Kaya Stormchild (7 page)

“
And please
be careful!” added Kaya urgently. “There are some really bad people
in the area – bounty hunters. They’re catching Dolphins and selling
their body parts!’

The dolphins
knew this already.

“
We are now
wise,” said a large female in a stern voice. “Full Moon last, they
trapped two of our cousins in a net. The Evil Ones lured them
cleverly with live fish.”

She gazed into
Kaya’s eyes and the harshness in her voice gave way to a powerful
sorrow. “Trapped them and shot them with fire sticks,” the dolphin
continued slowly. “They cut out fins and teeth then tossed their
bodies back into the Sea Foam. Such bitter truth must we now learn:
that Evil Ones walk the world eager for these pieces of our flesh -
not as food, but as trophies and prizes. Long have we refused to
know in our hearts such evil. But it is truth. We must know and
grieve.”

The dolphin
was silent a moment. Then, with a toss of her head, and a spout of
spray from her blowhole, she turned towards the others. “But we
will never again be tricked by these hunters!” she said
firmly.

“
Never
again!’ the others chorused in unison.

The dolphins
said goodbye. Then suddenly, as they began to swim away, Kaya heard
a strange, unearthly voice. It spoke inside her head, a silvery,
dancing voice like splashing water.

“
Despair
not,” the voice echoed within her mind.

Kaya looked
about in confusion. She had forgotten that dolphins sometimes chose
to communicate telepathically, particularly when strong emotion was
involved.

She saw that
one of the larger dolphins had lingered behind the others. He had
come right up to the edge of the canoe. She met his eyes, and for a
moment she felt their gazes lock. A bolt of energy coursed through
her, just for an instant. It seemed as if her insides had filled
with a dazzling radiance. The colours of everything surrounding her
glowed and swirled as if the world had turned to liquid, like a
vast, melted rainbow. Her heart seemed to have stopped beating, and
she didn’t blink or breathe.

Then, just as
suddenly as it had come, the flow of light ceased. The world
returned to its normal shape and colour. Kaya dropped her
eyes.

“
Thank you,”
she murmured.

She felt
strangely light, as if all the anxiety of the past twenty-four
hours had drained from her body.

The silver
head tossed, and a rippling laugh echoed outwards.

“
Farewell,”
said the smiling voice, out loud this time. Then, with a graceful
leap backwards and away from the canoe, the dolphin dipped beneath
the sea and was gone.

Tike scowled
down at the water.

“
What a bunch
of show-offs!” he snorted. “They think they’re the only ones that
can do a backwards dive. I’ll bet they can’t turn a real
somersault!”

But Kaya
wasn’t listening. She leaned on her paddle for a moment, savouring
the strange, wonderful sensation she had just experienced. Then,
giving herself a quick shake, she thrust her paddle into the sea
and got the canoe going swiftly again. It wasn’t long before she
was tying up at the dock in Campbell Harbour.

Josh was there
on the dock to greet them. Jim was with him.

“
I’ve been
telling him about the men,” Josh said excitedly to Kaya as they
walked up the stairs from the dock. “He says they stole from
him.”

“
Well, I
don’t have any proof, so I hesitate to say for sure,” said Jim, in
his gruff, kind voice. “But a brand-new, expensive set of fishing
tackle went missing day before yesterday, and I saw one of those
characters examining it quite carefully when they were in to buy
cigarettes first thing in the morning. The big guy got me talking,
and I noticed the skinny one leave the store suddenly, which seemed
odd. He had a big duffel coat on, all buttoned up tight even though
the day was warm. I got a bad feeling at the time, but I was too
busy to check the store until later.”

“
The coat!”
said Josh. He and Kaya exchanged looks. “That must have been before
he lost it!”

“
So if we
could figure out where he went after he was here - ” said
Kaya.

They had
reached the store.

“
Come on in,”
said Jim. “We’d better call the RCMP.”

Beth was
there. She was much shorter than Jim, with a stocky build, bright
red hair, and a turned-up, freckled nose.

“
Hey there,
Kaya,” she smiled. “How did you like my lemon loaf?”

“
Delicious!”
said Kaya.

“
So-so,” said
Tike. “A little too sweet, I’d say.”

“
Tike liked
it, too,” said Kaya quickly, with a frown at the otter. But Beth
hadn’t understood him, of course. The woman bent down to pat the
otter on the back of his head. This took Tike by surprise, but
since he enjoyed being stroked by Kaya, he took a step towards Beth
and leaned against her leg. He lifted his head so she could scratch
him under the chin.

Jim told Beth
about the illegal hunters camping on Heron Island, and about how
they fit the description of the thieves that had stolen their
tackle box. Immediately, Beth hurried into the back of the store to
phone the police. She returned a minute later.

“
Angela is on
her way over to talk to you kids. She’s our local RCMP officer. She
says she’s already had a call from Lyall Island. A guy there said
he heard gunshots, then saw two men hauling a dolphin into their
boat in a net. These must be the same guys. Maybe if she catches
them we can get the tackle box back,” she grinned, giving Tike a
final pat on the head.

The RCMP
office was just up the road, so it wasn’t long before the door
swung open and two officers wearing blue uniforms walked
in.

“
Hi there,”
said the taller of the two, an athletic-looking woman with short,
dark hair, and steady blue eyes.

“
I’m Angela,
and this is Officer Raymond. I hear you’ve got a story to tell
me.”

Her companion,
a very young man, with short pale hair and a face that still bore
traces of adolescent acne, stood awkwardly at her side. His cheeks
flushed a little as he nodded towards the group by the front
counter.

After giving
their story, Jim and Beth left to finish unpacking a shipment of
groceries in the back of the store. Then it was Kaya’s and Josh’s
turn to relate their adventure. Angela nodded as they spoke,
listening carefully to every word, and asking questions now and
then. Raymond took a pad of paper from his pocket and began writing
notes. He seemed relieved to have something to do other than meet
the speakers’ eyes. When Kaya and Josh came to the end of their
tale, the officer turned to Kaya and said, in a conversational
tone,

“
I know Josh
and his Dad. They live here in Campbell Harbour. But I haven’t seen
you about. Have you just moved here?”

Kaya felt a
wave of panic. She didn’t want the police officer to find out where
she lived. She didn’t want to have to explain about Tangle Island,
and Grandmother, and the nest. Josh came to the rescue.

“
Oh, she’s
just visiting. She’s my - second cousin, or something. I can never
get it straight.”

Angela smiled.
“Well, thanks a lot for your help. We are going to head out to
Heron right now. If they haven’t moved all their booty yet, we’ll
be able to catch them red-handed.”

After they
left, Kaya gave Josh a wry look.

“
You sure are
good at lying!”

Josh flushed,
embarrassed. “I’d never lie to
you
, though, Kaya. I just didn’t
want -”

“
I know. You
were just protecting me. Thanks!”

Jim returned
from the back of the store, carrying a box of apples. Kaya
recounted her interview with the RCMP.

“
They don’t
need to ask us any more questions, so we’re going to run up to the
Thrift Store for a while and see the Duchess.”

Kaya gazed out
anxiously towards the bay. “Oh, I hope they catch those awful -
those horrible -” Her voice trembled and caught in her
throat.

“
There are
just not words to describe such people, are there?” said Jim
gently. “They just don’t seem to care about anything but making
money. They’re willing to step on anything that gets in their way.
I wish I didn’t belong to the same species….”

He paused,
thoughtful, then said with a worried smile, “I hope the cops don’t
run into trouble trying to arrest them, though. The new guy that’s
here to help Angela for the summer looks like he’d be scared of his
own shadow!”

Chapter 5:
The Chase

A “Closed”
sign hung in the window when Kaya, Josh and Tike
arrived.

“
That’s
strange,” said Kaya. “Sunday’s her busiest day. I hope she’s not
sick.”

They knocked
at the door. The Duchess opened it, wearing a shiny, pale-green
kimono.

“
Come in,
children,” said the old woman, smiling. Her white hair was not tied
back in its usual bun, but fell fine and gauzy around her
shoulders. Her eyes seemed more lined than usual.

“
I’m afraid I
slept rather badly last night, so it’s taking me a while to get the
day started. Come on into the kitchen. There’s a fresh pot of tea.
And some banana muffins I baked yesterday. Help yourselves while I
get dressed.”

They sat
around her table, talking in quiet voices and sipping sweet, milky
tea from the Duchess’s china teacups. After ten minutes or so, the
old woman appeared, dressed in a blue, flowered skirt and white
blouse. She wore pink lipstick and tiny, blue earrings, and her
hair was pinned up neatly.

“
I felt the
need of a little make-up this morning,” the Duchess laughed. “I
frightened myself when I looked in the mirror!”

“
Are you
feeling sick?” asked Kaya. “Is that why you couldn’t sleep last
night?”

The Duchess
poured herself a cup of tea.

“
No,” she
said, rubbing her forehead as she stood gazing out her small
kitchen window at the spring morning. “I wasn’t sick. But I was
troubled. Very troubled. As if something were missing. And yet, I
didn’t know what it was or where to look for it.”

She looked at
the two children sitting at the table, and at the otter curled up
by Kaya’s chair. She sat down.

“
Never mind.
Just bad dreams, probably. What is your news? Did you follow that
fellow yesterday?”

Josh and Kaya
told the story once again, with Tike adding comments now and then.
The Duchess listened attentively. When they had finished, she
leaned back in her chair.

“
A big,
unusual shell. It must have fallen out of that man’s pocket
somewhere.”

“
I don’t
think it’s on Heron Island. Those guys have searched everywhere, it
sounds like,” said Josh, wiping crumbs from his chin.

They sat in
silence, pondering for a moment.

“
Hey,” said
Kaya. “Remember Spencer said something about a ‘little island’
where they stashed some of their ‘loot’? Maybe it fell out
there.”

“
Humph!”
grunted Tike. “There are about a hundred little islands around
here. How are we going to know which one?”

The Duchess
translated Tike’s comment for Josh, then added, “Must be an island
near Heron, I would imagine, since Heron appears to be their
headquarters. If I were a bounty hunter I’d want to keep my
operation fairly simple. Everything close by.”

The Duchess
stood up and went to her hall closet. She rummaged through stacks
of papers piled on a shelf there for a few minutes.

“
Aha! Here it
is!” she cried.

Returning to
the kitchen, she cleared away the teacups, then unfolded a large,
yellowed paper and spread it out on the kitchen table. It was a
detailed map of the Salish Sea, depicting even the smallest islands
in the chain.

“
Now. Let’s
see,” said the Duchess, leaning over the map. “Here is Heron
Island, and there is the Scout Camp.”