One Truth, No Lie

4. Consequences

4

Consequences

Kapu

Prohibited; forbidden; sacred; consecrated; set apart. A law given by a god, chief, or priest. There is only one penalty for breaking kapu: death.

Sitting on the pinnacle of an unnamed reef, the bare bones of a once-island rising out of the Pacific Ocean, Pua and Maka waited for Kalei to arrive.

“Tell me again what happened, Maka.”

“I met Kalei on my way back from hunting eels. He was angry. He said I had to bring you here immediately.”

“He might not know,” Pua said.

“I think he does.”

“It could be anything. Did you use his favorite knife again?”

“He’s too mad for that, Mother.”

“He can’t know about your brother.”

“What if he does?”

Pua twisted a bit of Maka’s hair around her finger.

“If he does, do you remember what to do?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t hesitate.”

“I won’t,” Maka said.

A wall of water rose as a giant shark fin sliced the surface.

“He comes,” Pua said.

The shark fin disappeared, and Kalei strode onto the rocks, radiating fury hotter than the noonday sun.

Pua’s eyes widened.

This will go badly, she thought.

She furtively gave Maka the signal to flee and swim swiftly for Pu‘uhonua, the place of refuge and forgiveness at Hohonukai. There Maka could prostrate herself before her grandfather and beg for his mercy.

Maka jumped to her feet and ran.

Go, Maka. Only a god can protect you now.

Kalei stood over Pua and raised his fist. Ready for the death blow, Pua bowed her head. Maka turned back and threw her arms around Pua’s neck, sobbing and shaking.

Foolish, foolish child!

And now Kalei will end us both.

“Aaaarrrguh!” Kalei screamed, releasing his fist and flinging himself on the ground. He tucked his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around his legs. His eyes narrowed to slits.

“Pua, tell me you do not have a male Niuhi child.”

“I do not have a male Niuhi child.”

“Is that the truth?”

“Do you want the truth?” she asked.

“If you broke Father’s kapu, I have to kill you. There’s no choice in this for either of us.”

“Do what you must. There’s no reason for you to die, too.”

“You gave birth to a male Niuhi-human, and it lives. What were you thinking?”

Pua shrugged. “Some things are larger than ourselves.”

“You lied to Father. You said that because your children were only half-Niuhi, the other twin was female and too malformed to live. Maka’s twin was not a still-born girl as you claimed,” Kalei said.

“No,” Pua said. “Maka’s twin was a boy, a boy the humans call Zader.”

Pua removed Maka’s arms from her neck and gently set her back.

“No more tears, Maka.”

She wiped Maka’s eyes and turned back to Kalei.

“When I realized I was pregnant, I knew there would be a boy and a girl. It’s always a boy and a girl. And I knew my half-human son was destined to die.”

“You want me to believe you saved your son out of the goodness of your heart? I think you hid him because you knew if Father found out about Zader you would die, too, Pua. The kapu law is clear.”

“A mother will do anything to protect her child—anything—and I had two children to consider.”

Kalei rested his head on his arms and sighed.

“You almost caught me, Kalei. I felt you searching for me the night I climbed onto land at Piko Point and gave birth to Kaonakai in human form.”

Maka opened her mouth to speak, but Pua shushed her.

“I refuse to call him Zader. His name is Kaonakai. I gave birth to my son, then I jumped into the big saltwater pool, changed into a shark, and Maka was born. We swam to Hohonukai.”

Kalei shook his head. “You left the boy on the rocks for Kahana to find instead of presenting him with Maka at Hohonukai.”

Pua pulled her hair back from her face and twisted it into a bun. She raised her eyes to Kalei and met him head-on.

“I did. Because if you or Father knew about him—”

“He’d be dead. And you should’ve been the one to kill him the moment he was born. Father could not have been clearer on this, Pua. No male Niuhi-human is allowed to live. After Nana‘ue we all accepted the kapu.”

“Nana‘ue was your son, Kalei.”

“You, Pua, stood next to me and agreed!”

“It’s easy to agree to something before you understand the reality.”

“Wasn’t the loss of our homeland real enough? You play with fire, but we’re all getting burned.”

“Kaonakai is not dangerous.”

Kalei scoffed. “Fool yourself, sister, but not me. I remember the blood and hunger of our youth.”

Pua shrugged. “We got over it.”

“The world is different now. The stakes are higher. We understand this. What young male does?”

“Zader is different.”

“That’s what Nana‘ue’s mother told me two hundred years ago when his sister died, and I came for him in the night. She begged me to leave the boy with her because she could not bear to lose them both. She promised to raise him human and to never let him taste flesh. But her father couldn’t deny Nana‘ue anything. When the child asked for pork, he fed him so much it became an obsession.”

“Zader is not Nana‘ue.”

“Nana‘ue craved meat with an endless, mindless hunger. Eventually all the pork in the world couldn’t satisfy him. He tricked his human friends into fishing and swimming so he could devour them one by one!”

“Zader is not Nana‘ue.”

“When the villagers discovered the truth, they wanted to stone Nana‘ue and his entire human family. Father intervened. Nana‘ue swore to never hunt men again. Father allowed him to leave. Nana‘ue traveled to another island where the people had never heard his name. He raised taro and fished, but once again the hunger became more than he could bear, and Nana‘ue hunted men. You know what happened next.”

Pua hung her head.

Maka spoke up. “Zader would never hunt a human. He doesn’t even like to fight. Why, Mother? Why is everyone so afraid of Zader?”

“Tell her!” Kalei thundered.

Pua flinched. “For a second time, Nana‘ue was caught. When the chief wanted to kill him, Nana‘ue called on his grandfather, and he intervened once more. Nana‘ue promised he’d learned his lesson. He would never to hunt men again. Again, he moved to another island. But soon after his taro fields were planted, he was caught trying to lure a young woman into the ocean,” Pua said.

“After his second chance?” Maka asked.

“Yes,” said Pua. “By then stories of Niuhi had traveled across the islands. Villagers paid attention when the handsome newcomer invited the chief’s daughter to surf. They saw him get to the beach ahead of her, enter the water, and turn into a shark. Warriors trapped him in his shark form and hauled him to the beach. They carved out chunks of his flesh until the ocean foamed red, but still Nana‘ue fought. Powerful kahunas chanted day and night, weakening him. Nana‘ue called upon his grandfather for help, but this time his prayers went unanswered. Humans cut down an entire bamboo forest for wood to burn his body. It took days for him to die.” Pua shuddered.

“And offshore we watched and could do nothing,” Kalei spat. “But that’s not all, is it, Pua?”

“No. That’s when the hunts began.” She closed her eyes. “No human trusted a Niuhi after that, Maka. Even our own human kin forced us to leave. We left our homeland at Lauele for the undersea sanctuary of Hohonukai where humans cannot tread.”

“But Aunty Hanalei? I know she lived with humans in Lauele!” Maka said.

“She lived there until Father ordered her back to Hohonukai,” Kalei said. “Niuhi and humankind don’t mix. You and your brother should never have been born. But your foolish mother couldn’t stay away from Lauele.”

Kalei ran his fingers through his hair.

“Pua, I don’t know whether to cry or strangle you,” he said.

“It doesn’t have to be this way. Zader has been raised by humans,” Pua said.

“A wolf raised by sheep.”

“No. A sheepdog raised to protect the flock.”

“With Kahana as the shepherd? We’re all doomed.” Kalei stood.

“Zader could be the new Kahuna Niuhi,” Pua said.

Kalei threw his hands in the air.

“Zader doesn’t even know what that means. He didn’t even know what a ho‘oilina was.”

“Ho‘oilina?” Maka asked. “An apprentice to Kahana? You mean he could learn the old ways from Kahana and help humans understand about us? You think he could be the new Kahuna Niuhi?”

Kalei didn’t bother looking at her.

“No one listens to Kahana anymore,” he said. “He’s just a crazy old man who lives with a dog. The old ways are dead.”

Pua stood and rested her hand on Kalei’s shoulder.

“What will you do?” she asked.

“Go to Hohonukai and talk with Father. If he doesn’t throttle me on the spot for letting you and the boy live, I’ll return with his decision. Until then, watch the boy. He might’ve been raised human, but he’s awakening to his shark nature. His hunger and aggression grows.”

“He’s afraid of water. We have that,” Pua said.

“Afraid of water? That’s your fail-safe?” Kalei smirked. “Maka didn’t tell you?”

“What am I missing, Maka?”

Maka flicked a hermit crab. “Mother, about last night. . . ”