Free Mana by John A. Broussard

behind the wheel of her car and Lehua closed the passenger door, she added, “The Captain’s right, you know. There’s more to all this than meets the eye, and I’m beginning to think the way he’s thinking.” As she spoke she cramped the wheel and pulled out of the parking place,
    Lehua stared straight ahead and said nothing. Once out in the traffic stream, she turned to the now silent Millie and asked, “What are you thinking?”
    â€œThat there’s a lot more going on than just Number One’s bad luck, and you know what it is. Captain Silva’s got a point. Why don’t you level with him?”
    Lehua sighed and looked at her watch. “I’m not sure I can explain what’s happening, not even to you, never mind to Sam. But I’m willing to give it a try. I’ll need some help, though. Tessa Kaholakula, head of Hawaiian Studies on the West Hawai’i campus, should be free around noon. Let’s go out there now and see if she’s in her office.”
    In response, Millie made an illegal U-turn in the middle of the block and headed out of town toward the University. Lehua expected questions, but Millie was again silent. Turning to look at her, she saw the Sergeant peering up into the rear view mirror.
    â€œWe’re being followed,” Millie said. “Don’t turn around. Just move your side mirror so you can see it. It’s a big car. Black. Looks like a hotel limo. It pulled into a parking lot when I turned, then came out behind me.” As she spoke, she unhooked the radio mike from the dashboard. By the time she had gotten the message to the station and they had alerted a patrol car to pick up the tail, they were approaching the entrance to the campus.
    â€œDamn!” Millie said. Lehua could see the reason for the expletive. The black vehicle had fallen back and turned up into the Palisades. “They’ll never find him in that maze of roads,” Millie added.
    â€œMaybe it wasn’t following us. Maybe it was just someone who suddenly remembered they’d left a stove burner on.”
    Millie’s response was heavy with sarcasm, “Yeah, and maybe no one really wants to kill you. Dream on!”
    * * *
    This time, Tessa cleared off two seats herself as she walked through her paper-strewn office on the way to her own chair. “Make yourselves comfortable,” she said. “Excuse me while I find my calendar and make a note about a meeting I’ve got tomorrow. If I don’t write it down right away, I’ll forget for sure.”
    The search wasn’t an easy one. The missing calendar was finally found in one of the piles of paper Tessa had removed from the chairs. Having been introduced to Millie and told of her role as protector, Tessa asked, “More threats?”
    It was then Lehua realized Tessa was unaware of the acid throwing. The professor’s face darkened as she heard of the previous day’s incident. She shook her head in horror at the even more recent attempt on Lehua’s life. Lehua did not try to detail how she had escaped harm, knowing Tessa needed no such details.
    â€œDoes the sergeant know?”
    â€œNo. That’s partly why I’m here. I know she’s not about to believe me, but she might be convinced by both of us.”
    â€œWhy don’t you try your pencil trick again?”
    Lehua shook her head. “I told you I was uneasy about that when I tried it on you. I just don’t want to take any more chances.”
    Tessa looked over at the puzzled Millie, grinned, shrugged and turned to Lehua. “I suppose the rest of the reason you’re here is to find out if I’ve learned anything more about mana.”
    â€œRight.”
    â€œOne thing I’ve learned from all of my years studying folklore is contradictions are the rule and not the exception. The legends on mana are typical. There is a common core running through all of them, though,