Blooming in the Wild Page 0,91

and wobbled to her hands and knees, her wondering eyes fastened on the old ones, who waited.

“I see you,” she mumbled. “I hear you.”

“E ala mai, ho’omalu,” they called, more sternly now. “You must call your forest.”

Bella closed her eyes and sucked in a deep, shuddering breath.

As she did so, something wondrous happened. Power flowed into her. She opened her eyes and took another breath, watching as golden streamers flew through the air like pollen on the wind, into her mouth and nose. Yes, the power of her forest was coming into her.

“‘Oe mâkaukau,” the forest people told her. “You are ready. Take the kupua and use it, wahine. Use it to save us all.”

Save them all. Bella focused her gaze and saw Joel staring at her, his beloved face contorted with fear for her. She smiled at him, her love and reassurance in her eyes.

And then she pushed herself to her feet, wavering a little as she found her feet. The power was almost more than she could contain. She gazed down wonderingly at her hands, watching the strands that swayed from her fingertips as she moved them, almost more than she could resist. She wanted to cast them indiscriminately, play with them, create havoc, chaos.

Camille Helman smiled her shark’s smile, and sauntered closer. “My, you’re tougher than I thought. Having a nice trip, Bella?”

Bella focused on her, frowning as she remembered. Yes, this puny haole woman was at the epicenter of this foul storm. How best to deal with her.

Bella turned and mirrored Camille’s movements, prowling gracefully, so that they moved in a circle. Only Bella was now stalking the other woman, her confidence growing as the other Hawaiians faded, and she felt their power come into her with each breath she took.

“I? I am fine,” she said, her voice at once deeper and softer than her usual tones. It echoed around the clearing, and she watched with satisfaction as the men clustered around the edges stared at her. “But you—you are going to be very sorry, haole spider. Sorry that you brought your drugs and your foul web to my island.”

Camille laughed, and Baldy laughed with her.

Bella laughed too, a soft, terrible sound. She reached up with the golden strands of power, found another vine, a young green one, and brought it flying down through the air with a sharp gesture. Crouching, Baldy stepped back, the barrel of his gun rising.

Camille turned, her laughter dying in her throat as the vine slashed around Li’s feet and dragged the unconscious man high into the air, dangling him like a fly in a spider’s web from the tallest tree in the small area.

As he swung through the air, he woke and struggled wildly, screaming in a horrible, choked voice. His face was suffused with blood, his eyes wild.

Bella’s laughter rippled through the hot, still air like leaves rippling in the wind. Turning back to the group now watching in various stages of horror, she focused on the nearest gunman. “You,” she said. “You are next.”

He stumbled backward, shaking his head, his mouth working.

Bella held up her hands before her, dreamily watching the gold streamers pour from them. “You sought to kill me,” she said to Camille. “To maim me. But you have given me a gift. Your drug has made me stronger, brought my powers from behind my inhibitions and fears.”

She held up her arms, and with a rushing murmur of sound, blossoms began to fly down from the forest, filling the air with drifts of color and bloom. As Camille and her men gaped, and even Cassie lifted her head from the sand to squint, the flowers settled around Bella, wreathing her head with a bouffant crown of blossom and her neck with a lei, her wrists with bracelets of blooms.

“You see?” She tipped back her head, the wonder of it pouring through her. “I am Ho’omalu. And I reign here. You do not.”

“Kill her!” Camille shrieked. “Enough. Kill her.”

A sharp burst of gunfire blasted through the clearing. Icy-hot pain shot through Bella’s right arm, but she shook it off like the sting of a wasp. She must get the innocent ones out of the way.

Bella waved her hand, and the palm fronds under Cassie tugged her down the beach, out of the way.

Then she turned toward Joel, ready to sweep him to safety. But Baldy’s weapon swept away from Joel, the black mouth appearing over Joel’s shoulder, pointed at her. Joel moved like lightning. With a roar,