Obsidian (Mystic Stones Series #1) (28 page)

“What should we do?” I asked.

“Well, I guess we could try to find a store that still has the owners watching over it. Maybe we can trade for supplies. Do you have anything on you we don’t need?”

“No, but there might be some stuff at my house . . . if it is still intact. We’ll need transportation, though. It’s too far to walk,” I said.

“No problem,” said Jesse with a smile as he eyed a motorcycle.

“What is it with you and motorcycles?” I asked with a smile.

Jesse immediately went to the abandoned bike. It lay on its side, but Jesse’s strength made it look like he lifted a bicycle. He hot-wired it with ease and the motor started with a low rumble. I grinned and hopped on the back.

“My sweet little criminal,” I commented.

“Where are we headed?” Jesse asked.

I navigated him to my house. From the outside, it seemed to be unharmed. It was far enough away from downtown that most of the looters passed it up. Not to mention it was hidden away by plants and trees. Most people passing by wouldn’t notice my small two-bedroom.

I no longer had my house keys, so Jesse picked the lock. I picked up on all the things he was doing that pointed to him possibly having a less than perfect record.

“Should I be aware of a criminal record before we go any further?” I joked.

“No record, but that just means I didn’t get caught.”

I grinned at him. “Actually, I’m glad you can do this stuff. It’s a little bit of a turn on.”

The lock clicked and my front door opened. Jesse motioned for me to enter. We walked into an undisturbed house. The last time I had been inside was when I’d come with Tom. I hadn’t realized how long it had been until now. As I rooted around for things we could trade, Jesse took a look around.

“You have a whimsical style. So much nature in this house,” he commented.

“It’s mostly my mother’s doing. Changing it just seemed wrong to me. It’s traditional Hawaiian decorating with elements of the beach and such.”

“I see that. So, did you find anything?” Jesse asked.

“I found some canned food Alani and Nalani missed the first time. It’s not a lot, but we can find use for it. I found some candles we can trade. That dockworker said some people are losing power because they can’t pay the power company. There’s some camping supplies in that closet, knives are, everywhere,” I gestured around me and continued, “My mother was an advocate for personal security. I’m going to gather up some of my personal stuff. I think there’s soap and other toiletries in the bathroom,” I said.

I didn’t want to leave my house again. I took in the familiarity of my home and realized how much I missed it. There were some things I didn’t want to get stolen by looters, so I gathered up some of my mother’s jewelry and my father’s watches along with other keepsakes and treasures. I found a stash of batteries in my desk drawer and put them in with the camping gear.

“You know, I’m not sure we need to trade any of this stuff for anything, I think it would be best to hang on to the camping gear and candles and knives,” Jesse said.

“I think you’re right, but how are we going to get all this back to the boat?”

“I didn’t think about that when I hot-wired the motorcycle. I guess we’ll need to find a car.”

I grinned. “I have a car.”

“You do? Where?” Jesse asked.

“In the garage, silly.”

“There’s a garage?” Jesse asked.

I led Jesse to the back of the house where a garage with overgrown plants and vines covered the entire building. The doors were also covered with vines but weren’t as thick. I took a machete from my camping gear and began to chop my way through the greenery. Jesse helped clear it. Finally, the two swinging doors were free. I unlocked the combination padlock and opened the doors to reveal a blue, four door, 1971 Chevelle with a white hard top.

“That is a beautiful car,” Jesse said with wide eyes. He practically drooled over the antique classic. “Does it run?”

“I hope so,” I replied. “I haven’t touched it since my father died. He loved this car, and so did I. We used to take it for drives along the coast all the time. He worked on it himself.”

I found the magnetic key holder under the driver’s side door then unlocked it, hopped in, and unlocked the passenger door for Jesse. It was an automatic, so I put the key in the ignition and prayed for it to still work. I turned the key and there was nothing but the sound of a dead battery.

I knew it well. Then I remembered the portable jump-start pack I kept in the garage. I plugged it in, and after a few tries, Jesse and I got the car running.

“Yes!” I yelled when it came to life.

We packed up the portable jump-start pack along with the other items we found inside the house and headed back to the boat. Once we returned to the dock, we saw Alani and Moana waiting for us.

“We didn’t know where you guys went,” Alani said as her greeting. “You kinda worried us. Hey, is that your dad’s old car?”

“Yep, we took a motorcycle to my house to gather supplies, then we realized a motorcycle wouldn’t carry all this, so we started her up,” I said.

“So did you guys find anything we can use?” Moana asked.

“We found some of my camping gear and batteries and candles and stuff. We don’t have to use the energy on Hiu’s boat so much if we use this stuff. We have to be more careful about the amount of energy we use, fuel is getting scarce,” I explained. “We found some of my knives too. That might help against the drudges. We also found some canned food.”

“Good. We didn’t get much food. It’s a good thing we stocked up before we left Jesse’s house,” Alani said.

The four of us started unloading everything into Hiu’s boat. He had found a space on the original dock for us to stay for the night, but we would have to find somewhere else to stay the next night.

Nalani had made dinner for everyone and soon after Jesse had to retire to our cabin. I went with him, even though it was still early. I’d rather watch movies with my statue boyfriend than talk more about the problems at hand. I just wanted a break from it all. The time I spent with Jesse, even when he was in statue form, made me relax just enough to release some stress. With the recent events, I felt like a balloon inflated to the point of bursting, but when I was with Jesse, it seemed that some of the air was let out.

The next morning, Hiu had to find another place to dock the boat. Dock space was extremely limited, and his regular spot that he rented from before the virus crisis was taken when he left for California. A lot of the boats were out at sea during the day, fishing and trying to catch food to survive off of. With most of the big container ships out of commission because of the virus, food was getting scarcer on the islands. I hoped that we could somehow help everyone who was stranded on the islands. First, we had to get enough food to sustain ourselves, and then we had to get more virus blocking devices to the container ships. Revenge would have to wait, the people of the islands were more important.

Hiu was having a hard time finding a dock spot. Jesse and I had gone with him while everyone else stayed on the boat. Chaos surrounded us. Boats coming into port with fish were raided. Dockworkers tried to maintain order by shouting orders into the crowds, but their words were lost against the roar of people yelling and shoving to get to the fish. Fishermen traded fish for fruit and other food, but some of them had trouble keeping people from just taking the fish. Hiu, Jesse, and I tried to stay away from the swarms of people.

Even finding a dockworker that wasn’t busy was a difficult task. Eventually, Hiu was ready to give up. We were all heading back to the boat when someone shouted Hiu’s name. Hiu turned to see who it was, and a smile developed on his face.

“Kapono! Howzit, broddah?”

“It good. Just tryin’ to keep working with this big mess. Where you been, brah?” Kapono asked.

“I went to LA. We just get back yesterday,” Hiu said as he motioned to Jesse and I. ”Ava, Jesse, dis Kapono. He’s my good friend. He works the docks.”

“Oh, man. Things are getting funny ‘round here. I ‘bout had-it with these lolo guys.”

“Us too, we’re trying to find somewhere to dock, but no can,” Hiu explained.

Kapono nodded, “You won’t find da kine here, brah.”

“I starting to figure that out. Things aren’t much bettah in town either. I don’t know what we gonna do,” Hiu said as he let him eyes wander through the crowd.

“I bet you just have to drop anchor somewhere, brah. No moa room anywhere. Lemme see if I can cockaroach you a spot,” Kapono said walking over to another dockworker.

I watched him talk animatedly to the other man. Kapono was Hawaiian, like Hiu, but he talked pidgin constantly. Whenever he and Hiu were together, it was a blur of words I could barely understand. I had met Kapono before at Alani’s house. I remembered he was an avid surfer. He had longer hair than Hiu, about the same length as Alani’s, it was also dark, but a bleached streak near the front was his signature look. He and Hiu had the same build; the body of a surfer. They dressed much the same too, always wearing shorts and a wife-beater. After a few minutes, Kapono returned with a defeated look on his face.

“Sorry, man. I try, but no can. Dock manager say we full. No mo’ notting.”

“Ass alright, we figure something out, broddah,” Hiu replied.

“I got a choke of hana to do, but if you stick around for later, I show you a spot to drop anchor bumbye,” Kapono said as he and Hiu exchanged a handshake I assumed was exclusive to their group of friends. I’d never seen it before.

“Leddahs!” Hiu waved as the three of us made our way back to the boat. I thought about what Kapono had said. Maybe dropping anchor would be better than docking. It would make it harder for us to be found by the enemy. Docking meant records, and records meant we could be tracked down.

“Hiu, I think we should let Kapono show us a good place to drop anchor. It’s probably better that we aren’t easily found,” I said as we reached the boat.

“I was just thinking that. What do you think Jesse?” Hiu asked. I was surprised Hiu would ask Jesse’s opinion, but it made me smile on the inside. I wanted them to get along. An awkward relationship between them would mean more stress for me.

“I think it’s smart to stay away from the crowds and riots. If it’s secluded enough it should deter drudges and vampires as well.”

“Okay, so we wait here for Kapono. He know dis island even bettah than me, and I know it well.”

After about an hour, Kapono showed up at the boat. Everyone was on board with the plan, so all we had to do was find a secluded area where we could drop anchor. Kapono and Hiu went up to the pilothouse and soon we set sail down the coast. To the south of Hilo, a black, rocky coast lined the ocean. Cliffs shot up from the sea like giant shadows. I always loved looking up at the cliffs from a boat in the ocean. They were majestic. A wonder of nature.

After a while of seeing only the cliffs, the boat slowed and a small break in the cliffs came into view. It was a recess in the cliff wall. If I hadn’t been looking directly into it, I would have missed the inlet. Hiu directed the boat into the crevasse and revealed a beautiful secluded cove. There would only be two ways to see any vessel inside; either from directly above, or from the entrance on the east side.

Hiu and Kapono emerged from the pilothouse as everyone marveled at the beauty of the cove. “Well? What you think, brah?” Kapono asked Hiu.

“It most definitely is secluded,” he answered.

Jesse looked around. I could see the wheels turning in his head. “Possibly a little too secluded. We could easily be taken by surprise,” Jesse said to me. He tried to keep the concern between the two of us. Kapono wasn’t aware of the problems we faced.

“I think I can handle that,” I said.

Kapono noticed the exchange, “What you mean ‘taken by surprise’?”

Jesse turned to Hiu. Hiu nodded and took a few steps toward Kapono and put his arm around him. “I think it’s time you been enlightened.”

Kapono looked around at everyone. He tried putting it together, but his mind didn’t quite hit the right switch. “Are you guys fugitives or something? I no deal with fugitives, man.”

“Well, kinda. But not from the law,” Hiu said as he led Kapono away so that they could talk.

I knew he’d recruit Kapono into our group. I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. He’d be good to have around. He knew the island like the back of his own hand and he had connections. I hoped he didn’t get too freaked out by the news of vampires in Hilo.

After Hiu explained to Kapono about Psytech and the vampires and everything else that had happened in the last few weeks, Kapono took Hiu’s passion for vampire slaying to a whole new level. He knew the legends and didn’t think they were real until we told him everything. Nalani issued him a protective ring, and he ate lunch with us. He was an animated character. Kapono talked with his hands a lot and always spoke well above the required volume.

“Man, it good to have another guy around. We starting to feel outnumbered!” Hiu said in a conversation at lunch.

“You gonna need another guy if you wanna fight vampires,” Kapono replied, with a mouthful of food. “Dis some ono grind! Lau lau is da kine!” he said to Nalani.