Ku’ulai giggled.
“Very late, and winter’s coming on. Here it’s what? A little past lunch, I suppose. I should have asked them at the bank.”
“Like eat?”
“Much too much,” Cassie told her darkly.
THE answers came slowly and from a variety of sources, but they came. The bank knew a little. The Office of Tourism probably knew a great deal more, but he (an elderly man who sat fanning himself slowly behind a desk piled with brochures) had difficulty understanding her questions, and she had even more understanding his answers. Nele was too polite to be particularly informative, and Ku’ulai was too provincial to understand why her high queen should inquire about things everyone knew. The tourists positively scintillated with information, much of it contradictory; even worse, they overflowed with questions.
After three days, she felt moderately secure with the following:
• There were seven (or six or nine) inhabited islands in the Takanga Group.
• No one knew exactly how many uninhabited islands there were. Inhabitation depended upon the availability of fresh water.
• Kololahi was on Great Takanga, the largest island.
• Kololahi was the only city in the Takanga Group; it was a bit smaller than Alice Springs.
• There were innumerable villages on the inhabited islands. Each was ruled by a king — occasionally by a queen.
• The nation was ruled by its high king. All of the people had seen him. None of the tourists had seen him. All kings were sacred, the high king most sacred; he had been chosen by God. Or by the gods. Or by certain gods.
• The high king ruled from Takanga Ha’i. It was the most mountainous island in the group, and could be seen from the top of Mauna Makani to the northeast.
• The high king ruled from the Island of the Dead, under the sea north of Takanga Ha’i.
• The high king’s wife was the high queen. She was very beautiful and mistress of many magics. Her head was on fire. (“I feel the same way sometimes,” Cassie told the tourist who told her that.)
• The people were Christians, belonging to a variety of Protestant sects.
• The people were pagans, worshipping many gods.
• When people became Christians, God came but the old gods did not go away. (This from Ku’ulai.)
• No one knew the names of the gods. They were called the Thunder God, the Blind God, the Shark God, the Volcano God, the Storm King, the Sun God, the Sea Goddess, and so forth.
• The names of the gods were too sacred to be pronounced.
• There was no ferry service to Takanga Ha’i.
She bought sunblock and a bathing suit. It was not as small as Gideon had suggested but was very small indeed. Salamanca House controlled a considerable stretch of beach and furnished its guests with beach umbrellas and beach chairs. The water was warm, hospitable, and very clear. There had been no shark attacks along that beach for two years Hiapo told her proudly. After that, she continued to swim but swam somewhat less.
On the fifth day, it occurred to her that it might be possible to reach the United States by cell phone. She found hers in a drawer and put it in her beach bag. On the beach a kind woman from Perth informed her that a good many people, herself included, called home often. There was a tower, she said, on a hilltop outside Kololahi. From it, calls were beamed to a satellite in Clarke orbit.
“Calling the States might be a bit costly, though,” the woman from Perth mused. “Dog charges, you know. Rover, or whatever they call him.”
“I don’t care,” Cassie said. “I’m going to call India.”
“Oh, you’ve friends in India?”
Somewhat later, Cassie did.
“Hello! Who is this?” India sounded testy.
“It’s Cassie. How are you?”
“Cassie? Ohmygod! I was just about to phone you. I’m sitting on the john.”
Cassie grinned. “So of course you thought of me.”
“No, no, no! I’ve been calling and calling. You’ve been out of service.”
“I turned it off,” Cassie confessed. “I turned it off and forgot it. What’s up?”
“We’re almost ready to go. Just about, nearly. The thing is, I want rocks for the second dream. Pfeiffer says they’ll get in the way of his dancers. I say dancers ought to be able to dance around a rock. I’d love to have you and Gil dance there for him. I don’t think Gil will have any trouble, even with his saw-log leg. Do you know where he is?”
Cassie decided that explaining “Gil’s” identity would be too complicated. “No idea,” she said. “I haven’t got him. Honest Injun.”
“Okay, do you know where you are?”
“Sure. Only I’ve got a feeling it would be better not to tell you. Wally wouldn’t like it, or I don’t think so. Ask him.”
“You haven’t got him either?”
“Huh uh. I’m waiting for him to ride up on a white horse. I’ve been waiting for a week.”
“In the middle of some swamp, I bet. Poor baby!”
“Not really.” Cassie grinned. “Luxury hotel. Great meals, great beach. Great big hunks. You know.”
“Holy snot, Wanton Woman, you must be suffering the tortures of the damned.”
“You’ve got it. I keep eating and eating and chugging piña coladas. I know darned well I’ll be way too fat to get into my costumes when I get back. Roast pork is the specialty here, and it’s to die for. The roast pork and the fruit. They bring me this whole big tray of fruit, all cut up and arranged to make it look like a sunrise, and the colors are so bright it looks like a tray of jewelry.”
There was only heavy breathing from the other end of the connection.
“The rest of it’s pretty ordinary except for marvelous seafood.” Turning away, Cassie stifled a giggle. “For my first two dinners I had rock lobster in drawn butter — ”
A soft click from the other end of the connection told her no one was listening.
She called Gideon Chase, and to her considerable surprise got him. “I’m at Salamanca House, Gid. That’s the big hotel here. They treat me like a queen. Wally hasn’t come for me, so why don’t you come and take me home? You did what he wanted and so did I. He left me high and dry.”
“Two reasons. No, three. First, because Reis may be waiting to see whether that happens. You’re being watched, Cassie. I guarantee that. I don’t know who the watchers are, but there are some.”
“India needs me.”
“She should talk to Reis. Not to you and certainly not to me. Second, because I’m in a ticklish situation. I know how it sounds, but everything could blow up in my face if I took a day — and it would require at least that — to access my car, drive it to a safe spot, hop, pick you up at your hotel, and all the rest of it. Third — ”
“Don’t bother. That’s enough.”
“Third, you may be of great value to me where you are now. If you were in Kingsport, I’d have to rely on Aaberg to outmaneuver the people who killed Norma. He’s good, but I’m not sure he’s that good.”
“I love you, Gid. Thanks for letting me drive your car.”
“I love you, too, Cassie.” He hung up.
ONE of the great big hunks she had mentioned to India seated himself on the sand next to her beach chair. He was, she decided, at least six foot eight and remarkably good-looking, but strictly local talent. She leaned back, closing her eyes behind large sunglasses she had been forced to accept by the hotel’s gift shop.
She swam in water that might almost have been blue air, the hunk beside her matching five of her strokes with one of his. A wall of coral rose to the right, coral of a hundred shades of rose and green; the fish that swam before it were yellow and electric blue, each hardly larger than a quarter but so bright they seemed to burn.
The hunk touched her arm, smiling, and pointed behind and below them. She turned to look, and the great white shark that swam there was larger than many fishing boats. She knew she should have been terrified — but knew also that the shark had come to protect them from a horror that stirred in darker waters far below. A horror that waited, that gathered its —