Kailani Moana's Arc

Chapter 5 of 2

Kailani climbed a few more feet, then stopped. Her legs shook. Her wet clothes clung to her skin, and the cold tunnel drank the last of her warmth. Her teeth clicked together. She knew this feeling. If she kept moving cold and soaked, she would drop and not get up. She unhooked the small clay jar from her belt. Her grandmother had taught her to make the balm inside it. Boil the right roots, add fat, seal it with a cracked lid. Kailani twisted the lid off with numb fingers. The smell hit her at once, sharp and warm. She scooped the ointment and rubbed it hard into her arms, her chest, her legs. Heat spread under her hands. Her shivering slowed. Her breath came easier. She sat until the warmth held. Then she climbed. The tunnel narrowed. Kailani turned sideways and pushed through a gap barely wider than her shoulders. Rock scraped her back. "Come on," she muttered. "Come on." She reached a small wall of stone and dug her fingers into cracks and pulled herself up, foot by foot. Her arms burned. She was scared the whole time, but she kept going, the way her grandmother finished hard things. Then she saw light ahead. Pale gray daylight. And she heard a familiar screech. Her parrot burst around the corner, wings flashing orange and red and green. It had bolted when she fell, and she had feared it lost. It landed on her shoulder and pressed its head to her cheek. "You found me," Kailani whispered. She almost cried. The bird chattered and tugged her braid. Together they went toward the light. The tunnel opened into a wide mouth. Beyond it lay the beach and the sea. Kailani stepped forward, ready to run out. A shape moved between her and the opening. A panther. Black and huge, bigger than any cat she had ever seen. It filled the gap and blocked the daylight. Its yellow eyes fixed on her. Kailani froze. Her parrot went still on her shoulder. The panther lowered its head. Kailani had no rope, no log, nothing. She lifted the clay jar in front of her like a shield, though she knew it was useless. Then the panther sniffed. Its nose worked at the air. It smelled the warm balm on her skin. The great head tilted. Slowly the panther stepped aside. It pressed itself flat against the tunnel wall and watched her, ears forward, tail low. It was letting her pass. Kailani did not understand it. She only knew the way out was open. She edged along the far wall, her back to the stone, her eyes on the panther. The parrot dug its claws into her shoulder. When she reached the mouth of the cave, the panther gave one low sound, almost a word. Kailani stumbled out into daylight and salt air, alive, the bracelet still tight in her fist.