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are never prepared for the
lava spewing side of your personality.”
    “With your father, I was prepared to pretend to be mortal
until his dying day. But your vindictive aunt took that away from me. She came
to him one night, throwing herself at him, begging him to take her back. He
spurned her and tried sending her away. She wouldn’t have it. It was then she
found out about you.” Pele rose to her feet, moving across the floor in fluid
paces. The faint smell of sulfur and burning wood tickled at Kalama’s nostrils.
Glancing down at her mother’s feet, she saw a footprint begin to form on the
flood boards.
    “Mom! Calm down. You’re going to burn a hole in my floor and
this isn’t my house. It’s a USGS rental.” Kalama jumped to her feet and grabbed
her mother by her shoulders, slowing her pace. Pele took a calming breath and
shook off Kalama’s hands.
    “ E kala mai ,” Pele said, her voice still holding a
hit of anger. Kalama simply stared at her mother. Minutes ticked by before
either woman spoke.
    “Finish the story, Mom,” Kalama said as she sat back down on
the sofa. She glanced down at the footprint on the floor. She had no idea how
she was going to explain that to Jack. Maybe she could hide it with a rug or
something.
    “Your father did not leave us, kaikamahine . Your aunt
killed him.” Kalama looked at her mother and took a shuddering breath, the
shock having knocked her cold.
    “You lied to me?” The words slipped out of her mouth
unchecked. Heat rushed through her veins. Her chest heaved as she grabbed great
gulps of air in an effort to calm herself. A rumble, low at first, built in the
silence surrounding the little house. The ground shook beneath their feet. Pele
glared at her daughter, but Kalama refused to meet the goddess’s eyes.
    “Now you are the one who needs to calm down, daughter. I
don’t want another earthquake and you have many of my powers flowing through
you.”
    “But you lied to me for over two hundred years!” Kalama
roared. The ground shook harder, pitching them both from side to side.
Logically she knew her rage was useless. Her mother wasn’t exactly known for
her honesty. But this particular lie enraged Kalama. She had spent her entire
lifetime hating a man who didn’t deserve it.
    “It was easier to let you think your father had left us,”
Pele said, her voice barely a whisper. Kalama felt the anger flowing through
her veins cool somewhat.
    “Easier for who, Mom?” Kalama asked. She took several deep
breaths to calm down. The rumbling in the earth subsided some as Kalama started
to relax.
    “For all of us. Your aunt killed your father and came after
you. We fought. I nearly lost you to her.” Pele sat next to her, draping a
single arm around Kalama’s shoulders. “When Namakaokaha’i discovered his
infidelity with me she flew into a rage. The sea raged for days, storms tore
the villages apart. Finally, Kane demanded Namakaokaha’i stop. It was then she
came after me, my belly swollen with you.” Kalama turned to face her mother.
She searched the other woman’s face, looking for the telltale hint that Pele
was lying. The fire goddess has been known to spin a good story now and then
when it suited her.
    “What happened?” she asked, meeting her mother’s eyes.
    “She tried to take you from me. Rip you from my womb and
make you hers. When your father saw us battling across the lava field in Kea’au
he intervened. He was caught in a rogue wave thrown by Namakaokaha’i and swept
out to sea.” Pele stood and crossed to the window by the door. She gazed out
into the inky night. Kalama caught the expression on her mother’s face in the
glass’s reflection. A single tear ran down her cheek.
    “You really did love him didn’t you? Not like with
Kamapua’a?” Kalama pulled her feet under her as she sat watching her mother’s
body tense.
    “Kamapua’a and I were never meant to be. He was too much of
womanizer for my tastes.” Kalama snorted in