Free Kaya Stormchild by Lael Whitehead

the man’s knees, driving Spencer into an even
greater frenzy.
    “ Leave Josh
alone!” Kaya shouted in Spencer’s ear. She gave a final powerful
squeeze with her arms, which were strong from years of padding the
canoe. Then she leapt free. Spencer dropped to the sand,
semi-conscious, his breath coming in thin rasps.
    Kaya turned
around to catch sight of the Duchess, not more than twenty feet
away. She was holding the shelll high over her head. Light pulsed
from it like a strobe.
    But behind
her, Rex was barreling up the beach. His huge body dripped from his
plunge into the water.
    “ Watch out!”
screamed Kaya.
    The Duchess
swung around and held up her hand.
    “ Stop!” she
said commandingly.
    Rex paused,
startled, a few feet away. The old woman’s slender, stooping frame
looked almost comically frail next to his massive one.
    “ This is not
for you, my friend,” she said in a clear, steady voice. “You don’t
know what you are meddling with here.”
    Rex’s flat,
high-pitched laugh scraped the air.
    “ A little old
lady, a couple of kids and a slimy-looking dog. Think you can tell
me what I’m allowed to meddle with? Going to send me to my room
without any supper, Granny? Hah!”
    He took a step
forward, looming menacingly over the Duchess.
    “ Give it
here, you old hag,” he squealed.
    “ No,” said
the old woman steadily. “You don’t understand. So much is at stake.
This must go back to its rightful place or -”
    But she wasn’t
allowed to finish. Rex whipped a knife from his belt and lunged
towards the old woman.
    “ Don’t!”
shouted Kaya
    “ No!”
shrieked Josh at the same moment from where he lay on the
sand.
    But it was too
late. They saw the old woman crumple to the sand, clutching her
arm. The shell rolled out of her grasp and down towards the water.
Rex was after it in a second. He pulled off his dirty white t-shirt
and wrapped it around the shimmering object. Then, tucking the
pulsating bundle under his arm he waded to the boat, which was
still floating in the shallows. His huge naked belly jiggled as he
clambered aboard.
    “ Hurry, you
idiot!” he shouted at Spencer, who was finally staggering to his
feet.
    “ And as for
you lot,” he hissed, “I’m gonna make sure you don’t meddle with us
again. Grab that canoe, Spencer! We’re going to take it for a
little ride.”
    Limping,
Spencer dragged the red canoe by its rope over to the boat. As if
frozen, Kaya watched mutely as the two men fired up the motor and
sped off down the bay, towing the canoe behind them. The urgent
drumming subsided gradually to a dull, distant pulse, then
disappeared. The shimmering light faded from the air, and with it
all hope ebbed from Kaya’s heart. She closed her eyes and sank to
the sand. She felt drained, as if a plug had been pulled deep
within her, as if all possibility of joy had emptied forever from
the world. All that was left was darkness.
    “ Kaya!” a
voice shouted in her ear. “Get up! Kaya!”
    She felt a
soft, whiskered nose nudge her cheek. It was Tike. Kaya roused
herself. She opened her eyes and looked at the otter. He stared
back at her impatiently.
    “ You can’t
give up, Kaya. You can’t just lie there. You’ve got to help
them!”
    With an
effort, Kaya willed her eyes to focus. She got to her feet. Josh
lay ten feet away, clutching his leg and moaning in pain. A stone’s
throw down the beach was the slumped form of the Duchess. Kaya
swallowed hard and shook herself.
    “ Josh,” she
called to him, her voice hoarse and strange in her ears, “Don’t
worry. I’ll be back in a minute to help you.”
    She forced
herself to take a step along the sand. And another. Then she began
to run towards the Duchess.
    The beach, the
sea, the gathering clouds overhead zoomed suddenly into intense
focus. Kaya’s ears filled with the murmuring of the waves and the
hissing of the wind through the forest beyond the beach. All at
once she felt supremely alive, as if she had just woken