She raised her hands toward Na Pali and began to chant a Hawaiian mele. The words lifted on the wind.
“Pretty,” he said.
She stopped and smiled. “At least a mele doesn’t require singing.” She lifted her hands to the sky and began again. The chant was so beautiful it made the hair stand up on the back of his neck.
She was as far above him as the stars.
The clouds parted, allowing the moon to peek through. Its rays glimmered on the Polihale sands and deepened the night’s shadows in the crooks and valleys of Na Pali. Kaia rubbed her gritty eyes. She was paying for the day’s lack of sleep. The green glow on her watch revealed the time as four o’clock. Another two hours and she could go home and get some rest.
Mano was snoring in his chair, and even Jesse was asleep, his head tipped to one side and deep breaths issuing from his slightly parted lips. Kaia knew the crew running the boat was still awake, but she felt the comfort of solitude on the deck as she looked out over the water.
A movement in the water caught her eye, and she squinted. A gray fin cut through the waves and approached the boat. A shark, probably a reef blacktip. Nothing to be really alarmed about. The dolphins, which had been swimming beside the boat, vanished at the big fish’s appearance. Kaia leaned her arms on the railing and listened to the wind whistle along the sand dunes on Polihale Beach. The roar of the night surf filled her head. She loved times like this when it was just her and the ocean.
She saw a blinking light ashore on her left. Watching it, she realized it was a message in Morse code, something she had learned from Tutu kane as a child. She held her breath until it came again. She counted the longs and shorts and mouthed silently the meaning, but when the light vanished she was no wiser than she’d been before.
Hammer fall. What did that mean? It sounded ominous. She glanced at Jesse’s sleeping face. Maybe he would know. It would be best if Mano didn’t awaken and ask any questions. Her bare feet whispered along the smooth deck as she approached Jesse.
The moonlight illuminated his square face. Her gaze traced a tiny bump on his nose she’d never noticed before, and she wondered if he’d broken it playing ball when he was growing up. There was so much she didn’t know about him, and she realized she wanted to plumb the depths under his calm surface.
She touched his shoulder and he opened his eyes, immediately alert, as though he had been waiting for her to awaken him. She smiled and held a finger to her lips then motioned for him to follow her. He rose, and they went to the stern of the boat.
“What’s up?”
He was standing closer than was comfortable for her growing awareness of her attraction. She stepped back a few inches. “I saw a light offshore. Morse code. It said ‘hammer fall.’ Does that mean anything to you?”
He seemed not to notice her discomfort. A frown crouched between his eyes as his gaze went to the shore. “‘Hammer fall.’ You sure?”
“Positive.”
Jesse shook his head. “Doesn’t ring a bell. I don’t like the sound of it though. Let’s go investigate. You up for a swim?”
“There are sharks out there tonight.”
He froze. “What kind? I hate sharks.”
“Reef probably, though it was too dark to tell for sure.”
“We’ll take the lifeboat then. I’m not swimming with sharks.” He hesitated and glanced back at her brother. “I’d rather not take Mano. No offense.”
“I tried not to wake him. The last thing we need is for him to sabotage our efforts.” It hurt to admit her brother might do that. She’d hoped this day would end with Mano cleared of any suspicion.
The approval in his face warmed her cheeks, and she looked quickly away before he noticed. When she was close to Jesse, she felt she was suffocating. That should have been an unpleasant sensation, but somehow it wasn’t. She slipped on her Locals and followed him.
Jesse lowered the lifeboat into the waves then helped her step down into it. The boat rocked in the water as he joined her. Nani chattered off to their starboard side.
“Shh,” she told the dolphin.
Jesse hopped to the middle seat and grabbed the oars. “Sit down,” he advised.
She nodded and moved to the bow. The spray hit her in the face, and she licked the salt from her lips. Glancing back to the boat, she saw Mano still inert in his chair.
The oars slipped silently through the water, and the waves pushed them toward the shore. When the sand scraped the lifeboat’s bottom, she started to get up.
“I’ll get it.” Jesse stepped over the side and dragged the boat ashore. He held out his hand and steadied her as she got out.