Kaya Stormchild (13 page)

Martin paid
the driver and the four weary passengers climbed out
dismounted.

“
Home, sweet
home!” said Josh with a happy sigh.

It was the
first time Kaya had been to Josh’s place. The cabin consisted of
one main room, which served as both living room and kitchen, a
small front hall, and a couple of small bedrooms at the top of a
narrow flight of stairs. The living space was sparsely furnished.
There was a single well-worn couch and a small wooden table and
four chairs next to the kitchen. A desk with a large computer
monitor stood by the window overlooking the sea, and beside that a
long, low bookshelf displayed a great quantity of books. Several
large hardbound volumes lay open on the desk next to the computer,
as well as a coffee mug and some dirty dishes.

Martin made
hot chocolate for everyone, which they drank sitting around the
kitchen table. Josh finished his, then leaned on his elbows and
yawned widely. The doctor had given him some pain medication that
was making him especially drowsy. Kaya, too, was practically asleep
in her chair.

“
OK you two.
Off to bed,” said Martin, rising to clear the cups.

Josh
shouldered his crutches and limped up the stairs to his bedroom,
while his father found a sleeping bag in a cupboard and spread it
out on the couch for Kaya.

Tike was
uneasy. He paced restlessly back and forth in front of the glass
door that opened from the living room onto a small deck overlooking
the sea.

“
He doesn’t
like being indoors,” explained Kaya.

Martin found a
cardboard box, placed a towel in the bottom and put it out on the
deck. As soon as the door was open, the otter darted outside,
lifting his nose to smell the salty sea air. He explored the deck,
then sniffed the cardboard box with suspicion. After a moment, he
seemed to decide it would do. With a whisk of his tail, he hopped
inside the box, curled up and began to snore.

“
A pet
otter,” said Martin, chuckling as he closed the door. “I guess he
stays outside at your place too. But – oh, I’m forgetting! What
about your Grandmother?!” he said, turning anxiously to Kaya. “She
must be worried sick about you. You better give her a call and let
her know you’re all right.”

Kaya was
already snuggled into the sleeping bag.

“
Oh,” she
muttered sleepily. “We don’t have a phone at home. I’m pretty sure
she knows I’m OK. We have a…. way of communicating…”

Chapter 7:
The Turning

The next
morning Kaya returned Angela’s coat and retrieved the red canoe.
Josh and Martin were with her and all three gave the police a
detailed account of what had occurred the night before. Jim had
walked over too, and told the police what he suspected about the
theft of fishing gear from his store earlier that week.

Spencer had
already gone that morning by police boat to the Mainland. He was
charged not only with trafficking in endangered animal parts, but
also assaulting Josh. If the police found Jim’s tackle box in the
brothers’ hideout, Spencer would be charged with theft as well. He
would likely end up spending at least some time in
prison.

Kaya felt a
pang of pity for Spencer. She wished there were some way he could
be helped, some medicine she could apply to his soul to make him
happier and kinder. But there was nothing she could do but imagine
him, as Grandmother had taught her to do, surrounded by healing
light. She held the image silently in her mind for a moment: his
thin, scowling face bathed in a brilliant, shimmering radiance.
Perhaps one day he would find peace.

When they had
all finished giving their testimony, Kaya, Jim, and Martin carried
the red canoe to the dock. Josh lumbered along behind on his
crutches, with Tike beside him. They slid the canoe into the water.
Then Kaya turned to hug the three others one by one.

“
Time to head
home, Tike,” she said to the otter, who had already hopped into the
little boat and settled in his favorite place.

“
Oh - but
what about her cats?” Kaya asked suddenly, turning to Jim with an
anxious look. “The cats that live with the Duchess? And Jeremiah
the parrot? Who will look after them while she’s in the
hospital?”

“
Beth has
already thought of that,” Jim replied. “She went over first thing
this morning and fed them all. She said the cats seemed especially
upset. They wouldn’t stop pacing by the door and meowing. Beth had
this strange impulse to sit down and explain to them exactly what
had happened to their mistress. So she did exactly that, and they
stood quite still and listened to her. Beth said after that they
quieted down right away, as if they could understand every word she
said! Strange, eh?”

Jim laughed
and shook his head. “But strange things seem to keep happening
around here lately. Guess I’d better just get used to it.” He waved
goodbye and turned back along the dock towards his
store.

“
We’d better
get moving, Josh,” said Martin. “I want to get this boat back to
George right away. He was so generous to lend it to me.”

Martin helped
Josh hoist himself aboard, then climbed in after and started the
engine. Kaya settled into the canoe and lifted her
paddle.

“
I won’t be
able to go out in the rowboat for weeks, you know, Kaya. Not till I
get this darn cast off,” Josh called out, looking across at Kaya
with envy in his eyes. “You have to come to Campbell Harbour, OK?
Like,
often
, or
I’ll get so bored.”

Kaya grinned.
“I promise I’ll come at least every other day, if I can.” She
dipped her paddle and turned the canoe out to sea. “You’ll have to
take up reading now that you’re an invalid!” she called teasingly
over her shoulder. “I saw some pretty interesting books there on
the shelf at your place.”

Josh grimaced.
The speedboat pulled away from the dock and passed the red canoe.
The two children waved at each other.

“
See you!”
Kaya called.

Soon she was
paddling swiftly over the familiar waters of Campbell Harbour. The
day was warm and the sea was glassy smooth. All traces of the storm
were gone. It was as if the previous night had never happened, or
had been only a dream.

Kaya hummed as
she paddled. Tike joined in, his small voice a tuneless, cheerful
wheezing, interrupted by occasional chirps and whistles. When Moon
Cove came in sight Kaya let out a whoop of joy. There it was, safe
and sound, and so beautiful. She could just make out the dense
green walls of her tree house high in the Maple tree. And there was
her driftwood hut and her fire pit on the beach.

Home! She
felt a surge of gratitude that she belonged to this place, and that
this place belonged to
her
.

Grandmother
was there to greet her, and so was Kelpie. The four friends, eagle,
seal, girl and otter sat together at the water’s edge and talked
quietly about all the adventures of the previous week.

“
The Summer
Turning will take place in a few more days,” said Grandmother. “I
think it is time, Kaya, that you took part. I had thought that you
should wait one more winter. But you have proven yourself brave and
wise beyond your years. I believe you are ready.”

Tike had never
yet attended the Turning either.

“
Can I go,
too?” he asked eagerly. “I was brave just like Kaya.”

“
You were
indeed,” the eagle said. “Yes, you shall both attend the Turning.
But in order to do so, you must prepare just like the rest of us. I
will show you how.”

For the next
three days, they readied themselves. They drank only water and ate
very little. For hours each morning they sat at the Window and
practiced the “stillness,” as Grandmother called it. Kaya felt her
heart filling up with tranquility and silence and a deep
waiting.

When at last
the sun began to set on the evening of the Turning, Grandmother
gave the signal. Kaya and Tike launched the canoe, breathless with
excitement. The surface of the sea shimmered in the waning light,
like the inside of a shell.

All the world
seemed still and expectant. Even the breeze barely stirred the
water. Kaya dipped her paddle eagerly, while the eagle flew ahead
of them. Grandmother’s wings were dark against the luminous sky,
but she flew slowly, so that Kaya could follow. It was the longest
day of the year. The sun slipped below the horizon, sending its
last ripples of red-gold light over the surface of the sea.
Overhead, stars began to appear, and a moon, three-quarters full,
rose like a brightening beacon over the distant
mountains.

Kaya heard
laughter nearby, or was it singing? She stopped paddling for a
moment and swiveled around in her seat. But she could see
nothing.

“
Did you hear
that, Tike?”

But before he
could answer, the sea just ahead of the canoe seemed to burst open.
The silver, arching bodies of twelve dolphins breached the water in
unison.

“
Greetings,
little sister. We meet again!”

Kaya craned
her head to see who had spoken. Then a brilliant light burst for a
moment within her heart and she recognized the presence of the
dolphin she had met earlier that week.

“
Wait!”
called Kaya impulsively. “Wait for us!”

“
Follow!”
called the voice, seeming farther away now. “Catch us if you
can!”

Kaya paddled
as hard as she could. The canoe began to speed through the water.
It went so fast that the prow lifted right up out of the sea. Tike
yelped with surprise and Kaya’s eyes widened with astonishment at
the power of her strokes. When had she gotten so strong?! Faster
and faster went the boat. Finally, Kaya slumped forward on her
paddle, gasping for breath. But the boat didn’t stop!

“
What -
!”

Then the
laughing voice sounded right beside her. She saw the shiny, dark
eyes of the dolphin smiling at her from just beyond the stern of
the boat.

“
You were
pushing us!” Kaya said, grinning. “And I thought I was so strong
all of a sudden!”

“
We would not
have you late, little sister,” said the dolphin. “You are the guest
of honour this night. You have restored the Omrith to
us.”

“
What about
me?!” Tike frowned irritably over the side of the canoe. “I helped
a lot!”

“
Of course
you did,” said Kaya soothingly. Then her eye was caught by
something up ahead.

“
Look!” she
cried, pointing. “We’re almost there.”

The sky was
growing dark. The surface of the sea was as smoky black as a
raven’s wing. Kaya paddled steadily. The canoe left a pale wake of
phosphorescence in the shadowy water, like a cascade of tiny stars.
Up ahead floated what seemed to be a vast kelp bed. She strained
her eyes against the dark. Where were the dolphins? And what was
that strange humming sound that seemed to swell up out of the
sea?

She paddled
closer and saw that, instead of a tangle of seaweed, the water was
filled with the heads of seals and otters, the fins of dolphins,
and the bobbing, quivering forms of ducks and cormorants. More
arrived as she watched, coming from every direction. Beneath the
canoe she could see that the depths of the sea were crowded with
fish, writhing and shimmering, all shapes and sizes. Overhead,
birds wheeled, calling softly to one another: eagles, herons,
kingfishers, ravens, and all the smaller birds that would normally
be asleep in their nests at this time of night.

The fish did
not flee from the birds or the seals. And the seals didn’t fear the
great Orcas breaching nearby. According to an ancient agreement,
the folk of the Salish Sea did not hunt one another on this night
of the Turning.

Kaya stopped
the canoe just at the edge of the gathering circle of sea
folk.

“
Kaya!”
called a familiar voice. It was Kelpie. The seal’s glistening head
disappeared, resurfacing a moment later next to the canoe. Kelpie’s
beautiful dark eyes shone at the girl.

“
The Turning
is about to begin,” the seal said eagerly. “Don’t worry, Kaya. The
Folk will look after you and keep you safe. Tike? Are you
coming?”