Kailani waited for a gap in the waves, then ran. Water pulled at her ankles as she reached the cliff. She ducked through the black opening and stood inside the cave. The storm noise fell away. Ahead, the tunnel swallowed all light. She could see nothing. She reached into her pack and lifted out her lantern. It was shaped like a jellyfish, with soft tendrils that swayed as she moved. Its core glowed pale blue. The light spread a few feet ahead, no more. Rock walls dripped around her. Cold water covered the floor and rose past her ankles. "Slow," she told the parrot on her shoulder. "We go slow." She pulled the coil of rope from her pack and let one end drop. She swung it forward and tapped the ground before each step. Where it struck stone, she stepped. Where it splashed into nothing, she stopped and found another way. The parrot pressed close to her neck and stayed quiet. Inch by inch, she crossed the flooding tunnel. The lantern lit her small circle of wet rock. Twice the rope found empty water, and twice she edged around it. Her heart slowed. The method was working. She reached what felt like the middle of the cave, where the walls opened wider. Then the parrot screeched and lifted off her shoulder. Kailani looked up to follow it. Her foot came down without the rope's warning. The stone was not there. Her leg dropped through a gap in the floor, and the rest of her followed. She grabbed at the rock, but her fingers slid on the wet edge. She fell. The hole took her straight down. Her back scraped the sides. The lantern spun from her hand and tumbled with her, its glow flashing across smooth walls. She hit water hard and went under. Cold closed over her head. Kailani kicked up and broke the surface, gasping. Her feet found a rock ledge below the water. She stood, chest deep, and grabbed the lantern where it floated nearby. It still glowed. She held it high and looked around. She stood in a round chamber far below the tunnel. The hole she fell through was a dark circle high above her, out of reach. No rope hung down. No handhold marked the walls. Water lapped at her ribs and rose as she watched. High above, the parrot's cry echoed down the shaft, small and far. "I'm here," she called up. Her voice bounced off the stone and came back at her. The bird could not pull her out. No one in the village knew where she was. Kailani turned in a slow circle, lantern raised. The blue light touched the far wall. There, half sunk in the rising water, something small caught the glow and shone back at her. She waded toward it.

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.