter. “I don’t wish to hurt you, keiki, but I must be careful about this and think clearly.”

  So that was the reason for Leia’s turned-down mouth. “Leia must come too,” he said firmly. “She is your kin. Koma was going to show her. He trusted her to pass it on to future generations.”

  Ipo hesitated. “I had forgotten,” she murmured. “Perhaps it will be acceptable.”

  “You can trust me, Tûtû,” Leia said. “I want only to help you.” She leaned forward and put her hand over her grandmother’s. “Think, Tûtû, and you will remember how close we have been.”

  Ipo patted it with her other hand. “I know I am sometimes hard on you, Leia. You may go with us.” She said the words as a queen bestowing a boon on a subject.

  “Thank you, Tûtû.” Leia’s eyes grew luminous, and she sniffed and bent her head. Picking up the serving spoon, she began to ladle food onto her plate.

  Bane decided not to say anything else about it in case Ipo changed her mind again. “You slept through all the commotion last night.” Leia’s head came up, and she gave it a slight shake. He sent her a quizzical look. In his opinion, Ipo needed to know about the danger so she could be on her guard. “An intruder was in the house.”

  Ipo’s fork paused halfway to her open mouth. She closed her mouth and put down her food. “Intruder? Did you catch him?”

  “Nope, he was too wily for me. But your granddaughter thumped him with your son’s bat. You should have heard her war cry.” He grinned at the way Leia ducked her head and blushed. The high color in her face made her blue eyes even brighter.

  Ipo straightened in her chair. “In my day, I would have chased off any intruder who dared to come here. Now I must depend on the kindness of others.” She took a bite of food and looked away.

  The old woman was proud. Bane didn’t know how to answer her, so he finished his breakfast in silence. He carried his plate to the sink, then squirted a drop of dish soap into his plate and washed up his utensils.

  “How domestic,” Leia said, elbowing him aside.

  “Now aren’t you sorry you broke my heart?” He grinned and put his dishes in the drainer, then leaned back against the counter.

  “I might have had second thoughts if I’d realized I’d have a live-in maid.”

  He was close enough to study the pink lobes of her ears that peeked out from the upswept sides of her hair. He leaned forward and whispered in those cute ears. “I have unplumbed depths of talents. You should reconsider.”

  His all-out assault had the desired result: a tide of color swept up her neck and cheeks. She turned and faced him. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  His smile faded. “I think we should talk about it. Pray about it together.”

  “I told you, we’re not right for each other.”

  “But you haven’t told me why.” If he had a reason, maybe he could help her deal with it.

  She looked away. “That’s not important.”

  He struggled to keep his voice even. Losing his temper wouldn’t help. “It is to me.”

  She looked over his shoulder. “Tûtû, are you ready to go?”

  “Let me get my walking stick.” Ipo moved toward the hallway.

  “This discussion isn’t over,” Bane whispered to Leia. Leia ignored him as she followed her grandmother. He sighed and went after the women. Ajax followed him.

  Leia wished she hadn’t made a vow never to cry again, because the release of tears would be welcome about now. She knew she was reacting to the fear and stress of the past twenty-four hours, but Bane’s flirtation with her wasn’t helping matters. She stood in the haven of her room for a few minutes and clutched Kanda, the stuffed bear Bane had given her for her last birthday, to her chest for comfort. If only she could go back to that time, back to before she knew there was no future.

  She reluctantly put down her bear and joined the others at the door. Pua came squawking to meet them when they stepped outside into the yard. She rubbed the goose’s head and fed her a handful of berries she’d filched from her grandmother’s refrigerator. Pua honked in appreciation and gobbled up the treat. Ajax kept a safe distance.

  “Get out of here, Pua, you’ve had enough.” Her grandmother shooed the nene away. Pua honked in protest but waddled away toward the backyard.

  “Where are we going, Tûtû?” Leia fell in behind her grand-mother, who walked slowly with her hand on Bane’s arm.

  “To the fishpond.” Tûtû marched forward as though she knew exactly where she was going.

  Leia almost stopped. There were no fishponds in this area. Bane glanced over his shoulder, and she saw the same awareness in his face. He gave a shrug and kept walking. Her earlier hope began to fade. She’d thought her grandmother was clearheaded today, but now she wasn’t so sure. Bane jerked his head slightly as though to urge her forward. She sighed and stepped out after them. It was going to be a wild-goose chase, so they should take Pua along.

  She batted a large frond from a fern out of her face. An irate insect buzzed out. Leia swatted it away and plodded after Bane and Ipo. How far could her grandmother go in this jungle? It was slow-going with Bane taking care to help the older woman over rough ground and fallen trees. It was hotter here with the trees blocking out the trade winds and the moisture rising from the plants in an early morning mist. The humidity caused jungle scents to be more pronounced: the heavy fragrance of the red ginger that grew here in profusion and the light scent of lime that hung from the shrubs that snatched at her shorts as she passed.

  Ipo paused and looked around. Her confused frown cleared, and she pointed at two monkeypods whose branches were growing together, leaving an arch underneath. “I remember this—it’s through here, I’m sure. Koma called it the wedding arch.” Her grandmother sounded almost girlish.

  For the first time, Leia wondered if her grandmother had feelings for Koma. She’d been morose and irritable since his murder. Of course, she was that way sometimes anyway. But Koma and Ipo had been friends a long time, probably sixty years or more. Leia looked at her grandmother with new compassion.

  Ipo was walking with more spryness now, leaving the security of Bane’s arm in her eagerness to get to her destination. Bane jogged to catch her. “Don’t try to go by yourself, Tûtû. I don’t want you to fall.”

  Ipo paused, her breath coming in sharp gasps. “I think I should sit down.” She held out her hand, and Bane guided her to a fallen log and helped her settle onto it.

  “Are you all right?” Leia rushed to her
grandmother’s side and knelt beside her. The thick canopy of leaves overhead blocked out the light. She suddenly realized there was no sound here. Not even the hum of insects or the call of a mynah bird. The quiet felt eerie, almost sinister. She shivered.

  “I’m fine, keiki¸ just fine.” Ipo raised her hands and cupped them around Leia’s face. “You’re a good girl, Leia.”

  Her real grandmother was back. Leia wanted to bury her face in the folds of Ipo’s skirt and forget the harsh words her grand-mother had lashed her with. If only she could keep her grand-mother just like this, her own sweet self.

  Ipo dropped her hands and looked through the arch toward where the forest darkened even more. “We have to go. I hate that place. I’d for-gotten how much I hated it. It’s haunted and evil.” She lowered her voice. “People die there. We must be careful.” Her eyes emptied of light.

  Leia sent a silent plea in her gaze to Bane, who stood watching quietly, though she knew there was nothing he could do to prevent this. Even prayer hadn’t been able to hold off the confusion that swirled in and took her grandmother away. She wanted to grab Tûtû and shake her until her eyes cleared, to hold on to every moment of lucidity, every crumb of love that still fell her way. If only her grandmother’s disease was something fleshly she could fight, instead of a faceless enemy that kidnapped the grandmother she knew and loved and left this empty shell behind.

  Bane seemed to feel her despair, because he put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “She’ll be okay again soon.” Ajax pressed against Leia too.

  Leia stood and rubbed the dog’s ears. “But for how long?” Her voice was low and raspy. “Each time her lucid moments are shorter. I feel so helpless.”

  He didn’t answer right away. “Accepting God’s will sometimes is hard. I think we all struggle with it. Why was Eva born with Down syndrome? Why do babies sometimes die? Why do mothers leave their children? We’re full of questions sometimes. There aren’t any easy answers.” He fell silent again. “Those things shape us and make us who we are. They make us stronger.”

  “And less trusting,” she said. She had felt the weight of his suspicion sometimes when they were engaged and knew he wondered if she would leave him without a word. It was another nail in the coffin of their relationship. “God scares me. You never know what he might do.” She put her hand to her mouth, uncertain if she’d actually said the words. From the comprehension on Bane’s face, she knew she had blurted them out. She realized her anger was at the core of the lackluster worship she’d managed lately.

  He nodded. “I can understand that. I’ve been like that a time or two in my life. The last time was when we broke up.” He grinned, a sideways smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

  “I don’t want to talk about us.” She stood and clasped her hands together to keep them from shaking. “What do we do now that Tûtû is obviously not going to lead us to the treasure?”

  “We could look around I guess.” He glanced at Ipo, who had begun to sing. Her dull voice echoed in the treetops and reverberated through the clearing. “Come along, Tûtû, let’s go for a walk.” He helped her to her feet, and she continued to sing as they walked along the faint path between the trees. “She said something about a fish-pond. Are there any legends of ancient fishponds in this area?”

  “I’ve never heard of any. How far are we from the ocean here? The ponds would have to be near the water.”

  “Unless they’re so old, the water receded and land filled in.” Still helping Ipo along, Bane studied the jungle. He stopped and cocked his head. “Listen. Is that water?”

  Leia tipped her head to the side and strained to hear. Sure enough, the tinkle of water on rocks came to her ears. “I think it’s that way,” she said, pointing to the north.

  “That would be the direction of the ocean.” His voice rose, and he started off in the direction from which she’d heard the sound.

  They passed through a stand of mangrove trees and entered a lovely meadow sparkling with wildflowers and sunshine. A brook rushed over rocks, creating the noise that had drawn them. There was a bowl-shaped depression in the middle of the area. The opposite side was lined with rocks, some of them loosened and fallen into a heap.

  “I’d say we found the fishpond,” Bane remarked, his voice deep with satisfaction.

  “Where do we even look?” She didn’t want to go into the trees again. She felt safe here, secluded from prying eyes. In the jungle, she had felt as though someone was peering at them, especially in that place of utter quiet. Her grandmother gave a soft sigh and began to fall. “Bane!” Leia leaped to try to catch Tûtû, but Bane was there first. He caught Ipo in his arms and eased her to the ground. Leia knelt beside her grandmother and felt the carotid artery for a pulse. “Her pulse is thready. We need to get her to the hospital.”

  Bane whipped out his cell phone and looked at it. He groaned. “No signal.”

  “I’m not leaving you here alone,” Leia said. “Can we carry her out?”

  “We’ll have to.” Bane lifted Ipo in his arms and started for the path.

  Seventeen

  Check my cell phone and see if we have a signal yet,” Bane panted. His muscles burned from the strain. Though Ipo didn’t weigh more than a hundred pounds, she was hard to carry as a deadweight. He labored to pull air into his lungs as he rested a few minutes while Leia dug his cell phone out of his shirt pocket. At least she wasn’t refusing to use it.

  “Still no signal.” Leia snapped it closed. She pressed her fingers against her grandmother’s neck. “Her pulse is still weak, and she has dyspnea. Shortness of breath,” she amended when he raised his eye-brows. “Classic signs of a myocardial infarction.”

  At least he knew that meant heart attack. “Let’s get going again.” Bane picked up Ipo and followed Leia along the path with renewed urgency. “How much farther?”

  “Not far. Just through the trees. I’m going to run and call the clinic.” She put on a burst of speed and disappeared through the monkeypod trees. Ajax ran after her. A few moments later, he heard the slam of the front door. The sound encouraged him. His arms and back aching, he hurried through the last of the trees and broke through the jungle into Ipo’s backyard. Pua honked and waddled to meet them. He’d never seen a more welcome sight. Nearly groaning under the weight, he labored the last few feet to the house.

  Leia was coming back through as he reached the door. “I called the clinic. They’ll be ready for her. They have a defibrillator unit too.”

  He nodded. “Open the backseat door to your grandmother’s car,” he gasped. She ran to the car and flung open the door. The stale odor of disuse rushed out. Nearly losing his grip on Ipo, he managed to get her on the seat then gently laid her down.

  “I’ll get in back with her,” Leia said. She tossed him the keys and scrambled inside and slapped the door behind her.

  Bane ran to the driver’s side. “Stay here, boy,” he told the dog. He started the engine and tromped on the gas. The car tires spit gravel as he accelerated out of the driveway. “How’s she doing?”

  “I think she’s had a heart attack.” Leia’s gaze met his in the rearview mirror. “Pray, Bane. She has to make it.”

  “I’ve been praying the whole time.” He pressed harder on the accelerator. They reached the edge of town, and he drove past the town sign that read Peace to All Who Enter. He hoped the mantra worked for Ipo. “Where is the clinic?”

  “That building.” She leaned over the back of the seat and pointed to a small white building.

  Bane parked and flung open his door. He grabbed Ipo’s arms and managed to get her upright. Putting his hands under her arms, he started to lift her from the car. His muscles screamed in protest. He gritted his teeth and kept on going.

  “She’s coming to!” Leia put her hand on his arm. “Wait a minute, let her sit up.”

  He steadied Ipo on the backseat. She was blinking her eyes, but she didn’t seem to be aware of her surroundings. “Any water?”

  L
eia nodded. “In the trunk.” He tossed Leia the keys, and she ran to get the water. When she returned, he held the bottle to Ipo’s lips.

  She managed to take a sip, then coughed and waved it away. “Don’t fuss. I’m fine.”

  “Tûtû, you are not fine.” Leia peered at her watch. “You’ve been unconscious for nearly forty-five minutes. We’re taking you to the clinic.”

  Ipo folded her hands over her chest. “I’m not going in, Leia.”

  “You have to go. A nurse needs to check you out, and we’ll need to transport you to the hospital.”

  “Take me home.” Ipo thrust out her chin.

  Bane’s gaze met Leia’s. Short of manhandling Ipo into the building, he didn’t know what to do. He saw the same helplessness he felt reflected on Leia’s face. Looking back at Ipo, he saw she was getting more color in her face.

  Leia took her grandmother’s pulse. “Let me see if the nurse will come out here.” She jogged to the clinic and disappeared inside. A few moments later she and the nurse came hurrying back to the car. The nurse took Ipo’s blood pressure first. Ipo flinched as the blood-pressure cuff expanded. The nurse listened through the stethoscope, then pulled it down around her neck. “Your pressure is a little low. You really need to be in the hospital where a doctor can check you out.”

  “You’re the only doctor I need. I’m tired, Leia.” Ipo’s voice was querulous. “Take me home so I can rest.”

  Leia sighed. “Let’s wait on the helicopter and see if the technicians can convince her,” she whispered to Bane and the nurse. “At least she’s lucid.”

  “I’m not deaf—or dead yet. I can hear you. And they’re not talking me into going either.” Ipo took the water bottle from Bane’s hand and sipped it. “We need to go back to find the treasure. Or did we get it already?”

  “No, we didn’t. But you’re in no shape to go traipsing through the jungle.” Bane shut the door and got in the car. Leia thanked the nurse, then went around and got in beside her grandmother in the back. By the time they got back to Ipo’s house, she was acting her normal self. She talked with Leia about making kapa and was telling her where to gather special berries to make dye. He didn’t know what to think. One thing was sure—they weren’t finding the treasure today.