Leilani

by LM DeWalt

  Soon after we arrived back at the apartment building, Christian suggested we go shopping for some gifts for Lucia and the children. Since we had been on a private island, we did not have the opportunity to shop and thought we should get them something to ease the children’s pain a bit while their father was still in the hospital.

  “Can I stay here? I want to see Paco?” Jose Luis asked.

  “I’m not sure that’s a good idea, considering…” I started but Giovanni stepped in.

  “You can leave him with me. He will do fine around the children. He looks like he fed recently so that shouldn’t be a problem. Besides, I will be with them every moment. Paco hasn’t stopped asking for him.”

  “Ok, just make sure you make an excuse and leave if you start feeling uncomfortable,” I told Jose Luis. I knew how close he and Paco had gotten and knew the little boy would come down to see him if Jose Luis didn’t go up to their apartment. It was unavoidable either way.

  Christian and I walked toward the park where the vendors set up their stands in search for something to get Lucia. I had a necklace in mind, maybe something with shells, and found a stand with just that as soon as we stepped up onto the round platform.

  “What do you think of this one?” I asked Christian, holding up a sand dollar on a red beaded cord.

  “That is beautiful. I think she—” his eyes left me and I followed them to a group standing by a bench.

  “What is it?” I asked recognizing none of the people standing there passing a soda between them.

  “Isn’t that…?” Christian pointed to a woman holding a little girl by the hand. My breath caught in my throat.

  “Leilani,” I managed to choke out. My eyes remained glued on her as I thought of what to do. I didn’t recognize the woman she was with but sensed she was human. Leilani looked around at the people nearby. A little girl walking by with a bag of cotton candy in one hand and a balloon in the other caught her attention and she followed her with her eyes.

  What do we do? Christian asked me.

  I don’t know. But we are not leaving without her, one way or another, she’s coming with us tonight.

  THIRTY-SEVEN

  I grabbed Christian’s hand and moved us closer into the crowd. As soon as we had hidden ourselves by chatting shoppers, I felt a tug on my arm. I turned to look, expecting one of Melinda’s people, my defenses fully awakening, when a short, white haired man squeezed my arm tighter.

  “Ladrona!” he yelled loud enough to catch the attention of the people closest to us. “Ladrona!” he repeated as my jaw dropped.

  “Oh, my God,” I said raising my other hand. I still held the necklace in my fist.

  Christian dropped my hand and pulled the man’s hand off my arm. He raised a hand, his eyes scrunching as he made a fist and prepared to strike the man.

  “No, Christian,” I yelled to him, grabbing his moving fist before it could make contact with the terrified man’s face. “He thinks I’m trying to steal this necklace.” Christian looked from me to my hand wrapped around his clenched fist. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a bill, handing it to the man. I felt his hand relax so I dropped it.

  I apologized to the man, telling I had forgotten the necklace was in my hand. He looked down at the bill Christian placed in his hand and smiled. He nodded before placing the bill in his pocket, turning, and going back to his stand. With not another word said, the spectators turned, and went back to their shopping as if nothing had happened.

  “Apparently, we’re both thieves,” Christian whispered in my ear. “I steal pants and you steal necklaces. We make a great team.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh at his comment thinking back to when he walked out of Macy’s with pants he was trying on. At the time, stopping him from hunting in the mall had been more important than going back and paying for the pants, even if they were too short for him.

  “Can you see them from here?” I asked. My height, or lack of, was not helping me at the moment.

  Christian stretched his neck a bit to look over the heads of the people in the circle. “Yes. They are all still there. Leilani is trying to get the woman’s attention but the woman is too involved in her conversation.”

  “Do you see anyone familiar?” I asked.

  “No,” he said and turned to look at their surroundings. “It doesn’t make sense though. Why would Leilani be out with no real protection? Someone has to be concealed somewhere, watching over her.”

  “I agree, but we have to take a chance,” I whispered to him as I pulled him toward the edge of the crowd, closer to where the group was standing. “We can’t risk losing her now that she’s so close. I just don’t know how to go about it. The woman has a pretty tight grasp on her hand.”

  “I have an idea,” Christian said as he turned to look to our left. I followed his eyes. A brief part in the crowd let me see a cotton candy stand. He stared at the swirling cotton candy with concentration. At that moment, I knew what he was doing and I needed to help. I pushed the person in front of me aside. Though she gave me a frustrated look, she said nothing and continued to move toward another craft stand. Focusing my mind on the people standing behind the cotton candy stand and behind the vendor, I willed one of them to pay attention to me. As the middle aged woman asked the vendor for directions, the vendor turned to give them to her and pointed to the route she should take. The woman looked confused. He tried again. While he was busy with that, cotton candy floated in the air in a messy bundle, pieces falling off and floating in the breeze.

  As soon as the candy was away from the stand, I looked to my left. Spotting two people walking on the side walk with their dogs on leashes, I concentrated on the larger of the two dogs. Within moments, the larger dog raised his hackles and tried lunging toward the smaller dog, barking and baring his teeth. The owners, shocked looks on their faces, struggled to keep their dogs from reaching each other. Now both dogs were barking and the commotion drew the attention of the shoppers. The group where Leilani stood was too far from the growling dogs to be distracted by it but Christian’s impromptu plan worked. Leilani watched the cotton candy floating in the air with a wide smile on her face.

  She tried again to get the woman’s attention but failed. The young woman was very obviously trying to impress the man she was talking to, flashing her smile and tossing her hair over her shoulder. As she kept her eyes on the young man, Leilani had had enough. She yanked her hand out of the woman’s grasp and ran off to follow the candy she so badly wanted. The woman turned for a moment but the man reached for her arm, turning her attention back to him. She hesitated, shrugged her shoulders, and returned to her flirting.

  “Now, Lily,” Christian said without looking at me. He still focused on the floating treat Leilani followed down the sidewalk. Though everyone who saw pointed and crossed the street with fear, no one bothered to chase after it.

  I ripped my hand out of Christian’s and ran to Leilani. Turning my attention away from the dogs caused the larger dog to forget about his newfound enemy. The growling stopped, replaced by clapping, and tails wagged. The people who stood watching the impending dog fight cheered. At least their attention was still focused there. Leilani jumped to reach the cotton candy just as my arm circled around her little waist. She let out a scream, catching the woman’s attention.

  “Arturo!” she screamed. “Arturo! They have Leilani!”

  I tightened my grip around Leilani’s waist as I continued running with her, not bothering to look back. I was sure I could outrun a human. Through Leilani’s screams, I did not hear Arturo pursuing us. Remembering his power, I realized his pursuit wasn’t good. “Oh, crap!” I said as the wind picked up and pushed our bodies forward. He was starting a storm as an attempt to stop me.

  Aloysius, can you hear me? We need help… I listened as I pushed my legs harder but no response came. I tried Christian, hoping he would call Aloysius and get him to take us away. No response came from him either. The wind continued to pick up and we heard
screams all around us as people ran for cover. Something hit the back of my leg as I ran with Leilani in my arms. Whatever it was, it was light enough to just bounce off me. The wind continued to push at my back as I ran toward the cliffs.

  “Oh no!” Leilani screamed as a deafening sound echoed in my ears. Afraid to look back, I listened closer to the sound following us. It scraped the sidewalk and left it before hitting hard and continuing to come our way. “It’s going to hit us!” Leilani screamed as she looked over my shoulder. I pushed my legs even harder as the sound got closer.

  “What is it?” I yelled over the roar to Leilani. She was calming down now that she realized who I was.

  “A big garbage can! It’s coming, jump!”

  I pushed off my legs. Shocked, I looked down at the ground I expected to have hit by now. My body was about ten feet from the sidewalk, my legs still running. I stopped my legs and started falling, screaming along with Leilani. I pumped my legs again and went back up, the wind pushing us along. I tightened my grip around Leilani as my legs pumped, our distance from the ground increasing.

  “We are flying!” Leilani screamed as she tucked her face in my chest. The wind Arturo created worked against him instead of for him. It pushed me along as we climbed higher and higher until it no longer felt like it was controlling me but rather just a breeze blowing Leilani’s loose hair in my face. I took a deep breath and turned my body to the left, aiming toward the outermost part of the park and toward the apartment building. As soon as I was comfortable with our direction, I leveled out my body, keeping Leilani tightly against me. Afraid that we had an audience, I looked down, dizziness taking me as soon as my eyes hit the ground. I shook my head to try to refocus. When I looked down again, I saw that the park had mostly cleared out. The few people still left were holding onto each other and fighting to walk against the wind Arturo created. Though the coast was usually windy, it was never this forceful. People screamed as a tree was lifted from the ground.

  From where we were, I could no longer see where I’d left Christian. As much as I wanted to go back and land, to find him and make sure he was ok, I knew my first priority was Leilani. Christian was strong enough to take care of himself. He’d proven that more than once and I had to trust him. Arturo was his only challenge and he was still busy with his wind storm, the storm that helped me instead of hindering me. Melinda would be furious to hear that.

  Leilani and I landed on the roof of the apartment building with enough force to take me down with her in my arms. After regaining our composure, Leilani pushed the hair out of her face and turned her wide brown eyes toward me. Her little mouth hung open. We both started laughing as we sat and stared at each other. I brushed the rest of her hair away from her face and wrapped my arms around her, giving her a squeeze.

  “I’m Lily,” I said as I took her hand to help her up.

  “I know. I remember you,” she answered, wiping the dirt from her clothes.

  “Who’s here?” A man’s voice yelled. We both stiffened and looked around. I put my index finger in front of my lips. “Answer me or I will shoot!”

  “Aloysius, it’s Lily,” I shouted back. Leilani looked up at me as I led her toward Aloysius. “It’s ok, Leilani. He’s with me. He just can’t see us yet.”

  “Lily, what in the world are you doing…?” He came to a dead stop in front of us and his jaw dropped. I smiled up at him, reassuring him I was ok. “Is this Leilani?” he finally asked.

  “Yes. Leilani, this is Aloysius, my grandfather. Aloysius meet Leilani,” I smiled as they looked each other over.

  “What in the world are you both doing up here?” he asked as he turned to walk toward the stairs.

  “This is where we landed. Why are you up here?” I asked as Leilani and I followed still holding hands.

  “I heard you call to me and then we heard a commotion up here,” he turned back to look at us. “That must have been some landing.”

  Leilani and I both laughed as we followed him into the building and toward the elevator. Once inside, I stepped to the back with Leilani in front of me, my arms circled around her shoulders as she leaned against me. Did Christian get here? Have you heard from him?

  He just came in a minute before you landed. He was in the middle of explaining what happened when we heard the noise and I came up to check. Aloysius explained. No need to worry Leilani.

  Where is Jose Luis? I asked.

  He’s still up in Lucia’s apartment entertaining the children while she gets a shower. She just came back from the hospital. He will be coming back soon since it’s getting late. The children will be going to bed. The chime went off and the elevator doors opened.

  We need to prepare Leilani before he gets here. Before Aloysius could answer me, the apartment door flew open and Christian rushed out.

  “Thank God you are both ok,” he said as he took me in his arms, Leilani still holding on to my hand. He stepped away to look us over. “You took off flying from the ground.”

  “Yes, I guess I did. Arturo’s wind was very helpful,” I explained. “Had he started the storm in the other direction, this may have had a bad ending.”

  He nodded and smiled down at Leilani. He dropped to one knee to take her hand just as the elevator chimed. The doors opened again. There was no time to react as Jose Luis reached us and grabbed Leilani away from me, picking her up off the floor and spinning with her in a tight hug.

  What should have been a happy reunion, turned into a nightmare as Leilani’s eyes widened and she began screaming at the top of her lungs. Jose Luis placed her gently back on the floor and she backed away, still screaming. Christian dove through the air, knocking Jose Luis to the ground as something orange landed in the spot where Jose Luis had been standing just a second ago. Aloysius and I stared in shock as the small table with the flower vase that sat in the hallway was engulfed by flames.

  THIRTY-EIGHT

  “Get her into the apartment,” Aloysius ordered. It took me a moment to realize he was talking to me, as we were closer to the apartment than Christian and Jose Luis. I grabbed Leilani around the waist, picking her up off the floor and carrying her through the open door. I slammed it shut with my foot before running toward the kitchen with her in my arms. Getting her a glass of water and calming her down was my first priority, however, I didn’t get that far.

  “Leilani, what is wrong with you?” Jose Luis asked his sister in Spanish. Christian and Aloysius ran in right behind him, obviously having been unable to stop him from coming after us.

  Leilani jumped off the counter where I had put her and hid behind my legs. “Stay away from me!”

  “Leilani, it’s me. Jose Luis, your Cachi,” Jose Luis explained with a gentle voice, pain obvious in his eyes though he tried to hide it for his sister’s sake.

  “Lily!” Christian yelled as Leilani tried to run out from behind me. I grabbed her just as she launched herself toward her brother.

  “NO! NO! NO!” she screamed as she kicked her legs. I fought to keep her in my arms while trying not to squeeze too tightly. When I didn’t drop her, she began flailing her arms. I dodged her little fists but just barely. “You are not my brother!”

  “Leilani, please calm down. You’re hurting Lily,” Christian said in as soothing of a voice as he could muster. He raised his eyebrows at me. I shook my head. I had a hold of her and I would be able to maintain it. She would most likely panic worse if Christian took her from me.

  “Not my brother!” She kicked, this time making contact with my shin. I sucked in a breath as pain radiated up my leg. For such a small girl, she had a powerful kick. “Not my brother! Not my brother!”

  Jose Luis took a few steps closer. “May I?” he asked. I nodded holding Leilani a bit tighter. “Leilani, please listen to me.”

  “No! You are not my brother. I want my brother, not you!” Leilani screamed. Her kicking slowed down just a bit as did her breathing. Hopeful that she may be getting tired, I took a step closer to Jose Luis and nodded for hi
m to continue.

  “Leilani, do you remember when we used to sit in the garden and make kites? I used to let you make the tails and put them on yourself,” he paused to wait for a reaction. Leilani continued kicking. Christian and Aloysius stepped up to either side of Jose Luis, preparing for another fireball. “Mamá used to let us get the eggs from the chickens and the chickens always tried to peck at you. It used to scare you so you made me get the eggs while you wiped them off with your shirt and put them in the basket.” He paused again, waiting for some kind of recognition from his terrified sister.

  Leilani kicked again but without as much enthusiasm. Either she was exhausted or Jose Luis was reaching her.

  “Remember when we were supposed to be sleeping but we snuck out and climbed the ladder up to the roof, when mamá and papá went to sleep? We would watch the sky, sometimes all night, looking for UFO’s. And then one night, we finally saw one?”

  “It was blue and green, just like my favorite shoes,” Leilani said so softly that it hardly sounded like she spoke at all. She wiped the hair off her face and stared at her brother. His smile grew and his eyes lit up. He dropped to his knees and held out his arms.

  I looked at Christian and Aloysius. They nodded but stayed on guard by Jose Luis. I took a deep breath and lowered Leilani until her feet touched the floor. She ran to Jose Luis taking me with her. It wasn’t until then that I noticed I still grasped the back of her shirt in my fist. Christian smiled at me. I let go of her and let her brother embrace her.