---Path---

---Lokelani’s Perspective, 4.22pm Moku Pua local time---

“Look Keke!” I shout, holding the most amazing shell ever over my head.

She smiles “I see it Lani. Very lovely!”

“What’s it from?”

She thinks and says “I don’t know… sort of looks like an Earth conch but… well it won’t be that. You might be the first person to discover one… Why don’t you give it a name?”

I look at the big, pretty shell, trying to think of a name “…I… think… it should be… the ‘big-pretty’!”

She laughs “Very descriptive! I definitely couldn’t have given it a better name! Maybe I can talk to my professor about getting you into Uni early… you’d make the best marine biologist!”

I frown and stick out my tongue “Uni is for grownups!”

She smiles “You don’t want to come to the Capital with me? I’m sure no one would mind having you in the class(!)”

I think about that…

“Or…”

“Or?” she grins.

“…you could come back to Moku Pua and we could go to Nursery together?”

She shakes her head “I’m too big for Nursery, Lani. I miss you too, when I’m away, but they wouldn’t let me sit in a class full of five year olds!”

I puff out my bottom lip and bring my brow down.

“Don’t pout, Lani!”

Still ‘pouting’ I say “I’ll make them let you in!”

“Oh, Yeah? How are you going to do that?”

I think for a moment, then answer “I’ll go in… I’ll go up to Mrs. Kahananui… and I’ll say ‘Hey… my sister’s coming to class with me!’”

She grins “Uh-huh and when she says ‘No, she isn’t!’ what then?”

“I’ll… beat her up!”

She laughs a lot and I feel silly.

“You know what Mummy and Daddy would say, don’t you?”

I roll my eyes “No hitting… we solve our problems with words… but… Mummy and Daddy aren’t here!”

“You don’t get to be naughty just ’cause I’m the one looking after you(!) I may be cool but you’d better believe I’d tell Mum and Dad if you tried to beat up your nursery teacher!”

“You’re not cool!” I say and stick out my tongue.

She sticks her tongue out back and I try not to laugh…

I laugh.

Then her holo makes a sound I’ve never heard before.

She looks like she doesn’t know it either.

She takes it out and looks at the screen then her face goes pale.

She looks at me and says “Lani, we need to go back to town. Right now!”

“What?! That’s not fair! We just got here! I want to play more! We have the whole beach to ourselves and it took AAAAAGES to walk here!”

“This isn’t a discussion Lani, we’re going!”

“But…”

“LOKELANI!!! Now is not the time!” she shouts.

I burst into tears… I don’t want to but she’s shouting and I don’t understand why, I can’t help it.

My eyes are closed but I hear her walk to me and feel her put her hand on my shoulder.

I look up and see her face looks sad “I’m sorry, Lani, I didn’t mean to shout… this is really important… I need you to be a good girl right now, alright? I… I can’t explain… but this is important… can you trust me that this is important enough that we need to go, right now?”

“*sniff*…Can… can I take the big-pretty… please?”

She shows her teeth and wobbles her head before saying “…Sure… fine… I’ll carry it… climb on my back… I’ll give you a piggyback home.”

“A piggyback!? All the way home!?” I say, excited, forgetting my sadness over having to leave.

“Yeah… we need to go quickly and you’ll slo… it’ll be quicker.”

Not even caring that she was about to call me slow, I climb onto her back. She puts her holo away and picks up the big-pretty.

Then, we leave the beach.

She’s not running but she’s moving quickly.

Over her shoulder I can see the path back to town with thick trees on both sides.

She’s going very fast. Definitely faster than we came.

---Ke’ala’s Perspective---

I look up through the trees and try to distract both of us from the situation “Ho’ohokukalani’s going to be bright tonight… I’ll never get used to living on a gas giant’s moon… so weird.”

“I think it’s weird that Earth has no gas giant. It has its own moon!” she answers.

“I suppose you wouldn’t remember it… you were a baby when we moved…” I smile, joylessly.

I’d guess we only have a little more than an hour before Wākea sets and it gets dark. Under normal circumstances, I’d just light up my holo to get us back but that’s going to be tricky with the piggyback and useless shell in one hand.

I really shouldn’t have brought the shell… I just didn’t want to have to argue about it when she already thought I was taking her home for no reason. If it slows me down by even 0.1%, it could make the difference between making the evacuation and not!

Then again, there might not be an evacuation… we might get back to town and then just have to wait to die… she’ll at least have her shell.

My mind tortures me by showing me her lifeless body floating in the sea… still, implausibly, clutching that stupid, pretty shell.

I pick up the pace, careful not to trip over any of the Neonesian palm roots, growing through the path.

Should I have explained to her what was going on? I don’t know…

I just didn’t want her to spend what might be the last few hours of her life terrified…

Maybe I’ll hate myself for keeping it from her… maybe she’ll hate me…

Why am I hoping for that?

…I suppose… if she hates me and I hate myself… it would mean we’re both alive… by all the Akua, I hope we survive this!

“…Keke? Keke?! KEKE!!!” I hear Lani say and realise that I’d entirely zoned out.

“What is it Lani?”

“Someone’s calling you.” she says at the same time as I hear my ringtone.

Stolen novel; please report.

“Oh… err… hold on tight… I need my hand…” I say, awkwardly pressing the wrist of my shell holding hand onto hers, clasped at my clavicle, to anchor them there and, with my right, retrieving my holo and answering the call.

“Ke’ala! We just heard! Where are you?!” I hear my Mum’s panicked voice say.

“It’s alright Mum… we’re on our way back to town… I’ve got Lani, we should make it.”

“But there’s no way to evac…” she says, sounding distraught.

“It’ll be alright, Mum!” I interrupt, both lying and forcing calm into my voice “They’ll work something out!… Is Dad there?”

Clearly trying to hold back sobs, she says “Ye…yes, sweetie… he’s here…”

“Could you put it on speaker?”

“Of course… you’re on speaker…”

“Mum, Dad… I just want to say… thank you… for everything… and to let you two know that Lani and I lov-Aaaggh!” an indescribable pain shoots through my leg and I briefly register that I’ve caught it in the crook between two roots, immediately followed by realising that I’ve lost my balance… I’m pitching forward and there’s nothing I can do about it.

The last thing I see is a rock, rushing at my forehead.

---Lokelani’s perspective---

Keke falls down and I roll over her head.

I’m a little hurt but, when I look at her, I see she’s not moving.

“Keke?” I say, frightened.

I get up and go to her… she doesn’t move.

“Keke… get up…!” I say, pushing her shoulder.

“Keke… we need to go home… you said!” I say, tears coming.

“Ke’ala… get up! Please!!!” I yell, really trying to lift her.

She’s too heavy… I’m too small… I can’t…

I try to think about what to do.

“Keke, I’m going to go back to the beach… you know?… The one I’m not supposed to be at right now! Unless you get up and stop me!” I say, pretending to walk back the way we came.

She doesn’t move.

“Keke, if you get up… I’ll give you the big-pretty! You can have it! You can call it whatever you want! ‘Big-pretty’ was a dumb name, anyway!”

She still doesn’t move.

“Please, Keke! I don’t know what to do!!!” I say, crying.

What should I do!? What should I do!?

“HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLP!!!” I scream towards town, knowing it’s too far for anyone to hear.

“HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLP!!!” I scream back the way we came, knowing there’s no one behind us.

“HHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLPPP!!!” I scream for someone, ANYONE… but nobody comes…

OK, think, think, think, think, think…

You’re not strong enough to move her… You can’t shout loud enough to be heard… and there’s no one to tell…

Her holo! Where is it?!

I search for it a few moments… if I can find it… if I can tell it to call Mummy and Daddy back and tell them what’s happened… they can tell me what to do!

I look, a long time… I don’t find it.

“Keke… I’m going to go… I’m going to find… someone who can help… I’ll definitely come back… no matter what!”

I leave the big-pretty where she dropped it… I shouldn’t have asked her to bring it… she might not have fallen if she wasn’t carrying it… and me…

I run.

I run faster than I ever have before…!

I just have to find someone… I just have to find anyone who can help…

I keep running…

Eventually, I can’t run anymore.

I breathe hard… everything hurts!

I decide to walk for a bit… I’ll run again, when I can.

It’s getting dark.

Ho’ohokukalani is bright, just like Keke said… but Wākea has set…

I’m just beginning to wonder how far it is to town… when I see a monster…

She’s a woman… I can tell that much…

Everything else about her is… wrong!

Her hair is bright white… like photos of really old people from old times…

Her eyes glow white too.

She has two too many arms and not enough fingers on each of them.

Her skin is blue.

Her face is… wrong… the wrong shape.

She's weirdly slim.

Above all… she’s tall… too tall… her head is nearly as tall as the trees.

She… has to be… a Kupua… is there a Kupua of night? Twilight?

She smiles at me, showing the wrongness of her teeth… she has four long, sharp ones… She’s going to eat me!

I start crying and, instead of eating me, she stops smiling.

“Vii Ktar! Tii Manja! Ég fann stelpu! Komdu hingað! Þessa leið!” she shouts.

The twilight Kupua is soon joined by a fire Kupua… he’s… less wrong… He looks… almost Human!

The only things wrong with the fire Kupua are his height (almost as tall as the twilight Kupua), pale skin, green eyes and fiery red hair.

He must be a servant of the twilight one… he’ll use his fire to cook me and then they’ll both eat me…

The fire one bends down and says “Hei, sui tii! Wiah hiah tu hewp! Don twarri…”

“I don’t understand you but please don’t eat me!” I beg, terrified.

“Ah! Shiz tu yang furruh trass lay tah! Meiks senss, Ai sappoz…” says the fire one.

I back away but find something behind me that wasn’t there a minute ago.

I look behind me and see the most terrifying Kupua yet.

He looks most like a Human… the only things that give him away are his pale skin and scratches on the most angry face I’ve ever seen… and, I guess, the fact that he got behind me without making any noise!

I scream.

The twilight one says “Tii Manja… Þú hefur hrædd hana!”

“Энумук…” says the Kupua of silence, in words that sound nothing like either of the other two’s.

“Uew…” says the Kupua of fire “…wi shud probli git Tuaira to trass lay tforras… shi mait noh ifvehrs eniwan ewss ap dis paff.”

He pulls out… a holo? That’s… a strange thing for a Kupua to have…

A Kupua with a holo would be funny… if I weren’t so certain I was about to be eaten!

He taps at it, then says “Tuaira… wiv faun daghew bat… shi dazen hav ah trass lay tah. Kud yu teww az wot shiz seh ying?”

“Ov cors, Vii Ktar.” comes a voice from the holo and the fire haired man turns his holo around, to me.

“Hello sweetie… My name’s Twila… can you understand me?” says the voice.

“Y-yes…” I manage, terrified “Are… are they going to eat me?”

“Eat you!?” she laughs “No, sweetie, they’re not going to eat you… They’re here to help… they just need you to help them first… Can you answer some questions for us?”

“I can try…?”

“What’s your name, sweetie?”

“Lo…Lokelani.”

“Good, one question down!” she says kindly “Second question; do you understand what’s going on?”

“No.” I answer.

“That’s OK, sweetie. Do you know if there’s anyone else on this path?”

“Yes! My sister… she’s hurt… she wasn’t moving… I was going for help.”

There’s a moment of silence.

“Guys, she says her sister is on this path. Hurt and not moving.”

“Hau fah? Eniwan ewss?” answers the fire Kupua, instantly.

“He’s asking how far away she is… Do you know?”

“A… a long way… I’ve been running… I don’t know exactly…”

“Is there anyone else?”

“No… no one… we came from a beach on the other side of the island… there was no one there… we didn’t pass anyone… it’s just us.”

“She says her sister’s the only one and she thinks it’s quite far…” she relays.

The fire Kupua thinks… I’m beginning to think that he might be the leader, not Twilight.

“Shiz veri smol!… Wot shi finks iz ‘kwaitfah’ mait not akshu li bi vat fah…bat… vers not mach taim till vah sunami…” he says, thoughtfully.

I don’t need to understand him to see he’s making a decision.

“PLEASE…” I beg “…save my sister!”

It seems he can understand me without the woman on his holo telling him what I’ve asked.

He nods “OK, keed… Lesgo git hah!”

---later---

The fire Kupua carries me in his arms and flies down the path.

I’ve never moved so fast!

“Hauyu holl din ap, Toon?” he asks the twilight Kupua.

“Ég er að …*huff*… takast á við!… Ég mun stjórna!” she answers.

“Tii Manja, yu gud?!” he addresses the Kupua of silence.

“Тадук.” he answers.

“Ver!” shouts the fire Kupua as we see Keke lying on the path “Laik Ai sed! Not fah! Twewv handrud mi’ahs? Jast simmed laik ah longwei koz shizso smol!”

When we’ve slowed down, he drops me on my feet and pulls out his holo.

“Twila, medikuw skan, nau pliiz.”

“Shiz gottah konka shon… ankon shoss. Hah legzbro kan tu.” answers Twila.

“Seiftu muv hah?”

“Yur disi zhon. IiTiEi onza sunami iz twenti wan minoots.”

“Noh taim! Tii Manja, teik vah keed. Ail teik hah sistah.”

Without a word, the Kupua of silence picks me up and I shriek in surprise.

“Surri keed, noh taim.” says the fire Kupua, lifting Keke like she was made of paper “Wi nid tu ran. Toon, trai tu stei ahed ov az, yu kant fol beh haind vat wei!”

Then the three Kupua run back to town, carrying me and Keke. I see the big-pretty still lying on the path, where she dropped it when she fell.

As we get out of the trees, I see an enormous building that wasn’t there when we set off, earlier… How did they build such a huge building so quickly?!… it’s taller than all the other buildings in town and shaped like a bird…

They’re running towards the new, bird building.

Why’s there absolutely no one outside?

The twilight Kupua starts slowing down and the fire one shouts at her “Toon! Puh shfruwit!!! Noh taim!!! Kiip goin!!!”

Twila speaks from his holo “Gaiz yu nid tu getbak nau! Za aza tiims ah hiirol redi! Za sunami iza baut tu hit!”

“Wiah nirli ver, Twila! Geh redi!”

We come onto the Sport's Field, by the beach, and run towards a long glass staircase (only with no stairs) that’s stuck in the sand and leading into the bird building.

Then, I see something I don’t understand…

The sea is coming towards us… only it’s not where it’s supposed to be… it’s eating houses… I scream.

“Teikoff, Twila!” shouts the fire one.

The bird building starts making noise… and moving… moving up.

The twilight Kupua and silence Kupua, carrying me, get to the glass staircase with no stairs.

“Ah! Gaiz!!!”

We turn back and see, through the glass, that the fire Kupua is hanging from the edge with one hand, his other still holding Keke, his feet already far from the ground. Silence puts me down.

“Ættum við...?” starts the twilight one.

“Noh! Noh taim!!! Jast teik vahgherw ven puww mi ap!”

We’re still rising, further and further up, as Silence and Twilight run back to try and pull up Fire.

I look to the sea in the wrong place, eating houses and see it’s really close!

I shriek as it rushes underneath us.

“Fakin heww!” shouts Fire as his feet are pulled by the angry water.

The other two are trying to take Keke from Fire but don’t seem to be able to when a woman appears who must be Fire’s sister (even if she’s a lot shorter than him and her face is less Human).

“Юлдан чык! Хәзер!” shouts Fire’s sister before the other two get out of her way and she leans over the side of the glass, grabs his wrist and pulls both Keke and Fire up, to safety.

“Fanks… *huff*… Fran!” pants Fire “…Kud…*huff*… yu teik…*huff*… hah tu…*huff*… get medikuw…*huff*… atten shon…*huff*… pliis?” the brother Fire says to his sister.

She picks up Keke, even more easily than her brother did, and walks up the glass.

Twilight runs to Fire and puts her hands on his shoulders.

“Helvítis hálfviti, Vii ktar! Þú féllst bak eins og þú sagðir mér að gera það ekki!” she says, about to cry.

“Yih, Ai did… bat Ai meidit, didun Ai? Mai fiit jast gottabit wet, izol!… Aim OK. Wirol seif!”

Twilight starts crying… then kisses Fire. Oh… The Kupua of Fire and Twilight are married?… I guess that makes sense…?

I don’t really understand anything that’s happened since me and Keke left the beach… but I understand… that they saved us…

I walk up to them and they turn to me.

I hesitate for a moment… still having to convince myself that I’m not going to be eaten…

I hug Fire’s knees…

“Thank you!… Thank you!!!” I shout, trying not to cry.

He looks down at me and smiles “Aim ghessin vissizah ‘Fankyu’… Yor wewkom, keed!”