Read Desperate Measures for Free Online

get away!” she said. Now Ani looked at her approvingly, and she kept going. “We can escape! If we can find him first—”
    â€œHow are we going to do that?” Buzz asked, nervously eyeing the thirteen other runners.
    â€œI don’t know,” Jane said. “But we have to. This is our chance.”
    Ani spoke up again. “If your brother is trying to reach you—”
    â€œHe is,” Jane said. There was no doubt in her mind.
    â€œâ€”then he will travel in this direction,” Ani said. He pointed across to Cloud Ridge but pivoted to the right, indicating the curve of land around the bay. “It is the narrowest part of the island. The ground is not easy to navigate there. In places, it is impossible. That is why the tribe travels here by water.”
    â€œBut Carter doesn’t know any of that,” Vanessa said. “He’s just running blind, straight toward it.”
    â€œYes,” Ani said simply. The Nukula always seemed to take obstacles as facts, not problems.
    So maybe it was time to start thinking like a Nukula, Jane thought.
    â€œWhat happens if someone else finds him?” she asked.
    â€œI suspect Laki will leave him here when we depart for the village tomorrow,” Ani said.
    â€œWe can’t be separated!” Vanessa said. “Not again. I won’t let it happen.”
    â€œThen do not fail,” Ani said.
    He wasn’t going to tell them to disobey Laki, Jane realized. Not exactly. But if they could get to Carter first, and get him back here to the eastern shore without anyone seeing, at least they’d have a chance for escape. One
last
chance.
    Now Ani looked upstream, along the channel to where the boats were tethered. “My canoe has a small store of coconuts and water on board,” he told them.
    â€œBut . . . we can’t take your canoe,” Jane said. “It’s yours.”
    â€œIt is mine to give,” Ani answered.
    Even now, he hadn’t told them what to do. He was only stating facts. This was an opportunity. His canoe held some supplies. It was his boat to give.
    What they did with those facts was up to them. And even then, it was a terrible risk Ani was taking. His own place in the tribe could be threatened if they betrayed his trust in any way.
    â€œWhatever happens, it will be decided by sunrise,” Ani added. “That is how much time you have.”
    Jane looked up. Already, the light was turning goldand orange with the end of the day. Before long, night would set in.
    â€œHow are we going to do this?” Buzz asked. “We can’t compete against these guys. They’re going to leave us in the dust.”
    â€œWe got this far, didn’t we?” Jane asked.
    â€œYeah. With Mima’s help,” Buzz said.
    â€œWhat’s Mima doing?” Vanessa asked.
    Mima was still with the other group of
seccu
winners, waiting for the start of
Ohzooka
. She knelt on the ground, sharpening a smaller rock against a boulder for a makeshift blade. Already, she’d broken off a crude handle from a piece of bamboo. Everyone was working fast to get ready—cutting and coiling vines, gauging the landscape, and speaking low with their family members.
    For all of them, it was about more than just a hunt now. It was about earning the blood ring, and securing a place of leadership in the tribe.
    â€œMima will run her own
Ohzooka
,” Ani said. “You must allow her that.”
    â€œBut we need her,” Buzz said. “We’re a team. Shewouldn’t have even gotten to the end if it wasn’t for Carter! She owes us!”
    â€œIf it wasn’t for Mima, we never would have made it that far to begin with,” Jane said. It made sense, at least to her. This was a chance for Mima to turn her life around beyond anything she’d probably imagined. And who was to say Mima’s life was any less important than their lives?
    There was nothing more