Anthology - SHADOWRUN - Spells and Chrome

"That the story you told the doctor? The first-born stuff?"

Her skin flushed copper, and she found something intensely interesting on her plate. "You heard that. God, I'm so embarrassed. He was just such a… It's just a myth, a kind of Romeo and Juliet thing: the daughter of a chief falls in love with the son of a rival chief; he gets killed; she tries killing herself. In ancient Hawaiian tradition, bones are sacred and have a lot of mana. Sometimes they were distributed to chiefs and other important people… that's what happened to Captain Cook, actually."

"You're kidding."

"I kid you not. Somewhere on this island, someone's got a jawbone; someone else has a couple fingers. That's how they did it. More often, though, the bones were wrapped in tapa and slotted into hidden niches along high cliffs. The way they used to do it, a volunteer was lowered over the side and placed the bones, and then the kahuna cut the rope."

"Ouch. Talk about taking a secret to the grave. Let me guess: the daughter changed places and went over the cliff with her lover's bones."

"And cut the rope, yup. Only she didn't die on the rocks. She started sinking and then all of a sudden this huge shark appears, grabs her ankle and tows her far down the Kohala coast. Lets her go near Pelekane Bay. When she tries wading back out, the shark won't let her and she goes ballistic. The shark finally says: Don't you know me? It is I, Kimo, your dead love, and I tell you now that you are not done with life. Let go of my bones, my love, and live." She gave a rueful smile. "Silly, right?"

"I don't think it's silly at all. Did she? Let go, I mean."

"Yeah. Anyway, the shark disappeared. Later, she discovered it had left a tooth embedded in her ankle." She tapped the charm around her neck. "At least, that's the claim. Afterward, she ordered that a shark heiau, a special sacrificial altar, be constructed in the bay to worship the shark-god. The altar's gone now but wearing the tooth, having the tattoo… makes me feel connected, you know? To history, to the land."

Their food came. The fish was very good-snowy white, firm and juicy-but in his fatigue Daniel only managed a few bites. Alana forked up the last of her rice and fish in about three minutes, looked at his plate, said, "You going to want all that?"

It was something Rachel would've said: "Daniel, sharing food's a sign of true love." "Bullshit, you just want my French fries."

"Please." He thumbed his plate toward her. "Don't be shy on my account."

"I'm hungry. You ever had hospital food?"

"Not in recent memory." He waited until she'd slowed down then said, "When are you going to ask?"

She looked up, jaws working. Held up a finger. Chased her food with the last of her tea, then said, "I figure you'll tell me when you're ready. Or ask me, or whatever… So." Wiping her mouth, she crumpled her napkin, let it fall to her plate. "Shoot. You want to know what happened, right? Well, I don't remember. What's your interest, anyway?"

"It's my job."

"And what-" she began, but Auntie trundled over, gathered their plates, inquired if they wanted dessert. He said, no, just coffee, and when Auntie was gone, Alana folded her arms on the table. "What's that?"

"I'm a kind of investigator."

"Police?"

"A private concern."

"Occult?"

He waited for the Rebbe to interject something, but his brain was, mercifully, silent. "You could say that."

"But not exactly." When he nodded, she said, "Why would what happened to me be of interest to… well, I guess you'd say, your employer, right? Saeder-Krupp? Why would Lofwyr care?"

"Does it matter?"

She stared at him a good ten seconds then shrugged. "I guess not." She scraped back her chair and stood. "I've got to pee. Get the coffee to go and let's blow this crackerjack joint."

"And we're going…?"

Her smile was tight, with no humor in it. "To the Land of the Dead." • • •

The access road into Waipi'o Valley could only be reached from the east, which meant they had to backtrack, dropping out of the high country into Waimea before turning northeast toward the coast. Ten klicks shy of Honokaa, they headed west, following the main drag all the way to a very abrupt end. By then, the sun was slipping away, but Daniel had seen enough on the approach to realize that they were headed into a region of soaring, nearly vertical cliffs and deep, impenetrable valleys.

"Jesus, you weren't kidding when you stressed that dead part." He eyed the faraway ribbon of a waterfall. A three-hundred-meter tumble, easy. "You can't be serious."

"As a heart attack. The ancient Hawaiians called the valley Milu after an old chief who was the king of the dead. The valley's one of two places on the island where you're supposed to be able to access the shadows. Those cliffs are where a lot of the kings are buried, right in the rock. See that beach down there?" She indicated a crescent gash of black sand two kilometers long. "Water's like glass, but the undertow and rip currents'll kill you."

"If we don't peel off the road. That's almost straight down. I'll burn out my brakes. We'll never get back out."

"This is a rental, right? So, let them worry about it. Trust me, you burn out the brakes, and they'll leave the thing where it dies. Costs a small fortune in nyuen to tow anyone out. Anyway, it's only a twenty-five percent grade, most of the way."

"Only, she says."

"Well, some of it's forty-five." She gave him a tight grin. "Look, the answer's down there. I'm offering to show you."

"Why are you being so good to me?"

"Because I like you. Besides, I want to go home, and you're my ride. It's either that, or I take a horse."

"The shrink said that only about fifty guys live in the valley."

"Yeah, yeah, and they're all named Dave." An eyeroll. "So, you want to see this, or not?"

Personally, he was tempted to suggest astral projection, but she was a mundane, so… "Shit." He dropped the four-wheel drive into low and first. "This had better be good."

The road was short but fabulously steep: a single serpentine lane for most of the way, and in rotten condition. Worse, just as he lipped the edge, Alana said that this was one of the only places on the Big Island where you couldn't access the Matrix: "No nodes within spitting distance."

"And you live down here?" He was sweating, resisting the urge to ride his brakes. "What do you do? Hunt with a bow and arrow?"

"I like the quiet."

"I thought the Menehune weren't exactly the welcoming type."

"I guess I'm just special," she said. • • •

There were no lights at all, no houses he could see. To his right, he had the impression of a vast drop-off, and he heard the distant growl of the sea thundering against the shore. When the road finally leveled out, he let go of a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Sweat plastered his shirt between his shoulder blades.

But that's when he noticed something else: the slight fizz in his ear was gone. No nodes. The silence was jarring, a sound all its own.

She studied him through the gloom. "It hits everybody the same way first time around," she said. "Lee was really restless for awhile, like if he couldn't check his e-mail every five seconds, he didn't know what to do with himself."

"Uh…" Inwardly, he was irritated that she read him so well. Never could fool Rachel either. "I'm fine."

She gave him a look that said she thought otherwise, but instead she unbuckled. "You got a flashlight in that pack?" • • •

He had two, as it happened-with a great deal more specialized gear she didn't have to know about. • • •

The day disintegrated ten minutes after they left the rental. The night, choked with stars and a crescent moon, washed over the sky in a black tide. Their path through the woods was virtually nonexistent, a narrow cut that turned and twisted through thick stands of eucalyptus forest, thickets of wild ginger and lush hapuu ferns. He smelled water and the sweetness of lemon and strawberry guava, and when he followed his light over a suspension bridge fording a swift stream, the churn of water over rock threw up a fine, cool mist. The auras of the plants, a chorus of tree frogs, the inexorable rush of water-so much mana gathered together in one place…