Desperate Measures Read Online Free Page A

The ceiling was domed, made from another lattice of foliage-covered bamboo. It bulged into the jungle itself, like a fifty-foot-wide skylight, overgrown with leaves and vines that hung down nearly to the floor.
    There were three other tunnels, too. It seemed clear that Laki had come from the one on the right. It pointed back in the direction of the canoes and
Trehila.
The other two openings went to the west and north. It all laid out in Vanessa’s mind like a half-finished map.
    While Laki supervised, the elders used long sticks to lift the steaming pots off the flame and set them onto the dirt. Next to that, a stack of woven-frond mats sat with a pile of thin, stringy vines.
    Everyone seemed to know what to do. All of the other
seccu
winners moved in single file around the circularroom to form a wide ring.
Raku Nau
had begun with a fire circle. Now it would end with one, too.
    Slowly, the adult family members stepped into the circle and turned to face their own loved ones. Ani, who had been speaking with Laki, now came to do the same.
    As he faced Vanessa, Jane, Buzz, and Mima, a lump rose up Vanessa’s throat. Ani wasn’t their father, and Mima wasn’t their sister, but they were as close to family as it was possible to have found in this short, bizarre time on Shadow Island.
    â€œThank you,” she whispered to Ani. Mima squinted at her, and seemed confused by the emotion.
    â€œHold up the hand you used to claim the
seccu
on Cloud Ridge,” Ani said, and then repeated it in Nukula for Mima. Vanessa and Buzz raised their right hands; Jane raised her left. And Mima had already bent down to pick up one of the frond mats.
    â€œNow face me,” Ani told Vanessa. “You first.”
    The other adults were using the vines to tie screens around their own children’s arms. Jane knelt down to help Mima while Ani began to do the same for Vanessa.
    â€œWhat are we doing, exactly?” Vanessa asked.
    â€œYou will choose a color,” Ani said, and indicated the still-bubbling pots. Each one held a different liquid—deep black, bloodred, and milky white. They were the colors of
Raku Nau.
“Then you will place your
seccu
arm into the dye,” he continued. “Red signifies fire. Black signifies earth. White signifies the trees. All of these give life to the Nukula.”
    Vanessa stared at the steaming liquids. The vine- and-frond wrapping pinched her skin as Ani knotted it down, but that was the least of her worries. It was hard to concentrate.
    â€œRed,” Buzz answered. “For fire.”
    Jane nodded in agreement. Fire it was. They would all do the same.
    Already, several others had dunked their wrapped arms into one pot or another. Their faces were fixed, but not calm. Two of them, a boy and a girl, stood gritting their teeth, up to their armpits in the hot red dye.
    Vanessa held a shaking fist over the red pot and tried to clear her mind. It was the same feeling as watching a dark storm roll in across the Pacific. There was no avoiding this now, only getting through it.
    With a fast move, she plunged her whole arm into the cauldron. The liquid was hotter than any shower she’d ever taken, and she shuddered from the pain. Everything inside her said
pull back.
But with Laki and the others observing, she didn’t dare.
    The vinegary smell of the dye made her eyes water, too. She blinked several times, fighting off the dizziness, and locked her knees to keep from stumbling over.
    â€œHow long should I do this?” she asked.
    â€œAs long as you can,” Ani answered, while he tied on Buzz’s mat. “In the eyes of the Nukula, you are now adults. The choice is yours.”
    Vanessa took a breath and let it out. How many times had she wanted to be treated like an adult back home? More than she could remember. But that was no comfort at all right now. The only thing that mattered was gutting through this and putting it behind them.
    For Buzz’s sake.