Thunder (3 page)

Selah's confidence took an upswing. She was brighter than at least one of them. Could she lead them up the beach to protect her catch?

Maybe if she ran. She moved to the right but had a split-second hesitation as her feet gained traction and her toes dug into the sand. Her right leg stretched out for the sprint. Then the walking staff swung out in front of her, cracking into her left shin and sweeping her foot from under her.

Selah crashed chest first into the beach. The air rushed from her lungs. The sand that felt like cotton when walking on it turned to cement when crashing into it. She tried to cry out, but her remaining air expelled as a weak grunt. She fought to inhale. Her arms flailed, but the weight of a body pressed her deeper into the sand.

Bang!

Selah recognized the sound. The tin cover.

“Get off me!” She gasped for air. She thrashed about, trying to dislodge whichever boy was pinning her. A punch to the back of the head forced a whimper from her as her face was ground into the sand.

The weight on her back. She couldn't breathe. Sand invaded the openings in her face. She felt particles climbing to her sinuses. Her arms flailed. Granules clogging her tongue. No room to inhale.

The body holding her down was suddenly lifted away.

Selah flipped onto her back, gagging and coughing as she snorted out the sand blocking her air. Bodhi lifted Missing Tooth over his head. The boy's arms and legs flapped in the air. Bodhi body-slammed him to the sand. He stopped moving.

Bodhi turned to the others and lunged for the closest.

“Get him!” Ragged Pants drew his bow and nocked an arrow.

“Kill them both!” Razor Head shouted. His smooth dome reflected the morning sun as he swept the long staff over his head in a circle, advancing on Bodhi.

Selah crawled a few feet away, still struggling to reinflate her lungs.

Bodhi leaned over on his hands and swept his body in a sideways pinwheel. Razor Head was caught off guard, and it drove his feet out from under him as his staff flew toward the sea and he landed on his back. Bodhi delivered a fist to Razor's neck, and he went limp.

“Behind you,” Selah yelled in a raspy voice.

Bodhi swung to face Ragged Pants' bow at the same moment the boy released the arrow.

As though time switched to slow motion, a sound came from somewhere near her toes, crashed up through her body and out her mouth. Selah screamed. The arrow spun toward Bodhi, who swung out his right arm and snatched it from the air.

Selah's mouth dropped open. Bodhi took a step forward, and his right leg shot out in a roundhouse kick that connected with the boy's face. He too went down. Bodhi pivoted on his side to deliver a crippling elbow slam across Ragged Pants' neck.

Selah suddenly felt panic. It had all happened in less than a minute. She tried to crab walk away from Bodhi, healthy respect and fear for the man rising to the forefront. Watching someone dispatch many enemies at one time went a long way to change a girl's perception.

Bodhi walked to where Selah sat in the sand. “Are you all right?”

Her mouth opened but words wouldn't come. Her lips trembled. She wanted to cry but refused to look weak and invite more danger.

“Let me help you.” He held out his hand. She shrank back.

He looked at the arrow clenched in his other hand as though just noticing it. He threw it away and reached out both hands.

Selah tentatively reached up to him, and he easily pulled her to her feet.

“How did you do that?” Selah stammered over her words, her chest heaving. Ten thoughts were trying to rank themselves in her head all at one time. Surprise, fear, and excitement topped the list. She had to be losing her mind to find
him thrilling. Maybe that punch in the head she'd gotten had shaken something lose.

Bodhi shook his head. “Don't know. Never did it before.”

Selah stared at the bodies littering the beach. She still couldn't process the superhuman abilities he'd displayed.

He held up both open palms, turning them slowly to look at the backs. “There's a vibration in them.”

Selah looked up from his hands and saw it coming. “No!”

A
hunting boomerang slammed into the back of Bodhi's head. Selah heard the sickening crunch as wood connected with bone. His head jerked forward, his eyes went blank and fluttered closed, and he collapsed face forward into Selah's arms.

She grappled with lowering his limp body to the sand without dropping him as she searched the ground. The boomerang lay to her left. She recognized the intricate pattern etched on the L-shaped polished surface. It belonged to her brother. “Raza, you come out here right now! What's wrong with you? You could have killed me.”

She scoured the rubbled landscape. Anger welled up as her hands began to shake. She wasn't sure whether it was because her brother had incapacitated her catch or had come so close to whacking her with his stupid stick.

Raza and Cleon scrambled over littered steel beam roofing and jumped to the beach. They could almost be mistaken
as twins. Both blond and brown-eyed, both muscular, but Raza, at twenty-one, stood six feet tall and weighed about 190 pounds, while Cleon, two years younger, was five nine and about thirty pounds lighter. Both wore the dark brown double-weight linen pants Mother's business created specifically for farm workers. The only thing setting them apart—Raza liked short hair and button shirts while Cleon, with shoulder-length shaggy hair, preferred tunics.

“You could have hit me.” Selah fisted her hands at her hips. It was more an act of disrespect to her well-being. Raza seemed to enjoy instilling fear in her.

Raza smiled broadly. He tousled her ponytail and rubbed her head. “I know how to aim, little girl.”

She jerked her head away. Anger swelled, making her legs tremble. “I'm serious, Raza. I'm telling Father. You know what he told you about throwing near us.”

Raza stood over the fallen form. He stooped, grabbed a handful of blond hair, and lifted Bodhi's head from the sand. “Good job, little sister. He's a Lander. You distracted him long enough for us to close the deal.”

Selah ignored the little sister remark. This was not the time and it wouldn't get her anywhere. She lost focus when she allowed herself to get visibly angry, and he knew it. She peered over his shoulder, looking at Bodhi for a wound. No blood, just a big bump separating his hair on the back of his head. She winced. That was going to leave a mark.

She knitted her brow and thrust out her chin. “I wasn't distracting him for you. He's my catch. Not yours.”

“Not today, little sister. My 'rang took him down and he's mine. It's five thousand credits if that mark is still there in
the morning.” Raza tied Bodhi's limp arms behind his back and proceeded to truss his legs.

Selah opened her mouth to protest. But what good would it do her? She knew Father would back the boys and ignore her attempt at hunting. Emotion stormed in her like a raging bull. She wanted to lash out. Scream. Stomp. None of it would help. They'd just laugh. She was so frustrated she could cry, but she refused to give them the satisfaction.

Cleon, carrying the staff, bow, and a few knives, returned from checking the other fallen bodies. “Sissy, it looks like you got yourself in a bit of trouble here.”

Selah winced and gritted her teeth. Her brothers called her
sissy
to bug her. It was partially her fault for letting them see that it got to her.

“I did no such thing.” Selah looked up the beach at her bucket and kapos, unwilling to admit she was defenseless. They'd never let her live it down. “I knew exactly what I was doing.”

Raza tied the last knot and rose. “What's their condition? Anything we have to worry about?”

Cleon dropped the booty and shook his head. “No, nothing at all.” He pointed at Bodhi. “This guy is a real bad one. They're all dead. Got to keep him tied up tight or there'll be trouble.”

“He was helping me,” Selah said, looking for any way to make them give her credit. Maybe if she could convince them that she'd charmed him, they might relent.

“Saw the whole thing.” Raza pointed his finger at her. “You're stupid to get yourself in the middle. Hunting is not for babies.”

“Tomorrow I'm a woman.” She tossed back her ponytail and crossed her arms over her chest.

Raza laughed. “Yeah, saw how well you handled yourself. Couldn't have been worse.”

Cleon lowered his head. To his credit, he wouldn't treat her this badly if Raza wasn't around. He was protecting his own status with their older brother.

Selah turned on Raza. “You saw it all? You were going to let those Waterside boys beat me up?” She glanced sideways at Cleon.

His cheeks turned bright red. His pale complexion always gave him away when embarrassed. “You weren't in danger. I was right here. Besides, the Lander seemed capable.”

“That's not the point.” Selah noted Cleon spoke only for himself. At least she could count on him in time of need. She turned and pointed at Raza. “Were you seriously willing to let them beat me to build your ego and prove I'm not fit to be a hunter? Or was it payback for my skill in thwarting your attempt to be my babysitter?”

Raza set his jaw and stared at her, then leaned over Bodhi's still form to check for a pulse. “Might teach you to do what you're told.”

Selah's chest tightened. She'd never been close with Raza, but until today she'd never realized the depth of his ego. Or was the look on his face hatred? Was it directed at her? No, it couldn't be. He was her brother.

Selah trudged the worn path from the larger of their barns down to the house. She'd spent the better part of the day
trying to negotiate with her brothers to reclaim her catch. At least Cleon had let her ride to the barn on the back of his Sand Run. Raza carried the Lander on his, and would have left her to walk home. At the barn she'd argued over the unconscious Lander until Raza chased her out with the comment that Father would back him up. She knew he was right. All she could remember was how Father had defended Raza at the beach yesterday, and what she had seen happen there.

She looked down the hill and shivered. She was too annoyed to enjoy the beauty of the view out over the ocean. Ultimately the sea had caused her angst yesterday and today, but there was nothing that couldn't be fixed by going home. She hurried down the path and around the tree line to her right. The house came into view.

She bolted toward the house, remembering the time when she was about ten that Father had planted a corn crop on this side of the tree line. As she rounded the path that late summer, tall corn had obscured her view of their rambling, single-story home. She couldn't even see the slate-red color of the clay-tiled roof. She recalled her depth of panic, thinking home had disappeared. Charging through the sharp corn leaves willy-nilly cut up her arms and legs, but she had reached the house and safety. To this day she still possessed a long scar on her right forearm that she fingered when she was fearful.

Today the field lay fallow. It would be planted with winter flax for Mother's linen business.

Stomping into the house, Selah slammed the kitchen door behind her. The soft thunk of the heavy wooden door was not the satisfying sound she craved. Wrenching a chair away from the table created a squealing scrape of wood on wood
as the legs dragged. That sound gratified her, mimicking what she wanted to scream.

Her mother, Pasha Rishon, looked up from the flour she was sifting. Her dark hair was piled on her head in unruly curls, and her olive skin, set against the backdrop of the pale yellow of her long linen jumper, radiated a beauty uncommon in other forty-one-year-old women in their community. “And what size pebble is stuck in your shoe? Or should I ask what have your brothers done to you now?” Her green eyes glowed with peace, creating a calming effect.

Selah's mood softened a tad. She found comfort in knowing her mother could read her so well. She knew lots of girls her age hated mothers snooping in their business, but Selah remained bonded to hers even as she reached the awkward age of accountability.

“I'm never talking to either of them again. They are so mean.” Selah plopped onto the chair next to her mother and smacked her fist on the table. “It's my turn! I should be able to claim my own catch without them horning in on the action.”

Mother's smile dissolved as she dropped the sifter, dislodging the last chalky remnants across the table. She grabbed Selah by the arm. “Catch? What catch? I told you to stay away from the beach today.”

Selah froze. Should she lie or tell the truth? Mother hadn't been this angry since she'd gotten mud on the clean laundry. “I . . . there was a Lander who came in on the beach today.”

Mother's face went pale. “Did you touch him?” Her grip increased.

Selah grimaced. What was the problem? She needed to think of something to get out of this trouble.

“Answer me!” She shook Selah. “Did. You. Touch. Him?”

Selah burst into tears. “No, I didn't touch him. I stayed far away, and then the boys came.”

Mother emitted a strangled gasp. Her grip relaxed and her hand fell away. She reached out an arm to enfold Selah in a hug. “My sweet baby.”

“Stop calling me that! I'll be eighteen tomorrow. I'm sick of everyone treating me like a child.” Selah pulled away and crossed her arms. Tears slipped from her eyes and slid to her chin. Mother didn't mean it the same way the boys did. But if Selah ever expected them to stop treating her like a baby, she needed to stop whining like one.

She tipped her head down, then looked up and furrowed her brow. Something wasn't right. “Mother, what's wrong?”

No answer, but Mother pulled her back into her arms.

She felt safe, secure in her warm hug. Loved.
No.
Selah squirmed from the embrace. “I want to be treated like a woman. I want my right to hunt.”

Her mother's attitude reverted to the calm it had been when Selah walked in the door.

“Ahh, I see. The hunt.” Mother frowned and used her finger to tip up Selah's chin. “Must you follow the men in such savage practices? Dane told me you were trying to catch rabbits. Can't you just stick to that?”

The question brought a scowl. Should she continue the lie or face the consequences? She'd forgotten about the story to her little brother. “Well, that's another catch I lost.” Her bottom lip quivered at the lie. “What's wrong with me? Why can't I do anything right?”

Mother opened her arms again. This time Selah leaned
in, resting her head on her mother's shoulder. She felt like a fraud lying to the one person who was truly on her side. But the disappointed look that would be in Mother's eyes was more than she could bear at this moment. Her insides hurt.

Mother stroked her hair. “If you want my true opinion, I think it's abominable to be hunting people, and you shouldn't start.”

Selah sat up and looked at her. “Why do you say that? I've never heard you say anything negative about Father and the boys capturing Landers. How else would Father be able to afford some of the luxuries we have if it weren't for the extra income? I mean, look at our house. It's huge compared to some of my friends' houses.”

“Yes, that's also what your father says, but I disagree.” Mother glanced wistfully toward the window then turned back. “I guess I've kept some things to myself for too long. The thought of humans selling other humans into slavery is barbaric. There is a lot of ancient history about people on this continent doing the same thing hundreds of years ago. It was reprehensible then and is no less now.”

Selah lowered her head. “But Father is selling me into marriage with the Kingston boy.”

Mother emitted a strangled sob. “I have spent many hours trying to talk him out of this coupling. I'm sorry. Your father is the head of our clan, and his word is law.”

“I've only met Jericho Kingston once, when I was about seven. We were at the farmers' market. He had a long nose, buck teeth, and was gangly like a stick bug. What if he's turned into a planter toad? Your grandchildren will spend their days chasing flies.”