“It doesn’t look like you did any better,” I said, punching his arm. But he was right. I had been totally worked over—I just didn’t know if it was because of the board or because I was that out of practice. I was really hoping it was the board.
He pretended to be wounded from my punch. “Yeah, well, I’m not some crazy good surfing goddess. I’m allowed to get worked.”
“This is true,” I teased, then nodded behind him. “Another one’s coming. Wanna try again?”
“No doubt.”
We started paddling.
“This one’s a monster!” Scooter yelled. “You sure you want to do this?”
“Who are you talking to?”
He just laughed. I shifted my weight, watched as the wave got closer and closer. Then I duck dived down for extra momentum, came up right where I was supposed to again, and tried this whole surfing thing one more time.
And it was magic. Beautiful. Like I’d never, ever left. Within a second of finding my legs, I’d also found the sweet spot, and then I just rode. Up and over, I got great air and finished with a nice run down the center of the barrel.
I glanced toward shore, where Moku was cheering for me. I waved at him and Mark and then started the trek back in.
“You done so soon?” Scooter asked.
“I’ve got to get back to my brother. Maybe I’ll come out again tomorrow morning, stay for a while.”
“We’re going for pizza later. You should come.”
I smiled, grateful and a little amazed at his easy acceptance. I’d disappeared on them twice, without a word, yet my friends were willing to just take me back. “I’d like that,” I told him. “I missed you guys.”
“We missed you too. Besides, you look much better in a bikini than Tony does.”
“Since when does Tony wear a bikini?”
“Come to Frazoni’s with us and I’ll tell you the story.”
“Bribery?”
“Hey, I’m not proud. We need to hang out before you head back to paradise. Plus, I want to hear about those waves off Waimea—my parents said they’d spring for a trip next month. Maybe you could show me around.”
“Yeah, maybe,” I told him, but the lie made my stomach hurt. I hadn’t surfed Hawaii in more than two years, and I wasn’t going to be anywhere near there when Scooter made it over.
By the time I got back to Mark and Moku, my brother had convinced Mark to take him into the water on his surfboard. “Like a raft ride,” Moku told me. “I swear, no swimming.”
He looked so hopeful and I’d come so close to losing him, that I couldn’t resist the puppy dog eyes for long. So I traipsed down the beach with them, and when we got to the water, we put Moku on the surfboard between us. As we floated him around the shallows, I was careful to stay on one side while Mark stayed on the other. Moku giggled and kept trying to talk us into making it wilder, but aside from a few bumps here and there, we kept it calm.
At least until I looked onto the shore and saw my father running at us, waving his arms like a crazy man. “What’s wrong with Dad?” Moku asked.
“I have no idea.” I turned to Mark. “Watch him, will you?”
“Sure.” He looked as concerned as I felt.
As I hit the shore, I heard my father yelling, “Get him out, Tempest! Get Moku out of the water!”
I didn’t know what was wrong, and I didn’t stick around to find out. I just dived for Moku, whipped him off the surfboard and waded to shore with him in my arms. When we got there, my dad all but ripped Moku away and started checking him over.
“Dad? What’s wrong? I was careful. He’s fine.”
For long seconds my dad didn’t answer, just continued to check Moku’s arms and legs. When he was convinced my brother was okay, he handed Moku to Mark, who had come to see what all the commotion was about. Then he pulled me a few steps down the beach for privacy.
“It wasn’t a surfing accident,” my dad told me fiercely.
“What do you mean?” I asked, confused.
“Moku’s near drowning. It wasn’t a surfing accident. That thing, that witch that went after you when you were ten. She was here. It wasn’t a bump on the head that nearly killed him. It was her.”
Chapter 26
It was like my father had started speaking another language. “What?” I asked, unable to truly understand what he was saying. “Tiamat was here?” My blood ran cold, even as a freight train roared through my head. “How do you know?” I whispered. “I thought you were at work when Moku was hurt?”
“Rosa. It scared the hell out of her. It’s why she hasn’t been here for the last week—she quit after I asked her not to call the police and report what happened.”
“What did she see?”
“Moku going into the water like he was in a trance. When she called him back, he didn’t respond or act like he heard her at all, which is totally not like him. And then, when she started to pull him out, it was like something was holding on to him, refusing to let go. I tried to convince her it was seaweed, but she knew better.”
God, it really was the same as when Tiamat had come after me all those years ago. It was a horrifying thought.
“Tiamat was here,” I said again, just so there was no misunderstanding. “At this beach. And she attacked Moku.”
“Yes. That’s why I don’t want him near the water. What if she comes back and we can’t fight her off? I almost lost you that night in Hawaii, almost lost him the other day. I won’t risk it. Not again. I’m not losing any more of my family to that damn ocean.” He looked so tormented that it nearly ripped me apart.
“She won’t get her hands on him, Dad.” Lightning suddenly crisscrossed the sky, slamming into the sand so hard that the very ground around us trembled.
My father jumped and screams echoed down the beach before being drowned out in the loud boom of thunder rumbling through the air. Pitch-black clouds rolled in from nowhere, letting loose a heavy curtain of frigid rain that had people screeching and running for their cars.
“We need to go in,” my dad said, glancing at the sky even as he reached for my arm. “This storm looks dangerous.”
He had no idea just how dangerous it could be.
I yanked my arm from his grasp, but even as I did, I reached for the control Jared had so painstakingly taught me. For the discipline I’d spent the last eight months working on. But it was gone. Had evaporated like so much mist in the face of Tiamat’s newest attack on my family.
I could feel the energy building, feel the power gathering inside of me. I tried to deflect it, threw my arms out wide and sent wind skittering across the surface of the water in a last-ditch attempt to keep from unleashing all the pent-up fury and horror inside of me.
It didn’t work.
“Go!” I told my father and Moku. “Get to the house.”
“You need to come with us!” my father shouted, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. “This storm can kill you.”
“It’s my storm,” I shouted, backing down the now-abandoned beach. “It won’t touch me!”
“Tempest!” my dad called as he made a last grab for me and failed, his fingers sliding harmlessly off my elbow.