Chapter Thirty-Two
“Sekou.”
My whisper sounded more like a bullhorn to me in the unnatural quiet of the night.
I listened for signs from either of them.
All I could feel was the subtle rocking of the dock and hear the gently lapping water against the wooden posts and the shore.
Boats were moored up and down the dock, and it was hard to determine if there was anyone out there in the ink-black night.
Something rustled, and Sekou’s head popped out from beneath the tarp he and Hailey were hiding beneath.
I nearly ran to hug them. I was so relieved that they hadn’t been caught.
That the island wasn’t trying everything in its power to keep them here.
We’d better leave now before it changed its mind or we came across one of the Kinfolk.
“I can’t believe we’re actually doing this,” Sekou muttered as I climbed into the boat. The moment I settled, he pushed off, using an oar to row us farther out into open sea where we could kick the motor on. I took up an oar too, following his lead.
Sekou glared at Hailey when she remained seated, scrunched down into the bottom of the boat. He raised his eyebrow.
“Oh,” she said, finally getting the hint. She began feeling for the extra oar tucked at the bottom.
“Right,” he confirmed. “This isn’t Driving Miss Daisy.” Sekou was channeling one of our elder aunties, but I wasn’t about to tell him that.
We didn’t speak as we rowed out into open water, afraid we’d be heard. What Sekou and I were doing went against every rule set by Nana Ama and the Isle. Even if I explained that Naira’s voice had been in my head, they’d have thought I was delusional.
“You don’t have to do this,” I said quietly to Sekou. His arms pumped, guiding the boat effortlessly through the water. That was a lie. It took a lot of effort to row a boat. Sekou just didn’t make it look so. On the other hand, Hailey struggled like she was rowing through molasses.
“Naira’s my best friend too,” he said. “It’s the three of us, remember? You’re not leaving me behind again.”
I tried not to feel guilty about leaving him behind before.
Instead, I concentrated on the water because it was easier than thinking about who had been left behind.
I also didn’t want Sekou getting hurt, or worse, because of me.
We weren’t heading to Disney World. But still, knowing he had my back was a relief.
It allowed me to believe just a little that maybe we could figure out a way to get Naira back—together.
“Still…” I trailed off when no more words would come. We were heading into a world against something we’d never encountered.
“I shouldn’t have told Uncle James about her connection to the Endowment,” Sekou admitted. Then he picked up his rowing. We had to make up time. “It was—”
“A petty-ass move?” I offered helpfully, hoping to lighten the mood. Everything that happened tonight had already been too heavy. We deserved a little levity.
A range of emotions scrolled over his face as he determined my level of shady. “Have you been waiting all night to call me that?”
I nodded. It was easier to go back and forth with him than to deal with everything that had happened.
“Fair enough.” He cut his eyes to Hailey. “But in all fairness, I just couldn’t keep it quiet when I found out.”
“When you snooped, you mean,” Hailey reminded him.
Sekou snorted. “You should probably say very little, Mainlander. We risked our asses getting you out. We saved your life.”
Hailey snorted back. “Yeah, right after you threatened my life.”
“You put your own damn life in danger, had you not been so damn nosy and disrespectful,” he snapped.
White-hot indignation fissured up so violently that I could feel his energy taking me by surprise.
My hand gripped the side of the boat to steady myself as I absorbed it, controlled it, didn’t allow his rage to consume me.
“You see how she’s still thinking only of herself?
How she’s twisting it so she’s the victim?
Not even a thanks for going against your grandmother and our traditions.
Not for getting her off the island that she weaseled her way onto.
She’s just like the rest of the mainlanders and people like her. They are always out for number one.”
He wasn’t wrong, but this time Hailey wasn’t totally to blame either. Maybe my mind was all twisted from the past few days I’d spent with Hailey and what we’d experienced. Or maybe it was the absolute terror in her eyes when she saw the other me. I should have never brought her here.
I couldn’t let Hailey take all the heat. “That’s enough, Se.”
As the fishing boat glided along, Hailey and I stared at each other in the dark.
I cut the oar in the water on the opposite side, trying to get us to a good place fast enough so we could start up the motor and go.
Hailey did the best she could while eyeing me cautiously, as if I were going to make her my next meal.
“Can I ask you something?”
Most of me wanted to laugh in her face, thinking I owed her no explanation. But when you found out vampires were real and a whole town of people had been hunting you, I guess some clarification was deserved. She took my silence as the sign to go ahead.
“You’re not what I expected vampires to be like.”
“Because all vampires look alike, right?” I managed a wry smile and even Sekou had to chuckle.
“No,” she said defensively, catching my meaning. “I mean from the books. You can be out in the day. You can change into a—”
How much to say without saying too much? “Every culture has a variation of the same ghouls and monsters.” I began. “Same explanation for things they don’t understand. Ours is the West African kind. Yes, I can go out in the day, but it can wear on me. The night is better.”
I ran down the list of lore. “My kind doesn’t turn into bats, but fireflies—lightning bugs. We’re fine on holy ground. We’re at one with the land and the spirits. Each can have a specific gift. My grandmother can heal. I’m learning as I go. A newbie.”
“You don’t have to tell her all this,” Sekou told me. “You don’t owe her anything.”
I didn’t, but tonight she had almost lost her life twice. It was the most I would do.
“I can sense emotions, the energy people put out.”
Hailey asked, “Your grandmother is how old?”
“Over a hundred. Under two.”
Hailey calculated the dates, her eyes widening. “So that puts her back when…” She couldn’t make herself say the words that made so many white people uncomfortable.
“Back when Black people were enslaved on plantations for white massas?” I finished for her. “You’d have to ask my grandmother about that. If you dare.” I smirked at her terror when Nana Ama was mentioned.
She was about to ask more, but I’d satisfied my guilt at her near death. It was Hailey’s turn at truth. She wasn’t the only one owed explanations.
“How about telling us the truth,” I said. “No more bullshit.”
Hailey said, “I didn’t come to the island with some nefarious plan to expose you and your grandma. I had no idea you all were…” She paused. “The Endowment was created to be a help.”
Sekou snorted. “Carrying around vials to take specimens from people. Really helpful.”
“We take samples from artifacts for either carbon or archaeological dating to then get them to their rightful owners.” She sighed, clearly exasperated. “But whatever. It’s not like you’re going to believe me anyway.”
“First thing you’ve been right about since you got here,” Sekou shot back. “I hope you don’t try that guilt-trip shit here; you were only here because she was worried about your safety, and then you turn around and try to spy for your colonizing uncle and company.”
“You!” Hailey pointed at him, but she caught my expression and snapped her mouth shut, sitting back against the side in a huff. “I’m not a spy.”
I said, “Maybe research is all you want to do. Doesn’t mean the same for the Endowment.
It’s usually not the same for big corporations.
Maybe you don’t know what your uncle’s true goal of finding all of these artifacts really is; ever think about that?
” I told her. Nana Ama’s words earlier in our kitchen came back to me.
“Maybe you don’t know what your uncle Simon’s real intentions for the Isle are, or for the artifacts the organization finds. ”
“Uncle Simon’s not like that. He and Dr. Franco have only ever wanted to help give back by restoring and returning stolen items.”
“And yet,” Sekou threw in, “you came to our island with sample vials … to steal, not restore.” He huffed out a laugh at her audacity.
She turned away. “A misunderstanding. When we get back, he’ll explain. We’re not all bad, you know? White people.”
“Of course not,” I snapped. “But enough have been. You’re always ‘well meaning’ until someone threatens what you think you have a right to. You can’t knock us for always being on guard.”
“Right,” Sekou said haughtily, pointing a long finger at her. “So don’t play victim here, okay? ’Cause you’re not one. You’re the villain. Save the tears.”
“Fuck you, Sekou.”
Before things got any worse, I cut in. “What do you think would happen if the world found out people like me and Nana Ama existed? What would they do with the power of Nana Ama’s elixir? They’d take advantage of it. Don’t you think that’s what the Endowment is really trying to do?”
Hailey was defiant. “Then that would mean everyone has been lying to me my whole life—my uncle, Luke, our parents. I haven’t seen any evidence of this.”
“Guess lying runs in the family.” I couldn’t help saying. Whatever effect my words had on her, I didn’t see it.
“Let’s just get through the rest of the ride, okay?” Sekou interrupted when it looked like Hailey was about to reply. “Because I just can’t deal with either one of you right now.”
She snapped her mouth shut and settled down in the bottom of the boat, turning away from me, and I did the same, our backs to each other signifying the end of what could have been before it had really had a chance to begin.
Sekou leaned over the motor and turned the switch.
It roared to life, and we were off, cutting through the water, hitting the tiny swells, water spray and wind hitting our faces.
The mainland loomed in the distance, reeling us in over the dark water.