Spirits of Ash and Foam (17 page)

“I'll be there!”

“Great.”

They said quick good-byes, at which point Pablo Guerrero nodded to Ariel, who eased the throttle forward.

Rain sat down and turned her face toward the wind. She pulled the blanket tight around her shoulders and cuddled up against Charlie for warmth. Charlie chewed on the inside of his mouth to distract himself.

“Who's that?”'Bastian whispered.

Rain turned and saw that he was focused on the moonlit form of Ariel. She was in her late twenties with short blonde hair. Though the speedboat careened across Próspero Bay, she maintained a preternatural stillness. Even her hand on the wheel hardly seemed to move. Rain glanced over at Renée, who was also staring at Ariel. One of the things that bugged Rain most about Renée was the way she'd strike a pose to accentuate her looks, but that's not what Ariel was doing. No, Ariel was what Renée aspired to be. The blonde woman wasn't striking or accentuating anything. Her stillness was harnessed from deep within. To Rain, Ariel was like a single still frame glowing in a movie projector. At any moment, either the film would proceed—or the image would combust.

Rain whispered to 'Bastian, “That's Ariel. She works for the Guerreros.”

“She's stunning.”

Rain made her icky-face again. “Ewww, Papa, she's way too young for you.” She glanced up at the Dark Man, who appeared to be about twenty. “Or too old or something.”

'Bastian looked askance at his granddaughter and decided to have a little fun. “I don't know,” he said. “Ariel and Sebastian. It sounds like destiny.”

“Ewwwww. She can't even see or hear you.”

“All great loves have obstacles to overcome, kiddo.”

She covered her ears. “Stop! Just stop!” He laughed. Charlie and Renée stared at Rain, and Ariel turned her head five degrees. Then she adjusted course slightly as the speedboat swept around the recently returned dolphin pod.

Rain scratched at her mosquito bites.

Back on the Sycorax dock, Thibideaux was telling everyone they could go home. He had spoken briefly with both Guerreros, but the man had been on La Géante during the excitement, and the girl simply confirmed what every other witness had reported: Isaac had been telling a story when the mosquito swarm attacked and Rain pushed him into the water.

Miranda and her father walked silently up to the Old Manor, hand in hand. At the door, he said, “So, you're making friends,
mija
?”

“I think so.”

“And you're glad I brought you back from Madrid?”

She hugged him. “I was already glad about that.”

“Good,” he said, hugging her back. They went inside, and he shut the door. Then, without another word to each other, she went upstairs, and he crossed the great room to enter his study.

Hura-hupia
wasn't far away. Once again, she approached the
Hupia,
who was back at his post, guarding the second
zemi.

The Pale Tourist—more pale now than ever—was also in the neighborhood, wandering, at a loss. Nights ago, he had reached the reasonable conclusion he was dead, a ghost. But he had no idea what came next. He'd been looking for a light to walk into or some such, but so far, no luck. He spotted
Hura-hupia
and immediately sensed she was a threat. And, of course, it was the
Hupia
who'd killed him in the first place. Never big on confrontation, the Pale Tourist stepped
inside
the trunk of a guava tree to hide.

The
Hupia
expected to be reprimanded for attacking Naborías but was pleasantly surprised when
Hura-hupia
encouraged his appetites.
But next time, if you get the chance,
she told him with a smile,
feast on the girl Cacique.
This was welcome advice to the
Hupia.
He had a taste for Rain now. He was smitten.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

SIGHTSEERS

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13

Not wanting to be late, Miranda was at Slip Nine at 7:30
A.M
. Neither Rain nor Charlie was there yet, but Rain's father was working on the boat. She recognized him from the day he had told Rain her grandfather had passed, but they had never actually been introduced, and Miranda didn't know if she should approach him until Rain got there. Alonso saw her, smiled, and went back about his business. Clearly, he didn't remember her. Miranda decided to wait for Rain under the “
WELCOME TO PUEBLO DE SAN PRÓSPERO
sign.

Forty
long
minutes later, Charlie arrived. He greeted her with a smile and asked how long she'd been waiting.

“Just a few minutes,” she said.

“Yeah. I know Rain said eight sharp, but punctuality isn't really one of her strengths.”

“Her father's on the boat.”

“Yeah, he gets it ready, and Rain'll come with the tourists. That's the system.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“He didn't want any help?”

“Um. He didn't seem to remember me or expect me or anything me. So I decided to wait up here.”

“Well, come on. I'll introduce you guys. And don't worry. Alonso's cool.”

“You call him Alonso?”

“Never.”

“Right.”

So Charlie made introductions. It was immediately obvious Rain had neglected to mention Miranda would be joining them. Alonso's face darkened briefly; the thought crossed his mind Rain was trying to turn the charter into a party cruise for herself and her friends.

So Miranda made it abundantly clear she was there to work. “Rain said with three kids you'd need three babysitters—but you don't have to pay me.”

“Of course I'll pay you, Miranda.” Alonso knew Iris would not be thrilled about the extra expense, but he was a soft touch. “The same as Charlie. It's not much.”

“That's fine, Mr. Cacique.”

“Call me Alonso.”

Miranda glanced at Charlie, who shook his head as subtly as he could manage.

Alonso caught it. “Charlie, I've been trying to get you to call me Alonso since you could talk.”

“Yes, sir. You have, sir.”

Mr. Cacique tossed up his hands in defeat. “All right, let's put you two to work. Rain should be here any minute with the Kims.”

Rain and the Kims were not there any minute. In fact, they didn't arrive for another two
long
hours. Punctuality might not be one of Rain's strengths, but this one wasn't on her. This one you could blame on Wendy, John and Michael Kim. Or perhaps on a certain lack of momentum, determination or discipline on the parts of their parents, Fred and Esther Kim.

Eight-year-old Wendy had been tired and had refused to get out of bed, even if it meant skipping breakfast. Six-year-old John had thrown a fit in the dining room over getting sausage patties when he wanted links. Four-year-old Michael had refused to put on sunscreen. Then when they were finally ready to go, Wendy declared herself famished. Thirty-six-year-old Esther assured her daughter there would be food on the boat. But when Wendy asked if there would be
waffles
on the boat, her mother gave up and gave in (and an appalled Iris found herself making fresh waffles in a kitchen she had already cleaned for the morning).

En route to the docks in Timo Craw's taxi, Michael remembered he'd forgotten his favorite yellow plastic shovel back at the Inn. Rain pointed out there was nothing to shovel on the boat. But thirty-nine-year-old Fred—in a state of pure exasperation—told Timo to turn the cab around.

So at 10:15
A.M.
, Rain and the Kims finally came aboard the
Spirit of the Ghosts
to find Alonso, Charlie and Miranda in a virtual stupor from the heat and boredom.

Alonso had to literally shake his head clear, but with a little help from Charlie and Rain, the vessel soon shoved off. Within minutes they were out on Próspero Bay and heading through what locals called the Chapel Ceiling (the gap between Sycorax and San Próspero's closest points, which had once reminded someone of God reaching his finger out to Adam on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome).

Miranda, meanwhile, had volunteered to help Mrs. Kim with sunscreen and life vests in the cabin. Normally, Alonso, per his insurance, would never have left the dock unless all minor guests were
already
in their vests, but after sitting in the sun for hours, he got a little fast and loose with the rules. (Don't worry. I'll never bark a word of it.)

The boys loved the vests and couldn't get into them fast enough. But Wendy declared a vest would make her look like a baby and so refused to put it on—until Miranda put hers on first. Then the younger girl cautiously complied, keeping her eyes glued on Miranda to make sure the older girl didn't take hers off.

Michael still protested vehemently against the sunscreen, and Esther finally exploded: “Michael Kim, if you don't put on sunscreen, you'll have to stay below deck for the entire trip!”

This backfired. Michael was happy to stay below deck. He looked out the porthole and said, “I don't like water.”

Wendy said, “That means he's
afraid
of the water.”

Michael screeched,
“Does not!”

When John understood that his younger brother was “getting to stay below,” he wanted to stay below too. At first, Wendy seemed disgusted by her brothers' choice, but as soon as she stepped outside, she spotted a vestless Rain, let out an anguished cry and fled back below deck.

Miranda explained the situation, and both Rain and Charlie put on vests and entered the cabin to show Wendy. The girl, now in a funk, sat in the corner. She kept her vest on but refused to go back out.

Right about then, Fred Kim was getting seasick over the side of the boat, wasting a little more of Iris Cacique's morning labor by depositing his breakfast into the Florida Straits. Once that was done, the green-looking father descended into the cabin to lie down for a few minutes.

Completely defeated, Esther Kim asked Rain if there were any games or puzzles on board. Now, as bad as all of this may sound, Rain had seen worse. She opened an entire game closet for the Kims. Miranda helped John choose Candy Land and even managed to coax Wendy into playing with her brothers and mother. However, eight people made the cabin feel pretty close, pretty claustrophobic. So Rain nodded to Charlie, and they both went topside.

Shaking his head, Alonso rhetorically asked, “They're
all
down there?”

“Yep,” Rain said. “Miranda's got them entertained though.”

“She's a good worker.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Better than you two.”

“No argument.”

“All right. Chill for now.”

So Rain led Charlie to the foredeck and took the opportunity to tell him about the blue glow emitted by the
zemi
's Searcher snake when they had first entered Pablo Guerrero's study the day before.

“Does that mean one of those things was the
zemi
? I mean, ‘the'
zemi
, not just ‘a'
zemi.
”

“I don't know. I don't think so. It was really quick. And I intentionally leaned the armband toward every one of those artifacts, and it didn't glow again. But I do think it was trying to tell me there was info there we could use.”

“Well, that's good. At least we won't walk right past something important without a heads-up.”

“Right. So all we have to do is figure out where to walk.”

“Where to walk where?” Miranda asked, catching her two friends off guard.

“I'll walk the plank,” Rain said, “if I have to spend more time with those Kim kids.”

“They're not that bad,” Miranda said. “But what's with their names?”

“Yeah,” said Charlie.

“What?” asked Rain.

Miranda stared at her. “Wendy, John and Michael? Those are the names of the Darling kids in
Peter Pan.
”

“These kids aren't darling,” Rain said.

“Yeah, but how does that work?” Charlie wondered.

“I know,” Miranda said. “So you have a daughter first and name her Wendy because you like Peter Pan. Are you hoping your next two kids are going to be boys? I mean, what if John or Michael had been a girl? It'd throw off your whole scheme.”

Charlie offered, “I guess if John had been a girl, they'd have named her whatever, and no one would know they ever had a scheme.”

Rain couldn't believe they were talking about this. “Maybe if John were a girl, they'd have named her Tiger Lily. And Michael could have been Tinker Bell.”

Miranda ignored her: “Maybe there was no scheme
at first.
Maybe they just liked the name Wendy. Then they have a son next…”

“And they figure why not,” Charlie added.

“Then by the time Michael is born, there's no way they're not completing the set.”

“Or maybe it's all a big coincidence,” Rain said.

Charlie shook his head. “You have no imagination.”

“I do too.”

He rolled his eyes. “No, you don't. You get to
see
the magic, so you don't think you need one.” As soon as he said it, he regretted it. He could see the hurt in her eyes.

“You get to see magic?” Miranda asked, amused.

“Yes,” Rain said defiantly. “Ghosts taught me Spanish. And my dead grandfather lives in this armband.”

Charlie slapped his hand across his eyes and rubbed it down the length of his face. Miranda didn't know what to make of this. It didn't seem quite funny enough to be a joke, but obviously Rain couldn't have been serious. It must have been some kind of in-joke, and once again Miranda felt excluded.

Rain sighed. “See, I have plenty of imagination.” But she wondered if what Charlie had said was true. What if she had no imagination? No ability to make those fanciful leaps? How would she ever find the other
zemis
without the imagination necessary to transcend the visible world with her mind?