away from the meeting house. The emotional carousel she'd been on since her guardian had stepped
out of the shadows was spinning out of control and, dear God, she had to get off.
The village blurred as she pelted past the gate into the tangled arms of the forest. Behind her a dog barked, the sound hollow against the blood rushing through her ears. She might have heard a man's
frantic cry, or it might have been only the careening slam of her heart. Dappled shadows lured her
deeper into the bush, promising escape. Vines swatted her face, but she barely felt their sting.
The land climbed and Emily scrambled upward, digging her nails into a naked root to keep from falling. This narrow finger of land jutted high above the island, giving her a breathtaking view of a slim ribbon
of beach below and rolling hills of grain to the west. The shimmering crowns of the fern trees waved
over the emerald forest to the east, giving it all the illusion of a tropical paradise. The air was cooler
here, sheltered from the sun by a tall stand of trees.
At another time Emily might have delighted in its beauty, but now it only pained her-like gazing at something she wanted desperately but could never have. She claimed the farthest tip of land as her
own, flinging her am around a tree and digging her toes into the cottony moss. A snowy bird hopped
off a vine and went dancing into the sky. She stood aching and adrift in a whisper of Dirdsong as the breeze cooled her flaming cheeks. She had ro flee the island, flee Justin before her own defenses were replaced by the tender adoration she had seen on the faces ot the natives.
A shrill giggle rang out, mocking her heart's turmoil, only to be followed by the maniacal patter of little feet. Emily whirled around. The hill was shaded, the surrounding trees rife with shadows.
On the other side of the bluff a bush shuddered. Emily moaned. What now? she wondered. Pygmies? Gnomes? She'd been awake only since noon, and the day had been one disaster after another. She
was beginning to feel like die little girl who had tumbled down the rabbit hole in Mr. Carroll's novel.
She wouldn't have been surprised if a white lizard had bolted out of the trees, pulling her father's
watch from his waistcoat pocket.
She scanned the tangled undergrowth. It trembled as if ilive. Tiny invisible eyes bored into her like
poison darts.
She turned to flee and ran straight into a tree, eliciting i demonic ripple of laughter.
"It's not funny!" she cried, spinning around.
Straight ahead of her a low-slung bush quivered with mirth. Anger surged through her. She narrowed
her eyes.
Wouldn't be laughing so hard if I had an ax, would you?"
Gathering her skirt in her fists, she dashed toward the bush. At the last possible second she jumped, clearing it in jne leap, catching the barest flash of tanned skin and shocked eyes.
The hunt was on.
The forest erupted in running feet. Emily hurtled through the dense brush, leaping bushes and dodging branches with an agility that surprised even her. She expected an arrow to tear through her tender flesh
in a second. The trees thinned, but she didn't dare pause to look behind her.
She burst out of the cool canopy into the warmth of sunlight and an endless vista of aqua sea. There
was an instant when she might have stopped, but the stampede of little feet spurred her on. The land
tilted beneath her and she went tumbling head over heels down the sandy slope. Flashes of brown and blue spun in her vision. After an eternity of undignified grunting she caught the land and held it still beneath her stomach.
Eyes closed, she turned her face to the side, gasping for breath. Her fingers curled in the warm sand.
A breeze stiff with salt caressed her aching legs. A curious silence assailed her.
She eased her eyes open to find herself surrounded by toes-dozens of plump little toes browned like raisins by the sun.
She lifted her head. Her eyes widened in shock to find a little boy wearing nothing but a necklace of
shells and an impudent grin.
Naked children ringed her. Emily had never seen so much baby fat in one place.
These children had never been swaddled in corsets and crinolines. They'd never been stuffed into stockings or endured the torture of hooking a dozen buttons on high black boots that pinched their toes. They stared at her, and Emily stared back, shocked but fascinated by their freedom.
A solemn little girl gazed shyly at her from behind a fall of dark hair. Her belly pooched out in the swayback posture of a toddler. She popped her thumb in her mouth, sucking it noisily.
Groaning, Emily flopped to her back in the sand. "Why couldn't you have been Pygmies? I hate
children."
The little boy offered her his hand. "Isn't it a bit intolerant of you to condemn an entire echelon of
society based only on their collective ages?"
She jerked her head up. She hadn't expected him to understand her, much less answer in anything more than childish jabber.
She warily took his hand and climbed to her feet. "Let me guess. Justin must have taught you English."
"Justin?" he repeated.
The little girl spat out her thumb and squealed, "Pakeha!"
The children's faces lit up as they joined in her joyful trilling.
"Oh, for heaven's sake. Stop that, won't you? You're making my head ache." Emily backed away from them, throwing out her arms in a helpless gesture. "Of course. It only makes sense that Justin would be the almighty, magnificent, all-holy Pakeha!"
They lapsed into silence. The boy stared at her vacantly. Apparently, his tutor had yet to teach him the sting of sarcasm. The little girl gazed up at her with something akin to awe.
"Must she stare so? It makes me fidget."
The boy gathered the toddler to his side. "She is my sister, Dani. They call me Kawiri."
Emily bobbed a reluctant curtsy. "They call me Emily." She rested her hands on her hips. "Why were
you chasing me?"
"We weren't chasing you. We were following you. We had no idea you'd be asinine enough to fall off
the hill." Emily couldn't find an argument for such evenhanded logic. "Neither did I," she muttered. "Asinine. Now, there's a good word. Did your mighty Pakeha begin with the A's?"
Dani opened her mouth to chirp. Emily didn't think she could bear another hymn to Justin's goodness,
so she squatted and plugged the child's thumb back in. While the other children experimented with
Emily's name, the little girl pulled a crimson flower from behind her ear.
She tucked the bloom in Emily's hair, weaving it among the curls. Emily felt a hesitant smile touch her lips.
As a new excitement rippled through the children, she straightened. A plump boy pointed toward the waves, yelling in Maori.
"High tide," Kawiri explained.
"High tide?"
At Emily's blank look, he added, "A natural phenomenon initiated by the waxing and waning of lunar forces which in turn-"